Disclaimer: I do not own Fate stay night, Percy Jackson and the Olympians or the heroes of Olympus and other works.

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Chapter 2

There were a lot of things that I hated in my life; but what I hated the most was to find myself becoming a pawn at somebody else's schemes and Games.

It was the reason why I didn't like immortals one bit. They plotted and schemed and it was up to us mortals to pick-up the pieces at the end. Most of the time, we were also the ones who had to pay the price for those said schemes. The cheapest price being one of your limbs and the highest being you're life or something very precious to you.

Like any other demigod schmuck, I had my own share of experience regarding immortals and their so called plans and plots. And I Really hated it.

I won't deny that I have lied, cheated and manipulated others for many goals and reasons. I'll be a very big hypocrite if I denied that truth but the difference between me and the immortal manipulators, was that those who I had manipulated and used, were the Ones who sought to do the same to me.

The Einzbern family was the perfect example of this.

Since the time that I had joined the mage-association, the ancient Germanic family always made it their business to throw stones in my way and make my life harder by any means that they could. After becoming the apprentice of the vice-director, they instantly knew that they couldn't act directly least they risk retaliation from the head of the Barthlemeloi Family –So rather than targeting me, they decide to 'subtly' target my assets and associates.

What was the reason for their attempts and their actions against me? It was because the Einzbern wanted to make an example of me.

They wanted to point their fingers and say that this is what happens when you decide to betray us and go against us. It didn't take a genius to know that they wanted to make me pay because of Kiritsugu Emiya's betrayal.

The only reason that I gritted my teeth and tolerated it all was because of the safety of one simple precious thing which Kiritsugu Emiya left behind: his biological daughter, Illyasviel von Einzbern.

The daughter whom he would faintly cry tears for whenever he hugged his adopted son before Telling and sharing his fond memories about the times that he would play 'walnut hunt' with her and how he would carry her on his shoulders And at the end always ending up with Shirou promising that he would save her.

'I will find and save her, Kiritsugu.'

Those were the last words that Shirou had said to the magus killer when he was laying down on his deathbed. The words that made the dying man smile before leaving this world. And I knew that I owe it to both of them to see it done.

I was no hero and neither a saint that would jump at the chance to help other people. I did not know the person called Illyasviel von Einzbern and the only time that I had seen her was as a fictional anime character that was made for the sake of entertainment and show but despite all the reasons that I had for ignoring her, I couldn't live with myself If I Were to ignore this and let Illyasviel succumb to the cruel fate that her counterpart had met at the unlimited blade works route. I owed Kiritsugu and Shirou Emiya that much at least.

That was why I had tolerated the Einzbern and had been working towards a plan to not just save her but to potentially change her destiny, but things changed when I learned what the Germanic family had in plan for her.

They wanted to turn her into a vessel of the heaven's Fel Ritual. It was the same position that had killed her Mother Irisviel von Einzbern.

To avoid that; I knew that it was time to change the game so that I could be able to destroy one of the most ancient and Famous Magi families within the association with a single move, a move that did not involve words or politics but only actions.

The church and the association called it the Einzbern Uprising. A homunculi uprising that was believed have been planned by Illyasviel von Einzbern and had been her attempt of gaining full control of the Einzbern family which was successful. But that was all nothing more than a front, a false face that I had made for the massacre that had happened at the Einzbern castle.

The Einzbern castle was said to be among the most ancient and protected places for a Magi. It was Covered and protected by ancient bounded fields and wards that were rumored to be able to even keep it safe even from an invading army. Located within Germanic mountains, it was perfectly secluded and protected both magically and geographically.

However; once again the arrogance of Magi became one of the most useful advantages which I could use against them. Once upon a time, the boasts that the Einzbern made about their castle and safe-haven might have been true but in the age were such wonderful things called underground satellite images existed? Not so much.

Lesson number one when it comes to having a secured castle: make sure that the invader can't dig a hole and bypass all of your defenses through the underground. This lesson is defiantly crucial in this age where humanity has created advanced mining tools and equipment that can be used to get access to the natural underground caves under you're castle and be modified by rune Magecraft for increased time-efficiency and Results.

Once I was in the Einzbern castle's basement or should I say 'cellar', it was at the middle of the night–As if luck was with me for once because every member of the Einzbern were sleeping safely and sound without a worry that someone might infiltrate their so called impenetrable castle and slit their throats at the middle of the night.

Saving Illyasviel von Einzbern had been one of my primary Reasons but it was not my only reason for going after the Einzbern family. One of the other important objectives that I had was to gain information about the Grail.

In the battlefield, Reliable and solid information was a Priceless asset. The Course of Wars can be changed by information and the flow of knowledge. If I were to join the Holy Grail war, I damned sure wanted to have a more thorough information about the so called the 'prize' that I was risking my life for.

There were so many questions that I had about the grail and the only family who seemed to have at least complete knowledge about the damn thing were one of the three founding families that created the ritual known as the holy grail war or the heaven's Fel: The Tohsaka , Matou and Einzbern.

The only living member of the Tohsaka was the apprentice of the Wizard marshal and she was not exactly on good-terms with me. Asking her to give me access to her family's information regarding the creation and the history of the Holy Grail wars was not going to work and forcing her into a corner could have dangerous consequences that could not have been taken lightly.

When you're a magi's apprentice, your actions would also reflect on your master and you had to tread very carefully least you want to know what a magi would do to a person who in-danger's her policies and political image/Reputation. It wouldn't have gone well if it was known that the vice director's apprentice was putting pressure on the wizard marshal's student.

It would have been blood in water that would have attracted sharks and I'll be damned if I give those damn Magi the opportunity to use this against me or Rin. For the same reason, turning to the Matou for information was not an option because the only living member of the Matou was recovering from years of abuse and mental/psychological Conditioning. Brining attention to Sakura was dangerous when she was at such a vulnerable state and I wasn't going to take any risks when it came to her life, not without her permission. So that left only the Einzberns.

They had the information and the answers that I needed so I could find a way to avoid getting killed and stop the human race from becoming extinct. I also knew that the only the way that they were going to give it to me was through their dead bodies.

Something that I decided could be easily arranged.

By the time that morning came, the Einzbern family, one of the most ancient Magi line that boasted generations of work and progress for their Magi crest and prided themselves as the world's most greatest alchemists and homunculi creators, were Gone. The entire Ancient Germanic family, one of the largest and oldest magi clans within the clock-tower and the association, MURDERED, SLAUGHTERED in cold blood by my own hands, reduced from over hundred men to only one girl, in ONE night.

When I had exited the castle through the front door, I was holding a little snow-white haired girl in my left hand with a black blanket to keep her worm from the cold while holding a Rune-enchanted space expansion backpack with other. Before leaving, I stopped for a moment and looked back and I saw something that I knew that I would never forget.

I saw an entire waterfall of blood, Running down from the front steps and spilling out into the white snow and Painting it red. And among the sea of red, I saw my own footprints with not a single one looking like it was smudged or pooled–like I Was coming from a normal casual walk in the park, walking calmly and coolly without any hesitation or Doubt as if nothing was wrong.

What kind of monster you are that something like this doesn't even make you flinch; the words formed themselves within my mind before I turned around and left with the last living Einzbern in my arms and everything in their vaults within my backpack.

That was the truth behind the Einzbern uprising, I had made the cover story based on the logic that the bounded fields and defenses in the Einzbern castle had never been breached. So it logically had to be an uprising from within.

This is how Illyasviel von Einzbern became the head of the Einzbern family. Although technically new to the politics of the association, her name became well-known due to the Einzbern uprising. While her inexperience made her look like a good opportunity for other Magi Clans and family to use for their own benefit, none of them acted on it.

All because of one simple person who was said to be watching over her like a silent shadow, the same person who was rumored to have supported and even planed the uprising. The vice-director's apprentice was believed to be a man who had only managed to rise to a higher position and influence because of the vice-director herself but he had proven that antagonizing him was not a wise thing to do.

The Einzbern became a thorn at his side and sought to make an example of him, only for their plan to have reverse effect and instead they were the ones who were made of an example off. If he could do something like this to one of the most oldest Magi clans within the clock-tower then what will he do to those who attempt to use the last living Einzbern for their own gains and benefits, despite knowing that he's the one who is supporting and watching over her?

At the end, all of them decided that the risk was far too much for the reward. Illyasviel von Einzbern may have looked like a golden opportunity but the risk of sharing the same fate as the Einzbern was not worth it.

That was the endgame for the Einzbern who decided to play the game against me, and now I find myself playing another one of those games but this time my opponent was not a Magi clan but something possibly far more powerful and dangerous.

Something that had been lurking in the shadows for so long and had been carefully watching the events regarding the holy-grail wars, I even suspected its shadowy hands carefully pulling the strings and giving the cards to others who thought that they were the players that were playing the game but were in truth nothing more than Pawns.

Putting my hands under the chin, I looked to the servant of magic. Her cowl had been dissolved into blue Parana energy, leaving her face bare to be seen. Her medium long light-blue hair flowing at her back along with her heart-shape like face that give her beauty that I knew would make some-women Jealous, with the only thing that set her aside from others being her short knife-shaped like ears.

But even with all of the beauty that her face put on display, I was looking for something else. Like a hint of emotion that she was now feeling behind her blank-face.

Her attention was on the thick-file between us which rested on the table, her hands flipped one page after another while her eyes read every bit of information and word that were written on it.

To be honest, I had expected a lot of things when I had given her the folder which held the results of years of my investigation into the grail itself. When heroic spirits are summoned as servants, the grail itself automatically gives them knowledge about the current world such as cultures, Languages and other normal day to day information that you would expect a human born into this age know.

Such a feature was made so that servants could be more efficient and avoid things like culture shock; can you imagine the surprise that a servant might feel when they see the wonders of technology and progress in this age? Things such as air-planes, technologically advanced cities and environments were not exactly things that you could expect those who had lived during the age of legends and medieval times to be able to cope with without some form of help or prior knowledge.

Aside from that knowledge, I also knew that the grail also give some form of knowledge that includes the servant's placed class along with his or her noble phantasms and new limitations that had been placed on the heroic spirit. Otherwise, the servant would be facing a severe disadvantage. That kind of knowledge was something that I hoped that could help me to be one step closer into solving the mystery that is the Grail.

"I knew it," caster closed the file and put it on the table, glaring at It fiercely as if it was the source of all of her current problems. "I knew that there was something suspicious about the grail. Its description alone should have been enough to make me to questions its existence and capabilities, yet I still fell for it like an idiotic naïve fool."

I could easily see the anger in the servant's tone, and I could honestly say that I didn't blame her. The information that I had just revealed to her had shown that the prize which she had been summoned for and thought to be genuine, was proving to suspiciously too good to be true.

I have seen a lot of things which can be said to be either impossible or unbelievable but a wish granting omnipotent machine that can grant any kind of wish? The magi of this world seem to have fundamentally a few screws loose because who the fucking hell can claim to have created such a thing?

The servant in front of me had came from an age where those called immortals walked among mortals and the existence of phantasmal beasts or the accomplishment of feats which today's magi consider to be impossible seem to have been a day to day occurrence and even she had her suspicions about the Grail.

But for the sake of certainty, I still needed to ask the question.

"You have lived during the age of magic and legends, Right caster?" seeing her nod, I continued. "Then could you honestly look to me in the eye and say that the Magi of that time could have created something like this and they didn't?"

"It's not about what they wanted, it's about the fact that they couldn't." she instantly answered without hesitating for a moment. "We're speaking about the possibility of creating an omnipotent wish granting device that can turn the most imaginary wishes into reality, its creation is beyond the power of even the most powerful masters of magic that lived and thrived during my time."

"And yet we suddenly have three Magi Families that claim to have somehow created that which the Magi who lived during the age where magic was at its highest couldn't even create in the first place." I tapped the file with my finger, "do you see the pattern here caster?"

"…that there is a possibility that we're being manipulated by someone from the shadows, Yes I have suspected as much though what I find the most disturbing is the third holy grail war." She grabbed the file and opened it before skipping through a few pages and then putting it in front of me. "the first and second grail wars are clear as day but the third holy grail war is…" she paused, no doubt searching for a Words that could convoy her meaning.

"It's blank," I clarified while looking towards the information that I had highlighted with a red pen. "The true-name of the servants and the fate of their masters and the events regarding the war, there is a big piece of information vacuum in there and I suspect that our mystery friend doesn't want it to be known."

Of all the Holy Grail wars, the third war was the only grail war that had so such missing pieces of information and Data. The church took its duty very seriously when it comes to supervising the grail wars and recording the events that happened to it. The reason for such dedication and caution was to monitor the summoned heroic spirits and make sure that they don't go rouge under any circumstances.

You'll be the most ultimate naïve fool if you think that the Mage association and the church are willing to risk one of the seven summoned classes going rouge and in-danger the stability and secret existence of the supernatural world from the mundane one. It's like Lighting a torch and putting it in a basement full of gunpowder that is ready to explode; it just wasn't going to happen.

There already were enough powerful and dangerous individuals within the moonlit world -the name that the Magi of this world like call their hidden supernatural world- the possibility of beings like heroic spirits and servants joining the fray was a disaster and wasn't going to do any favors for anyone.

The thought of a heroic spirit suddenly deciding to use a noble phantasm and destroy a whole city on whim was the stuff of nightmares. Even the most powerful and dangerous of beings within the moonlit world take cared to make sure that their existence remained a secret from the governments and the public; otherwise it's the high risk of extinction. But heroic spirits didn't abide by this necessary rule of survival because they were already dead.

They were inferior clones of the original ones that were in the throne of heroes, why should they care about such rules when they were already dead?

It was best for everyone's sake and health that the summoned servants and masters be carefully monitored; otherwise a disaster is just waiting to happen.

"The church says that the summoned servants and masters are either gone or dead but the events and data regarding that statement is very vague." I flipped over the next page and looked to the names of the masters who had been chosen by for the third grail war, "especially when it comes to the Edelfelt Masters."

It is part of the agreement between the church and participating masters that should they die or decide to leave the grail war, then they would have to give their remaining command seals to the Holy Grail supervisor. If they die, then their bodies will have to be recovered and the command seals extracted from them.

By all rights, in the event of a master's death, his command seals go under the jurisdiction of the church. All the remaining command seals of the masters of the third war had been recovered except for two mysteriously disappeared masters.

The Edelfelt masters. The two participants which had used their family sorcery trait in order to summon two saber class servants as the different aspects of the same servant then rather than just one; mysteriously disappeared as if they weren't there in the first place.

What happened to them? Where they defeated in the early stages of the grail war when they had one of the most thought to be powerful servant in the grail war? What happened to their servants, who defeated them and how where they defeated?

The mage association and the church had asked those questions and both of them had directed them towards the Edelfelt family who had been called to explain why the two members of the family who had joined the war could not be found.

It was not the proudest event in the magi family's history and it definitely had cost the Edelfelt lots of things to get themselves out of that mess but it still didn't change the fact that two masters were missing.

It didn't matter how much the Edelfelt or how many times the mage association and the church tried to find them, there wasn't any sign or clue about what had happened to them. It was like they had vanished into thin air. Their servants had been defeated and destroyed and yet there was no sign of the two sister-masters. Even when a jointly made team of enforcers and exorcists entered the Edelfelt manor within japan and investigated it from top to bottom, they still didn't manage to find any trace of them. Except for their cloths and belongings had been there along with their so called 'assets' that they had brought with themselves from their home for the goal of winning the third grail war.

Yet the same could not be said for the sisters themselves.

God only knows what had really happened to those two, I had seen enough to know that there are worst things then death and I wouldn't wish them on my most hated enemy. And now there was a chance that the same mysterious thing could happen to Luvia and Rin or even possibly me. And with the looming shadow of Lazarus over my life again, the situation could only get worse before it gets any better.

It was All the more reason to arm myself and castor now and make preparations for the inevitable.

"It's going to be a very dangerous war, caster. even more dangerous and hard then the previous grail wars." Closing the file, I got up and started to walk towards the door. "The summoned heroic spirits and their Magi masters are not the only ones that we should be worried about." I opened the door and looked at caster expectantly, "We'll have to prepare ourselves as best we can, and that means I'll have to give you access to my workshop."

I decided to ignore the surprised expression on her face and turn around, closing the door behind myself. I started to walk towards the middle of the Emiya household.

The Emiya household was an old traditional Japanese household that was as big as a Japanese inn, with seven rooms, two bathrooms and a big large living room. It was a too much for a single person to live in but it was definitely the most idle place for a magi to setup his workshop.

The house was built on one of the Fuyuki lay lines and it was near one of the oldest traditional Japanese districts which made its location to be far away from the modern population centers that are within Fuykui and made it look like a bit secluded.

It made it easier for me to make a secret location under house –and a lot of modernly technological and magically traps- while being able to remain unnoticed by my so called neighbors.

'do you truly wish to allow me access to your workshop?' the mental telepathic link between me and caster which was the result of our contract as a master-servant, allowed me to hear caster's voice so Clear that I was able to detect hints of suspicion and shock within it. 'Surely you'll know what this entitles? Do you trust me enough to reveal you're mysteries to me to such extent and at the span of not even a single day?'

A Magi's workshop was one of the important places for him. It was the place where he creates/advances his mage craft and practiced his mysteries. It was the place where he would strive to become better at his abilities and craft.

I knew some magi that didn't even let their own children and family into their personal workshop, and entering a Magi's workshop without permission was an act of war by all rights and means of secrecy.

Yet here I was, allowing someone else entering my workshop. Something that I never would have done without at least years of time spent to know the said Someone before I even allow the thought to entertain my thoughts.

But caster was not just someone; she was now unofficially my servant and perhaps my only way of survival and getting out of the grail war alive. Liking it or not, I had to trust her because it was a necessity. Least I'll take a chance to doom both of us because of my paranoia.

And more importantly, I had said that I would attempt to earn her trust and loyalty. Such precious things could not be earned without risking and sacrificing something else in Return. When it came to it, I rather risk and gain a loyal partner then being stuck with a servant who I wasn't completely sure about where her loyalty was.

"I Said that I would earn you're trust and loyalty, didn't I?" I stopped and looked at a wooden wall that did not seem any different from the other ones in the house, "How can I do that, if I were refuse to give you the most powerful advantage that can help you against other servants and even improve our chance at winning the holy grail war?" I put my right hand on the wall and looked to the single command seal that I had, command seals were the means for Magi to control their summoned heroic spirits and if the situation where to have been reversed then I never would have entrusted anyone with this kind of control or power over myself. It was damn near impossible for a man to trust someone when they had been betrayed, especially for one who knew the steps towards manipulating others by words and actions. But caster had given me a command seal and came to me, it would be a waste if I weren't to capitalize on this opportunity and take one step closer into earning her loyalty.

Not to mention that if my theory was correct then I'll be one step closer to get us out of this mess and even gain an extra servant as a bonus, depending if caster is willing to go with the plan that I had somehow managed to make within the hour.

It was not a plan that had a lot of preparations and back-ups in it but it was still better than nothing, even though it had more holes in it then a Swiss cheese.

'I don't know if I should be flattered with the amount of respect and trust that you're giving me, praise you for your pragmatic thinking and solutions or question you're sanity as a Magus and wonder if you truly haven't gone mad.' Caster's voice was filled with disbelief and wonder like she was witnessing a miracle.

Here was a well-known and infamous Magi who was feared and hated in the moonlit world and didn't even knew her for even a single day, yet was willing to allow and give her access to his own workshop and was treating a lot more differently than the magi who had summoned her.

If this didn't break the mold then I don't know what will.

"A word of advice caster," although the tone of my voice hadn't changed at all, there was a layer of mirth under it. "Shiro Fraga and the Word 'Sanity' should never be in the same sentence, Period. Those two don't mix at all."

Focusing on the wooden wall, I watched as small tiny runic words started to appear from my hand to the door and looked as they filled the wall with tiny black dots that slowly covered a small portion of it and then expanded into covering it whole.

The wall was as black as night soon enough. It may have looked like any other ordinary black wall that you could have seen in many places, but the truth was that this was not a black-wall made of paint but of complicated Runes and Seals that are the results of my mastery of Runes.

"Can you please materialize?" I patiently waited as the servant took her physical form. "Thank you, now I Apologize for doing this."

Before caster could say anything, I grabbed her hand and then enveloped her into a hug and pushed myself and her into the wall.

Rather than hitting a solid object, it felt as if we were engulfed into by a sudden water fall before I felt something solid under my feet. Letting go of caster, I took a step back in order to acknowledge her personal space.

"Where are we?" she looked to our new surroundings with guarded before leveling me with an expectant One.

"We are in my workshop,", the Space that we were now standing in was a very large one with a small part of it being covered by shelf after shelf of ancients books while the other side was protected by a black-fence wall with the word 'Danger' written over it in an orange color. Behind the fence, there were stacks of crates and backpacks arranged in an organized order with various boxes arranged beside them, "Though this is also my base of operations."

"How did you build something so big at the middle of your own home?" her gaze sharply looked around the black walls and crates.

"Who said I did?" I shamelessly allowed a boastful smile appear on my face, like a man who is taking pride in his own accomplishments. "A battalion of enforcers can storm my home and search every nook and corner. To Hell with it, they can even uproot it and turn it upside down but they won't find a thing about my safe-haven here, because we are now in a Sub-Space dimension."

"Sub-Space Dimension?" caster looked to me as if I had suddenly grown an extra head, "are you saying that you had created a space within dimension? Using your own Magecraft?" she shook her head and folded her arms on her chest, "I knew that you were one to jest but this is a poorly made one."

"It's not a 'jest' Caster, we are now standing in a very limited and small subspace dimension which I had created though space manipulation Using Runes and lots of other things." Years of research and experiments along with an un-holy amount of Math, physics and headaches notwithstanding, the results were worth it.

To a paranoid scarred man like me with questionable thoughts, skewed morals and sanity, having a safe haven like this was like a blessing. It was my sanctum, the place where I would go to seek silence and be away from the rest of the world for a while.

It made it all the more difficult for me to bring someone else here, but it was something that I needed to do.

Sooner or later, we will face choices in our which we don't want to take but we simply have to because of necessity. It was hard and by god did it suck. but it is something that we'll have to do.

"This is my safe-haven caster," I gestured widely towards the walls, "its walls are covered by years of Rune seals and various Fail-safes, it took three years to even create such a thing. It has saved my life many times and kept me safe from those who sought to do me harm. I Hope you understand what kind of trust I'm putting into you by giving you free access to it."

'Let's hope I Don't Regret this.' I Let out a tired sigh and waited a few moments for the women to answer, Hearing no replay. I looked towards the Servant of Magic…

Only to find her gone from the previous space she was standing on and instead standing beside one of the bookshelves, her hand inches away from touching a certain Black book.

"Don't touch that book!" I yelled and froze as caster sharply pulled her hand back.

"Take a step back from that thing caster," I felt like a bomb disposal squad who was now standing in front of an Armed Nuclear warhead, and for a very good-Reason. "Take your time and slowly take a step back," my eyes were sharply on the black book which was innocently sitting on the shelf, I watched as the servant slowly took a step back from the shelf.

Perhaps it was because my eyes were as wide as they could and looked to be ready to pop out their sockets or my desperate and fearful voice that stopped her from questioning.

My heart felt like it was going to burst out of my chest any moment with each step that the servant took before she was standing beside me and had a good distance between herself and the book.

Letting out a breath that I didn't even knew I was holding, I put my hand over my chest and forced myself to calm down.

We just dodged a very dangerous disaster and I don't need to say that today was already complicated enough, there was no need for extras.

"What is that thing?" Caster's question brought my thinking time to a halt.

"Aestas Infernas," I leveled a wary look towards the black book, "The Book of the Damned. You're looking at one of the most Dangerous Objects within the moonlit world, and the Cause of the apostle war."

"That is not an object; it is a living noble phantasm." She looked to me with an impressed look, "how did you managed to find something like this and what is this about an 'apostle war' that you're speaking of?"

I blinked a few times in response to her questions before nodding my head, if Infernas can change and affect apostle ancestors to such extant then calling it a living freaking noble phantasm was not impossible.

It might even be a right description. But a living Noble Phantasm… how does something like that even work?

And regarding her lack of knowledge of the apostle war, it's a modern event so of course she doesn't know about it. Someone really needs to 'update' the grail system.

"Do you know whose noble phantasm is it?" I asked, "and how are you even sure that it's a noble phantasm?"

"One of the advantages that a servant has is that we can learn and recognize a 'thing' which falls under the category of noble phantasm, provided the conditions are met for it." Caster pointed at the black book, "the activation of a noble phantasm is not the only thing which can reveal its identity. The way it's used, its form and function can also be a cause."

"So who does it belong to?"

"I don't know," she answered. Which was the signal for me to face-palm, so much for getting my hopes-up; "the answer is at the tip of my lips but it somehow evades me, it is probably due to its condition that has been set on it."

"Do you know how it's used and what kind of effects it has?" I removed my hand from my face, "any information that you spare can help us greatly in the long run."

I made a mental note to continue this conversation at another date before focusing on the matter that is more important right now: how to convince Lorelei to not give every one of us a straight ticket to a very painful grave.

"you'll have to find a way to hid that book," caster's voice once again brings me out of my thoughts, "Greed and ambition can be a very powerful motivator for a fool or two to come after you in order to gain their hands into the book."

"Caster, we're in a sub-dimension, say it with me: S-U-B-D-I-M-E-N-S-I-O-N." I slowly pronounced the words as politely as I could. "Any fool or idiot, who wants to come here, will have to first find one of my secret doors which I might add is almost an impossible endeavor, and then even if they find it; none of them will be able to activate it without me doing it for them. And even if they somehow manage do so, the moment that they set foot into place, they'll be shredded into pieces by molecular level." There were also other contingencies in place but it was best not to reveal them to the servant in front of me.

"You're actually serious?" for the first time in the day, I saw the woman's mouth open in shock. "You're not trying to secretly mock me are you?"

Trying to mock a woman who can turn you inside out with just a bare thought; wouldn't that be an interesting way for a master to go.

Still, I have to decline. I didn't live still long with being stupid.

"…Why don't you go and check the walls? I'm sure then you learn that I'm not trying to mock you." True to my words, the servant sharply stepped forward the walls and inspected them as if she was a researcher studying a particular interesting bacteria from behind a microscope.

"By the ancient Ones," she quickly looks to me and then walks towards me until she stands right in front of me. "You're a Magician."

"Nope," I instantly killed that train of thoughts without missing a beat. "Magicians are Magi who have fully mastered their Magecraft; they are the pinnacle of Magi. And I'm not the pinnacle of Magi."

"You can manipulate space-time by using you're Magecraft, even a create workshop within a 'sub-dimension' of your own." Caster argued, "And I don't doubt for a moment that you have developed a host of other abilities which you have mastered through the years."

"I won't deny or acknowledge that," I Tried to ignore the sudden feeling of pride at hearing the servant of the Magic's Praises. "But enough about me because today is going to be the day where we'll be going to using you're prowess and skills at full capacity."

"You have a plan?" there was a sudden image of a women who was standing on the deck of a ship and with such a ruthless calculating gaze in her eyes that she was willing and had cut her own brother's corpse into pieces and throw it into the ocean.

I blinked and it was gone as soon as it had come.

"Oh, I have Several Plans." The smile that appeared on my face was something that you could only see on the face of Shiro Fraga the boogeyman, the trickster who had made many dancing with the tune of his flute within the Moonlit world.

XXX~XoX~XXX

The Church near Fuyuki was built near the outskirts of the town and had a dedicated cemetery near itself along with a forest of old-trees. The church was in pristine condition and held services for those who wish to use it.

It also housed the bane of my life, in form of a woman who had made her life-time hobby to make my life more chaotic and miserable. Her name was Caren Hortensia.

So anyone could understand me when I say that the amount of hidden satisfaction and glee that I felt when I knocked on the door and she opened it was not small, it almost made my day when I saw her seeing the smile on face that resembled a shark that had smelled blood on water.

"Ah," She put on such a motherly-priest like smile on her face that I knew was all fake, "Mr. Fraga, so good of you to visit me before I left."

"No need to rush Caren," my smile grow wider, "you and I have a lot of business, and believe me when I Say that you won't catching the plane by the time that you have 'attended' to your duties as the supervisor for the grail war."

"Then please come in," she fully opened the door and then allowed to me enter before closing it behind with a faint thump, sitting on one of the benches, I patiently waited as she took a seat beside me.

"So, how may I help you Mr. Fraga?" I contemplated on the ways which I could take this before choosing a route in which I liked to bring the conversation and tie the Rope around this sadistic women's Neck.

"Could you please recite the law of neutrality which the church follows regarding the Holy Grail wars and the supernatural world?" the smile on my face had long since vanished and had been replaced by a sharp look.

"Is there any matter…?"

"Recite the law, Caren." there was nothing gentle about the tone of my voice; the women who knew me well could easily recognize the steel in it.

"As a neutral entity and supervisor, the church is forbidden from giving any kind of advantage to any of the masters, servants or those who wish to participate in the grail wars." She finished with her official mask now firmly placed on her face.

Deciding that actions spoke more loudly then words, I put my hand in my pocket and brought a certain black folder and give it to her with an expectant look on my face. Taking it, she opened it and started to read it for a few minutes.

Using the given opportunity, I looked to her and started to compare her to the last time that I had seen her since it was a month ago. Caren looked to be a women who was at the middle of her twenties with silver-white hair, she was wearing a black color jean along with a white color Shirt with a cross necklace at the front of it. Her golden color eyes looked to be the previous ones that I had before my long-term use of Magecraft changed their color to gray.

Patiently waiting as she finished reading the entire file, she calmly put the file on the bench beside her like someone who goes to a restaurant and picks up a menu, read it and puts it at the table.

"That's a deep archive file, my file." I spoke slowly as if I was speaking with a child rather than an experienced member of the black sacrament, the division within the church which dealt with supernatural affairs. "Kindly tell me what it is doing in the hands of a Magi and a servant's master none the less."

To her credit, Caren did not show any sign of nervousness or agitation. She just simply leaned back against the chair and put on a thoughtful look on her face before she let out a deep sigh. "A year ago, this file had been stolen from the deep archive facility within a classified and sanctified location through unknown means.

"Thirty-five church executors and five members of the staff died in the effort of protecting that file. We had suspected that the infiltrator had been a servant but we unfortunately had no proof of such a thing." The fact that if the church acted directly then things could have turned dangerously complicated real fast, did not escape my mind. "So we increased our efforts of monitoring the masters and the servants." No doubt they had also lunched many investigations into finding out who was daring enough to pull something like this on the church and adding more protocols to their precautions, should a servant attempt to do such a thing again. But I kept my thoughts to myself to let the supervisor continue. "We had suspected of foul play and any harmful attempts at you're…. life and we were ready to respond accordingly as such was our responsibility. I'm sure you understand why we needed to be subtle and discreet about this matter and refrained from informing you about this."

"I understand the reasoning," I acknowledged, "but that doesn't mean that I like it."

The First lesson when it comes to learning about politics and organization managements; is that one of their greatest tools was their reputation, their laws and policies. An organization no matter how small or big, Powerful or influential, is nothing without its laws or its image.

It is through reputation and image that others look to your organization and interact with it. A Lawless organization could not be trusted and relied to follow its deals and services without problem or complications that a smart and experienced business man wants to avoid. How can you trust a company who can't even follow their own laws and regulations?

Trusting something like that was a basically like giving a business man his own death-sentence and ask him to sign it.

Still, that didn't mean that I wasn't going to demand compensation.

"I can also assure you that we are willing to provide you with…. a reasonable compensation," Caren unanimously agreed with the notion of provide me with something to keep any kind of 'complain' to myself.

It was politics one-oh-one; give something to the complainer so that he doesn't reveal you're disastrous secret and make sure that you have something on him that keeps him from demanding more and opening his mouth.

In this case, the fact that if I open my mouth then not only the church's reputation as a neutral entity goes under the question but also the fact that the information in my archive file goes under risk, something that I can't allow to happen.

Not when I want to join the fifth grail war, not when I need the church's help to be recognized as a master.

"I'm sure we can come to a reasonable agreement," I took the 'hook' that Caren had thrown at me, it was time to see if the woman can fish the shark that she has just baited.

Putting my hand in my pocket, I brought out a paper and give it to the supervisor who looked to it with a raised eyebrow before she started to read.

It was not a moment later that the she voiced her objections, "Oh my," she lowered the paper and leveled a gaze at me, "I said reasonable compensation and reparations, none of your demands are either of the two."

"Which ones?" I eagerly asked, the shark had taken the bait and the fisher was now pulling the line, Time to see who is going to become the haunted.

"You're first demand is that we formally recognize you as a 'master'." Caren repeated the word 'master' as if it was a foreign and un-logical word. "We can't do that without you having your own command seals and having a servant."

'I believe that's you're queue to enter the stage, Caster.' I send the words to the heroic spirit through the telepathic link between us, 'just remember the script.'

Sure enough, small-golden Parana particles gathered around before they fused themselves and allowed the servant of magic to take her physical form, floating in mid-air like she was sitting on a floating invisible chair.

"Greetings, Supervisor of the church." She greeted, the widening of Caren's eyes was enough for me to know that it had clear effect as I had intended it to have. "I am servant Caster, I Have come here to change the registry of my former master and inform you of the crime that I had been forced to commit because of his use of command seals."

"You sure know how to surprise a girl, Emiya-kun." Caren muttered under her breath before she reigned in her surprise, the Japanese honorific sounded a bit strange with her Italian accent. "Very well then… as the supervisor of the Holy Grail war, I will register you're new master. Provided that he agrees to follow the rules that are in place." To which I quickly nodded and agreed without a word. "Then it is settled, I will send the updated records to the church shortly but what is this about you being forced into committing crimes by your former master? Surely he knows that summoned servants aren't allowed to use their abilities and activate their noble phantasm unless they have entered the grounds for the Holy Grail war."

In the course of Holy Grail wars, there have been instances where servants had been re-registered with new masters. The church did not care about the name of the servant or the master, as long as they are willing to follow the rules and policy that had been placed for the secrecy and safety of the Holy Grail war.

In Simple words, you can steal other servants and make them your own as long as you can guarantee that you are able to control them and follow the rules.

It's open season between magi when one among them gets command seals and they learn about it, if those magi don't understand that others will be after their heads once they'll learn that they have command seals and instead choose to flaunt them like some public accomplishment then they deserve what's coming to them.

Not even Magecraft and magical abilities will be able to save you from your own stupidity.

The more stupid Magi were the ones that thought that just only they have summoned a heroic spirit, they can do whatever they want and not to worry about the consequences. How easy it is for them to forget that the age that they were living in, while not the age of gods and Magic, was the age of killing and killers.

In the ancient days, Mankind used swords and bows to take care of business but now there were such good extermination wonders called firearms and weapons of mass destruction. Atomic bombs, artillery and heavy caliber rounds can easily take care of even die-hard Magicians-individuals who are hailed to have achieved the pinnacle of their craft and Magecraft.

You think you are invincible just because you have fully mastered you're Magecraft and have a tremendous control over magnetism? Well, let me introduce you to white phosphorus. It can easily remind that you're perceived 'invincibility' is nothing more than a lie.

You believe that you're immortal and un-killable just because you're Magecraft gives you a highly advanced healing factor? Please, let me show you that you need to breathe just like the rest of us and prove to you that you're healing factor won't do a thing for you when you're being drowned in water.

Of course, there were also Anti-servant tactics and strategies that could be used against a heroic-spirit and as I had firmly explained to caster, they were highly effective. Heroic spirits were powerful but they were not invincible.

Neither me nor my now servant wanted to be targeted by the church or have a bounty of 'one command seal' for our heads. That was why we needed to use a scapegoat that will shoulder all the blames, rightfully so because he was the reason and cause for this mess in the first place.

In other words, we were going to throw the corpse of caster's dead master straight under the bus. Dead men might not tell any tales but they sure can still be useful in many other ways. Their silence can be as vocal as thousands of words.

"As you know, when summoned from the throne of heroes, we servant immediately receive knowledge and information regarding the modern age and the laws which we need to follow when entering the Holy Grail wars." Caster Said, "as such I'm duty bound to inform you that through the use of his own command seals and authority as a master, my previous summoner had forced me to break many important fundamental rules.

"Including but not limited to: assault and battery against normal civilian individuals who were not part of our world, burglary and murder against the servants of the church," Caren instantly straightened upon hearing that, no doubt putting the two-to-two together and learning how I got my hands on the archive file. "Endangerment of the secrecy of the grail war and the existence of the Magi, Forced use and activation of my noble phantasm in an environment outside of the holy grail war designated land, attempted murder of the supervisor of the grail war and the violation of my contract as a servant."

"…Excuse me," Caren placated, already well-placed in her role as a representative of the church and the supervisors of the Holy Grail war. "I'll need to ask you a few questions before we can continue, May I know you're Name?"

In response; Caster looked towards me, just as we had planned when it came to playing our roles as 'master' and 'servant'. "Am I allowed to reveal my true name, master?"

At the back of my mind, I felt a sudden sense of nervousness and fear. Names and titles have power because they represented every bit of our action and history, something that I had personal experience in when it comes to have an infamous name that either is hated or feared.

I Knew about Caster's true name and she didn't told me that, She Feared and hated her own name because it was associated with her legend as the witch of Colchis.

I didn't know much about this world's Medea but damn it all, She reminded me of myself when I had allowed the world to use my own name against me. A mistake which I had rectified by remembering who I was and never to be ashamed of it, the opinions of people did not interest me one bit because all they can do is to open their mouths and judge that which they don't even fully know about.

Why should I care about the opinions of people? At the end of the day, I'm the one who has to live with my own choices and their consequences.

I have made my way in all of my life; I'll do the same for the rest of my years. It was going to be a lesson that I was determined to teach Caster, she deserves that much at least.

"No," I answered firmly, pointing at the archive file beside the supervisor. "That deep archive file is enough evidence for you to give credibility to my servant's words, there is no reason to reveal her true name and risk someone else finding it."

"This is the Fuykui-church," Caren replied firmly, "it has been sanctioned and a safe neutral ground for at least four Holy Grail wars."

"and that's a deep archives file," I shot back, "it has been in one of the most secured places that the church could come-up with, protected by many formidable defenses, such as seasoned executors and exorcists. I believe we all know how well that ended-up."

There was a moment of tense silence between us before we both broke eye contact.

"Very well," Caren relented though I could see that she was not happy one bit, she turned towards the servant of magic. "About the crimes that you just mentioned, can you start explaining them one by one? That way, we can avoid many troublesome questions and less time is wasted."

"Certainly," Caster answered.

"Then let's start by the first charge," Caren put a hand under her chin, "you said assault and battery against Normal civilians, where they Magi or mundane?"

"Mundane." Caster clarified, already remembering how I told her to answer the questions and make sure that everything is set in pace.

"On what reason did you're former master order you to attack normal civilians?"

"He didn't order me, He threatened me with the use of a command seal should I refuse to follow his Orders. His excuse was that he wanted to witness my abilities firsthand, Naturally I Refused."

"And why did you refuse?"

"Because that idiotic fool wanted me to use my abilities in a population center full of technological advancement and tools that had a dangerous ability of recording the event," Caster dropped the first bombshell. "I believe the term which you use for them is 'surveillance recording' or 'camera', if I'm not mistaken."

"You aren't," Caren's eyes were narrowed; I knew that she wouldn't like the things that came next. "Such an event would have proven to be very dangerous for the grail war, endangering the secrecy of the grail war. You have followed the Rules as a servant, just as you should have. There is no harm done there but did you're master use a command seal?"

"He used the first one by ordering me to find one of the church's deep-archive facilities." Caster dropped the next bomb; the amount of charges and torches that the black sacrament is going to setup against caster's former master was going to be very high in number.

If the fool was not dead then the church would immediately make sure that he was going to have a taste of what happens when you break the rules, Making an example of him can go a long way of proving what happens when you break the rules.

"And how did you manage to find out the location of a secret archive facility?" Caren addressed the elephant in the room which –ironically- will lead to smaller or even bigger elephants. The amount of rules that caster's old master will be known to have-sorry, has broken, Will be warranting a good place in the Guinness World Records Book.

…. At least he'll have something to be remembered by.

"I'm a Magi from the age of Magic and miracles," Caster's voice took a boastful and prideful tone, just as I had forced her to practice in front of the mirror. "While not the strongest servant, I am still a servant. As such I possess capabilities that allow me to control other individuals like a puppet master controlling the movement of her puppets."

"So that is how the location of one of our archive facilities had been compromised," Caren concluded, "you used our own to find it, But still that doesn't explain one important thing." Her tone went cold and frosty, "you said that you were ordered to find, so why did you attack?"

"My summoner used his second command seal to force me to attack you're…. people with prejudice, he wanted to see the full extent of my abilities and had no qualms about their lives as a 'well-used' Recourse." If anything else, Caster's answer turned Caren's expression frostier and colder than before.

"I see," The white-haired woman contemplated before she continued; "you're noble phantasm, what type of noble phantasm do you have? Can you describe its effects and its workings? If you're master allows it, that is." At that, Caster and Caren both looked to me once again.

"It was a noble phantasm armament that enacted a special concept upon contact," I explained, doing my part to make sure that caster's noble phantasm is kept secret and the pressure is a little bit reduced from her shoulders. "It might have an exquisite appearance but it works as mundane as you can want it to, thank god for small mercies. We were lucky that caster Managed to find a loophole in that idiot's command or else we all would have been goners by now."

"A stroke of fortune," caster was quick to grab the silver-lining that I had made for her. "I shudder to think what would have happened if I had used my other noble phantasm to summon dragons without being able to control them."

"Wait, you can summon dragons?" Caren sharply looked to caster with a dangerous look on her face; I quickly decided that it was time to move to the next stage of this act.

"She could have summoned Dragons," I put extra emphasis on the word 'could'. "She can't do so anymore because we have destroyed that noble phantasm for good."

I was a man of pragmatism, and knew enough about noble phantasms to know that the type of noble phantasm that was the most dangerous is the one that was not even controllable by even its owner and user. Ask any experienced military field commander and tactician, and they will say that a weapon or asset, no matter its potential and power, was useless if it was not controllable.

It was unreliable and a liability in a chaotic place that is the battlefield, no kind of advantage was ever worth completely risking the moral and life of your forces. And a noble phantasm that can summon dragons -the ultimate species of phantasmal beasts within this world- without giving the means of controlling them was useless to me or caster.

Better to go to battle without it then to risk having a rampant uncontrollable dragon turning against us.

"So you completely destroyed the noble phantasm?" Caren asked straightly and no doubt expecting a straight answer, something that I was willing to provide.

"Yes," I answered before leaning back, I quickly send a telepathic message to the servant of magic and readying myself for the ultimate conclusion that I knew was coming. The curtains were slowly falling and the outcome of our words and acts will soon be presented on us on a silver-platter.

"Okay, then let's see to the final offense. You said that you can control others, did you're former master wanted you to use your abilities on me as the supervisor of the grail war?" Caren directed her question towards caster, the servant of magic simply nods her head rather than answer.

Caren was not a battle-oriented executor but I couldn't deny the fact that she had an uncanny talent and inquisitive mind when it came to discarding lies for truth. Her weapons were information and knowledge that she used to outsmart and outmaneuver her opponents, directly lying to that kind of opponent was dangerous and too much risky. I would be a very poor manipulator if I were to deny the chance that Caren knew at least something about caster's former master, I Had to use vagueness to blunt this advantage or else I might find myself defeated without even knowing when it happened.

By stars and stones, give me ignorant fools as enemies rather than smart women with unknown motives and aims.

Those of the last category always seemed to have a tendency trying to kill or use me at least once, small wonders that I was wary of them.

"Well then, I believe this concludes it." Caren brought out a watch from her pocket before she quickly pocketed it, I didn't miss the glint in her eyes and I instantly knew that she suspected our 'performance'. "I'll make it official by saying that the church acknowledges you're status as a master and servant, So Welcome to the Holy Grail war, Shirou Fraga." Caren offered her hand which I shook…

Before both of us stiffened as we felt a bounded field appear over the Fuykui church.

And it was only through instincts that were screaming 'danger' that I grabbed Caren and quickly throw both myself and her into the ground as the church's two massive wooden doors had exploded off of their hinges. The shockwave turned them into wooden splinters.

Then huge swarms of bullets pierced the church's walls and I had to quickly hold Caren under the weight of my body, she was raised by the church and to see someone desecrate its sanctity was not something that she would ever tolerate.

Even I had reservations and a limit, desecrating a place of worship that belonged and is dedicated to the almighty was passing what I was willing to do.

"Go in and retrieve the body," my already superhumanly enhanced senses heard a distorted voice shouting an order.

XXX~XoX~XXX

When it comes to the difference between a soldier and a civilian, one of the greatest differences was that a soldier was trained to the sounds of firearms and his mentality had already adapted to it. While a civilian was not, they had no training to fall back to and the sound of a firearm was enough to shake them to the core and make them panic.

Panic in the battlefield and you'll do stupid mistakes that will cost you your life, this was the primary reason why one of the first orders of business for a military operative was to evacuate the civilian. Their panicking can get them in the way and they'll make things harder than they already are.

Not to mention that military personal effectively represented the military portion of their government and killing civilians -accidently or not- is enough to give reasons for your superiors to demote you or throw you into facing court martial or a host of many other charges.

There were extensions and exceptions in which you can't hope to evacuate the civilians, instead you had to follow you're given objectives and orders, letting the responsibility to fall on others like the police. It was a harsh view on human life that many would condemn but at the end a soldier was not a police officer, his ultimate duty was to follow orders and his fields of jurisdiction was on the battlefield, not on civilian handing.

So When I had pinned Caren under my body, I had immediately grabbed her shoulders to keep her pinned to the ground as bullets started to fly around us. Caster had already taken her astral form, so I didn't need to worry about her.

Caren was no stranger to combat but the use of heavy-caliber firearms with bullets racing at the top of her were not something that anyone could hope to get comfortable with without a tremendous experience as a frontline combatant.

Something that I had plenty in amount for both of us, hopefully it can prove to be enough in this one.

'There is a door at the back of the church, use your astral form and check it to make sure that no one is waiting at the back.' I sent towards Caster while my eyes were focusing on piercing golden yellows darting left and right until they focused on me.

Distress and surprise and fear were the first things that I saw until they changed to fury and anger as they gazed into me before slowly a sudden calmness and familiar Confidence that I knew from the women who had banished supernatural creatures and outsmarted dead-apostles appeared over them.

"When I get up, I want to you be ready to run as fast as you can." I whispered into her ear, I felt her shoulder's shudder. "Don't argue with me, don't even look back. Just move forward as fast as you can with me beside you. Got it?" I looked to her eyes to convoy how serious of a situation we are in before the bullets stopped coming and I heard the distorted voice speaking again, issuing no doubt an order for our assailants to enter.

Quickly putting my hand in my pocket, I brought out a set of cards with one side showing the design of white lines on black fields and the other side being fully white with the exception of showing the various runes that were written on them. Throwing one at the wall near the door, the card quickly stuck itself to the wall before shimmering as it took the color of the wall.

'Is there anyone in the back?' I asked the servant of magic before quickly getting-up to a crouch and helped Caren do the same as we slowly started walk towards the back of the church.

'There is no sign of anyone.' Caster confirmed as I quickly started to throw the cards into the walls on thechurch before quickly throwing the rest of them into the air as they started to hover into the air before shooting up towards the church's roof, sticking to it like their predecessors.

"Come on," I motioned towards Caren as we reached the back of the church, already I could hear the sound of boots entering into the church. The door had -unaspiringly- enough holes in it that it was a wonder that it hadn't fallen yet…

Until it fell with an audible 'thud', right before my hand could even touch the damn thing.

I could later swear that everything had stopped for a moment as if someone had grabbed the remote and clicked on the 'pause' button.

"He's in the back!" the same distorted voice shouted, like a signal both me and Caren quickly decided that it was time to run like the devil himself was after us. Just as we had exited the church, I decided that leaving without giving them a present would be bad manners.

After all, no good deed goes unpunished.

With a snap of my finger, the rune-cards that I had planted in the church exploded with a definite 'boom', its support structure falling and then coming crashing down on our would-be-assassins along with the roof.

Poetic justice if I ever seen one. If you put one of the Almighty's places of worship to the bullet, then you deserved to have its roof come crashing-upon you. I knew some people that might call it being divine retribution and I honestly didn't have any better name for it.

"Mark my words, there are going to be consequences for this," Caren seethed, face flushed scarlet red and panting with her luggage held between her arms. There must have been something really important in there if she was willing to haul it as we ran.

"I don't have any doubts about that," I answered back while running beside Caren with the occasional tree that came in front of us who we had to pass by putting distance between ourselves. The Fuykui church was built near the shriveled old forest so we were safe from sniper rifle or being fired upon from afar. The only clearing ground was the cemetery and the road which I had a feeling was not going to safe at all considering that we were running on foot while there was a chance that our enemies had vehicles or other fast methods of transportation that could let them catch us within minutes.

I had already sent a list of detailed instructions towards my servant who was busy seeing to them, those preparations -those made before and the ones that are being made now- can see to it that we had our own deck of cards.

Provided that we could survive that long that is.

"Stop," I said when we reached the edge of the forest and towards the graveyard.

A single unnoticeable grave was buried near the old hollowed tree near the edge between the forest and the graveyard. You could look to it for thousands of hours and you won't find anything related to that grave either magical or mundane, it was just a grave others but to me? It was a mark and an advantage.

My reinforced hand easily shattered the tree's wood and went through into it before coming out holding a large bag, ignoring Caren's gasp, I quickly opened the bag.

Two black bullet proof vest were the first things that I brought out, throwing one towards Caren who grabbed it with a bit of 'oomph' before quickly putting on the remaining one in my hands with practiced ease of a trained and experienced soldier.

I hadn't missed the words that had been used, they had said 'He' Rather than 'them'. The only male gender that was in the church alongside Caren had been me, so these killers and assassins were after me without any doubt.

I wanted to know the reason and have a through a 'chat' with them through a message that anyone with two brains cells to rub together understood: the message that could not be mistaken from the barrel of a gun.

"When I give the signal, we run as fast as we can towards the middle of the cemetery." I instructed, grabbing a belt full of clip-pouches and putting them on. "if you suddenly feel tired and see you're self-slowing down, take cover behind a tombstone and wait for my next instructions." Brining out a small ring-box, I open it. Two weeding rings stared back at me before I grabbed one of them then grabbed Caren's hand with my other.

"…A weeding ring?!" for a second time in the day, Caren's face flushed.

"A telepathic communication medium," I instantly corrected before putting the ring in her finger while doing the same for my own. "It's thought activated so you should be able to easily use it; its range is one kilometer."

Bringing a small bag full of cards out of the bag along with a pistol holster, I attached the holster then brought the cards before kicking the bag away before drawing the pistol and focusing on it. The thing about reinforcement was that while the original Shirou Emiya might have used it to reinforce his body and his blade, I used the ability on a more versatile and diverse basis.

A Master swordsman might be able to wield his sword masterfully and kill his opponents one by one but a master tactician could easily bring down armies and even countries to their knees by well-placed actions and strikes.

When you have an ability that allows you to reinforce any object both in physical and material sense, why not use it to increase you're chance of success?

Reinforcing a pistol's material components and parts along with its bullets to give them the capability to pierce heavy-armor and muscles and bones, I can do something a nine millimeter pistol where a normal soldier would need specialized ammo and Weapon.

Was it lethal and deadly? Yes but then that was the thing about weapons, there was nothing holy about them. They turned their wielders into killers and their targets into the 'killed'.

Those who pick-up the weapon are sending a clear message to everyone that they are willing to kill or be killed; there was no middle-ground.

"Ready?" I looked to Caren, Drawing the pistol in my hand before starting to throw rune-cards that attached themselves to the trees and even the grave-stones. Memorizing their places in my memory, I took a deep breath before snapping my finger and instantly one of the Rune-cards in the clearing exploded with a silent hiss that released a wave of smoke into the clearing and started to cover it.

"Go," the word hadn't even left my mouth before both of us ran into the wave of smoke.

Finding your way in a smoke-screened field can prove to be a challenge but surprisingly an easy endeavor when you use reinforcement Magecraft to enhance your vision and senses. It was not a moment too soon that I felt a bounded-field being put up on the clearing, our assailants had catch up to us and it was now time to start the game with the winners remaining amongst the living and the defeated being put to death.

When I saw Caren taking cover behind a grave, I threw a Rune-card at her which stock on her shirt. It immediately glowed briefly before runes instantly engulfed Caren's body and cloths before she suddenly turned invisible.

'chameleon-pattern Rune Card, it will mask the body heat and turn you invisible but distortions in the air can still be seen.' I activated the telepathic medium while grabbing the now invisible woman's luggage and then quickly started to run, 'keep your head down and avoid moving too much while I deal with this mess.'

I could have used another chameleon-pattern Rune Card to turn myself invisible but that would give our attackers a reason to spray their bullets in a hail of gunfire and I didn't trust Caren to be able to dodge them all and know where to take cover without giving her position away.

I had to keep attention away from her while at the same time avoid getting outflanked or overwhelmed, a pretty tall-order when you're one against many but I have dealt with much worse and more difficult before.

Crouching behind a stone, I focused on my Arsenal of blades and focused on a certain dagger which I knew was going to prove to be an advantage in this situation. It was a three ponged dagger with sharpened and keen edges that were designed for penetration; Small micro-runes were designed and sketched on the handle of the small Dagger with care of an artist who was painting a picture.

Taking a small breath, I closed my left eye and focused as the observational Card runes that I had planted around cemetery activated and allowed me to observe the field…

Only to see nothing, there was no one there.

'Come on, where the hell are you?' I looked from one rune to another until I saw a small distortion in the edge of my vision, I instantly knew what it was and I knew who my enemies where.

"Zelretch," I seethed with clinched teeth, "I swear by all that is good and holy, I'm going to throw you to the wolves if I get out of this alive."

I had worked and even sometimes lived with Rin and Luvia, most of the time I always ended-up as the one who kept those two in line because Rin and Luvia are like dynamite and fire. Put them together and you have a recipe for a disaster that has destroyed many of the Clock-tower's classrooms. Add Zelretch to the mix and suddenly the dynamite becomes a atomic bomb of huge destruction, and I mean literally.

Zelretch's play field is the dimensional Magecraft called kaleidoscope, the operation on parallel or alternative worlds. This man was insanity and madness all merged into one, enough that he can somehow steal a time-machine from some other universe and then uses it to go to the future of this world and bring enough havoc to give reason for a future task-force to be created called Task-force Korunus.

Dedicated to killing Zelretch and Making sure that their known future doesn't collapse with all the butterflies that the old vampire seems to be releasing with every breath that he took, now the question was that why the hell did were they after me when Zelretch was not even here in the first place.

'Futuristic soldiers, armed with unknown gear and possessing unknown capabilities,' my mind analyzed before deciding upon a solution, the most deadly of them all. 'one shot or strike Per kill, focus on the head and forget the heart because their armor is possibly far more superior to the reinforced bullet that you have in your gun, engage in close-quarter combat with Windbrynger due to its slashing and Wind sharpened capabilities, Finish it quickly and don't let them focus fire or corner you.'

Decision made, I waited for the right time and moment before I felt the vibration in the air. Throwing my knife towards the place where I know I felt the vibration, I focused and instantly appeared in the area next to the my flying Thunder god knife while my target had aimed at the tombstone that I was in and immediately started to shoot it.

My enhanced eyes watched the bullets piercing the tombstone and then anything behind it, except that what I was focusing on were the small Runes that were etched and carved on the bullet, Runes that I had instantly recognized because I had designed and made them.

And in that moment, I instantly felt the fury that any Magi would rightfully feel when they find out that their hard-earned and difficult-mastered Magecraft secrets and mysteries had been stolen from them.

Call and color them however you want but no one can deny that every magus had to work and risk their lives constantly to advance their mysteries and researches. To find out that someone else had stolen them somehow and used your own work against you was a crime that was only punishable by death, an absolute Law that every Magi knew and respected to the deepest pits of their cores.

This was one of the reasons why a Magi never entered someone other Magi workshop without permission.

I was a person who valued life because of knowing that it was easy to die then to live, it takes a lot of fortitude for many to live their lives despite the hardships and pains that they will or have to constantly endure.

It would be a lie to say that I wasn't tempted to take joy in the death of those that had tried to kill me but such a thing was against the rules that I lived with. I took life and killed in the name of necessity and Must, I didn't allow myself to kill for things like Joy or anger.

That was the behavior of a psychopath and I was not a psychopath, never a psychopath.

I was a survivor.

When the unknown the invisible cloaking technology went away, it revealed the futuristic soldiers that I had heard Zelretch had sometimes talk about; Gray-armored combo-uniform pants with black military boots, a black body armor and made form unknown material with gloves and a helmet that covered the entire face.

'black body-armor made from unknown materials… by stars and stones, Please don't tell me that these guys are from the future that Counter-guardian Emiya lived in some history of his life.' I mentally shuffled those thoughts somewhere else and focused on the matter at hand, throwing the knife high into the air towards the sky with one hand while aiming the pistol with the other one.

The sound of 'bang' that echoed the around clearing, the reinforced bullet pierced the helmet and it's wearer fall on the ground with a thud as I instantly vanished and appeared in the air above the Cemetery.

Normally I would have reservations about appearing in the air because not even I have found a way to defy the laws of physics and gravity, but this instance was special and different others before.

I didn't exactly have a servant to catch me in the air before now, did I?

Strong feminine arms engulfed me from the back and held with such physical power that I didn't doubt for a moment that my enhanced ribs would be crushed within moments if Caster put the effort into it. The sound of firearms and gunfire echoed around the clearing as a storm of bullets regained down on my previous position, they were like sparks in the mist that I used to count the number of my enemies.

"Thirty-three soldiers," I informed the servant of Magic, "hell's bells, what did Zelretch do for me to have thirty-three futuristic soldiers after my head?"

"I don't doubt that it would be an interesting question but shouldn't we leave this place?" Caster looked down towards the mist-filled cemetery, "I see no reason for us to fight these assassins and wasting valuable time."

"I agree with you on that but unfortunately it's not that simple," I rectified that notion with cold-logic. "If we leave then these soldiers will likely go back to whence they came but they will be back at a later date to finish their job, they will follow us to the ends of the galaxy." I said resolutely, "The only way to stop them is to send back in their equivalent of futuristic body-bags and even that is only a temporary solution."

But it should be enough to suffice for now until I will find a way to get my hands on Zelretch and then throttle the answers out of him through one way or another.

'Caren,' I contact the grail war supervisor, 'are you out of the cemetery yet?'

'Yes,' Her Voice was ragged and a bit jumpy but otherwise she was doing fine.

'Good, you're doing great.' The Military lessons that I had learned back in the day giving me the heads-up to stroke her confidence a bit and give her more reason to be calm and confident. 'Keep moving between the trees and avoid moving at a straight line, don't stop no matter what. I'll contact you once I have finished then we go home.' I added another touch just for safety before focusing on the problem at hand.

"Are the preparations ready?"

The smirk that appeared on my servant's lips was enough of an answer for me as she just simply snapped her finger and instantly my superhuman senses picked-up the sound of shuffling dirt as Dragon Tooth-warriors came out of the dirt and started to charge towards the Koronus soldiers.

Their appearance was like that of a humanoid skeleton with the exception of the skull which was a big-shark like jaw, Their bone-swords looked to be a rapier with the exception that no metal had been used in its creation except for bone.

As the skeleton warriors rose from the dirt in groups, I watched as the Koronus soldiers immediately regrouped into a large circle with each of them covering one angle through the bullets of their guns. Even though their unloving adversaries charged towards them and would have overwhelmed them through sheer numbers had the soldiers not concentrated their weapon fires and not regrouped.

The soldiers proved their worth as they slowly started to tighten their large circle which gives them distance between them and the dragon tooth-warriors that kept coming from the ground.

Such a tactic would have proven to be a well sounded one except that I had employed a more lethal tactic to take care of these trained killers.

Said tactic had proven its effectiveness when a skeleton warrior jumped into a Koronus Soldier before exploding.

"They're rigged with Suicide bombs!"I heard one of them shout right before the dragoon tooth warriors swarmed towards their position, Exploding right after they threw themselves at them.

The most beautiful thing of it all was that these dragon tooth warriors were easily replaceable with the only thing that I would lose would the explosive-Rune Cards that I had given to caster before coming to the Fuykui Church.

And they were not even the tip of the iceberg.

"These lot seem to be particularly stubborn when it comes to dying, Caster." I let my teleportation dagger dissolve into tiny golden-Paraná pieces before using my now free hand to bring out a set of stacked papers. "Fortunately for us, I have a P.H.D When it comes to killing things that have the survivability of cockroaches."

Sending Parana energy towards the Runes on the pages, I quickly threw the stack of papers down into the air where they instantly were engulfed by white smokes who released the Explosive-Rune cards within them. Ten became twenty then thirty before they landed upon the circle of soldiers.

This time, it was my turn to snap my fingers and watch the fireworks as the explosive-rune cards landed on the circle of the shooting soldiers before they exploded with the kinetic force of a cannon ball.

The sounds of 'boom' that echoed around the clearing were so loud that I wouldn't have doubted for a second it would have attracted unwanted attention except for the bounded field that kept the noise within the cemetery and stopped it from reaching beyond.

The sound was so loud that I had to resort to covering my own ears as I watched the cards do their intended Work, when was over. There was no sound of gunfire and neither was there any sound of movement, there was just Silence.

Like the battle that had raged just a few moments ago had not happened at all with the only evidence being the carters and the chunks of tombstone rock and dirt that were upturned. The large carter under us was just the biggest evidence that I could easily see from up here, but still I did not lower my guard.

I had seen a lot of good-ones go when they lowered their guard and thought the enemy was defeated until they were killed by a sudden shot that proved them wrong.

The only way for me to lower my guard was to see my enemy's corpse and then leave the battlefield, going into a safe-place where I knew I had something solid and defendable between me and my enemies. Paranoia was a half-blood's best friend; it could prove to be the one thing that keeps you alive where you would have otherwise died.

"Send a few skeletons to sweep the area, just in case there is any more left for us to take care of…" barely had the words left my mouth that I saw a small hand-size object being thrown into the air, circle in shape with a very small circle antenna sticking out from the top of it.

The scream that came out of caster's mouth as I saw her body dissolved into Paraná clarified for me that whatever the object had been, it had been designed specifically to be used against Servant-Class Enemies.

'Close combat it is then,' I decided when I focused upon my teleportation knife….

Only to find out that I couldn't effectively trace it due to something interfering with the process of Parana turning into Metal, I suddenly decided that it was time to do what any other man would have done in my place.

"Shit!" I cursed as my body fell into the ground, aiming my pistol at the device that I internally named 'Parana Disruptioner', I shot the remaining bullets at it before bracing myself as I landed on ground with impact.

Throwing the now empty pistol into the air, I used my enhanced speed to grab the nearest soldier near me and then put his back into the ground through a good judo throw before quickly brining my knee down on his neck which broke with an audible 'Snap'.

Quickly putting my foot on the corpse and using it like a spring-board, I jumped towards the left of the air, grabbing my still thrown pistol through my enhanced reflexes before quickly using my other hand to bring out a clip and reload.

Reloading and Aiming a pistol while still being in air was a very difficult feat but surprisingly manageable once you have enhanced reflexes and hand-eye coordination.

'BANG'

'BANG'

Two heads were pierced each with a shot before I landed roughly on a grave before quickly putting my hand on the grave-stone and reinforce it to the utmost limit as bullets started to fly towards me.

'Shirou, Concentrate on your ring!' I heard Caren suddenly speak through our telepathic Medium.

'A bit busy here, Caren.' I answered, taking cover before aiming the iron-sight of my gun on a visible knee and shooting it. The bullet didn't penetrate the soldier's advanced uniform or armor but it made him stumble forward which allowed me to put a bullet into his head.

'Just Do it and ready every Ounce of Parana that you have!' the supervisor shouted with such intensity.

Gritting my teeth, I brought out a small pill out of my pouch and put it into my mouth. 'Fine, but whatever you're doing, it better be quick!'

Instantly I started to feel a sudden Energy coursing through me as my Magic Circuits started to brim with Parana while I put a Rune-card on my reinforced grave-stone Cover. The Card started to glow ominously before it suddenly started to let out flame from the back of it that turned the reinforced stone into some kind of an improvised missile that shot towards the two pair of soldiers that were advancing towards me while their comrades laid down suppressive fire on me.

The stone hit the pair squarely into the chests with enough force to throw them both back to the ground while I was already moving, my last bullet were put into the nearest downed soldier's head before I let go of the pistol and instead quickly put them on the nearby grave-stone, pulling the stone out through a feat only manageable through enhanced superhuman strength before quickly using to bash the head of the second fallen soldier who's skull shattered under the reinforced improvised club before I quickly knelt covered myself with it as the bullets started to fly once again.

Catching my breath again, I mentally ran over the list of injuries that I had sustained while moving to the right to avoid getting outflanked.

Lungs on fire with the occasional pain that I felt within my chest, if I hadn't spent time and dedication to make sure the vests were imbued with magical properties then I was sure that they wouldn't have stopped the bullets that had hit me in the chest.

Though they had been stopped, the pain would be a memorable One.

'Now!' if Caren's sudden yelling had surprised me, what happened next caught me off-guard when I felt neither one nor two or three but six new connections forming them-selves on me while they took my Parana as energy to establish themselves.

The pain that they left in their wake was agonizing as if someone had taken a molten iron and branded me on the back with it. My the sole-command seal on the forearm was glowing in deep red before it suddenly expanded like roots into my arm until they had come at high as my Neck.

'Master, Move quickly!' Caster's warning came just right in time to bring me out of my sudden distraction and cause me to quickly throw myself back into a pair of grave-stone covers before a very large shower of light covered the previous place that I was.

Watching helplessly as Stone was dissolved and the ground was scorched with brimstone.

"Laser weaponry, they have access to laser weapons!" I instantly decided that it was time to go big or go to the grave, 'Caster, fall back!'

It was times like these that I wished that my Servant's stores of Mana were not depleted. When summoned by the Greater grail, the heroic spirit that was summoned would not only be placed within a class-container but would also gain a Mana-Core which was filled with Parana through the transformation of the land's Parana into the Servant's Core.

It was ridiculous to think that a single magus would be able to give a servant all the needed Parana to active a noble phantasm, such a thing was beyond the capability of even magicians because the cost and consummation of Parana was so high that the Magus would have a ninety-nine percent chance of fatal injury or even death.

That was one of the reasons why the land that the Tohsaka had contributed to the creation of the grail wars had been so vital. Its Parana rich quality would suffice to not only provides the servants with their needed Parana upon summoning but it would also give the grail the needed Magical energy to even begin the summoning process.

In her state of having access to tremendous amount of Mana, Caster could have used Anti-Army Spells which she could use to lay waste to armies; she could have even temporary enhanced a certain teacher's physical attributes so high that he had been able to go toe-to-toe with a Saber-class servant.

Unfortunately for my rotten demigod-luck, it turns out that she couldn't do anything of those with her Mana-stores being currently at such low-capacity.

Hence the reason I couldn't use her servant abilities or attack-power.

If I could have used those, this fight would have been over a long time ago.

"God almighty, I'm so sick of Tuesdays." I cursed for perhaps the fifth-time before my eyes looked up to the sky and saw the Parana disruptor still hovering in the air even with the bullets that I had put into it.

'It's somehow disrupting the flow of Parana, that damn thing has to go.' I brought a Wind rune-card before throwing it towards my target like a shuriken, the Runes on the edge of the card glowed until a layer of Wind sharp-Parana coated its edges.

The Wind-Rune shrunken Card slashed the Parana disruptor into pieces….

Just in time for me to project my teleportation Dagger and throw it left before focusing and teleporting myself away as I a saw a sudden light appearing in my vision, when I appeared in my intended destination, I looked to the scorched earth that would have turned into my own personal grave if I had stayed there any longer.

'Caren, I can't attack Without Parana.' I activated the wedding ring on my finger, 'Damn it Woman, what the heck are you doing?!'

I was forced to bite my own tong to avoid screaming in pain when I felt a huge cluster of my Parana Levels being taken away while the left hand literally felt as if it was on fire.

It was then that I had time to look at them that I recognized them to be Command Seals.

"Gaaah!" a bullet hit me in the shoulder of the vest, it didn't pierce me but the kinetic energy made me hit my back as I quickly threw a rune card into the air which exploded into a cloud of black-smoke.

Holding my breath, I quickly threw my teleportation knife and teleported away as a storm of bullets literally tried to Pierce me with the Laser-weapon that I saw being held by a soldier like a Rocket Launcher.

'Now caster,' I give the signal to my servant, who had fallen back a few moments ago to prepare the next set of surprises.

The dirt shuffled once more as the next Wave of Dragon tooth warriors came out of them, only this time they were bigger and inch by inch of their bone body was covered by small glowing Magical Runes. Their bone-swords were no exception that were being used to cut into the soldiers as if their futuristic armor was butter, it was comforting to know that the sharpness of wind can be used against opponents with advanced armor that did not belong at this age.

Of course any comfort and confidence that I had was turned into horror as I watched a sudden rip appear upon reality itself. Glowing faintly blue before it stabilized itself in form of a portal that opened and brought forth reinforcements for my enemies.

My horror-turned-anger was not just directed at that but also at the knowledge that I knew the mechanisms or perhaps even the creation behind that Portal; it was one of my creations and projects after all. my very own invention and creation turned against me.

'Important note: run a check on the security of your Magecraft research and find out how the hell did you're hidden projects ended-up in the hands of a future association or clock-tower.' I added another question to the long list of questions that I wanted to ask the wizard marshal before quickly seeing the opportunity in the distraction the skeleton warriors had given me by drawing the attention of time-traveling soldiers and their reinforcements.

Throwing my knife once again but this time towards one of the trees within the forest, a moment later I appeared in my intended destination and grabbed the knife before quickly starting to run away from the cemetery.

'Activate it, caster.' Grabbing my still throbbing arm, I started to run away the opposite direction of the cemetery.

Pushing my leg-muscles to the height of speed that I could manage, not looking back as I heard the sound of a large-explosion. The added force of every rune-card that I had put into the cemetery before coming to the church and those who I had placed after it only made the sound bigger and more ear piercing.

The shockwave threw me forward with such force that I hit the trunk of a tree with my right side before gravity did the rest and I fell on the ground. The worst thing for me was the fact that the new six-connections that I was feeling were unstable and unrefined while the drain on my magical circuits were becoming more noticeable.

'Shirou, you need to…'

Whatever Caren was supposed to say was lost to me as I tried to get up before quickly throwing myself to the right to as a sudden light came uncomfortably close. I looked up towards the source of the laser and my current hate and anger, her armor was a lot more different from other Koronus soldiers.

It covered her whole-body with dark-black plates including her head which was covered by a black helmet with a white visor.

"Okay, I admit: it takes guts," something within me which had stretched like rubber when I learned that my want-to-be killers were using my own work against me finely snapped. "You steal a man's work, reverse-engineer it and then use the product to kill the real owner. You people are a real piece of work." I glared intensely at the figure, "I won't ask why the hell you are trying to kill me, that ship had sailed the moment that you fired the first bullet. But I swear by my father's grave that I will hurt you for this," I swore with an absolute tone, "a day will come when you all think that you are safe and happy, and in that day, I will turn everything that you love and care about into ashes along with the precious future that you fight so hard to protect. This debt that you owe me, I will make you pay for it by blood and Tears."

"Then all the more reason to kill you now," a warped-heavy distorted voice answered me before I saw a blur coming towards me…

Right before stopping as she took another step Due to the long Black needle like dagger piercing her shadow, Having advanced futuristic armor did not mean that you had no shadow and were immune to a weapon designed and made for a sole-reason to act as a shadow anchor to capture opponents with high physical attributes.

Shadow Piercer was the type of weapon which I used to capture targets alive but It was also the kind of solution that I will use to pin fast opponents down and then deal with them as I saw fit.

Getting up, I quickly brought out my phone and took a picture of the frozen figure before pocketing it. I will need that proof to convince the wizard marshal to meet me and give me the answers that he's due for.

"Congratulations, Koronus." Windbrynger appeared in my left hand, "in trying to deal with an enemy, you created two more."

With just a simple slash of my sword, I watched as my would have been killer instead become the one who is instead killed before quickly turning away and start running towards Caren's position. The blood spelled on the ground and on my projected blade did not concern me much as I passed trees and made sure to not move in straight lines.

Under other circumstances, I would have broken an arm or leg but the sad fact was that mercy was not a luxury that I could afford here within my current situation. If I let these soldiers live, they will come back after me for more.

The reality of the situation was that the only way to stop them was to take care of them on a more permanent level.

Life was precious, it won't come back once it's gone or taken but it was an unfortunate truth that we sometimes were forced to make the hard-choice so that others don't have to. These futuristic soldiers proved that they were willing to attack when I was in the presence of someone else, what is there to guarantee that they will not attack me in some way when I am in a public place full of unrelated bystanders?

Deciding things about my own life is one thing but I had no right to risk the lives of others who were living separate lives then I was and had nothing to do with what I was facing now and struggling against.

The moonlit world is not a gentle or kind-world by any stretch of imagination, those who lived outside of it might not have the powers and abilities of a Magi or it's denizens but at least they could live their lives in peace without being afraid of ending up becoming the stepping stone of another Magi or food to a phantasmal-class creature.

'Excuses and excuses, one after another,' a cynical voice whispered at the back of my mind, 'the simple fact is that you, Shirou Fraga, are a monster guilty of a more monstrous crime: being a man who wants to survive in a world full of those that want to kill him in one way or another. You were never a protector and neither a savior, you're talents lie elsewhere.'

I knew the voice and despite the bite that was within those words, I took them like how a thirsty man takes to water. It didn't do anything for my current anger but it did wonders to remind me that the truth while still bitter and sour, it was a lot better than being encouraged by false-words and lies.

I much preferred the harsh reality rather than an illusion of goodness made by lies of encouragement. I long ago accepted who I was, for the world surely would not. I had made it my strength so that it couldn't be turned into my weakness, armed and armored myself in it so that no one could use it to hurt me.

Those words, piercing as they were, didn't even matter to me one bit because they were telling me something which I knew a long time ago.

'Shirou, I need you to come here now!' Caren's voice was like a blessing sent from haven. 'We don't have much time, you need to come at once or else we both will be in trouble!'

Rather than answering or presenting my own questions, I simply jumped high onto a branch and then jumped towards another with the location which I could feel Caren's telepathic signal is coming from in my mind.

With my stores of Parana being brought so low and my situation as chaotic as it is, I decided that it was best to hope that Caren had something cooked-up that could get us out of this pear-shaped mess, otherwise we'll had to improvise.

And I was so angry that I didn't think I will be able to look pass the fact that I had risked my life on running out of Parana at the middle of a life and death situation where I can get shot at.

Sure enough, my enhanced hearing picked-up the sound of boots slamming into the ground.

Koronus really wanted me dead if they were willing to send so many guns full of bullets after me, just my luck that a force made to go after Zelretch's head would instead change targets to come after my own head, The fact that they were named 'Koronus' only was a middle-finger from fate itself.

'These men are tenacious and stubborn at best,' Caster's voice was irradiated and angry; I could perfectly relate to that emotion because I was currently feeling it myself. 'What does it take to make them understand that they are to leave? More importantly, those command seals upon your arm...'

'I know, caster.' I snapped with an angry voice before taking a deep breath to calm myself, 'sorry, just let me handle this shit then we can talk afterwards. Preferably somewhere that I'm not getting shot at.'

As a certain maiden had said, there was no such thing as free miracles. Everything has a price attached to it and I had learned as a demigod that the concept of 'free lunch' doesn't exist.

I didn't knew how those command seals had appeared on my arm but I knew that Caren had something to do with it, This women had the detective skills of Sherlock Holmes and the intellect of a dangerous highly intelligent woman.

There was a reason for her actions and I had learned that while Caren could be called many things, she was not stupid or idiotic.

'Shirou,' Caren's voice was now alarmingly desperate; The Connections that I was feeling at the back of my head were slowly falling apart, 'I can't hold it much longer.'

Landing on the ground, my eyes instantly saw the supervisor who quickly Ran-towards me. I saw a small-shape in her left hand before she brought it forward and put it upon my chest, too-late did I realize that the said small-shape was a card.

'Click,' it felt like a sudden switch had been flipped at the back of my mind, a sudden energy invaded my body. It felt like as if my whole muscles were set on fire as the Parana taken from me was used to invade my body and my Magical circuits who had to strain themselves as they had to process the double amount of Parana while also somehow expanding their capacity…

Right before I felt my senses scream at me to get-down, despite the pain that I felt. I grabbed Caren and then promptly both of us into the ground and not just too soon did I feel the familiar tail-tell sign of laser-light glow form at the top of us.

Looking back towards the source, I was treated to the sight of another futuristic-armor wearing individual. This one was male in gender and his armor-seemed to be more bulky in terms of mass and fire-power, if the laser-weapon that was attached to the shoulder was any indication.

Already, I saw the smoking point of the weapon being slowly turned towards us and I did not hesitate to project a hovering Windbrynger which flew towards the figure. I had been ready for him to dodge but somehow My Eyes predicted that move to an even more through Field while my mind examined the possibilities.

Information flooded my mind in such a way that it was both-familiar and both-horrifying in equal-measure.

'And here I wake-up only to find you facing down a futuristic looking opponent,'a certain white-haired archer-class servant, 'my luck may have been E-ranked but yours is defiantly so low that it has earned a class of its own.'

'No.' I answered while mentally directing my floating sword which instantly hit the laser-weapon, 'not you, not here, not now!'

I could practically feel the red-shroud that slowly started to form on my other hand which did not possess the command-seals.

'Here, let me take care of that problem for you.' I heard the white-haired counter-guardian say right before I suddenly felt being thrown at the back-seat equivalent of my own body and mind, no longer being on the driver's seat.

Just like I remembered, he did not hesitate to use his two-word aria which activated his Magecraft, "Trace On."

My eyes-his eyes instantly landed upon the futuristic armor, information flooded our combined mind as we both processed the history of the created armor in front of us. It was like we were there when Koronus Scientists and Magi both built the suit inch by inch and plate after plate, Their Method of manufacturing, the weaknesses within the created frame. The strain and focus within the metal-plating where the operative would be placed and will be able to operate the highly-advanced armor which was twice the weight of perhaps a German tank and fifty-times more complex and hard to make too.

His long-curved black-bow appeared in his right hand just as a arrow appeared in his other-hand. It was small and pointy in shape with its tip glowing-fiercely sharp even from this angle; the counter-guardian-turned-servant notched the arrow with such speed that one could expect from one of the three-knight class servants.

His arrow flew straight and true, hitting the soft-weakness spot between the plate and the pressure pad under it. It was a testament to Emiya's skill as a archer and his capability as a servant of the bow that that the traced arrow went-in the arrow due to the kinetic force behind it and punched right through to the operative's cockpit before exploding into sharpened fragments that no doubt killed the man within the armor.

Not wasting time, the counter-guardian traced a silvery-metallic spiraling sword.

My figurative-eyes widened in horror as the counter-guardian notched the sword and slowly turned it into a figurative-spiraling like arrow through application of reinforcement. Its tip pointed towards the mass of futuristic soldiers that still had at least one kilometer to reach us.

"Caladbolg," the words escaped my/our lips caused the noble-phantasm sword-turned arrow to somehow activate itself as if someone had suddenly pushed a button and armed a nuclear missile and justly so too.

'Don't…'

The servant of the bow let-go and the Caladbolg the spiraling sword Flew, Spinning Faster and faster-twisting and warping reality and space itself as it pierced everything in its path with the first being the trees and then the soldiers in its path before it exploded right at the middle of all the Koronus soldiers.

The shockwave was so pushing that archer fell on his back with Caren -the smart women that she is- already have thrown herself to the ground and covered her head with her hands.

'Shoot,' I finished before quickly wrestling for control of my own body and throwing Archer to my previous place through a good figurative kick at the back. Instantly the shroud that had slowly started to cover my entire arm dissolved into a wave of Parana alongside the black-bow in my hand.

"You're welcome by the way."

"Lorelei is going to kill me," I ignored the servant's voice and instead focused on the obvious; "how the fuck am I going to explain to her that I just used a wide mass-destruction noble-phantasm right at board daylight and right in the city which is being closely watched by the Japanese government?"

"….blame Zelretch?"

With just those two-words, I suddenly felt my own face implode.

It was nice to know that Archer hadn't lost his touch and edge when it came to using words.

XXX~XoX~XXX

AN: happy new year everybody, though I can't exactly say the same for myself because the previous year had been a hard-year but hopefully this one will be a lot more better than the previous one. New Anime are being released including Fate/Extra and Overlord, and hopefully other better shows that are just waiting to be watched, my advice is to watch them if you are interested.

Now regarding the story:

I have been sent a lot of PM Lately that are asking when I'm going to release the new chapter for this project, to those of you who don't know, I have just started a Percy Jackson Crossover with Warhammer 40k project with the first chapter already published and the second one being in route of being finished as we speak.

College and lessons are proving to be a challenge for me but I'll manage, somehow. So don't worry about any of my stories being abandoned because they won't be.

Many of you asked if Archer will be deleted from this story and won't be making any kind of appearance, well there you go: do I look like the author who is going to ignore the first-placed and the most voted character within Type-moon Wiki? No, I hope you don't see me that way.

In here I have also featured Caren Hortensia who never made any appearance in the original fate/stay night anime to begin with; she is going to have a direct place as one of the main-characters within The Main Characters caste (spoilers!) so you can be sure that she has her own roles and plots to fill.

The next chapter is going to take a lot of work and ground-up because I can guarantee all of you that this project is not going to be like the other fate/stay night works that you have ever heard.

And if anyone of you thinking about the obvious and think it is true… then let me give you a tip: no, Shirou Emiya is not OP or Gray-sue. You will find out the why in the next chapter.

Thank you reading and see you until next time, Titan of War.

Word-counts for this chapter is: 19,772