- Chapter 4 -

*Updated the A/N section*


Snow. A boundless field of white stretched on for as far as the eye could see.

On a cloudless day, free from the merciless winds of winter - a day very much like today, the Father loved to show his Daughter the world outside the castle.

She was his world. And he was her's. For her, he laid down his cloak and gun and put his life behind him so that he could play the role of a loving father. Ironic. Because to create the perfect world for her, he picked up his cloak and gun and was prepared to wade through the river of blood once again. Nothing was too high a price to create the world he imagined for his beloved daughter.

"Oh, I found one," said the Father.

"No way! Where?!" piped the Daughter, doubling back to her father. "I'm sure I didn't miss any!"

The Father took a knee and pointed his finger at a single branch amongst a forest of barren, leafless trees.

"That's today's first walnut bud," smirked the Father with his nose in the air. "That's one point for me."

The Daughter made a pouty face and flailed her tiny little arms. A sight that made the Father smile unknowingly, but also dug at his heartstrings.

At eight years of age, his daughter weighed less than even his loaded hunting pistol. She was a head shorter than most eight year-olds and had barely seen any of the outside world. What made it worse for the father, was the heart-wrenching knowledge that his daughter would never properly grow up to become a normal girl, but it never stopped him from loving her any less, in fact it further fueled his determination to create that utopia.

"I won't lose!" declared the Daughter, waddling deeper into the forest.

"I found one too!" yelled the Daughter triumphantly. But her triumph was short-lived.

"But I've found two now," came her father's voice.

The Father wore a mischievous grin on his face as his daughter waddled through the thick snow to confirm his find.

"Eh... But that's not a walnut branch," protested the Daughter. But she wasn't too certain of it herself.

The bud that her father had found was more elongated than the typical walnut bud she was familiar with. Her face soured. She wasn't at all amused that her father had cheated.

"No. But you see Illya that's - "

- 0 - 0 - 0 -

"Master... Master!"

Allison shook her head in frustration. A dream. A memory. How long was she out for?

It was only when a sliver of slick, red liquid that stung her eyes did she realize that she needed to wipe the of blood from her platinum coloured brow that was now dyed red like her irises.

"You okay, Master?" croaked Assassin. "Now's not the time to be spacing out. We have a... rather large problem out there."

Allison turned to face the dust-covered windows. Her inability to see the harbour spoke dozens about the massive black dragon that eclipsed a better part of the battlefield.

"I'm going to get the i8," coughed Allison. "Disable every vehicle in a fifty meter radius around the harbour. I don't want anybody chasing us. "

Her body groaned with the effort of getting to her feet. Her knees trembled, a direct result of her excessive loss of blood and it didn't take long before they finally buckled. But Assassin quickly grabbed Allison by her arm and she wrapped her arm around Assassin's shoulder for support.

The pair made an awkward three-legged limp towards the lift at the end of the hallway. Getting to the i8 was Allison's only chance of making it out alive. Once in the supercar, her incapacitated body would no longer be a liability.

"Master, you're not going to - "

"We're not leaving without the Grail."

The hallway echoed with the hair-raising screech of Assassin's boots on the concrete floor as he forced the pair to come to a complete halt.

"No," decided Assassin. "You're not doing this alone. As your - "

Allison rolled her eyes and extended her right arm. The remaining two rose petals glowed as she focused her thoughts on them.

"By the power of my second Command Seal - " commanded Allison, her overbearing voice drowned out Assassin's protests.

"Alright alright, you win," sighed Assassin, ruffling his bone white hair, visibly annoyed by how stubborn his Master was yet was unable to do anything.

Satisfied with her Servant's obedience, Allison lowered her hand and the Command Seals lost their glow.

"Save that Command Seal for an emergency. Promise me you'll be - "

"Promise me you'll do your job," pleaded Allison.

Assassin took a long, deep sigh and stared into Allison's crimson eyes. And for a moment noticed that there was a silver shimmer at the corner of the cold-blooded assassin's eye.


Fafnir opened his fanged jaws and the wicked dragon let loose a torrent of wicked, green flames that decimated everything in its path.

"Come forth, O' Eastern Wind," recited Caster, directing the flow of the wind with his crane-feathered fan. "Phantasmal Wind - The Wind and Fire of Red Cliff!"

Dragon fire parted around Caster and the three other Heroic Spirits like an inverted 'V', as if an invisible force field had been raised around them. Enchanted green flames licked and spat as they super heated the cargoes, causing some to twist and deform while others straight-out melted as if they were made out of candle wax. The Servants were left unmolested, though the intense, sweltering heat was slowly beginning to cook them alive within their confine.

The words "Red Cliff" in his Noble Phantasm immediately revealed Caster's true identity.

The Battle of Red Cliff was a legendary battle where the overwhelmingly superior numbers of the warlord, Cao Cao was defeated in a devastating fire as orchestrated by the master strategist, Zhuge Liang. A massive fire guided so perfectly by the eastern wind that many believed it was Zhuge Liang himself whose mystical powers held influence over the weather itself. As a Servant, this legend manifested in Caster as a powerful affinity to the elements of Wind and Fire.

Lancer glowed with violet energy. The spear in her left hand vanished and eighteen Celtic runes materialized in a circle around her to take its place. She waved her hand and the runes rearranged themselves so that they fortified Caster's wind barrier against the fire.

"A master spearwoman AND a master spellcaster," complimented Caster. "Aren't you one talented heroine."

"I'm not a hero. Not yet at least," said Lancer with a grin. "Besides you won't last another minute without me helping."

"You underestimate my power, sweetheart," chuckled Caster. "Why are you helping out eh? Doesn't your Master's master want us dead?"

"I'm doing this because it's the right thing to do," frowned Lancer. "Besides, that dragon doesn't seem terribly interested in an alliance with me or Rider."

"How about a Command Seal? What's stopping - "

"My Master is down to his last Command Seal, so he won't be making any rash decisions," replied Lancer with a wide grin on her face. "Though technically you aren't out of the woods yet Caster."

Realizing that a frontal assault was taking too long to incinerate his enemies, Fafnir flapped his enormous leathery wings and took to the sky. Every flap of the dragon's massive dread wings produced a gale force wind that forced the Servants to dig their weapons into the ground for support.

"Alright," demanded Caster. "Anyone here hiding some magical dragon-slaying Noble Phantasm we should know about? Now's a good time to fess up."

Caster surveyed the three Heroic Spirits whilst stroking his black beard.

"I do," groaned Rider. The knight strained with the effort to even raise his hand.

The dragon knight's wound in his chest had vanished, but Rider still had to lean on to his greatsword just to get to his feet. The Servant appeared so drained and so exhausted, though Saber was astonished that Rider could even survive such a severe hemorrhage.

"M-My sword Balmung... e-enough power," muttered Rider. "H-He... He's looking for som-something. Get me... a clear shot."

Saber's mind was racing, her eyes darted from cargo to cargo. Finding something... But what could a dragon possibly be looking for? Her train of thought was interrupted by Fafnir's ear-splitting screech. The dragon made an abrupt U-turn in the air and circled around heading back towards the harbour at a breakneck speed. Fafnir folded his wings as he approached so that the dragon could descend to an altitude where the harbour was within maximum striking range of his vicious breath. As the dragon glided overhead, the monster brought along winds that packed the strength of a hurricane.

Fafnir opened his great maw and a tongue of bright emerald flames burst forth, devouring the harbour. The merciless dragon fire charred the concrete ground and blew open all the remaining cargoes unfortunate to lay within its line of fire. When the dragon had completed his pass, the harbour was nothing but an ocean of ghastly green enchanted flames as far as Saber could see.

Except for the golden sparkle that caught her eye - a gleaming golden chalice surrounded by green flames. The Holy Grail.

"The Grail!" exclaimed Saber in excitement. "Of course! That thing is going for the Grail - "

"Rider," commanded Caster. "That's your shot. We know where the dragon is headed. Aim your Noble Phantasm at - "

There was a brilliant flash of red. Lancer spun her spear and pointed the barbed blade of Gáe Bolg at Caster's throat threatening to slice it open.

"And destroy the Holy Grail? I don't think so," growled Lancer, her scarlet eyes livid with rage. "I see through your schemes, Caster. I've come too far to let my wish be - "

"Me?" chuckled Caster, defiant even in the face of death. "Seriously, Lancer? You're pointing your weapon at me? Why don't you check if you're on the same page as your ally."

Lancer turned her head and saw that Rider had his sword Balmung raised high with both hands. The dragon knight was determined to right the wrong he had created tonight. The dragon knight's eyes were locked onto Fafnir's movements through the sky. The moment the wicked dragon circled around for his third pass, Rider began his chant:

"O' sword, let thee be filled... With thine sword, the wicked dragon shall fall!"

Saber felt the mana surge within Rider as he activated his Noble Phantasm. The ground itself rumbled as the cruciform greatsword Balmung teemed with aqua-coloured energy that reached for the heavens.

Then Saber noticed something that could change the tide of this battle - a pair of headlights, a silver sportscar, the i8 was racing towards the harbour. Her ally, Allison was making a beeline for the Holy Grail.

Saber immediately recognized that the status quo had changed.

"BAL... MUNGRGGHHHHH...!"

Rider groaned and dropped to his knees, his greatsword Balmung slipped between his fingers and fell to the ground beside him with a resounding clatter.

As if knight and dragon were bound by some invisible bond, Fafnir let out an unearthly shriek and then began to writhe and gallop uncontrollably mid-air. The wicked dragon gave a final screech and then vanished in a flourish of silver starlight.

Saber seized her opportunity. With incredible speed, she reached for the handle of her katana and threw a diagonal cut at Lancer. Iaijutsu, the art of simultaneously drawing the katana from its scabbard while executing a slash would have been sufficient to cut down any other unsuspecting Servant. But with Scáthach's superior A-ranked Agility stat, Lancer was able to deflect Saber's attack with a combination of her heightened intuition and inhumane reflexes, though she sustained an open wound above her right eye from the wind of the draw-cut.

Lancer shoved Saber away, but Saber persistently rebounded right back, choosing to stick close to Lancer. With the element of surprise, it didn't take much for Saber to force Lancer into a blade lock. Saber only needed to keep Lancer busy for long enough so that Allison had time to get to the Holy Grail.

"Saber... Why? Why do you stand in my way? What can you possibly want out of the Grail?" shouted Lancer, a trickle of blood streaming down her cheek.

"Mehhh, no particular reason really. Just a shining addition to Miyamoto Musashi's long list of victories," taunted Saber in her mock-baby voice.

"For that... For that frivolous reason you would deny me the Grail?" growled Lancer, barely able to contain her rage. "How dare yo - "

"Lancer! Rider!" echoed Lancer's Master's magecraft enhanced voice. "What are you doing? They are getting away with the Grail!"

The i8 tore through the emerald flames and made a perfect drifting U-turn. When the sports car sped away from the battlefield, the golden chalice was nowhere to be seen. Tonight, the i8's specs as supercar paid its worth in full. The BMW i8 accelerated to 100 km/h in a span of 4.4 seconds and vanished from the harbour as quickly as it showed up.

"Get out of my way Saber," warned Lancer, shoving Saber away. "I won't ask twice."

"That iron chariot is one of the fastest contraptions of the modern world, Shishou. Whachu gonna do? Chase after it on foot?" mocked Saber.

But Saber's question was answered by the roaring of an engine.

Rider was mounted and ready on his own iron steed. A black, matte-finished Yamaha VMAX.

"You can stand down, Lancer. You've done the best that you could. From here on, the battle is mine." said Rider.


"Trace on!"

From the cover of the warehouse, Shirou conjured his longbow loaded with a modified projection of Beowulf's sword. He pulled the bowstrings back and called the name of the Phantasm immediately as he fired.

"Hrunting!"

The pitch-black projection became a red blur as it streaked through the emerald flames in a perfect trajectory towards Rider and his bike. As long as he kept his aim on the target, Hrunting would relentlessly pursue Shirou's like a hound.

Rider spun Balmung effortlessly to intercept Hrunting. The Broken Phantasm, Hrunting exploded on contact with the dragon knight's greatsword, barely phasing or even slowing down the Heroic Spirit of the Mount.

"Caster!" commanded Crystal.

On his Master's summons, Caster materialized beside Shirou in a flourish of white starlight. The Heroic Spirit of Sorcery waved his fan and Shirou felt an incredible surge of mana coursing through his black bow.

"The winds will be with you on your next shot, boy," smiled Caster. "A quick word of advice: attack the enemy where they aren't."

Shirou drew the bowstrings back while simultaneously summoning Hrunting once again. Rider-class Servants usually possessed some form of magical resistance, which meant that attacking Rider head-on wasn't necessarily the best option. Attack the enemy where they aren't.

"Hrunting!"

The arrow-sword of Beowulf traced a scarlet streak across the sky once again, but this time in a perfect trajectory ahead of Rider. The Broken Phantasm detonated upon impact and when enhanced by Caster's mana, the projectile carved out a massive crater in the ground. The resulting infrastructural damage was so disruptive that Rider was forced to take the longer route around to pursue his target.

He had done what he could, he bought Allison the maximum amount of time possible.

"Well then Emiya Shirou," said Crystal. "Here's where we part ways. If you want to take my offer more seriously, come find me at the National University tomorrow at noon."

"Faculty of Archaeology," added Caster. "Oh and don't forget to bring along the Grail from tonight. There's something else you need to know."

Shirou's bow dissipated in his hands and the Magus had a look of confusion on his face.

"Why can't you just tell me - "

"Well it's... not something I can tell you about," said Crystal, pulling her flame-coloured hair behind her ears when she spoke. "It's something I need to show you."

Caster shot Shirou a nasty wink and then dissipated in a flourish of white starlight as he took on his Spirit Form.

As soon as Crystal and Caster left, Saber burst into the warehouse.

"Shirou! Rider is going after Alli-chan," exclaimed Saber. "You need to warn her. That ear-thingy does it still work?"

Saber was right. With Shirou's Clairvoyance as a Master, he had seen Rider's parameters and right now, knowledge of his Riding stat was most relevant to their current situation. Furthermore, with his Tracing ability he managed to analyze the make of Rider's bike. All this information could be crucial to Allison.

Shirou propped the comms back into his ears and called out to Allison.

"Allison, come in!"


The BMW i8 flew down the streets of Academy Island and was headed straight for the metropolitan highway. The densely-populated island-city was usually flooded with traffic, but at 2am in the morning, Allison barely faced any obstructions as she sped down the road, though she still felt the need to beat at least three red lights.

Dragon fire had damaged the i8's engine and internal combustion systems. As such Allison was forced to power the supercar entirely on electricity, which capped its top speed at 250 km/h and limited its mileage to just under 37 kilometers.

Dull, blood-red miasma gathered in the passenger's seat beside Allison and Assassin came out of Presence Concealment seated beside his Master.

"How-How long have you been there?" asked Allison, trying to keep her crimson eyes on the road. "Did you - "

Allison was interrupted by the deafening rumble of an engine revving up behind her. It took only one look at her rear mirror to figure that the dreaded black blur on wheels gaining in on her was an enemy Servant. Allison slammed her fists on the steering wheel and cursed.

"Independent Action huh... You deliberately disobeyed me," roared Allison. "I told you to - "

"I-Master... I'm sorry I couldn't - "

"What the hell is wrong with you tonight?" Allison lashed out in fury. "Nevermind, you know what? I don't want to hear about it anymore. Just get that guy off my tail."

Assassin pulled out Allison's heavily modified scarlet AR-15 from under his seat and chambered in the first 5.56mm NATO round by pulling its charging handle.

"Spike's Tactical upper and lower, 16.5 inch lightweight barrel, BCM MLOK free-float 13 inch handrail, Arisaka Defense 600 light module, Magpul angled foregrip, pistol grip and flip-up sights, Trijicon ACOG optics, Radian Raptor ambidextrous charging handle, B5 sopmod stock," recited Assassin as he examined the AR-15 from barrel to stock. "Good taste. You've got this thing Gucci'd out I see."

Assassin wound down the window, peered through the AR-15's ergonomic optics and opened fire upon Rider. The deadly rounds fired by Assassin were not simply ordinary 5.56mm NATO rounds, they were enhanced by his legend as an infamous hit-man during his lifetime, causing the bullet projectiles to take on incendiary and armour penetrating properties.

Rider drew Balmung and began to hack and slash at the shower of bullets from Assassin. A stray bullet struck him on his right shoulder, tearing through his dragon-scale cuirass like butter and temporarily impaired his ability to defend himself reliably with Balmung. Rider stowed away his greatsword by the side of the Yamaha VMAX and put both hands on the bike's handle.

Rider put all his attention into closing the distance and completely dodging Assassin's bullets by weaving in and out of the traffic. The Heroic Spirit of the Mount displayed an incredible level of skill handling the bike, he was even going out of his way to dodge Assassin's cover fire using excessively stylish maneuvers. With his superior skill at Riding, Rider's advance was virtually unstoppable, it was only a matter of time before the Grail was his.

"Allison, come in!" sounded Shirou's voice over the comms.

"Copy Shirou over," replied Allison.

"Listen, Rider's parameter for Riding is A++ rank. He's going to get the maximum value out of any mount. In this case, its a 2009 Yamaha VMAX. It's impossible to outrun this guy, over."

Allison glared at Assassin. If only he had disabled every vehicle like she commanded, they wouldn't be faced with this problem now. But she couldn't change the past, she needed to move on, she needed to improvise something unexpected if she was going to win this Grail War. Without sacrifice, there cannot be victory.

"Can you keep him busy for another minute?" Allison asked Assassin. "I've got an idea when we hit the Sheares Bridge."

Assassin nodded. He ejected the Magpul windowed magazine and replaced it with a fresh thirty-round magazine.

The Sheares Bridge, named after Academy Island's second president, was not in fact a bridge, but a 1.8 kilometer highway built over the island-city's southern barrage. The basin was contained by a dam that channeled the confluence of five rivers into a single catchment area that functioned as a water storage and flood control facility for the Republic.

"Shirou, meet me back at the Pinnacle," said Allison. "Switch on the tracker immediately when you get back. Over."

"Copy, Allison. Over and out."

Allison held up the Grail in her left hand and stuck a minuscule magnetic strip at the bottom of the chalice.

"Is that - "

"GPS tracking dot. Accurate globally with an uncertainty down to 10 centimeters, but more importantly, waterproof for depths up to 150 meters," said Allison, cutting Assassin off. "We're letting them have it."

The wind whipped Allison's platinum hair into a frenzy the moment she wound down her own window. Without any semblance of hesitation, the White Reaper flung the golden chalice as far as she could over the Sheares Bridge and into the basin bellow.

Rider lost control over the Yamaha VMAX upon seeing the Grail being flung into water. Going from 300 km/h to zero in the span of one second threw even Rider off his bike irregardless of how insanely high his paramters at Riding were. The Servant broke his fall by breaking into a roll, he then leapt off the side of the Sheares Bridge after the falling chalice. But the Yamaha VMAX wasn't so lucky. Without its rider, the incredible friction against the highway tarmac triggered an unsolicited ignition on its fuel, causing the motorcycle to burst into a gigantic ball of fire.


Rin raced down the extensively decorated hallways of the Pleiades Mansion.

Her modifications to Reina's kill switch worked exactly as she intended. Upon crossing the new mana threshold, the gemstones passed a powerful, but non-lethal current of electricity through the wires to packing enough energy to knock the girl unconscious.

Ryuuzaki, I've kept my end of the deal. I saved your sister's life. I owe you nothing now.

Tonight was the perfect chance to make her escape, an opportunity rarer than perhaps even a perfect planetary alignment. All three Servants, Archer, Lancer and Rider had left the mansion along with Leonardo and Ryuuzaki. Reina was currently unconscious, all that stood between Rin and freedom was a handful of Lord Auteur's lackeys and the massive double doors that led to the outside world.

Dealing with third-rate Magi defending the mansion was simpler than snapping her fingers.

Lord Auteur's incredible excess of wealth was working against him. In a hallway littered with jewels and other precious minerals, Rin was like a kid in a candy store. Here, her strength as a Magus was dialed up to eleven. Directing her mana into the sparkling chandelier that illuminated the final hallway, the jeweled fixture leapt to life, becoming a formidable magical turret that fired beam upon beam of elemental energy on the guards with pinpoint accuracy, eliminating them with extreme prejudice.

Rin rammed open the double doors and tripped clumsily over her heels as she made her way out into the outside world. She closed her aqua eyes and took a deep breath, drinking in the cool, dewy fresh air outside the mansion for the first time in weeks -

An over-sized, viscous, foul-smelling raindrop landed on her shoulder, soaking through Reina's off-shoulder gothic dress in an instant. Rin slowly craned her head upwards and stared into the monster's eyes with dread.

Except there wasn't just one pair of hungry yellow eyes, but three. The enormous, black beast towering over Rin had three salivating heads conjoined together at the body.

"Gandr!"

Rin fired a string of black orbs in quick succession from her finger. The magecraft bullets hit their mark as intended, but the thick, black pelt of Cerberus was barely even ruffled by her attacks, rather it only served to further enrage the beast.

Rin rolled and dodged the beast's poorly coordinated, wild and mindless snapping. All three heads lunged forward for a share of Rin's delicious skin, but they were only an impediment to the other's endeavour. Rin saw that she had only one option - she had to make it back to the Pleiades Mansion where the entrance would be too narrow for the three-headed beast to pursue.

Enhancing her feet with mana, Rin dashed in a straight line back to the mansion with Cerberus hot in pursuit. But with her body covered in the revolting, viscous fluid from Cerberus' snout, her wet, sodden dress weighed her down and her movements felt clumsy and slippery and it didn't take much for her to trip on her heels again, falling flat on the marbled floor and she tasted blood in her mouth.

Cerberus reared over its fallen victim, ready to tear her limb from limb. But Rin felt a wave of pulsating aura course throughout the air and the three-headed hell hound let out a multiple defeated whimpers and bounded into the hedges of the courtyard, terrified by the lone being that stood at the doorway to the mansion.

An unnaturally tall, muscular man with his face covered by a black shroud lined with gold trim towered over Rin.

A Servant, thought Rin. The very same Servant that shot down her helicopter back at the Clock Tower with a massive ballista. The words that came out of Rin's mouth next felt ironically familiar, though she found herself in a very different position.

"A-Archer...?!"

- 0 - 0 - 0 -

Rin sat on a velvet-cushioned chair by the side of a long, polished wooden table. Two other people lined the side of the table with their Servants standing guard behind them.

Rin recognized the boy in a black hoodie and kabuki mask, Ryuuzaki. His Servant, Rider who stood behind Ryuuzaki had his bleached hair and silver armour charred by fire and soot, Rin noticed that the dragon knight seemed to have lost the tan colouring of his skin overnight.

Rin did not recognize the man garbed entirely in gold from head to toe, but his composure and snobbish attitude reminded her heavily of Gilgamesh, the King of Heroes from the Fifth Holy Grail War. The man had not even spoken a single word, but Rin already hated him to the core. Rin did however recognize the golden man's Servant. The tall, shapely woman with long, dark hair and scarlet eyes had tried to rip both her's and Shirou's heart out with her Noble Phantasm, Gáe Bolg.

At the head of the table sat Lord Auteur Pleiades, one of twelve Lords at the Mage's Association, the current head of Mineralogy and the Master of Archer in the Sixth Holy Grail War. Lord Auteur undoubtedly commanded massive material wealth, but the nobleman did not see the need to flaunt it in his dressing like the golden Magus on his right. He simply wore a pristine white two-button blazer over a pitch-black collared shirt and a matching pair of white dress pants. Elegance, grace and composure radiated from this man - the very same qualities that Tokiomi had hoped to pass down to his daughter, Rin.

"Gentlemen," began Lord Auteur. "Ladies."

He shot a glance at Rin, but ignored Lancer.

"Three Command Seals we have expended tonight," continued Lord Auteur in his powerful, charismatic voice. "And what do we have to show for? A burning harbour and a 130 meter dragon on the loose. I was expecting more from your command, Leo."

"The Grail, my lord," replied Leonardo, waving his hands dismissively. "We've got it."

At his signal, Rider stepped forward and placed an ornate golden chalice in front of Lord Auteur.

Lord Auteur eyed the chalice suspiciously, then reached into the depths of his blazer and withdrew a weapon that made Rin's eyes widen in shock. A mirror-finished, straight-bladed ceremonial dagger with ancient runes inscribed on its spine and a burning blue sapphire set into its pommel. Though she couldn't make out the word inscribed in the blue gemstone, Rin already knew what was written: AZOTH.

"läßt!" recited Lord Auteur, activating the energy within the blade as he ran its edge against the mouth of the chalice. Blue flames licked the chalice where it was struck and Lord Auteur's face betrayed a hint of anger.

"A fake..." breathed Lord Auteur.

"My lord, I assure you Project Trinity - "

"Has not been compromised in any way?" laughed Lord Auteur. "A bold claim, Leo. Considering that we do not have the Grail. Very well, I will give you twenty-four hours to redeem yourself, Leonardo Aurum."

"As you wish, my lord," said Leonardo, who dipped his head.

Rin's mind became a whir trying to process everything she just heard. Project Trinity. Was that some kind of code word to conceal their plan? That was extremely likely considering that Lord Auteur was completely comfortable with letting her in on everything.

"Tohsaka Rin," remarked Lord Auteur, and all eyes in the Great Hall turned to face her. "My fellow disciple of the Old Man of the Jewel, Schweinorg - "

"You're no disciple," spat Rin. "You're a thief. That dagger doesn't belong to yo - "

"You're right, it was given to me by Tokiomi-sama," Lord Auteur finished her sentence with a smirk on his face. "Yes, Rin. I too, was a disciple of your father. As such, I'm willing to let you go tonight if you would agree to - "

"To hell with you," cursed Rin. "Who's going to agre - "

Lord Auteur reached into the pocket of his pristine white blazer and pulled out a neatly folded piece of parchment. With simple manipulation of the air current, the Jewel Magus sent the parchment floating towards Rin who inspected the document with skepticism.

"You see Rin," said Lord Auteur once again with his charismatic voice. "While you were being chased around by Cerberus, we intercepted a pigeon - no, a familiar to be exact. Curious... how any familiar would know how to get to this mansion whose location has been heavily cloaked by layers of bounded fields."

Rin cautiously unfolded the parchment and gasped aloud as she saw what was written on it:

National University. Tomorrow at noon.

Tears welled up in her aqua eyes as she recognized the handwriting instantaneously as Shirou's untidy scrawl, evident that it was written in a hurry. Shirou you idiot, thought Rin to herself.

"Tohsaka Rin, now that we know where Emiya Shirou will be tomorrow," remarked Lord Auteur. "You will do exactly as I tell you. Try anything funny and your beloved boyfriend's death will be on you. Am I clear?"

"Yes," spat Rin in her final attempt at defiance.

A terrible grin stretched across Lord Auteur's face as he waved his hand to dismiss the meeting, revealing the two Command Seals at the back of his palm that resembled an angry red swirl.


Twenty-four hours.

Leonardo had an entire day's worth of time, but the alchemist could already feel the noose of death constrict itself around his neck. Lord Auteur was absolutely surgical in his planning and saw failure as a pestilence. He did not forgive and he did not forget. And beneath all his smooth, charismatic talk, Leonardo knew from experience that the true Auteur Pleiades was a ruthless and cunning man.

Returning without the Holy Grail was effectively a death sentence for Leonardo. Men more powerful than him had wasted their lifetimes tracking down the holy chalice but to no avail, now he had to accomplish what no man has done and in twenty-four hours or face the Reaper. The Reaper, thought Leonardo to himself. A stroke of brilliance struck him upon that thought.

"Bring up all pictures from the traffic speed cameras between 0200 hrs to 0215 hrs," Leonardo commanded his digital hacking crew.

"At once, Sir."

Leonardo isolated the photos of the silver BMW i8 taken from three speed cameras and enlarged them. He zoomed in on the driver's seat and at such a focus, the image's resolution became piss poor at best but he could still make out the driver - the legendary White Reaper herself.

He caressed the screen gently with his fingers across her long, platinum hair and smiled to himself.

"Old Man Acht..." whispered Leonardo. "What are you up to?"


Author's Notes:

Hey there readers, as always thanks for reading my work :)

Seeing as I uploaded the last chapter pretty late, I decided to finish this one slightly earlier than planned.

As of writing this, I am extremely exhausted do pardon me if i made any glaring grammatical errors. Also I will be updating the A/N section on this chapter in the future should there be any burning issues from you guys.

Oh yes, I will be answering some of the reviews from last chapter in the A/N here too at a later time, so yeah keep your eyes peeled.

Hope you guys enjoyed this chapter!

*Update*

First thing I want to talk about - easter eggs. Yeah there were Fate/Zero easter eggs packed in this. The most obvious being the scene with Illya and Kiritsugu at the Einzbern Castle. Then there's the 2009 Yamaha VMAX. The bike that Arturia Saber used in F/Z was the 1985 V-Max, an older version of the bike that Rider Siegfried was abusing. Saber chasing Rider in F/Z was one of the best animated chase scenes ever in anime so I couldn't resist having a chase scene in my own fic. The Azoth blade. This is completely AU and non-canonical, but this is a twin to the Azoth blade that Rin has, I even had this one stylistically opposed with a sapphire instead of a ruby. Siegfried raising his sword, ready to destroy the Holy Grail (subverted). In my head, this is a callout to how Arturia destroyed the Grail in F/Z.

Non-Nasu easter eggs. Cerberus' appearance is an reference to how Fluffy salivated on Ron Weasley in Harry Potter and the Sorcerer's Stone. Allison's Gucci'd out AR-15 that Kiritsugu was immediately able to break down. Yes, those are the specs that I wish I could have on my own AR-15, but we don't do guns where I come from.

This is the first time in the fic we see the big bad, Lord Auteur Pleiades and his name was very aptly chosen. Besides following the naming convention Auteur, Master of Archer, "Auteur" literally means "The Author". Who is the author? Well me of course lulz. And then we have "Pleiades", a star-cluster of seven stars (see what I did there?), put it together and we get "The Author of the Stars". Poetic that the characters are literally fighting against the Author who controls everything in this fic.

Addressing reviews. I took HappyReviewer's suggestion and switched Heracles to Alcides, thanks for pointing that out. Though I want to say that there isn't a clear antagonist is evil thing in this fic, in fact I dislike having clear lines for the good guys and bad guys, good versus evil duality. Everyone in this fic has their own selfish agenda, so in that sense everyone that's not Shirou or Rin is an antagonist to each other.

As for how Shirou's side doesn't look like he has a chance, I take that as a huge compliment. I feel that the antagonists should at the very least be as strong as the protagonists for any conflict to feel like there are stakes. No one is going to enjoy a beatdown of an average tennis player against the world champion, so I stacked the odds sky-high for Shirou and the other protagonists.