"Master, here's a bunch of drugs I managed to brew for the Holy Grail War," Archer said while holding several crates of drugs, each filled with some sort of weird drug, "I must admit, there's a lot of great materials to create drugs and medicines in this place, I am able to brew many sorts of medicines that I am unable to brew back from where I am from."

Tokiomi watched as Archer went back into her workshop, with crates of drugs in front of her workshop. He went through each of them, which is a label for the sort of drug that it can be used for. The labels went from the basic cold medicine to nightmare pills. He got over the confusion that the summoning has caused him, but as long as he has a powerful servant, which seems to be the case, he doesn't care too much.

After all, all he is in here for is to win the Holy Grail War.

Touhou: Corruption of the Holy Grail
Stage One: Chapter Three: Downtime before War

"Wait, isn't there already an overseer appointed for the Holy Grail War?" Yumemi asked Ruler as she researched mythological and historical heroes, for they could be their enemy in the Holy Grail War. Though the Ruler said there is no need and they aren't even supposed to fight, Yumemi still wants to win the Holy Grail War and fulfilled her own wish.

"No, there is no real overseer in this Holy Grail War," Ruler replied, "The overseer has to be a truly neutral party that could judge all sides and point out their flaws. And the current 'overseer' that was chosen for this Holy Grail War still has attachment to things that would impaired judgment, causing them to be unfair. That, combined with the amount of irregularities that have been coming up allows me to be summoned to be the Overseer."

Yumemi listened to Ruler as she continued to give a lecture about how the war was supposed to go and how it's their responsibility to set it right, but she could care less about the lecture. However, Ruler just kept rambling on and on with her lecture, and Yumemi really just wanted to go back to studying heroes who could have been summoned as a Servant by their opposition. But before she could do anything to shut her up, the door slammed right open by someone.

A young girl with blonde twintails, and wearing a sailor suit comes through the door. "YUMEMI-SAN!" She shouted as she ran toward Yumemi with the intention to hug her, " Are you trying to have fun without me!?"

The girl dived toward Yumemi, who dodged. Yumemi slammed her head with a chair, shouting, "CHIYURI! I am doing something right now!"

Chiyuri got back up, and pouted. "Yumemi-san, you are always working!" She said, "C'mon, let's have some fun!" Chiyuri knocked away the book and grabbed Yumemi's arm, attempting to drag her away. Ruler, having stopped her lecture and noticed all of the antics that are happening right under her nose, gets angry.

"Excuse me, it's quite disrespectful to interrupt people when they are talking, you know," Ruler said as she stood above both Yumemi and Chiyuri, the former of which realized what's exactly going to happen…

"Oh no, we gotta get out of here, Chiyuri," Yumemi said as Chiyuri was simply confused by what her friend and senpai meant.

"Hey, don't be leaving me now," Ruler said as she grabbed onto both Yumemi and Chiyuri, "Seems like I need to lecture you two a little more! Now sit down and I will lecture you on good manners and respect!"

NOOOOOOOOOO! Yumemi screamed mentally, as Chiyuri quickly fell asleep several minutes into the lecture. And on through the night, Ruler lectures the two of them.


Kayneth Archibald was angry. It has been a week since Laner was summoned, and it has been a week since he started to wait for the Holy Grail War to start. However, rather than trying to plan their strategy, Kayneth ended up babysitting Lancer. Lancer, ever since she was summoned, doesn't bother to do anything other than watching television and eating. Kayneth approached Lancer, who turned her attention to her master.

"Master, may I ask what would you require of me?" Lancer said as she turned away from the television.

Kayneth scowled. "Lancer, why are you getting ready for the Holy Grail War? I have been waiting for a long time to summon my servant and win the Holy Grail War, but now I have a lazy servant that refuses to make any move and spends her days doing nothing."

"Well, excuse me, Master," Lancer replied, "There's nothing to do. Why should I go chase after Servants when I could just wait for them to make the first move? Honestly, I would much rather prefer the other Servants to defeat each other first rather than going after them myself."

Kayneth frowned. Lancer did have a valid point, why should he make the first move when other masters could make their first move instead? Kayneth smirked. "Foolish Servant, why should I wait for them to come to me?" Kayneth said as he showed his command seals to Lancer, "No, that's not what I want! I want to prove my superiority toward the other Masters of this war! They shall all know my name and cower before me! Therefore, you, Lancer, would lure out all the other Servants!"

"And what if I refused?" Lancer asked, but she already knew what the answer would be.

"Then I shall use one of the Command Seals to force you," Kayneth said as his marks started to glow.

"Fine, I shall do as you wish, Master," Lancer answered, causing Kayneth to put down his hand and smirked. Lancer grumbled, she really doesn't want to do anything and watch the War carry out before she can actually do something. The last time she got involved in something, everyone ended up picking a fight with her. And this is what her master wished her to do.

"Also, Lancer," Kayneth said as he headed back to his room, "Clean up the place."

Lancer sighed as she turned back on the television. She may be a servant, but she isn't that sort of Servant.


"Master! I'm Bored! I wanna PLAY!" Berserker cried out as she and Kariya Matou walked down the streets of Fuyuki. Kariya sighs.

Kariya Matou and Berserker are currently trying to find a place to stay for the Holy Grail War, but they ended up wandering the dark streets of Fuyuki. Kariya is unable to go back to his apartment, for he forgot his keys and his landlord would probably not recognize him. Berserker doesn't care anyways, though, for all she wanted to do is play with someone.

"Berserker, why do you want to play so badly?" Kariya asked as he got annoyed by Berserker's repeated questions for playing.

"Because I am BORED! I want to PLAY with People and Have FUN! I wanna have fun with someone, MASTER!" Berserker shouted enthusiastically.

Kariya sighs. He doesn't understand Berserker, who is smiling as she happily dances in the air. Kariya replied to Berserker, "Well, Berserker, soon we'll be able to play with other people. But first, we need to find a place to stay."

"OKAY!" Berserker agreed excitedly. It seems all Berserker just wanted to get the war started and fight the other servants…

Kariya walked away, with Berserker giggling as she followed after him. After all, Kariya already knows who he should go after, and it will be lots of fun to play with him once he finds him during the Holy Grail War.


Kirei Kotomine walked through the Church hall, with no one anywhere near him. Or so he had thought, because he is being followed by an Assassin, who is completely hidden from Kotomine's senses. Kirei remembered what changes happened to the plan his master told him after the summonings of their servant.

"Since Assassin's presence concealment is high enough that no one would realized she is there even if she is in the room, Assassin can easily spy on others without ever being noticed," Kotomine remembered what Tokiomi said about his servant, "So there is no need for us to fake Assassin's death."

Kirei sat down on one of the benches, only to find Assassin suddenly appearing right next to him. He wasn't surprised, for the past few days Assassin has been appearing and disappearing without him noticing. Such is the power of Assassin's Presence Concealment, being able to hide from someone when she is literally right in their face.

"Hey Master!" Assassin said cheerfully, "I've been sitting here waiting for you!"

Kirei let out a false smile. Kirei answered, "Ah, I see… So Assassin, I assume you haven't started to find anything about our enemy Master or Servants, right?" Even if the Holy Grail War hasn't started yet, it doesn't mean that he can't spy on enemy masters. There is no rules preventing that, after all.

"Yup I did!" Assassin proclaimed happily, "and I recognized them!"

Kirei is surprised. What does it mean when the Assassin said that she recognized them? Are the enemy servants from the place where the Assassin is from? If so, does that mean most of the Servants in this Holy Grail War are from wherever the Assassin is from? Turns out, this war would be way different from what he would have expected.

"Tell me, Assassin, who do you recognize?" Kirei asked.

Assassin smiled.


"It seems like she tries to interfere with our current situation," Mima said as she and Angra meet again within the Holy Grail, "Yukari Yakumo."

Angra Mainyu snorted. "What can that hag do now? It's not like she can attempt to interfere with this world."

Yukari Yakumo, the Gap Youkai, is easily one of the few targets that Mima and Angra Mainyu need to be wary of for their plan to succeed. Though, she barely interferes with the outside world, only moving in case the world of Gensokyo is in danger. And she much rather prefers to have others do the work for her instead. Though Angra Mainyu is relaxed about her being a factor, he still fears that she may decide to make a move in the Holy Grail War, as evident that she personally summoned Gilgamesh as a servant for the war.

"That's true," Mima replied, "But she already caught wind of our scheme. As long as this plan does not extend to Gensokyo, we should be safe at the moment… is what I'll say, but most of the Servants here are residents of Gensokyo!"

Mima feared that due to the Servants being summoned, Yukari may make a move in the War, hindering what she and Angra have been planning for 60 years already. Though Angra just laughed.

"It doesn't matter. I'll soon get my revenge regardless of what's going to happen," Angra said, "And plus, you can't stop something once it's already in motion."

Mima and Angra watched as the events of the Fourth Holy Grail War carried out.

Author's Note:

Here's a chapter for more story content. The fights will commence soon, and remember to review!

Stage One: Chapter Four: Countdown