Fate: Hammer Time

by TedTheRabbit

Shirou Emiya wanted to become a hero. That was clear to all who truly know him. For a long time though, he lacked the power to actually achieve that goal. No longer. No longer will he lack the power, now that the Hammer of the Odinson has chosen him as new wielder. Prepare for Thunder. ShirouxMultiple, Thor-Shirou.

40. Wrap It Up With a Bowtie

Wrap It Up With a Bowtie

---

"Well, that was easy."

Those were the first words spoken once the group had reassembled, and rather unsurprisingly, they were spoken by Flat.

Most of the people involved in the purge were present at the scene. Shirou was there, and so was Lord El-Melloi, as were Lady Barthomeloi and Lady Montmorency, as well as Grey, Reines, Svin, Flat, Lehrman, Caren, Bazett, and even Sisigou and Adashino, though there were several others present too.

They were currently standing together, in a rough circle, inside the Department of Mineralogy, the Department that had once belonged to the Archibald, had then been taken by the Meluastea, and was now once more reclaimed by the Archibald, or by Waver Velvet at least, in the name of the Archibald.

It had been barely two hours since the Department of Archaeology had been conquered completely, and already, most of Mineralogy had been taken as well. As Flat had said, it had been very easy.

There were several reasons for this.

The first was of course because Shirou and Lady Barthomeloi had led the charge again. Bounded Fields and other defences were worthless before them, and it wasn't long before they had destroyed all resistance.

The second reason was that Reines knew the lay-out of the Department like the back of her hand, having lived there for the first seven years of her life, and as such, was able to lead them around quickly and decisively, which helped speed up the conquest even more.

The third reason was that Mineralogy was less than half the size of Archaeology, both in surface area and in number of people, meaning that there was simply less to conquer in the first place.

The last reason, and perhaps the most important one of them all, was that most members of the Department of Mineralogy actually hated the Meluastea.

Shirou did not know the precise numbers, but he did know that a good two-thirds of the families involved with Mineralogy had outright refused to fight for the Meluastea when the attack had begun, and many of them had even actively fought against them once the opportunity presented itself.

Once he and Lady Barthomeloi had gotten through the first defensive line of Meluastea-supporters, they had been surprised to find that virtually no resistance remained. The members of the Department of Mineralogy who were loyal to the Archibald had already dealt with them.

It seemed that the Archibald had been kinder masters than the Meluastea, or if not kinder, than at least preferable in some other way, as Lord El-Melloi and Reines had been received with hopeful looks and even some cheers once they'd entered the Department.

Reines ate it all up of course, happily waving to everyone who was cheering for her, while Lord El-Melloi had to cover his cheeks to hide his blush, something Svin and Flat were only delighted to tease him about.

Even now, many of the people working for Mineralogy were going around, happily removing every trace of the Meluastea and their flunkies, some of them even whistling a joyful tune while they were at it.

Shirou watched as the seal of the Meluastea-family was removed everywhere and replaced with that of the Archibald, monuments and statues that had been built in honour of the Meluastea were destroyed, and every bit of research that the flunkies of that family had participated in was either delivered to the Enforcers or burned on the spot.

It was quite the sight, and though Shirou knew many of them, if not all, only preferred the Archibald out of selfish reasons, he was still happy to see that even most Magi could not abide the Meluastea.

It wasn't much, but it was something.

As Mineralogy was now largely cleared and there was no longer any threat, the large group quickly fell apart into multiple smaller groups, and before long, Shirou found himself standing together with Lord El-Melloi, Lady Barthomeloi, Reines, Grey, and the snake-lady whom Lord El-Melloi had introduced as 'Adashino'.

"You have quite the job ahead of you." Lady Barthomeloi spoke to Lord El-Melloi, a hint of pity audible in her voice. "We might have purged your Department of all overt supporters of the Meluastea, but there is a clear discrepancy between the number of supporters we have dealt with over the last hour, and the number of supporters that were supposed to be present according to Lady Montmorency's reports."

There was? That was news to Shirou. He thought they'd gotten all of them now.

Which, now that he thought about it, was probably very naïve of him.

"Of course." Lord El-Melloi, unlike Shirou, was not at all surprised by Lady Barthomeloi's statement. "I expect that many of the Magi shouting the loudest about their delight over the Archibald's return were the ones who were consorting the most with the Meluastea. The rats have left the sinking ship, and now we must track them down before they spread their diseases."

"We're going to get rid of even more members?" To Reines, this was clearly bad news, if her dismayed expression was anything to go by. "Is there any way we can solve this without killing or arresting people? I mean, I get that we don't want traitors in our ranks, but we can hardly afford to lose even more people. Mineralogy will be decimated."

"You already lost them." Lady Barthomeloi countered, her tone firm but not unkind. "Now you must try to limit the damage. Never let a wound fester, for it will kill you if not addressed."

"Right." Reines sighed deeply, her dismayed expression turning forlorn.

"Ah, miss Reines, please try to stay positive." Grey attempted to console the little lady, gently taking her hand. "I-I mean, uhm…"

Grey tried to think of a positive angle, something that would somehow cast the current situation in a better light, but she clearly drew a blank, and eventually gave Lord El-Melloi a helpless look, pleading for his aid in improving Reines' mood.

The lord's stony expression did not change, but after he'd taken a drag of his cigar, he did nod his assent.

"Pull yourself together, Reines." He told his honorary little sister in a stern tone. "It is unbecoming of a lady to act so morosely, especially in front of others."

"Ah, but-"

"There is no use in moping. Rather be grateful that the disloyal and rebellious elements of Mineralogy will be purged for us before we even take it into our possession. Stop complaining about matters you cannot change and look to the future. Good gracious, if you were one of my students, I'd be most cross with you."

"You're already cross with me though?!" Reines spluttered.

"Tsk."

"Don't 'tsk' at me!"

"Thank you, sir." Grey smiled, happy to see that Reines was in good spirits again, and that there was not a trace of morosity left on her face.

"As touching as this is, we have other matters that demand our attention." Shirou interrupted the scene, conscious of the fact that Lady Barthomeloi was getting restless. "Most notably, the fact that Mineralogy has not been fully cleared yet."

"It hasn't?" Grey asked, her eyes widening beneath her hood, which she'd kept on for the entire battle so far. "But… I thought you said we did clear it."

"The upper part." Shirou nodded, before he pointed down at the ground, or rather, below it. "But there are several rooms underground."

"Indeed." Reines nodded, her blonde hair swooshing from the movement. "Six, to be precise. Six rooms in which the more… 'specialized' research is done, or at least, that was the situation when I still lived here. It may have changed since then though."

"Would the Meluastea have been motivated enough to change anything?" Lady Barthomeloi was clearly sceptical of that claim, and though Shirou's first inclination was to agree with her, as the Meluastea had seemed rather lazy to him, he couldn't be entirely sure of it.

Sure, he could see the rooms as they were now, mostly, and he could see the people inside as well, but since it was the first time he'd been in this department, he couldn't tell if anything had been changed or not.

"Does it matter if they have changed anything though?" He then asked. "Regardless of how things are currently, we will still have to take the underground back from the Meluastea's supporters."

"You are correct of course." Lady Barthomeloi nodded, brushing a strand of hair out of her face. "It was merely a curiosity."

"I would really appreciate it if you destroyed as few things as possible." Reines pleaded. "Those chambers have been built and stocked over the course of centuries, and a lot of items are very valuable and fragile."

"I always endeavour to cause as little damage to my surroundings as possible." Lady Barthomeloi stated in no uncertain terms, before giving Reines a low-level glare. "However, property will not take precedence over the success of the mission or the health of my followers."

"Of course, of course!" Reines hastily agreed, nodding her head so fast her hair bobbed. "I would never suggest otherwise."

"We will take care not to damage anything if we can avoid it." Shirou spoke up as well, lightly bumping Lady Barthomeloi's shoulder with his own to get her to stop glaring at Reines. "In fact, I think most of the rooms don't even hold supporters of the Meluastea."

"T-They don't, m-my lord." A stuttering voice suddenly spoke up, and everyone turned to the side to see a black-haired young woman with a very dark complexion walking up to them, or rather, inching towards them. "T-The M-Meluastea mostly didn't b-bother with the underground ch-chambers. T-They just stole everything that t-they found interesting, a-and ignored the rest."

Shirou detected no lie in the woman's words, and he was just about to ask her who she was when he was interrupted by a ruckus next to him.

"Delilah!" Reines cried happily, rushing up to the woman to pull her into a hug, something 'Delilah' didn't protest against or was at all surprised by, showing that she was fairly familiar with the little lady's mannerisms. "It's wonderful to see you again! How have you been?"

"Not all that well, but that's not important right now." Delilah said, pushing Reines back a bit. "My lady, is it true the Archibald will reclaim this Department?"

"Yup!" Reines grinned, before pointing at Lord El-Melloi. "Waver over there, my big brother, will become the new head. He's in charge now."

"I see." Delilah mumbled, giving Lord El-Melloi a cautious, yet hopeful look. "Waver? Waver Velvet?"

"The one and only." Lord El-Melloi confirmed, taking another drag of his cigar.

"I see." The woman repeated, wringing her hands. "And the Archibald-elders?"

"They will probably move back in as well, though they will hold no authority." Reines explained, rubbing her cheek with a laconic smile. "It's a long story."

"One you can tell later." Lady Barthomeloi interrupted sharply, motioning for Reines to be quiet, before turning to Delilah. "Who are you?"

"My deepest apologies! I am Delilah Aubert, head of the Aubert-family, vassals of Mineralogy!" Delilah bowed deeply before the brunette, rapidly introducing herself. "Forgive me for taking up your valuable time!"

"Don't take anymore of it." Lady Barthomeloi warned her. "We are hunting the servants of the Meluastea. We have no time to answer your questions."

"That's what I wanted to tell you about." Delilah remained bowed, and kept talking quickly, as if trying to get her message out before she was sent away. "M-Most of Mineralogy hates the Meluastea and would rather have the Archibald back."

Reines beamed when she heard that.

"S-So when you attacked, we tried to capture or kill the Meluastea's supporters. Of the six underground chambers, we managed to secure four. Two of them have been taken by the Meluastea's followers though, and we have been unable to defeat them so far."

"Which chambers were taken?" Reines asked sharply, her wide smile falling away to make place for a worried expression. "Please tell me Geology isn't one of them."

"It isn't. The chambers that are currently occupied by our enemies are the Golem-Workshop and the Graveyard." Delilah answered, and Shirou immediately looked downwards to see if he could find those two chambers.

"I see." Reines mumbled, her expression becoming contemplative as she digested this piece of news. "That's… not as bad as I feared."

"Sir, what are the Golem-Workshop and the Graveyard?" Grey asked after a while, when it became clear Reines wasn't going to explain anytime soon.

"The Golem-Workshop is exactly what the name implies, a place dedicated to the development and creation of Golems." Lord El-Melloi answered promptly and without hesitation, reminding everyone that he had been a student at this Department for most of his youth. "As for the Graveyard, it is where research is done into the nature of Spirits and the Fae, though some also use it to study Souls and the concept of Death."

"You mean Necromancy?" Lady Barthomeloi asked with a raised eyebrow. "I hope you kept yourself to the limits that have been set on that particular craft?"

The limits she referred to were the limits that had been set on Necromancy by the Edict of Glasgow, when the Clocktower, Atlas, and the Wandering Sea had convened to decide on general rules after yet another failed experiment in Necromancy had almost wiped out the world because of a zombie-plague yet again.

More Crafts had been discussed at Glasgow of course, including but not limited to Gemcraft, Disease-craft, Geology, Mystic-Code-production, and the various kinds of Runes, but it had been Necromancy that had been subjected to the most limitations in the end.

The Craft itself wasn't forbidden, no one had been willing to go that far, but certain aspects of it had been outlawed. Most notably, the enslavement of Souls, the summoning of evil or unstable Spirits, and Resurrection that was not done using the Third True Magic.

There were far more nuances and caveats of course –nothing could ever be easy in the Moonlight World– but Shirou didn't know any more details than that.

"The Graveyard, despite its name, didn't practise Necromancy at all." Lord El-Melloi explained calmly. "I was never a member, you understand, but from what I heard, it studied Death and matters related to it, but nothing more. At least, that was the case when I was still a student. It is not unthinkable that the situation is different now."

"It is." Delilah confirmed sadly. "The researchers of the Meluastea have turned the Graveyard into a place of crude, brutish Necromancy. There is no respect whatsoever anymore for the dead, as those monsters bind and enslave every spirit and spirit-like creature they can find."

"…I see." Lord El-Melloi took another drag from his cigar, and then closed his eyes in sadness.

"All the more reason to remove them quickly." Lady Barthomeloi did not seem to know what to do with a saddened Lord El-Melloi, so she moved the conversation along. "Miss Delilah, you will provide us with every bit of information you possess concerning the Golem-Workshop and the Graveyard. Once you have done so, Fujimaru and I will deal with the traitors."

"Ah, of course." Delilah nodded rapidly, not questioning for a moment whether two people would be enough to deal with the matter. After all, one of them was the Queen of the Clocktower herself.

"Please be careful when you are fighting though." Reines begged Lady Barthomeloi again. "The Archibald are already poor, and a lot of the stuff down there is fragile, and expensive."

"I shall use no more force than is absolutely required to bring my opponents down." Lady Barthomeloi promised, and Reines, grateful the woman had listened at all, nodded in gratitude.

"You should take Grey along." Lord El-Melloi suddenly added, having regained his composure. "She's quite talented at Necromancy herself, and fighting fellow practitioners and their arts will be good practice for her."

"O-Only if I won't be a bother." Grey squeaked, and Lady Barthomeloi, after casting a glance at Shirou, who nodded, made an assenting hand motion. "Thank you! I promise I won't get in your way!"

"I have full confidence you won't." Shirou smiled at her.

"Excellent." Reines piped up again, taking Waver by the hand. "So while you three take care of that, Waver and I will take Delilah and make a round through the Department, to see what needs to be done to return it to a proper state."

"We will?" Waver asked, blinking in surprise, before nodding once. "We will."

It wasn't the first time he'd taken over a Department after all –though he had bought Modern Magical Theories, rather than conquer it– and he had a good idea as to what needed to happen to get settled in as new lord.

"Can I ask what you have in mind?" Delilah inquired cautiously.

"Oh, nothing much. Just take stock of which families remained loyal to us, which didn't, what the Meluastea stole, what needs to be repaired, that sort of thing." Reines said dismissively, her tone very nonchalant, though Shirou could see that nonchalance was entirely faked.

Yes, he could see it clear as day. Reines might act like she had everything under control, but in actuality, she was extremely nervous about what she would find once she looked at the state Mineralogy was currently in. She was terrified of the damage the Meluastea had wrought and was constantly praying under her breath that the losses weren't too bad.

She was scared, and was trying to hide her fear under fake bravado and laconic words so she wouldn't look weak in front of the Queen, one of her vassals, and her older brother who was also her direct superior in a way.

Delilah fell for it, nodding once, but Lord El-Melloi gave his honorary sister a side-ways look, clearly well aware something was up, before he nodded too.

Shirou felt reassured though. He'd been wondering if he should do something to set Reines at ease, but if Lord El-Melloi was on the case, he could leave them behind without worry.

A few more words were exchanged, and then the two groups went their separate ways. One went down into the Earth, to find the last of their enemies, and one went on a tour through the Department, to get a feel for the place again and verify the loyalty of the employees.

It was safe to say that the latter group had the more difficult task.

---

"Ehehehehehehe." Illya laughed softly as she placed the golden cup on the table, alongside the numerous valuable objects she'd placed on it before, and then she burst out in loud cackles, throwing her head back and spreading her arms out to the side as she roared in laughter. "Hahahahahahahaha!"

"Mistress…" Behind her, Sella frowned deeply at Illya's inelegant behaviour, while Leysritt just seemed confused as to why her mistress was laughing so much. "May we ask what is so funny that you have been laughing for several minutes now?"

"Ah, sorry, sorry." Illya apologised once she got herself under control again, turning around to grin at her maids. "I was just enjoying the feeling of holding millions of Euros in my hands. I mean, the Einzbern are rich, and they didn't skimp on my possessions, but this is just so ridiculous I couldn't help but laugh."

"You find amusement in obscene amounts of money?" Sella blinked twice at that information. "You have never indicated such a thing before."

"Because I've never held obscene amounts of money in my very own hands before." Illya snickered, before she gestured at the table behind her. "Come on, look at that and tell me you don't feel like laughing at the absurdity of it all."

The table itself was honestly nothing special. It was very big, big enough for twenty-four people to sit at with room to spare, made of solid oak, and carved by an expert hand, but it wasn't particularly remarkable. An upper-middle class family would have been able to afford it.

What Illya was referring to when she spoke of absurdity were the numerous objects stacked on top of that table.

Over the past hours, ever since Shirou had left to go on that purge of his, Illya, along with her maids, had been meticulously combing through the piles of treasure in the Vault, looking for the shiniest and most valuable objects she could find.

Her yields were massive, and the table had been filled with countless items that looked ridiculously expensive, to say the least.

So far, she'd collected golden cups inlaid with gems, silver necklaces with the most intricate patterns imaginable, Enchanted rings that almost glowed with power, gemstones that seemed to be made out of pure starlight, sceptres made from materials she didn't even recognise, and countless other trinkets, baubles, and knick-knacks.

Considering most of them were Enchanted too, with various kinds of Magical properties, Illya was absolutely certain that the collection she'd built so far could easily net her more than a billion euros if sold to the correct people.

So yes, obscene amounts of money indeed.

"I will acknowledge that seeing such a quantity of valuable objects so close together, in the possession of one man, does seem absurd to me, but I don't see why that would be a cause for laughter." Sella replied to Illya's earlier statement after studying the objects. "I am impressed, yes, but not amused. Money is no laughing matter."

"Yes, I know. Money is serious business." Illya acknowledged. "To be honest, it isn't even the money itself that amuses me. It's on a higher level than that. I laugh because it is so much. I laugh at the very concept that anyone could be so rich, and especially at the idea that is only a fraction of a fraction of my brother's actual wealth."

"I see…" Sella said slowly, before she nodded. "I won't claim to understand perfectly what you're talking about, but I suppose there is humour in what you say."

"Glad you're seeing it my way." Illya beamed at her honorary older sister, before turning towards the other maid. "What about you, Leysritt? Do you understand what we are talking about?"

"…" Leysritt didn't reply at first, and instead just looked back calmly, giving no sign of being about to say anything, before she suddenly held up a dagger-shaped Mystic Code. "Is this valuable enough for your purposes, mistress?"

"Eh? Ah, I suppose it is." It took Illya a good three seconds to regain her bearings after the jarring shift in subjects, but as soon as she had, she took the dagger from Leysritt and placed it on the table, not even pausing to verify if it was really valuable in any way.

If Leysritt had offered it to her, then of course it was going onto the table. To do otherwise would disappoint the ditsy maid, and that wasn't something Illya was willing to do. Her heart wasn't made of stone after all.

"Is there any purpose to building this collection, mistress?" Sella then asked, carefully studying said collection again. "Do you wish for your brother to sell all these items?"

"No, not necessarily." Illya shook her head. "I just want to show them to him. He told me he doesn't really know what's in here, so I wanted to help out. Shirou can decide for himself whether he wants to sell them. I don't think he has a need of money, so he probably won't

"I see." Sella breathed out a soft sigh of relief. "I am happy to hear you say that, mistress."

"Oh, why?"

"I must admit I do not feel entirely comfortable with the idea that any of the objects in this pocket dimension will become available to the Magi of our world." Illya's honorary older sister admitted, slowly rubbing her cheek with a pensive expression on her face. "I cannot claim to be very well-informed, but if the Einzbern are the norm for Magi, I would rather that they possess as few powerful and valuable items as possible."

Sella's warning was on point, and Illya froze as she realised the maid was entirely correct. It was indeed a bad idea to start selling stuff to Magi, especially if you had no idea who you were selling to.

"A-Ah, but wait!" Illya exclaimed, perking up as something occurred to her. "Such a thing would easily be avoided if Shirou only sold his items to Magi he trusts, right?"

"I suppose, but if lord Emiya trusted them, would he ask them to pay a fortune, or would he sell the items for low prices, or perhaps just give them away as gifts?"

"Urk!" Illya almost swayed in place as Sella pulled the rug out from under her. "Y-You got him all figured out, don't you…?"

"Lord Emiya does not have a complicated personality."

"I suppose not." Illya mumbled, before she shook her head to recompose herself. "Ah well, it hardly matters whether he sells anything or not in the end. I'll just build my collection and stop thinking about money so much."

"Mistress, if you really wish to obtain money, have you considered the gems?" Sella asked, pointing into the distance, where mountains of gems could be seen peaking over the piles surrounding them. "I confess my ignorance as to whether they can be used for Magecraft or not, but certainly, they are worth quite a sum?"

"They can be used for Magecraft." Illya nodded, having already verified that. "But I didn't really consider them, as selling them would flood the market and bring the price down by a lot."

"I see." Sella inclined her head. "Pardon me for making such a foolish suggestion."

"Oh no, not at all." Illya quickly assured her, running up to her maid to pat her on the back. "I mean, it's not a bad idea, and selling them bit by bit might work, I'd have to discuss that with Shirou."

"But you do not wish to add them to your collection?"

"Oh no, I am after the super-valuable stuff right now. You know, the rare stuff. Things that don't lie around in massive piles for the taking."

"The thrill of the hunt." Leysritt added with a smile that contained a tad of bloodthirst, making her fellow Homunculi deadpan at her again.

"…I suppose." Illya agreed after a few moments. "Though I wouldn't have put it quite like that."

"You really should work on learning to read the room, Leysritt." Sella sighed, shaking her head at her sister, before turning back to Illya. "Let us continue the search, mistress."

"Yes, let's!"

Illya promptly got to work again at shifting through the numerous piles in the Vault. So far, she'd already searched through eleven of them, yet hundreds more awaited her still.

Safe to say, she wouldn't be getting bored any time soon.

"I wonder how the purge is progressing." Illya said after a few minutes of silence, during which she'd been searching diligently. "I mean, it's probably going to take weeks, but maybe he can take a break soon to visit us?"

"I do not know, mistress." Sella replied honestly, before inclining her head again when Illya gave her an insistent look. "I'm sure it will be alright. Your brother said it might take a while, and that as long as the pocket dimension remains in the same state, we could safely assume he is still alive."

"'Still alive' doesn't mean much though." Illya said grumpily, before she shook her head. "Oh well, I suppose there's no point in worrying. Shirou is the strongest there is after all."

"…Perhaps." Sella allowed, not knowing enough about the outside world to dispute that claim. "Perhaps."

---

"Please take a seat here and make yourselves comfortable. The detectives will see you as soon as they can."

The kind police-officer who had led them to the third floor of the police-precinct walked away after that last assurance, leaving Sakura, Ayako, and Issei alone in the interrogation room.

The interrogation room, which Sakura was pretty sure should only be used on hardened criminals, not innocent teenagers.

Granted, the room they were in wasn't quite the spartan, oppressive kind of place that you saw in detective-series, and there was no torture equipment visible anywhere, but that didn't mean it was in any way comfortable.

To the contrary, it was unnerving.

Currently, the three teens were seated at one end of a simple table, on chairs that, while not outright painful to sit on, were certainly not of great quality. The walls were painted in a dark grey, and there were no windows anywhere. The only light in the room was produced by a single lamp hanging from the ceiling.

They had received glasses of water and a snack for each of them, and the door of the room wasn't locked, but Sakura still felt like a suspect about to get the third degree, and from Ayako's and Issei's facial expressions, they felt the same way.

At this point, Sakura had to wonder whether the police treated all their witnesses like this. The three of them had only found the corpse and reported it to the relevant authorities, yet right now, it seemed as if they were under suspicion for having committed the murder themselves.

Preposterous of course, they hadn't killed anyone, but because of Shirou's vigilante-work, Sakura was painfully aware that the police in Japan didn't always care about pesky things like guilt or innocence if it was inconvenient for them. If they wanted someone to blame, they would find someone, one way or another.

The plum-haired girl took a deep breath and confirmed for the third time in as many minutes that her knife was still in her pocket. Should the worst come to the worst, she was prepared to do what was necessary.

They could make their way out, and then take refuge in the Emiya-estate, which would change into an impenetrable bastion when its inhabitants were threatened. There, they could wait until Shirou returned to Hypnotise everyone involved, which would hopefully settle the matter.

But perhaps she was getting ahead of herself there. No need to get too martial minded while nothing had happened yet.

Sakura shook her head slowly, trying to rid herself of all these nervous thoughts, and instead focused on what had happened over the past hours and what she would tell the police during the interview.

It had been about five hours now since they had discovered the body, or at least, its head. After digging up said head, Issei had warned them to keep their distance, so they wouldn't disturb the crime scene any more than they already had.

It had turned out to be the correct decision, for when the first officers arrived, bringing with them the tarp and other equipment for sealing the crime scene, they praised the teens for leaving the place of their discovery as undisturbed as possible.

After that, the three of them had been taken back to the Ryuudou-temple by several uniformed officers, away from the gruesome sight of a corpse being unearthed.

Not that Sakura was affected much, but she appreciated the kind gesture nevertheless, even if it was likely just as much about getting uninvolved people away from the investigation as it was about protecting them.

After a short discussion with Issei's father, the three of them had been taken to the station to give a proper witness-report. Issei's father would follow behind shortly, and both Ayako's parents and Fujimura-Sensei had already been called, meaning they too would arrive in short order.

That brought them to the present, where they were patiently, or actually not-so-patiently, waiting for the inspector to arrive.

"My, this was certainly a shocking experience." Issei suddenly began, pushing his glasses higher up on his nose, his voice oddly casual. "To think that following that rotting stench we all smelled would lead us to a half-buried corpse… I never would have expected such a thing."

It seemed like an odd thing to say, but Sakura and Ayako both recognised Issei's statement for what it was. An attempt to get their stories straight, to make sure they didn't mention that Sakura had smelled the corpse from far away when Issei and Ayako could not, and that it had been buried besides, which made it even stranger that Sakura had been able to smell it.

Nothing good could come from mentioning that, so they wouldn't.

Simple enough.

"Can't believe no one found it sooner." Ayako also agreed, her voice sounding just as casual as Issei's, though it was noticeably more forced. "It sure got us into a difficult situation though. Really, what would my aunts and uncles think if they heard I was in an interrogation room? The sooner these detectives arrive, the better."

Sensing Ayako's unease, Sakura gently took her hand and squeezed, which Ayako replied to by softly bumping her head against Sakura's. Issei pretended not to notice anything.

In the end, the three had to wait for about ten minutes longer, and then Sakura could hear voices approaching the interrogation room, agitated voices.

…Voices she recognised.

"-Can't believe that idiot brought witnesses, teenage witnesses, to the interrogation room! I told him specifically to bring them to a side-office! Does he have a brain in his head or is it filled with nothing but his precious hentai!?"

"He means well. He's just a bit clumsy with these things."

"You can't keep defending him, Senpai. This isn't the first time he's done something like this, and it has always brought us unnecessary trouble. In fact, these witnesses have full right to lodge a complaint against him after he put them in there and left them alone."

"I will talk with him again and make sure he understands what the consequences of his actions will be if he keeps this up. Now, let's first do what we need to do before we start addressing the issues within the precinct itself, shall we?"

"As you say, Senpai, though believe me when I say that this matter is far from over. I don't care if he is a council-member's son, if he keeps dropping the ball, I will make sure he is thrown out on his ass."

By now, Sakura had no doubts anymore about who these people were, and when the door was opened and two detectives entered the room, she wasn't at all surprised to see Shirou's old enemies standing there.

"Hello there, you three. I'm sorry it took so long for us to arrive, but we… Ha?!"

"Hm? What's wrong… You?!"

"Osaki-san, Yomaura-san." Sakura smiled as pleasantly as she could once the detectives entered her view, though she held no illusions about said smile not being extremely brittle. "This is a surprise."

A surprise indeed. Sakura honestly hadn't expected to see those two ever again, though perhaps she should have anticipated it nonetheless, considering she was in the police-station and all.

The detectives hadn't changed much in the few months since Sakura had last seen them. Osaki was still his black-haired, serious-looking self, while Yomaura was still a redhead and had a temperament as fiery as her hair colour.

It would seem they were the detectives in charge of this investigation, if their presence and their words were anything to go by.

It seemed things had gotten a lot more complicated all of a sudden.

"This is a surprise indeed." Osaki scoffed in answer to her earlier remark, crossing his arms with a heavy frown on his face. "Can't say it's a pleasant one though."

Yomaura didn't even speak, but merely frowned, even deeper than her colleague, showing perfectly well what she thought of Sakura's presence in the room.

"Do you know these detectives, Matou-san?" Issei asked, reverting to using her actual name in the current professional setting, as he said he would. "I wouldn't have thought you were the kind of person to get involved with the police."

No, Sakura supposed he wouldn't. Being involved with the police wasn't a small thing in Japan, and it generally only happened to very specific types of people, who would then be marked as pariahs by society for the rest of their lives.

The only reason that hadn't happened to Sakura was because her involvement with them was strictly on the Moonlit Side of the World, which meant no one except her, Senpai, Ayako, and the detectives themselves knew about it. Not that she could tell that to Issei though.

"I know them, though only through Senpai." Sakura explained, and she was relieved when Issei made a noise of understanding and then let the matter go.

Shirou had some connections with the Yakuza after all, so Issei probably assumed that was how the detectives knew him, and thus her as well.

"Did you have anything to do with this murder?" Yomaura suddenly asked harshly, apparently not in the mood for pleasantries or for being subtle.

"Hey now!" Ayako, rather predictably, reacted badly to the question, but fell silent when Sakura gently took hold of her elbow.

"I had nothing to do with whatever happened there, Yomaura-san." She said, clearly and concisely, leaving no room for misinterpretation or doubt. "I only found the body, nothing more."

"Hm." Yomaura looked very sceptical of Sakura's claim, but eventually, perhaps deciding there was no obvious reason for Sakura to kill anyone, she nodded her head in acceptance. "Very well. Forgive my rudeness, we ask everyone these questions."

Sakura was not at all sure whether she believed that, but she decided to keep her silence. No need to stir up any more trouble after all.

"Let us start again." Osaki tried to smooth things over, gently placing a hand on his partner's shoulder and pulling her backwards. "I am Osaki Koyo, and this is Yomaura Taya. We are detectives in service of Fuyuki-City's law-enforcement agency."

"Well met." Issei promptly replied, his tone pompous and strong, as it always was when he introduced himself to adults. "My name is Ryuudou Issei, from the Ryuudou-temple."

"I am Mitsuzuri Ayako. We already know each other, Osaki-san, though I haven't had the pleasure of meeting Yomaura-san yet." Ayako said stiffly, her overly formal tone indicating she was still cross about Yomaura's brazen accusation against Sakura earlier.

"Matou Sakura." The plum-haired girl said shortly, before falling silent again. Further introduction was rather unnecessary, considering they'd met before.

"Now that we have been introduced, let us leave this room." If Osaki was in any way affected by Sakura's curtness, he did an excellent job of hiding it. "This is generally not the place where we question witnesses. The officer who brought you here made a mistake."

"Phew, I'm glad to hear that." Ayako laughed, though there was something forced about it again. "I was getting the creeps from this room."

The brunette played it off for laughs, but from her tone, Sakura could tell that the wait in the interrogation room had actually gotten to her, and she promptly took her girlfriend's hand again, trying to comfort her a bit.

A few minutes later, the three teens were seated on much more comfortable chairs in a side-office on the fourth floor of the precinct, with more snacks and fresh glasses of water. It wasn't long after that that their guardians also arrived.

"Ayako!" Mitsuzuri Chiaki, Ayako's mother, immediately hugged her daughter, to said daughter's embarrassment. "Oh, my dearest girl, I heard what happened! It was so awful! You must be shocked!"

"M-Mom, it's not that bad!" Ayako protested, her cheeks getting red as her mother kept hugging her tightly. "Mom, please!"

"To think that there was a deceased person so close to our temple, and one who has probably died through violence at that." Issei's father, who was basically a carbon copy of Issei but older, placed a hand on his son's shoulder, shaking his head in dismay. "Once we return home, I'll have everyone participate in a cleansing ritual, to banish the foul energies and grant peace to the poor soul."

"Excellent idea, father." Issei nodded, placing his hand on his heart. "I will do my utmost to live up to your expectations."

"Heya, Sakura." Fujimura-Sensei did not bother with teary hugs or grave statements, but instead gave her a cheerful greeting, before looking around the side-office. "Hm, not bad, this place. You know, when I heard that you'd been taken by the police, I feared for a moment that they had put you in an interrogation room, but I'm glad that isn't the case. I would have had to break some bones if they did, and that's so much trouble."

"…Of course." Sakura completely agreed that breaking bones was trouble, and as such, made no mention of the fact that they had been put in such a room at first. "We are perfectly alright, Fujimura-Sensei, especially now that you're here."

"Hehe." The teacher grinned widely, placing a hand on Sakura's head and tussling her hair a bit, before she turned towards Osaki and Yomaura. "Well then, let's get this over with. It's late, and the kids have just had a bad experience they need to recover from."

"Of course, Fujimura-san, we completely understand that this is difficult." Osaki said soothingly, clearly already familiar with the brown-haired teacher. "But taking witness-statements is something that must be done immediately after the fact, with events still fresh in their memories. If we wait until tomorrow, they might forget something crucial."

"I know how this stuff works." Fujimura-Sensei answered promptly, giving an impatient wave of her hand. "I'm not telling you to stop. To the contrary, I'm telling you to get a move on and ask your questions so we can leave as soon as possible."

"Of course." Osaki nodded, before directing all the guests towards their chairs and then taking place opposite of them, motioning for his partner to do the same. He also placed some kind of form on the table and held a pen at the ready to start writing. "Now, to start, you are Matou Sakura, Mitsuzuri Ayako, and Ryuudou Issei, correct?"

"That is correct." Issei nodded.

"I am Mitsuzuri Ayako." Ayako confirmed.

"Yes." Sakura smiled another brittle smile, though this time the brittleness came mainly from having to deal with her family-name.

"Very good." Osaki made a note on the paper. "You are here as witnesses for an official police-investigation, correct?"

"Correct again." Issei confirmed for the three of them.

"Are you aware that you are not under arrest, that no charges of any kind have been brought against you, and that you are free to leave at any time?"

"The officer who brought us here told us that." Ayako said, and Sakura noticed the muscle beneath Yomaura's eye twitching at the mention of that particular officer.

Another note was made.

"Lastly, do you consent to being interviewed without the presence of an attorney?"

"I… suppose we do?" Issei answered, though hesitatingly this time, and he looked back at the adults for help.

"You may interview them without an attorney present this one time." Fujimura-Sensei came to his aid, levelling a stern glare at the officers. "I must insist however that you limit yourself to questions about the events of tonight, and that the kids retain the right to remain silent. Furthermore, once this interview is over, any further contact between these three and yourself will be done via an attorney."

As the daughter of a Yakuza-Oyabun, Fujimura Taiga was very well aware of all dirty tricks the Japanese police had hidden up their sleeves, and she was determined to head off any underhanded moves that these detectives might employ.

It was possible there would be no underhanded moves of course, but it couldn't hurt to be prepared.

Osaki dutifully wrote down Fujimura-Sensei's statement, not giving a single sign of being irritated or otherwise bothered by her words and tone, and then officially commenced the interview.

"Can you give a description of the events that led towards you discovering the body?"

"Of course." Issei promptly did so, telling them about their nightly stroll through the forest, about them suddenly smelling a rotting stench once they'd walked a certain distance from the temple, and about them discovering a dead person's head.

He took care not to reveal too much, though Sakura knew being so prudent was not necessarily required with these two detectives, as they already knew about the existence of the Moonlit World. Nevertheless, Ayako's parents and Issei's father certainly didn't know about magic, so they stuck to their cover story.

At the end of Issei's tale, Osaki continued writing for a few seconds more, before he went on asking questions. Yomaura remained silent beside him, merely watching them, probably hunting for discrepancies or mistakes in their statements.

"When you found the body, was it buried completely or partially?"

"Partially." This time, it was Ayako who replied. "Most of it was buried, but the head was exposed. We didn't disturb the scene. All we did was brush some dirt aside to make sure that the head was human."

"So it was already exposed?" Osaki seemed to consider that of some interest. "Strange. Normally, criminals do a proper job of burying their victims."

"It might have been the animals of the forest who dug it up once they caught wind of the smell." Issei's father supplied a possible explanation. "It is not unusual for foxes and crows to scavenge, and they hardly care what kind of meat they eat. Human or deer, it is the same to them."

"Were there any traces around the body that indicated a human presence?" Osaki asked his next question after giving the man a nod. "Footprints perhaps?"

"We saw nothing of the sort." Issei answered, pensively rubbing his chin.

"Do you have any idea who this person could have been?" Osaki asked this question to Issei and his father in particular. "Has anyone from the temple perhaps gone missing recently?"

"Everyone is accounted for." Issei's father didn't hesitate for a second. "And before you ask, all our regular visitors are also in good health, and all of them have visited the temple over the last week."

"Does the police not know who it is?" Fujimura-Sensei asked curiously before Osaki could move on to the next question. "The dead body, I mean."

"The coroners and our researchers are currently working on identification-" Osaki began, before Yomaura, who'd taken her phone out of her pocket a few seconds before, held said phone under his nose, forcing him to read something.

"…My apologies. It seems our researchers have finished. The dead person has been identified as Carlton Paris." The black-haired detective informed them. "Have you ever heard of this person, or met him perhaps?"

"Can't say I have." Issei replied promptly.

"I have never heard of him either." Ayako agreed immediately, though Sakura noticed a very slight twitch in the brunette's fingers, a tell-tale sign that she wasn't being entirely honest.

"Neither have I." Sakura put the twitch aside and replied. "He sounds foreign. Was he a tourist?"

"Paris-san was born on the island Saint Lucia in the Caribbean, but he had been a Japanese citizen for over a decade." Yomaura replied. "He lived in Tokyo for several years before coming here though."

"He lived in Fuyuki-City for seven years before his death, though mostly among the upper class." Osaki added, his eyes still on his partner's phone, before he looked up. "With that in mind, is there anything you'd like to add to your answer concerning your familiarity with the man?"

"Hm, no, I don't think so." Issei said after a moment of pondering. "My apologies, but I really do not know this man, and neither do my friends."

"We really just found the body." Ayako said, a faint hint of an apology in her tone.

"Very well." Osaki nodded, before turning to Issei's father specifically. "Ryuudou-san, as the murder appears to have taken place close to your temple, it is likely we'll have to question all members soon. Could you tell your congregation that we will come to visit and take everybody's statements within the next few days?"

"I will." The monk nodded.

"Thank you. Now, is there anything else that you would like to add to your statement before I bring this interview to a close?" Osaki looked all three of them in the eyes one by one, and when they all shook their heads, nodded in acceptance, before returning his notepad to his pocket.

It seemed like the interview was over, but Sakura could see in his eyes the desire to ask further questions, and she was willing to bet they concerned the possibility of this case being in any way related to the Moonlit World.

As he didn't seem to be certain whether he could ask though, she decided to throw him a bone.

"I didn't see anything strange in that clearing, Osaki-san." She said, and while at first both detectives seemed confused at her statement, understanding dawned quickly. "I mean it. It seemed to be an ordinary corpse."

"Please don't call it a corpse." Yomaura muttered, probably out of reflex. "Call it a dead body."

"Ah, I'm sorry-"

"If that is all you have to say, we will cut this interview short." Osaki interrupted brusquely, and he rose from his chair to shoo them out of the side-office. "We will possibly call on you again though, through your attorneys of course, so don't leave the city and make sure you can be contacted at all times."

"Of course." Issei nodded, appearing slightly surprised at the suddenness with which the interview had ended. He was a smart man though, and Sakura could see he already had some ideas as to why things seemed to take unusual turns. "We wish you the best of luck in tracking down the murderer."

"Good luck indeed." Ayako nodded.

Osaki nodded back sharply, and then Sakura, Ayako, and Issei, along with their guardians, left the side-office again.

"Man, that was unnerving." Ayako whined once they'd left the precinct altogether, folding her hands behind her head. "I'm sorry for being so quiet in there, guys, but I really didn't know what to say. They were so intimidating."

"It is no problem, Mitsuzuri-san." Issei assured her promptly. "In fact, I-"

"Indeed not." Sakura quickly interrupted him, feeling that as a loving girlfriend, she was the one who should set Ayako at ease. "I think we managed perfectly well, and really, saying less is better in those situations. That's what Fujimura-Sensei always says."

"And I stand by it." The exuberant woman scoffed loudly. "Nothing good can come from saying too much to the police. Better to stay silent than to say too much when they're around."

"Ah, are you perhaps a criminal, Fujimura-san?" Mitsuzuri Ryozo, Ayako's father, asked sheepishly, a bead of sweat going down his forehead when Taiga's gaze zeroed in on him. "You certainly talk like one."

"No one has ever been able to prove anything." And with this totally not-reassuring answer, Taiga turned away again.

"I guess we better head home then." Ayako said to Sakura, who nodded in agreement. "Mom, dad, can I-?"

"Stay with Sakura?" Chiaki finished for her with a roll of her eyes, before she smiled. "Of course. It's not like you have done anything else since Shirou left."

"Ehehehe." Ayako rubbed the back of her head sheepishly.

"We shall head back to the temple." Issei's father said, taking his son's shoulder again. "We need to do a cleansing ritual tomorrow, so we need to be well-rested."

"Are you going back to the temple on foot?" Fujimura-Sensei asked sceptically. "That's at least an hour of walking, you know?"

"I imagine we know that better than you do." Issei's father said with a touch of humour in his voice, before pointing down the street. "But you need not worry. Issei and I have a ride."

Exactly on cue, the roar of a powerful engine sounded through the street, and the entire group turned to see a large motorcycle approaching them, carrying a person clad in a black biker suit on it.

At first sight, it seemed like a delinquent punk was having a laugh by making the streets unsafe at night, but when the motorcycle came close, pulled over near them, and the driver dismounted and took off their helmet, Sakura realised this was no punk at all.

It was a beautiful, mature-looking woman, with long, black hair, killer curves that the skin-tight suit did nothing to hide, and a general air about her that spoke of a woman more than capable of dealing with any number of delinquents trying to harass her.

Was this the person who would give Issei and his father a ride? But who was she-?

"Mother." Issei said happily, and every other person present, except his father, did an about-face at that little reveal. "I am most pleased to see you. Are you well?"

"All's fine with me, Issei." The woman laughed in a deep timbre, her tone warm and loving as she addressed her son. "How did it go with them coppers?"

"Everything went well, my dear." Issei's father replied, stepping towards the woman and exchanging a loving kiss with her. "We're all done, and we just need a ride home."

"Hop on then." The biker beauty grinned, and within moments, the three were on the bike together.

"Mitsuzuri-san, Matou-san, I wish you a pleasant evening." Issei said his goodbyes formally, bowing as well as he could while seated on a motorcycle. "Until next time."

"Uh, yeah, bye." Ayako mumbled.

"Have a pleasant evening." Sakura said, even though it was night already.

And then the bike sped off, leaving a rather astounded group in its wake.

"Those monks never cease to amaze me." Fujimura-Sensei was the first to speak up after that, and Sakura agreed wholeheartedly with what she said. "Whatever, let's go home as well. Goodnight to you both, Mitsuzuri-parents."

"And to you, Sensei." Chiaki laughed at Fujimura-Sensei's odd way of addressing them, and then she and Ryozo went home.

As Sakura, Ayako, and Fujimura-Sensei walked back to the Emiya-estate, Ayako grabbed Sakura's arm and leaned in close.

"Any chance I can convince you to wear a sexy biker suit?" She whispered.

"Done." Sakura whispered back immediately. "But in return, you have to dress like a sexy priestess."

"How very exciting."

And as the girls whispered to each other, giggling occasionally, Taiga looked ahead, pretending she couldn't hear what was said behind her.

---

It didn't take long for Shirou, Lady Barthomeloi, and Grey to arrive at the Golem-Workshop.

The Department of Mineralogy was much smaller than Archaeology, and as such, they only had to descend a few stairs and cross one hallway while following the signs before they arrived at their destination.

Still, despite Mineralogy's smaller size, the Golem-Workshop itself was very impressive indeed.

It was a large hall, with walls made out of a mix of Magically Reinforced gemstone –which had been artificially made and thus only held decorative value– and several kinds of precious metals, giving it an ethereal appearance, which would have been right at home in a children's storybook.

Crystal chandeliers hung from the ceiling, torches lit with bluish flames lined the walls, and intricate patterns had been carved into the walls, which only accentuated the fairy-tale-like atmosphere of the place.

The atmosphere was rudely disturbed however by the objects and items that had been stored in the hall. A few Golems might have added to the ambience if tastefully placed at strategic locations, but dozens of them stacked on top of each other in unsightly ways only made for an ugly picture. What's more, the tools that were used for crafting Golems clearly hadn't been maintained well, no one had cleaned the hall in years, and the many workbenches and whiteboards terribly fell out of tone with the rest of the room.

The stench of sweat and other body-odours that assaulted Shirou's nose the moment he came in was only the icing on the cake at that point.

Shirou was very happy to note however that there was not a trace of blood to be found anywhere, and from what he could smell, Golem-Craft was indeed the only thing that had ever been performed here. There was nothing else; no Necromancy, no Dead-Apostle research, no dissections or vivisections, nothing but Golems.

No lives had been lost in this hall.

When he said as much to Lady Barthomeloi and Grey, the white-haired girl gave him a cautious smile of relief, while the brunette merely nodded in acceptance.

"Not all who follow the Meluastea do so because they have a penchant for cruelty." The latter began explaining, placing a hand on her hip as she scanned the seemingly deserted hall. "Some follow them simply because that family is, or rather was, very powerful in the Clocktower, and power begets followers, always."

"I suppose you have much experience with that." Shirou said, also scanning the hall.

"Too much." Lady Barthomeloi let out a very small sigh, but then immediately recomposed herself again. "I would ask you whether there are people present here, Fujimaru, but I can see them myself."

"Ah, me too." Grey nodded, before pointing at a pile of Golems. "They are hiding behind those Golems."

"Well-spotted, lady Grey." Lady Barthomeloi praised the hooded girl with a surprisingly gentle voice, before giving an idle wave with her hand.

An idle wave that generated a whirlwind powerful enough to sweep the pile of Golems aside, exposing the Magi hiding behind it.

"EEP!" One of them yelped in fear, and as they all stumbled back, Shirou took the opportunity to count them.

"Sixteen opponents." He mused, rolling his shoulder once. "None of them very powerful."

"Let us deal with them and move on-"

Lady Barthomeloi never got to finish her sentence.

"HAK!"

One of the Magi at the back of the group suddenly let out a strangled, tormented noise, and when everyone turned towards him, he fell forward almost bonelessly, dying before he hit the ground, revealing the man who had been standing behind him, a bloody knife in his hands.

With an impressive swiftness, the Magus swung the blade sideways, slashing the throat of a female Magus who had been standing near him, and followed it up by stabbing into the eye of a third Magus.

Shirou realised a second too late what he was up to.

"STOP HIM!" He roared, exploding into motion so hard he cracked the stone underneath his feet, immediately followed by Lady Barthomeloi and Grey, who very nearly matched his speed as they too tried to prevent the knife-wielding Magus from completing his objective.

Both women had realised what said Magus was trying to do, what he was trying to conduct, and just like Shirou, they realised they had to stop him now.

They were too late however.

A fraction of a second before Shirou could stop him, the man planted the knife into his own chest, and it was with a maniacal grin on his face that he died, his body joining the other six on the floor.

Two seconds later, pandemonium broke out.

---

Grey watched with a sinking feeling in her gut as the knife-wielding Magus fell to the ground, dead.

Sure, he might not be able to hurt anyone anymore, but his death did not set her at ease one single bit, as she had a pretty good idea what he was trying to do. It wasn't unusual for Magi to use humans as fuel for spells after all.

She didn't know what kind of spell specifically he was trying to cast, but Sir had taught her well enough over the past months that she was able to recognise a ritual when she saw one.

And considering said ritual had been fuelled by human lives, Magus-lives at that, it was sure to be a very dangerous one.

Dangerous enough that even mister Fujimaru and Lady Barthomeloi were visibly cautious of its effects.

That was why Grey wasn't surprised at all to see the blood that had pooled around the seven bodies suddenly converge into one place, before the pool of crimson liquid rose into the air, floating there like a gigantic, red bubble.

Mister Fujimaru tried to fire a lightning bolt at the bubble, but before it could hit, the blob sped off again…

…Right at the pile of Golems that Lady Barthomeloi had so casually tossed aside earlier.

The sinking feeling in Grey's gut intensified when the bubble made contact with the huge, clay constructs, and it turned into outright fear when it merged with them.

The clay started bubbling as if it was boiling, and it turned from a muddish brown to as red as the blood that had merged with it. The clay bubbled and bubbled, and then began melting.

All the Golems, over two dozen of them, melted into puddles of red goo. These puddles then coalesced with each other, forming a veritable lake.

For a few seconds, nothing happened, the lake remaining completely still.

Then the goo rose, and rose, and rose, taking on a roughly human shape, and began solidifying, until before them stood the largest Golem that Grey had ever seen.

It had to be at least ten metres tall, and more than three metres wide. It had six arms as thick and massive as tree trunks, and its two legs were pillars that supported its immense weight with ease.

The legs ended in flat feet, like a Golem's legs were supposed to, but the arms, all six of them, ended in eerily human-like hands, with five fingers tipped with razor-sharp claws, which were opening and closing periodically.

The scariest thing though, the feature that truly, deeply unnerved Grey, was the Golem's face.

Normal Golems barely had a face. They had a slab where a face was supposed to be, which might contain some features that could be humanlike, if the creator was so inclined, but certainly didn't have to. Golems were used for hard labour after all, or for battle, and they didn't need a detailed face for that.

This Golem did have a detailed face however, and by the Root, it was horrendous.

There were deep wrinkles everywhere, the eyes were pink and held a cruel flame, the symmetry of the left half and right half was completely off, and worst of all, its mouth, wide and gaping, was filled with countless flat teeth, seemingly made to grind things to a pulp.

It was as if someone had taken the face of the Magus who had conducted the ritual, had melted all the skin off it, had added ridiculously huge teeth, and then covered it in clay.

"That thing is ugly." Mister Fujimaru said out loud what Grey had been thinking, his expression a mix of fascination and revulsion.

"Indeed." Lady Barthomeloi turned her nose up at it, sneering darkly as if personally insulted. "I will not stand for having it in our presence. Be gone!"

She launched several high-powered wind-blades at the Golem, each strong enough to cut through several centimetres of steel.

The Golem did not bother dodging, and was hit full on, the wind-blades making contact with its joints and its neck.

Nothing happened though. The blades did cut into the clay, but the moment they had passed, the clay simply pooled back together, so quickly that the limbs didn't even have time to fall.

"Regenerative powers?" Mister Fujimaru clacked his tongue once. "And very strong ones. This will be more difficult than I thought."

"We merely need to overwhelm its regeneration-"

Lady Barthomeloi was interrupted by the Golem itself, which suddenly launched itself forward with a speed that, while not lightning-fast, was much, much greater than a construct of its size should be able to reach.

The golem sped towards Lady Barthomeloi, and then brought down its foot on her, attempting to crush her.

The brunette was gone in an instant however, easily dodging the stomp that to her might as well have moved in slow-motion, and retaliated with more wind-blades, which again had no effect.

The Golem then lashed out with its claws, the six arms working together seamlessly to produce a storm of razor-sharp edges, but Lady Barthomeloi still smoothly dodged every attack, dancing around like a snowflake over a lake.

It resulted in her skirt flipping up quite a bit, but Grey did her very best not to look at that, and she noticed Fujimaru also trying his best not to look. Lady Barthomeloi was a very beautiful woman though, so both Grey and Shirou had a lot more trouble with not looking than they would have liked.

While Lady Barthomeloi was dodging the attacks perfectly well, the remaining enemy-Magi weren't so lucky or capable. They were caught up in the violence, torn to pieces by the weapon their supposed 'ally' had created.

Blood splattered all over the Golem's 'skin', and it paused, turning its head towards the shredded corpses as the blood was absorbed into its body. Its pink eyes shone with hunger as it looked at the dead flesh, and for a moment, it ignored its enemies in favour of reaching for the chunks of dead body.

It immediately paid for the mistake, as Lady Barthomeloi lashed out with a drop-kick, hitting a wrist and slashing right through it with her leg, severing the hand completely.

At the same time, mister Fujimaru launched a bolt of lightning at the clay giant's head, and then drew a Rune in the air, from which an enormous burst of white-hot fire was generated, aimed for the titanic torso.

It seemed for a second that the Golem would lose, and Grey opened her mouth in preparation for praising her two allies, when…

"Yeah, I expected as much."

Mister Fujimaru made that dry remark as he watched how his lightning bolt and firestorm had no effect on the creature, while the hand that Lady Barthomeloi had severed reverted to a fluid form, before speeding back to the wrist and attaching itself again, after which it formed back into a proper hand, claws and all.

"It really has very strong regenerative powers, and Golems are creatures of Earth and Water, meaning lightning and fire will do very little to them." The redhead continued, quickly widening the distance between him and his soulless enemy. "I don't think we can overcome its self-healing ability with our current level of attacks. Brute force is clearly useless."

"Though ugly, it has turned out to be a most impressive weapon." Lady Barthomeloi agreed, looking at the Golem in a new light. "I was wrong before. This giant deserves our full consideration and effort."

"Hold on! Did you listen to me at all? I said brute force won't work-"

But Fujimaru's protests were for naught. Lady Barthomeloi launched herself forward again, and with a muttered curse, Fujimaru followed close behind.

As for Grey, she quickly deployed Ad into his scythe-form and hurried after the other two as well.

"That's a scary Golem." The scythe commented, and Grey knew that he was observing the construct carefully, his tone indicating he considered it a difficult opponent. "Never thought I'd see something like it in this day and age."

Grey ignored her weapon for now, instead trying to keep track of the battle as Fujimaru and Lady Barthomeloi became veritable blurs as they attempted to take the Golem down.

Fujimaru blew away half its leg with a single punch, before retreating to dodge the swipe of a claw.

Right after that, Lady Barthomeloi destroyed the other half of the leg, yet before the Golem could fall over, the leg had regenerated already.

Lady Barthomeloi continued it up by freezing a part of the Golem in ice, but was forced backwards when the Golem carelessly shattered the ice, its damaged parts healing right away.

It was forced to take a step backwards itself though when Fujimaru threw explosions at it, taking whole chunks out of its body, but it lumbered forward again soon.

Even when Lady Barthomeloi began using Curses to reduce the clay to dust, to hamstring its movements, to trip it up, and to attempt to stop its regeneration, the Golem continued attacking unabated.

Fujimaru then brought his hammer down on the golem's back, blowing a massive hole in its torso, but again, the damage disappeared seconds later.

"Even if I hit it with Mjolnir…?" Fujimaru seemed very surprised his weapon had so little effect, before he seemed to listen to something, and then sighed. "If I want it to be more permanent, I need to use more power? Well, even if you say that…"

"We cannot afford to use too much power." Lady Barthomeloi said sharply, even as she chopped the claws off the Golem's left hand with a flat palm. "We promised Lady Reines that we would be mindful of the destruction we cause during our battles."

"No more force than is absolutely required to destroy the enemy." Fujimaru agreed, jumping onto the Golem's shoulder and kicking the side of its head so hard it almost came off entirely. "But really, destroying this guy isn't difficult. Keeping it destroyed is the problem."

"Hiya!" Grey didn't have anything to add to the discussion, so she lashed out with her scythe at the large leg in front of her. It cut the clay perfectly well, but just like with the attacks from the other two, the damage was healed immediately.

"It's better at healing itself than the Dead Apostle Ancestor I fought against a few years ago." Lady Barthomeloi said, and both Grey and Fujimaru stared at her in stupefaction. "That Ancestor had many esoteric talents though, so it was a fiercer opponent than this lumbering giant which knows only physical attacks."

"It seems that most of its attacking power has been sacrificed for more defence and regeneration." Fujimaru explained, his eyes glowing as he looked at the Golem. "It isn't very smart though. Perhaps we could trap it?"

"In a cage you mean?"

"Let's start with chains first."

Fujimaru promptly Projected a long, Magically-Reinforced chain, which wrapped around the Golem several times, forcing its arms against its body and binding its legs together.

It seemed at first as if it would work, yet when the Golem found it could no longer move, it responded by liquifying its clay for a moment, causing the chains to slide right off its form, before it solidified again.

"Alright, never mind what I said before. This guy is a clever fellow." Fujimaru commented, sounding impressed despite himself. "So it's strong, quite fast, it can regenerate, and it isn't stupid. To think modern day Magi could make something like this."

"With enough resources, several human sacrifices, and the motivation, I could make such a Golem as well." Lady Barthomeloi boasted, before she frowned. "Although… It might not be so proficient at self-regeneration. It is most curious how these Magi managed to produce something so sophisticated."

"From what I can see, a lot of individuals worked together to create this." Fujimaru grumbled, frowning deeply. "Many of them weren't human."

Lady Barthomeloi didn't reply verbally, but she did frown, and her attacks became much fiercer after Fujimaru had spoken.

It still did nothing though. No matter what they tried, the Golem just kept regenerating.

Eventually, Lady Barthomeloi and Fujimaru began debating the use of large-scale destruction-Spells, and Grey realised she had to think of something quickly, before those two would be forced to destroy the Golem Workshop entirely.

So far, they had done a good job of leading the Golem around without causing too much damage, but if they couldn't defeat the thing with normal spells, it was only a matter of time before the massive explosions, seas of fire, and the really esoteric spells started flying.

Fujimaru and Lady Barthomeloi would destroy the Golem Workshop in their efforts to take the Golem down, and that would make Reines sad.

Grey didn't want Reines to be sad.

So she wracked her brain even as she darted around the Golem's feet, slashing and cutting with all her power in an attempt to bring it down. She dug deeply into her memory, trying to find something that would help her in this situation.

Then it hit her!

Several months ago, when she'd just come to the Clocktower, she had attended one of Sir's lectures, the first one she'd ever been present for actually.

Of course, at the time, she'd been very nervous, and too pre-occupied with keeping a low profile and hiding her face to really pay attention to what Sir was saying, but she did remember a few things from that lecture.

Most notably, that it had been about Golems, and about the way they were constructed.

…She might have an idea.

"Mister Fujimaru!" She called out, addressing him rather than Lady Barthomeloi, as he was more likely to listen to her. "In Jewish folklore, Golems had a small plate on their forehead on which the incantation was written that gave them life! If you break that plate, they will fall apart immediately!"

"There is no plate on its forehead though." Lady Barthomeloi, who had apparently listened along, argued, scanning the Golem's face.

"Maybe it's somewhere else." Fujimaru suggested, before he gazed intensely at the Golem. Barely two seconds later, his face lit up. "Found it!"

"Where is it?" Lady Barthomeloi asked sharply, a ball of energy forming on top of her index-finger in preparation for a precision-shot.

"In its right-shoulder- No, wait, in its left-leg- Huh, in its stomach?" Fujimaru started out confident, but then he quickly became confused, his eyes flitting all over the Golem's form. "The plate is moving!"

"Of course it is." Lady Barthomeloi clacked her tongue. "We have dealt the Golem considerable damage. If the plate had been stationary, we would have destroyed it by now. The only way it could have survived is by moving around."

"Can we still destroy it?" Grey asked, well aware she had no long-distance precision Magecraft herself. She had Ad of course, who in his final form could fire a ray of destruction, but that would do far too much damage to the hall.

"The plate moves in response to threats." Fujimaru replied. "If we want to hit it, we need to close the distance without showing any aggression, before striking very quickly."

"That should be doable." Lady Barthomeloi's eyes flashed as she quickly devised a strategy. "This Golem is slow in movement and slower to react. Approaching it will not be a problem."

"Be cautious though." Fujimaru warned them. "There is something I'm not seeing, something about this Golem that's very dangerous."

"We will deal with it as it comes." Lady Barthomeloi dismissed his warning however, and then rushed off, rapidly getting closer to the Golem, though without showing any aggression.

The hunt for the plate had begun.

---

Since the Golem was actively hunting for them, approaching it was a very simple matter. Shirou just took a leap, and then he was hovering above it, lazily dodging its relatively slow swipes by flying from the left to the right and back.

Keeping his eye on the plate was far more difficult however. The cause for that was the fact that the Golem's entire form seemed to glow a bright red to Shirou's eyes, and the plate was only a slightly deeper red than the rest, easily disappearing into the background unless he really strained his eyes to keep seeing it.

Of course, neither the Golem nor the plate were actually red, but that was the best way for Shirou to describe what he was seeing, and how difficult it was to keep track of his target. He didn't know how, but the person who'd constructed that thing had found a way around Shirou's senses.

It wasn't perfect though. As said before, Shirou could still spot the plate if he focused enough, but it surely was impressive nonetheless. It also made him wary, because if the plate and its function had been hidden from his eyes until Grey alerted him to its existence, then what else was the Golem hiding?

Caution was required here.

That need for caution was one of the reasons Shirou did not immediately unleash an attack at the plate, the other reason being that any sign of aggression would make it move away at a blinding pace.

He could try to destroy the entire construct at once of course, but with how resilient it had proven to be, that would require a massive attack that would surely destroy most of the hall as well. Reines would be heartbroken if he did that, so he didn't.

He would deal with the matter with the appropriate level of prudence, and he would-

What was Lady Barthomeloi doing?!

As Shirou watched in shock, the brunette took a massive leap towards the Golem, landing on its mighty shoulder, where she balanced carefully, making sure not to show any hostile intent.

The Golem tried to squash her with one of its gigantic hands, but she nimbly jumped to the other shoulder, and back again when it tried crushing her again.

It was almost beautiful to see the Queen dancing over the Golem's body, gracefully dodging its every attack, her long, shiny hair dancing behind her as she moved around like a professional ballerina.

No, scratch the 'almost', it was simply beautiful, no doubt about it.

"Fujimaru!" She called out to him after dodging another blow. "Where is the plate?!"

"…In its left leg!" Shirou shouted back after a moment of searching, frowning deeply as he realised Lady Barthomeloi had no angle of attack.

She must have realised too, for her next shout was an order.

"Make it move the plate towards me!"

"Easier said than done." Shirou grumbled softly, but he did fire a blast of lightning at the left leg. The Golem had shown itself resistant against lightning before, but Shirou put sufficient power into it this time to overwhelm that resistance, at least partially, enough to damage the leg and chase the plate away.

Said plate raced upwards, and ended up in one of the Golem's right hands.

"Upper right hand!" He shouted at Grey, and she promptly cut into said hand with her… Scythe? Lance? Beacon at *he e*d o* th* Wor*d?

…Arturia?

With a groan of discomfort, Shirou forced himself to look away from that scythe(?) and towards the plate instead, feeling how Avalon settled down again after suddenly heating up for some reason.

"It's coming towards you!" He shouted at Lady Barthomeloi, following the plate with his eyes as it rushed towards the shoulder she was standing on. Two seconds later, it had arrived. "Right below you!"

Lady Barthomeloi needed no more encouragement, and she brought her fist down with enough power to break through at least three metres of concrete.

The Golem's hide proved no match, and the shoulder broke apart.

It wasn't enough to destroy the plate, but the blow did expose it, and now, Lady Barthomeloi and Grey could see it as well.

It looked extremely simplistic, made of pure bronze, without decorations of any kind. There were only a few letters written on it, Hebrew letters, together forming the word 'EMET', which Shirou somehow knew to mean 'Truth'.

Lady Barthomeloi immediately reached for it, eager to break the plate and neutralise the Golem, but before she could-

"IIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIEEEEEEEEEEEEE!"

The Golem let out a high-pitched cry, shrill and loud, almost like an alarm, and its eyes turned blue.

The next moment, everything went wrong.

The Golem went berserk, wildly swinging its arms around as more arms grew from every inch of its body, all of them tipped with claws that together formed a whirlwind of cutting blades, preventing anyone from getting closer.

At the same time, its body partially liquified. Lady Barthomeloi, who had been standing on its shoulder, promptly sunk into the clay up to her knees.

Worse, several dozens of the Golem's new arms worked together to trap her arms as well, encasing them into a thick layer of clay and preventing her from moving them.

The plate then started sinking back into the body, rapidly disappearing beneath the clay, and for a moment, it seemed it would get away-

Then Lady Barthomeloi slammed her head down against the clay in the most brutal headbutt Shirou had ever seen, completely unbalancing the Golem, utterly pulping most of the shoulder, and exposing the plate again.

…Was it odd that the sight made Shirou's heart beat a little faster?

Lady Barthomeloi was still trapped however, and Shirou wasn't sure another headbutt would destroy the plate either, so he aimed Mjolnir at it, preparing to fire a lightning bolt…

Before Lady Barthomeloi again did the unthinkable, bringing her head down and grabbing the plate with her teeth, holding in her mouth.

Then she bit down, Reinforcing her teeth and jaws.

The plate was made of bronze, which wasn't a soft metal at all, but Lady Barthomeloi's jaw strength was enough to dent and deform it, destroying several of the letters, completely disrupting the spell.

The Golem froze immediately after, its arms stopping dead as its eyes lost all colour.

With its core destroyed, there was nothing to power it or keep it together, and within seconds, it started to dissolve, falling apart into harmless motes of clay.

The Golem, formerly so terrible and terrifying, ceased to exist in a mere moment.

Then the plate, still held in Lady Barthomeloi's mouth, exploded.

"UMH!" The brunette gave a muffled cry of agony, slapping her newly freed hands over her mouth as she fell off the Golem's shoulder, landing hard on the ground.

"Lady Barthomeloi!" Shirou was over in a flash, landing next to her, wincing when he saw the blood seeping through her fingers. "L-Let me… I will heal you."

Wounded as she was, the brunette hadn't lost her good sense, and she was prompt to sit up and remove her hands to allow Shirou access to her wounds.

It didn't look good.

She was missing at least three teeth, and numerous others had been damaged in some way. One of her cheeks had been torn open, and a large part of her tongue was missing too. Numerous other smaller wounds littered her face on top of that.

Since she had Reinforced her mouth, none of it was critical, and the healers of the Barthomeloi-family could probably fix her right up if given enough time, but it was extremely inconvenient and probably hurt like hell.

Not that Lady Barthomeloi let the hurt show. After the initial cry of agony and surprise, she hadn't made a single sound of discomfort or said a word of complaint.

Not that she could talk with her mouth in such a state, but still.

Shirou placed his hands on her cheeks, hooking his thumbs into the corners of her mouth to cover as large an area as he could, and channelled his Healing Power, the golden light making short work of the lady's injuries.

It was amazing to see, and once more really drove home how powerful the Mysterious Power truly was, to wipe away wounds as if they were mere stains. There was something hypnotic about watching as teeth reappeared, wounds stitched themselves back together, and flesh regrew from nothing.

Within seconds, Lady Barthomeloi was healed again.

…And Shirou was left in a predicament.

Now that the danger had passed and the adrenaline-levels went down again, he acutely realised the position he was in.

He was crouching down, in front of Lady Barthomeloi, who was sitting seiza with her mouth open, with his hands on her cheeks and his thumbs in her mouth, practically pulling the corners to the side so he could look inside.

And not like a dentist doing an innocent check-up, no, this felt far more… indecent. Like he was some kind of pervert, playing with a woman's face.

And Shirou didn't stay cool in the face of this situation. Lady Barthomeloi had always been beautiful, but now she was outright cute, sitting on her knees with her hands on her thighs, looking up innocently as he pulled on the corners of her mouth, her clear, brown eyes full of trust and confidence in him.

It was the skirt-incident all over again!

And of course, Lady Barthomeloi had to make it all worse, by probing the inside of her cheeks with her tongue, searching for injuries, during which she inadvertently licked his thumbs as well.

Shirou did not panic, panicking would only make things worse, and instead stayed perfectly calm, his expression completely neutral as he calmly removed his hands from her face, as if nothing unusual was happening.

"Mister Fujimaru! Lady Barthomeloi! Are you alright?!"

Grey's arrival was a godsend, and when Lady Barthomeloi turned her face away to answer Grey, Shirou quickly wiped his thumbs on his clothes, before discreetly slapping himself in the face several times to regain his focus.

Only then did he dare to look back at the other two, even though his heart was still beating annoyingly fast.

How on Earth did he keep ending up in such predicaments with Lady Barthomeloi?

---

"Lady Archibald! I'm so happy you are here!"

"Lord El-Melloi! I heard you were going to be the Lord of Mineralogy? I am most delighted!"

"Hurray for the Archibald! Down with the Meluastea!"

As Waver, Reines, and Delilah went around the Department, visiting every major location that was of immediate relevance, they were received with cheers everywhere they went. Whether it were the lecture-halls, the main offices, the cantina, or literally anywhere else, there were always people standing ready to tell them how delighted they were at the return of the Archibald.

How many of them were sincere in their delight, Waver didn't know, but he was willing to believe most of these people were at least relieved to know the Meluastea were gone. According to Delilah, as well as several other people he'd spoken to, the Meluastea had been cruel and callous masters, so the return to normalcy that the Archibald's rise represented was probably very welcome indeed.

That was what most Magi cared about after all. Normalcy, which in this context meant peace, stability, and overlords who did not micromanage or indeed interfere much at all in the business of their underlings.

Who exactly was in power did not matter to Magi, as long as they held themselves to the standards expected of them. If the Meluastea had been equally good masters as the Archibald had been, very few members of Mineralogy would have had a problem with them.

In light of that, it was very difficult to take the cheers seriously.

Even Reines had seen that after a while, and by now, she just smiled uncomfortably and waved a bit whenever she or her family were praised.

Eventually, they'd made their way through most of the department, and settled down in the office that had once belonged to Kayneth El-Melloi, and now belonged to Waver.

Actually claiming the office was as difficult for Waver as he had expected. When Reines had 'recruited' him, all those years ago, he had insisted on going down in the books as Lord El-Melloi II because the title of Lord El-Melloi was too great a burden, but now fate had seen it fit to give him Kayneth's department, his office, his little sister, and even his every position, essentially forcing him to become 'Lord El-Melloi' proper.

Waver didn't feel ready. Even just getting behind the desk was incredibly hard for him. In the past, whenever he had been called to this office, it had been Kayneth, his teacher, who had sat behind the desk, while Waver himself was directed to a chair somewhere else in the room.

Whether that chair was comfortable or not depended on the reason you were there of course. When Waver had gotten top marks on all of his exams for the third year in a row, he'd sat on a very cushy sofa while Kayneth praised him. When he'd first challenged his teacher over some long-held beliefs that Waver disagreed with, he had been forced to sit on the hardest, coldest chair he'd ever sat on in his life.

With those memories in the back of his head, it had taken quite a bit of effort to get past the desk and sit in the master-chair, but he'd managed in the end, and he now sat where his teacher had once sat, having taken the man's position.

It felt… strange.

"So, Waver." Reines was the first to speak up after they'd entered, having sat down on a plush couch, next to Delilah. "Can I assume you won't be spending a lot of time in this office?"

"That is correct." Waver answered immediately. "I find myself disliking this place a fair bit. There are too many memories."

The office had barely changed since he'd last been inside, now almost nine years ago, when Kayneth had yelled at him for being an idiot for what felt like the hundredth time. Everything was the same, from the furniture and the carpets to the decoration and the chandeliers.

Whichever of the Meluastea had taken residence here, they clearly hadn't bothered making their own mark on the place. The only difference Waver could find was that several of the more expensive and rare artifacts that had decorated the walls were missing. Undoubtedly, they had been taken to Archaeology. He had heard enough stories over the past hours to know that the Meluastea were thieves.

He'd have to see about getting them back, provided that they hadn't been destroyed, sold, or lost at some point over the years.

"Yeah, I suppose you must have a lot of memories of this place." Reines nodded, looking around the office, before her eyes returned to Waver. "Personally, I barely remember ever being here at all. I do have some flashes, maybe, but they might as well be dreams, or wishful thinking, I suppose."

"You have never been here?" Waver asked sceptically. "I find that hard to believe. You were Kayneth's heir, were you not? Did he not teach you?"

"…" Reines clearly considered that to be a very difficult question, if the way her face twisted up was any indication.

"When you abducte- ahem, invited me to that meeting where you forced- ahem, persuaded me to become lord of the Archibald, you referred to him as your beloved big brother, whose place I should take because I had gotten him killed. Do you remember that?"

"Yes, I do." Reines nodded quickly. "Hard to forget really. I, uh, may not have been entirely straight with you there though."

"Not entirely straight?"

"Okay, I lied! Kayneth wasn't my 'beloved big brother'. I barely knew the man at all. I just said I loved him to guilt-trip you into taking his place!"

"…" Waver had nothing to say to that, pinching the bridge of his nose to stave off his headache.

"…Are you mad at me?"

"No, I am not." Waver sighed, deflating as he realised there was no point in being upset. "Let's continue this discussion another time. For now, I have several questions for Delilah."

The addressed girl promptly sat up straighter, having made herself as small as possible during Waver's and Reines' discussion earlier, so as not to disturb her new superiors.

"You have been with the Department of Mineralogy for quite some time now, correct?" Waver started the discussion with a simple question.

"Correct, my lord. I have been a member since my birth, which is twenty-nine years ago now." Delilah responded promptly.

"May I assume then that you have some general knowledge about the department and its members?" Waver continued, ignoring for now that this young-looking, demure girl was several years older than him.

"I-I do know a few things." Delilah nodded stiffly.

"How many members has Mineralogy lost since Kayneth died?"

"Oh, that is hard to say." Delilah frowned, her lips pursing as she thought deeply. "When the Meluastea took over, several dozen people left in protest immediately, and many more people followed over the years when the Meluastea kept stealing things. Other people did join in their place, but I think most of them, or perhaps all of them, were killed or arrested an hour ago."

"So we lost a lot of people?"

"With the people who collaborated with the Meluastea added to the count, we lost close to a hundred members, probably."

"Ah, that sucks!" Reines swore, angrily placing her hands on her hips. "What are we going to do about that?"

"The first thing I'll do is try to get the people who left back with us." Waver made a note of it. "Now that the Meluastea have been outed, they might wish to return."

"From what I heard, you may be able to get half of them back." Delilah supplied helpfully. "I can help you find the people who will definitely accept your offer."

"Any help would be appreciated." Waver nodded at the black-skinned woman. "Alright, next. How many supplies are left?"

"Very few." Delilah's answer was instant, and exactly what Waver had feared. "Those thieves took everything they could find and gave nothing back."

"I suspected as much. I'll speak with Lady Montmorency about getting compensation at some point." Waver made a note of that too. "What about the secret compartments, vaults, and safes?"

"The Meluastea found some of them, but most are still safe."

The questioning continued for a while, with Waver grilling Delilah over every detail, and before long, he had a clear list of what had happened, what was left, and what needed to be done.

"I won't be doing it however." He told Reines in no uncertain terms. "I already have Modern Magical Theories. You can find someone else to run this place."

"A-Ah, really?" Delilah seemed unreasonably disappointed when she heard that. "You will not lead Mineralogy? I had hoped that you would. The rumours about you are so positive."

"…" Waver ground his teeth in annoyance, turning away from Delilah in frustration. "Fine, I will lead Mineralogy too, but after I have managed to get us through this crisis, the day-by-day running will be someone else's job. Reines, you can do it."

"Uh, me? Lead a department?" Reines started at his words, before she pressed the tips of her index-fingers together, looking very nervous as she did so. "D-Don't you think that you're sort of throwing me into the deep end here?"

"You threw me into the deep end seven years ago." Waver reminded her. "When you made me lord of the Archibald."

"Ahahahaha, I suppose." Reines actually said the words 'ahaha' out loud, before bringing her hands together in a begging motion as she pleaded with him. "I'm really sorry about that, I can't do this alone, please help me out here!"

"Delilah can help you." Waver said, looking at the black-skinned woman, who blinked in confusion, before she promptly saluted.

"Yes, sir! I will do my best, sir!"

"And if you can find others to help you, you can appoint them as your assistants." Waver went on. "I will help you too, though within limits. My priority remains the Department of Modern Magical Theories."

"Right." Reines sighed, still not looking quite happy, but a fair bit more relieved now that he had promised to help out and given her permission to recruit whoever she wanted. "I think I have some ideas."

"Good." Waver nodded firmly. She was the one who wanted Mineralogy back, so she could do the lion share of the work.

That said…

"If you encounter any problems you cannot solve, feel free to contact me and I'll do my best to help you."

"You're the best, big bro!"

---

After the immense mess that the clearing of the Golem-Workshop had become –with the unstable Magus who'd started murdering his allies, that gigantic, rather dangerous titan, and worst of all, the almost-sexual assault Shirou had committed against Lady Barthomeloi– clearing the Graveyard was surprisingly easy.

Oh, it was completely true that the Meluastea had engaged in large-scale Necromancy, and Shirou admitted that for normal Magi, an army of zombies, skeletons, and tethered ghosts might be terrifying, not to mention the gate that led from their world to the Realm of the Fey, which produced endless waves of some kind of intra-dimensional wolves, but to their small group, it wasn't anything to be concerned about.

Shirou had Mjolnir and the Cleansing Power after all, Lady Barthomeloi had her immense array of spells and tricks, and Grey…

Grey was stealing the show.

She had already deployed her scythe earlier –the scythe that made Shirou think of a bottomless cliff at the end of the world– and had used it to great effect to reduce the number of enemies, as it seemed to have an affinity for destroying the undead, but after she'd gotten a good look at the entire hall, she'd pulled back and asked Shirou and Lady Barthomeloi to cover for her while she prepared a finishing blow.

The redhead gladly complied, and easily kept the zombies, ghosts, and wolves at bay, even as he also looked behind him, at Grey, though he made very sure not to look directly at her weapon.

It wasn't that it was painful or debilitating to look at the scythe. It was just very confusing, and for some reason, looking at it made Shirou feel hollow and lonely inside.

"Gray!" Grey chanted, her voice reverberating like a chorus, and her scythe exploded with light. "Rave! Crave! Deprave! Grave me! Grave for you!"

It seemed like merely a bunch of rhyming words hastily slapped together to form something resembling an incantation, but the words themselves weren't important. It was what lay behind them that mattered, the second meaning hidden behind the nonsensical muttering.

A second meaning that Shirou could hear loud and clear.

'Sing me a song of darkened, corrupted desire! Engrave in me a Grave for you!'

This was Necromancy, of a level far, far higher than anything the Meluastea could muster, and Shirou watched with his eyes wide open as the entire hall seemed to ripple in the light that now emitted from Ad.

"Pseudo-personality suspended." Ad's voice suddenly announced, not a trace of emotion present anymore, as if he'd become a mere pre-recorded program. "Magical energy yield exceeds regulation. Second stage restraint rescinded."

That sounded… interesting, and against his better judgement, Shirou took a peek at the weapon, before immediately looking away again, as the confusion and hollow feeling returned with a vengeance.

It was a Lance, but also a beacon, but also a lance, but also a tower at a cliff, but also Ad, but also a Lance that Shines to the Ends of the World…

Arturia…

"Sacred lance, removing restraints!" Grey thundered at a volume Shirou would never have expected from the small girl, and then raised her scythe into the air.

A pillar of golden light shot upwards from the scythe, brilliant and blinding in its intensity. Grey herself was also bathed in that light, and when Shirou's eyes met hers, he saw her irises had turned a solid gold, like his own.

The light didn't subside, on the contrary, it got stronger and stronger, until she held in her hands a gigantic lance made entirely out of golden light, twisting and turning and spinning on itself in ways that light shouldn't be able to.

'Rhongomyniad.'

The name was rammed into Shirou's brain, and he stumbled back, his enemies behind him long forgotten, as they all panicked in the face of Grey's weapon, completely disregarding both him and Lady Barthomeloi as they tried to flee.

Then Grey lowered her Lance, aiming it straight at the horde of foes before her. Three ethereal wolves made a last, desperate attempt to stop her, to kill her before she killed them, but they were too late.

"Rhongomyniad!" Grey yelled, and she fired off an immense beam of pure destruction in an attack that had to be a Noble Phantasm of some kind, or at least something related to it. Its Mystery was too great for it to be anything else.

The wolves who had jumped at her were the first to die, disappearing without a trace as the beam of destruction passed them. The ghosts fell next, dispelled the second the light touched them, and then the zombies were last, incinerated into nothingness.

Even the Gate to the Realm of the Fay, so cleverly constructed, became undone under the power of the Lance.

And Shirou, who witnessed it all, winced as he was hit with a terrible headache, a pale copy of Grey's weapon appearing on a red hill, deep inside of his Soul. He didn't know, but the first steps towards unlocking that World inside of him had just been taken. His personal expression of reality had just developed further, though again, he didn't know.

All Shirou knew was that tears of grief were suddenly pouring down his cheeks, even though he had no idea what he was supposed to be grieving for.

Then he realised.

Rhongomyniad was the Lance of King Arthur, of Arturia. It was the weapon she'd used at the morning of her death, at Camlann.

It wasn't Shirou who was feeling sad. It was Avalon!

The Sheath was grieving over its lost partner, the Lance being the catalyst that had brought those feelings to the surface. Shirou merely had the bad luck of being the Sheath's wielder right now, meaning he got a good dose of those feelings injected right into his heart.

Now, Shirou would never deny someone the right to grieve a loved one, not even a legendary Noble Phantasm which by all rights shouldn't have feelings to begin with, but was it really necessary for it to influence him so much?

Grey and Lady Barthomeloi were already looking at him in concern, and Shirou had no idea how to explain his sudden crying to them.

Fortunately, he didn't have to.

"You would do well to provide us with a warning the next time you wish to deploy such Magecraft, Lady Grey." Lady Barthomeloi told the white-haired girl in a tone that was a tad frostier than it had been before. "Those of us with sensitive eyes might find it overwhelming if they are unprepared."

"I am so sorry, mister Fujimaru." Grey apologised profusely, hiding her weapon, which had reverted back into Ad, behind her back, as if to shield Shirou from further exposure. "I should have remembered you can see things so deeply. It completely slipped my mind!"

They thought he was crying because his eyes hurt from having to watch Grey's Lance on a deeper level of reality?

But that wasn't true. Yes, he might have gotten a headache from that thing, but his pain tolerance was quite high.

Nevertheless, it was a convenient story.

"Don't worry, you two. It will pass soon." He told them, quickly wiping away his tears with a Projected cloth.

"Hm." Lady Barthomeloi made a noncommittal noise, but she seemed satisfied when no fresh tears fell to replace the old ones.

Grey wasn't so quick to accept his words, but since he was not showing any other signs of discomfort, there wasn't much she could do aside from fretting.

As the three left the Graveyard, having successfully cleared it without doing too much damage –Grey's beam of destruction had been mostly absorbed by the Faery Gate and thus caused very little collateral damage– Shirou found himself absorbed in thought.

Grey had Rhongomyniad in her possession.

She had the Lance of King Arthur, and she could use it too without being blasted into oblivion. She had deployed a Noble Phantasm and looked none the worse for wear.

That was…

That was astonishing.

No, more than that, it was impossible.

Shirou had never looked too deep into Grey. With how much he could see if he concentrated, looking too deeply into other people was a serious violation of privacy to say the least. Nevertheless, he was almost tempted to look again right now.

He'd never met Saber, Arturia, himself, so he couldn't really say anything about her aside from what his father had told him, but he was starting to seriously suspect that Grey might be linked to her in some way.

With her immense aptitude for being a Ruler of Men, which was visible even in the Inner World, her Noble Phantasm that belonged to King Arthur, and Avalon's reaction to her, there was no other possibility.

Grey was a descendant of Britain's Once and Future King, a descendant of one of the mightiest Heroic Spirits in existence, a descendant who could use the king's weapons as her own.

If this got out, it would turn everything in Britain, in both the Moonlit World and possibly even in the mundane world, on its head.

It might not be on the level of Shirou's own secrets, but it was quite the secret nevertheless.

He would have to feign ignorance. This was the kind of secret that outsiders should stay far away from, and Shirou had no intention of meddling in this if it wasn't absolutely required.

---

Bazett was, as had been said many times before, a rather simple woman.

If she had something to eat, something to drink, a soft place to sleep, and nice, well-fitting clothes to wear, she was content.

She didn't require riches, or too many fancy things. She didn't want power or influence, and the thought of having servants defer to her every order just creeped her out.

Some might call that shallow of her, or they might call her a simplistic person without ambition, but Bazett had learned long ago not to listen to those kinds of people.

In the world, there were only a few individuals whose opinion was worth listening to. Individuals with a sharp, objective look at the world, whose wisdom and experience should never be underestimated or made light of.

If, for instance, Lord El-Melloi were to tell her she was being foolish in her lifestyle, Bazett would definitely listen and try to make changes. She valued his opinion and didn't want him to think less of her.

The lord had never done so though. The opposite rather, he'd always encouraged her to do what made her happy and disregard what others thought about it.

It was one of the things that made working for him so easy, and indeed, almost enjoyable, and more than once, Bazett had wished she could work for him on a more permanent basis instead of on a contractual one.

It seemed her wish was now coming true.

"You want me to become your full-time bodyguard?" She asked the lord, just to make sure she had heard him properly.

"That is correct." Lord El-Melloi nodded, taking a slow drag from his cigar. "I wish to hire you, no longer on a contractual basis, but as a more-or-less permanent employee. With the way things have gone, I'll need more protection than ever."

"Obviously." Bazett agreed, casting a look around the office she was standing in, the office that belonged to the head of Mineralogy. "Now that you have had a meteoric rise, I imagine there are many who wish to cut your career, and your life, short, out of ambition or fear."

"I am glad you are so quick on the uptake." Lord El-Melloi turned his head to the side to blow out the smoke of the cigar. "Yes, many people will be looking to kill me. Naturally, I would prefer not to die. Can I count on your help for that?"

"What are the terms and conditions?" Bazett asked in lieu of an answer. "How much will I get paid?"

Instead of answering verbally, Lord El-Melloi handed her a piece of paper, on which all the details of their deal had been carefully written down.

And what a deal it was.

"I accept." She said, handing the piece of paper back to him. "You can count on me, boss."

"I am glad to hear that." He nodded sharply, before rising from the chair. "Reines, I have handled the most immediate matters that needed dealing with."

"Huh? Already?" Reines, who had been sitting quietly in the corner, perked up when Lord El-Melloi started moving. "We've been here less than thirty minutes. Did you really finish everything?"

"Everything? No, certainly not." Lord El-Melloi scoffed as if the very notion was ridiculous. "Nine years of backlog cannot be worked away in a mere hour, or in a mere month for that matter. But I have dealt with everything that absolutely couldn't wait, so I shall join the attacking-force again for the final stage of the purge."

"Final stage?" Delilah, who had been standing behind Reines like a servant, cocked her head to the side, having relaxed considerably once it had been confirmed Lord El-Melloi would take over as ruler of Mineralogy and Reines would be his stand-in. "What final stage?"

"All that is left is the Department of Botany." Lord El-Melloi replied, rubbing his chin. "Though I am unsure what Lady Barthomeloi is planning. As of now, we have no proof of anything illegal taking place there, except for Fujimaru's word. Normally, that would never be enough for even a raised eyebrow in Botany's direction, but it seems the Queen is taking this seriously."

"Of course she is." Reines muttered, looking rather unnerved. "Fujimaru and she are really hitting it off, aren't they?"

Lord El-Melloi didn't reply, but he didn't have to. Even Bazett herself, a simple woman, had seen that Lady Barthomeloi seemed inordinately fond of the redhead.

What had happened to make it so, she didn't know, but no one could deny it was the truth.

Undoubtedly, it would have a lot of political ramifications for a nobody from Japan to have so much influence over the Queen, but she would leave the details of that to people who actually understood politics. She would just focus on the fighting and beat up the people Lord El-Melloi wanted her to beat up.

About half-an-hour later, they were back at the frontlines, heading towards the Department of Botany, and everywhere she looked, Bazett saw people in deep conversation.

Lord El-Melloi was talking with Fujimaru and Lady Barthomeloi about the expected level of resistance from the members of Botany.

Reines was busy grilling Grey about every little detail of the operation to free the Golem Workshop and the Graveyard, pausing only to kiss Grey's cheek once she learned that almost no damage had been wrought to those places during the attack.

Caren Ortensia appeared to be busy trying to convert Sisigou to Christianity, while Adashino listened along. Both the scarred mercenary and the kimono-clad officer listened politely, but neither seemed very convinced that following Christ was their path in life.

Svin, Flat, and Lehrman were having a heated discussion about the absence of Melvin Weines, with Svin arguing that they should look for him once the purge was over, while the other two were confident that he would show up in due time.

It astounded Bazett that they could all be so calm during the largest purge that the Clocktower had undergone for the last century at least, but at the same time, it calmed her as well. There was no need to worry when everything was going so smoothly. An opinion shared by most of the Enforcers and mercenaries trailing them.

"We are almost at the Department of Botany." Lord El-Melloi then said, and the shift in his tone made Bazett focus entirely on him. "Have you considered yet what you will do once we arrive and the Archelot turn us away at the gates, Lady Barthomeloi?"

"It will not be the Archelot doing so." Lady Barthomeloi's lips twitched ever so slightly at the mention of the family that should be ruling the Department of Botany. "It will be Jack Colby, the usurper, or his lackeys, if he is too craven to face us directly."

"All the same, do we have a good cause to enter the Department of Botany even when we are denied entry? The Law of Proper Cause is still in effect for them. Even if Archaeology and Mineralogy were treacherous, that does not give Policies the right to subject other Departments to a sacking as well."

"What you say is true." Lady Barthomeloi acknowledged, before she smiled. "Unfortunately for Botany however, many within the previous two Departments were only too happy to oust their allies within Botany in exchange for milder sentences."

"No loyalty amongst criminals." Fujimaru nodded, a wry smile on his lips. "Whether Magical or mundane."

"It is not in their nature to be self-sacrificing or faithful." Lady Barthomeloi added. "In the end, rabble will always turn on each other."

"They should have accepted God in their hearts." Caren suddenly appeared beside them, having crept up with her usual stealthy tread, though neither Fujimaru nor Lady Barthomeloi seemed in any way surprised. "Or at least kindness and reason."

"If only." Fujimaru sighed sadly. "If only they had done so."

"Still, I think it might be rather unwise to suspend the Law of Proper Cause over mere hearsay." Lord El-Melloi didn't let go of the matter, pressing the issue yet again. "It is not that I don't want you to subject Botany to an investigation. I am merely saying that we shouldn't give them an avenue to attack you by later."

"We shall see." Lady Barthomeloi still wasn't swayed. "I suspect this matter will solve itself once we arrive."

Lord El-Melloi blinked once in confusion, but he did fall silent, apparently having decided to take a wait-and-see approach.

Ultimately, Lady Barthomeloi was proven right. The matter did sort itself out. Once they arrived at the Department, it became crystal clear Botany was engaged in illegal matters.

There weren't many other ways to describe a crowd of people baying for blood after all, the Vice-Director's blood to be precise.

"DEATH TO POLICIES!"

"LONG LIVE COLBY AND ARCHELOT!"

"NEVER SURRENDER!"

"BE GONE, TYRANTS!"

"KILL THE BARTHOMELOI AND TAKE HER HEAD!"

That and more was shouted across the hall when Lady Barthomeloi approached the entrance of Botany, and it continued even after she stopped once she'd gotten within twenty-five metres of it.

Unlike Archaeology, Botany did not have gates to close their entrance. Like Modern Magical Theories, they had to make do with Bounded Fields and other Magecraft to prevent intruders from getting in.

As such, there was nothing preventing Lady Barthomeloi from looking her opponents in the eyes, and Bazett wasn't surprised at all when many of Botany's Magi visibly recoiled from her no-doubt terrifying expression.

After all, none of those people, despite their war cries, had dared step beyond the Bounded Fields and other defences to put their money where their mouth was and actually try to claim Lady Barthomeloi's head.

To be so brave was utterly unlike Magi in general.

Then again, braying and shouting like that was also very unlike Magi in general. To Bazett, who had grown up with the idea that Magi were always calm and collected, the sight of so many Magi shouting and screaming seemed wrong.

In fact, this whole situation seemed wrong, very wrong.

"They have been mind-controlled." Fujimaru suddenly said in a flabbergasted voice, and everyone in earshot turned to look at him. "The entire crowd, at once, enough to try to take you on despite that being an impossible task, my Lady."

Was it just Bazett or did Lady Barthomeloi actually preen slightly at Fujimaru's compliment?

"Mind-controlled? Is it Hypnosis?" Sisigou asked, stepping forward with an extremely serious look on his face, his shotgun having already found its way into his hands. Clearly, he considered the idea of Magi being Hypnotised to be very unsettling.

"No." Fujimaru was quick to deny it though, taking a deep breath to calm himself. "Pardon me, I expressed it wrongly. It isn't that they are mind-controlled outright. It's more like someone took emotions that were already there and supercharged them far enough for these people to lose their minds like this."

"So someone stirred them into a frenzy and then made it worse with Magecraft?" Adashino, who'd been relieved of her Order of Silence, asked, sounding more curious than anything else. "How fascinating."

"Fascinating?" Sisigou spluttered, still holding his shotgun aimed at the crowd of Botany-personnel. "Damn creepy, that's what it is."

"How does it even work?" Lord El-Melloi, ever the academic, stroked his chin in thought. "Did the perpetrator increase emotional unbalance with Magical Energy? Did they remove inhibitions? Something else entirely?"

"You can interrogate Fujimaru about the specific details later." Lady Barthomeloi interrupted sharply, holding up a hand to motion for silence, which she immediately received. "For now, I wish to know how to put an end to this. Is death the only cure?"

"Certainly not!" Fujimaru denied right away, rapidly shaking his head. "The easiest way to deal with this is to kill the perpetrator, Jack Colby."

The way Lady Barthomeloi's eyes narrowed at that name was utterly terrifying, and Bazett was rather sure that killing that man Colby would be an immense pleasure for the woman.

"Alternatively, you can try to overcome their current emotions, anger, desperation, jealousy, and fear, with a stronger emotion that will force them to think straight again." Fujimaru went on to explain. "I'd say giving them a good scare should do the trick."

"Then follow me." Lady Barthomeloi started marching brusquely towards the entrance of Botany, stopping only a few metres in front of the first Bounded Fields. Fujimaru obediently trailed her, but the rest of them chose to stand back a little.

"Don't think you can just walk in here and do whatever you want!" One of the Magi on the other side of the line spat, her face red with rage. "No matter the cost, we'll stop you right her- AAAAAAAH!"

The Magus began strong, barking her threats at the Vice-Director from behind the defences, but when Fujimaru broke through said defences, she screamed in fear and started scrambling back, alongside most of the rest of the crowd.

It was too late though, and Lady Barthomeloi flicked her wrist.

There was a swooshing noise, and everyone present held their breath in anticipation, wondering when the blood would start flowing.

It never did. Not a drop of blood was visible anywhere, nor did a single body hit the ground. It seemed as if Lady Barthomeloi's attack had been nothing but a bluff.

Then it happened.

From one second to the next, a veritable ton of hair fell onto the ground, hair that had been cut from the heads of the members of Botany, leaving them all nearly bald.

Lady Barthomeloi had, with one single attack, given every single Magus opposing her an impromptu haircut, with blades of wind that hadn't been visible to anyone, except maybe Fujimaru.

The message was crystal clear. The Vice-Director outmatched them in any and every way, and if she'd wanted, those blades of wind could just as well have cut fifteen centimetres lower, through their necks.

All fight drained out of the crowd once they realised that, and when Lady Barthomeloi advanced, none of them tried to stop her. They all moved out of the way, and let themselves be taken into arrest by the Enforcers and Officers of Policies without resistance.

It was almost hilarious how quickly the mood had turned.

Then again, if Bazett had been part of the crowd, she would have seen no other option than surrendering either. There was no use in fighting someone so much stronger than oneself.

How nice it was to be on the winning side.

---

"Useless mongrels!" Jack Colby swore as he raced through the halls of his department, taking great care to stay out of sight as he did so. "Incompetent cretins! Incapable wretches!"

Ten seconds. Ten seconds was all his underlings had been able to give him. Ten measly seconds before Barthomeloi had broken their courage and forced them to surrender.

Colby had expected to have hours, if not days, before such a thing would happen. That was what he'd promised his closest confidants, that they had ample time to prepare before they would have to fight for their lives.

Now he had been made a liar however, and his allies had become desperate, and Colby was too smart not to know that desperate people loved to find scapegoats. He also knew that today's scapegoat would be him.

If he wasn't careful, his former allies would string him up long before Barthomeloi would find him, and would then present her with his maimed body, to earn themselves a more lenient sentence.

It was what he would have done after all if someone else had been the scapegoat. It was the only logical thing to do.

Colby cursed and cursed as he kept running. He'd had it all planned out, everything had been set for his rise to the Heavens, and now, it all came tumbling down in an instant.

He'd taken over Botany easily enough, a deal with the Meluastea had been made in a flash, and he'd had his eyes on the Department of Lore for a while now as well. If the Meluastea could control two departments, then so could he. It was entirely possible.

No, it was necessary even. If he ever wanted to be an equal to Stanley Meluastea, to match and eventually surpass him, ruling over two Departments was really only the first step.

He'd had so many dreams and plans, so many ambitions, yet now, it seemed as if everything was slipping through his fingers.

Whatever had he done to deserve this?!

There was only one thing he could do now, and that was to pin as much of the blame as he could onto his wife, Marianne. After all, Marianne was still the actual ruler of Botany. She, not Colby, held all of the power, all of the authority, and would thus have to shoulder most of the blame.

For all that everyone knew, Marianne was simply a lazy woman who slept most of the day and only woke up to give him a list of orders before nodding off again. Colby had always worked hard to make it look that way, since he only had authority because of her, and though he'd found it annoying, having to pretend to be below her, he was now very, very happy that was how things were.

Marianne was the mastermind behind all the illegal things, and Colby was just the miserable husband who'd been forced to carry out his wife's orders. No one knew of the drug he'd been giving her. No one except him, her, and the person who'd sold him that concoction.

It was simple, believable, and even gave Barthomeloi the cause she needed to remove the Archelot-family from power and place a toady at the head of Botany. She'd be eager to swallow the lie.

Or at least, that was what he told himself.

In the end, Jack Colby was just another crook trying to shift the blame onto someone else once it was time to pay the piper. Just like so many Magi before him, he thought he'd cooked up the perfect scheme, unaware that he was using tricks as old as mankind.

For all his intelligence, he was remarkably stupid, as villains often are.

A few minutes later, Colby was opening the door to his office. He would storm inside, grab Marianne, who should still be sleeping, tie her up, and deliver her on a silver platter to Barthomeloi.

As for Marianne herself, she wouldn't notice a single thing. The Samhain Sleeper was a potent drug that had never failed him before.

Colby could remember the day he bought his first supply of the stuff as if it were yesterday.

---

"Here it is." The gruff merchant grumbled as he placed a basket full of vials on the table. "One hundred vials of the Samhain Sleeper."

"Much obliged." Colby nodded back with an equally grumpy expression and tone. "I may need more in the future."

"More!?" The merchant spluttered, almost losing his composure. "By the Root, boy, what on Earth are you planning? Most of my clients only ever buy three vials, five at the most."

"What I am planning is none of your business." Colby snapped. "I thought your discretion was something you prided yourself on?"

"…Hm." The merchant frowned deeply, but he didn't press the matter and backed down. "Fine, boy. If you have the money, I have the goods."

"Money isn't a problem. I am rich enough, and I am about to become much richer too." Colby grinned.

"Yes, I heard your engagement to the princess of the Archelot has been confirmed." The merchant nodded, before snorting when Colby froze. "What? Did you think I didn't know? It's big news, boy, the Archelot-princess is famous in all circles."

"…I suppose." Colby said through gritted teeth. "If you tell anyone about our deal-"

"I won't, boy, relax." The merchant didn't look the least bit intimidated. "I won't breathe a word of this to anyone. Would be bad for business if I did. Let me give you a warning though."

"Go on."

"The Samhain Sleeper is very potent and very reliable, but it has its downsides. Most of them are irrelevant, but you should know that a person can get resistant against it."

"Resistant?"

"The drug will lose its effect if you use it on a person for too long. If that person is strong-willed enough, you will see how their sleep becomes shorter and shorter after every vial you give them. Eventually, they might become entirely immune, and when that happens, they will remember everything that you did to them. Keep that in mind."

"Yes, yes, I will." Colby ground his teeth at the news, the news that the Samhain Sleeper wasn't infallible after all, but he soothed himself with the knowledge that Marianne wasn't strong-willed at all. In all the time he'd known her, she had proven time and again that she was a brainless twit who cared more about living happily ever after than she did about ruling.

There was no way she could shake off the effects by herself. His future was safe.

---

Ever since that first meeting, Colby had gone back numerous times for more vials, and every time, the merchant gave him the same warning. People could get resistant to the drug.

Colby had been certain though that he had nothing to worry about. Marianne was weak, weak and vapid. She was probably only happy to sleep all day long and only do as he told her. The natural place of such women was at the bottom, and Colby was only too happy to stand above her.

As such, he'd gotten a nasty shock when Marianne had started sleeping shorter, how she'd gotten more alert during her time awake, and how she was starting to take initiatives of her own.

That morning, when she'd wandered out of the bedroom and into the meeting, asking to join, was but the last example in a long list of them.

Colby didn't know how, but she was becoming resistant to the drug. She, dumb little Marianne, was strong-willed enough to push back against the Samhain Sleeper. In other words, his control over her was waning quickly.

Not that it mattered anymore. With the way things were now, Marianne was going to be executed before the day was out, so her newfound resistance was entirely irrelevant.

He had given her a second dose only a few hours before, so even if she'd developed a resistance, it should be fine. She was still sleeping; he was sure of it.

He stormed into the bedroom, fully expecting to see his wife's prone form on the bed, before gritting his teeth so hard they almost cracked when he saw she wasn't there anymore.

She must have awoken at some point! Undoubtedly, she was wandering around through the Department now, dazed and confused. If he still wanted to use her, he'd have to track her down and give her yet another vial of the Samhain Sleeper, before either she or he would be found by Policies' dogs.

Colby opened his mouth to curse…

"AGH!"

…Before a white-hot, unimaginable pain exploded in his lower back, changing the curse into a strangled cry of agony.

Panting and groaning, almost fainting from the immense pain, Colby tried to look behind him, where he saw…

"You can consider this your alimony for our divorce." Marianne Archelot said coldly, her hand on the hilt of the dagger she'd stabbed into his back. Her hands were shaking, her body was clearly weak, but her eyes were clear, clear and entirely merciless. "I hope it takes a long time for you to die."

She let go of the dagger, and Colby fell forward, unable to move because of the excruciating agony he was being subjected to.

It was so bad he wasn't even capable of speaking. He wanted to shout, to cry, to curse Marianne Archelot to hell and back, to kill her even, but he couldn't. He couldn't even think straight, his thoughts refusing to form as the horrible torment tore them to pieces right away.

Jack Colby died two minutes later, in terrible pain, leaving behind nothing but a broken legacy and a wife who cried tears of relief now that she was finally free from him.

---

In the end, Botany was even less of a challenge than Mineralogy had been.

Not that Waver wanted to brag or suggest that it was in any way his achievement. He had not done any fighting himself. He hadn't fired a single spell or thrown even one punch at anyone. He'd stayed in the back the entire time, watching as other people did the heavy lifting.

Anyway, the storming of Botany was a success. The bulk of its members had been forced to surrender, and the department had been searched thoroughly. Fujimaru had told them that the illegal stuff in Botany was being hidden behind a fake wall covered in cursed ivy, and behold, there was indeed a fake wall covered in cursed ivy, which hid all kinds of illegal experiments and questionable research behind it.

That pretty much wrapped up the matter. The criminals had been arrested, their work and resources confiscated, and order had been restored. Now, only two things remained for them to deal with, though it might be more accurate to say 'two people'.

Marianne Archelot, the granddaughter of Raquel Archelot, and Jack Colby, her husband and the brain behind Botany's illegal activities.

Archelot and Colby were the two most high-profile targets of the entire department right now, the ones everyone was looking for, but despite all the efforts of the searchers, they had remained unfound so far.

As Lady Barthomeloi had been forced to leave a large contingent of her forces at Mineralogy, and an even larger one at Archaeology before that, she was rather short on hands, so she had drafted everyone available to help in the search for Archelot and Colby, including Waver and his students.

As they could hardly say no to her, considering she was the Vice-Director, they had followed her orders and started their own search for the targets.

Then, somehow, through a strange set of circumstances Waver would be hard-pressed to recall, he had ended up alone, separated from the rest of the group, wandering the halls of Botany on his own.

Waver wasn't a person who was easily frightened, not anymore at least, but he had to admit that walking through silent, deserted halls in what was technically still enemy territory did fray at his poor nerves a bit.

But he was an adult, so he swallowed those feelings and continued on, abandoning the search for Archelot and Colby in favour of trying to find his students again, or trying to find any ally really.

While he was doing so, he happened upon a door that was slightly ajar, in a hallway that was decorated far more lavishly than any of the previous halls he'd passed through.

His curiosity peaked, Waver glanced through the opening, and lifted an eyebrow when he saw some kind of mix of an office and a living room inside. There was an official-looking desk with a lot of paperwork on top of it at the back of the room, but he could also see a couch, several comfortable sofas, coffee-tables, book closets, and other items that would be right at home in a drawing room. There were also several other doors visible, though Waver couldn't tell where they led to.

The room was certainly quite full, but there wasn't anyone inside, so Waver pushed the door further open and let himself in, looking around curiously. Then, he found that one of the doors was slightly open, just like the front door had been.

Once more curious, Waver crept forward, as silently as he could, his strongest defensive spell lying ready on his lips, before he pushed the door open, stepped inside, and found…

A corpse. The dead body of a man, lying face-down on the floor, with a beautifully decorated dagger planted into his back and a pool of blood under him. He couldn't have been deceased for more than a few minutes, if the heat Waver could feel in the skin was any indication, and his death must have been quite painful and slow, if the location of the dagger was anything to go by.

Waver didn't know who the man was –he didn't recognise him, even after taking a look at the pallid face– but he could take a good guess.

This was probably Jack Colby, the illusive de-facto head of Botany.

But if he was here, dead, then where was Marianne Archelot?

Just as that thought occurred to him, Waver suddenly picked up sniffling sounds coming from behind him, and he turned around in a flash, raising his hands in preparation for battle…

…Before immediately lowering them again when he realised what he was looking at.

It was a woman, a beautiful woman, with lustrous blonde hair, a body that made even Waver sit up and take notice, and a face that was cute and alluring at the same time. She was sitting in the corner of the room, on the floor, with her back pressed against the wall. She had multiple bruises on her face, and she was looking forward vacantly.

Waver immediately turned away however when he realised that the woman was practically naked, only a very, very sheer, see-through night-gown and a set of tiny panties protecting her from leering eyes, which was of course nowhere near enough. Left exposed were her stomach, her arms and legs, her breasts, and basically everything else that wasn't her most private part.

So Waver, who always tried to be a gentleman, kept his eyes turned away, before taking off his coat and throwing in her direction.

Yes, throwing things at her might not be very polite, but to hand it over to her would require getting closer, which might scare her. In the end, keeping his distance was the best option he had to allow her to preserve some of her modesty.

What little was left of it anyway.

"Thank you."

The voice was slight, very slight, and incredibly frail, but Waver chose to see it as a good sign that anything was said at all.

"You're welcome." He replied, grabbing a cigar from his pocket, knowing that the nicotine would calm him down, which was something he really needed right now.

"Could you please not smoke in my bedroom?"

"My apologies." He put the cigar back into his pocket.

It remained quiet after that, the only sound being that of the woman attempting to put on Waver's coat, though it didn't seem to be going well.

"Could you help me?" She eventually asked, and Waver turned around to do exactly that, making sure to keep his eyes fixed on a point above her head while he took his coat back and held it open, allowing her to slip her arms into the sleeves, after which he buttoned it up.

Now that she was properly covered, Waver allowed himself to look down, breathing an internal sigh of relief when he saw that she was indeed decent, his coat being long enough to cover her from her neck to below her knees.

"I am Marianne Archelot." The woman introduced herself, curtsying as well as she could.

"Well met, lady Archelot." Waver said, bowing in return. "I am Lord El-Melloi the Second, of the Archibald."

"Lord El-Melloi, could I trouble you with a request?"

"That depends entirely on the request itself."

"I am afraid I have missed a lot of what has happened over the past years." She began, and Waver lifted an eyebrow. "I have been… ill, for some time, and I only know what my husband told me, which isn't much. C-Could you tell me what is currently happening within the Clocktower?"

"Your husband?" Waver asked, before pointing at the corpse. "Would that be him?"

"Yes, Jack Colby." Lady Archelot nodded, before looking down shyly, pressing the tips of her index fingers together. "I, uh, I killed him."

"I gathered." Waver answered dryly. "Why?"

"Because… ah, that is…" She hesitated for a while, before clutching her hands together. "I lied before. I wasn't ill. My husband was drugging me so he could rule this department by himself. It wasn't until today that I managed to resist it for long enough to do something about it."

"I see." Waver nodded sharply, his anger at Jack Colby, which had been rather faint, considering he barely knew the man, increasing rapidly. "Then you acted justly, which I will be sure to inform Lady Barthomeloi about."

"L-Lady Barthomeloi?" Lady Archelot spluttered, her eyes going wide at the name. "W-Why would you have to tell her about this?"

"Because she is leading the purge."

"P-Purge?! What purge?"

"The purge of Botany, Mineralogy, and Archaeology, which is currently taking place." Waver explained, before something unsettling occurred to him. "Were you not aware?"

Lady Archelot shook her head rapidly, her eyes wide and fearful.

"…I see. Well, that is… D-Don't worry. I'm sure that when you explain what happened to you, Lady Barthomeloi will be lenient. From what you told me, you are not to blame for anything that happened over the past years."

"What happened?" Lady Archelot repeated her earlier question, with a much more urgent tone than before. "W-Why is Lady Barthomeloi purging my department?"

"A lot of stuff happened." Waver scratched his head in thought, trying to decide where to start explaining everything, before he noticed lady Archelot was swaying on her feet. "But first, you should sit down."

He then offered her his elbow to lean on, and lady Archelot, after realising that she was about to fall over, gratefully accepted it, allowing him to lead her to the bed, where she sat down. Waver went to stand before her, but at her insistence, eventually took place next to her instead.

Now that they were both seated, Waver suddenly got the feeling that Marianne Archelot seemed rather familiar to him. He didn't know how, or where from, but he got the idea that he knew her, or at the very least, had interacted with her before.

To the best of his knowledge though, he'd never been in personal contact with any member of the Department of Botany, much less with one of the members of its ruling family.

Still, the feeling of familiarity remained.

"Why is Lady Barthomeloi purging my department?" Lady Archelot repeated her question.

"Because certain members of Botany have committed crimes of a severe enough nature that Policies had to get involved." Waver explained, before nodding at the body. "We believe Colby was the ringleader. We suspected you to be involved as well, but it seems we were wrong."

"I could be lying though." Lady Archelot warned him, trying to smile, though the result was brittle and short. Nevertheless, the smile did jolt Waver's mind again, a long-buried memory attempting to dig its way to the surface.

"You could be, certainly." Waver admitted, leaving the matter of his memory be for now. "But that doesn't matter. We have Shirou Fujimaru with us, and he can flawlessly discern lies from truth. If you are lying, he will be able to tell."

"What an interesting talent." Lady Archelot mused, before glaring at her former husband's corpse. "So Jack was a criminal as well as a rotten husband?"

"Yes." Waver nodded. "It has been proven beyond doubt that he was in league with the Meluastea."

"The rulers of Archaeology? What do they have to do with my husband?" The question marks were almost floating above lady Archelot's head at this point, and Waver decided he better start from the beginning.

He told her everything, going into detail about as many things as he could. He told her about the Meluastea's treachery, their crimes, and their secret bases; about the efforts of Lady Barthomeloi and Lady Montmorency to fight the Meluastea, and how Waver had gotten involved through his apprentice; about the base in Germany and the atrocities that had been committed there; about how both Mineralogy and Botany had turned out to be in cahoots with the Meluastea; He even told her about the efforts to combat this unholy trio of criminal departments.

It had been a bit awkward at first, talking so much to a single person, but after a short while, Waver had gotten into his teacher mindset, and from there on, everything went smoothly.

"Archaeology and Mineralogy have already fallen, and now that Jack Colby is dead, Botany has fallen too." Waver eventually finished his story. "I am sure all remaining resistance will collapse once it is revealed that the ringleader has fallen."

"I hope so." Lady Archelot whispered, tears shining in her eyes. "There has been enough blood shed, enough lives lost. If there is anything I can do, please let me know."

"I will remember it."

"Thank you." She nodded gratefully at him, before she took a deep breath, seemingly steeling herself to ask a difficult question. "Do you… Do you know what will happen to the rebellious departments?"

"I think I can take a good guess." Waver said, thoughtfully rubbing his chin. "The Meluastea-family has been arrested to the last, and Archaeology will be given to a loyal family. Mineralogy has already been returned to the Archibald, to whom it belonged until it was stolen by the Meluastea almost a decade ago. As for Botany… Well…"

"I presume it will also be given to a more loyal family." Lady Archelot smiled sadly, guilt and self-depreciation clear in her eyes. "This department has belonged to the Archelot for more than eight-hundred years now, eight-hundred years in which our control was ironclad. All my ancestors succeeded in defending it from any and all challengers, and now I will be the one to lose it."

"Not necessarily." Waver quickly assured her, her forlorn expression cutting straight to his heart. "From what I heard of the deal that has been struck between Lady Barthomeloi and your grandmother, you would be allowed to remain the head of Botany, provided you were innocent of any wrongdoing and married someone of Lady Barthomeloi's choosing."

Lady Archelot's eyes lit up at the first condition, but turned bleak again at the second, and Waver had to admit that forcing her to marry someone was in extremely bad taste after what she'd been through already.

"I will have a word with her, to see if these conditions, especially the second, can be altered." He promised the blonde-haired woman, knowing that it would probably come down to appealing to Fujimaru's better nature so he would have a word with the Vice-Director. "I cannot promise anything though. It is undeniable that you did fail in your duties as head of the Department of Botany."

Lady Archelot didn't utter a word of protest, lowering her head in shame as Waver's words rang true. She had allowed herself to be tricked by Jack Colby, and in doing so, had shown herself utterly unfit to be the head of a department of the Clocktower.

If there was any future at Botany left for her, it would be as an advisor to her husband, who would be the actual ruler, handpicked by Policies for his loyalty and capability.

They both knew that was inevitable, and Lady Archelot appeared resigned to her fate.

"I will make do with the hand that I will be dealt." She said stoically. "It's not like I have anyone I love whom I wish to marry instead. There was only one man who might… But I haven't seen him in many years."

"I see." Waver muttered by a lack of a better answer.

"I don't even know his real name." Lady Archelot continued, apparently desperate to tell someone her story. "I only ever saw him during lunch, in one of the cafeterias, the one with the statue of Antony van Leeuwenhoek."

"I know it. I often sat there myself during lunch, years ago, in a simpler time."

"We would always talk about our research, or about recent events in the Clocktower, and sometimes even about ourselves. We never gave our real names though. We didn't dare to."

"Hm?" Waver pursed his lips in thought, as lady Archelot's description loosened something up in his memory, the feeling of familiarity he'd been having ever since getting a good look at her face returning with a vengeance.

"He was a bit gloomy at times, but I really enjoyed our conversations. If there was anyone whom I would have liked to get to know better, it would have been him."

No, seriously, the sense of déjà vu was getting stronger by the second, and Waver felt as if he was seconds away from unlocking a memory, a memory of sitting in a café after professor Kayneth's lectures, talking with a cheerful blonde girl who kept returning every day to speak with him, despite his constant self-pitying.

"Like I said, I don't know his real name, but we used pseudonyms, fake names we could use to refer to the other. It was so exciting, so thrilling, I'm almost embarrassed when thinking back on how enthusiastic I was about such a small thing."

He knew what she was talking about!

"I even remember the fake names. They were-"

"Wade." Waver finished her sentence, the memories falling in place in a split second, allowing him to recall all that he had forgotten. Suddenly, he remembered why Lady Archelot seemed so familiar. "I was Wade… and you were Maria."

"…Yes." Lady Archelot said, her eyes wide as saucers as she stared at Waver. "Yes, that is true."

Silence reigned for a long time after that, Waver staring at Lady Archelot and she staring back at him, both completely overwhelmed by the sudden reveal.

Waver did want to speak, to say something, anything, but he drew a blank as to what he could say. What did one even say in this kind of situation?

"It's Waver Velvet, actually." He eventually said, figuring he couldn't go wrong with introducing himself again. "Not Wade."

"I am Marianne Archelot." Lady Archelot replied smoothly, smiling cautiously at him. "Not Maria."

"Indeed."

They fell silent again, and then, just when Lady Archelot seemed about to speak, the door of the bedroom was thrown open and someone walked inside.

It was Fujimaru, of course. That boy always had wonderful timing.

"I knew I smelled blood." The redhead mused, kneeling down next to Colby's dead body to inspect it, before looking at Waver. "Lord El-Melloi, I see you have found both Colby and lady Archelot."

"Ah, yes." Waver nodded, before recomposing himself when he realised he sounded like a fool. "That is, indeed, mister Fujimaru. I managed to find our targets, thought I must admit it was quite accidental."

"Even so, well done." The boy grinned, before looking at lady Archelot. "Hello there, I am Shirou Fujimaru, one of Lord El-Melloi's students."

"Well met." Lady Archelot smiled.

"Any reason why she's wearing your coat, Lord El-Melloi?" Fujimaru asked, looking from Waver to lady Archelot and back.

"Because she needed it."

"I see. So we are treating her as a victim?"

"Essentially, we are." Waver nodded, before explaining the situation alongside lady Archelot. Neither of them mentioned knowing each other in the past though. That was something they'd have to sort out themselves before they talked about it to anyone else.

"It sounds like you've had it rough, lady Archelot." Fujimaru said once the retelling was over, scratching the back of his head, before he smiled slightly. "Still, I am happy that you weren't really involved in any crimes. Your grandmother will be glad to hear it as well."

"My grandmother?" Lady Archelot echoed, confusion writ on her face.

"She was concerned about you. You should really contact her as soon as you can."

"Y-Yes, I will." The woman replied, a relieved expression coming to her face.

"But first, we should speak to Lady Barthomeloi." Fujimaru continued. "Do you think you can walk?"

"No, I don't think so." Lady Archelot's reply was swift, as no Magus would ever deny simple reality. "Short distances are fine, but I will not make it out of the office on my own."

Waver agreed with that assessment, and for some reason, felt the urge to offer to carry her. That was nonsensical though. He was physically weak. There was no way he could lift anyone, let alone for longer periods of time.

"Not to worry, my lady." Fujimaru said, stepping forward, most likely to lift her up himself, something Waver could see the practicality of, but which still annoyed him for some reason. "Lord El-Melloi will be glad to carry you."

The redhead then patted Waver's shoulder, and Waver felt a rush of strength enter his body.

Almost automatically, he rose, and he bent down to lift Lady Archelot bridal style, marvelling at how easily he could carry her.

Had Fujimaru put a Strengthening Spell on him?

"Oh." Lady Archelot seemed surprised at first, but she was quick to settle down, and Waver tried not to think about how he was holding her close to him, and how soft her body was, and how good she smelled, and-

"Reines, Grey, and Lehrman won't like this." Fujimaru laughed softly, interrupting Waver's frantic thoughts. "But that's fine. Perhaps they'll start taking things more seriously now that they have competition."

With that last remark, the redhead walked out of the door, and Waver followed behind quickly, leaving Colby's body where it was.

He was utterly irrelevant anyway.

---

So, that concluded the fighting in this arc. The three treacherous departments have fallen, their leaders have been dealt with, and the healing can begin.

We also get a scene with Illya, who is currently gathering the most valuable objects she can find, not for any particular reason, but because she wants to feel rich. I mean, we can all understand that, right?

Sakura, Ayako, and Issei are questioned by the police, and surprise surprise, it's Shirou's old nemeses who are placed on the case. That should be a lot of fun, having them around again. I don't know about you guys, but I did miss them a bit. Also, Issei's mother. She is entirely my own invention, and I figured I couldn't go wrong with sexy biker lady.

Then a fightscene with a Golem, in which Lorelei is wounded and has to be patched up by Shirou, leading to some… kinky scenes indeed. Also, Grey finally gets her chance to shine and deploy Rhongomyniad, but in doing so, she does give away her identity to Shirou, who now knows more about her than she ever wanted him to.

Waver and Reines get help from Delilah in taking back Mineralogy, and Bazett now fully joins the cast by accepting a long-term offer to become Waver's bodyguard. Lord knows he needs it now that he has become a worse upstart than anyone could ever have imagined.

Then, Botany falls, and Waver is reunited with an old friend he had all but forgotten. I bet none of you saw this coming, and I did want to allude to it sooner, but Waver having forgotten Marianne was sort of central to this, meaning I couldn't have Waver think of her sooner. As such, it sort of comes out of the left field. Sorry about that.

Anyway, that was the chapter. I'll try to get forty-one as soon as I can. No guarantees though, this is really hard work.

---

OMAKE

"So this is Rhongomyniad." Shirou mumbled as he looked at Ad, who was currently in his harmless cube-form. "I must admit, I did not expect to find an intact and functioning Noble Phantasm in modern times, much less one that is practically a Divine Construct. I am also very surprised you are capable of wielding it, miss Grey."

"H-How do you know its name?" Grey spluttered, a cautious look in her eyes as she peered at him from below her hood. "E-Even if you sensed Ad's power, you shouldn't know what he is really called."

"You shouted its name during the battle in the Graveyard." Shirou reminded her, smiling when Grey's eyes lit up in realisation, before she blushed deeply in embarrassment. "But never mind that. Can you tell me how it is that you can use this Lance?"

"No." Grey was swift to refuse him however. "I cannot tell you that."

"Well, honestly, you don't have to. I can pretty much guess at this point that you are a descendant of King Arthur." Shirou huffed, before raising an eyebrow when Grey gasped in shock. "Why are you surprised? I thought it was obvious, considering the country in which you live and the fact that King Arthur was the original owner of that Lance."

"Obvious?" Grey asked with a small voice. "You are the first one who guessed it though."

"Am I? Despite your impressive skill at using a weapon of King Arthur?"

"I'm not skilled at all." Grey protested, her voice rising slightly. "I-I cannot use Rhongomyniad to its full potential. S-Something's blocking the connection between Ad and me."

"Really?" Shirou looked at Ad, and then at Grey herself, and back at Ad, before holding out a hand. "Can I take a look at that connection?"

Grey hesitated for several seconds, before nodding slowly, and holding out Ad towards him.

Shirou placed a single finger on top of Ad, and placed his other hand on Grey's head, before closing his eyes and sending out a light probe with the Mysterious Power, using his affinity for blades to his advantage.

"Hm, I see what you mean." He mumbled after some poking around. "Yes, the connection between the two of you is indeed not nearly as strong as it could be."

"…" Grey cast her eyes down, her stance and posture radiating shame and disappointment, as the hand not holding Ad clenched tightly.

"Want me to strengthen it?"

"Huh!?" Grey's head shot upwards again at his question, far enough that her hood did not hide her face at all anymore, and she stared at him with wide eyes. "Y-You can do that?!"

"I think so."

"Oi! Oi, Grey! Accept his offer!" That was Ad himself, who'd stayed quiet so far but now let his voice be heard, excitement radiating off of him. "Please!"

"Hah? Ah, uh, w-well, s-sure." Grey spluttered, clearly taken aback by her companion's vehemence. "P-Please strengthen our connection, mister Fujimaru."

"Right away." Shirou nodded, and with his hands still on both Ad and Grey, started building and improving the link between master and weapon.

Immediately, Grey and Ad were enveloped in halos of golden light, blinding in its intensity. Shirou was by now quite used to this however –people always glowed when exposed to the Mysterious Power– and just closed his eyes while continuing his work.

"Hey! It's working!" Ad shouted after a few moments, delight and exhilaration clear in his voice. "It's working! Keep going, boy!"

"I-I can feel it too!" Though Grey's voice was softer than Ad's, it was still far louder than her normal volume, giving away her own excitement. "O-Our connection is becoming stronger!"

"Glad to hear it." Shirou said, his eyes still closed as the light remained blinding as ever.

Ultimately, the process took about three minutes, and then Shirou was finished. The connection between Ad and Grey was as strong as it was ever going to be, or at least as strong as he could get it. There was no use in adding more power.

So Shirou stopped channelling the Mysterious Power and removed his hands from Ad and Grey, before waiting until the glow had died down. Then he opened his eyes, and he saw…

Boobs.

Big boobs.

Huge boobs.

Shirou blinked, and blinked again, before rubbing his eyes, convinced he was just seeing things after almost being blinded.

Nope, still boobs.

Before his eyes, at the place where Grey's face had been, were now two massive breasts, only barely contained by some kind of blue shirt, though the immense cleavage almost rendered that containment close to moot.

With immense effort, Shirou tore his eyes away from the glorious sight to look upwards, and there he found a face, Grey's face to be precise, though something about it was different from before…

She was older!

Yes, now he saw. Grey had aged, probably as a result of his attempt to strengthen the connection between Ad and her. Her face was that of a woman in her thirties, she was now at least two heads taller than him, she was muscled all over, and her breasts had gone from slightly-below-average to absolutely massive.

Her clothes had changed too. Instead of her shirt, skirt, and pantyhose, along with her cloak, she was wearing blue-and-gold armour, that protected most of her vital spots but also left large swaths of skin visible, along her flanks, her upper arms, her thighs, and, as said before, her breasts, as the armour's cleavage was ridiculously deep and wide, basically exposing the upper side of her boobs entirely.

What on Earth had happened…?

"Mister Fujimaru?" Grey asked confusedly, her voice that of a woman instead of a girl. "D-Did you shrink?"

"Uh, well-"

"Holy Hell, Grey!" Ad shouted, his eyes so wide they almost covered an entire side of his cube-body. "You're a woman now!"

"Eh? EEEH!?" Grey stumbled back as she realised what Ad meant, looking down at herself with panic in her eyes. "What happened!? M-My breasts? Mister Fujimaru?!"

"Quick, Grey! Hang me around your neck! I want to feel those godly bags of fat! I want to be hung between them!" Ad cried, and it was a testament to Grey's confusion that he didn't immediately pay for his remark.

"Why do I look like this?!" The white-haired girl, or rather white-haired woman now, demanded, tears forming in her eyes.

"It seems strengthening your bond with Rhongomyniad required you to change in form." Shirou replied, surprising himself by how clinical he sounded despite his own confusion and shock. "This body is apparently optimised to serve as its wielder."

"Hm, yes, of course. Lancer." Ad agreed, having given up on his quest to be hung between Grey's new boobs. "I'm sorry, Grey, I should have anticipated that this would happen."

"W-Wait, so it's normal?" Grey asked desperately, clinging to the one straw that she saw.

"Well, it's something that could have been expected at least." Ad replied. "Don't know if its normal though. Nothing about this situation is normal."

"I'm pretty sure I can revert it if you want." Shirou offered, making both master and weapon turn to him again. "The connection between you two will have to be weakened again to its old level, but then you will change back into your own form."

"…My own form." There was a surprising amount of bitterness in Grey's voice as she uttered those words, before she nodded. "Please change me back, this is too weird."

"Very well, then please stand still-"

"What's with all the shouting here?!"

Shirou was interrupted when the door of the office they were standing in was thrown open and Reines marched through, an annoyed expression on her face. "I swear, Fujimaru, if you're bullying Grey, I will- EH?!"

"L-Lady Reines." Grey stuttered, shrinking in on herself, self-consciously covering her face with her hands. "P-Please don't look at me, my face is visible."

That was what she was concerned about?!

"I-Is that you, Grey?" Reines demanded, staring with wide eyes at Grey. "What happened?!"

"That is indeed Grey." Shirou answered, seeing that Grey wasn't about to reply herself. "We were… experimenting, and the result is that Grey now looks like this."

"I see." Reines mumbled, her surprise melting away as she continued looking at Grey, her eyes roaming over the white-haired woman's form, pausing only whenever they passed over her thighs and breasts, to get an extra good look. Then, she turned towards Shirou, and gave him a thumbs up, coupled with a huge smile. "Fujimaru, good job!"

It would seem Reines was a bit of a pervert.

"Enjoy it while you can. I was just going to change her back." Shirou said dryly.

"No, wait! Give me a few minutes more, I beg of you." Reines pleaded, further exposing her perverted nature. "Please, let me enjoy the sight a bit more. I will never get this chance again!"

"Don't you worry, miss Reines." Ad shouted exuberantly. "All Fujimaru did was age her up a bit. He didn't change anything besides that. If you just wait seven more years, Grey will look like this again."

"She will?!"

"I will?!"

Reines and Grey demanded confirmation at the same time, though their tone couldn't have been more different.

"Yeah, she's just a bit of a late-bloomer."

"Fantastic!" Reines cheered loudly.

"It's not fantastic!" Grey protested.

"Why not?" Reines asked, before grinning at Grey. "You look beautiful right now."

Grey, who had been about to protest again, promptly fell silent after Reines' remark, flushing a deep red.

"I mean, you're always beautiful, but there's nothing better than a mature beauty if you ask me." Reines continued, not even trying to hide her perverseness anymore.

"D-Don't be mean to me." Grey spluttered, before angrily crossing her arms to show how displeased she was with Reines.

Of course, crossing her arms like that had consequences. Grey, who normally had small-to-medium size boobs, could not have anticipated it, but by crossing her arms, she pushed up her bust a fair bit, which was even more pronounced by the ridiculous amount of cleavage she now possessed.

It made for an incredibly erotic picture…

"Geh!"

…Which proved too much for Reines, the blonde girl collapsing backwards immediately, her eyes glazed over and a faint trickle of blood coming out of her nose.

"L-Lady Reines!" Grey forgot about her anger right away, and ran to Reines' side, anxiously fretting over the unconscious girl. "What's wrong?! Are you hurt?!"

Reines didn't reply though, still in a daze, and after nervously rubbing her hands for a while, Grey knelt down next to her and placed Reines' head on her thighs, giving her a lap-pillow.

She only did that so Reines wouldn't have to lie on the cold, hard ground of course, but all the same, it was an incredible treat. One Reines didn't fail to appreciate once her senses returned.

"Am I in Heaven?" Was the first thing she asked once she'd woken up again to find herself lying on Grey's lap, her left cheek in direct contact with Grey's bare thighs.

"N-No, you're still alive!" Grey assured her frantically, perhaps fearing Reines had a concussion. "Please don't move too much!"

"I won't." Reines clearly didn't have any trouble staying put, closing her eyes in deep content as she practically rubbed her face against the flesh of Grey's legs. "I won't be going anywhere."

"A-Ah." Grey seemed cautiously happy with Reines' seeming obedience, and began to lightly stroke her hair.

"In fact, since I'm feeling quite bad, I think we should stay put for an hour at least." Reines shamelessly milked Grey's concern, and Grey, being a naïve dear, immediately believed her.

"Are you unwell?" The white-haired woman asked in concern, before attempting to bend over to press her forehead to Reines' forehead. With her hands occupied, that was her only option to measure Reines' temperature and find out if she had a fever.

But because she wasn't used at all to her new size and body-dimensions, Grey miscalculated her movement, and instead of bringing her forehead close to Reines', she just pushed her breasts into the lady's face.

Cue another nosebleed, this one considerably larger than the former.

"Lady Reines!" Grey cried once she saw the blood, and began fretting over the little lady even more.

Behind her, Shirou sighed deeply, shaking his head in exasperation, though he couldn't entirely blame Reines for her actions.

Lap pillows were amazing after all.

---

So yeah, that was a request, so hereby. Nothing about it is canon though, as several of the things in it (Shirou strengthening the bond between wielder and weapon for instance) don't mesh well with the actual story.

But the point of it was that Reines would get an eyeful of Grey in Titturia-form, and I think I managed that well enough.

Second request is about Waver.

---

Omake

"Are you sure about this, Fujimaru?" Lord El-Melloi asked sceptically, looking suspiciously at the hand that the redhead had placed on his shoulder. "Permanently amplifying a Magus' Magical Power has never been managed outside of Crests, and those were made by Solomon himself."

"I know." Shirou replied, though he didn't remove his hand. "But I am quite sure that I can manage it too, and even if it doesn't work, I assure you that there won't be any negative consequences."

"Well, I suppose you are trustworthy enough, and I do owe you." Lord El-Melloi sighed, before waving a hand. "Experiment away then. I must admit I am rather curious as well."

"Then here I go." Shirou said, before channelling a massive amount of the Mysterious Power and sending it straight into Lord El-Melloi's Magic Circuits. "Let's see how powerful we can make you."

---

"Lord El-Melloi the Second, lord of the Archibald." The old, weathered Magus sneered, standing across from Waver in an old army-base that had been filled with Magical contraptions containing all manners of beasts and Chimeras. "You are too late. There is no stopping my pets now."

"Of course there is." Waver scoffed, before he lifted a hand, and blasted the creatures with rays of deadly plasma, turning them all to ash in an instant.

"HAAA!?" The Magus screamed, falling over backwards in shock. "M-My creatures! You will pay for this-"

Then Waver burst into a sprint and knocked the Magus out before he had the chance to blink.

---

"Intruder!" The witch screamed, her black hair swaying as she waved her arms around, summoning legions of skeleton warriors from the ground. "You will pay for your insolence!"

"Nope." Waver grinned, before unleashing a storm of white-hot fire that instantly consumed every skeleton in sight, before he split the fire like the Red Sea and walked right up to the witch, who stared at him with eyes wide as saucers.

"I surrender." She said meekly once he was standing in front of her.

"A wise decision."

---

"I know of your newfound power, Lord El-Melloi." The brawny mercenary spat, holding a knife to Reines' throat. "Don't you dare move a single inch, or the brat gets it!"

"Alright, I understand." Waver said, holding his hands very still. "Don't do something you will regret."

"Something you will regret you mean-"

A beam of light fired from Waver's right eye pierced the man's forehead the next second, and he comically fell backwards, while Reines escaped his dead grasp and ran up to hug Waver.

---

"You are a fool, Lord El-Melloi." Isabelle Edelfelt laughed, lifting a hand to point a finger right at him. "To so blindly stumble right into my Magic Circle, you must be going senile already."

"Oh no." Waver said monotonously, watching without a care as a complicated Array lit up around him.

"I will place you under a Curse!" The Edelfelt shot him a maniacal grin, spreading her arms wide. "And everyone will know to take us seriously! I imagine even Emiya will be shocked to hear- Huh?!"

The Magic Circle tried to inflict its curse on Waver…

And then sputtered out uselessly.

"What a shame." Waver huffed, before picking up a rock and throwing it at the Edelfelt's head, instantly knocking her out.

---

"Waver Velvet! How marvellous it is to see you again!" The gigantic, red-haired Servant laughed bombastically, reaching down to pat Waver's head. "You have grown a bit, and you look- Woah!"

Waver seized the hand on his head, pulled hard on it to bring Iskandar down a bit, placed one hand on the Servant's chest and the other on his stomach, and lifted him above his head.

"By the Gods, you have become strong!" Iskandar marvelled, looking down at Waver from where he was held.

"Yes, I suppose I have." Waver smiled, trying and failing to hold back tears at the sight of his mentor being so impressed.

---

Cut. A very short Omake about Waver being powerful. This was also a request. Again, it has no bearing on the actual story, please keep that in mind.

With all that finished, Ted departs for sunnier territory.