The first thing I noticed was the sounds of birds chirping merrily together. The faint aroma of flowers and trees soon followed. Unless my senses were deceiving me, which honestly was a very strong possibility, it seemed that we had landed in a forest. Of course, that only told me that we had undergone once again a successful Rayshift, but not where we were.

When I opened my eyes, I saw that we were standing in the middle of a rather scenic-looking forest. I quickly cast my gaze around us, as a number of other Servants like Mordred were doing, looking for any hint of immediate danger in our surroundings. Considering what had happened to me in the last proper singularity deployment, I no longer held such naïve thoughts about an immediate and temporary sanctuary upon arriving.

Thankfully, there were no pirates cocking their pistols and muskets at us, no horde of mindless skeletal soldiers, nor even a Servant. I exhaled slowly, nodding at Mordred that it seemed all clear for us. The Knight of Rebellion grunted softly and loosened her stance slightly. Clarent disappeared from her hands, though I knew from past experience that she could and would summon the monstrous-sized blade in an instant should she need it.

"Looks like we landed safely," Mash said rather cheerfully, once more in her black-and-purple armor. She didn't have her shield out yet, as she was currently not needing it. She looked down at her wrist-borne commlink, tapping on it a few times. "Alright, I have a date for us."

"What's the year?" I asked, my palm resting idly against the pommel of my sword. It was an important question, especially considering the short but chaotic timespan of the United States' history. Doctor Roman had indicated that it was sometime in the 1780s, but there was always a chance of a miscalculation.

Mash looked up at me. "It says that the year is 1783." I hummed and nodded. 1783, huh?

"What's so important about that date, Jacob?" Ritsuka asked. I felt stupid for a moment. Of course, someone born and raised in Japan wouldn't have focused a whole lot on the dates of American history, just as I would have had trouble remembering a number of important dates in Japanese history.

"It's the last year of the American Revolutionary War. Technically, the United States of America doesn't exist. Rather, on the eastern seaboard, there are the Thirteen Colonies of Massachusetts, Rhode Island, New Hampshire, Connecticut, New York, Delaware, New Jersey, Pennsylvania, Virginia, Maryland, South Carolina, Georgia, and North Carolina. Currently, they are on the verge of winning the recognition of independence from the Kingdom of Great Britain, now known as either England or the United Kingdom. This year is considered to have been the kick starter of the 'Age of Revolutions', much to the consternation of many of the European monarchies."

"After the end of the Revolutionary War and the official formation of the United States of America, this nation will turn into a monster-like mega power that dominates the world," Mash added. I couldn't help but frown slightly at that. She did have a point, even if it felt arrogant.

"Some of the more…patriotic boys from my high school would be over the moon with excitement if they found out that the birth of America was considered a keystone to human history," I muttered. Ritsuka coughed politely.

"While I am grateful for the information and all, I do have a question of my own. Just who is the enemy here? England?" Mash and I shook our heads in unison, while Mordred scoffed.

"Let's avoid the whole hypothetical, 'what if England had won' song and dance. It was rather likely that eventually the Thirteen Colonies would achieve their own independence. The distance between North America and the British Isles was too great to maintain firm control for the era for an area that tended to be full of rather independent-natured individuals. It might not have had the same name, but eventually America would have become a nation." I paused and hummed, tapping the pommel of my sword idly. I noticed that Ritsuka was still looking at me questioningly, and I suppressed a sigh.

"The point that I'm trying to make here is, the identity of our enemies is unknown. We must proceed with caution." Ritsuka relaxed, while some of the other Servants made quiet sounds of acknowledgement. I took another long look at Mordred and the other Servants, then Ritsuka, deep in thought as yet another potential problem became clear to me.

A problem that I felt was stupid, but that didn't make it any less relevant.

"We're probably going to have to be careful in cities," I said, eyeing Ritsuka and some of the other Servants once more. My fellow Master tilted his head to the side in confusion.

"What do you mean?"

"Social issues," I stated rather bluntly. "For example, a number of people will think that you are a) Chinese and b) that somehow makes you inferior. Racism was rather strong in Europe and America at this time." Ritsuka's jaw fell open and he stared at me in shock.

"That's not very fair," he managed to utter. He sounded utterly shocked and hurt, and I couldn't very damn well blame him for feeling such emotions. I nodded grimly, frowning.

"You're right. It's not. Unfortunately, we're probably going to have to deal with it," I said, my face scrunching up in disgust. Social issues were something that was beyond my paygrade. Even if we could fix these injustices, in the long run, they would only reset when we leave." Ritsuka exhaled sharply, sounding rather disgruntled, and I couldn't blame him for that.

For all the good that some people like to bray aloud about America doing, there was also bad. Just like almost every last country in the world. And even if we could fix these issues, to what end would it be for? Any kind of social progress would be undone the instant we solved the Fifth Singularity.

"Thank you for the warning, Jacob," Ritsuka said rather tiredly. Mash frowned softly, looking at me with concern, before walking over to her boyfriend. It looked for a moment that she was about to embrace my friend in a loving hug, but she blushed and instead comfortingly gripped his right shoulder. Ritsuka looked up and shot her a thankful look. He then looked at me. "Okay, enough with the pity train and all. This singularity isn't going to resolve itself!"

I nodded my head, chuckling softly. "That it won't," I concurred. It was a sign of Ritsuka's own growth. In the past, he would have had a rather downtrodden expression for some time, even as he would protest that no, nothing was wrong with him. That he was okay. I started to open my mouth to respond to my fellow Master.

"Do you hear that?" Atalante suddenly said rather sharply, the Archer's lion ears twitching faintly. We all fell silent, and strained our own ears. It took me a few moments, but I then noticed the sound of distant explosions and shouting. My brow furrowed as I gripped the pommel of my sword tightly, ready to unsheathe my main weapon at a moment's notice.

"Yeah, I can hear it," Mordred said, her helmet assembling itself over her face as Clarent appeared in a haze of red in her hands. "Sounds like someone's having a party. Master, mind if we do some gate crashing?"

I was cut off once more before I could respond. This time, it was from my wrist-mounted commlink. Figuring it was Doctor Roman, I pressed the button and accepted the incoming call from Chaldea. "We're here, Doc."

"Good to hear it! Atalante and Mordred are correct. There is some sort of a battle going on just beyond the forest you all are in. It's reading as a full-scale one, and it looks like this isn't an ordinary one! Please hurry and check it out!" Doctor Roman spoke frantically, barely managing to keep his words from running into one another and forming a long-ass sentence.

"Understood," I replied, drawing my sword out of its sheath and ending the call. I turned to the others, each of whom had summoned their weapons. Ritsuka himself was holding his own sword in steady hands. I gave him a slight nod of approval, and he smiled grimly in return. I waved my sword slightly.

"Alright, you heard the good doctor!" I roared. "Let's go!"

It took us about ten minutes to reach the edge of the forest. With every step we took, the sounds of gunfire, shouting, and screaming grew louder and louder. I kept getting flashbacks to the final assault with Nero outside the gates of the United Empire's capital.

When we finally made it out of the forest, everyone came to a stop, shocked by the mess of things right in front of us. It seems that Roman's comment about the fighting he detected not being normal was one hell of an understatement.

"This is…" Mash inhaled sharply, her eyes as wide as mine. She didn't seem able to finish her sentence, though I was more than happy to take over for her.

"This certainly wasn't part of the Revolutionary War!" I exclaimed, even as I felt stupid for making one of the most blatant observations in the history of observations. But hey, sue me! This was a fucking mess!

The field was heavily scarred. Where once no doubt vibrant, emerald grass had once grown and flourished, only dried earth was left, with some rocks here and there to break up the outline. Occasionally, large craters could be seen, the result of canon shells scarring the earth. It was a more 'modern' battlefield than the ones I previously had seen personally.

It was expected, for better or worse. It also had the dubious honor of being perhaps the only thing before us that made any sense!

The sight before us looked like something out of a sci-fi fantasy film. In other words, crazy beyond what even we were used to!

On one side, there was a mixture of human soldiers in what looked like a modified form of the uniforms of the Continental Army of the era, though their weapons were strange. Instead of flintlock muskets, the majority of them seemed to be armed with bolt-action rifles. A technology that hadn't even been developed for another hundred or so years! As I watched them form up in neat ranks, a tactic of the era that was horrendously out of date with the tactics used during the golden era of the bolt-action rifle, I was able to hear one of the (presumably) officers leading the group.

"Stand your ground, elites of the glorious Mechanical Infantry Brigade! Protect this territory with your lives!" His words of encouragement elicited a throaty roar of agreement from his men, but they weren't the only ones to respond to the unnamed American officer.

The disbelief I encountered regarding the more modern firearms the soldiers possessed was small beans compared to the soldiers' other equipment. Mash let out a gasp of shock, while Babbage let out a release of steam that I had associated with surprise from him.

Several dozen or so massive robots were moving in formation with the soldiers. Colored in gaudy red, white, and blue coloring, with some silver and gold on the torso and shoulders, each robot looked like a simplified version of my Caster standing nearby. Instead of an oversized club or sword in their hands, however, each of the robots had some sort of large-caliber machine gun mounted to their right arm.

One of the robots spoke out in a tinny, mechanical voice devoid of any pretense of humanity. "Yes. Domination Order. We're ready to keep firing until our guns are empty.

"W-What is going on?" Mash demanded, her eyes wide in shock. A part of me felt offended somehow, that it wasn't the only American in the group who was shouting aloud that question. Ritsuka reached out and gently grabbed his girlfriend's right shoulder.

"Hey, calm down, Mash. Panicking will do us no good," my fellow Master counseled. Mash blushed and nodded, while I finally managed to tear my eyes away from the human-robot force on the left side of the battlefield and gazed towards the right.

In an almost comedic way, the forces comprising the other army were less shocking somehow, though no less bizarre. Hundreds, perhaps even thousands, of red-haired and bearded men were getting ready to charge in a human wave tactic towards the American soldiers. Some of the warriors had helmets rather similar-looking to the ones used by Nero's Roman Legionaries, and had a chainmail shirt protecting their body. Some had capes, some didn't. Some had just the helmets or were even virtually nude.

The warriors had shields, spears, clubs, or a bow and arrow. To a man, they were completely out of place and time. But in this case, it was more of a past coming to the future, instead of the future coming to the past. They noticed us first, a particularly large and muscular warrior mounted on horseback, with what appeared to be a bronze eagle figurine with articulated wings had been added to his helmet, gesturing violently and emphatically at us with a long, lance-like spear.

"We're about to have company," I called out grimly. I adopted a two-handed grip of my sword as about three to four dozen warriors ran ahead from the group towards us. It seemed less of a coordinated attack than a reckless charge, but they still outnumbered us.

At least, on paper. Servants had a rather wonderful tendency of evening the odds in these kinds of situations.

However, it seemed that fate wasn't quite satisfied with her work just yet regarding the current situation. At that very moment, the American force must have noticed our presence, for one of the robots suddenly spoke up.

"Oh, terrible," it said, sounding utterly emotionless despite the way it was speaking. "Enemy reinforcements spotted. Firing warning shot, then proceeding to extermination!" To my dismay, other robots nearby were also turning and pointing their built-in weapons towards us. Well, at least the soldiers seemed to be content in watching the bulk of the other army, instead of engaging us.

"The guns are pointed at us, Senpai!" Mash called out to Rits, a bit unnecessarily as the whole of the robotic force marched towards us. Ritsuka growled softly, drawing forth his sword.

"For now, let's fight back!" Called out my fellow Master. I grunted in agreement.

"I concur wholeheartedly. Rits, focus on the robots. I'll deal with the warriors." While I had agreed to not take the brunt of the fighting anymore, I still wasn't ready to let Ritsuka fight and kill fellow humans. Thankfully, I was provided with a convenient workaround, at least for the moment."

"Alright. Good luck!"

"You too," I said, before Babbage spoke up.

"Master, I request permission to assist Master Ritsuka. I wish to inspect these lookalikes up-close," the robotic Caster requested. I nodded.

"Alright, permission granted."

"Just like old times, eh, Princess?" Mordred teased me, a battle-hungry look in her emerald eyes. I sighed and shook my head at her predictable words, though I wouldn't deny that a more feral sensation was entering my body, hungry for fighting.

"Indeed. You know the drill, guys. Take them down!"

"You got it, Master!" Mordred roared rather eagerly, while to my mild surprise Jeanne Alter spoke up.

"With pleasure!"

The other Servants called out their own acknowledgments, and then the Celtic-looking warriors were on us, and I focused on the melee.

With a snarl, I sidestepped a downward thrust that would have cleaved my hat and skull in half and took a half-step forward. Twisting my hips slightly as I also swung my sword, I grunted in grim satisfaction as my blade sliced deeply into the back of the nearly-naked warrior.

Letting out a choked, unintelligible scream, the enemy warrior collapsed onto the ground, sword and shield slipping out from his hands. Not wanting to take a chance of him merely playing possum, before stabbing me in the back (futile though it would have probably been given my extremely protective dragon scale breastplate), I reversed the grip of my sword and stabbed it downwards with all my strength, piercing both his back and his heart.

The body went limp, and it started dissolving, like the pirates we had faced off against with Drake in the Fourth Singularity. Ghosts given physical form, then? Or maybe the result of a Noble Phantasm. Either way, it confirmed that the presence of what I presumed to be Celts was completely artificially induced.

…Not that one needed a degree to figure that out…

"Ha!" Mordred roared, impaling a fully-armored spearmen to the hilt of Clarent in a single, powerful thrust. Two more soldiers charged at her, each from a different side. Mordred's left hand shot out and grabbed the spear just below the metal head at the same time that she deflected the sword with Clarent in her right hand.

Snapping the spear in half, Mordred grabbed the section still held by the warrior on her left and pulled him in close. In a single, swift, and extremely deadly flick of the wrist, Mordred had Clarent slice open the sternum of the spearman, before beheading the swordsman.

Further away, I felt the column of fire erupt before I could see it. I fought hard to not flinch and close my eyes as I heard the guttural screaming of a half-dozen or so enemy warriors being burnt alive by Jeanne Alter's fire. I turned to see the Avenger apparently fly out of the flames, embers trailing the end of her heavy cloak as she landed in front of her own trio of warriors.

With a savage smirk on her lips, she lashed out with her banner like Chulainn would with Gàe Bolg. She impaled the center figure easily. One of his two comrades dashed in, but unlike Jeanne, the Dragon Witch was using more than just her iconic banner.

Her blackened sword plunged downward as if it were an oversized dagger, the long blade easily rendering apart the protective iron rings that guarded his breast. Swiftly retracting her sword, and yanking free her banner, Alter used the latter to block the sword, before impaling the last warrior standing immediately in front of her with the former.

The other Servants were having a relatively easy time decimating the Celtic-looking warriors. In a matter of minutes, the entire attacking force that had charged us was wiped out to a man. We weren't out of the woods yet, though. More of the more primitive-looking warriors were eyeing us.

We needed to get the hell out of here.

From behind, I heard a horrified shout. It wasn't from any of our friends holding off the American soldiers, thank heavens. It took me a split-second, but I recognized it as the voice of the officer from earlier.

"I-Impossible!" He stammered, and I could imagine the shock and horror on his face. "The enhanced exoskeleton 'Hard Work Mark 2' given by His Excellency was destroyed! And by so few? Could they…they must be some of the Servant-Type enemies His Excellency warned us about!" His Excellency? I blinked in confusion. Were George Washington and the members of the Continental Congress all dead or something? This didn't bode well. I wanted to shout to the officer and demand that he tell us who this leader the soldier was referring to was.

"Fine! All units, retreat! Fall back to the starting point and hold out there until our reinforcements arrive! Hurry!" Damn. Well, at least we earned a temporary reprieve on that side as well. Aside from busted robot shells and a few weapons and shields, we were alone on the field. Victorious, but with more questions than answers.

"Hah… Hah…" Mash panted as we regrouped. A rather heavy layer of sweat was dripping down her forehead. The tips of her pink bangs were damp and sticking to her forehead. Her cheeks were smeared with some dirt and oil, but she had a proud and relieved expression on her lips. "We did it, Master!"

"And this is why 'Monkey in the Middle' is a terrible idea," I grumble, sheathing my sword. I don't fully let go of the hilt, however.

"At least they gave some of us a half-decent warm-up," Mordred said, her helmet retracting back into her armor as she flicked Clarent to the side idly to shake off the blood still sticking to the broad blade before resting the sword against her shoulder pauldron.

"We should retreat, though. While we've won the fight here, it looks like we haven't made any allies here. Nor have we driven them off the field for good. We need to put as much distance between us and here before those reinforcements that officer mentioned show up. He seemed to have recognized what Servants are. That might mean that they have some allied Servants of their own."

"He's got a point," Mordred said, surprising Jeanne Alter and a few other Servants as well by the rare public display of prudence regarding future combat. Again, just another side of Mordred few people got to discover. I shot her a subtle smile of appreciation, which she returned with that normal smirk of hers.

"Alright, I agree," Ritsuka said, already walking in a northerly direction. "Let's head to those mountains for now."

"Very well," I said, turning around to take one last quick look at the battlefield. I started to walk when I noticed something in the distance. My eyes widened as I saw a silvery glint of a gun barrel and the uniform of the soldier holding the weapon.

"Rits, duck!" I shouted, noticing the soldier taking aim at my fellow Master. Not wanting to leave anything to chance, I ran forward, arms outstretched, fully prepared to tackle him to the ground. The seconds felt like they were slowing down with each step I took.

It felt like my heart was pounding in my eardrums as I closed in. Ritsuka was halfway through turning to face me, a quizzical look on his face as he had apparently missed the danger that I had spotted. Sensing that there was no time to explain, I threw myself at Rits, intent on tackling him to the ground.

As I felt my body make contact with his, and a soft groan escaping from Ritsuka's lips as the air was knocked out of him, I heard the sound of the rifle being fired. Ritsuka was already on his way to the ground, but I was now in his place.

The next second, I found myself flung onto my side a few feet away from him. The world was spinning, and I felt an odd sensation coming from my left hip. A ringing sensation seemed to be pounding against my ears, though I could feel a number of heavy footsteps running towards me. I felt something wet trickle down my left thigh.

With a trembling hand, I pressed my hand to my hip, and felt something warm and sticky stick to my palm. Feeling a sinking feeling in my stomach, I brought it up to see the skin that was stained crimson. Blood. My blood.

I had been shot.

I started to open my mouth to say something, anything, but all that escaped from my lips was a short gasp, which quickly evolved into a full-on scream of agony as a bolt of pain shot through my veins. The pain I felt was indescribable. Overwhelming, in fact.

"Master? Jacob!" A familiar, armored figure appeared over my face, a blond ponytail dangling inches above my nose as wide, green eyes pleaded with me. "Stay with me, Jacob. Hey, this isn't funny. Don't you dare pass out on me!" Mordred pleaded with an uncharacteristic level of panic in her voice as I felt my eyelids grow rather heavy. I could hear unintelligible shouting from amongst the others, but I was only able to really focus on the voice of the Knight of Rebellion.

I wanted to tell my beloved knight that I wasn't going to leave her, but I couldn't talk through the pain. My screams had died down into whimpers, and I felt my body going numb as shock set in. My vision began to grow dark, but I barely managed to make out the sight of a figure in red appearing opposite of Mordred. An unknown feminine voice was heard.

"…Help me carry him so that I can treat his wounds…"

Then, everything faded into black.

Original Endnotes: And done! Good cliffhanger, I hope? Also, I wonder who that mysterious voice is? ;)

It's certainly interesting writing about the American Singularity from Jacob's perspective since I'm an American :P

As I mentioned earlier, there will be some changes in how the Fifth Singularity is going to go down. For example, I will only be loosely following the general idea (save here and there) what happens between the deployment to the Fifth Singularity, and meeting Edison. Mainly because how it happens in the game is not very compatible with having more than one or two Servants. Hopefully, y'all will still enjoy the chapters, but please let me know what you think!

Now, for the question(s) of the chapter! First up: If you had to pick between aligning yourself with Edison's faction or Cu Alter's faction, which would it be and why? Second question: Who's excited for the SummerFes Event rerun? I know I sure as hell am! :)

As always, thanks for reading, and for all the amazing support you all have given this story. I hope you enjoyed Chapter 104, and please let me know what you think! Looking forward to your comments and question answers, and have a wonderful day! See you next time!

Updated Endnotes 01/30/23: As always, if you want to skip the wait, you can find the fully-updated original copy of my story on Archive of Our Own. Chapter 236 was just posted today, in fact. Otherwise, have a fantastic next few days, and see you all next time!