Moon Goddess and the Dumplings: V

Only the repeated sounds of metal tapping against metal could be heard within the barely illuminated darkness of the cave that the Chaldeans rested in. The outcrop they all sat upon provided them an excellent viewpoint over the large clearing above which sat the mouth to the pit and a window to the knight sky.

The Moon hung perfectly overhead, shining down and revealing the two large Chimera's for all to see as they slept next to the remaining boxes of Chaldean supplies.

Leaning up against the wall near the small entrance to their outcrop, Ash was stood cross armed with his metal gauntlet continuing to tap away at his other gauntleted arm to mind the time. The Saber let out a small sigh as they continued to wait.

"...How long has it been now?" He asked, Ritsuka looked up from his cross-legged position on the ground with a slightly tired expression before he tilted his wrist and looked down at his small watch present.

A lovely little gizmo from Da Vinci so that they could acclimatise to the timezone of whatever location and time period they ended up in. Still in its trial phase but Ritsuka could see the uses. One of which was being used to see just how long it had been since he called for Gwyndolin and Artemis to catch up to them.

"Um...Twelve Minutes." The Master replied with a yawn "...Does it normally take this long?"

"I don't think so, Senpai." Mash replied to him with a small shrug "Perhaps Gwyndolin-san and Artemis-san encountered something which delayed them?" she reasoned, looking to the two Saber servants for confirmation.

Solaire rubbed his chin in thought before he slowly nodded his head "I would assume so. There were other Servants summoned here...Like Aldrich."

Ritsuka cringed "Really?" then paused and knit his brows together "What happened to him?"

"He tried to fight a young girl with tan skin and white hair." Solaire replied with a small chuckle "Strangest thing...her sword looked like a rainbow."

"...A rainbow?" Ash tilted his head "What type of bow is that?"

"Hm?" Solaire looked to him before making a small noise of realisation "It is a strange multicoloured pattern in the sky normally after raining."

"And this girl had a sword that looked like it?" Solaire nodded his head "Huh...odd."

"So...what happened to Aldrich?" Mash asked, Solaire sudden winced.

"Well...I didn't catch much of it." The Knight admitted "I had been on my way to help her when a beam of light fell from the sky and just incinerated the false Saint on the spot." he saw the dumbfounded expressions around him "Believe me, I was as shocked as you all are now. At that point...I decided it would be best to leave such an individual alone...in case they were as receptive to me as the knave Aldrich."

"Can't blame you for that." Ritsuka nodded his head slowly, then let out a breath as he pushed himself to his feet "Well...we can't wait for Gwyndolin forever. Besides, I'm sure we can take those things down there."

"Oh yes." Solaire nodded his head without any shred of doubt in him "Although I am low on magical energy, I am afraid. Use of my Noble Phantasm is beyond me."

"I've taken bigger." Ash grunted, hefting the Onyx blade onto his shoulder "Just large cat things, are they not?"

"I believe that is a...I stand corrected." Solaire pointed out "...It isn't a scorpion tail."

"Is it not?" Ritsuka asked "Just a normal tail?"

"No...It's a snake head." Ash replied this time, leaning his head forwards to get a better look "And it appears the right side of its body is that of another strange horned animal...It looks a little bit like a Ghru."

"...I think that is a goat, Ash-san." Mash replied with a small frown of her own "I think so. I haven't seen one before."

"I believe you are correct, Lady Mash." Solaire nodded his head, still staring at the Chimera's with a look of mild intrigue as he took his helmet out from underneath his armpit and held it above his head "Still, I suppose there is a time and a place for admiring ones adversary's is there not?" he joked as he rested the helmet on his head, his sun shaped shield flashed into existence on his left arm while his right clasped the handle of his sword.

"Probably right." Ritsuka nodded his head "...So how are we gonna do this?"

"Same way I always handle these situations." Ash replied, readying his greatsword and taking a step onto the edge of the outcrop "By simply walking up to them."

"Ash-san I don't think that's a-" Mash's protest was cut off when the Saber walked off the edge of the drop and fell towards the ground, the sound of his armoured boots slamming into the rocky floor with enough force to crack them instantly woke up the two Chimera's.

Ritsuka gaped at the Saber from above the ridge "How was that a plan!?"

"Simple plans work wonders!" Ash called back, flicking his sword and coating it in black flames as he advanced on the two beasts. Two different sets of heads turned to glare at him, the beasts slowly rising to their feet and flapping their wings in a menacing manner.

"He's right you know." Solaire brought Ritsuka and Mash's attention to the sun knight as he strode past them "We do it all the time in Lordran." before Ritsuka could even debate that particular issue, the Saber followed in the footsteps of his counterpart and dropped to the ground. The two beasts jolted at the arrival of the second swordsman before their standoff resumed.

"...Senpai."

"Yes Mash?"

"You know how Ash-san kept talking about how he died?"

"I do."

"...Do you think this is part of the reason why?"

"...More than likely." Ritsuka sighed, rubbing the bridge of his nose "Lets get down there and help them." Mash nodded her head and slipped an arm underneath the Masters shoulder as the pair made their way to the same drop. "I wonder if Gwyndolin encountered that girl that Solaire mentioned…" he pondered aloud as the Shielder prepared for the drop.

"Possible, Senpai." Mash nodded in reply "But perhaps we should worry about it later, we have enemies to deal with here after all."

"Yeah...just trying to distract myself from the fact I'm about to fall...what is that?" He squinted at the ground "Five metres?"

"I believe it is closer to four and a half, Senpai." Mash replied in a much calmer tone than one would expect "Don't worry, I'm going to take the brunt of the impact so you won't get hurt!" she beamed at him in a pleased look.

"Thanks." Ritsuka gave a faint smile in reply "This would probably have been easier with Gwyndolin and Artemis, we could have just sniped at them from a distance."

"This is fine as well, Senpai." Mash's voice sounded slightly eager "Any experience I can get means that I'm becoming a better Servant for you!"

"As long as someones getting something out of this." Ritsuka chuckled wryly "...Okay...I'm ready to take the plunge."

"Yes, Senpai!" Mash nodded her head and stepped off the edge, carrying Ritsuka with her as they both plummeted to the ground. Ritsuka was genuinely curious as to how Gwyndolin was doing but he supposed it couldn't have really been any more exciting than fighting lion/goat things for food crates.

"Shit! Shit! Shit! Shit! SHIT!" Orion's voice carried through the air, barely above the sounds of shattering earth and the rattling of chains.

Flickers of blue light danced across the night sky, illuminating the rather comical image of a small cuddly bear sprinting as if his life depended on it through the grassy meadows of the French countryside. The unfortunate thing for the Greek Hunter was that his life did indeed depend on it.

And he was very much cursing his small dumpy legs for making him so slow.

"Artemis!" Orion cried out, letting out a manly scream as an entire tree – along with the ground the roots had been attached too – flew over his head and crashed into the dirt directly in his path. The bear slowly to a halt and let out a panicked whimper as he climbed over it "Why didn't you say it was something like this!?"

"I didn't get the chance!" Small hands scooped him up as the Goddess shot through the air, Artemis tucked the small bear into her chest – which he would have enjoyed more if he weren't in mortal danger – and span around with her metallic bow in hand. Energised string came into existence as she pulled back the arrow of light and released it towards the target.

Altera bat the projectile aside with little effort, her face betraying nothing as golden chains burst from the ground and wrapped themselves around her limbs. The tanned girl flexed her muscles and instantly shattered the illusions before spinning around and swinging her rainbow coloured sword towards the other moon God.

The 'blade' flexed and elongated into a whip, carving along the dirt as it glowed a brilliant white and sent a full metric tone of earth into the air and flying in the direction of the God as a large chunk. Gwyndolin disappeared in a flash of light as the large dirt attack closed in on him, soon reappearing behind it.

The God spread his arms wide and clenched his hands. The ground behind Altera burst open as titanic harpoons erupted from the ground on either side of her and shot towards the small falling hill. The golden tipped spears shot across the sky in naught but a second and buried their way into the target. The faint glowing golden ropes attached to the harpoons went tense as Gwyndolin swung his arms forwards before they retracted at incredible speeds and brought the tonne of dirt reeling back through the air towards Altera.

Red eyes narrowed as she remained undaunted by her own attack being launched back at her. Raising the Sword of Mars, she pointed the tip directly at the mountain as the claps around the hilt became undone and the blade began to rotate. A chilling icy blue colour overcame the blade as it released a beam of pale blue towards the boulder. The attack instantly shattered the flying hill before she carried the beam downwards and towards Gwyndolin.

Clicking his tongue, he once again disappeared in a flash of light as the beam slammed into the ground where he had been stood and exploded in a tsunami of sub-zero temperature which froze in a line across the grass.

Reappearing behind the girl at a great distance, Gwyndolin readied his bow and drew back the pale white arrows and soon began unleashing them at rapid speeds. Altera looked over her shoulder as the glowing arrows soared through the sky towards her as a rain of light. The girl – without making a sound – raised her sword into the air as the arrows closed in on her. The blade glowed once again before a barrier of translucent green exploded out around her blasting away the arrows which had been targeted to hit her.

Altera tensed her body, shifting her stance with one leg placed in front of the other and her centre of gravity lowered. Her eyes narrowed at Gwyndolin as she took in a single breath.

Then she moved.

Earth shattered and exploded as the girl shot forwards in a burst of speed which was nearly impossible to track. Even with the Moonlight above his head, Gwyndolin was barely able to track the movement of the girl as she accelerated towards him. She virtually appeared in front of him, multicoloured sword held back in preparation for a thrust towards his chest.

The space behind Gwyndolin brightened as the soul spears formed behind his shoulders aimed at the woman, the Gods face tense as the sword shot forwards towards him. Gwyndolin vanished in a flash of light as the sword passed through where he had been moments prior, the soul spears accelerated towards their target and consumed her in an explosion of blue light.

Reappearing next to Artemis and panting heavily, Gwyndolin turned to her and gave a flat look "...You knew who she was...didn't you?"

"...You didn't really give me a chance to explain before you picked a fight with her." Artemis argued back in a slightly chiding tone of voice "...But yes. She's-"

A flash of light emerged from the smoke where Altera had been, the Saber swung her sword and instantly cleared the debris which surrounded her. The woman looked barely worse for ware with only the slightest bruise on her being evidence that she had been attacked by Gwyndolin at all.

"Wonder if its too late to say that she can keep the Dumplings?" Orion whispered to the two Gods, the sword in Altera's hand soon began to rotate at high speeds as she began advancing on them. "Never mind." the bear dryly added on "I think I know the answer."

Teeth went flying out of the lion head as Solaire bashed his shield into the animals jaw, the Chimera stumbled to the side slightly before whipping around and launching the Serpent headed tail towards him. Mouth agape and fangs bared, the snake head attempted to grab the Knight's shoulder.

Solaire frowned and ducked low, the head shooting just over his body before he span on his heel and swung his longsword up in an arc. The steel blade cleaved through the head with frightful ease as it landed onto the ground. The Chimera let out a cry from its other two heads before the scream of rage turned into a roar of anger. The goat head ducked low and swept through the air before slamming into the Knights raised shield.

Letting out a small grunt of surprise, Solaire found himself sent stumbling backwards by the force of the blow as the Chimera jumped back to face him fully. Teeth bared, the lion head let out a fearsome growl as it began to pace around in front of him.

Ash clamped his hand around the left horn of the goat head, the pyromancer glove began to heat up and glow a brilliant orange as he wrestled with the beast. The Chimera let out an irritated growl as it sprinted across the cave and slammed the unkindled directly into the wall. The Saber grunted as his back crashed into rock and his sword was blown from his hand.

All it allowed was for him to pull his now free right arm back and clench his hand into a fist and deliver a savage haymaker onto the Goat head. The animal let out a pained whimper as – in tandem with the punch – he snapped the horn from the top of the animals head. The Chimera screamed. The snake head lashing around towards the unkindled. Ash grabbed it by the neck and slammed it into the neck of the goat side before stabbing the horn through the tail and into the body.

Coiling his arm back he punched the cracked end of the horn and pushed it deeper into the body, driving it like a nail. The Chimera lashed out with the back of its arm, smacking the Saber backwards and forcing him into a roll, Ash allowed the momentum of the strike to carry him over to his greatsword and latched his hand around the hilt as he passed over it before he returned to his feet.

The Chimera rushed Solaire, the Sun Knight tensed himself with his shield in front of him. The beast kicked off with its back lets and arms outstretched towards him, only for the snowflake shield of Mash to collide with the right side of its head. The lion head recoiled from the power behind the blow as Solaire charged forwards.

Thrusting her shield into the ground, Mash used it as a step to vault herself over and deliver an axe kick onto the top of the Chimera's head sending it face first into the rocking floor and causing it to bounce back from the impact. Solaire's straightsword pierced through the lion head on the recall, however the goat head narrowed at him and reared the body back to attempt to shake the knight off.

Solaire twisted the blade and span his body around with it as the beast lurched onto its hind legs, as he came about he pulled his legs inwards and then delivered a two footed kick to the goat head as he finished his spin along the straightsword, ripping it free as he finished the kick. Stumbling in shock and now with a dislocated jaw for its troubles, the Chimera could barely look in a straight line let alone form any sort of meaningful resistance.

Kicking herself off the ground, Mash shot behind the Chimera and swung her shield in an arc. The metal armament slammed into the back of the goat head's neck with a sickening crack and caused the chimera to go limp. Face planting the ground and doing nothing.

The pair turned towards Ash just in time to see him rip his greatsword free from the Chimera's ribs and thrust his pyromancy gloved hand into the open wound. There was a short pause before an explosion of fire and burnt animal meat filled his side of the cave as the remains of the Chimera fell to the ground.

Quite thoroughly dead.

"...Is it weird that it smells good?" Ritsuka pondered aloud with a disturbed tone "I feel as though it shouldn't smell as edible as it does...maybe its just the hunger talking?"

Mash frowned and opened her mouth to comment when the smell wafted over to her nose as well. Taking a small sniff of the air, the Shielder then sported a similar look of bewilderment "I...I do not think it is just you, Senpai." the girl remarked in her own baffled tone "There is a strange quality to the smell that makes it appear edible...although I would not recommend it."

"I mean...I wasn't going to." Ritsuka assured, slowly turning his head towards the smoking carcass "But...what do you think it tastes like?"

"...I don't know, Senpai."

"...Think we should take some back to see what Siegward can do with it?" Ritsuka quizzed, earning a snort of amusement from Ash.

"Well...it would certainly be a challenge for him." He prodded the body with his boot "Although it would have to be from your own kill. I fear this one is perhaps...overcooked?"

"Was...was that a joke, Ash-san?" Mash asked with a mildly amused look, the Saber turned to her and gave a small nod.

"It was...I have been trying my hand at humour. I feel as though its getting better."

"I wonder if it a sense of irony that you are debating the concept of eating the monsters that stole your food." Solaire questioned aloud as he crossed his arms and gave a thoughtful hum "Still...I am gladdened to see that we have prevailed." soon letting out a joyful chuckle "But then again, these mindless creatures stood no chance in the face of Jolly Co-operation!"

Ritsuka couldn't help but laugh at the Saber's bizarre enthusiasm, something Mash shared as she also sported a smile in the direction of Solaire before turning her head towards the corner of the cave. "Senpai, we should probably prepare these crates for transport."

"Yeah...But I'm not leaving this Singularity until we find Patches." Ritsuka remarked with a sour expression "We wouldn't be in this mess if he hadn't pushed us down here in the first place."

"But...Senpai." Mash titled her head as a thought came to her "If he hadn't pushed us down here...we wouldn't have found the supplies."

Silence settled in the wake of her statement as Ritsuka looked thoroughly dumbfounded before he scrunched his face up "No...no that's not...but...wait a second…" he mumbled to himself, then looking towards Ash "He...wouldn't…"

The Saber remained silent for a few moments before he sighed "Yes...it is very much like Patches to push you onto the right path...although its difficult to determine whether or not it is truly happenstance or if that is his intention from the beginning." Ash scratched the back of his helm, looking less confident than before "In truth, I do not believe even Patches is aware of what he does."

"So...he didn't mean to try and kill us?"

"No he probably did." Ash replied instantly, causing Ritsuka's expression to flatten and Mash to cringe "But considering we didn't...perhaps he does such efforts so that if you survive the encounter he can actually claim he helped you."

"But he…" Mash snapped her mouth shut and knit her brows together "That seems quite sneaky, Ash-san."

"Its Patches." Ash shrugged in response "Its fairly common place for him." looking away from the shielder and towards Solaire, Ash noticed the Saber sheath his sword and make his way towards the crates "You are going to help?"

"It is the least I can do after coming this far." Solaire replied with a mild chuckle "Besides, there are quite a few boxes to move and truthfully, I do not see the Lord of the Darkmoon offering his aid in manual labour, provided he even arrived in time to assist you."

"Thank you, Solaire-san." Mash bowed her head to him as she placed her shield face up onto the ground before moving over to the boxes "I think it will go much faster with your help."

"Indeed. Still...I am curious as to what is truly keeping your other companion."

"Perhaps he decided to speak more with Artemis." Ash shrugged "Although he seemed to be almost perpetually embarrassed by her." a small chuckle escaped his lips "A shame I am missing it."

"Ash-san." Mash chided, causing the Saber to wave his hands in dismissal "You are perhaps too mean to Gwyndolin-san."

"That is between myself and him." Ash remarked "I know I do not have all the information…" he paused as a coldness emanated from him "But if even a quarter of the information I do know is true...then I have reason to dislike him." he slid his hands underneath the nearest box and picked it up "Perhaps I can understand his reasons, but that does not mean I have to approve of them."

Mash frowned and shared a look with Ritsuka, the Master looked equally wanting to further broke upon the subject but they very much doubted Ash would elaborate.

In truth, Ritsuka felt as though he knew very little of the story behind a lot of these Servants. It wasn't like he could go up and read a history book about these ones that he could with the Servants from his own world. They were reliant on word of mouth and with Ash's talk of cycles of repeating timelines it sounded as though no one really had the complete picture. Perhaps Gwyndolin did know more than others but that was entirely dependent on whether the God wanted to talk at all about his past.

The display with Faraam made it perfectly clear that he wasn't exactly in a rush to discuss it. Given the foul mood he had been put in.

Ritsuka shook his head as something occurred to him, it had been longer than he was comfortable with since he last saw Gwyndolin.

Or heard from him for that matter. The God wasn't responding to his calls through the mental link. He could feel Gwyndolin though, kind of. There was definitely the strange pull that confirmed he was still alive but he couldn't confirm that much else.

"-oddess of the Moon." Ash's voice broke him out of his thoughts as he saw the Saber conversing with Solaire "She is accompanied by...a transposed bear."

"Quite the fearsome beast to be accompanying a God." Solaire nodded his head sagely as he placed the metal box down atop the shield "And a transposition? I wonder what soul was savage enough for such a change."

"...No. I mean a doll."

"...I...what?"

"It's a human inside a doll of a bear."

"I...I see." Solaire slowly nodded his head "...In that case I pity the man greatly, one wonders what crime he committed that had the Lord do that to him."

"Artemis-san and Orion-san are actually in love." Mash piped up "Although Artemis-san hijacked the summoning and forced Orion-san into the cuddly bear toy."

"Oh." Solaire didn't look as though he knew how to respond to that "Well...it's...I would like to say it is not the strangest thing I have encountered but I believe that would not be entirely truth. Still...Two Lords of the Moon. That must be a sight."

"Well...Its something." Ash gave a wry chuckle in response "However they do seem to be taking their time."

"They are both Lords of the Moon and directly under its light." Solaire pointed out "I doubt there is very much that could challenge the pair of them...perhaps the strange girl with the odd sword but I doubt it."

"Yeah…" Ritsuka gave a curt nod "I'm sure they're fine."

"We're in deep shit." Orion bluntly put as he stared at the two Gods in front of him. Gwyndolin had crafted a smokescreen and then concealed their presence from Altera. Although it wouldn't last for long "I say we scram and let her have the weird food."

"I cannot." Gwyndolin huffed "My pride as a Lord will not allow me to be stolen from on a Festival towards my own authority."

"We are trying to collect all the Dumplings, Darling." Artemis also went on "Although fighting Sefar wasn't really on the agenda…" she muttered under her breath before a beaming smile of confidence overtook her face "But I'm sure the power of our love will see us through! Especially with the moon shining on us, right?"

"…" Orion slowly craned his head away from Artemis and towards Gwyndolin "...We're all gonna die."

"Stop that." The God rebuked, one of his snake legs prodding Orion in the chest before it slithered away from him "I am Captain of the Darkmoon Knights and Lady Artemis is...Goddess of chastity."

"So are you from the sounds of it."

"Is now really the best time for your acts of stupidity!?"

"I'm trying to calm down from the literal fucking God Killer chasing us around for out pelts!" Orion shouted back in a panic "Excuse me for trying to find some levity!"

"Darling!" Artemis frowned "Don't shout. Gwyndolin, don't be rude." she chided the pair of them "Now even if we wanted to escape I doubt we could. She's like a predator...she has out scent now. She's not going to stop until she's destroyed us."

"...You just had to insult her to her face, didn't you?" Orion deadpanned at Gwyndolin, the snake legs hissed at the bear, the small stuffed animal waved its tiny wooden club in response "Yeah...back you little belly draggers."

Gwyndolin let out a sigh "Fine...so we have to deal with her then."

"Pretty much." Orion sighed "...Any ideas?"

"We could try using our Noble Phantasms?"

"Think you could try it before she guts us like fish or other serpentine related sea animals?"

"I am very pleased you find my disfigurement so amusing." Gwyndolin dryly retorted with a slight edge "But unless you can do much besides decorate the cot of a small child-"

"Enough." Artemis scolded the pair "...What is your Noble Phantasm anyway?"

Altera continued to pace around the countryside, eyes scanning everything around her. She was aware that the two Gods could not have been able to get far from her, even with the odd ones ability at teleportation. However, she could not allow them to escape because if they did they would inevitably return.

And steal her dumplings.

That made them a bad civilisation and therefore she had to destroy them.

There was nothing more than should be discussed.

Her instincts blared to life as she spun on her heel, eyes narrowed as a tall metallic suit of brass coloured armour seemingly fazed into existence. Soon followed by another, and another, and another until she found herself surrounded by carbon copies of the same suit of armour.

They charged her. Altera ducked low as the first halberd swung towards her head, the weapon passed above her with frightful ease. The suits of armour were slower than her. Much slower. She swung her sword in a back handed strike and slammed the blade into the suit, the Sword of Mars instantly cleaved through the armour and caused it to vanish into thin air.

Solid constructs then. Like the odd chains the God had summoned. Altera began to methodically work her way through the enemies which surrounded her. They were slow and, while admittedly strong, were no where near as strong as she was.

Flexing her arm, she swung the sword outwards and allowed the blade to flow freely in its whip like state. The multicoloured blade slashed through the air upwards and sliced through the nearest suit of armour vertically as she kicked off the ground and jumped into the air. Spinning through the air she soon got a better view of the Golems as they turned to face her before she accelerated back towards the ground in a spinning attack.

She slammed into the ground sword first and sent a pulsewave of light outwards from the point of impact, cratering the ground beneath her and launching the wave at the enemies surrounding her. The light vaporised the suits of armour instantly, their bodies vanishing into smoke before they even hit the ground.

"The Dark of the Night shall drown thy sins!" A voice called out, her head span in the direction of it to see the God with snake legs stood a great distance from her with their arms outstretched and facing the sky "The Twilight of the Moon shall deliver thy penance!"

Altera ripped her sword from the ground and made to charge before she noticed the air above the God shimmer as something slowly manifested itself above his head. She scrunched her eyes at the brightness as circular object soon took shape and beamed light directly into her face.

"Behold Heretic, the Dark Moon shall swallow thee!" Gwyndolin clenched his hands and finished the chant, fully solidifying the small moon he had crafted above them "The False Night Arrives!"

Blinking as she adjusted to the brightness, Altera furrowed her brows at the replica of the moon which hung menacingly in the air above the God, by her estimations it was a little more than eighty metres in diameter. Gwyndolin turned his head towards her, his hands still pointed skywards and held shoulder width apart and fingers outstretched as if they were holding a rock above themselves.

"Face the Dark Moon's Judgement." Gwyndolin's voice carried over from where he stood "Nightfall." he brought his arms downwards as the moon moved towards her. The object which was easily fifty metres across raced across the sky and towards her.

Altera reversed her grip on her sword and turned her body so that the moon was racing towards her back "Establishing connection with Mars." she thrust the pommel of the sword upwards as a thin beam of light shot forth from it and into the sky.

A patterned set of circles formed in the sky, the largest hung the highest in the sky with a pale white colouration to it.

The pattern remained in the air as Altera remained focused on it, the air around her soon started to swirl around violently as stray clumps of dirt and debris were buffeted by the approaching copy of a celestial body.

"Firing in two seconds." She span around, swinging her sword and pointing it towards the approaching moon. A brightness flashed in the sky before it seemed to grow in intensity as it raced downwards towards the Earth. "Tear Drop Photon Ray." came Altera's calm voice as the titanic beam of pure energy passed through the intricate pattern in the sky and bent towards the approaching moon.

The beam collided with the illusion and exploded in a shower of bright light, the brightness easily overwhelmed the pair of them and released an explosion which had the ground rumbling before the blastwave hit. Altera's straight hair danced in the blast and became slightly dishevelled as a result as the illusion of the moon vanished into the beam of light.

Gwyndolin was sent flying from the blast, left wholly unprepared for the beam of light shooting down from the sky and aimed at his face. He wasn't injured but he wasn't quite as durable as his opponent, it seemed.

However, that was not a problem. In the event that he hadn't been able to kill the woman he could still rely on another to do it.

"This is absolute bull." Orion commented "She blew up the moon."

"She blew up a copy of the moon, Darling." Artemis commented as she floated high above the sky "She didn't blow up the actual moon."

"Still a moon."

Artemis gave a playful giggle "Are you sad that the copy of the moon blew up because I'm the Goddess of the moon?"

"No, I'm terrified that she literally blew up a moon and we're now about to attack her." Orion dryly replied "But...well...if you're confident about this then I guess I'll follow your lead." the bear gave a small thumbs up "You're the Goddess of Archery as well. If anyone knowns their way around a bow – aside from me – it would be you."

"Aww~ Darling!" Artemis cooed as she stroked their bears head before she closed her eyes and allowed her body to be consumed in a bright light. Her clothing changing to be a more revealing red coloured outfit. Her bow grew in size as the centre of it glowed a blue light as a ghostly shape formed in front of it "Let's go then Darling! Lets show the power of our love!"

"Our what-?"

Her bow began to draw itself back as the ghostly shape grew until it covered the front of the armament and reflected its shape "Tri-star Amore Mio!" the bow snapped forwards as the glowing projectile accelerated from her at break neck speeds, the air around them cracked like a cannon.

"Calm down!" Orion cried out "What the heck!?"

The projectile carried on its course as it headed rapidly towards the ground.

Altera paused as she sensed something, looking up just in time for the Noble Phantasm of Artemis to slam into her chest, the girl sputtered as it burned a hole through her side and sent her stumbling backwards as a large section of her body was obliterated. Her mind, which would have been able to compute the damage, was suddenly filled with bizarre images of a God and a…

Was that a faux mammal?

Why did it have a small club?

Her thoughts remained ones of confusion as her eyes grew heavy. Particles of gold light began to float away from her body as she collapsed to her knee's. The Sword of Mars slipping from her fingers.

"...This was not successful destruction of bad civilisation." She lamented "...The Dumplings were good though." were her parting words as she closed her eyes and allowed herself to vanish back to the Throne.

Gwyndolin lay on his back, panting heavily as he faced the sky "...Did we...win?"

"Yep!" He winced at the loud voice of Artemis "We won! The power of my love for Darling won us the day!"

"…"

"You helped too pal." Orion waved to the God "...Probably wouldn't have been able to catch them off guard if you hadn't dropped a moon on them."

"Didn't...know...I could do that…" Gwyndolin huffed as they slowly pushed themselves up "...Now." he ground out "...Where is that infernal box of food?"

"The Hell was that racket!?" Ritsuka bellowed, hands still on his ears as he glared at the hole in the ceiling. They had been in the middle of sending their supplies back to Chaldea when they heard the sounds of explosions in the distance then there was a defeaning roar of something before the ground shook beneath their feet.

It had since been replaced by an eery quiet.

"I do not know, Senpai!" Mash called back to him "It sounded like a battle!"

"Perhaps Gwyndolin did encounter someone." Ash pondered, hands on his hips and similarly staring at the hole in the cavern roof "...Still, those were distant noises and yet they sounded quite fierce."

"Indeed. Must have been a struggle." Solaire affirmed "Not much we can do about it from down here though."

"No." Ash nodded his head, turning back to the other two "We best continue on our efforts to-"

"-inally getting through?" Ritsuka jumped and looked down at his communicator with wide eyes, he shared a surprised look with Mash as the familiar voice echoed out again "Helloooo? Fujimaru-kun? Mash? Our instruments went off the charts back here and it looks like the communicator is working again...Is it working?"

"I mean, they should be able to hear-" Kerry's voice was cut off by her yawn, the woman sounding very tired "-hear us just fine. Doesn't look like there's anymore interference."

"Oh, good." Romani's relieved voice replied back to her "Fujimaru-kun?"

"Roman!" Ritsuka called out a smile spreading across his face "Yes, we can hear you."

"Ah!" Romani's voice sounded surprised for a moment before a screen flashed up, Ritsuka held his wrist out in front of him and allowed the hologram of the Doctor to appear "Thank Goodness for that...tell you the truth we've been a little worried on our end. Although considering we're still receiving supplies from the Rayshift, I assume your mission was a success?"

"Yeah...more or less." Ritsuka tiredly rubbed his brow "Feels like its been a long day down here."

"I'm sure." Romani gave a faint chuckle in response "I don't suppose you can explain the readings we saw a moment ago, can you? They were reminiscent of the activation of multiple Noble Phantasms in short order."

Ritsuka frowned before shrugging "Must have been Gwyndolin…"

"He's not with you?"

"Long night, Roman." Ritsuka held up his hand to stop him "And we've still got a certain person to find down here."

"Ah yes, we got Sasaki's message." Romani scratched his cheek and gave a wry smile "I almost thought to wake up the Director to let her know but I figured it would be best to wait until you contacted us before I did anything. Is it the person who might have Ash's weird box?"

"Yeah, its them alright." Ritsuka's expression was flat as he turned to look at Ash "Got a pretty good look at him...right before he kicked us down a hole."

"He tried to kill you!?"

"Well...jury is still out on that one." Ritsuka sighed "We'll let you know when we catch up with him. Now that communications are restored, we can at least call you if we run into any changes."

"We'll monitor you from back here. We'll let you know when all the food is accounted for."

"Talk later, Roman."

"Same to you, Fujimaru-kun." The screen shut off as Ritsuka let out a small yawn and covered his mouth.

"Are you alright, Senpai?" Mash asked, the concern in her voice obvious and it brought a faint smile to Ritsuka's face.

"Yeah, just a little tired is all." He chuckled "Who would have thought going looking for missing dumplings would turn into an adventure all on its own...still. I suppose it wasn't too challenging."

"That is true, Senpai." Mash nodded her head with a smile "We haven't even needed to fight other Servants yet…" she paused and frowned "Although we have yet to encounter Patches again." turning to Ash, she called out to him "Ash-san? Is Patches the type to resort to physical violence?"

"Pfft!" Ash let out a poorly concealed laugh as he shook his head "Patches? Hahahaha! No, no...he can fight but he doesn't really do so whenever he's confronted. He'll probably beg for mercy the next time he see's us." he paused and cracked his knuckles "Or he will if he doesn't give me my box back...however it does bring up the issue of who stole the supplies to begin with if not Patches?"

"Lets…" Ritsuka held up his hand to stop the Saber "Lets just solve one thing at a time. Get the supplies back to Chaldea. Get Patches and then worry about who stole them." he looked around for support "Agreed?"

"Sounds like a good plan, Senpai." Mash nodded her head "I know the Director would probably be happy you are prioritising your goals."

Ritsuka nodded his head in affirmation. Yes, he was trying to be organised. It wasn't because he wanted to give Patches a piece of his mind or anything. And it most certainly wasn't because he apparently had Ash's box of various other wordly weapons that he could just tell were going to be really cool to look at.

It wasn't that at all.

AN: Part 5 Done. Obviously making Part 6 the final part of the Moon Goddess Event.

So next time we're finally going to confront Patches.

As for Altera...well, I gave you all a little fight to tide you over. Perhaps it was just me but I felt as though you could all do with a little something for the length the Event Chapter has gone on for. Then again. It's six and they were a little quite long.

Oh well.