I do not own Fate/Stay Night nor any other Servants depicted here.

Primeval

The cold night seemed to become a little colder as the Servants, both present and former, went off to face their own fight. The priest said nothing; he stepped down the steps calmly and waited for the four Masters to act. The group, on the other hand, stood there tensely with three of them not really knowing what to do... save Rin.

"Edelfelt, you are with me. Hopefully, you brought enough jewels," she ordered calmly, glancing over at her self-denied rival.

"Of course I did. What do you take me for?" the blonde retorted with a smirk. She sighed and moved on to her former sister.

"Sakura... try your best to disrupt his shadow control," she told Assassin's Master, "Be confident. I know you can do it."

The Matou nodded while sounding her agreement. She sent a quick smile to her before turning to Shirou.

"Emiya... watch our backs," she told him, "And make sure that fake priest doesn't touch Sakura."

"I will," he affirmed, "Trace on." The twin falchions materialized in his hands, his grip firm on their hilts.

The Tohsaka heir took in a deep breath as she stared at Kirei, her brow furrowing lightly at her concentration. Then, she shouted, "Now, Edelfelt!"

The priest immediately threw up a barrier to fend off the multiple explosions that were peppering it. That was only a single volley, however, that allowed the Tohsaka to flank him and aim at him properly.

"Gandr!"

One concentrated shot struck his arm, leaving the spot where it struck smoking and sizzling. Subsequent ones missed as he quickly sank into his shadow to escape as he dismissed his shield. However, he stopped halfway as Sakura mustered enough of herself to freeze him in place, her shaking arms outstretched.

"Hah, take this, priest!" the blonde shouted as she threw a few more gems at him. They shot at him with frightening precision but finally crashed into his remade barrier. In return, a misshapen thing rose up to claw at her, only to be cut down by the boy.

Meanwhile, Rin continued to shoot Gandr curses at him, causing him to reshape the one-sided barrier into a dome instead. Luvia joined her in peppering it with her own curses. However, Sakura's arms tired and seconds later, the dome vanished into the ground.

"Get back," the Tohsaka called out as she moved back to the group. They stood in a circle and attempted to cover all sides of approach.

"Where do you think he would come from?" asked a wary Luvia.

"He could come from anywhere..." the former muttered but then caught sight of a black shape rising in front of her, "Look out!"

Shirou dashed in front of her while the girls moved back. He swung his swords, the cross cut shaped attack he got from Archer cleanly quartered the shadow that rose up. Unfortunately, it wasn't the real one.

The priest rose up in the middle of the group with no warning given and grabbed Sakura by the back of her neck. She struggled to get out of his grip. Rin could hear her mumbling something at the same time. Then, a thin shadow rose up from her shadow, quickly forming into a thin humanoid being. It placed a hand against the fake priest, forming a disk. One vibration later, it sent the priest flying. It caught its summoner as she was released. It let her down on her feet and it moved, slid on the floor, heading towards their enemy.

"Sakura, are you alright?" asked the boy as he ran up to her.

"I... I'll be fine," she replied with a grateful smile.

"We should keep up the pressure, Edelfelt," said the Tohsaka heiress, dipping her hand into her pocket for her gems.

Luvia mirrored her and replied, "Save your breath, Rin. We take our chance now."

The both of them ran around opposite sides, tossing out gems that sped with unerring accuracy at the shadow priest, who was busy fending off a multitude of shadow spikes from the Matou summon. He suddenly took to the skies with large wings growing from its back. The girls sent a volley to the sky while the shadow summon just stood there waiting for him to land. He then fell and sank into the ground, avoiding the gems that neutralized each other in explosive fashion. This put everyone on guard once again, but since they were now separated, Rin quickly got to the nearest person. Luvia. Who got the same idea as she did and once more mirrored her actions. Suddenly, a small shark made of shadow knocked the shadow construct into the air and bit it in two. It reformed into the fake priest and landed on his feet.

Rin tried to attack again, reaching for a new gem in her pocket but found she couldn't move. A long slender sword was stabbed into the middle of her shadow and one of the priest's puppets sinking into the ground. Luvia was also in a similar predicament.

"Hmm, two incapacitated. Two more to neutralize," he summed up as the other two stood there, stunned by the sudden turn of events.

"Why you..." she grounded out, mentally kicking herself for forgetting that detail about the priest. The Emiya boy stood in front of her former sister protectively.

"Is that... Rin, did you just somehow leave this bit of information out?" the blonde hissed at her, "Why didn't you mention he was an EXECUTOR?"

The shadowy priest paid no attention to the growing argument, Instead, he slid over to the remaining two Masters.

"It slipped my mind, you ditz! You can't expect me to remember everything perfectly!" the former retorted as Shirou muttered something to Sakura.

The boy then charged at the priest with a yell while the violet-haired girl sprinted around them. The enemy remained silent, instead showed intent by extending out more swords, three on each hand. Held in between his fingers, he was swift with his parries seemed to be matching Shirou's attacks blow for blow. With the distraction in full swing, the Matou had no difficulty in reaching the other two girls.

"Good work, Sakura!" praised Rin gratefully as the girl reached to pull out the Black Key.

Kirei suddenly threw his blades at the boy, seemingly fully aware of what was happening. He dashed to the side, heading towards them speedily.

She pulled out the blade and moved to take hold of the other one while the Tohsaka magus steadied herself after being frozen in position for a short period of time.

Though he was surprised at the move, Shirou was able to roll out of the way and ended in a kneeling position. Noticing what his opponent was doing, he shouted, "No! Sakura!" He shot forward to give chase, a spike of fright running through him at the thought of another getting hurt.

She grasped and pulled, releasing the Edelfelt heiress. Hearing her crush's shout, she turned and froze at the sight of her teacher bearing down on her, her crush chasing after him. However, he suddenly slid to a stop and turned around. The fingers on his right hand elongated and sharpened, like daggers. Before she could shout out a warning, he moved. There was barely a sound as flesh was parted like a hot knife through butter.

"SENPAI!"

Saber was stunned at the sudden turnaround. She watched warily as Assassin and Shinji waded out of the mud. Glancing over at Noel, she noted the shocked state the former Servant seemed to be in.

"What did he do to Assassin?" she questioned as she moved her gaze back to the enemies before her, "Could the mud be behind this? If so, we must take care not to be lured near it. Who knows what could happen if I was covered in it."

"Well, Assassin. I think I'll leave Saber to you," said the Matou as he grinned like a madman, "I have a sudden urge to play with dolls today. I wonder why I can't stop calling her that... No matter! Time to play! Ouroboros!"

A small black and green portal opened up in front of him and a metal snake shot out. It grabbed the air in front of Noel just as he grabbed the chain. The portal closed and was pulled forward as he held his hat down. He landed on the former Archer with a harsh kick that sent her flying back. He turned to the side and gave Saber a little wave before running after her.

As shocked as she was, she kept herself calm and focussed on her current opponent, Assassin.

"Assassin, what happened?" she asked as she stood her ground, guard up.

He had no words for her. Instead, he continued to stare at her, his glowing red eyes boring into her like a sword would. Such a thing left her wary and cautious.

"I see. I believe he is attempting to unsettle me to try and gain some sort of advantage," she deduced as she maintained her focus. Yet, within the blink of an eye, he disappeared.

Her senses screamed a warning. She turned round and swung her sword, her invisible blade clashing with his. Assassin pushed back, trying to force the sword away from her but she was able to maintain her guard. She moved with the push and that allowed her to balance herself, to fall into her ready stance so easily. The Servant of Murder slowly drew himself up and reached into his coat, pulling out a gun. Her legs tensed up, ready to dash out of the way at a moment's notice. Then, the mark on the back of his hand glowed and much to her surprise, the air around him seemed to distort and bend. He took aim, fired three times, and proceeded to slash at the slow moving bullets. Within the span of eight seconds.

She brought up her sword and two of the shots plinked against the blade while the last one hit her armor. However, this meant she was unable to keep her eyes on him and her instincts warned her of an incoming attack from above. She quickly dodged to the side and swung hard. The landing Servant was swift enough to lock blades with her.

"Assassin has too many tricks. Very well, I had better engage quickly and prevent him from using them," she thought as she mounted her offensive with clean, precise slashes. Unsurprisingly, he was able to keep up with her. With luck, she might even defeat him before Noel could defeat her opponent.

Noel tumbled and turned as she rolled to a stop on the ground. Thankfully, she was still able to hold on to her revolvers. Letting out several coughs, she slowly got to her feet.

"Why did I freeze up like that?"

"Well, looks like I get to have you all to myself," said Shinji as he nonchalantly made his way up to her, "Now, try to put some fight into it. I really want to test out this new body." He then kicked her in the gut, sending her further into the forest.

Slamming into a tree, she grit her teeth and stopped a groan from escaping her lips. She moved a little faster, scrambling to her feet, propping herself up with the long barrels and pushed herself up off the ground.

"Is it because he looks like... like him?"

A metal snake came at her and clamped down on her left arm. Holding back a cry of pain, her eyes widened as the fake Hazama flew at her and kicked her head down. Detecting a surge of power, she caught sight of him as she tumbled forward. He ran up the tree behind her a few steps and unleashed a powerful kick. The wind was forcefully pushed out of her lungs as she watched his leg glow black and green when he kicked. The subsequent pillar of energy pushed her quite far. She felt herself get slammed into a rock face. Did she crash into the mountain? She couldn't tell. There were still a lot of trees around her.

"That... he never did that before. What am I saying? Shinji is not him."

She shook her head as she got up. She let off a groan as she felt jolts of pain light up in her body. She didn't know how far she went, but the boy hadn't shown up yet. He sounded quite confident, bordering on arrogant even. But with the way he sounded in that body, his voice was dripping with malice. She took her time to center herself, preparing to fight back.

"No, he isn't him. He may have the same powers, the same skills. But, not his experience."

"Still down? Really?" she heard him say as he finally showed up, "I thought you had more than this, being a former Servant. Pah, I guess you're a useless doll after all."

She slowly got to her feet and into her ready stance. He blinked a few times and grinned.

"Oh, now you're showing some fight? Don't think that just because you can stand up you..."

She said nothing. Now was not the time to reply to his banter. Not just yet. Instead, she took a step forward, turned around and kicked him in the jaw.

"Spring Raid!"

She went over with a backflip, the force of momentum keeping her afloat as she sent him skyward. She landed on both feet, neatly planted on the ground.

"Ouroboros!"

She watched as the chain grabbed the ground and pulled Shinji after it. "You... heh, so you think that little kick can beat me?" he sneered at her as he took out his knife and started doing some flipping tricks with it.

"You aren't him," she said calmly. The first few words that she actually directed at him. But, she put all of her conviction into those words.

"Eh?"

"You may look like him. You may have his powers. But you're not him," she told him confidently, "Since you're not him, I can beat you."

She immediately swapped out the revolvers to the shotgun, aimed and fired.

"SENPAI!"

Blood dripped down Eddie's fingers. The boy's breathing became labored and short. His eyes went wider as the fake priest pulled them out. He slid back as the boy went to his knees. Sakura ran past him and knelt in front of her crush, her shaking hands reaching for his wound but not knowing what to do, merely hovered there. The other two followed after her. The blonde had torn off the sleeves of her dress and began pressing down on the wounds as she gently pushed the Matou out of the way. Smart girl, seeing that his fingers went through the boy's body. The Tohsaka took the other sleeve and pressed it to his back.

"We have to stop the bleeding now," Luvia told them as the sleeve slowly became redder and redder, "Rin, can you do that thing you did the last time this happened."

"No, I can't," his ward quickly replied, "At that time, I had a special jewel that I had been preparing for ten years."

"I... looks like I can't... ugh," muttered Shirou, giving the girls a weak smile, "Sorry. I think I can't keep my promise."

"Shut up, Emiya. Don't you dare say that!" the former yelled at him, "Damn it... there has to be a... Wait..."

Her eyes went wide as if having some sort of epiphany or a recollection of something.

"That... That's the answer!" she shouted, "Avalon!"

There was a silence that fell upon them before Luvia retorted, "Of course. Pray tell in what way does that have to do with this now? If you haven't noticed, Shirou here is bleeding out!"

"Avalon is the fabled scabbard of Excalibur that belonged to King Arthur," Rin explained through gritted teeth, "Somehow, Emiya here has been in the possession of that legendary scabbard and has somehow merged with it. His father probably had something to do with that. That's how he could have summoned Saber when he had no catalyst. This is also why he had accelerated healing when Saber was near him when he got injured by Berserker."

"That... that does make sense," Luvia muttered in aghast. But then she shook her head and said, "But, that fact is useless when we can't even get him to his Servant. We are stuck in this bounded field and unless we can defeat that damned priest, we will lose him."

"Smart girls, the both of them. Truly a testament to their family," the former Assassin thought, "And yet, all that knowledge and reasoning being made useless in my trap. There was no way they could do anything significant to me. I can evade them with ease. Their so-called protector was gravely wounded and my student was too emotionally fraught with worry to do anything. Soon, the summoning will be complete and I will finally get my wish granted... a further purpose in this world."

However, he picked out something strange with his apprentice. She gave the impression of trembling. What could be happening? Slowly, she stood up, her head bowed down as she turned to face him.

"Sakura? What are you doing?" asked his ward, trying her best to slow the bleeding.

"No... Sakura!" called out the boy after her, weakly attempting to get up but was being restrained by the other two.

"Stop it, Shirou! Don't move! The bleeding will become worse!" reprimanded the blonde as she held him back.

"You should listen to them, young one," Eddie told her, feeling that a measure of wariness is needed. He did teach her, after all.

"I want Senpai to live... my one selfish request," she said as she looked up, her tear stained face looking back at him with unexpectedly fierce determination, "I am... sorry... Master. I will save him... as he has done for me."

"In creation and in death, there is only shadow and darkness..."

Her shadow twisted and morphed behind her, forming a large pool of darkness behind her. This was followed by a loud crack echoing through the courtyard. A large clawed hand reached out from the depths and grabbed the ground. Another followed. And another. And another. All four moved as if opening up a rift in the ground and a huge shadow creature hauled itself out of the pool. It towered over everyone present. It was human in shape, lean with scaly ridges as skin. It had a horned visage, much like a devil or demon. Four large, arching spikes rose up from its back. Two mouths adorned its shoulders with spikes coming out of the top. Its two upper arms had blade-like extensions coming out of the elbow and extending past its hands. It had a long tail and beast-like legs, both of which were littered with spikes. Its eyes and mouths glowed a bright red.

It let loose a great roar to announce its presence and immediately charged him down with a sudden burst of speed. It was... unexpected for something so huge to move so quickly. It slammed into him and then grabbed him by the waist. It then turned to slam him into the ground, breaking through the cement and creating a large crater.

"This... will be difficult."

She almost fell to her knees but she was able to keep it together. Sakura stumbled back as she turned around. Her face was flush as if her temperature suddenly skyrocketed, which was not too far from the truth. The whole process took a lot out of her, perhaps a bit too much.

"Sakura, are you alright?" asked Rin worriedly as she reached them and fell to her knees.

"It... it's fine, Rin... I think... I used... too much," she muttered in between labored breaths.

"I certainly hope its enough," said Luvia as she checked on the bleeding, "It just keeps coming. Whatever that priest did... we need to get him to Saber! Now!"

"I... sorry... about that... Edelfelt," the boy grit out in between breaths. He was now looking quite pale, even though he tried his best to look strong as to not worry the others.

"Maybe, I can... help?" the Matou said as she stretched her hand out to him. A dark patch of shadow crept up and went under the bloodied sleeves.

"Sakura!" her former sister shouted in protest and concern, "This is too much!"

"No, it's alright," the former rebutted softly with a smile, "It... it's fine."

"I hope it is worth it," the blonde muttered softly as she checked again. The sleeve was fully drenched; not a speck of blue could be seen.

With everything going on, they didn't notice a stealthy silhouette keeping track of things behind the stairs gate. As quietly as possible, the figure uncapped a cylinder and rolled out something metallic the size of a tennis ball. And then, a silent whisper.

"Fragarach."

The figure repeated the action. With two floating balls of metal hovering behind her, she maintained her observation. It was up to her to break the trap, after all. Everyone is needed to help stop a catastrophe from happening.

Commentary:-

Where do I begin...

Hello everyone, welcome back. Very short message previous chapter, but to be honest I did not know what to add. After that setup, there probably wasn't much else to add. But, let us go back to the chapter. So, we have them split up. Divide and conquer and all that jazz. Sadly, nobody to shout out, "It's a trap!"

So, first up is Masters versus Eddiemine. Rin. She has a plan. It started out fine, but as we know, there is always that little bit of info that she somehow forgot about. It pretty much came back to bite. Also, shadow Glacius shows up again, albeit briefly.

Saber versus Assassin Alter. Instead of making use of stealth and strategy, Assassin went all out on his offense, doing some interesting tricks, more than likely familiar to those who played Dishonored.

Noel versus Chaos Shinji. New and improved with Hazama's skillset, he is up for a little experimentation. Heck, he did a Distortion Drive on the side of a tree. A tree! Of all things! How weirder can you get? However, Noel has had time to come to terms with her experiences in her own universe. Ten long years. While he looks like Hazama, which definitely sent chills down her spine, he isn't him. Shinji is just wearing his skin.

Sounds creepy.

Moving on!

Back to Masters versus Eddiemine. Shirou tries becoming a hero again. I guess he hasn't learned enough in Berserker's class of hard knocks. Or was it brutal cuts? Anyways, here is where they realize where the lost Noble Phantasm went. You and I know it has been lost. They most certainly were not aware. And we get the most ambitious shadow construct yet. Can anyone guess which game did that come from? Any takers?

Plus, an unknown... well, unknown to them, someone has arrived earlier and has been watching the fight. Thinking of a way to overcome the obstacle that is named Eddiemine. Unlimited Code works.

Now, the setup in this chapter is admittedly shorter than most. But, I think I can make things escalate even more after this. Keep in mind, not everyone has gone all out yet. Well, Sakura has. I had been waiting quite patiently to put that in.

But now, it's time to leave. Thank you for reading. Please leave a review, if you so desire. Would you kindly?

PS: Unbeta-ed version. Will remove after running through presser.