The action's going to start to pick up soon, and I'm thinking towards the end of the chapter things will finally kick off, so, without further ado, here's the chapter!

Chapter 3: Lightning and Shadow

Beacon Academy

Blake Belladonna was sitting in Grimm Studies with the rest of her team, taking notes whenever a particularly useful fact came up, but otherwise ignoring Professor Port's bombastic story.

She examined the Command Seals on her hand, studying the three bolts of lightning converging on the center of her hand, idly wondering what she had gotten herself into.

"Master, is something wrong?"

Blake jumped in her seat as Saber's voice entered her mind. She hadn't quite gotten used to the link between herself and her Servant yet.

She thought back, "No, everything's fine. And what did I tell you about calling me Master?"

"Right. Sorry, Blake. My status as a Servant, and my contract with you, makes you recognized as my Master, so I forgot about your request."

Blake frowned. There was no way Saber had simply forgotten her request. He was probably messing with her a bit. She wouldn't let him get to her though.

"Was there any particular reason that you decided to contact me in the middle of class, Saber?" she asked.

"You didn't seem to be doing anything, so I thought we could enjoy a conversation as you waited out the professor's story."

"Wait, how do you know he's telling a story?"

"I popped in for a minute or two to check up on you before leaving. He reminded me a lot of when I first started out."

Blake raised an eyebrow. She had noticed a couple things about Saber since he had been summoned last night. He always seemed to know more than he let on about Servants knowing, and he seemed to gain a wistful look around the halls of Beacon.

"What do you mean?"

Blake felt Saber's demeanor change slightly, as if he had let a piece of information slip that he shouldn't have. "It's nothing. You have good taste in books by the way."

Her eyes widened in shock. "You're going through my bookshelf?"

"Relax. I haven't touched THAT one. Besides, I don't plan on revealing myself to your friends or teammates unless you want me to."

Blake breathed a sigh of relief. She was worried about someone finding out about her rather… private book, Ninjas of Love.

"Thanks, Saber."

"You're welcome."

"Have you sensed any other Servants around campus? I'd like to know how safe Beacon is."

Blake heard Saber sigh in her mind. "I was hoping to tell you this in person, but since you asked, when we first made the campus, I had sensed three other Servants scattered around the different buildings."

Blake could barely contain her surprise. "You're sure?"

"Positive. It's highly likely that they know I'm here as well. The only thing is, shortly after arrival, one of the Servants left the school."

"Do you know where?" Blake asked.

"No. However, there is another piece of news you need to know about the other two."

"What is it?"

"One of them was in a different dorm building. The other, however, I last sensed at the same dorm building as you. Whether or not they're in the same building was hard to guess at first, until I looked around this morning."

"What did you find?"

Saber paused for a few moments before replying, "Are you sure you want to know?"

"Yes, Saber. Tell me. I can handle it."

Another pause. "Your teammate. Weiss. She has Command Seals. If her Servant is as perceptive as I am, which they more than likely are, they probably already know about yours as well."

Blake shot a glance over at Weiss, who was listening intently to Professor Port's story, diligently taking notes.

She sighed. "Thanks for the information, Saber. I'll ask her later."

"Be careful. We don't know what her Servant's reaction will be."

"Okay, I'll wait until you're in a position to help then."

"I'll be with you once your class is over. You have combat training next, right?"

"Yes. See you then."

"I'll be there."

That Evening

"Hey, Weiss?" Blake asked from across the dorm room.

"Hm? What do you need?" The heiress responded, not looking up from her textbook.

"Could we… talk for a moment?"

Weiss looked up from her desk and book. "What's wrong?"

Blake glanced at Yang and Ruby, who had picked up on the worry in Blake's voice, looking at her with concern.

"Let's… go for a walk," Blake suggested, "I have something I need to ask you. Privately."

Ruby and Yang exchanged a glance as Weiss followed Blake out of the room, a confused expression on her face.

Blake remained silent as she continued walking down the hall, down to the first floor, and out of the building, Saber's presence next to her in his spiritual form.

Blake led Weiss to a secluded corner of the school so that they could have complete privacy.

Stopping next to a bench, Blake turned back to Weiss.

The two teammates stood in silence for a few moments, looking at each other.

"Well? You wanted to talk to me, and I'm listening," Weiss said impatiently.

Blake sighed. "I'm sorry. I was just wondering how I should ask my question."

"Just spit it out already!" Weiss said.

"… Do you have Command Seals?" Blake whispered, just loud enough for Weiss to hear.

The look on Weiss's face was nothing short of pure shock. "How… How do you…?"

Blake held up her left hand for Weiss to see, the red lightning bolt prongs contrasting greatly with her skin.

"You're a Master?" Weiss asked, whispering in shock.

Blake nodded. "I am. I received the seals a couple days after the Breach."

"No," Weiss said, "No, no, no, no, no, no. Why do you have to have them too? I don't want to fight against my own teammate!"

Blake's eyes widened. She hadn't expected this kind of reaction from Weiss. She took a step forward to comfort the heiress. "Weiss. We don't have to fight. We can team up to defeat the other Masters, then figure out what to do later."

"She is correct, Weiss," a male voice said from the side, a man in a blue and white coat materializing, two rapiers with gear-like guards sheathed at his sides.

"Rider…" Weiss murmured.

"He's your Servant?" Blake asked, getting a nod in response.

Rider gave Blake a slight bow. "My apologies. We had simply hoped that one of her teammates or friends was not another Master in this War. Apparently that wasn't to be."

Blake waved him off. "We'll be fine as long as we work together. And we will be working together, right?"

"Of course we are!" Weiss said, her proud demeanor coming back to her, "I told Ruby I'd be the best teammate ever! That includes you!"

Blake smirked. "Good to know you can still have that Ice Queen attitude right now, Weiss."

"Shut up!" Weiss said before looking around. "Wait a minute. Where's your Servant?"

Blake looked around. "He's here. Come out Saber, we're allied now, you don't need to hide anymore."

Saber materialized next to her, his black cloak flapping the breeze. "Sorry. I was a bit taken aback by Ry- Excuse me, Rider's appearance."

Blake raised an eyebrow at Saber's pause, but let it go. "So, what do we know about this War, and the other Masters and Servants so far?"

"Well, we know that if we were to lose our Servants, we could take shelter at the neutral zone the 'overseers' set up on Patch," Weiss replied.

"And due to our mutual connection to the Grail," Rider said, "I can sense that all Servants have been summoned."

"I've sensed the same thing," Saber agreed.

"Have either of you two been able to find any other Servants or Masters?" Weiss asked the two Servants.

"I sensed four on the Beacon campus when I arrived, including myself, but that dropped to three not long afterward," Saber said.

"Same," Rider agreed.

"And the Masters?" Blake asked.

Rider shook his head. "Nothing. We'd have to search the entire school several times over if we hoped to find the remaining Master here."

"Perfect," Weiss said, "That means we'll need to search the entire city to find other Masters and-"

Weiss was cut off as Saber stepped in front of Blake, blocking a bullet from hitting her. He drew a sword and deflected the bullet. However, the bullet carried an amount of lightning Dust on it, probably enough to paralyze a normal person for several days. Unfortunately for the user, Saber was not normal in several ways, his status as a Heroic Spirit among them.

The lightning generated by the Dust traveled down his sword toward his hand, but he simply took a deep breath through his mouth and absorbed the energy, boosting his power slightly.

"Whoa. What was that?" Weiss asked.

"That," Saber said, a speechless Blake behind him, "was another Servant trying to incapacitate Blake."

Rider blinked. "I don't sense any Servants nearby."

"And you won't," Saber replied, "Because that was probably either Assassin or Archer. We won't be able to sense Assassin coming, and Archer can probably be outside our range and take us out if he wanted, assuming he has the right skill set and weapon."

"You're very clever, Saber," a voice said from the shadows of the trees, "I'm actually surprised you were able to block my shot in time, but that little trick you pulled with the lightning was interesting."

"Thank you," Saber said, eyes moving over the tree line, "Would you mind revealing yourself so I can thank you face to face? Preferably with a name to identify you by?"

After a few moments, a figure in a red shirt, jeans, red combat boots, and a red cloak, a white stripe going down the middle, stepped into view, his hood pulled up, and a sniper rifle in his hands.

"You may call me Archer," he said.

Saber and Rider tensed, narrowing their eyes at the newcomer. His hood obscured most of his face in shadows, making it hard to see any discernable features.

"Why did you fire that stun shot at Blake, Archer?" Saber asked, a look of anger evident on his face.

Archer shrugged. "My Master requested that I bring her to him unharmed. I admit I had a few qualms about it, but if my Master and I are to win this war, him using a Command Seal is not something we need."

"And if I were to say you couldn't take her?" Saber inquired.

A smirk became visible on the lower part of Archer's face, showing confidence in his abilities. "Then I'll have to take you out of the picture. Sorry."

The two Servants stared each other down, waiting for the other to make a move while Rider stood off to the side, protecting Weiss and Blake from harm.

A gust of wind blew past them, both of their cloaks flowing in the wind. The removal of the cloak's full coverage of his arms revealed something shocking about Archer to Saber.

"You're missing your left arm," he said.

"And you have a silver streak running through your hair. Your point?" Archer retorted, annoyance in his voice.

"Just stating an observation," Saber said, his swords now drawn.

The two continued to stare each other down, each one waiting for the other to make a move.

The first move occurred with Archer bringing his rifle to bear, firing several shots off at Saber, who deflected all of the shots, and charging forward, drawing a sword as he went.

Saber narrowed his eyes at the place where his left arm would have been, some sort of shadowy construct holding his rifle in place.

Archer swung down at Saber with his sword in his right hand, Saber blocking by crossing his swords and pushing Archer back and off balance.

Archer directed his sword to block Saber's swords just in time to defend from being hit in the side of the chest. In retaliation he brought up his rifle as he pushed Saber back and shot several rounds at point blank range at Saber.

They never made contact as in a flash of lightning Saber was no longer standing in his original position, but several yards behind Archer, one of his swords sheathed, and a revolver in one hand.

"Feeling lucky punk?" Saber asked before firing several rounds at Archer, who was just able to block the shots.

Archer seemed to size up Saber after the recent showing of his abilities. "You're certainly more than meets the eye, Saber."

Rider snorted in amusement. "He doesn't know the half of it."

Weiss and Blake looked at Rider.

"What are you talking about?" Blake asked curiously.

Rider continued smirking and waved them off. "We'll tell you later."

"That's if Saber survives…" Weiss muttered.

"He will. I know he will," Blake said.

"There's certainly something you're using to compensate for that lost arm of yours, Archer," Saber replied, "But you know, usually when I fight someone they show their face to me. So, what's it going to be, are you going to lower the hood? Or am I going to have to do it for you?"

Archer growled. "I don't need the likes of you, and especially Her, seeing my face, not now, not like this."

"Why should Blake not see your face?" Saber asked, prepared to dash forward in an instant.

"I wasn't talking about your Master," Archer replied.

All eyes immediately went to Weiss, who was just as confused as everyone else was.

Rider stepped forward, no longer content to sit on the sidelines. "What does Weiss have to do with you?"

"That's none of your business, now step back so I can finish off Saber," Archer said, growing impatient.

"Blake," Saber said slowly, "Permission to use my primary Noble Phantasm?"

Blake ran the idea through her head. Saber had told her about his Noble Phantasms, one being something he often used, the other he hoped he didn't need to use, being more of a last resort than anything else.

Blake contemplated the request for a few moments before nodding. "Go ahead. I know you can do it."

Saber smirked. "You're about to see some major power here. Not my fault if you pee yourselves."

Archer scowled. "Don't you dare underestimate me."

Saber sheathed his remaining sword and holstered his revolver, his eyes closed in concentration.

Archer uttered one word as Saber seemed to be off guard. "Unleashed…"

Immediately, the shadows around Archer molded themselves to become a kind of armor, his cloak flapping in the twisting shadows.

Archer charged forward, his sword at his side. "I will win this, Saber!"

"Dragon Force…" Saber said, opening his eyes, their normally bright golden color replaced by an electric blue color, a scaly complexion appearing around his eyes as his cloak dematerialized.

Archer was right on top of him, his sword coming down, when Saber disappeared in a flash of lightning, appearing just behind Archer and punching him with a lightning covered fist, sending Archer crashing through the tree line.

Archer appeared from the trees, running at a speed faster than Ruby, at Saber, quickly slashing at Saber's gut while starting a roundhouse kick.

Saber dodged the sword, but was knocked back by the shadow-wreathed kick.

Both Servants stood facing each other, Archer wreathed in shadows, Saber flickering with lightning, when suddenly a young male voice called out.

"That. Was. Awesome!"

All eyes turned to see what appeared to be a teenager with messy brown hair and green eyes wearing glasses, metal-plated boots with baggy pants tucked into them, a green long-sleeved shirt, a brown vest, and metal gauntlets, with brown suspenders hanging at his sides, walking towards them with a grin on his face.

Saber, Rider, and Archer were on guard with this new arrival, the aura he was putting out practically screaming that he was a Servant.

"Who are you?" Rider asked cautiously.

"You can call me Caster," the Servant replied as he got into a combat stance, his gauntlets and boots seeming to whir, "Mind if I get in on the action?"

Above Vale

General Ironwood sat in his office aboard his Atlesian Airship, idly going through paperwork, when his Servant, Assassin, suddenly contacted him.

"General, a battle has started at Beacon Academy," Assassin reported.

"How many are there currently?" he inquired, his mind beginning to think tactically.

"Four, Saber, Archer, Rider, and Caster. Saber and Rider's Masters seem to have formed an alliance, Caster has only just arrived, and both of the Masters of Archer and Caster remain a mystery."

General Ironwood contemplated the circumstances for a few moments.

"What is the status of the two known Masters?"

"They are both students at Beacon. Rider is protecting the two of them."

"All right then. Wait for another Servant to appear before showing yourself, and then see if you can take one of them down. Do not touch those students unless absolutely necessary."

"As you wish, General," Assassin replied.

That's the end of Chapter 3! The action has picked up, and that is just a taste of what I have planned for this War. See you guys next time!