I'll Need an Old Priest, A Young Priest, And A Long Dead Holy Maiden


Bucharest, Romania

July 28, 1994

Jeanne d'Arc yawned heavily, and stretched as she walked out of the airport. It had been a long flight from Rome, and Heroic Spirit or not, jet lag still tended to leave her very tired.

"Something the matter, Mother Monet?" asked a voice from behind her.

She smiled as she turned to face her charge. "Don't worry dear, it was just a long flight."

The girl pulling her suitcase, her Sister Mary, always brought joy to Jeanne's heart. The Church had thought she was beyond saving, her mind tainted by the sin of her upbringing; it had taken Jeanne adopting the girl for the executioner's hand to be stayed. And what fools she had made of them in the time since. It was a shame to pull her away from her psychology classes like this, but... there was no place in the world safer for her to be than by Jeanne's side.

"Even now I must question your decision to bring your daughter along to a place like this." A weathered old man exited the airport behind the pair. Risei Kotomine, the handler for the current operation and her nominal superior... and in this case mild hypocrite.

"Come now Father, those who live in glass houses should not throw stones." Jeanne smiled back at the aged priest. She did not see eye-to-eye with everyone in the Assembly, particularly after adopting Mary, but over the past few years she had come to find common ground with the dour elder Kotomine over their... troubled children, even if the younger Kotomine seemed to be the opposite of Mary in every way imaginable.

Risei raised an eyebrow at that, but let the comment pass as the rest of the group exited the airport.

"Once we reach our contact we should be able to rest for the day, I'm sure all of us are tired after all that," Eins Nuremi, the team's pointman explained... it wasn't entirely necessary, but Jeanne figured it was probably best the information remained fresh in everyone's minds, none of them were quite thinking straight after a full day of travel.

"We do have transportation prepared, correct?" asked the younger Kotomine. Kirei, a man as troubled as Mary, but where Mary had been raised by heathens who had tried to train her out of her natural kindness, Kirei was just... empty. Even now his eyes seemed dead and empty, like flat, pupiless discs of dull color... chilling.

"Not to worry, Brother Kirei," Sancraid Phahn, the final member of the team, assured. The man's voice was warm, his actions kind, by all rights he was the shining ideal of what all men of the cloth should strive to be... yet whenever he was around Mary, his smile seemed to become forced and strained. When Mary's "educators" had been put to the sword in Tibet, Phahn had been among the most strident voices demanding the girl join them in death. Jeanne... wished that he had not been among those chosen for this mission.

"It has all been pre-arranged. If memory serves, I believe our rental car should be in Lot E, right Father?" Phahn continued, addressing the elder Kotomine.

"Yes, I believe so. Let us make our way there now. Even in the capital this country is unstable at the moment, and I would prefer to not have to reveal ourselves to the public because some street thug chose the wrong targets to harass." Risei commanded.

And so it was. Even if he weren't the overall commander of this operation, Risei's words were hardly at odds with reality. Bucharest was more stable than the rest of the country, more stable than most of the region even, but even so Jeanne could feel a sort of underlying tension in the air.

It was disquieting, really. Jeanne had heard about the region's turmoil, but it was one thing to know as an insulated observer in Italy, and it was another thing to be here, to feel the tension, to see the fear and despair in people's faces... It brought to mind bleak memories she would sooner forget if given the chance.

And to think, this tension, this fear, this broken nation... was perhaps the most stable part of the entire region. The Romanian Government was little more than a provisional name and pile of documents here in Bucharest, whose authority had yet to truly come into play—no doubt because of the interference of the Yggdmillennia—but compared to the horrors playing out a few hundred miles away across the Western border? Bucharest was positively serene, by lack of gunshots alone.

Ultimately, it did seem that some things never change. In her former life, a powerful heathen empire's invasion of these lands had shook Christandom so deeply that it abandoned France in her time of need. Now, in current life, it seemed that strife yet again beset the region as a different heathen empire's grip over the region collapsed, leaving its former subjects adrift in a sea of chaos…

Truly, she thought, it does not matter the age. Something horrible is always happening in the Balkans.

After spending far too much time searching for both their car and their destination (to say nothing of trying to figure out a seating arrangement that minimized the amount of sitting on laps necessary, praise be to her dear Sister Mary for being accommodating in that regard), they finally began to approach their safehouse.

"Ah," Brother Eins bemoaned, "of course I kept missing it. Recessed between the buildings like that, you could hardly tell it was there from the road if you didn't already know."

The building in question was a small, unassuming building of the pre-War style of the region, crammed in-between two massive Soviet concrete monoliths—apartment buildings or commercial centers, Jeanne couldn't be quite sure. Supposedly, long before the region had fallen into the hands of godless communists, this building had been a small convent of sorts. By some miracle its existence had slipped between the cracks... much as it would hopefully now do for Jeanne and her team.

Officially, she was here alone, on 'holiday' with her daughter, as the Church's obligatory representative for this Grail War here to form a neutral ground for defeated Masters, and to ensure that things happened cleanly. In practice, there was a reason why the Church had seen fit to send the Burial Agency's most powerful Executor, along with several of its top operatives, to perform this task... and it wasn't because they were to simply sit in a field and wait for something to happen.

Unofficially, Jeanne and the group currently exiting the four-door nondescript black sedan alongside her were here to do their best to contain the inevitable conflict that would soon come to this region. Magi as a rule cared little about the lives of others, and during Grail Wars especially habitually made minimal effort to conceal themselves. During the Third War sixty years ago, thousands had been injured or killed as a result of either the direct actions taken by magi and their Servants, or as an indirect consequence of their actions. And it was clear even now that this Fourth War would be far greater in scope than the Third... and most likely so would its casualty count.

Unlike magi, the Church cared deeply for the lives of their fellow man, and for that reason alone sought to minimize the inevitable escalation of the conflict. Be that by negotiation between the warring magi organizations to at least fight outside populated areas, or simple assasination until all Masters on both sides were dead... well, that would remain to be seen. Personally, Jeanne had hopes for diplomatic overtures... but ultimately expected that the magi would prove impossible to negotiate with as they usually did. In that case, her power as an Incarnated Servant, weakened though she might be, would be called upon for much more than simple deterrence.

As she approached the recessed door that served as the convent's main entrance, Jeanne hesitantly brought up a hand, and rapped on the door seven times in sequence, just as she had been told to do.

There was... an awkward silence, in which Jeanne couldn't help but look between her fellow Executors. Plainclothes they may be currently wearing—or what passed for plainclothes with her dear Sister Mary—but they still made for an odd group hanging at the door of a disused convent like this. She would prefer to not stay on the doorstep longer than she had to.

It was about five minutes after the initial knock that the door actually opened, just about when Jeanne had begun to worry that they might have gotten the address wrong... only for the door to swing open and for Jeanne to find herself face-to-face with the twin barrels of a shotgun.

Almost immediately, the other Executors began reaching for their own weapons, preparing for a potential fight, but Jeanne barely even acknowledged the weapon as she looked past it to the young nun who was pointing it at her.

"There is no need for that, sister," Jeanne said with an unusual calm for someone with a gun to their head.

"Ah, apologies, Mother Monet," the girl said, quickly lowering her weapon. "I am afraid that these trying times have conditioned me to fear the worst."

Jeanne nodded, "It is of no real concern. Miracle Rounds or not, you will find that I have a far greater constitution than most when it comes to these things."

The sister looked confused for a second, before quickly shrugging it off and stepping out of the way to allow the Executors into the cramped interior of the convent, quickly shutting the door behind them.

"I am Sister Petresia," the girl introduced herself. "I must apologize for leaving you waiting outside so long. There were a number of defense mechanisms that needed disarming before I could safely allow you in."

"It is of no matter, Sister," Risei assured. "We are in the midst of trying times, and patience is very much a virtue. Our entrance here evaded all detection as far as my senses could tell, so there is little lost in the end. Now come, brief us on our current situation in this country."

"Of course Father, I have a presentation already prepared in the other room." Petresia motioned for the Executors to follow her into... well, what probably wasn't a conference room before, but certainly was now, complete with a set of folding tables and chairs, and even a projector set up.

Jeanne shared a quick wordless exchange with dear Sister Mary. It had been a long, exhausting day of traveling, and if all went as planned she at least should be actually enjoying this as a holiday. Quietly, the girl excused herself from the proceedings, leaving the adults to do the talking.

The Executors quickly took seats at the table, and turned their attention towards the projector screen as Petresia dimmed the lights.

"As you have likely already been informed," she started, "the Holy Church holds a precarious position within Romania. It was only relatively recently that the old Soviet bans on religion were relaxed enough for non-Orthodox churches to be reopened here, meaning that we re-established a presence here in the last few months. As you can imagine, Romania's secret masters did not exactly take kindly to this.."

The slide changed to an image of an emblem shaped like a tree on a white background. It had the complexity and difficulty to recreate that tended to indicate very old designs... but if Jeanne looked closely, she could make out the tree forming the shape of the letters 'YM'.

"The Yggdmillennia," Petresia stated simply. "I have no doubt that you were already briefed on their nature as a breakaway magus organization that has effectively served as an Antipope to the mainline Mage's Association since the later stages of World War II. But while Rome may "know" that the Yggdmillennia 'run' Romania, as someone who has lived in this region under them, I must impress upon you the sheer extent of their control over this nation."

The slide changed again, this time showing a map of Romania, dotted with at least fifty markers of various sizes.

"This," Petresia narrated, "is a map of major known Yggdmillennia facilities. As you can see, they are quite extensive. There is no part of this country where a facility of theirs is more than a postal code away... and this is only their known facilities. As you could imagine, the organization is highly secretive and detests revealing anything about themselves, so there are likely far more facilities than what we see here. But even that is just the tip of the iceberg."

The slide changed again, now showing a complicated diagram linking together various Romanian leaders to the Yggdmillennia family by various ties.

"I don't think I can overstate the degree of influence that the Yggdmillennia exert over Romania. During the Soviet times, they effectively were our government, and even now that the Union is gone, our government is a puppet of the Yggdmillennia in every way that matters. Every office-holder worthy of note beyond the level of a mayor has been directly picked out by them since World War II. We may call Bucharest our capital, but it is their headquarters in Carolisburg—the building publicly known as the Carolingian Citadel—where all decisions are really made."

Sancraid's brow furrowed at that, and he raised his hand into the air, not waiting for acknowledgement before voicing his concerns.

"So they are based in Transylvania then? On the other side of the mountains from here and nearly 150 miles away? Why are we here right now instead of making our way there? Surely the Association will know that this Citadel is their enemy's home and ensure the Grail War in earnest occurs there, right?"

Petresia shook her head. "The Yggdmillennia have been very careful to cover their tracks from the Association's prying eyes. It is quite likely that the Association has no real way of knowing where the true head of the serpent is located... and even that aside, as I understand it their goal here is nothing less than the clan's complete annihilation. I can say with no uncertainty that it could not be accomplished in full without wiping their influence from the map entirely. Simply destroying the head would never be enough; the Yggdmillennia would merely grow back like a hydra, and like a hydra, would likely become twice as dangerous for the effort."

It began to dawn on Jeanne just how large this conflict was likely to be.

"Sister... you make it sound as if this Grail War is going to in effect be nothing less than an actual war, fought in secret across the entire country." She voiced her worries.

Much as she feared, Petresia nodded. "Yes, that will most likely be the case. I can say without a doubt that the Yggdmillennia at the very least have hundreds of magi recruited from countless obscure minor families around the world, and countless secret projects they have developed over the years, in addition to whatever influence they can exert over the government, provisional as it is... and I doubt that the Association will fail to match what they bring to the table. This conflict will likely be impossible to truly hide. My country is likely going to be remembered as descending into a bloody civil war in the years to come, just as our neighbors have."

...and the Church had sent her here to contain this with a mere four men and her own daughter. Heroic Spirit or not, Jeanne couldn't help but feel she may have been set up to fail.

"If... if this conflict is to be on such a scale, how are we to even influence it? An Executor is powerful, but we are hardly equipped to take on an entire army of magi. Even with an army of our own, I would fear the sheer scale of something spanning an entire country would make it a difficult task to effectively contain it."

Petresia looked pensive for a moment, before skipping several slides.

"You forget, Mother," Petresia explained, "that massive scale or not, this is still a Grail war. Both sides have already summoned powerful Heroic Spirits to aid them in the conflict, and I can assure you that no matter what armies they may bring to bear, it will be those Spirits that are the driving force in this conflict. In life they were people who stood head and shoulders above the rest of humanity, and I expect that in death they will continue to do the same. But, were we to destroy the Heroic Spirits or kill their Masters..."

"...then we take away one of their most powerful weapons in this war." Jeanne nodded, a plan beginning to form.

"Indeed," Petresia responded. "To that end, I have prepared what information we have on the Servants of both sides."

The slide she brought up was a series of grainy photos, each displaying a striking figure in varying levels of poor quality.

"Capturing evidence of a Heroic Spirit from a magus desperate to hide its existence is difficult at the best of times, and while we have our suspicions on who some of the 14 Servants summoned here may be, suspicions alone are hardly something to plan around. What we can confirm more concretely, however, is the identity of a good number of the Masters involved here."

Shifting slides, she first brought up a larger version of the first photo from the group slide, a silver-haired man with uncannily young features laughing merrily alongside a towering, ominous figure of a long-haired blonde man who... for some reason seemed reminiscent of a Dead Apostle.

"Our first suspected Master is the founder and head of the Yggdmillennia, a man by the name of Darnic Prestone Yggdmillennia. Our sources tell us that he is the very same man responsible for moving the Grail into this country with the help of the Nazis during World War II, and we suspect that he has used some unnatural method to extend his life, going by his seemingly youthful appearance in modern times. Prestone is an extremely powerful magus, fully capable of flight, and projection of immensely powerful combat spells. We believe that he is serving as the Master of the Yggdmillennia's Lancer."

She moved on to the next slide, of a somewhat portly man standing next to a figure of... surprisingly small yet imposing stature clad in lion-headed plate armor with a white cape.

"Next, we have Gordes Musik, who we believe to be the master of their Saber. Musik is an extremely talented alchemist, perhaps one of the greatest in the entire world... or at least so he reportedly claims. He has an arrogant streak about him and a quick temper, but he is not to be underestimated. He has mastered the practice of alchemical transmutation, and is even capable of transforming parts of his body into flesh made of living metal in combat, to say nothing of what he can do to his enemies with a mere touch. In addition, we believe him to play a major part in Yggdmillennia's ongoing research into several major fields, the most notable of which is their Battle Homunculi."

Eins's face darkened. "You mean to tell me they've grown a crop of slave soldiers?"

Petresia nodded. "In effect, yes. And ones who will only live for about 3 years at that."

Jeanne couldn't help but wince in sympathy for the poor creatures. To be brought into the world to do nothing but fight and die for a cause you didn't believe in, and to have a life cut so short even if you survived... it was truly a terrible fate.

"Next, we have Celenike Icecolle." The projector switched to a close up image of a woman with manic eyes grinning like a cat that had just cornered a mouse... a strange effeminate figure could be seen in the background. "We believe her to command their Rider. She specializes in curses, and has an infamously sadistic and cruel temperament. Out of all of the Yggdmillennia's Masters, we estimate her to be one of the weakest, but she is still not to be engaged without care. She is one of the world's most skilled practitioners of an art even most magi disparage as dark and twisted. Further, she seems to act as one of the Yggdmillennia's top researchers, heading several projects that are rumored to be controversial within the organization and have a seemingly grisly price... out of all the members of the organization, she would certainly be the one I would have the least hesitation in shooting."

Jeanne couldn't help but about the eyes on that one, they hid more than simple cruelty for cruelty's sake... there was a dark and evil joy hidden in there too.

The projector switched to a picture of a young boy playing with a large stone creature, with a robed figure watching distantly from a patch of shadow.

"Next, we have Roche Frain, who we believe to be the host of their Caster. Roche is... in my opinion, an excellent example of the inhumanity of magi. Our reports say that his family has studied the practice of Golemancy for generations, and with his birth decided to hand the child over to their golems to raise in place of even a genuine mother. I don't think I have to tell you of the Metal Mother experiment to explain how horrible a thing this is to do to a child. Evidently, it has caused Roche to grow into a cold, distant figure with no care for anything other than his Golems. As his specialty would suggest, he is at the heart of a relatively recent addition to the Yggdmillennia's armies in the form of powerful combat golems. Perhaps even weaker than Celenike if caught without his stone guardians... but he is never far from them."

The slide changed again, now showing a picture of two people, a boy and a girl with clear sibling resemblance. The boy looked tired and pained behind his glasses, while the girl was clearly bound to a wheelchair.

"The final Yggdmillennia Masters we know about are these two, Fiore and Caules Forvedge. The former is the girl, and the latter the boy. Between the two of them they command Assassin and Berserker, though we have yet to even come close to ID-ing either of them. They may look unassuming, but they are both quite powerful. Fiore suffers from a defect in her Magic Circuits that paralyzes her legs and can not be safely healed without destroying her Circuits, but commands a powerful set of Mystic Codes collectively known as Bronze-Link Manipulators. They are in effect large mechanical arms that she uses in place of her wheelchair in battle. The Manipulators have a wide variety of functions in addition to allowing her near unparalleled mobility, and even without them she is still a capable magus. Her brother on the other hand we know somewhat less about, but we do know that he is a master of familiar magecraft, something quite impressive considering his young age. He will likely defend his sister with his life, which I suggest you all take note of, as if our intel is correct, Fiore is currently considered to be Prestone's heir, and as such is likely your second priority target after him."

The slide changed again, this time the picture was of... a gruesome scene of a mass grave.

"You may note that I appear to have skipped over a Servant in the form of the Yggdmillennia's Archer. This is neither a mistake on my part nor an indication that we are missing intel. Rather, from our information it appears that the Yggdmillennia were unable to secure all seven sets of Command Seals for their own use, and are themselves unsure of where the last set could be. They have seemingly undertaken some sort of secret project to make up for this lack of Servant power. However, I am afraid we really have no idea what exactly they are doing, other than the fact that after they started it, they began dumping the bodies of their homunculi into mass graves near a major facility of theirs in the Carpathians en-masse. This would be chief among the previously mentioned 'controversial projects' that Icecolle is responsible for. I think you can see now why I hold such particular distaste for her... regardless, the point here is to emphasize that they have an ace of some sort up their sleeve. Be on guard when dealing with them and expect the unexpected."

The slide thankfully changed again, this time to a simple image of the Mage's Association's most used emblem.

"That is it for the Yggdmillennia's half of the equation. Now we move on to the Association's half of this. True to the name of 'Great' Grail War, the Association has seven Servants of their own, and seven Masters accordingly."

The slide changed to... for once what looked like an official photo, showing an unassuming Japanese man in a red suit with a prominent cross on his lapel.

"Our first Master for the Association is Tokiomi Tohsaka... an informant of ours. He has ties with the Church going back generations, and his family are devout Catholics... even in spite of their use of blasphemous witchcraft. Tohsaka's family line specializes in Gemcraft, a type of magic centered around using gems as a sort of simplistic Mystic Code. Usually the gems are destroyed in the process, but Tokiomi in particular has learned ways to make use of his jewels more efficiently, saving his family the expense. He has summoned the Association's Lancer, which he has revealed to us as the Babylonian warrior-king Nebuchadnezzar II, one of the ancient world's most legendary rulers, and true master of the Hanging Gardens of Babylon. A powerful force to be reckoned with, certainly, but I am thankful that he is at least in part on our side."

Jeanne found herself surprised at there being Catholics within the Mage's Association of all places... but she supposed it was true. There are those of all walks of life who may find their path to God, and the merciful forgiveness of Jesus is for all of humanity.

The slide changed, the next one was back to Bigfoot Photo-quality. This one was even worse than most of the ones of the Yggdmillennia Masters, the subject being completely impossible to make out.

"Our next Master is... unfortunately a mystery to us. We don't have a name for him, and we only know from Tohsaka that he is apparently a freelancer with few ties to the Association. A surprising pick, but likely a very dangerous combatant if the Association was willing to reach out to Freelancers for a Master position. That said, we actually know more about his Servant than the Master himself."

The slide changed quickly, this time showing a looming figure clad in hulking black armor that looked... almost draconic, or perhaps demonic, in nature. A massive set of horns extended from the helmet, sweeping down towards a sculpted mouth of jagged, beast-like teeth, the visor glowed with an evil red, and the armor itself seemed strangely crude, like it was forged from iron rather than steel, or perhaps had just risen out of the earth as a product of nature itself. If that weren't strange enough, the armor itself seemed to emanate a sort of black fog that made details hard to identify.

"This terrifying figure is one of the few Servants we have had firsthand encounters with. The Association Saber... only known to even Tohsaka as the Black Knight. This Servant butchered a good number of our operatives, and seems to be both extremely aggressive in combat, and immensely powerful with its sword. None of our operatives have seen this creature in person and survived. I would suggest that you only risk even approaching it under the most dire of circumstances."

The next slide showed a photo, seemingly ripped from a newspaper, of a regal looking man in a black greatcoat with blonde hair and noble features.

"This is perhaps the other Master we know the most about. This is Kayneth Archibald El-Melloi, or Lord El-Melloi. He is a member of minor nobility in England, but his role in the Association is far greater. He, along with Tohsaka and the Einzbern, are by far the most influential magi here, as well as the most powerful. He is known to be not of particular note in direct combat, but is incredibly skilled at a variety of more ritualistic magics such as summoning, alchemy, necromancy, illusions, and spiritual evocation, that allow him to be an expert fortifications engineer. Were that not enough, he wields a powerful Mystic Code, called Volumen Hydrargyrum... something that we have very little information on. All we know is that it is considered one of his family's greatest works. That said, thanks to the... boisterous nature of the Servant he summoned, we do actually know El-Melloi is not only the Master of Rider for the Association, but also the identity of that Rider: Iskandar, better known as Alexander the Great, one of the most powerful conquerors in all of history. Certainly, this is likely the most dangerous out of all of the Association magi, even more so than our next Master."

The slide switched, now showing an albino woman with soft looking features, standing next to a man practically wreathed in shadow with a dead look in his eyes.

"This pair are Kiritsugu and Irisviel Emiya. The former is the master of their Servant, the Association Caster, but while the former has the will to kill, it is the latter who has the means. As you could tell by the fact that up until a few months ago when she took her husband's name, she was known as Irisviel von Einzbern, a member of one of the single most powerful and reputable magus families in the world... if also the most mysterious. As far as we know, she is actually an advanced type of homunculus created by the Einzberns, akin to the fodder of the Yggdmillennia in the same way that a cheap Chinese toy sword is akin to one of our own Black Keys. As her pedigree implies, she is perhaps one of the most powerful alchemists in the world, and has a near-limitless supply of magical power to draw from, likely being able to support a Servant even without the Grail's help through her own might alone. As for Kiritsugu, he has a reputation as a Magus Killer. A Freelancer who specializes in killing other magi, he has a reputation for using firearms and explosives, and seemingly has the ability to pierce all magical defenses and completely destroy a magus's ability to use magecraft through some unknown means. He is a ruthless killer, willing to do anything to take down his target. We have evidence to suggest that he has in the past performed terror bombings, plane hijackings, and even spree shootings when hunting his targets. By all means he is a dangerous force in his own way... even if I must admit that he seems like the exact kind of person our Executors have much experience in putting down. However, while Tohsaka was hardly forthcoming, he believes that the Servant the Emiyas are tied to is incredibly powerful, so they are still not to be trifled with under any circumstances."

The slides switched again, this time the subject appeared to be a pre-teen boy with a ball of fire floating over his palm... and a look in his eye that reminded Jean of something truly inhumanly cruel.

"This is Lucius Olizar, heir apparent to a powerful magus family in Sicily. The boy might be young, but from what we have been able to determine, despite not yet possessing his family's Crest, he has already mastered the art of Pyromancy through conventional learning alone. The child is a prodigy, and magically potent enough to make a good impersonation of a thermobaric bomb if he gets angry. Which is to say nothing of his Servant; unlike most of the other Masters, this one went to significantly less trouble to hide his Servant's identity. Perhaps out of vanity, or perhaps part of some calculated play. Either way, we have a name: Arjuna. A legendary Archer from Hindu scripture, and extremely powerful. All of this combines together to make for an extremely unpleasant package. Once again, we recommend extreme caution, and should this one be engaged, every effort should be made to ensure it happens well away from urban areas."

The slides switched again, this time to what looked to be a photo from a long time ago. A man, standing amidst a group of Russian soldiers on what Jeanne could only assume was the Eastern Front, nearly fifty years ago.

"Here we have a particularly ugly one. 'Comrade' Wolfe Zebriny, better known as the 'Red Menace'. He has a similar history to the Magus Killer. But where Kiritsugu Emiya is an independent gun for hire whose methods and deeds are easy enough to research... The Red Menace is not. We know that he is the last of a long line of alchemists from east of the Ural Mountains. We know that he seized significant status during the Russian Revolution. We know that in the time after the rise of the Union, he became one of Stalin's favored tools for purging the unnatural. We know that he has a significant hand in the current drought of spellcasters—magi and otherwise—in Russia. We know that in this war he is the Association's Master of Assassin. And finally, we know that he is very nearly 100 years old, and has seemingly only somewhat slowed his aging. While picture evidence of him is rare thanks to his long-standing status within the Soviets' roster of cleaners, we have some estimates as to what he looks like now."

The slide switched from the ancient wartime photo to a detailed sketch, showing an older man with a long, bushy beard and a gloomy expression.

"Be on the lookout for a man like this, because he might be just as effective at silencing you as his Servant."

The slide switched again, this time showing... a profoundly uncanny sight. This photo was distinctly high quality, and Jeanne couldn't help but wish it wasn't. The subject of the photo was a girl... though 'girl' might not be accurate. She seemed to be practically drowning underneath a billowing snowy white and extremely elaborate formal dress that obscured almost all of her features... but it couldn't quite hide what was underneath entirely. She appeared more like a doll than a human, with flawless porcelain-like skin that seemed to glitter with the camera flash, odd ball-like joints on her fingers masked underneath gloves that exposed only her oddly sharp fingernails, a decidedly stiff posture and blank expression hidden behind layers of decorative fabric and an obscuring veil, and inhuman, snake-like black eyes that were laser focused on the camera. Those seemed to have a faint red glow in them. About the only thing close to normal about her was the waterfall of burgundy hair that seemed to flow down her body... her very, very long body. Her pose seemed to be trying to obscure it, but Jeanne couldn't help but notice just how long her arms were, stretching all the way down off the back of her seat and all the way back up to put her hands level with her collarbone, where she had them clasped over a large ruby broach. She gave the impression of something terrible hiding beneath an innocent exterior, and it was distinctly unnerving.

"This is our final Association Master, who we believe to command their Berserker. This one is a bit of a mystery, but we have a name at least: Zollyzori Venschwarzen, and we do know a bit about her history. Apparently the rest of her lineage died in a freak accident when she was young, prompting her to be adopted by the Einzbern family... only for her to simply walk away from their castle one day and never return. She has been an occasional sighting across the world for nearly 20 years, seemingly unaging, and has reportedly incredible power in combat as a result of a sort of magical augmentation that was her family's specialty. Presumably very dangerous, but one of the biggest wild cards here. Be on guard."

"And that should be everything." Petresia's voice perked up significantly as she shut down the projector and raised the room's lights. "Apologies for taking so long, honored Executors, but as you could see there was quite a bit of information to go through."

Jeanne waved her off. "It isn't to worry Sister, I found it all quite enlightening. Now, come, let us come up with a plan of attack for keeping this nightmare under control."

With that, all six clergy members turned to the map of the country sitting in the middle of the table, and began to get to work.


A/N: And with that we get through... most of the scene-setting exposition sections of this. Bear with me, there's only one more. There's a lot of stuff that needs to be set up okay?