"I must say, that suit does look pretty good on you," Sasaku commented idly to Shirou as the group quickly made speed down the main road. On either side, a number of Nursery Rhyme's summons cleared up their targets before quickly disappearing back into the alleyways they had come from. At the same time, a little further in front, a steady stream of machines that were trying to make their way down the road found themselves flanked by more summons appearing from the alleyways.

"She must be using the odd topography of this London off the main thoroughfares to redeploy her forces," Scathach said approvingly. "Or perhaps she's the reason it's like that in first place."

"Oh I see you're about to fall for the charm of this ladies' man," Ruby commented to no one in particular.

"This one? Illya recommended one of her father's favored tailors. I think perhaps this would probably be the specific one I had for my wedding?" The Archer looked at his hands, where the brightness of a simple ring contrasted with the fine black lines running along some of his fingers, up to the cuff of his shirt.

"I'm sort of surprised that you look like that, since you still have all the memories and I guess even more Skills than your self of ten plus years later," Gudako sounded thoughtful while making this observation.

"Yeah, it's not too bad though," Shirou replied. "Until I saw you, there wasn't a really obvious giveaway that it had happened. Then again, I did come to inside a Singularity, so the rules, if you want to call them that, might not apply as they usually do."

"Singularities are always weird," Gudao nodded in agreement. "I mean, people are still alive in the various buildings, even though the structures themselves are in this really irregular limbo?"

Mordred shrugged, with surprisingly less sound than expected of someone wearing so much armor. "Probably a lot less of them alive now, but I'm pretty sure however many survive this will be exactly the number of plague survivors."

"I wish there was something we could do, but it seems we are headed right to the source of it all anyway," Jeanne shook her head, though she was not unused to human suffering. "At least unlike res Publica we don't have someone specifically trying to push their killcount through the roof to shatter it."

"It also helps that we have a friendly army of sorts that is basically able to stalemate the enemy's standard troops," Kojirou muttered analytically. "Of course that means the opposition is deliberately holding back their Servant-level assets. Not so helpful. But we're about to find out..."

"Let's turn off and take a pause here," Georgios suggested in turn. "If those machines are reinforcements, that means we're close and it wouldn't be good to blunder into a meeting engagement as-is."

"We've been moving for a several hours now," Scathach recalled. "Why don't the two of you take a moment to eat something and catch your breath?"

Agreeing easily, the Masters asked Sasaku to bring out their provisions previous stored in her backpack. While they were getting ready to eat, Shirou approached Mordred who had been set herself to keeping watch.

"Something on your mind?" the homunculus Servant asked the human one.

"Would you consider making a temporary contract with one of those two?" he inquired straightforwardly. "You want to be in top form to encounter Artoria, like everyone else would like you to, right?"

"Hmm. I don't hold anything against them but really, I'd pass on taking anyone else's orders," was the short reply.

"Ah, so you didn't know that the Chaldean system doesn't have the usual Command Spell functionality," Shirou responded glibly. "They can supercharge Servants, but not compel, thanks to how the Fate System works with so many contracted Servants. Well, it was also part of the Clock Tower's attempt to keep some sort of check-and-balance on us."

"Explain that bit and I'll consider believing you," Mordred thought aloud.

"Sure. Take those two, Tohsaka, me and my wife. That's enough to have five of the usual seven Masters in a Grail War. Compare to the earlier Founding Families who only potentially could have three, and you can see how setting up a modified system in such a manner would look to anyone else. Colluding would be much harder with weaker Command Spells since there was no guarantee the Servants would agree to go along with it."

"Hmph." She wasn't scoffing, but in fact most of the explanation had simply passed her by.

"We ourselves internally were concerned about the system trying to kickstart a War on us, but in the end after the attacks... it seems Chaldea only has those two left now since no one else can qualify to be a Master."

"So I'm to take your word on it, since there's conveniently no real way you can prove that the Command Spells can't do that?"

"I suppose the only thing I can say is: yes."

"Not to be a downer, but while you certainly have a good match up against most versions of Artoria, your duel legend ends up with both of you dead," Gudako replied after hearing what Mordred had to say about their almost inevitable upcoming battle.

"I hadn't forgotten," Mordred replied curtly.

"You had better just go with it." Surprisingly for the two, Shirou stepped in to back up Mordred. "If it turns into a fight of smashing Holy Sword beams into one another, we'll be hard pressed to meaningfully engage; and the ruler of a Singularity has if nothing else a lot of magical energy to keep feeding in to that contest."

"That's unfortunately true," Gudao mused. "I seem to remember that Boudica effectively 'wasted' a lot of hers on an attempt to kill enough Romans to massively beat the literally historic losses of the Second Punic War. The ruler here seems to be doing the reverse, holding it all together for a major confrontation."

"Hmm yes... it's fine by me, since you've clearly thought this through and made up your mind. We'll support you best we can," Gudako shrugged. "But would it be fair for me to ask that you do work with us if instead becomes a more structured engagement?"

(Entering a nondescript courtyard)

"This is the place," Kojirou said to the Masters. "It looks different, of course, but there should be some sort of concealed entrance to one of the Clock Tower's underground facilities. No idea what might be there in this time period, but it is where Rin and I went to retrieve information on the Grail and its System. Of course, we didn't find much because the Founding Families had likely 'helped' themselves to it.

"Making sure no one could follow in their footsteps, eh?" Gudao took it in stride.

"There's quite a setup ahead of us," Scathach warned the group. "Oddly, nothing Servant-level, but it would seem everything is rigged to blow. Magecraft based, of course."

"And here's our welcoming party," Kojirou added, immediately raising tensions throughout the group.

"It's... you..." Mordred was the first to respond to the jet black knight confidently walking out towards them before raising the visor of her helmet.

Gudako thought to herself that the enemy Servant looked much like their own Artoria Pendragon, down to the coloration left by the Grail's mud on the visage of Chaldea's Princess Knight. Only the black and red lines clearly visible on their enemy's face told otherwise. That and her very complete set of, admittedly anachronistic, English style plate harness.

"Hardly a surprise to you is it, Knight of Treachery?" the dark King of Knights replied in a studied neutral tone.

"I don't have to take that from you !" Mordred fumed, now clearly ready to jump into combat regardless of the other circumstances.

"Indeed." Artoria regarded the Masters and then other Chaldeans coolly before returning her attention to their Saber ally. "You, me. Rest of you go ahead and do whatever." With that she quickly turned and started dashing out of the courtyard as though expecting the combat to commence immediately.

"She's trying to split us up," Guado suggested, though he knew it wouldn't change any minds.

"I'm going after her." Mordred's was fully prepared to take the fight. Or perhaps the bait? "You do what you have to, I do what I have to."

The two Masters exchanged looks. Clearly Artoria's unexpected behavior looked like the exact chance Mordred wanted. They couldn't help but feel some suspicion about the whole affair, though the matter was largely out of their hands. Finally Gudako shrugged, raised a hand with her Command Seals and expended one. "Kick her ass so she'll remember it back on the Throne."

Nodding while tapping gauntleted fingers on what looked like the hilt of new sword on her belt, Mordred rushed off after Artoria once she felt the torrent of magical energy from the Master begin to taper off.

"Of course, we're not just going to stroll in where she came from," Gudao remarked with a sense of the situation providing him some amusement. "Caster, we'll follow your lead; take it slow and deal with these traps. At least I assume they're traps of some sort and not just interrupted demolitions work."

"Nursery Rhyme may have our back, but obviously we'll have to guard against anything trying to come up and engage us," Georgios turned to Kojirou. "Did that Artoria came out from where the entrance should be? Let's make sure we keep an eye on that general space."

l

(An earlier discussion, deep underground)

"Since Mordred seems to be sticking with Chaldea, she will definitely derail everything the moment she spots me," Artoria concluded. "Really, it would be the case even if she was Chaldean, but the World definitely would make sure its Rogue Servant agent would be the type to laser-focus on me."

The Red Queen simply sighed. A moment passed.

"Weren't you going to suggest something? I doubt this possibility wouldn't have come to your tactical mind before this," she said finally.

"I was thinking to challenge her to single combat at a somewhat distant location."

"You know that she has a conceptual advantage against you, right?" the red one frowned. "This is hardly the sort of elegant solution I would have expected from you."

"Never claimed to be a master of subtlety," Artoria scoffed. "If we had the help of, say, Jack the Ripper there would be better options. But we don't. Besides, I have insurance."

"I really wouldn't bet on me if I was you," was the sober retort.

"Would you bet on Emiya Shirou though? Unless you have a very good alternative right now, I should pull Mordred away before Chaldea gets into the underground passageway."

"Fine. Try not to lose."

"I believe that 'last time' it was a mutual kill. But in any case there's nothing else surrounding this particular duel at risk. Beings like us hardly care that much about living or dying, it's mostly the same the next summon around."

l

(Some trap-clearing later)

The situation down underground, once they had gotten in, was not particularly positive. Kojirou quickly identified the location he had visited back in the modern Clock Tower, but Scathach undid the wards only to reveal that the area did not hold anything at all.

"Perhaps there wasn't ever anything stored here in the first place," Shirou mused as the Caster, along with Sasaku and Jeanne, looked around for the possibility of any secret switches or the like. However, Jeanne's (Revelation) didn't reveal anything which she expected that it would if there was such a feature to be found in the first place.

"Should we just go out and try the other doors?" Kojirou added after several frustrating moments of searching.

"Our odds of finding something useful would be better that way," Georgios agreed from his position at the doorway, looking down the corridor outside. "We should be looking for as many low-hanging gains as possible, since hardly anyone would miss six Servant-level signatures in their fortress."

"Alright, lead the way Ruler," Gudao, accepting the suggestion, gathered everyone together. "Let's just pick a random door and... wait a moment, where are we?"

"..."

They had stepped out not into a narrow and unlit corridor. Instead, what lay in front of them took the form of a large hall or perhaps cavern. A total lack of visible light sources belied the easy visibility of what was contained within, making it clear that only the gloomy dark stone at their feet remained the same as before, stretching outwards for quite a distance before blending into walls of the same make.

The whole area gave off the sense of floating in an odd granite void which was most disorienting, at least initially. Dead ahead of them lay a very large featureless black pond, gleaming darkly in the phantom illumination. On its banks were two very memorable figures.

"Oh, Chaldea?" The man in a suit that was much louder than Shirou's was the first to speak. He seemed surprised to see them. "This was unexpected." The two Masters immediately took note of him, despite his companion having a much greater magical energy signature. He was such an attention-grabber because...

"Lev Lainur. I thought you were dead," Gudao frowned. "Or perhaps you're from another Chaldea?"

"Ah ha ha, no. I am very much the one you know." Lainur grinned openly, knowing what those words would mean to the Masters. "I hardly need say much else, do I?"

"How did you get out?" Gudako asked with skepticism evident. "There's nothing outside of the Separation Order."

"That's hardly your concern," the magus shook his head, deciding that the matter was not of interest to him. "Forgive me Your Majesty, I didn't mean to steal your spotlight."

"It's quite alright," the other figure, a girl wrapped in deep shadow like a heavy, flowing, dress murmured while slowly blinking deep red eyes that watched him. "I wasn't about to interrupt. Speak your final words." She started fiddling with her hair ribbon without a care.

Lainur chuckled, amusement a contrast to his quiet, almost sullen, companion. "Actually, I think it's time I left the stage."

The girl's eyes darkened to jet black, before a small eruption of flame engulfed the 'space' behind her pupils. "As you say..."

*Splat*

Lainur was abruptly impaled on a black spike that, without warning, had erupted soundlessly from the pool behind the pair. By the looks of it, the attack had almost certainly pierced his heart. An instant kill. But -

"How dare you. Bitch." The magus spat out the words as dark filaments started spreading across his body. The Chaldeans could clearly see the effect consuming him from the surprise attack's exit point outwards. "Another disappointment. Fine, you've forced my hand."

As though they were magic words, the skewered human form began to distort. With a sickening ripping sound of meat being torn apart, it seemed that something far larger contained within was now about to burst forth from its fleshly disguise. Frowning, the girl reached out and grabbed hold of Lainur, or what he seemed to be turning to, as the pond itself rose up and engulfed the two of them.

No, in fact as the wave subsided, spreading onward towards the Chaldeans but with obvious viscosity, it was soon apparent to them that, while the girl had disappeared into the tide, Lainur's increasingly massive form was still in evidence. Even as the dark liquid was impossibly flowing upwards to try and consume him, Lainur's true form was growing upwards and outwards like a monstrous tree in a timelapse video.

"He's not a human !" Shirou shouted as though anyone had missed that particular fact. Projecting his now instinctive weapon pair into hand, he ran up to the pool and fearlessly stepped in up to his ankles before pausing.

"... what are you thinking?" Gudako asked him calmly. By this point, the Masters had enough time to put together the pieces and understand that, while she looked quite different from the woman they knew, somehow Matou Sakura had become the Singularity's ruler, and further, been convinced behind the scenes to turn on Lainur - himself presumably an underling of the mastermind behind the Singularities.

"She can't do it alone, but we'll need you to work on taking him down on this side," he replied as though the meaning was obvious. Which it was to the Masters, at least.

"You've planned all this ahead, huh?" Gudao shook his head in mock disappointment while looking at his hand and using a Command Spell. "Go help your wife."

Nodding as Chaldea's Grail System supercharged him with magical energy, Shirou ran over to the half-engulfed Lainur and practically dived into the liquid shadow at his feet, disappearing into it.

Thrusting out of the inky blackness as though mocking its attempt to dissolve him, Lainur's full transformation revealed a massive agglomeration of what appeared to be a great pillar of human forms fused together with far too many eyes. Like a mass grave animated into a single abominable entity, nightmarish seraph of old.

"Sasaku, you should probably help them," Gudako directed her. "We'll do what we can here, but you must ensure that the two of them do not end up being absorbed."

The Ruler looked at her for a moment before nodding. With her proposal accepted, Gudako quickly used another of her Command Spells. "Go help the 'cute kids'," she grinned while around her the remaining four Servants quickly prepared for the battle to come.

Thinking quickly, Sasaku flew over to where Shirou had disappeared and then, undoing her transformation to a surprised squawk from Ruby, fell straight into it was though it was far less viscus than the great heaping up of the stuff at Lainur's feet - or rather base as he was now - would imply.

"The mud will hold you up just fine," Gudao advised the Servants left for this Masters' battle. "But I would concentrate your attacks on the parts which are not covered in it, please."

"Bayard, you heard them !" Georgios quickly mounted his horse, lance in hand. The two quickly dashed forward as the tip of Chaldea's first blow against the adversary pillar. "Behold the truth that pierces even dragons: (Ascalon) !"