A/N: EDIT: There's no need for flames in the reviews. Can't we all just get along? Please?

T_T

Here we go.

I'm in a lot of pain and the moment and feeling more than a little sick again, but here, I promised an update.

Looking forward to your reviews~!

Not much else to say here, but I hope you brought tissues. You may notice the phrase "Please don't go" used multiple times in this chapter. That's intentional. What made you think the Blue Faction was going to stop with Naruto, hmm? King Hassan -who is NOT a Grand Servant in this story!- was merely the opening salvo in the last chapter. They won't stop until the war restarts, or barring that, everything is cleansed.

But they made one. Fatal. Mistake.

Everyone felt the moment our boy was attacked. Jack most of all, given that she all but needs him to exist. Now, lets count, shall we? Mordred. Atalanta. Jack the Ripper. Semiramis. Jeanne of Arc. Nevermind Frankenstein and Achilles by proxy. So tell me; what happens. When you piss off a bunch of extremely powerful servants? You bring a lot of firepower and you bring it quick, or you run for the hills. Because they're furious!

Remember. Each of the girls had a shadow clone with them right before this happened.

Is Naruto dead? Is he alive? Is this all part of some master plan? Not telling.

Quote below is multiple Servants reacting to...well...last chapter.

"This...This is a joke, right, zombie? C'mon. Stop laying around!"

"You're not dead. You cannot be dead. You just can't...

You told me you were immortal! Stand up!"

How long are you gonna lay there?!

Stand up and fight, Berserker!

Please don't go!

"Uuh! (Move!)"

~?

Dance of Death

"I'm so sorry, Jackie."

The words hit Assassin's little heart like a mallet.

Something was wrong. She felt it the moment Naruto's hand tightened around hers; felt in the sudden pain in her chest. Someone had cut the link between them. It snapped back a moment later, but in its place she found herself bound to someone else. That someone wasn't him. That couldn't be right. This wasn't right.

She didn't want to look. Didn't want to turn her head, knowing what she would find there.

Some sixth sense shrieked at her, but her body betrayed her.

Jack raise her gaze. And she saw.

Naruto looked like he was in pain. No. More than that. His shadow clone was bleeding. That shouldn't be possible. Even she knew clones didn't bleed. They turned to smoke when you hit them. She'd seen it time and time again. Yet there could be no mistaking the dark arterial blood sluicing down his throat. Why? It didn't make any sense.

"I'm sorry." he repeated the words stiffly, voice cut down to a whisper as he crashed to a knee. "I...I can't hold on. Its taking all I have left just to hold my clones together. I shoved a fragment of my consciousness in here and its falling apart...

The stuffed animal tumbled from her grasp, forgotten in the chaos. "Papa...?"

He looked up, and she saw the cracks in his face.

"Come here, Jack."

Assassin obeyed, then yelped as he grabbed her and drew her into a tight embrace. She latched on with all her might, suddenly afraid that he might disappear. That was silly, right? Papa was invincible. Papa was immortal and untouchable. No one could kill him...right?

"Listen to me." he rasped into her ear, choking on every word. "I'm about to vanish. No, don't ask questions. There's no time to explain. You have to be strong, Jackie. I've already bound you to Jeanne, so you won't disappear. She has your command spells now." One hand began to stroke the small of her back, tracing small circles there to try and soothe her. It didn't work and she began to cry. "You're going to be alright." he held her tighter when the hiccups came, tiny tremors racking her petite frame. "You're going to survive."

"But what about you?!"

"I don't...matter." he shook his head. "You're more important. Go find Shakespeare. He'll know what to do. We planned for this situation."

"No! I don't care about him." she clutched at him instead, clawing into his back. "I don't want you to go!"

"You think I do?!"

His words rattled her and the tiny girl trembled, shrinking back before the weight of his fury. He'd never shouted at her before. It frightened her more than she was willing to admit. Papa must've realized it too; because he pulled her back in again, but gently this time, patting her head in slow, rhythmic movements.

"I don't want to go either, kiddo." for a moment, he sounded almost...afraid. "You were the daughter I never had. I love you."

Jack's breath hitched in her throat. Golden eyes widened.

"Please! Don't go!"

Naruto never answered.

All that held her was empty smoke.

Assassin fell face first into the ground, reaching for someone that was no longer there. Her father's warmth was gone; all that remained was cold stone and fading mist. Her lower lip trembled, harsh tears stinging at her eyes even as she fought to battle them back. Small arms closed around the stuff animal he'd won her. She squeezed it tight, trying to find comfort in a memory. That was a mistake. It made everything worse. So much worse.

Jack's entire body trembled, pupils turning to terrified slits.

"You said you would always be here...you lied...

She threw her head back and wept.


(.0.0.0.)


"Well, this is unfortunate."

It was with those four words that Jeanne knew something had gone wrong. Terribly, horribly wrong.

The kitten wriggled free from her arms, forgotten as she watched Naruto's clone stumble and fall before her. A gloved fist ground into the street as she struggled to stand, only for his legs to buckle. And yet there was a strange, almost distant calm to it all. Even when she reached out for him, and her hands passed through his hazy form.

"I don't understand." She chocked on the words. "What happened. I felt...what did you do...?"

"I don't have time. Each of us only have a few seconds left." He muttered distractedly. "I think the original did something before Assassin got him."

"Assassin?" she blinked owlishly. "But Semiramis...she wouldn't do such a thing. Would she?"

"She wasn't the one responsible." He stumbled upright. "Someone else did it."

Jeanne darted to his side without a second thought.

Strong hands seized her by the shoulders.

"Live, Jeanne." Those blazing blue eyes bored through her aqua orbs, finding her core. "You have to. Do you understand? This isn't you fault. I'm sorry for this." His hands burned red as he lashed something to her very being, causing her to cry out in pain. Too late, she realized what he'd done. In his final moments he had severed his bond with Jack and bound it to her instead. Oh, the little girl would be furious with him for this, Ruler just knew it. Yet he was still speaking, and that made the pain so much worse:

"Whatever comes next, you have to live." his fingers dug into her skin. "Or we're all dead."

Something painful tugged at her heard, a foreign, alien emotion so sharp and painful that it stole her breath away. Berserker had always seemed so...untouchable. Invincible, even. He'd always been there with a laugh and a smile, quick to dispel everyone's doubts with a quick word or a look. He was the lynchpin that held their ragtag little alliance together. Without him...!

"Wait!" she reached out for him when his form began to waver. "Please, don't go!"

"I'm sorry Jeanne." his fingers touched hers. "I really wanted to show you-

And then she was holding smoke.

Jeanne stumbled through it, eyes wide.

"Ah." A tiny noise fled from her lips. "I...ah...

In vain, she knelt and tried to gather the fading wisps of fog together, but they slipped through her fingers. When she sought to hold them, she was left with naught but empty air. Surely the Lord wouldn't allow such a thing to pass like this. Surely not. But the longer she waited, the deeper her despair became. It was too much.

A tiny fracture etched itself into her heart.

Armored fingers ground against the stone as she bit her lip. She tasted blood in her mouth.

The fracture widened into a crack, scrawling along the wall of her resolve. Surely this wasn't right. It could not be.

"Lord...I don't understand." She mumbled, turning her gaze to the overcast sky. "He was a good person. He was pure. He wanted to help people. Why have you forsaken him...?"

For once, heaven did not answer Jeanne of Arc.

She received an answer all the same.

"This is the will of the Holy Grail."

Jeanne balked, momentarily out of sorts. She hadn't expected the Greater Grail to answer her, much less in such a manner. Why would it go out of its way to eradicate a single Servant? It was pure, untainted, not corrupt by any means. So why, then? Why go out of its way to eliminate Naruto in such a manner? It didn't make a lick of sense.

"You will aid the Blue and destroy the rest of the Red Faction. They have been tainted by HIS madness. We will start again."

Her mounting fear and confusion turned to dread. "Surely that's not necessary...?"

Holy Heaven, she'd gotten attached, hadn't she? She was meant to remain impartial. An idle bystander. Instead her mind was filled with memories. Watching Mordred and Atalanta squabble like sisters. Listening as Naruto rocked Jack to sleep. Trading angry barbs with Semiramis while Achilles laughed and looked on. Sputtering when Kairi and Rum poked and prodded her like the relatives she'd never had. They weren't simply participants in the war. They were people to her. She knew little of the Black Faction and its Servants, but even so, she couldn't countenance such a thing.

"Irrelevant." The Grail dismissed her thoughts with ease. "You will obey, Ruler."

"I...I will not!" Jeanne grit her teeth. "This is madness!"

A pause. "It is the will of the Holy Grail."

Ruler bridled. "Then you're wrong!

"You WILL obey."

"I shall not!"

...

...

...

Nothing happened.

...then you will be eliminated as well."

Jeanne tensed, but her body did not betray her, nor did her mind -suddenly aware of the atrocity she was being ordered to commit!- turn on her as she'd feared it might. She felt the Grail's displeasure, yet the wishing device was powerless to enforce its order upon her. There was pain in her heart and discomfort in her thoughts, but it did not bind her. Belatedly, realized why.

The Greater Grail couldn't force her to obey its commands.

Of course it couldn't; why else would it summon a fresh faction to wipe the board and start over. Why not simply erase unruly Servants? Because it couldn't. Once a Servant was bound to a Master, that Master kept them in this world. Even she was using a human girl as a host. Perhaps that kept the Grail's influence limited.

"If this is the "god" I obey, then god is dead!"

Flames flickered at her fingertips and her eyes blazed.

With that realization, something snapped in the back of Jeanne's mind.

It was her loyalty. She picked up her flag and stalked off toward the nearest explosion.


(.0.0.0.)


Semiramis sensed it before she saw him stumble.

The clone -no, Naruto!- turned an ashen face on her, eyes wide.

He didn't even have to speak. Words were unnecessary for the two of them. She knew.

"No." the word tumbled from her lips, the confectionery treat falling from her fingers. "Someone finally managed it, didn't they? Someone killed you."

"Suppose you could say it like that." He slumped down against a nearby wall, eyes going hazy. "I'm sorry. I don't really know what happened. The boss sent out one final burst of chakra before something got him. I don't know who...but it was someone strong. He chose to save Archer instead of himself."

"The fool!"

"You do foolish things for your loved ones." Naruto coughed. "Look, I know this is sudden, and its a lot to ask, but Jack...

A terrible, keening cry split the air a few blocks down.

"Oh bugger, that's her." Naruto's clone rasped. "I bound her to Jeanne, but she's gotta be hurting. You're the only one I can trust with this. Promise me you'll look after her."

Assassin recoiled. This was a joke. A trick, surely. Some grand game meant to provoke her, or make her show weakness. Her pride bristles at the thought. This buffoon wouldn't fall. Not like this. It was all too surreal, too sudden to be true. She didn't want to believe it. She couldn't believe it. She wanted to laugh at him, to scoff as he climbed back to his feet and revealed himself to be fine. No such thing happened.

Mad blue eyes narrowed on her. "PROMISE ME! Or I swear I'll haunt you!"

Semiramis swallowed softly.

...I will."

She wasn't even sure why she spoke the words, only that she did.

"Ha." He laughed as the last of his strength bled from him, it was a soft, raspy sound. "I knew I could trust you."

"You really shouldn't." She shook her head. "Only a fool trusts a poisoner."

Bleary blue orbs blinked at her. "I still trust you."

She snarled and spit at his feet. "WHY?!"

"Because...

Berserker beckoned her forward. She leaned in and he spoke, whispering softly into her ear. The words were for her and her alone. No one else. Just a single sentence. Nothing more. Her eyes widened and her cheeks flamed a bright, indecent pink as her lips parted in confusion.

And then it was done, leaving him one last parting shot.

"For what its, worth, I really did li-

Naruto never finished that sentence; between one blink and the other, he turned to smoke.

Semiramis stood slowly, gazing down at the fading plume of white mist where he'd once been, and uttered not a word. She straightened her back slowly and smoothed the creases from her dress. Trembling hands flicked a stray strand of hair fro her face. What had been to her? She didn't know the answer. An ally? Enemy? Tormentor? Friend? Or perhaps...? No, she told herself. It didn't matter. She didn't know. She would never know, now. And whose fault was that?

"Please, don't go...

Those words fell from her lips as she reached a quivering hand through the smoke, gloved fingers unable to bring him back.

Distantly, Semiramis heard Shirou's voice call to her. She ignored him.

Because that's when it came. The anger. The rage, the all encompassing fury as she realized what Berserker had done to her. She couldn't even remember when she'd started to feel this way about him; when he'd gone from an enemy she'd sworn death upon, to a tolerable ally, then this...this...she didn't even have a word for it.

...enemy found."

Something found her first.

Semiramis heard it long before she saw it; this great lumbering creature didn't so much walk as it did crash through the building behind her.

"And who are you?"

Her adversary was a ghastly blue behemoth, more monster than man. Easily cresting well over seven feet. Sparks skittered about it with every step, and the world shook beneath its advance. Horns mounted his shoulders, sheathed by a crimson mantle and a golden crown set atop his terrible visage. A gnarled staff stood clutched in his right hand, yet the creature seemed to have no intent of using such a weapon. The behemoth stomped down and the street shattered for miles in every direction.

In a word, he was Terrible to behold.

...I am lightning. I am Rider."

Semiramis bristled.

"You dare threaten me?" Poisonous golden eyes narrowed to vivid slits. She raised a palm. "To encroach on my territory?!"

A ways in the distance, the Hanging Gardens of Babylon rose from its earthen mooring.

"Taste class advantage, bitch!"


(.0.0.0.)


"Damnit!"

Mordred jumped as the shadow clone rammed his right arm through a wall, spraying plaster in every direction.

"What the hell, zombie?!" she snapped.

Naruto didn't answer. He punched the wall again and again, tearing out great chunks of masonry with every swing. With the other he held her close, keeping his left limb wrapped tight around her waist.

Abruptly, the violence ceased and his chin came down on her shoulder.

"Someone got the original." he pulled away just as quickly, holding her at arm's length. "Don't even know if he's alive or not. I'm sorry. I wanted to see where this went. I wanted," he grimaced, trying to find words that refused to come. In the end he gave up and shrugged. "Oh, screw it. If I'm going to die...!"

His mouth crushed against hers before she could react, tongue ruthlessly plundering her mouth.

Mordred found herself yielding for him with a gasp, one that became a rare moan as he gripped her by the waist and drew her in. Then she fought back, angling her head and pushing against him desperately, feeling a fear she'd not felt since she was alive. She couldn't explain it, only that she felt it all the same. Their kisses weren't gentle by any means or measure. They were rough and fierce and perfect, everything she'd ever wanted yet never known to long for.

And then he pulled away, leaving her gasping for air.

"Naruto...

"C'mon, don't cry." Twin fingers flicked her forehead. "C'mon, don't cry. I've got three seconds and no regrets. Go find Atalanta. Help her. She's nearby."

"Please don't go." she cursed herself for her weakness even as she grabbed at his hand. "You can't die. Fight it! Resist! Like you always do!"

"I can't." He gave her a sad little smile as he faded. "And I love you too, hothead. Protect everyone for me, would you?"

With those last words, her world turned to smoke.

Mordred didn't weep. She was too strong for that. She didn't bend, she didn't break; she didn't take her fury and bury it deep like a sane knight would. No. The Knight of Treachery took her fury and held onto it, unleashed all of her love, all her anger, all her sorrow in a single shout.

"YOU BETTER BE!"

"Oh, my!" an light, airy voice purred behind her. "Did he die already? That's a shame. I wanted to skewer him for what he did to my Atalanta."

Mordred strangled a choking scream in her throat and willed -nay, forced!- herself to turn and face them before she flew into a blind rage. She only partially succeeded.

"Who in the blue hell are you?!"

"Oops~!" her adversary knuckled her forehead and stuck out her tongue. "Sorry about that. I'm Artermis. Can I kill you now?"

Mordred twitched. Kill? Alright. Killing sounded like a damn good idea right about now.

"Right." a cloud of steam escaped her clenched teeth. "You're dead."

"If you say so~!"

Saber raised her arm and her blade snarled into her waiting palm. A column of crimson light burst from it, bathing the world in scarlet relief. Mordred barely felt the heat scorch her skin, and she didn't care. She barely saw her opponent through her tears; some white-haired bitch with a bow. Didn't matter. He was dead. She was dead. They were all dead. Everyone who dared to run this evening? They'd be ashes. She swore it on her pride, on her sword, on her everything. If she was going to die here, she'd go down swinging.

And the debt would be repaid the only way she knew how.

It would be in blood. Buckets of enemy blood.

"CLARENT BLOOD ARTHUR!"


(.0.0.0.)


Rage.

It turned Atalanta's world red and severed her anchor of self control, casting her adrift in a storm-tossed sea of her own making. The raft of her emotions crumbled beneath her with each passing moment, threatening to send her plunging into the depths, never to return. She tried to cling on. Tried to hold herself together. Tried to be anything other than she was. She tried so hard. But in the end, none of it mattered. All that anger she'd felt guttered out the moment she laid eyes on Naruto's corpse again. She wanted to hold onto her fury. Wanted to use it.

"No, no, no!"

She failed spectacularly and crawled forward on her hands and knees, reaching for Naruto's corpse. It didn't budge. Didn't spring upright, didn't do a song and a dance, didn't laugh his death off as he had every other time before. Why? She'd not seen him lose his head before, but surely this wasn't enough to kill him...right? Where had his head gone? She couldn't find it. Her hands came away bloody and she struggled to pull him upright, frantically trying to ignore the red stains seeping into her dress.

"Don't do this to me." she begged, wrapping her arms around his chest. "Please...you can't...

Her eyes stung, burning with bitter tears as she buried her head into his chest.

A tiny, keening whine fled from her lips. "Please don't leave me all alone...

"I...haven't...

The voice brought her up short.

Had she imagined it just now? Hadn't she? Small. Weak. Little more than a whisper. She could have imagined it. Had she? She wasn't sure. His body had yet to dissolve as a Servant's should. Did that mean anything? She wanted to cling to hope, but it was too painful. She didn't dare. Hope hurt.

A blade slammed into cobblestones, bringing her up short.

"Enough of this." Assassin of Blue declared. "You are a Servant. Why do you mourn a corpse?"

Just like that, the dying embers of Atalanat's anger howled back to life. Murderer. What did he know of emotions?!

"Shut up! What do you know?!"

"You are angry." That eerie blue-and-black behemoth turned to face her, azure flames burning bright in the ghastly sockets of its skull. "That is your right. Come. If you mourn him so, then I shall reunite the two of you in death."

Atalanta twitched Angry?

No, that didn't even begin to describe how Atalanta felt in this moment. Miserable. Heartbroken. Alone. She'd finally let her guard down, forsaken her vow to find happiness, and for what? This?! She'd seen this thing carve through Naruto with ease and knew she would die if she faced it. She wasn't a frontline fighter; that task was best left to Saber and Berserker.

She still drew an arrow to her bow and drilled it between Assassin's eyes.

He vanished in a blur of blue flame. And then there was pain.

"Accept your defeat."

A single swing severed her legs just below her knees and sent her slamming into the street. It was a cruel strike, brisk and efficient, not a single moment wasted. She cried out in pain, drew her bow, only to watch it break in her hands as the blade bisected it down the middle. Her weapon shattered like brittle kindling, leaving her clutching broken wood.

"Enough, Servant of Red." The blade swung down again, and the fingers of her right hand flew awa. "Your legs are gone. Your bow is shattered. Why do you persist in this farce? Submit."

Atalanta grit her teeth and slammed her forehead against the blackened earth to clear it.

Was this what death felt like? Surely it must be.

Somehow, she managed to drag herself into an upright position. Though her legs failed her, though she could not stand, she could at least kneel. She had to move. Had to rise. If that thing grabbed her again she would die. Her head ached horribly, a foul reminder of just how close she'd come to losing her life a moment before. Why persist? She knew why. Berserker. She loved him. And this enemy...it would kill everything he wanted to protect. If she let it get past her, the others would undoubtedly die.

Harsh laughter bubbled out of her, frothing with blood on her lips.

"Foolishness. Have you gone mad from fear?"

Atalanta laughed all the louder.

And this monster...he would not pass. She knew what she had to do. Her trump card. It would restore her. Heal her...at a terrible cost. There would be no coming back from it. There was a bitter irony to be had here; not so long ago, Naruto had gone Berserk for her. Now she'd be doing the same. Screw the gods. If they would have her suffer like this, then they weren't for sake.

"I...abandon my oath."

Her arm swept back, drawing a dark ebony pelt from her pelt. Assassin went terribly still above her.

"A monster to beat a monster. That's what I'll become." Gasping, the disgraced Archer hoisted the pelt high in her bloodied hand. "ASSASSIN OF BLUE!" Her voice cracked as she choked on her own blood. "Old Man of the Mountain! You won't touch anyone else! I won't let you! For his sake! For mine! You'll die here!"

"Take heed, madwoman." the specter of death intoned. "You walk down a path you cannot return from. If you use that Noble Phantasm, you won't be yourself anymore."

"Mad?" Atalanta tilted her head nearly horizontal, a wide grin splitting her face. "Idiot. We're all mad here."

Laughing, she rammed the tainted pelt into her chest. Gold eyes narrowed to hooded slits.

"Agrius Metamorphosis!"

Her world burned to cinders as the tainted garment crawled across her body. Rationality? Abandon it. Sanity? Discard it. Morals? Ignore them. She threw everything away and held tight to her emotions, binding them as a small silver pearl in her chest. She held tight to it even as everything else became ash in her mind and crumbled to ash. This alone, she would keep. She screamed as her wounds sealed, screamed when her savaged legs restored themselves, screamed throughout it all, her world red from the raw agony of it as her worries became dim and small.

In that moment, Archer of Red truly died; from her ruined core, a new Berserker was born.

Atalanta stood on restored legs with thoughts unclouded, expression blank as she considered the enemy before her. A new bow manifested in her hand, but she banished it back into the aether with nary a second thought of her treasured tool. No. Now was not the time for such a weapon. Now was the time for fang and claw. Now was the time for savagery. As an Archer, reason would have slowed her reflexes. Fear should have stayed her hand, bid her to retreat, run away and live to fight another day.

Madness leaked into her thoughts even as it enhanced her body.

Run? Why should she run? Her enemy was before her. He'd taken her beloved away. Hurt her mate. Unforgivable. There could be no redemption for this; his only recourse was death. She would rip and tear until the deed as done and Berserker was avenged. The thought almost drew a made giggle from her. Heh. Now she was the Berserker. Was this what it felt like to lose oneself in madness? To be freed from inhibition? She could see why Naruto espoused the benefits of his class. Still, this Assassin of Blue had hurt Naruto, hurt him dearly.

Her lips twitched into a snarl, baring her fangs.

And for that? Well! Assassin had to die.

Simple, really.

"You delay the inevitable." Assassin's mask regarded her without emotion. "A class change will avail you naught."

Atalanta's snarl became a small smile. She beckoned. "You talk too much. Fight me. Now."

...as you wish, deluded creature."

He vanished into a whirl of azure flame once more.

"On your left."

Perhaps she truly had gone mad; she couldn't think of any other reason why she might be hearing Naruto's voice in her head.

Did the reason matter? No, not really. Her madness brushed it aside and her body moved accordingly.

Atalanta obeyed the voice regardless and swayed out of the way; allowing that hideous blade to rupture the street rather than her flesh. When the wraith's shield slammed down at her face, the nimble woman evaded it as well. She ducked, swatted the hulking metal aside, then rammed an armored foot into the abomination's chest.

"Hrrngh?!"

Assassin grunted in surprise and skidded back into the square against his will, blade digging a furrow in the street as he fought to arrest his unexpected momentum. He did not panic. He did not snarl. Nor did he shout. He simply straightened his back, readied his shield yet again, and stood tall. This time there could be no mistake the wariness burning in the pits of his eyes. She knew he wouldn't rush in like that again. Good. She didn't want this to end too soon. That would be a mercy.

There was no mercy here.

He would suffer as she'd suffered.

"I will kill you, Assassin." Atalanta snarled. "Slowly.

Assassin raised his blade to meet her. "You may try, my child."

Berserker launched herself at him with a roar. And the world imploded.

A/N: Cry havoc and let slip the dogs of war!

Here we go, its Red vs. Blue and not in the way you might think!

One might argue that you shouldn't piss off a pure Holy Grail; but the reverse is also true. You shouldn't anger the SERVANTS summoned by said Grail. On that note, I'm sure many of you noticed Naruto's body didn't dissolve yet; that, and the messages he managed to get out through his clones. Wonder why that is? I could say more buuuuut...

So in the Immortal Words of Atlas...

...Review...Would You Kindly?

Only three previews.

(Preview)

"CLARENT BLOOD ARTHUR!"

Artemis coughed angrily as she emerged from the ruined crater. "Stop spamming that thing!"

Clarent descended on her with a wrathful roar, blazing scarlet flames. "Eat shit and die AAAAAAAAAAAAAARCHER!"


A hand caught his wrist.

King Hassan blinked. "Your place isn't here, Rider of Red."

Achilles rammed a fist into his chest and sent him crashing into a building. "BITE ME!"

The armored assassin was still climbing to his feet when the violent violet meteor that was Atalanta crashed down on him from high.


"You killed that boy. His story was to be my magnum opus, and you slew him."

"...?"

"Congratulations!" when Shakespeare's smile returned, it baffled the Servant of Blue. "You've made me quite angry. That's a rare feat. And you're right. I am weak. Absurdly so." He feigned a laugh as brittle as his smile. "I cannot possibly hope to best you in anything resembling a fair fight. However! I am also a Caster." Now he bowed as he held out his right hand, pages fluttering from the book clutched within. "And I am not without my tricks. Nor am I without allies of my own."

His grin took on a wicked edge as a pillar of light bloomed in the night sky.

Lancer of Blue looked up. Their impassive facade began to crumble as they saw the shining star.

"You can kill me quite easily." Shakespeare's lips peeled back in a snarl. "But what of Karna? Your assassin denied him the rematch he sought. He's quite displeased with you lot." A shadow emerged behind him as a very familiar child stepped out of the alley nearby. "Nevermind little Jackie here. You're in quite the pickle, I dare say!"

R&R~!

~Nz.