"Master, I am here." Lancer said

He was at a forest not far from the Einzbern castle. A man cloaked in black appeared from the bushes and along with him was a another person cloaked in black, but he was old and looked rather unhealthy.

"Well done, Lancer. You left quite an impression last night." the man said acknowledging Lancer's fight with Archer
"Tss. I could've already killed that bastard if it weren't for you." Lancer retaliated against his master
"Haha, Lancer. I assure you, follow my orders and victory will surely be ours." replied the man, and their eyes locked onto each other

The old man interfered the two. He laughed as if he was mocking the two. Irritated, Lancer faced the old man and pointed his spear on him. "What's so funny, oldie? Is that all you can do now? To laugh? I thought you were the most dangerous and feared servant? But I guess that's nothing more than a fluke..."

The old man stopped his laughter. It was clear that Lancer was making fun of him. After all, the spearman's statement was correct, or it used to be...

Under the old man's hood, his red eyes were glowing. Red eyes were both locked onto each other, after all, Lancer's eyes are red as well. The old man had a murderous look on his eyes, while Lancer had a mocking look.

Given the old man's past, Lancer was not troubled. After all, he isn't in his prime anymore. He's just a plain old man who still claims to be the strongest of them all. True, the old man can still use his power to fend him off, but they're nothing more than plain rubbish.

"Enough."
The other man broke the tension between the two. The old man turned back and walked away a couple of meters away from Lancer. Lancer then averted his attention towards his master who told him "I'll leave the rest to you, Lancer."

Lancer, without a word, disappeared into his spirit form. But before he vanished, he took one last glance at the old man, and both they're eyes were locked on.

xXx

Lancer appeared in front of the Einzbern gate. But before he reached it he had to fend off arrows that were fired towards him. He remembered his fight with Archer the other night, and it made him mad to the point that he swung his spear and the arrows fired at him were recoiled back towards the archers and killed them in the process.

" *sigh* Time to finish this"

Lancer kicked the gate and it instantly collapsed. He saw the knights rallying themselves towards him. Behind the knights were mages, who were casting weird spells towards the knights.
Turns out, those spells were enhancements so the knights could at least fight not only Lancer, but a servant as well. Lancer laughed at this idiocy, and he too rallied himself to face his foes.

"Let's see how long all of you can last. Hehe"

xXx

"Tell me, Priest. How in Zeus' name can I trust that mutt?!"

The old man, fueled by anger due to his confrontation with Lancer, was giving his sentiments towards the servant.

"How can he humiliate me? Does he not know who I am?" the old man added
"Don't worry" the Priest said as he was gently stroking the cross on his chest
Confused, the old man asked "Why? Tell me, why shouldn't I be worried?"
The priest rolled the sleeves on his cloak, revealing both of his arms.
To the old man's surprise, he had more than 3 command spells on both of his arms. "He'll be of big use to us. After all, I gave him an offer he couldn't resist." the priest said with a sinister smirk on his face
"You better be damn sure, Priest." the old man replied as he was still skeptical of Lancer

*BOOM*

"It has begun, we must prepare." said the Priest and gestured the old man to follow him

xXx

"No...ple-"

"That's that." Lancer said as he stabbed the last remaining knight. He had killed all of the knights and mages thrown at him. He took a second to catch his breath, since he fought 10 continuous waves of warriors.
After the decimation of the tenth wave, another followed. But, they were all ordered to retreat. Lancer was about to contact his master when he caught a glimpse of something hurled towards him. It was a boulder, and it was approaching him fast.
Lancer pierced towards the massive boulder and the boulder was turned into rubble in an instant. The spearman readied himself, as he knew that the Einzbern's servant finally showed up. And indeed, he was correct.

*thud* *thud* *thud*

Lancer could feel the ground shaking. The shaking got stronger and stronger every second till it finally stopped. What Lancer saw was something out of the ordinary.

In front of him was a massive warrior. His muscles were humongous, and his sword was massive. His eyes, were locked onto Lancer's.

*KLANG*

All of a sudden, Lancer was nearly squashed by his foes sword. He was able to block it the very last second, but the weight was starting to crush him.

"Tch!" Lancer forced back the sword with his spear. He readied himself for combat and at the same time his foe charged at him. Lancer did the same and a massive shockwave bursted when their weapons clashed. Both were fighting on equal ground but Lancer was on the defensive this time.

"You move fast for a man with such a massive size." Lancer said while trying to find an opening
He received no response, and Lancer thought that this is his chance. With insane speed, Lancer vanished from his opponent's eyesight. Lancer appeared right in front of his foe, and Lancer stabbed his spear towards the massive creature. It pierced his gut, and the spear fired a massive amount of mana which made it's body mutilated and decapitated.

It was a bloody sight to see, but it's a sight to behold for Lancer. He removed his spear from the corpse and he started to walk away. All the while, Lancer thought he killed his foe, not until he heard a large roar behind him.

Shocked, he looked back and saw that the creature's body was regenerating as if nothing happened.

"You must be...Berserker." Lancer said. "This is gonna take a while" the spearman uttered as he prepared to fight once more.

xXx

It's been awhile since Archer last took a nap. He slowly opened his eyes and he was in the castle's infirmary. Black orbs were reflecting sunlight, and the atmosphere was peaceful. He sat up on the bed and he checked his body to find any wound. To his surprise, he was nearly fully recovered after fighting Lancer. After all, Archer isn't human.

He wore his black bodysuit and he searched for Rin around the castle.

"Archer!" a familiar voice called to him, and it was none other than the Queen herself.

"My Queen" Archer bowed in front of Queen Aoi, showing his respect towards her

"Are you….alright? Your battle last night was truly impressive, but you suffered a lot of injuries" Queen Aoi said showing sincerity to the Tohsaka royalty's servant

Archer smiled, and so did the Queen. "I am fine, your heiress. There's no need to worry. I am ready to fight anytime for our kingdom."

"I'm glad." the Queen replied before parting ways with Archer

Archer walked away as well but he stopped when the Queen gave a bold statement to him

"Promise me that you'll not only protect our kingdom, but you'll always protect my dearest daughter Rin. Have I made myself clear?"

"Yes, my Queen. I will do whatever it takes to protect the kingdom and Rin. After all, it is my duty as a servant to ensure my master's protection."

Archer felt the Queen smile at his reply, and he was glad that the Queen had now fully shown her trust towards him.

Archer kept walking around the castle, but Rin was nowhere to be found. He was at ease though, as he knew that his master must be resting somewhere. Ultimately, he decided to sit atop his usual spot.

It was heavily damaged, thanks to Lancer's spear. He lamented on their fight, and the words Gae Bolg were constantly playing around his mind. The thought of the spear breaking through his Rho Aias bugged him. Not only was Rho Aias is his ultimate defense, it was able to block the mighty spears from Trojan heroes. Surely, when they fight once more Lancer could kill him and possibly go all out.

Lancer wasn't fighting at his prime that night. He was slightly holding back. There were many openings for Lancer to strike Archer down, yet the spearman didn't fully utilize those openings. Maybe, Lancer's master had something to do about it, Archer thought. But Archer wouldn't be easily beaten, he can adapt to any fighting situation and find openings so he can strike his opponent down.

"Hmm?"

Archer's thoughts were disturbed, as he sensed something from afar. He can sense a lot of mana being used. No mere human could output that much mana, not unless they're truly skilled. It was coming from the forest not too far away from the castle. Archer got up, and with his long-range eyesight he scanned the forest.

"Of course, as expected…"

Two servants were fighting each other. One of them was cladded in a knights armor, and the other was wearing traditional Samurai outfit. Archer continued to observe from afar, until he made the conclusion that the knight must be of the Saber class, while the Samurai could either be a Saber as well or an Assassin class.

Archer brought out his matte black long-bow. It is clearly implied that the bow is made in the West, rather than being a traditional Japanese Yumi (long bow). Archer focused on his targets, as he considers them both hostile.

Red beams of mana started to flow from his body. He slowly opened his right hand, and a black sword was forming from it. It had a ton of sharp points around the blade, and it looked more like a rapier than a sword. Instead of using it as a blade, Archer placed the sword on his bow. He pulled back the string, and the sword then became an arrow. Red beams of mana started to flow once more from both Archer's bow and his body. His eyes were locked on to both Saber and Assassin whom were still dueling.

"I am the bone of my sword…."

Archer used that chant once more, and it powered up his bow even more. Archer pulled back the string further, and with his mighty voice, Archer yelled….

"Hrunting!"

xXx

"How can I not break his defense?" Saber thought in the back of her mind

Both she and Assassin were still fighting. Their swords clash with Saber on the offensive and Assassin on both offense and defense. Assassin still stood from his spot the moment he and Saber first clashed their blades.

The purple haired swordsman wasn't showing any signs of tension nor worry, unlike Saber. Clearly, Saber has the advantage. Her sword may be invisible, but it's much more powerful than Assassin's katana.

Or so she thought

After a few more clashes, Saber stopped to catch her breath. She glanced at Shirou, whom was still unconscious. She thought of a plan on how to possibly defeat Assassin. But as she was thinking of a strategy, Assassin moved from his spot and got closer to the blonde knight.

"Hmm? What is the matter, Saber? It seems to me that western swordsmanship is more than flailing." Assassin mockingly said

"And what justifies that statement of yours, Assassin?" a tensed Saber asked

"Hahahaha. You see, I should've taken your head 30 times. Yet, it still remains attached." Assassin replied with a calm look on his face

Saber was shocked. Assassins statements kept bugging her, and it slightly made her wary of her foe. Truly, this man is out of the ordinary. He is a skilled swordsman, able to fend off Saber's powerful blows. Assassin got closer and closer until both their blades' length separate them.

"I can already predict the length of your invisible sword, Saber." Assassin said in a confident manner

"As I said, I should've sliced your head off. But I can't help but glance at your beautiful face whenever we clash." The Samurai added

"Enough! Let us finish this, Assassin!" Saber replied showing some confidence

The moment she said her words, Assassin changed the look on his face. He looked more serious and grim, unlike his earlier relaxed and carefree look. He positioned himself as if he was about to unleash something Saber should worry about.

"Then, Saber…"

"Shall I claim that head of yours by slicing it off your body?" Assassin said in a dark and murderous manner, which greatly disturbed Saber.

Mana started flow from the Samurai's blade, and Saber knew it was trouble. Saber did the same thing and it slightly reveal her invisible blade.

*FWOOOSH*

But before neither one of them could strike, something halted both servants. Assassin returned his katana on it's sheath. He smiled at Saber, and said "I should be running by now if I were you" The Samurai then leapt high above the sky and yelled "We will continue our duel soon" before he vanished in the sea of trees in the vast forest.

Saber was still confused. She used her skills in sensing danger, and danger was clearly headed towards where she was, and it was fast. She ran back to Shirou and carried his body. At the very last minute, Saber leapt towards the trees as well just before she heard a loud explosion behind her.

*BOOM*

It created a strong shockwave that made some trees fall. It pushed back Saber and she nearly dropped Shirou's body. They both landed on the ground, and luckily both of them were unharmed. Saber got up and inspected the area with her invisible sword on hand. She went to where the explosion occurred, and the land was greatly deformed and was on fire. From afar, Saber saw a black sword from the epicenter of the explosion.

"Could this be….Archer's?" Saber muttered

"Saber!" Shirou called out to her

Saber rushed to her masters aide and helped him get up. Saber was glad that Shirou wasn't hurt, he only passed out due to exhaustion during Assassin's attack. The young Prince was surprised on his surroundings, and Saber told him that it must be Archer's doing.

Shirou was also able to see the black sword, before it faded. Both Shirou and Saber followed a trail of deformed trees and land.

"This must be a trail" Shirou said

Both Saber and Shirou continued their journey towards the Tohsaka kingdom, in order to find out who this Archer really is, and hope that they can somehow form an allegiance with the Tohsaka's to put an end to the Holy Grail War…

A/N

Yo! Back with a new chapter, hehe. It's surprisingly long as well. I lied that the next update will take some time, but I had a couple of spare time left before returning to school. Well, I'll see you guys next time! Thanks for the constant support, and reviews are always welcome!