Disclaimer: I own nothing in this Fanfiction.

Chapter VII: Emergence of the Beast King

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The trio made their escape in the heat of the moment. Swiftly, Archer swooped down, grabbing his Master and Shiki then jumping off into the distance, away from the Emiya Mansion. Many objections came from the two teenagers' side as they were not exactly in a comfy position, they were basically carried like sacks of potatoes over his shoulders. But Archer didn't humor them with an answer.

Suddenly, time slowed down in Archer's mindeye. He saw, barely moments before it almost impaled him, a crimson spear aimed straight at his Spirit Origin, but due to his excellent reaction speed, he was able to change his trajectory to land on a rooftop without a scratch, if only barely.

Shiki and Rin were surprised at first, but then, they were alerted to a presence approaching them very quickly.

"Rin. A Servant is approaching us with their Master. As per their speed, I say it's impossible for me to outrun them while carrying you and the kid." Archer announced, knowing they were in trouble. He recognised the Spear, but didn't understand why its wielder would throw it so haphazardly.

"Shit… Another one?!" Shiki exclaimed, placing a hand on his glasses just in case.

Tohsaka was strangely silent, she bit her lips in anticipation, her mind racing in simulating hundreds of scenarios which all end horribly. "We stand our ground." She ordered hesitantly after a short while, "I'll try talking to the Master, hopefully they're not a complete psychopath."

"No offense, Tohsaka. But I have a bad feeling about this plan." Tohno commented as he lowered his hand from his glasses.

The two finally showed themselves.

A Magenta haired young woman in a formal dress ascended to their location using the emergency stairs, accompanied by an older woman with long dark purple hair and piercing red eyes who descended from the sky.

It was clear who was the Servant and who was the Master, despite the younger lady covering her hands with black gloves.

Archer immediately realized this encounter became several times harder. This Lancer was not the Lancer he knew, which only left one other possibility about her real identity, and it wasn't pleasant.

The Bowman stepped forward but without hostility. "If you're here because of the Magical Energy spike, you caught the wrong people." he announced matter-of-factly, "We just escaped from there after a battle with Saber and her Master."

The magenta haired lady furrowed her brows in suspicion, "So, it was Saber who destroyed those houses." she spoke, pointing out the obvious, "Such a shame… But why would one reveal their hand so early in the war like that?"

"It was a display of power." Rin stepped in, thinning her lips. "We have information on Saber's Master, and—" Rin's eyes widened in shock as Archer leaned towards her and whispered something in her ears. "Are you certain?!" she asked, addressing the red Bowman, to which he nodded confidently. She stared at him momentarily before resuming her sentence, "Apologies, as I was saying… We have info about Saber's Master, and it just so happens that my Servant was able to figure out her True Name."

Everyone aside from Archer and his Master seemed bewildered by this revelation, especially Lancer.

"How can you be certain?" she asked, voicing her thoughts.

Archer crossed his arms and looked at the other Servant with a small grin on his face, "Call it an educated guess." he replied, slightly teasingly, "I'm as confident in Saber's identity as I am in yours, Lancer."

"What!?" Everyone except the glasses-wearing teenager gasped in surprise. None of them expected him to drop a bomb such as this one, not even Rin.

Silence took over. Shiki, even though he didn't understand the value of what they were saying, knew better than to break it and draw attention to himself.

"I see." Commented Lancer after a good moment of staring at the red Bowman, "You're from the Counter Force aren't you."

This time, everyone raised their eyebrows except Lancer herself. Rin wasn't entirely sure what to think of that. An irregular summoning, loss of memories, a world-ending scheme that required the interference of a Magician. It was only natural that the Counter Force would act, but through her Servant? She wasn't one hundred percent convinced, but it was within the realm of possibility.

"Perhaps, but that doesn't change anything." Archer shook the question away, hopefully for good.

Tohsaka started to tire from this whole scenario, so she stepped forward, raising a hand as if explaining, "Like Archer said, we have information about who is, currently, the Master of the strongest Servant, excluding Berserker, as well as the identity of Saber herself. I'm willing to propose a trade ignoring the fact that you tried killing us a couple of minutes ago." She announced, cleverly using Archer's superior standpoint in the discussion, "You let us walk away unharmed for now, and we share the info we have with you."

Bazett dismissed the offer as a mere attempt of escape at first, but the more she thought about it, it made her realize that they were at a disadvantage, both in numbers and in intel. Was it truly worth the risk?

"The decision falls to you, Master. I say we hear them out, then go pay the supposedly strongest Servant after Berserker a visit." Lancer proposed after stealing a curious glance at Shiki. She felt something odd about him, and considering the circumstance. The Queen of Shadows was wise enough to know that something greater than a Holy Grail War was going on in the shadows.

Eventually, Bazett let out a sigh and shook her head. "Fine. Tell me about this Saber and her Master." announced the Magenta haired lady annoyedly, "Then, you can go."

Rin was relieved, but she wasn't going to drop her guard. "What guarantees us that once you learn what you want to learn, you won't just attack us?" she asked, gesturing towards Lancer.

"I only have my word to give, if you have a better proposition then by all means, speak." replied Bazett, closing her eyes confidently.

"Tohno-kun over there gets to leave now. He's just a bystander and has nothing to do with all of this anyways." The brunette explained, pointing at a sweatdropping Shiki. "Then, we'll both send our Servants away momentarily as I fulfill my end of the deal. When it's done, I will call back Archer to take me and then, you can do whatever you want."

The plan seemed fair, Bazett thought. The whole reason they didn't escape at the first place was most likely because Archer wasn't able to run away from Lancer while carrying two people. But even if he carried no one, he wouldn't be able to outrun her Lancer who had A Rank Agility.

"Deal. Tell your friend to leave when you're ready." The Magenta haired lady stepped towards Rin and proposed a handshake. The brunette took the handshake as she gestured at Shiki to get out of there.

The latter agreed after taking one look at Tohsaka's expression, he realized she wasn't asking, also, he would rather jump than be kicked off the building. So that's exactly what he did. Leaving only the two Masters and their Servants on the roof.

"Alright, now we call off our Servants." Announced Rin hesitantly. She didn't know how well this plan she devised on the spot would do, but in the worst case scenario, the representative of the Fifth would still be fine.

"Archer, go and join Tohno-kun somewhere a respectable distance from here."

"It cannot be helped. Lancer, would you mind?" Bazett addressed Lancer with an annoyed expression. The latter obliged without problems, same with Archer. Eventually, and surely enough, both Servants dashed away rather obediently, but keeping a watchful eye on their Masters as they did.

"Okay then…" Rin whispered to herself reassuringly, then she stared at the Magenta haired lady questioningly, "What would you like to know first?"

Bazett pondered for a bit, then she shook a hand uncaringly, "Whatever you'd like to start with." She trailed off, then added, "Although… I'm curious about the True Name of Saber."

"Fine, according to Archer and from her own appearance, demeanor as well as her Noble Phantasm, we concluded that she is an aspect of King Arthur." Rin explained, only then realizing how hardly believable what she just said was, how can King Arthur be a woman? Only a Mage who researched the roster for the last Holy Grail War would come close to believing her.

Bazett stared at her silently for a good moment, "Is she the same Saber from the fourth Holy Grail War?"

The brunette was thanking that deity she didn't know she worshiped, as it turned out Bazett did do her homework.

"Archer says that she and the other Saber are different aspects of the same Heroic Spirit. This one being the more bloodthirsty and ruthless version of King Arthur." Rin answered confidently, repeating what Archer was telling her over the telepathic communication link.

"And that explains why she was okay with killing civilians, she views them as mere collateral damage. Very disturbing." Commented Bazett, raising a hand to her chin as if pondering.

"And for her Noble Phantasm, Archer says it's a cursed, demonic version of the Holy sword Excalibur, and it's classed as an Anti-Army or Anti-Fortress Noble Phantasm." Continued the Second Owner, lifting an arm over her other which was wrapped around her middle, and pointing upwards with her index. "That's all we know about Saber at the moment."

Bazett took in the information momentarily, she examined it for any inconsistency with what she already knew, but found nothing. "Alright. What about the Master, then?" She asked, noticing a visible change in expression from the other Master immediately.

"His name is Emiya Shirou." she announced bitterly, evoking a surprised reaction from Bazett.

"Emiya Shirou? You mean like, he's a relative of Emiya Kiritsugu?" The magenta haired lady asked with a raised eyebrow, and was even further puzzled when the other Master didn't show any signs of recognizing the name she gave her.

"Emiya Kiritsugu? The Mage Killer? Doesn't it ring any bells?" Bazett inquired, seeing no response from Tohsaka. She decided to add a small explanation, "He was a well-known mercenary who used unorthodox and morally questionable methods to kill his targets. It is said he once shot down a whole plane just because his target was on it."

"I'm not familiar with this Mage Killer guy, and I have no knowledge whether he's family with Saber's Master." Rin addressed after a sigh, all of this was starting to weigh down on her. She needed to end this quickly so that she could rest. "What I know is that Emiya Shirou is a big deceptionist and a slimy bastard, overconfident as all hell and uses an uncommon advanced version of Gradation Air to create and copy swords and bladed weapons."

Bazett nodded in understanding as Tohsaka continued, "Archer says that, if you fight him, Shirou would know both your Servant's True Name and be able to replicate her spears. So, unless you are confident in your victory, neither of us recommend you go and fight him."

"Noted. But I'll have to admit, replication of Noble Phantasm does sound a bit unrealistic, I'll have to verify that myself." commentated the Magenta haired lady, "Is there anything else you can tell us?"

"That is all we know about Emiya Shirou and Saber." The brunette shrugged, raising her hands in surrender, "If I tell you something else, it would be without benefits to me." The image of the albino homunculus flashed across her mind as she spoke.

"Fair enough. Then, our business here has concluded, you may call your Servant back." Bazett announced after a moment of silence. Then, she turned her back to leap off the building. It was at that moment, the two felt a tremendous pressure approaching.

The Magenta haired lady immediately assumed it was Saber and asked Lancer to hurry, until Rin denied it. "This doesn't… feel like Saber's Magical Energy…"

True, this was wildly different. It felt like a coalescence of hundreds of signatures, as if it was an army of Servants mixed in one person.

"What…? Then who is this?" Bazett inquired, thinning her lips. But the lack of reply on Rin's side was more than enough to tell her she was just as confused and worried.

Archer and Lancer swiftly arrived, the latter stealing a suspicious look at the first while he dropped the person he was carrying on the floor.

"Ouch! Can't you at least warn me when you're letting go?" Shiki complained, rubbing his backside to ease the pain. Then, he felt it as well. But, his reaction was far different than the others.

"This— This cannot be right…" he announced, shaking with both hatred and fear, while also seeing flashes of his own memories.

The hotel, the animals, the blood, the limbs, the darkness, the feeling of sickness in his throat.

—It all reminded him of an unforgettable sense of dread.

"What's wrong, kid? Do you know something about this?" Asked Archer upon seeing his complicated expression.

Shiki struggled to keep his balance, but then he clutched the handle of his knife in his pocket, as if to remind himself of his identity. He wasn't going to be intimidated by someone who he had already killed.

Swallowing his fear away, he explained with a serious expression; "This might sound ridiculous, maybe unbelievable, but the incoming presence is unmistakably that of the tenth of the twenty-seven Dead Apostle Ancestors." Shiki was tired after fighting Shirou and avoiding Saber, he also used his eyes too many times today already. This made him feel absurdly unsure about what to do next.

"A Dead Apostle Ancestor?!" Rin exclaimed with widened eyes. Tonight was only getting worse and worse.

"The tenth Dead Apostle Ancestor… That would be Nero Chaos…" Added Bazett with a worrisome expression, "That would explain the black familiars infesting the city…"

The presence was getting closer and closer, prompting everyone to go on their guards.

"Those familiars were his… Tch… No wonder they were way more powerful than regular familiars." Commented the brunette. She knew that something was off about those ever since she first confronted one.

All eyes gathered on one spot on the roof of the opposite building. Darkness began to rise from the alleyway nearby and gather around in a circle. Then it formed into a black ball which emitted an ominous, disgusting sound, like flesh being torn apart and reformed. It burst open after a pulse of Magical energy, revealing the figure of a tall person. A white skinned man with silver hair and red, bloodshot eyes. His face and hands were visible, but nothing else. His entire body was covered in a thick black coat, which hovered behind him in the blowing wind. His intimidating appearance was warning enough to not cross paths with him, but what sealed the deal were the amounts of bloodlust he emitted.

"Funny… This Dead Apostle Ancestor is emitting the Magical Energy signature of a Servant." Announced Archer with a not so amused expression drawn on his face.

"Confirmed, this is certainly a Servant's aura I feel." Lancer added with a twitching brow. Everything was getting extremely mixed up.

Everyone stared at the new Servant, attempting to make heads and tails of his class. But the Servant himself only looked at one person. "You…" he pronounced with an emphasized, deep voice. "Bold of you to stand before me again, human."

Everyone else turned to look at Shiki, gears turning in their heads as to why he was able to identify him instantly, and why the Servant recognised him.

"Chaos." Shiki replied, shooting a hostile glance directly back at the Vampire's gaze, "I killed you once, I'll do it again if I have to."

Everyone felt the tension in the air. The Masters were especially speechless when the revelation reached them. Lancer was expecting a twist when she first saw the teenager, but didn't expect something like this. Archer, on the other hand, already knew that the 'Seven Nights' was the weapon which ended Chaos's life from the many glimpses he took whenever he could, and by extension, the revelation wasn't as surprising.

"Your fake courage serves you nothing, I will break you, and shower you in your blood just like Michael did your precious princess!"

The Beast King revealed the inside of his coat, a pitch-black abyss with no visible edges. A giant, black claw emerged from within, belonging to a feathery body which followed afterwards, connected to a neck holding the head of an eagle, embedded with two ruby eyes.

The Gryphon emerged and let out a terrifying scream, revealing four silvery wings on its back, before taking to the air, prompting the Servants to prepare their weapons and Masters to take cover.

Chaos was not done, a pair of massive beastly paws followed right after the Mythical Beast, black fur covered the massive feline-like body which hosted three different heads; A lion's head on the neck area, mouth open with rows and rows of teeth visible to all beholders. A goat's head on the back with Magical energy jumping between the sharp horns as if it was lighting bolts. And a Serpent's head hanging from a long, scaly tail with melting venoms dripping from its sinister fangs.

The Chimera roared, shaking the buildings and the ground, then leaped towards Lancer's and Bazett's side of the building.

It landed right next to Shiki who didn't move an inch, eyes glued to the Vampire's gaze. His mind went blank back when the Dead Apostle Ancestor mocked Arcueid's passing.

"Lancer!" Bazett called out to her Servant, who conjured her spears and confronted the beast in front of her. "Come at me!" she taunted, assuming a battle position.

Archer and Rin's attention automatically converted to the flying menace, who also had its eyes on them. The red Bowman created his black bow and began firing at the winged-beast.

The glasses-wearing teenager wasted no time jumping towards the source of the beasts, attempting to end his life a second time. "That's right. Come to meet your end, mortal!"

In mere seconds, Satsujinki was already driving his knife through the black body of the Beast King. But Chaos wasn't easy to hit, it seemed like his body was made out of clay, and he was able to shape his form however he liked. 'Seven Nights' was slashing and slashing, hungering to draw blood and cut flesh, but continuously missing and driving through empty air.

Yet, Shiki was pushing the monstrous figure that was the body of the Vampire back towards the edge of the roof. The latter knew better than to let that pesky knife touch him, but unlike last time, there were no openings in the teenager's assault.

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Lancer was also successful in putting pressure on the beast who was unlucky enough to land on her side of the building.

At first, the Snake tail targeted her Master with a poisonous spit, which seemingly disappeared into thin air, but to an experienced eye, it was clear that Lancer summoned the Gate of Skye temporarily to absorb the poison. The Chimera stepped forwards with heavy steps, while the goat's head charged a spell in its mouth. Lancer leaped in the air, successfully avoiding a ball of electricity that would've been able to pulverize anything it touched.

Lancer's ascension came to a halt, before she started descending like a bullet towards the beast. The Snake tail flailed about menacingly, preparing to attack the Servant; only to be sliced clean off by a red spear when it tried to attack. Lancer landed swiftly, holding her two Spears. She thrust her left towards the creatures heart, but before it could connect, the Lion's head stopped it by biting onto its shaft. But, to the Beast's surprise, the Spear dematerialized once it stopped. Then, the Queen of Shadows used her other spear to swiftly rotate herself around the head, her eyes dashing upwards and downwards as with each movement, another copy of Gae Bolg was summoned and thrust into the beast's hide.

Archer's skills as a marksman were being put to the test. The Gryphon's feathers were imbued with a protective electrical barrier which reflected weaker projectiles and Spells. It made Archer use stronger 'arrows', but those arrows were heavier, and thus traveled slower, allowing the feathery beast to dodge them without much effort. The winged-beast soared towards the skies, piercing through clouds and electrocuting them. Dodging another sword-turned-arrow, the Gryphon opened its beak, letting out a scream as a hail of knife-like electric feathers dropped from its wings, aimed at the red Bowman. The latter extended his arm forwards, "Aias!" he announced with a whisper. A purple ball of energy manifested itself in front of him, like the bud of a pink flower which bloomed into a tiny version of the Rho Aias shield. The petals of the flower protected him and his Master from the Gryphon's feathers without much trouble, immediately dismissed once the feathers stopped raining from above.

The teenager who can see Death was on the edge of the roof, with the Vampire cornered between him and a long fall. "ENOUGH!" the Servant roared out, a burst of black smoke pushing back his assaulter.

"GAH!" Shiki staggered backwards, falling flat on his back. It didn't take him long to leap back on his feet but by then, the Servant had already begun attacking.

A horn emerged from the darkness that was Chaos's body, almost piercing through Shiki's chest, then a claw swiped at his feet from under. He jumped, successfully avoiding the attack, but placing him right where Nero wanted him.

"DIE!" he announced with a delighted expression, his entire body transforming into a massive beastly jaw, and rushing upwards to gobble up the airborne teen. The latter's hand with the knife was too far from his assaulter's body to slice him away. So, he had one option left. He had never done this before, but there was no time to reconsider. The teen twisted his body, altering the course of his jump to flip him horizontally midair. Then, using the momentum he gained, he threw his knife.

Nero Chaos's Strength stat wasn't low at all, in fact, its base value without the Madness Enhancement skill active was B. But even with that, he found himself pushed back by the surprising knife throw. He had the chance to strengthen the impact zone, so it didn't pierce through him. However, he felt like he was hit by a speeding car. Struggling, he found himself by the edge of the building again, then heard running footsteps approaching him as from the corner of his eyes, he saw his assaulter leaping again.

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Lancer's spears pierced through the neck, the back, and the tail of the Chimera. Causing it immense pain which was expressed by a loud and pained roar, accompanied by the beast dropping on its side, unmoving.

The red Bowman was tired of lining up shots that wouldn't land, and decided to use a different approach. Each time, the Gryphon rose up towards the clouds to draw electricity, it dived down again in order to fire its feathery projectiles. Archer projected a pair of chinese curved swords. One was white, the other was black. Kancho and Bakuya weren't part of any significant legend, and were only forged by a blacksmith in grievance for his passing wife, but Archer projected them so many times both in life and during his many missions in the Counter Force, that the process became basic muscle memory to him. What was different this time however, was that the projected swords were immediately tossed at the winged-beast like boomerangs. The twin swords passed by the enemy's neck and wings, but missed their targets.

"You missed Archer! Watch out!" Rin warned with a frustrated voice.

"Spirit and technique — Solid and firm." Archer chanted, with a grin drawn on his face. He projected a second set of the swords and tossed them at his assailant again, seemingly missing once more.

"Our strength rips the mountains. Our swords split the water."

Rin watched on as the spinning blades went full circle and were suddenly returning to strike at the Gryphon from the back.

"Our Names will reach the imperial villa." The red Bowman had a third set of swords in his hands and took on a position, as if waiting for the moment to strike.

"Us two cannot reach the heavens together."

A pained scream was heard as the Gryphon's wings were dismembered by the returning blades, its body started crashing down towards the buildings, making it easy prey for Archer's technique.

"Triple Crane Wings!"

In a swift dash, Archer drove his blades through the Gryphon's collapsed body in an X-shaped slash, finally putting it down for good.

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Nero Chaos stared in disbelief as his opponent's eyes left behind a blue trace of Magical Energy. The teen pushed the Vampire off the building, then jumped after him while gripping his knife.

Shiki felt his lips move and heard a whisper, but couldn't understand what it meant. Then, he quickly aimed his knife at the only Death Point he could see.

"HOW DARE YOU! YOU LOWLY MORTAL!" Chaos's scream echoed in the alleyway, then the sound of the impact followed.

Archer, Rin, Bazett and Lancer rushed towards the location of the impact, and as the dust settled, there was only one person left on the ground.

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Author's Note:

A bit of a mess in this one. Since it's all happening simultaneously and in the same location, it felt wrong to separate the short paragraphs with linebreaks, not only that but this encounter is completely new and didn't happen in the original chapter. Though it is a mess, it is meant to be just to describe how hairy things can get in this HGW. And besides, Lancer and Bazett heading towards the source of the BIG MAGICAL ENERGY SPIKE only made sense, and them encountering Shiki and the gang earlier would make for a good introduction to what would happen later. As for revealing Nrvnqsr Chaos earlier, that would still make more sense than him sending three dogs to attack a Servant, his Master and a Death perception user.

Here's a rough profile of Chaos as a Servant:

Basic Info:

TRUE NAME: NRVNQSR CHAOS

OTHER KNOWN NAMES: FABRO ROWAN, BEAST KING, PROFESSOR CHAOS

Gender: Male

Height: 188 cm

Weight: 84 kg

Blood Type: (Unknown)

Birthday: February 13

Age: 1,000

Type: Undead, Heroic Spirit

Alignment: Chaotic Evil

Parameters:

Strength: B — Endurance: A — Agility: C — Mana: D — Luck: C — NP: B

Class Skills:

Madness Enhancement: B

Personal Skills:

Vampirism A+++

Soil of Genesis (Fake)

Battle Continuation EX

Noble Phantasms:

999th Beast: (?)

Lair of the Beast King: EX

Lastly, for anyone confused by SATSUJINKI, there is a thing written by Nasu called TALK and PRELUDE. They are short stories describing what happened to Shiki Tohno and Arcueid after Tsukihime, fans refer to it as an unfinished project called Tsukihime 2, basically, Shiki becomes a Dead Apostle himself and starts hunting the other Dead apostles alongside Arcueid, he becomes an urban legend which scares even the mightiest of the Dead Apostles. Labeled as DEATH itself by them.

Anywho, I wish you enjoyed the chapter and I'll see you soon.