Caster

Lancer was wandering through the streets of the Fuyuki city. His much despicable Master ordered him to scout the area and, should he find an enemy Servant, measure how strong this Servant is in combat... And it all wouldn't have been so bad, had he not been ordered to avoid killing those enemy Servants at all costs. And with a command seal enforcing that order... there was no way Lancer could truly enjoy fighting any opponent he might ran across. It was such a shame...

Right now he was dragging himself along some semi-abandoned street near old docks. Thankfully, this place was devoid of humans and he didn't even need to conceal himself all that much. Actually, given the task him Master gave him, he should actually be broadcasting his position with small prana bursts to attract other Servants... But the blue-clad master of spear didn't feel like doing that – a bout of defiance, caused by his dislike of his current Master.

Suddenly, Lancer got a feeling that something was not right. After a few seconds of feeling the world around him deeply, he finally managed to understand what had triggered his almost-instinctual sense of danger. Even though he could barely hear it from his current position, there was someone singing not all that far away from his current location. And since it felt like the voice itself was laced with prana, it was likely another Servant. If he were to make a guess, Cu Chulainn would say that it was Caster, but he knew better than to simply assume such things...

Still, following his orders, he began cautiously approaching the location of the unknown Servant, pausing every couple of steps to look around and make sure that he hasn't walked into some kind of a trap yet. Thankfully, so far, there were no signs of any. Which, to be honest, was only making the master of spear more anxious about the upcoming encounter...

After creeping along the shadows for a block, Lancer finally saw his opponent. Still a little more than a block away, right next to a small abandoned park, there stood a rather small teenaged girl in a yellow sundress. Cu Chulainn was rather surprised by her hair: it was green, and it was the natural color. It also didn't look like she was wearing any sort of armor, nor he could see anything that could be considered a weapon anywhere on her person, yet, his sixth sense was telling him that she was heroic spirit and that she was one for a reason. He just didn't know what that reason was yet.

Suddenly, a large portal made from a multitude of twisting lines that glowed otherworldly-orange appeared rather close to the blue-clad master of Spear. So, the girl did notice him, despite not showing it in any way... other than this. A moment later, something that looked like four-storey tall demonic insect in thick red carapace stepped out of the portal. A lance-like organic cannon 'mounted' on the bug's back was already glowing with energy as the beast prepared to unleash some sort of an attack against the puny human – or what it thought to be one – in front of it.

Lancer dodged the beam of energy fired at him with relative ease, and the insect's attack tore through asphalt, leaving a deep gush on the ground. Smirking, Cu Chilainn aimed his red spear in the general direction of his monstrous opponent.

"Gae Bolg!" For a moment, his spear turned into a living beam of red energy, yet the attack that was his Noble Phantasm failed miserably. And it took Lancer a few moments to understand why: insects don't have hearts... He was brought out of his thoughts when the oversized bug charged at him like a bull. Not wishing to find out, whether he will be able to withstand such a hit, the blue-clad man jumped aside, letting the colossus to ram through an empty warehouse that remained in its path.

And even though the oversized bug was too busy with freeing itself from the rubble, Lancer didn't get a chance to go after its summoner. Instead, he was forced to dodge small rocket-like projectiles that were rained upon him by a couple of smaller and yellow-colored demonic insects that were now flying above the battlefields.

Now, these two were a major problem for a Lancer. While he may have a chance against the red beast as it was walking on the ground, the flying targets without a heart for his Gae Bolg to pierce were not something that he could kill in any reasonable way. Not to mention that even if he managed to somehow deal with the current monstrous bugs, the girl – Servant Caster – could summon their replacements within just a few seconds...

For a moment, an idea that he should just ignore the oversized insects and go straight for their summoner entered Lancer's mind, but a single glance in that direction told him that he would still have to get past another group of these monsters before he will get his chance to attack the green-haired girl. And no matter what people thought, his Noble Phantasm too did have its limitations; there was no way he could snipe Caster from his current location. Not when all these demonic monstrous insects were getting in his way...

With no way to deal with his opponent effectively at the moment, the blue-clad master of spear decided to withdraw from the area. Hopefully, these gigantic bugs won't pursue him too far towards the more lively parts of Fuyuki city. After all, he could hide his spear; hiding a four-storey bug from the eyes of common people was something close to impossible. And this Caster looked like someone who would obey the rules of the War...

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The brief battle between Lancer and the Caster's summons did attract some attention from the other participants of the Fifth Holy Grail War. Namely, Illyasviel von Eiznbern decided to investigate what was going on, bringing the astralized Berserker along with her. Alas, the two of them were a bit too late to 'join the party' so to speak, as the master of spear had already retreated when they entered the street where that fight took place. The alien beasts, though, remained, and as soon as Ilya stepped into the street, they chose her as their new target, forcing the homunculus girl to materialize her Servant in order to protect herself.

And thanks to his godly strength, Heracles was able to stop a red bug charging at him and his Master like an oversized and very angry rhino. He even managed to throw it away. Alas, a moment later he found himself under the bombardment coming from the smaller, flying alien insects and there was nothing he could do to protect himself from the numerous explosions.

Every combatant on the battlefield froze for a brief moment when the sound of the mountain of muscles collapsing dead onto the ground reached their ears...

The vajra were the first ones to recover as Ilya was still in a shock from just how easily Berserker had lost one of his lives. The big red bug turned towards the white-haired homunculus girl, while the long protrusion on its back started glowing, indicating that the beast was preparing to fire its beam attack. And then it did fire, but the energy beam never reached its intended target as revived Berserker moved between the alien monstrosity and Master, shielding Ilya with his body. And while the beam did some considerable damage to his back, it didn't cost Heracles another life.

Berserker turned around and, letting out a mighty and angry roar, jumped at his earthbound enemy, landing on the back of its carapace with enough power to stomp the beast into the asphalt. Then, the dark-skinned Servant smashed the oversized bug's head with his colossal axe-club, killing it right there and then.

Of course, the flying alien insects weren't idle all this time – they actually kept bombarding Berserker with more of their rocket-like projectiles, but because of his God hand, Heracles would not be harmed by these attacks anymore...

After hitting the prostrate bug's head once more to be sure that it won't be getting up again, the Greek hero ripped the 'energy cannon' spike off its back, before throwing it at one of the airborne monsters like a huge spear. And due to its huge size, the yellowish bug wasn't fast enough to dodge this projectile, thus being almost cut into two at its chest by it. A second later its dead body fell onto one of the building, destroying it partially.

Letting out another roar, Berserker jump high into the air and grabbed the remaining yellow bug, before tearing it apart with brute strength, throwing the dying parts to the sides as the gravity returned him to the ground.

A moment later, a glowing portal appeared right behind Heracles, and another second later a huge red bug stepped out of it. It looked a lot like its predecessor which had been so successfully slayed by the Servant Berserker, but its head was protected from the top side by a huge carapace shield... This alien monster quickly captured the demigod warrior and hero with its huge mandibles. Then it snapped Berserker's spine and crushed his internal organs, killing him for the second time this night.

Just like it had happened the previous time, a few seconds later Heracles was revived by his Noble Phantasm and was ready to fight again. This time, though, taking on the alien bug was a bit harder for him as it was a little bit faster and much better armed now. Still, Berserker managed to immobilize it by breaking its relatively thin legs. Then he ripped the spike off its back and gored the monstrosity underneath him with it.

Alas, by the time he was done, two more of these gigantic insects were summoned onto the battlefield. This was becoming a battle of attrition, and even though Heracles was still far away from even beginning getting tired, Ilya could already see that her Servant would eventually lose...

"Berserker, we're withdrawing. Protect my back while we're getting out of here." Her Servant let out something that sounded like a grunt of acknowledgment, and the pair began ...withdrawing from the battlefield.

"Looks like we won this round." Caster said to no one in particular as she observed Berserker and his Master retreating. Then she offered her hand to the red vajra that was guarding her ever since the encounter with Lancer earlier today. The monstrosity lowered its head and let its mistress pet it. "I'm sorry about forcing you all to fight for me..." Caster continued, "But if we manage to obtain this 'Grail', then everyone will be able to finally live in peace..." And letting out a quiet sigh, she added in a whisper: "And, maybe, I will finally win Alto over..."

Caster

True identity: Ranka Lee
Series: "Macross Frontier"
Age: 15
Sex: Female

Alignment: Lawful Good
Strength: E
Endurance: D++
Agility: C
Mana: D (*) - her ability requires very little prana and thus her meager reserves are as good as A+ ones.
Luck: C++
Independent action: D++
Magic resistance: E
Riding: E++ - Ranka can ride some living mounts and a few simple mechanical contraptions.
Inhuman physiology: D - Ranka is a quarter-Zentrady, which grants her body inhuman toughness... and enables her hair to sometimes move on its own when she experiences strong emotions.

Noble Phantasms:
Star of the Galaxy: A+, support. Ranka, because of her connection the hive, can summon Vajra insect-like aliens to her side. Each of these aliens is more or less equal to a mid-twenty-first century fighter jet in terms of destructive power and toughness. Additionally, each new generation of Vajra gains immunity or strong resistance to whatever was killing them in the past, which makes them a very difficult enemy to fight.