"It's King Solomon."

I tried several times to open my mouth, to say something. Anything. A thousand questions eagerly brayed to be released, but the muscles in my jaw weren't working.

Thankfully, Mordred's were working just fine. "The guy you said it couldn't possibly be?" My beloved knight asked Doctor Roman pointedly. She was still in her armor, arms crossed over her breastplate. That was enough to jumpstart my brain, and I exhaled sharply.

"There better be a good reason," I added in agreement. "You were so confidant about that fact earlier. That means either you were wrong, or you lied. For all our sake's, I'm praying that it was the former." The idea that Roman could be another traitor hadn't been something I really considered before.

I felt that he was too open to be a double-agent. A co-conspirator of Lev's, who had been left behind to mislead us. Out of the corner of my eyes, I saw Mordred's hands curl up into fists, a guarded look in her eyes. Having been around her for so long, I instantly recognized the subtle shift in her stance from resting to one that was on edge. She wasn't the only one, either. I noticed Mash, Emiya, Boudica, Sasaki, and Lu Bu all tensing up, though no one had drawn their weapons. Yet.

Only Da Vinci seemed at ease. She quickly walked over between Doctor Roman and I and held out her arms. "Enough, Jacob! Roman is on our side. Trust me." She turned around, relaxing. "I do hope you have a better explanation beyond just saying he's back, though. Don't make me regret watching that movie with you the other night."

Despite the seriousness of the overall situation, I couldn't help but blink at that revelation. Next to me, a more relaxed Mordred 'gently' elbowed me. "Heh, time to pay up, Jacob." I stared at her incredulously. Not because she may very well have won our little bet on whether Roman and Da Vinci were more than just work partners, but that she'd bring it up in the present situation.

"Not until we see them kiss," I shot back with a growl. Mordred rolled her eyes as Roman cleared his throat. We all looked back at the ginger-haired acting-director.

"I was only half-right, it seems. I wasn't wrong when I reported that there were no disturbances during King Solomon's time in the past. However, I didn't consider the possibility that he would manifest somehow as a Grand Caster." Roman paused, and one of the angriest expressions I had ever seen from him passed over his face. "I promise you all, on my life, that I didn't mislead you or am a double agent." I nodded at that last part, my hands returning to their sides. It was hard to fake that amount of conviction. Hard, but not impossible. I'd let the matter go for now, though.

We had bigger things to discuss at the moment.

"Grand Caster?" I asked, frowning. I obviously knew what a Caster was. Would be rather embarrassing of me considering how one of them, Medea, was mentoring me in using magecraft! However, a Grand Caster?

It was Da Vinci who responded. "A Grand Caster is a Caster that has been summoned by the Counter force, which is basically a Justice League that defends humanity, if you will. They can be other classes beyond Caster, of course, so the proper designation would be Grand Servants." Da Vinci then paused and frowned, looking back at Roman. "A Grand Servant is given a Saint Graph that is far greater than what it would be if the Servant in question had been summoned as a regular Servant. They're usually summoned only to fight the greatest of threats to humanity, though."

"So, in other words, we're dealing with someone who throws nuclear bombs like party poppers and has gone rouge," I said slowly, a pit forming in my stomach. Roman scowled as he nodded, though it seemed to be directed at the absent King Solomon rather than me.

"While not what I personally would have described it, it's still fairly accurate. It also explains the Seventy-Two Demon Gods Lev mentioned being part of."

"So, we still have to deal with seventy-one more of those things?" Sasaki inquired grimly.

"Sixty-nine. We encountered a second Demon Pillar, before Solomon showed up. A magus who turned himself into a Demon Pillar. Doctor Roman can explain about the other one later," Mash reported softly. Ritsuka kept quiet, looking at his feet.

"What's to say that defeating them in the singularities really means that we won't have to deal with them again? If they are the manifestation of Solomon's Noble Phantasm, then they are probably regenerated eventually," Emiya interjected emotionlessly.

Despite the situation, I couldn't (or perhaps wouldn't?) fight back the small but vicious smile creeping across my face. If that was the case, then that meant that Lev was technically still alive. While we had defeated him, it hadn't felt like Rits and I had truly avenged the late Olga Marie Animusphere at the end of the Roman Singularity, seeing as how it was Altera who dealt the killing blow.

That smile quickly dropped, however, and I felt a splash of shame and concern at my reaction. No, Jacob. You weren't going to let yourself become some sort of vengeance-seeking maniac. People are counting on you. Your family and friends counting on you. Mordred is relying on you.

I shook my head. "Okay. I'm sorry for accusing you of being a traitor, Doctor Roman."

"It's fine," Roman responded awkwardly. It wasn't, not fully, but both the ginger-haired man and I understood my words had been uttered in an emotional state. Now that I was calmer, I was thinking rationally once more. "All our emotions are running high." They were, but that still wasn't a true excuse in my opinion. We needed to trust one another, now more than ever.

"What other injuries were sustained?" Mordred interrupted. Ah, out of one awkward conversation, and into the next.

"Artoria, Atalante, Drake, and Romulus all sustained moderate damage. A day or two of bed rest and no training should be more than enough for them to recover. The main issue was exhaustion for them. The fight against Solomon was…extremely taxing," Mash finished after a pregnant pause.

I winced at the attempted euphemism, my own brain racking itself for any idea of how to respond without directly bringing up the most obvious elephant in the room. For better or worse, however, Ritsuka beat me to it.

"Jing Ke and Erik Bloodaxe are…they're…" Ritsuka tried to say, his eyes watering up. Mash reached out with one hand and sympathetically grabbed her senpai's right shoulder. The pink-haired girl turned to me, still also in her armor.

"Solomon killed them both," she said softly. In the silence, though, she may as well have shouted the words, just as I had when I demanded to know what had happened to Jeanne.

I swallowed heavily, a lump forming in the back of my throat. My fellow Master had alluded to it, but I had hoped it would have been debilitating injuries, like missing limbs. Something that they could recover given enough time.

Not the destruction of their Saint Graphs.

It had always been a possibility, but one that no one had every brought up. Either through sheer optimism, naivety, arrogance, or a combination of the three, neither Ritsuka nor I had truly considered that being a possible outcome. Had there been close calls in the past? Yes, but each time everyone had pulled through. The only ones to have died on previous missions were Servants that had already been summoned in whichever singularity we had been deployed too.

The fact was, we had been lucky so far. And just as in every account, it seems our streak of luck had come to a brutal end.

Either way, I could tell that my fellow Master wasn't in much of a state for talking further on the matter. I turned to Mash with a concerned look.

"Mash, do you mind taking Ritsuka to his room while Roman explains what happened in depth?" The Demi-Servant nodded, hooking an arm around a semi-catatonic Ritsuka. Under normal circumstances, I would have expected for Mash to start blushing a bright red at the physical contact with her not-so-secret crush. The seriousness of the situation, and the overall lack of reaction from Ritsuka, prevented that from happening.

The act of forcing his body to move forward, however, was enough to allow for my younger friend to shake off some of his stupor. His voice was a bit choked-sounding but there was also a weak air of defiance in him that was usually reserved for the main villains we'd encounter on the last three deployments.

"Wait, I can still…"

"You need to lay down, Senpai," Mash chided sternly, her purple-eyes narrowed. "We can talk more with Jacob Senpai and Mordred in the morning." To my mild dismay, Ritsuka glared at me. Then again, I had almost flown off the handle at him the moment I got back. An example of the age-old adage, 'you reap what you sow', no doubt. Still, what was done had been done, and we could only move forward from this.

"…Fine," Ritsuka grumbled reluctantly under his breath. Mash shot both Doctor Roman and I a concerned expression, but I nodded encouragingly at her. Mash was the last person he was upset with, after all. Returning the gesture, the pink-haired girl led Ritsuka out of the Rayshift Chamber.

I waited a few minutes before break the next moment of awkward silence. "So, what happened, exactly Was Solomon just hiding in that singularity, or was it something else?"

"He ambushed Ritsuka and his team moments after they finished defeating Nikola Tesla, an Archer class Servant who had been on the verge of destroying London with the Grail. Along the way, Artoria, Mash, and the Mordred that had already been summoned in the singularity defeated a corrupted, Lancer version of Artoria."

Next to me, Mordred stiffened, and I noticed how her jawline was now tightly clenched. While the overall reason for her sudden tension was rather obvious (her father), I didn't know exactly what the precise issue was. The idea of Artoria teaming up with a different version of Mordred, while refusing to interact with my Mordred? Granted, part of that may be an unfortunate side-effect of my rant when I scolded Artoria the morning after Mordred and I became a couple, but still.

I subtly nudged Mordred, and the act caused my beloved knight to relax ever so slightly. I silently mouthed the question, 'do you want to talk about it later?' The response that I got was a vague 'maybe later'. I knew better than to push the issue, of course, and so I re-oriented my attention on Doctor Roman, who had proceeded to explain in depth the battle against Tesla over the skies of London. I couldn't help but shiver slightly at the idea of being so high up in the air. It was unnatural, damn it.

"—after Tesla was defeated, we assumed that the singularity was going to start resolving itself. That was the first clue that something wasn't right. None of the Servants that Ritsuka encountered and temporary contracted with were disappearing, and in fact, magic readings were getting stronger."

"And then this Solomon bastard appeared?" Mordred asked bluntly. Roman's eyebrow twitched ever so slightly. Probably from Mordred callously bashing his apparent (non-internet based) idol.

"Correct, along with four of those Demon Pillars. He revealed that he had been the one to distribute the Grails we had been collecting to Gilles de Rais and Romulus, or the 'instructions' to Tesla and Jason. He basically confirmed that he is the mastermind behind the incineration of humanity."

"Why didn't he step in sooner against us, then?" I asked.

"Apparently, Chaldea's defenses and location are strong enough to thwart him. The Mordred accompanying Ritsuka suggested that he was a Heroic Spirit that went rogue, but Solomon said that he had summoned himself. Apparently, the circles of light we have been encountering in the last three singularities were a side effect of one of his Noble Phantasms. At that moment, Jing Ke tried to assassinate Solomon. With a flick of his wrist, he destroyed her Saint Graph." Roman paused, visibly troubled from the episode in question. "He looked bored. Like life or death was simply a state of being, nothing more. Erik Bloodaxe went, well, berserk, and also charged the king, suffering a similar fate." Roman paused again, taking a deep breath. I kept silent, feeling even more guilty for snapping at the two.

Yes, a Servant I was close to had almost died, but she still pulled through. Ritsuka lost two of his own Servants, and Doctor Roman saw his role model basically try to murder one of his co-workers (again), and basically go rogue. After a minute or so, Doctor Roman exhaled, and resumed speaking.

"He then attacked the group. Or rather, he commanded the four Demon Pillars he had brought to so. They managed to bring down one, but it wasn't really a victory. Aside from Mordred, virtually every one of the London Servants were killed in the battle. Here's the real kicker: he said that Chaldea wasn't a threat to him until we resolved the three remaining singularities." I frowned at that.

"Then why did he wait so long to reveal himself?"

"Your guess is as good as mine. The Mordred that accompanied Rits suggested that it was because Solomon was getting scared of Ritsuka and you, Jacob, but naturally the King of Magecraft rebuffed such a possibility. Still, it raises a good point. Another possibility is that he views this as nothing more than a pastime, watching our efforts."

"Fucking bastard," Mordred cursed angrily, and I wholeheartedly agreed with her. However, from the sounds of it, Solomon was the kind of villain with the power to justify suck a lackadaisical view of our struggles.

"So, did he basically say that he won't interfere again with us until we defeat the Seventh Singularity?" I asked grimly. Doctor Roman nodded slowly.

"That's what he said, though of course he could always change his mind."

"I see." I breathed in deeply and held my breath for a few seconds before exhaling slowly. "This changes things somewhat. I trust our goal is still the same, though?"

"Correct. However, I suggest talking more about it later. You should get some rest as well. We can talk more about this latest outcome once you and Ritsuka both are in a better headspace," Roman suggested. I sighed softly before bowing my head slightly.

"Very well. I'll see you tomorrow, then, Doc." I started to turn around, before looking back at the ginger-haired doctor. There was one last question that was plaguing my mind.

"One last question, Doc. I noticed how you were vague about it earlier. Before we call it a night here, please tell me how Jeanne got injured," I said. It wasn't a request, not really. More of a polite demand. Quite frankly, at least in this instance, I felt it was appropriate to stand firm about this. Jeanne was my Servant, practically an older sister to me, and just as Queally important, a good friend to Mordred, no matter how vehemently the proud blonde would argue against it. She didn't say anything, but I saw out of the corner of my eye how Mordred was leaning forward slightly, just as desperate to hear what exactly had happened to the Ruler.

I expected for the doctor to at least try to beat around the bush a little more, but it wasn't to be. I could tell that Roman knew the news he was going to give wasn't going to go well, as he took a half-step backwards, even as he nodded in agreement, albeit reluctantly. His eyes darted briefly to Mordred, and her body tensed up as Roman's gaze flickered back to me.

"Very well. Jacob, Jeanne was badly injured when she tried to use her Noble Phantasm to prevent an attack from Solomon killing the Mordred that was with them."

I hurried after Mordred, ducking and weaving through the small crowd of staff and Servants that had assembled outside the Rayshift Chamber. Either the rumor mill had kicked into overdrive, or Solomon had somehow managed to share his mockery to the rest of Chaldea. Either way, it still made him a nuisance in addition to a threat that the present moment.

The reason I was trying to catch up with Mordred was not so that I didn't lose track of her, but to talk with her. Seeing as how she had taken the hallway opposite of the one that led to our rooms but rather in the direction of the Summoning Chamber, medical bay, and other support systems, I knew that Mordred was heading to check on Jeanne.

Finally worming my way past the final set of observers, I broke into a full sprint, quickly catching up to her as she hadn't used her Mana Burst trick. Otherwise, I'd have no hope in hell of catching up, even if I had a motorcycle or something!

"Mordred, talk to me, please," I said, panting slightly as I kept up with her brisk pace. She had a thunderous expression on her face, while her eyes reflected the inner conflict I sensed through my connection to her. "Jeanne—" Before I could finish, Mordred came to an abrupt halt, and I almost stumbled forward, barely managing to catch myself.

"That…that…that self-righteous bitch!" Mordred snarled. Her smaller frame shook in her armor as her fists were tightly clenched. I'd seen her angry, livid, even furious. While some of that was present in her tone, the overall emotion I was detecting from her words was concern. "What was she thinking—No, don't answer that. She wasn't!"

I couldn't help but look at my knight skeptically as she breathed in and out rapidly, her breath escaping in violent bursts that I knew if we were in a cartoon, I would have seen steam coming out of her nostrils. I breathed in and exhaled once before speaking up.

"Actually, I suspect that she actually was thinking. I believe that Jeanne was thinking about you when she did what she did." Mordred scoffed angrily at my words.

"Why the fucking hell would she do that? That Mordred wasn't me! And furthermore, that wasn't her responsibility, or what she had been told to do. All of us, your Servants…our primary objective is to protect the two of you, even if that means laying down our lives!"

"She did it because she cares about you," I retorted calmly, standing firm before Mordred even as she stomped closer to me. If it were anyone else, they'd probably be prying themselves out of a wall or something similar. That wasn't to say I couldn't expect some form of retaliation alter, but that would be through the medium of sparring.

"Why?"

"Because you're her friend, regardless of whether you view her as one or not," I said bluntly. Mordred's mouth started to open, but before she could attempt to lodge any further protests, I continued speaking. "Mordred, in that moment, Jeanne probably didn't see a difference from the Mordred Ritsuka worked with from you. In that moment, she saw someone she viewed as a friend, badly-injured, and on the verge of being killed."

Mordred kept silent, looking down at the floor. I remained still, opting to let the prickly Knight of Rebellion finish processing my statement before I could continue speaking. Finally, the blonde Saber looked back up at me with a conflicted expression.

"I see," she said slowly, in a tone that was rather contradictory-sounding. I didn't call her out on that, however. I knew more than most just how difficult seemingly mundane matters regarding relationships were for Mordred to grasp as a result of her conniving bitch of a mother. Furthermore, her own anger was starting to be drained out of her. And of course, on top of that, (at least for me) was that it was getting very late for me. I reached out and clasped her shoulder.

"Let's go check on her, then get some sleep. We'll get breakfast, and talk some more about it, okay?" Mordred shot me a half-hearted smirk.

"Fine, princess. I suppose I can go easy on you," she teased, though again, her heart wasn't fully there with her efforts. Still, it was much an improvement over that earlier anger, and in the present situation, I'd settle with what I could get.

Letting go of her pauldron, I titled my head down the hallway. "Then let's go."

Five minutes later, and a hassled-looking Medea watched us impatiently as we stood beside the bed on which Jeanne d'Arc rested.

She didn't look as badly hurt as I would have imagined, though that was probably due in part to Medea's care. With her eyes closed and a steady rate of breathing, it wouldn't be that hard to imagine that the French Servant was merely asleep.

If it weren't for the ugly-looking bruises, that was.

She looked almost like the poster child for domestic abuse. That alone was enough of a sickening indicator to how bad the situation was. As a rule of thumb, Servants tended to heal relatively quickly. Combined with Medea's extensive knowledge of Magecraft and Mysteries, most Servants would be looking as right as rain by now.

The fact that I could still see the side-effects served as yet another painful reminder of the new threat we were going to go up against. Next to me, Mordred shuffled quietly, looking guilty. I wasn't sure if I would have rather been dealing with her anger. At times, Mordred could be a bit hard on herself when she felt guilt. At least, that was my perception.

I reached out and clasped Mordred's shoulder. "Medea said that Jeanne's going to pull through. She's just going to be in a coma of sorts while her body finishes resupplying itself with mana." My knight nodded stiffly and silently. I squeezed her shoulder reassuringly (or at least, as best I could given the fact she wore her armor still) before letting go.

"There's not much else we can do here. We should go and try to get some rest," I said softly, with more than a hint of sadness in my voice. "Tomorrow's going to be a long day."

Original Endnotes: Ah, the feels! What did you guys think? Good, bad, meh? I'm trying to set the stage for the contents of 97 and 98. One of them will be more lighthearted, though in what way? Well, you'll just have to wait and see :P

This chapter kinda feels a bit like a filler, truth be told, but even so, it's an important one. Now, several things to note. Regarding the matter of Chaldean Heroic Spirits that are defeated and killed, I've gone with the route of it being as good as gone. There's a slight chance that they could be re-summoned, but it's basically non-existent. I did this because it raises the stakes for the Servants, and even more for Jacob and Ritsuka. With that being said, this isn't going to turn into some sort of Fate/Game of Thrones story where there's character death galore regarding Jacob and Ritsuka's Servants and friends,

Another thing, I've moved up the period where the MC has a period of doubt over Roman, mainly because in all honesty, there should have been present post London. I mean, the guy that poor Roman said couldn't possibly be responsible showed up and bragged about it. I hope I handled it well, but please let me know what you think.

In a few chapters, we will be having a Mordred PoV chapter fyi. And then a few chapters after that, a Mash and Ritsuka chapter (though I'm not sure whose perspective I want to tell it from). This is going to be a fun interlude!

Now, for the question(s) of the chapter! First up, what were your three favorite moments from the London Singularity? Second question: How do you all typically prefer to spend your birthday?

Thanks for reading, as well as for the wonderful support I've gotten from y'all. Hard to believe that in a little less than a month this story will be one year old! Furthermore, that we are now a few chapters away from 100! I've got something special for it :) I hope you enjoyed the chapter like always, and looking forward to reading y'alls thoughts and answers! Have a wonderful next few days, and see you in Chapter 97 on Sunday!

Updated Endnotes 9/11/22: As always, the full story can be found on Archive of Our Own if you want to skip the wait here. Otherwise, I hope you enjoyed today's update, and have a wonderful day. See you next time!