"Oh good, you're- What happened to your shoulder?"

I had just stepped onto the driveway of Johnathan's house when Lancer materialized a few feet in front of me. Considering he was already decked out in his red armor, I assumed they were good to go already. That, or Lancer was especially eager…

"Was messing around with the sword, stabbed myself" I sighed, stopping and pulling the sword out of the bag.

"…But in the shoulder?"

"What can I say" I shrugged, then winced from the shot stab of pain from the motion. "Not like I actually ever swung this thing around before now. Used to just hang on the wall, you know; decoration."

"Might want to ask Saber for some lessons then" Lancer grinned slightly as I slung my bag over my shoulders.

"If Saber didn't hate me, I'd consider it."

"Oh, he doesn't hate you" Lancer commented. "Doesn't trust you, but he doesn't hate you. …I think, at any rate."

"And you, Lancer" I asked, already knowing the answer. "You trust me?"

"Not fully" he laughed. "Some point in the future, you'll make your move. At that point, my job will be to stop you. But for now, I trust you enough to go along with your plan and hang around my master."

"This, tonight, was their plan, not me."

"You can say that all you want, but the reality isn't as simple as it appears to be on the surface" Lancer gave a knowing grin. "It never seems to be with the people I tend to associate with."

"So what-"

Before I could even go to knock on the door, I could hear the shouting occurring inside.

"Has me out here" he finished, as if reading my mind. "You just heard it. Good luck in there!"

"You're not going to do anything" I asked, somewhat surprised.

"Nah. Saber and I both figure that our presence at the moment may very well turn things into a fight. At least if we're out of the way, we got an excuse to not kill one another."

Lancer dissipated before my eyes. A couple seconds later, the front door opened, Lancer having unlocked it.

"I'll say this about Saber though. He recognizes that, at the moment, this alliance is the best way forward. Do try to keep it intact by this time tomorrow."

With that Lancer dissipated again, this time seemingly for good.

"Oh, joy…" I sighed, stepping into the house. "Hey, you two ready?! Best to get a move on as soon as possible!"

My shouting brought silence to the rest of the house. After a few moments Sortiara came into view. Her face was slightly red and she looked livid. So, you know… typical Sortiara.

"Nathan" she spoke curtly, glaring at me.

I got the feeling that it wasn't because of anything I did, or didn't, do this time. She must have been really worked up if she had to try and suppress it from being directed at me.

"You ready" I asked, observing the lack of equipment.

"Of course I am" another curt reply, alongside a look of indignation. "I'm a magus. What, were you expecting me to also have a bag?"

"More like a coat" I gave her a wry smile.

"I manipulate the wind. I can handle a breeze."

"I see. …So, um… is Johnathan ready?"

"So he claims."

There's the anger. Right, avoid the subject for now. Don't need to be going to battle with any more injuries…

"Johnathan! You-" I began to shout out again.

"I heard you! I'm coming! Just… just give me a moment!"

A moment, as it turns out, happens to be about three minutes or so. The silence between myself and Sortiara was starting to become uncomfortable. Especially since I could feel the rage flaring up again with each passing second. I had expected seeing Johnathan to be somewhat of a relief. However, when he finally did come into view, it only gave me more concern.

"…Why are you walking like that" I asked him point blank. "Hell, it's more like you're staggering, dude. What happened at school; bad day to pick a fight with the playground bully!"

"He didn't go to school today" Sortiara kept her back to Johnathan. "He called in sick today to 'get ready for tonight', as he puts it."

"…You sure he just isn't sick?"

"If he's sick, it's an illness he's carried all his life."

"I'm fine" he glared at Sortiara briefly, before turning his attention to me. "Seriously, I'm fine. Just feeling a bit… drained, is all. But I'll be good for the fight!"

"I mean, I'm not gonna try to stop you" I shrugged. "But what did you do to put yourself into such a sorry looking state?"

"I was-"

"He. Doesn't. Need. To. Know" Sortiara cut in, breaking up every word.

Her eyes were closed and, despite having crossed her arms, I could see her fists shaking. Whatever he had done, it certainly wasn't a good thing in Sortiara's mind, at least.

"…Magic stuff" Johnathan gave me an apologetic smile. "Let's leave it at that."

"Why the hell would you do magic stuff on the day of battle" I asked him, slightly annoyed. "How does that make any sense?"

"It doesn't" Sortiara responded. "Though what he did doesn't make sense, period."

"It will all make sense come the fight" Johnathan sighed, waving us both off. "Now come on, let's get going."

Walking past the two of us, he took the lead with a smile on his face. At the very least, though his motions were odd, he didn't seem to be walking any slower than I was used to seeing. Maybe he would be fine after all then?

"Idiot…" I barely heard Sortiara mutter under her breath, before she, too, took off.

…Or maybe not then… Man, if they're all pissy with each other during the fight, we could very well be fucked, even with the numbers advantage. And by we, I mean me. Again, don't mind dying in the pursuit of beauty, but I'm not looking to die yet either!

Our destination tonight was a park. Not Glenwood Park, naturally; wouldn't want anyone accidentally stumbling on the main area of the labyrinth. Or drag police attention to the area. Man, trying to find battlefields later on is going to be a pain; police will be looking for patterns in the locations wanton damage is magically occurring. But it's not like we could change the time of day we fight to really mix things up. Not unless we really did descend into the sewers, or something along those lines.

…Even the thought of going down into the sewers made me shudder. Gross…

"Saber and Lancer following" I asked once I caught up to Sortiara.

"Of course they are" she spoke dryly.

"Just making sure" I sighed. "Look, there isn't going to be any… issues… between you two when-"

"The only problems will be from him."

"…Right. Excellent!"

I picked up my pace a bit, catching up to Johnathan.

"You sure you're good?"

"Thanks for you're concern, assuming it's genuine" Johnathan laughed. "But seriously, I'll be fine. As you can see, I'm not going to be the one slowing us down…"

…Oh no, not from him too…

"Hey, if you two can't get along and work together tonight, we're better off leaving this for another time. Our advantage lays in the numbers, but that falls apart the moment you two start fighting each other."

"You don't have to worry about that when it comes to me. If anything, you should be asker her that."

Aaaarrrrruuuugggggggg! You damn, stubborn idiots! What have you two been fighting over since last night to cause such a massive rift?! Fuck me, if this does fall apart, I really am going to be stuck sitting this out, down in the labyrinth. That would be so boring!

"Saber following us" I asked, changing track.

"Course he is."

"He still in civilian clothes?"

"…Not at the moment, be he can switch between the two freely. Why?"

"Have him materialize. Want to be absolutely sure we have Rider's attention."

"Won't that just attract Archer's attention though? Or Berserker's?"

"Archer's undoubtedly already spotted us. Not like he has anything else he needs to do at night besides look of six people. As for Berserker… Well, Zach is going to be hunting you two down regardless, ain't he? Considering there aren't reports of Berserker levels of damage popping up everywhere throughout the city, he either a) has very good control of Berserker, or, and most likely, b) is very far away. I'll leave it up to you, of course, but I think it's worth the risk. Last thing we want is Rider not showing up not because he didn't intend to, but because he didn't know we were out here. It's a big city, after all, and he only has 32 sets of eyes to use, at most. Sight alone might not be enough for him to get wind of us."

"But one pair is good enough for Archer" he raised a questioning eyebrow.

"Considering his comes from way up there" I pointed up to the office towers in the distance. "Yeah, I'd say one pair of eyes, especially those of a Heroic Spirit, a superpowered magical being, is good enough to spot us shmucks walking along in the dead of night. Or, well… evening, for now."

Johnathan went quiet for a moment or so. Then, off on his right, Saber appeared, dressed in casual clothes.

"A bold idea" Johnathan commented.

"A risky idea" Saber sighed.

"And Chibi wasn't" I smirked.

"Don't compare yourself to Zhuge Liang" Saber muttered just loud enough for me to make it out.

"Wouldn't dream of it" I smiled at Saber's threat.

It was true, too. Like fuck was I gonna be thinking I could measure up to one of the greats of the Three Kingdoms era of China!

…He's never going to believe me that I'm a massive Shu fan, is he? A pity… but I suppose it can't be helped.

The walk to the battlefield was peaceful; silent. Johnathan, Saber and I walked at the head of the group, with Sortiara, and presumably Lancer, a few meters behind. It wasn't until we were about there that Saber tensed up, ever so slightly.

"He's there" he muttered.

"The hashshashins" I asked.

"Some of them too, but I'm been aware of them for a little while now, tailing us. No, I meant Rider. He's waiting for us."

"That's not good" Johnathan muttered. "We were supposed to be the ones waiting on him; get set up by the tree line."

"Man moves quick" I smirked. "Ah well, at least it's still our chosen area, more or less. As they say: no plan ever survives contact with the enemy."

"But now he's going to have open space to fully use his mounted advantage."

"For but the briefest of moments, yes. Or have you never heard of the concept of 'kiting'?"

Saber gave me a puzzled look, but a grin slowly formed on Johnathan's face; one that could almost match mine.

"Very true, I suppose" was all he responded with.

"Lancer's sensed the presence of Rider" Sortiara spoke from behind us.

Apparently, she now found it more reasonable to me closer to us, now that the main target was approaching.

"So has Saber" I nodded. "Alright you two. It's going to take a bit more work, but stick to the plan. Drag this fight into the tree line as soon as possible. The sooner we force Rider to dismount, the better."

"But the assassins will be harder to deal with" Sortiara sighed.

"Didn't you say you can handle it?"

"I will handle it! Just wish you didn't have to make my life as difficult as possible…"

Sure enough, Rider and the priest were waiting for us, close to the entrance of the park. It would be a bit of work dragging the fight to the trees, but it should be doable, provided nothing went terribly wrong…

At this point Lancer had materialized, and Saber had switched over to his armor. Both of them had their weapons drawn, keeping an eye open for any sudden strike for the assassins that were undoubtedly surrounding us as we entered the park grounds. Grabbing my phone from my bag, I started the recording. The video wouldn't be as great, considering I had to hold it in my left hand, so I could hold the sword in my good one. But still, even just capturing a bit of footage, when combined with the audio, would serve the purpose well enough.

"Have to admit" I called out to the master and servant pair. "I didn't think you'd arrive ahead of us. Look at that; showing up late to our own battlefield. A shameful display, and one for which I sincerely apologize!"

I gave the two a bow, flashing a smirk, completely insincere. The priest just returned a flat stare, seemingly completely uninterested. Rider, on the other hand, visibly bristled. It was slight, subtle; doubted anyone but me and maybe the other servants had even noticed. But it revealed something quite clearly to me.

He knows. Or he at least thinks he knows, and it has really ticked him off.

"Drop the act, boy" Rider shouted back. "I will not tolerate such behavior!"

"Aw… You're no fun Rider! It's a game; we should all be enjoying ourselves! Otherwise, what's the point in playing?!"

"Yet you take it too far! So, tell me then, who was it to draw the first of your blood?! Was it Archer?! Assassin?! Or did Caster finally have enough of dealing with your antics?!

I froze. I admit, I had considered this possibility. But I had also dismissed it. Rider was a man of civility. This wasn't civil. This wasn't civil at all! To be sharing what should have been obvious secrets like that! For shame, Rider. For shame!

…But also… Bravo! That was absolutely the correct read. The correct play. The absolute last thing I needed to deal with right now. I applaud you on that, Rider!

The implication of Rider's statements wasn't lost on my four companions. I suddenly felt four new pairs of eyes fall on me, with various emotions and intents behind them.

"What is that supposed to mean, Nathan" Sortiara growled.

"It means he's been lying more than even I suspected" Saber answered her in my place.

"In my defense" I gave them a weak smile. "Well… did you seriously expect me to share information like that with you all, and not spin a web?"

"Yes" Sortiara practically shouted.

"What I want to know is how Rider, of all people, knows" Lancer cut in.

"Is it not obvious, Lancer" Rider called out. "We had a private meeting of our own. Information for information. Though I highly doubt you'd find anything of note in what my master and I told him. He wasn't interested in asking questions relevant to the war."

"Heh… very true" I smirked slightly.

"Then what did you gather in return for such important information" Johnathan asked.

"Things about the Catholic Church. Lots about Rider and his life; what ruling was like, what he knew, how he saw other big names that stood against him."

"Why am I not surprised" Johnathan sighed.

"Forget about that for a moment" Lancer commented. "For all we now know, this was very much set up as a trap for us; his secret dealings mean this plan of his can't be trusted."

"Hey! Again, this was their plan" I pointed at the two kids. "They chose this target and this location, not me!"

"Did I mention Rider offered him an alliance as well" the priest grinned directly at me as he spoke for the first time of the night.

"What" Sortiara roared, and I could feel the wind picking up around her.

"Hey, hey, hey" I began to back up from the group. "I denied that offer outright! I'm a liar, sure. A damn good one, and I take pride in it! But I didn't backstab you all! At least be honest with them about that as well, Rider!"

"…On that, the boy is not lying" Rider admitted. "I will not have you all kill him under false pretenses. After all, it is I who will be the one killing him tonight."

"Man, that line just keeps getting bigger" I sighed with relief as the glaring eyes turned slightly less harsh and the wind began to die down, ever so slightly. "And hey, don't get mad at me. Think of this as a lesson! You know I'm a dishonest man, and a dishonest man you can always count on to be dishonest."

I pointed back over to Rider.

"Really, it's the honest ones you have to watch out for. Honestly!"

I felt a strong pull on the collar of my shirt.

"Oh no, you're not worming out of this" Sortiara roared, right in my face. "After this shit is dealt with, there will be words! You understand!"

"C-Crystal clear" I nodded rapidly.

"There will be words now" Rider's voice turned hard as stone, getting the attention of everyone present.

"Really? What more is there to say, Rider" I smiled meekly as Sortiara let her grip of me go.

"You know exactly what I want to hear" Rider leveled his sword right at me. "Your wish; I will confirm it, here and now!"

"…"

"…Your wish" Johnathan looked, and sounded, surprised. "I thought you said you didn't have a wish!"

"I don't! Ok, no, that's not quite true. I didn't have a wish back then! You can consider me being perfectly honest here!"

"Bullshit" Sortiara shouted. "You're fighting for the grail just like the rest of us! We should be killing you here and now!"

"Ok, yes, I am fighting for the grail now! But I wasn't at the start of this thing! It wasn't until near the end of my meeting with Rider than an idea for a wish came to me! Besides, masters are only secondary objectives! None of us need to die here; only dead servants power up the cup! I'm perfectly fine leaving this as purely a servant thing come the final three! I'm serious about honoring the whole alliance thing; I don't have a death wish!"

"The wish, boy" Rider roared!

"Surely you already know it, Rider" I shouted back over to him.

"I will have you confirm it! In the slight chance I am wrong, I will spare your life."

…And feed me to these wolves I'm now standing by? Great… Thanks Rider…

Ah well, I suppose it can't be helped. Besides, I am seriously fighting for this thing now. I suppose I better play the part.

"If you insist then" I grinned, picking up the dramatic flair as I stepped forward from the group. "See, I don't understand the point the magi who created this whole thing were going for. I mean, reaching the root?! Is that truly the best wish they could come up with?!"

"There is nothing more important to… actual magi" the priest looked dismissively at the kids. "It holds the knowledge of the world. Past, present, future. Things lost to time. Things yet to be. Actual magi would love nothing more than to be insufferable know-it-alls."

"But that's so small in scale" I sighed, smirking at the priest. "The grail is omnipotent! It can grant anything one could wish for, so why stop at the root?!"

Now I had everyone's attention. I could acutely feel the slight breeze of the night. The silence that began to drag as I went quiet. The puzzling air radiating from all. All except Rider. Rider simply remained frozen in time: sword leveled; expression completely impossible to read.

"Nathan… there's nothing bigger than the root in magecraft" Johnathan eventually spluttered.

"But of course there is" I spread my arms wide, laughing. "The root records! The root gleams! But we record! We gleam! Humans record and gleam! Of course there's an existence that surpasses such menial things! …Or we've fabricated the notion of such things, I should say!"

The quizzical eyes slowly shifted to those of horror.

"Nathan, you can't-"

"Why merely stop at reaching the root" I shouted out, looking up to the stars above, cutting Johnathan off. "The grail is omnipotent, no?! With it in hand, forget merely reaching the root! Surpass the root, I say! Supplant the root! Become the existence that doesn't merely record, but dictates! Dictates all: across all worlds, all strands of time, every possible, theoretical, reality!"

"What are you even going on about" Sortiara shouted. "Nothing can surpass the root, you moron!"

"Of course something can surpass the root!"

"Like what?!"

"God!"

The wave of deathly silence rolled across the night once again. I grinned, spinning in place, glancing at each member of the audience. It would be the priest who recovered first.

"You couldn't dare suggest-"

"Oh, how little you know" I laughed back at him. "It's never a question of if I can or can't! It's a question of if I will, or if I won't! The grail may work on actualization, but I know the process of ascension! I will become the existence to surpass the root!"

A fire began to flair up in Rider's eyes. Even from this distance, in the encroaching dark of the night, I could see it clearly. Feel it clearly. He was ready to go. All he need was for me to finally say it.

Think I've kept him waiting long enough. Alright, Saladin: let's go!

"Upon the grail I swear: I shall become the first, true God!"

In that moment, as I gazed upon the stars… In that moment, as I let out the most heartfelt laugh I could remember… In that moment, I gained my second glance at the void. My second glance at the pure, unfiltered truth of the world. The unbearable truth that all the other monsters lash out at, fight against, try to deny out of existence!

Beautiful… Absolutely... Beautiful…


A/N

Oh boy, late again... At this point, late feels more common than on time. I'm starting to think a schedule of 2-3 days simply will not be possible going forward. However, at this point I am completely committed to finishing this work, so rest assured that this will never be dropped. That was the point of the tight schedule to begin with, so... Well, I'll still try my best to stick to it, I swear, but that might just not work out. Even sleeping only 4 hours a day like I do, I find there just isn't enough time in each day for me to do what I want to do; get done what I want to get done. So, I'm sorry if things run late, but I hope that, even then, you'll all still come back to read the posts xD

As for questions... no comment on the one I got here, as it would perhaps spoil things for others they would rather not be spoiled on. That said... man, I don't even have an 'interesting fact' for this either; simply haven't had the time to go digging into more... obscure... FATE lore since the last post.

CURSE YOU, BUSY SUMMER DAYS! COULDN'T WAIT FOR SCHOOL, COULD YOU; LET ME ENJOY MY OFF TIME?!

…As always, thanks to everyone who reads to this point. Hope you're all enjoying the story (at least somewhat) xD