The clash of swords could be heard around the club as Jaune kept training with Pyrrha and Saber, since the two weeks between the qualifiers and the Tournament itself passed quickly, maybe too quickly for the knight's liking. He finally got the hand on his improved sword, and more than that, those two weeks saw him improving his agility, stamina and strength. While it was true that he was still a league behind his friends, now he was the level he was supposed to be when he first came to Beacon. It was what his trainers said to him, and even Ms. Goodwitch assured him that he was a good student on his own. Yet he worried if that was enough.

Team JNPRS helped him and Pyrrha to prepare to the Tournament, and Saber found a great delight to fight the Spartan. Both had almost the same level of skill, Saber having the advantage of an invisible sword and pure physical prowess, Pyrrha had her agility and versatility. One thing Pyrrha noticed was that her Semblance didn't work on Saber's sword or armor, and she concluded that they obvious weren't made of metal.

Jaune and Pyrrha's relationship was still unknown for most of their friends. It was not that they were actively hiding it, but they both discovered that when you don't try to hide something too hard people seemed to miss it entirely. Saber knew, and Velvet discovered when she stumbled at the couple kissing a few days before, but the bunny understood why Pyrrha wanted to keep it a secret a little longer.

Emerald kept her distance from Jaune in the last days, to Pyrrha's merriment. From time to time they would spot her observing them, but she avoided any interaction. Saber still was wary of her, and a few times she tried to follow the green haired girl in her invisible form, but somehow Emerald could noticed being followed and would evade her pursuer with a great display of skill.

"Enough." Pyrrha said in a gentle voice as Jaune sat in the ground, panting. "Your skills really improved, Jaune. You are ready for the Tournament."

"Thanks Pyr. Hard to believe it is just after tomorrow." Jaune commented as he sheathed his sword. He found even harder to believe that he was going to be on it.

"Yes, therefore, no more training, and I mean it Jaune. No hidden training with Saber, no jogging, no hitting the gym. You need to recover your energy and let your muscles rest." Her concerned tone made Jaune smile and promise to obey her.

"I think we all need to rest now. It is already night, and there is even a beautiful full moon out." Ren offered an off-handed comment ad he took a sleeping Nora in his arms, but when Saber looked at the moon from the window, a certain melancholy hit her.

…

Blake watched her friends leaving the club, and as soon as she was sure they wouldn't spot her she entered. She walked straight towards the library and checked one more time to be completely sure she was alone. She couldn't allow anyone to interrupt her, and she would talk with her friends if she could succeed in the ritual.

She closed the library's door and started drawing the magical circle in the stone floor as the book she found instructed her. Once finished, she put a small silver mirror she 'borrowed' from Weiss, as the book stated that an offer of sorts was required, the most valuable the offer, the powerful the servant. Now one last step was needed.

She wondered how Jaune summoned Saber as she drew her sword, but the book stated that if the ritual was left incomplete someone else could resume it, so Blake assumed that the previous occupant of that place was in the final stages of the summoning ritual when someone or something interrupted it. She made a small cut on the back of her hand and let her blood drip on the circle.

At first nothing happened, and Blake wondered if she failed the ritual somehow, but as she was about to look at the book the circle shone brightly, as a whirlwind of light, mist and wind formed, forcing the Faunus girl to cover her eyes. When the light subdued and she looked back, she saw someone in the circle, and was taken aback at the scene.

Her Servant sat in the middle of the circle over her legs, her hands put in the front, just fingertips touching the ground. She wore a black and blue oriental dress of sorts, with golden details. Her pink hair styled with a blue ribbon on the top of her hair, but her big fox ears were not hidden, nor her big fluffy tail.

"Please threat me well, Master." She said in a polite tone, and then she opened her amber eyes so much like Blake's own and giggled.

"You are a Faunus! How… fitting?" Blake commented, the emotion of succeeding almost too much to hold back.

"What is a Faunus, Master?" The Servant asked, and Blake blinked surprised. Saber told her that Servants were famous figures of the past, but she didn't remember, aside from legends, the existence of Faunus like creatures was something in the past.

"Someone like me, like you." Blake answered undoing her ribbon and showing her cat ears to the Servant, whose eyes shone and suddenly she was petting her Master. "Hey!"

"Are you a nekomata, Master? But you don't have two tails, or any tail…"

"I am not! I am a Faunus, a race of people with animal features!" Blake protested over the overwhelming display of affection.

"Sho cute!" The Servant starting to nuzzle Blake's ears, forcing the black haired girl to get away of the affectionate fox girl. Blake wondered what kind of Servant she got, and why she was so drastically different from Saber, especially on personality.

"OK, let's talk. What type of Servant you are?"

"Tamamo is a Caster, Master." The Servant answered a bit too happy for Blake's taste.

Caster, a magic user, according to the book. Blake sighed, since she expected someone like a Lancer or a Saber class. Also, she spoke her name, something Saber hasn't yet. According to Saber the identity of a Servant is better be held in secrecy, so any enemy Servant wouldn't have an advantage over others. Blake looked at her hand and saw the same command seals Jaune had, absolute magic orders they could give a Servant even against their will or sometimes even abilities. The design was different from that of Jaune's, but according to the book she could use three commands her Servant would have to obey.

"Caster, it is better for you to never use your real name when we aren't alone." Blake finally spoke back, and Caster happily nodded.

"Tamamo will obey, Master." The fox girl had a beautiful, childish smile that Blake got reminded of Ruby, despite Caster having a body that could compete with Yang's.

"Good, good. Now that I know this works, all my friends could have a Servant, and we will be able to stop the White Fang…" Blake spoke more for herself than Caster, but the Servant tilted her head curiously.

"Master, why would you help people to get Servants? Don't you wish the Holy Grail?"

"What? Oh, no. I just want to protect my people." Blake said, since she knew that the Holy Grail would mean fighting Jaune, and no powerful desire was enough to make her do something like that.

"Good, better this way. But you know; only one Servant of each class can be summoned." Caster explained, and Blake opened her eyes wide. The book mentioned nothing of that limit, and it meant there would be not enough Servants for every one of her friends.

"So, Jaune has Saber, I have you, Caster, meant that Assassin, Berserker, Lancer, Rider and Archer are available…" Blake counted on her fingers, but Caster shook her head.

"I can tell you that four Servants where already summoned."

"Wait… What do you mean four were already summoned?"

…

Cardin laughed as he saw his own Servant. He could feel its power soothing over his dark armor, covered in what looked like moving shadows. The knight in front of him clearly was powerful, and to the young Winchester, soothed way more power than Saber. He kept laughed as he circled the tool he hoped would return his pride.

He failed to notice the madness his servant held.

"I can't wait to show Jauney boy my new toy. And teach him and his lame Servant what a true man power is."

"While Berserker is your Servant to command, may I suggest you wait to act on your intents at the Tournament?" Kirei suggested as he looked with a smile of disdain towards Cardin, the boy missing it entirely as he was too absorbed in admiring his new 'toy'.

"Yeah, yeah. I will humiliate Jaune when everyone is looking, the entire world. I bet his family will love to see how pathetic he is." Cardin laughed and watched Berserker turning invisible. "Well, better I go now before someone suspects anything. You just wait, Kirei, I will give you quite a show."

Cardin laughed once again as he walked out of the old church Kirei turned in his base of operations, and as soon as he was out of sight, Archer appeared and sat into a chair, holding a cup of wine in his right hand.

"That mongrel really does not know how to use his brain. He really thinks he would receive a Servant with no strings to it?"

"He is just a fool believing the world owes him something. All we need him to do is wreck enough havoc so we can get the attention of the necessary people for our plans." Kirei explained to Archer, which just kept a bored look in his face.

"Do thou think those people could achieve the Restoration?" He inquired, and Kirei laughed to himself.

"Yes, I know they can. One is so desperate to protect the people that he would create a fake life, the other so eager for power that she would sacrifice anyone to take a hold of it. And once our associate shows them the power of the Servants, it will be easy to manipulate them so we can have what our hearts desire."

Archer laughed at it, but agreed. It was always easy to manipulate desperate people and people that desired power. After all, living proof of both just left with a Servant too powerful, too mad to be controlled, and made no questions whatsoever.

"I praise you, Kotomine Kirei, because you are going to fix my boredom."

…

"Where you have being?" Yang questioned her partner as she entered the room.

Blake blinked when Ruby turned the lights on, to see that everyone in her team was awake and looking at her questioning. She saw they were mostly worried about her, except Weiss that was mostly annoyed. She was happy she had some make-up to hide her command seals hand at the club, or else she would have to explain why she got a "tattoo" and she definitely wanted to avoid that.

"I was at the club's library reading a book and lost track of time."

It was true, just not the whole truth. She spend a good chunk of time explaining to Caster how Remnant worked, who were her friends, about Jaune and Saber. Caster explained a lot of things to Blake, dangerous things that Jaune ignored as Saber's memory were incomplete due to an imperfect summoning. Caster said she could fix it, but for now Blake had too much to digest and was unsure how to disclose it to her friends, especially when half of them would fight on the Tournament. So she decided to hold the information for after it.

"You promise you aren't overdoing yourself like last time?" Ruby asked, making Blake feel the guiltiest person ever when she looked at those silver puppy eyes.

"Yes, I promise. After the Tournament I will explain in detail."

"Why not now?" Weiss asked, her arms crossed.

"Because, I am tired, you all are tired. And Weiss, you and Yang will be competing at the Tournament, and what I've being doing is collecting information. Information I fully intend to disclose with you all after the Tournament." Blake tried to be as most open and honest as she could be.

"Blakey, if it is dangerous…" Yang questioned, but Blake cut her short.

"I swear it is not…" For now…

"I am giving you a vote of trust, Belladonna. Better you make sure I won't regret it." Weiss finished and returned to her bed.

"Just count on us to help, OK?" Ruby reassured her teammate before climbing back her 'bunker' bed. Yang said nothing and returned to hers.

Your friends care a lot about you, Master. Wouldn't be better to just tell them?

I will tell them when we are ready.

That mental communication certainly was useful, Blake thought to herself as she changed in her sleep wear. She felt even guiltier for holding information from her friends, but if Caster was right, that there were other people outside her circle of friends with Servants, she couldn't simple tell them with the Tournament so close. They would want to act on that and lose the focus on it.

She lay in her bed and tried to sleep. Tomorrow she would think with a clearer head.

…

Pyrrha was humming as she walked the corridors. The next day she would participate in a Tournament, something she really liked. And better than that, her boyfriend would participate on it too. She actually hoped they could do the finals together, and the last weeks made that being more than a faint hope.

Suddenly she almost stumbled over Emerald, and the two girls looked surprised at each other, but they didn't spoke a world. They stared at each other for a few seconds before Pyrrha made the motion to walk away, Emerald called her.

"How's blondie?"

"He is grand, thank you for asking." Pyrrha made no effort to hide her annoyance over the girl.

"Calm down, champs, I am not trying to steal your boyfriend from you." Pyrrha didn't answer to that, but she enjoyed seeing Jaune referred as her boyfriend. "I just want to know if he is ready for the Tournament. There will be some kickass fighters there and his little secret weapon might not be enough."

"I will let you know Saber is a Tournament level swordswoman on her on, and that Jaune can take care of himself." Pyrrha spoke without looking at Emerald.

"He better be."

Pyrrha turned around but Emerald already disappeared. Something in her last sentence didn't sound right, not just a rival riling up her, but more of a warning from someone concerned. But the Spartan decided to ignore it and just go talk with her knight and enjoy the last day they would have to relax. Especially considering how easily Jaune could get his nerves to act up.

He is probably nervous and babbling to Ren and Saber.

…

"What was that?" Mercury questioned Emerald as she turned a corner.

"I was doing my job and collecting information." Emerald explained bluntly.

"Really, for a second, it sounded like you was worried about one tall, blonde and pathetic boy."

"The only tall and pathetic boy I know have silver hair." Emerald retorted and walked away laughing. Yet, she knew that there was a bit of truth on Mercury's words.

…

Pyrrha joined her friends at the mess hall for breakfast. As she expected Jaune was a pile of nerves, with Saber trying to calm him down, and Nora attempts of calming him by stating all the things that wouldn't go wrong in the Tournament making him even more nervous. She sat by his side and grabbed his hand, making him relaxing a little.

"So, do we know who the first opponents on the tournament will be?" Sun questioned as he ate pancakes and bananas.

"Yes, we do. Sun will fight someone from Mistral, as will be Jaune, some gladiator boy called Iolaus." Weiss said as she checked her scroll, showing a boy with armor the same style as Pyrrha's holding a trident and a steel net.

"Don't worry Jaune, I fought him before and he is not on your level." Pyrrha reassured him, and Jaune just left a small smile out.

"Yang will fight someone from Vacuo, I will defeat Neptune…"

"Hey!" Neptune protested as Weiss already decided he wasn't going to win.

"Pyrrha will fight someone from Atlas. So, aside me and Neptune, we will not have to fight each other until next round." Weiss concluded closing her scroll.

"Well, I will be happy if I can get to fight any of you guys. But what do you say, Saber, aim for the crown?" Jaune asked Saber that gave him a big proud smile.

"A knight always aims for victory, so do we."

"Glad to see you are aiming high, Jauney boy. We don't want you to blemish the name of our school with a humiliating defeat." Cardin said approaching the table, receiving stink eyes from everyone in the table. "Calm down, I am just here to wish you all luck. After all, it would be a shame if something happens during the Tournament."

"What do you mean by that?" Ren questioned, noticing that Cardin was almost affirming something would happen in the Tournaments.

"Relax, I am sure everything will go as expected." Cardin finished going away.

"You know, he was oddly happy despite being out of the tournament." Ruby questioned as she ate a cookie.

"And he has being quite the past days. Do you think he is planning something?" Yang questioned as she saw Cardin together with his team.

"Ugh, I hope not. All I want is for all of this to go as smoothly as possible." Jaune finished the issue while drinking his juice.