Been a while. It's just dumb luck that I got an inspiration for a new chapter. I decided to cut some stuff and save em for the second part of the Grail arc. I also did some thinking and... I find it hard to kill anyone in the Red faction unless I kick some girls out from Noire's harem. We can't be unfair when dealing with character death, right? I don't know if I will go through with it but it depends on how this story will go. From now on in the Red faction side only the trio of Noire, Xenovia, and Valerie are granted plot armor. The others... might die sometimes in the future. It's just the reality of war. In case you don't believe that I will dare to go through with it, check my Apocalypse of Maxwell. If I go through with the original plan and pairing list, almost no one in the Red faction dies. What the hell kind of war is that?

Anyway, I'm working on chapter 13 too which will wrap up Grail War arc part 1 and we will enter a new arc focusing on Issei. This Grail War had gone on for too long.

Chapter 12: Fuyuki War part 3

-Caster of Red & Noire vs Archer of Blue-

"Phoebus… Catastrophe!"

Atalanta unleash her Noble Phantasm and a rain of arrows fell down onto the Servant and Master pair. Caster shove her master behind and raise her remaining hand towards the Noble Phantasm attack. She chanted in a speed unheard of as silvery flame erupted from beneath her.

Although Caster has a plethora of defensive spells she can use, she had decided that it is time to unleash one of her trump cards. Despite the scale though, this is her lesser noble phantasm.

'A thousand years we stroke our anvil

A thousand years we forge

Our way of life is in fire and steel

Refined with each generation

Until our soul itself became a forge

Witness the pride of our clan

Our humble beginning from within

The Forge of Brave!'

As Caster finish her chanting, the flame beneath her feet expanded and engulfed the three of them as they all disappear before Phoebus Catastrophe could hit.

When Noire opened his eyes and saw that he was not burned, he found himself standing in what appears to be an endless hall. The hall is as large as the world itself but Noire knew it is a hall since there are walls and ceilings made of stone. There are also tables spread all around with blueprints of weapons. There are also forges and things he would expect to find in a blacksmith's shop.

"This is… a Reality Marble."

Noire spoke in awe. He is witnessing one of the greatest mystery in the world, the deployment of a Reality Marble. Apart from Dead Apostles, very few humans had ever managed to achieve a Reality Marble and any who did would've gotten an immediate sealing designation.

"It is not something I achieved in life. Sometimes, a Noble Phantasm manifests in the form of a Reality Marble. This is the result of the Brave family's fame in crafting. We are the best of the best and as I am the best even among my family, my skill and my family's fame had blended to create this Reality Marble. Our craft is our life, a Brave always carry a forge inside each of their heart, that was what my father used to tell me. In here we carry our forge, our materials, and our craft."

Caster waves her arm once and all tables, blueprints, and forges disappear. What's left are… mountains of crafted weapons and items.

"We don't just make weapons but we have lots of those here all with their own unique effect. Admittedly not many of them can be used freely outside of this reality marble but here, anyone can use everything. Master!"

Noire grabbed one of the swords scattered throughout the hall and charged at Archer. Once he grabbed the sword, he felt himself becoming faster and lighter. A speed-enhancing mystic code, or is it Noble Phantasm? Noire doesn't care what it is. Using his enhanced speed, he swiftly approaches Archer of Blue and engaged her in close combat. Atalanta uses her divine bow to parry each of Noire's slashes.

Still being the quicker and possessing better footwork out of the two of them, Atalanta could match Noire in close combat despite not being her specialty. It is a stalemate. Noire is skilled but doesn't have as good an instinct as Archer of Blue or her experience and footwork. It is only because he is more familiar with close combat weapon that the straight up confrontation is even equal.

"I hope you didn't forget about me Archer!"

Having been kept busy by Noire, Archer failed to notice Caster preparing for another attack. Caster is pointing a gun mystic code at Archer loaded with a special gem bullet. It is one of her earlier mystic code and faulty due to its high prana consumption to activate which she just doesn't have when she first made it or the necessary skill to use it. Now though, loaded with Servant Caster's prana and fire element, she pulled the trigger and a very large ball of flame shoot towards Archer. Noire had pulled back using Black Door so he won't get caught in the blast and then Archer was engulfed in a ball of flame that explodes upon contact.

"That's a powerful mystic code."

Noire whistled at the scale of the explosion. It is equal to a tactical missile in power.

"It's not a very good weapon though. True it is powerful but the activation cost is too high for anyone without two thousand units of prana at minimum."

"What?"

"The activation cost is around a thousand and six hundred. It's one of my earlier work. It packs a lot of firepower but I can't use it back then. As a Servant though, I can use it without a problem, especially since I'm supported by a powerful Master and Valerie's Sepiroth Graal. Truthfully, I have spells with greater firepower but I want to at least use the weapon once. Besides, I have plenty of prana to spare and although not as powerful against a Servant as my spells as a Caster, it is enough to…"

"Phoebus Catastrophe!"

"Master!"

From over the fire, a very angry Archer unleashed her Noble Phantasm once again. Archer managed to shot down Caster's bullet with a quick draw and managed to move a distance from the blast but the power of the bullet still managed to hurt her greatly. At least she could finish Caster's Master. That's the last time she can use her Noble Phantasm today.

Noire who doesn't have the time to move and has nowhere to go so he did the only other thing he could. He had never tested it in a live combat situation before but he just hope it goes well.

"Black Door Open."

Noire's magic circuits flared to life the moment he said the aria to activate the advanced spells of Black Door. He is totally not looking forward to this. Defensive application of Black Door was never pretty and it was never developed by the Shijou due to other, more efficient alternatives that he has yet to master.

Unfortunately, it is the only defensive ability he can deploy fast enough to help him. Defensive technique was never developed much since the Shijou could pretty much teleport to any shadows and any decent Shijou magus could do it in the blink of an eye so there was no need to develop much defensive technique and those that are available in his family crest are flawed. Obviously none of his predecessors had found themselves facing a Servant that could pull off an anti-army attack and the only one who did in the past, his mother, is already a monster on the level of Servants backed by a True Magic.

Shadow appear from underneath him and rose up to create a defensive shield. Of course, a mere shield would've fallen under the power of a Noble Phantasm but this is not just a shield but another application of the Shijou's 'pathway'. As the arrows met the shield, they did not clash and break. Instead the arrows disappear into the shadow.

"Khh… my circuits are…"

Noire bit his lips as he tries to bear the pain. His circuits are working at full power to provide prana for the only defense between him and Archer's Noble Phantasm. He curse his predecessors for not developing this aspect of their magecraft further. The defense involves controlling the shadow to form a defensive barrier that absorbs all attack. Sounds powerful and in fact, it is very powerful. But the problem is that it consumes a great amount of prana due to the need to manipulate the shadow to make a physical barrier and then connecting the pathway before absorbing foreign object that more often than not are laced with foreign prana signature.

The first process cost a good amount of prana but it is nothing compared to the defense itself. Black Door was never meant to be used by others and the pathway would be disturbed should it meet with foreign prana signature and the maintenance cost to keep the pathway open when meeting with a foreign prana signature is great. Maintaining it against a Noble Phantasm that rains a continuous volley of arrows is just plain torture. Fortunately or unfortunately, the attack ended after a full fifteen seconds.

"Master!"

Caster ran to her Master's side. He is currently on his knees and barely conscious. Seeing this opportunity, Archer shot three arrows towards Noire.

An angry Caster blocks all of them with a sword. Both of them are about to clash once again when Archer felt it, the severed connection between her and her Master.

"No… Master!"

'Archer, this is Bazzet. We've been had. The enemy Servant had killed the other Masters. I was engaging Archer of Red and his Master so I didn't see who killed them. Possibly one of the Servant and Master pair unaccounted for. Rider had also fallen. We need to pull back.'

Archer grit her teeth in anger. Her master had been killed and now they have no other choice than to retreat. If she continue to fight, she'll most likely lose since she had spent a lot of prana utilizing her Noble Phantasm. Without her Master, she'll likely disappear due to prana depletion in the middle of her fight with Caster. As much as she hates it, they have to pull back for now.

The first major battle of the Holy Grail War ended.

-Emiya Estate-

The red faction all return to the Emiya estate tired and spent, most of them who fought anyway, especially the fighting Masters. Out of the three Masters who fought, Valerie is surprisingly or unsurprisingly the most well off. The majority of the battle against Berserker was fought by Xenovia after all. Noire only suffers from depleted prana as the cost for maintaining his defense was just that great. He swears to do something about that.

But the worse of them is Xenovia.

Various laceration and internal bleeding, extreme fatigue and torn muscles, it was surprising that she's still alive. Her tenacity is to be respected. She basically fought a high-class Servant, a Berserker Beowulf of all thing, almost single-handedly and live to tell the tale. It's insane. Although being able to fight Beowulf can be attributed to possessing Durandal, it is still an incredible feat.

"You are exceptional, no, more than exceptional."

Sophia who is in the process of healing the informal member of the burial agency said. The red haired Servant herself is surprised at how tenacious she could be. There is great potential in the Durandal wielder and she'll be damned if she let it go to waste. But still, the unconscious blue haired girl is very reckless in her attempt to prove herself worthy.

Sophia began to think about tonight's battle. First there was Valerie against the two DAA, the Burnheart siblings. Even without being told, she knew why they came. It seems that the past is catching up to her, to them. Then of course the battle against the enemy Saber that their own Saber identified as Mordred. Sophia has no doubt that the resulting battle would be brutal. It is concerning that the two Sabers and their respective Masters had suddenly gone missing. Something happened after she was called by Noire.

Then there is the battle against the Blue faction. All in all, that battle is their undisputable victory. It was all thanks to the capable Masters of the Red faction maximizing all their advantage. Noire and herself together could lock down the enemy Archer and Lancer along with the enemy Masters. Valerie and Xenovia kept Beowulf busy. That left Berserker and Rider to deal with Rider of Blue. Against two Servants with enhanced parameter and more liberal use of Noble Phantasm due to exceptional Masters, Rider of Blue fell.

Assassin of Red, Emiya Kiritsugu used the chaos of the battlefield to take out all enemy Master present there apart from Bazzet Fraga Mcremitz who along with Lancer engaged Tohsaka Rin and Archer of Red. With that, the Blue faction's battle strength had considerably weakened. On the other hand, they have not lost anyone here. The disappearance of the two Sabers and their Masters is a concern though and the Emiya family in particular is not happy about it.

Still, overall the result of tonight's battle is in their favor.

But… it could've been better.

Sophia knew they could've beaten Archer of Blue if she had only went all out and use all her Noble Phantasm without restrain. There is no need for her to hold back. Her identity is as clear as day to any Magus worth their salt. Hiding her identity is redundant so why did she not unleash her remaining Noble Phantasm? As a result, she lost one of her arm and Noire had to use his most draining magecraft.

"Sophia? Is Xenovia alright?"

Sophia was broken out of her thought when Valerie came into the room with Noire who had more or less recovered enough to walk although he needs to be supported by the half-Apostle. Sophia smiled seeing them. The three of them are close, quite close to each other. To think that at first they didn't get along very much. According to Zelretch, Valerie used to be rather shy and jumpy while Xenovia was quite hostile. But now the three of them are best of friends and maybe they can become something even more.

Valerie obviously has feelings for Noire. She won't call it love yet but there is something. It is just unfortunate that Noire seems to be paying more attention to Xenovia but Noire's action is not due to love but more like a sense of responsibility for dragging Xenovia into this mess. Valerie is another matter since she readily agree to become Zelretch's apprentice but Xenovia was apprehensive so he felt responsible for dragging her into something outside her will and possibly ruining her career as an exorcist.

Valerie is no doubt jealous of the attention Xenovia got from Noire. Sophia did wonder how she could grow feelings for her friend's son when he spent less time with her. It will be interesting to find out. Sophia is feeling giddy at imagining the drama that will come out of the three's relationship.

"Ara, Valerie and Noire… and Fiore?"

Sophia did not see her before but behind the duo is Fiore Forvedge Yggdmillenia with Lancer pushing her wheelchair. She did not expect Fiore to visit Xenovia.

"How's her condition?"

"Stable and slowly recovering. I'm tempted to confiscate Durandal though. She's too reckless."

Valerie and Noire agree with her, especially Noire. Twice Xenovia faced Berserker of Blue and twice she suffered the greatest wound in a battle. Noire knew that Xenovia is tougher than any normal girl but she's still human so being so reckless against an enemy Servant is something crazy. She's not an Apostle with powerful healing factor and superhuman body. If this keeps up, she could probably beat Berserker in single combat but at the cost of her own life and nobody wants that.

"Xenovia-san, she's very impressive fighting the enemy Berserker like that."

Fiore said, praising the blue haired girl. She knew she wouldn't be able to survive even a single minute against a Servant as powerful as Beowulf despite being one of Yggdmillenia's best magus. Although Durandal played a big role, Xenovia's skill, strength and tenacity is what allows her to fight against a Servant head on. Well, there's also the part where she disregard her own safety but it's still impressive.

"It is until she gets herself killed. Honestly, her injuries only got worse with each battle. If this goes on she'll die in the next battle and if not then the battle after that."

Sophia complained. They really have to do something about this but Xenovia won't stop fighting enemy Servants directly, especially Beowulf who will no doubt seek her for a rematch just like how Atalanta will seek Noire and her. She'll have to do something about this but what?

"Anyway, you guys can stay here but don't cause any disturbance. Xenovia needs her rest to recover."

Everyone nodded as Sophia got up to her feet from her seiza and walk out. Noire and Valerie look at her oddly as she disappears behind the door she slides close.

"Is it just me or she looks more serious than usual?

And we're done there. I decided to wrap up the battle with Caster and Noire vs Atalanta. Originally there should be Saber vs Saber along with Rin and Archer vs Bazzet and Lancer but I decided to skip them. Saber vs Saber will be in Grail War part 2 while the Archer vs Lancer is just like usual. We've seen them fight each other too much.

Next chapter will conclude part 1 of this arc and Sophia Brave will really show what she's capable of. The enemy Assassin and Caster will also appear and I will set up stuff for part 2. After that we will go back to Issei for 1 arc. I've been dragging the grail war for too long.

Now for the revs

Judgement of the Arbiter: Funny you should ask how. All I can say is that this Grail War is unusual not only because of stuff already seen here but because the strongest Servant in this Grail War are both side's Casters. Caster of Blue will appear next chapter.

Dragon Rider 66: I won't forget to give something nice to my dear Xenovia. If you're waiting for Issei's side then wait no longer. It's already upon us. As for the Vanadis that will make an appearance, it will be a while until you find out since the plan was to pair her with Sieg and he won't be appearing for a while. At least, not until after the Grail War. As for my NP... I don't even know what my NP is.

Guest: The answer is obvious, especially since I love giving nice things to my dear Xenovia.

Thunder Dragon: Adding Phantasmal Beasts from the Reverse Side is just asking for too much. The difference in power level will make it unfair to the DxD guys. As for Sieg, I'm just going to wing it the best I can. As for Beast... it would be redundant since Momoka fought something far worse in the beginning of the story and Noire along with the others will meet IT along the way.

plums: I agree with you when you say there's too much fight. No wonder it took me so long to do something about this. I'm advancing the plot now.

Guess that's all I want to say. The next chapter will come out a little faster since I'm already working on it. Stay tune.