Chapter 43: Contortion, Constriction, and Exposure.

I do not own Fate/Stay Night and stuffs.

o. o. o.

The castle was being destroyed.

That was the first thing that came to the girls' heads once the fighting began.

The building shook as if it was at the epicenter of the greatest of earthquakes. Explosions fired off so rapidly that it was easier to consider the chain of them to be one massive phenomena than try to recognize each one as an individual event. No painting, chandelier, decorative bauble, or trimming could remain in place or intact. All fell to the ground where they either continued to shake and move due to the tremors, or shattered into countless pieces that moved just as freely.

"Shirou…" Sakura hesitated and looked back to the source of the chaos across half the building.

"He's really fighting with the Servants…" Illya on the other hand used the common spell to allow Masters to see through the eyes of their Servants for a clearer and more up-to-date view.

It had always been rather difficult to process the world through Berserker's perspective. It wasn't well known, but the Mad Enhancement ability messed with more than the Servant's senses, but the Master's as well should they try to share them. No one knew if this was intentional or accidental, but it made the class even more unappealing for the majority of magi out there who ever intended to participate in the ritual.

Illya, was of course an exception to the rules. She had literally been made to be one. During the three month period where she had summoned her Servant early, many tests had been conducted in order to maximize her efficiency with the Bastard of Zeus. One of the more useful ones was Illya's greater tolerance for her Servant's mind, and less chaotic feedback when their connection was enhanced.

She had never seen anything like it before. The world still had a red tint from her Servant's perspective, but it did little to hide the gold and silver flashes that dominated the space between the ground and what she suspected was what remained of her ceiling.

And yet with all that attention focused on the person behind her Servant, Berserker and Saber were still having a fairly difficult time pushing forward against a tide of even more Noble Phantasms that spawned endlessly.

"Berserker… Onii-chan…"

She hadn't believed him or his story. Not entirely. She didn't know what part exactly, but Illya didn't completely trust Shirou. She was not a full fledged magus. She had been raised and designed as a functioning tool for the war. Still, she had been brought up in the magi culture since the beginning and shared many of their traits. Inquisitiveness. Skepticism. Caution. Callousness. All of these were needed in order to survive, let alone thrive, in such an environment. There just had to be something in the fine print that he wasn't telling her.

A Servant that could trump Berserker hands down? That her father didn't abandon her? That the Grail was corrupted? That he had been working for years to secretly keep everyone alive?

… That she could be saved?

It had been, and still was ridiculous. All of those things went against everything she had been brought up to know and understand.

… But she went along with it anyways.

Why?

It wasn't because of the waffles. No matter what anybody else said, she wasn't that easy to buy off.

Was it because she was just naive? Was it because she was scared? Maybe because he had protected her, and she felt obligated to humor him?

… Or… was it because she wanted to believe him? That he had been telling the truth all along? That perhaps, maybe, just maybe, he was someone that she could actually trust?

That he really was family? That he did love her? That he wouldn't leave her alone?

The letters and the book were a nice touch, but could still be fabricated and manufactured with the right spells. Every once in a while you heard of family members tricking other members with similar ruses. It was a callous and dirty trick, so obviously there were quite a few that employed it every year or so. It was unlikely and unneeded in the long run, but were a nice touch and would get her to trust him faster if he needed to rush things.

It turns out, he had been right all along. He had not lied to her once.

And she had never felt more foolish and disgusted with herself in her entire life for doubting him.

She didn't even say goodbye when they split up.

"Illya-sama. We must keep moving," Sella urged her charge with a small bit of force. It was crude and rude, but now was not the time for posturing. "We are still far too close to the battle should things turn for the worse."

"Very dangerous. Can't protect here." Leysritt nodded in agreement, one hand on the tremendous halberd that had been crafted specifically for her to use. Even her perpetually impassive expression was laced with concern and uncertainty.

"F-fine," she relented, allowing herself to pull her attention away from Berserker. Most skilled magi were able to multitask to the point of watching such a fight and do other tasks at the same time, but it still wasn't safe for anyone to be distracted when running away from such a dangerous situation.

Their plan was simple. Wait for Gilgamesh to come in through the front door. Then, run and hide once the fighting began and he couldn't immediately follow.

They wouldn't get far on foot, or car for that matter. If Gilgamesh won, then there was no hope for them to get away on their own steam.

Instead, they were buying time for the slim chance that Merem Solomon would arrive and get to them before the King of Heroes did.

Illya shivered at the memory of the idea of relying on the Apostle Ancestor, let alone riding on top of that flying creature once more, but if things went south, it really might be her only valid option of escaping with her life.

"I don't like this." Sakura shivered and reflexively grabbed her right arm, a habit she had never grown out of. She had been feeling chills even before the fighting started, as if something was getting closer to her. Even now, as Shirou and the Servants were holding off Gilgamesh it was still approaching.

In fact it was so close it was practically on the other end of the hall where they were running…?!

By the time she realized what it was it was already too late.

The disembodied feeling she had suddenly rushed in their direction-

"Ugh! Uh?"

And Leysritt stumbled.

Her throat was slit so deeply that she appeared to be halfway decapitated. The silhouettes of three blades were seen sticking out of her back, outlined by her blood.

"Leysritt!" Sella and Illya shouted in alarm and horror, unable to keep up with the sudden and terrifying new turn of events.

Incapable of moving on her own, much like a puppet with its strings cut, Leysritt was helpless against the force that stabbed her. The blades were used as anchors to swing the victim with immense speed and precision just long enough to throw her into the next target. The Homonculus' body slid free of the blades at the right time to throw her heavily into the second maid with enough inertia and momentum to launch them halfway down the hallway they had just come down.

Illya was frozen stock still in shock, unable to comprehend that a few errant drops of her maid's blood had splashed her front as she flew by. Instead all she could focus on was the fact that one of the two individuals from the Einzberns that she actually trusted had likely just been killed right in front of her…

… And that the assailant was coming right for her if the crimson blades approaching were any indication.

"NO!" Sakura shouted and held out a hand in front of her, surprising not only Illya but the attacker as well if the momentary flinch was any indication.

"Ngh?!"

… It wasn't a flinch of surprise. The blades had stopped completely in tandem to the deep, pained grunt of an adult male.

As if the indication of pain was a trigger to proceed, Sakura instantly manifested dozens of black ribbons from around herself and threw them at the invisible attacker. It didn't matter if they sliced apart or bound him. All that mattered was that he was stopped as soon as possible.

If there had been any noise from the assault, it likely was too quiet to be heard over the explosive chaos happening at the main entrance of the building. Regardless, that did not mean it was ineffective. The opposite in fact.

The deluge of razor thin ribbons overwhelmed the invisible threat instantly and threw him to the side of the hallway like a flood. Neither Illya nor Sakura could see even where he had landed or his silhouette in the ebony mess, though that did not mean that they would take any chances.

"There is no escape from the endless, for there is no beginning to the traveled path," Sakura muttered a dark aria, ensnaring her target and draining him of prana at the same time before finally pulling back enough of her ribbons to expose his identity.

Not that she didn't already know who it was.

He was cut all over his body and through his clothes despite the latter being made of bulletproof material.

His arms, legs, joints, and body were ensnared so that he could barely move even if he had enough strength to still fight.

Around his waist was the shredded remains of a transparent blue cloth that shimmered in the meager light of the hallway elusively. It was no doubt an item of exotic nature and mystery.

Kirei Kotomine coughed in pain, breathing much needed air after nearly suffocating under the darkness. "Ngh. I've misjudged you Matou. Clearly I've erred in the order of attack."

"The priest?" Illya slowly recovered from her paralyzing shock. "But… How? I would have been able to sense you in the forest!"

"Gilgamesh likely gave him a Noble Phantasm to remain undetected." Sakura didn't take her eyes off of the man, making note of the blue cloth that did not match his attire. "That's why he walked through the forest. He was keeping pace with you so that you'd both be here at the same time. Without raising suspicion."

"More like he was accommodating my selfish whims. My presence was unnecessary, however since Caster forced my participation, we determined it was appropriate that I appear regardless," Kirei commended the girl's intuition. Yes, he had definitely underestimated her as just an unfortunate child with useful if not damning gifts.

As if to exemplify his point, the fight with Gilgamesh seemed to spike intensity. Silently, Sakura and Illya wondered if the castle was really going to fall down upon their heads at this rate.

The Einzbern girl swallowed heavily as she briefly saw the world through Berserker's eyes once more and witnessed the overwhelming odds that her brother was up against.

"Shirou will win." Sakura snapped her out of her stunned state. There was not a single hint of concern of worry in her voice. "He's far more capable than you think."

"Don't mistaken my confidence in Gilgamesh's prowess for a supposed lack in Emiya's. I too am quite a follower of the boy's exploits. He's managed to dredge quite an interesting reputation since Louvre, much less the start of this war. Observing the reactions that he has invoked is quite entertaining. I do not doubt his capability in the slightest, especially if he was aware of Gilgamesh to begin with," Kirei admitted honestly without hesitation. Hearing about magi and churchgoers moan and lament about the boy's exploits was quite the treat.

… Although he must give Kiritsugu some credit as well. It didn't take much to reason out that his heart was a product of Angra Mainyu, or at least, the power corrupted by Angra Mainyu. Kiritsugu had blasted out the original organ after all.

It was another thing entirely to determine that Sakura had the capability to manipulate the lump of mass that replaced his heart so freely. She was unusually suited for hosting the next grail, yes, but she shouldn't be that familiar with using it. In fact, since none of the Servants had even died yet, there should be little reason to assume that she had a genuine connection with the grail itself outside being a Lesser Grail. There was nothing really connecting her to Avenger…

… Wait. That was wrong. There was a direct link between the two. Zouken utilized the corrupted fragments from the previous Grail to alter her in the first place, which was why she was a Lesser Grail at all…

… She had been linked to Avenger the entire time. It was a frail connection, but one that nearly everyone, including himself and Gilgamesh, had missed.

Judging by her familiarity with these corrupted ribbons, she had been trained to use its power without even knowing its nature.

Emiya had been with Matou ever since the Louvre incident. If he was even half as well informed as Kirei had suspected, then it would not be difficult to deduce Sakura's condition with enough time. Maybe even helped her refine her control over it.

And if Shirou knew that his heart was replaced by Avenger…

That boy. He had planned on killing Kirei with Sakura before the war even started.

It wasn't too far of a stretch to assume as much. Shirou had always given the impression of knowing one or two things about the situation that his opponents didn't and exploited them as much as possible while at the same time keeping another small slew of secrets mum in reserve in case something went south.

Given how quickly things had escalated and how much time they had allowed the boy to recover, it would not be impossible to imagine the boy thinking that this exact scenario may happen once he had been called out publically. Gilgamesh was the largest hurdle for any other faction in the war to overcome, enough that many of said factions would have to team up in order to just survive. Due to the nature of the War though, Gilgamesh was not the only problem at hand.

The issue instead would be simply a matter of allocating resources. Most would struggle to futilely stay alive, even after throwing literally everything they had against the King of Heroes. Putting anything to the side to deal with any other threats would all but ensure a quick end for most magi and Servants.

It had been that idea, that fact, that Kirei had assumed incorrectly when he made his plan of attack. The forces that were left to protect Illyasviel and Sakura would be at a bare minimal while the Servants and Emiya were left to deal with his compatriot.

Two girls were Masters and magi yes, but still young and vastly inexperienced in the ways of combat compared to himself and the boy. The other two were Einzbern homunculi, with one clearly oriented for battle. Einzbern were known to be terrible fighters, but in contrast their artificial humans were reputed to be almost on par with Servants… the ones that were designed to be fighters at least. If the other was a magi as well, then the odds were high that he'd lose his invisibility generating cloth at some point at the hands of a wide range mystery, and he didn't feel up to the task of going toe to toe against something that could wield a halberd that massive as if it was a feather…

Not once did he suspect that the girl he had helped save not even a week earlier had the capability to toy with him so easily.

It was ironic. Just as Shirou had used Kirei to kill Zouken, he had used Sakura to take out Kirei. The Priest didn't know whether to be amused or insulted by the turn of events.

"... You don't make sense. You are confident that Gilgamesh will win regardless, but you still see the need to go after us personally. Why?" Illya frowned, focusing her attention on the question in order to distract herself from her maids. She had to keep cool now more than ever.

Despite the pain and weakness that plagued his body, Kirei still found it in him to muster a dry chuckle. "Hm. It is nothing complicated or elaborate. I wished to observe how the boy would react should he realized that he failed regardless of how he fared against Gilgamesh. My own personal twist on the story, as it were."

He had intended to capture the girls and waltz them right up to the battle. Should the boy still stay alive, he would have given the boy a choice, which girl would stay, and which would become the grail? The Priest didn't really care which he took in the end, so long as the grail ritual continued.

After that, he'd force Shirou to continue to participate once again lest he kill the container to be. With the stress of the war and the situation coming from all angles and his relationships with the remaining masters fracturing, the boy would truly be pushed into a corner and become desperate.

What would have come out of that desperation, even he had not the slightest.

Pity that wasn't likely to happen now. He had been looking forward to it too.

"You're sick." Sakura's eyes twitched just the slightest at his admission, and Kirei could not help but suspect that she had a better idea of what his plans had been than she let on.

"I'm perfectly healthy. Just different," he corrected. "Tell me, what would have been your plan of dealing Caster had she appeared instead? I doubt you have a convenient hold on her vitals as you do with me."

Had it been Caster, they would have run without looking back. The witch may be able to easily overpower the Castle's defenses, but they were elaborate and far spread enough that Illya would have detected the Witch long before she arrived on the grounds.

"As if we would waste time telling you." Illya grunted, picking out a couple of strands of her ivory hair and channeling prana into them to make two large bird like constructs around her. Clearly she was intent on killing the man right then and there.

Kirei recognized the design of the birds instantly and took an educated guess. "Oh? How familiar. You use the same design as your predecessor. Your mother I assume? The resemblance is uncanny."

The flinch was all he needed to know he had been right on the money.

He went on. "I suppose this is karma. I did kill the previous container. Of course I had a little help at the time from the Matou Master. Kariya Matou was quite willing to do just about anything to wrest you from Zouken's influence back then, Sakura."

The sudden stiffening of both girls now pleased him immensely. Normally he refrained from torturing the immature, save for Rin, out of habit and standards, but these girls had long since left their innocence behind them. Being young was secondary to being Masters in the Grail War.

He was slightly less elated when the black tendrils around him tightened to the point that circulation around his body was being cut off. His irregular blood flow did little to help either.

"I see. I was expressing my gratitude for removing Grandfather's worms earlier and let you live slightly longer. However Shirou was correct when he warned me of your habits." Sakura coldly glared down at him.

Kirei's pained face twisted into an unimpressed leer. "Don't lie and try to paint yourself as a saint. You've never killed anyone before, and still do not wish to. That's the only reason why I'm not dead yet. Not mercy or curiosity. Merely immature reluctance."

Illya glared at Sakura who was unable to hide her embarrassment.

"More importantly though, are you certain it is wise to kill me now?"

It was the tone of his voice that sent shivers down their backs. The sort of "I know something you don't" tone that never fared well with the receiving party.

"What are you insinuating?" Illya pressed looking to her sides quickly as if expecting a trap until she finally realized what was wrong.

Quiet.

There were no explosions. There was no shaking. No deafening roars from Berserker, clashes of metal on metal from Noble Phantasms hammering upon one another in droves.

Just a deadly and ominous silence.

Berserker was still alive. Illya knew that because her command seals were still in place and the massive drain he put on her from simply existing. He was heavily injured, but that was to be expected given how intense the battle had been.

Quickly she shared her senses with her Servants and could not help but gasp.

Her Servant was recovering from the opposite side of the room where the entrance and Gilgamesh were. He had at most two or three lives left in stock, but he had been shredded so viciously that it would take time for him to recover in the first place.

Where Gilgamesh was, a seemingly endless distance away, she saw Saber trapped in chains that spawned from midair. She could see the two of them talking, but it was too far for Berserker to hear them. Even if he did, his Mad Enhancement would garble it into little more than gibberish. The only person that he could comprehend with the smallest of clarity was Illya.

But what had her attention the most though was closer to her Servant.

She didn't even know if he had taken notice of Berserker being so close, but from the looks of it Shirou didn't even seem to care.

Much like he didn't seem to care that he was dragging himself across the rubble that had once been the main stairway of the building, clenching onto his disembodied right arm with the other.

"Hmmm. If you had killed me off when you first had me, you might have had enough time to get away." Kirei surmised the situation from the ash white pallor the girl's face had become.

It was an unspoken assumption. The girls were far too close to the enemy to escape now. Merem was nowhere to be found. And neither one of them was capable of taking out Gilgamesh on their own from the front.

From a spectator's perspective, their only feasible options to survive were either to surrender themselves to Kirei and Gilgamesh and submit to whatever schemes they had, or hold Kirei hostage and hope against hope that it would be enough to stay Gilgamesh's hand.

Neither had rather promising odds. Both entailed keeping Kirei alive.

"How bad is it? Did you take in a Servant?" Sakura asked without turning away from the priest, her face unexpectedly blank.

"N-no. Berserker's still recovering, but Saber's been caught and O-Onii-Chan's hurt badly. He's lost an arm." Illya shivered, unable to turn her gaze away from her brother crawling almost pathetically across a piece of concrete.

"He's not dead yet? That is surprising," Kirei commented honestly. Judging from how vicious the fighting had been, he had suspected that the boy would have been killed in the first few seconds, much like virtually every other living thing on the planet would have.

"I see," Sakura merely replied with no emotion in her voice.

"That's all you have to say?! Shirou's hurt, Berserker's down and Sabers been caught and we've lost and that's your reaction!?" the girl exploded at her brother's "lover" incredulously.

"Color me curious as well Matou. Given your relationship with Emiya, I would have thought you'd react more strongly to his condition." Kirei took in the teen's blank expression with confusion.

"… Illyasviel. Let me tell you a few things about Shirou that I've learned after watching him for years. The first thing that you should know is that regardless of how kind, generous, selfless, and strong he is, Shirou absolutely hates being compared to heroes."

The sudden change in topic caught the two off guard. No, it wasn't just the topic. Sakura's body language had slowly been changing during the conversation and they had only just noticed it. Whether it was due to it finally reaching a peak, or due to learning of Shirou's condition was anyone's guess, but the difference was certainly noticeable now.

The aura around the girl had grown stagnant, and her skin was a few shades paler than it had been just minutes ago, making the colors of her hair and eerily growing Command Seals on her body more apparent and unnatural.

Angra Mainyu.

Kirei instantly realized the source of the girl's slow corruption. It wasn't immediate or overwhelming, but its influence and taint were easy for him to identify. It appeared as if Sakura's hold on the darker nature of her powers was not as firm as anyone first assumed. Absently he wondered if the boy was aware of its tentative hold on her.

"He doesn't outright say or show it, especially to those close to him, but he does. I don't know the exact details, but from what I've learned recently, I can be sure that Kiritsugu was responsible for it. Being called a Hero is comparable to being the impossible and irrational ideal that destroyed the man that saved him. Even if everything Shirou does is comparable to one, he will deny it with every fiber of his being and just claim that he is being selfish."

Illya swallowed heavily. She wanted to shout at Sakura as to why the girl was spouting such useless nonsense. Why they weren't trying to get away while they still had a tiny amount of time left as Gilgamesh taunted Saber and her brother was barely managing to get back onto his feet.

She wanted to, but she simply couldn't find her voice at the moment.

"He is impossibly stubborn about it too. Knowing him, he really would rather be a villain than a Hero."

"As peculiar as your insight into Emiya's personality is, I don't see how this is relevant to the situation. Even if he did become a criminal, I highly doubt it would be enough to defeat Gilgamesh." Kirei frowned.

Sakura merely laughed at his doubt. Her tone growing more and more distant, her gaze progressively clouding and shifting just a hair to crimson from her eyes' natural violet. "Hmhm. In terms of raw power that may be true, Kotomine-san, but, you don't know Shirou like I do."

Illya saw Shirou stumble as he got to his feet. If he had fallen, he wouldn't have been able to muster the strength to get back up again.

"You must have seen it at least once by now. A moment when he was beaten to near death and deemed a lost cause by his opponent. Louvre. Caster. I've heard that he's nearly died on a mission or two for Barthomelloi come to think of it." Sakura smiled sweetly, as if remembering a pleasant minor memory.

They heard the sound of Shirou's blades shattering the chains ensnaring Saber in the distance, followed by Saber's rather violent retreat back to her Master. Illya could barely believe her eyes when she saw her brother bat away a dozen Noble Phantasms with his disembodied arm.

"Bitten by a vampire. Drained of prana. A heart blown out. Torn apart. It really doesn't matter to him so long as he gets what he wants. Unless someone ensures he is dead and cannot possibly recover, he will force himself back time and again, more terrifying and more dangerous than before. That's just the sort of person he is," the cursed black grail chuckled as if she was amused by a small joke.

The arm in Shirou's grasp began to splinter despite the fact that a flesh and blood limb should be incapable of doing so.

"Everyone was wrong from the start… save for Solomon-san. Shirou is not a hero. Nor is he a villain. Behind the plans, the schemes, his good intentions, and desperate tactics, there's no mistaking what he really is deep down."

"Solomon?" Kirei blinked in surprise. Since when had the Apostle Ancestor been in Fuyuki? Had they made contact after the Louvre event?

The arm shattered.

"Shirou is a monster."

Illya couldn't see her brother or Gilgamesh anymore. All she could see was a crimson and silver land of blades.

"More importantly, he's our monster. And we are his. And while I am no expert on the subject, I am fairly certain that monsters don't like sharing."

If those there had been under the impression that the castle was under attack and on the verge of collapsing before, they could be rest assured that the cataclysm that followed. The magically enforced castle that could handle a bombardment akin to an army's arsenal, was not at risk of anything.

It was being destroyed. It was being rent asunder. It was helpless against the impossible battle staged within its walls.

Despite being in one of the farthest corners of the building, the backlash created from the unearthly clash of titans nearly bowled over everyone standing with an unending shockwave.

The entire structure groaned as if it was in pain. Windows that were cracked, wood that was splintered, and anything remotely brittle in between shattered under the renewed weight of the battle that took place nearby in every direction. The girls and the priest were no different.

Had Kirei not also been caught off guard by the sudden turn of events, he might have been able to manage to wrest himself from Sakura's shadows in her moment of inattention. Her hold had loosed ever so slightly for a few scant moments. However he had been just as distracted by the blast as the others.

"That wasn't exactly what I was expecting when I thought he would make a comeback, but that works too I suppose," Sakura muttered under her breath as she reestablished her hold on the priest, not that anyone could hear her. The cacophony that the fight was making was several decibels louder than what it had been just a minute ago. "Illya! What is happening?!"

"I don't know!" the Homunculus shouted back. "Berserker was thrown behind Onii-chan earlier! Then Onii-chan did something to his arm! Now all I see between us is what I can only guess is a giant portal to Unlimited Blade Works!"

"A portal?! You can see his world?!" Sakura turned to the albino in shock, disbelief, and despite the situation, some jealousy. She had heard him describe it more times than she could count ever since the event with Louvre and yearned for the day that she could see it for herself. While she couldn't say that Illyasviel didn't deserve to see it as well, the fact that the albino got to see it first rubbed Sakura the wrong way.

Kirei grunted against his wishes as another blast of wind threw up some debris, causing a large shard of glass to impact his head dangerously close to his left eye. He didn't care what the boy was using at the moment. At the rate things were going, it was very likely that the building would collapse on all of their heads within the next minute if they didn't move soon.

Sadly, despite the fact that there was so much noise about them that the odds of anyone hearing him were virtually nonexistent, Sakura and Illyasviel did manage to hear him.

The moment Kirei's eyes met Sakura's, he knew she was going to kill him.

It was not the sort of look that a person gave another person that they despised.

It was not the look of a person that was being rushed into making a terrible decision.

It was not a gleeful grin of an unstable individual that thrived on murder.

It was not one that he normally had, one that disregarded the lives of others as inconsequential.

Instead, Sakura was merely pressed for time. She knew she needed to escape the building soon. There was no point in keeping him alive or indulging in any curiosity she may have left about the Fourth Grail War.

He had been reduced to an annoying chore that she didn't want to do but nonetheless did want out of the way.

It was the same look in her eyes that Gilgamesh had whenever he was motivated to do something bothersome.

Even though he was about to die, Kirei had to admit he was somewhat intrigued by the girl. He never expected her, or anyone for that matter, to be so naturally in tune with Angra Mainyu. She would have made a wonderful Grail.

Despite her hesitance earlier, she was showing no pause now as he felt the black curse in his chest constrict and sheer in tandem with the ebony ribbons around his body. In a few instants he'd be nothing more than a pile of-

None of them had been prepared for the world around them to be thrown into absolute pandemonium and chaos.

They had all been caught off guard as a massive stone… something, sheered through the top half of the building right above their heads and threw all of them in separate directions. Regardless of how powerful the castle itself had been enchanted and enforced by the Einzberns, it apparently did little to nothing to stop whatever the thing was from cleaving it in two with ease.

Whether or not the castle had been designed to be assaulted by massive projectiles of such scale, it probably couldn't handle one that was radiating ancient power that had practically floored the three combatants before it had come even close to passing over them.

Even Kirei was unable to react or recover from being thrown about like the debris around him. He had been wrenched free from Sakura's grasp just as easily as he had been launched across the building. The best he managed to do was tighten his muscles and prepare his body for impact, which was particularly unkind as his spine nailed the sharp corner of a concrete slab. His misfortune was soon followed by falling down upon a splintered desk face first, and ended with what felt like half the building upon his person. Had his clothes not been naturally almost as tough as his body, he might have even died from the series of impacts.

He came to quickly. Whether it was due to his natural fortitude or because the deafening fighting was still going on was anyone's guess, not that he cared.

Bad news was that he was battered all over and stuck under what felt like a mountain of wood and stone, and fresh out of prana after being under Sakura's capture for so long.

Worse news was that his clothes were torn up and there was who knows how much debris stuck in his hair. He really should have cut it years ago instead of sticking with this ridiculous mullet, but he kept it mostly because it made Rin try her hardest to try not hurl whenever it was brought up in conversation.

In hindsight, he probably would have been better off if he had a more reasonable way to kill time than torturing his adolescent female charge. Sadly, he had yet to find one. Bugging the prideful Tohsaka heir really was just too much fun. Easy too. He never failed getting a rise out of her.

Good news though, was that he was still alive, functional, and more importantly out of Sakura's grasp.

With a heave and display of strength that eclipsed anything most mortal humans could ever achieve, he dislodged himself from under the plaster, stone, and wood that had covered him entirely. The ordeal reminded him of being in a similar state shortly after Kiritsugu destroyed the Grail at the conclusion of the fourth war, though there was a distinct lack of fire and suffocating tangible curses this time around.

The castle around him was in ruins. Half of the top floors from here all the way to the main entrance had been sliced off the main building from that tremendous stone slab, with debris going wherever they pleased afterwards. He could easily see the evening sky above, a fading red on one side with an endless deep navy blue on the other, a full moon barely hidden from his angle by another part of the building that remained standing.

The entire hallway was a mess. It wasn't completely collapsed or blocked off since whatever cleaved off half the building did so at an angle, so most of the debris fell into the courtyard, but there was enough around that it was somewhat of a trial to see the original floor of the building now.

That didn't mean that the danger had passed. Quite the opposite. The rampant fighting at the entrance to the castle seemed to be still going on strong if the shaking and falling debris was any indication. What little above them that was still intact was relentlessly being jarred loose from the violent tremors and shockwaves sent their way. The priest could even spy the glow of some mystery in the distance through the hole that had just been made in the building.

All of that didn't mean much to Kirei though as he got back on his feet. Before he had even recovered he had scanned his surroundings for Sakura. He had made the mistake of dismissing her as a minor threat last time. It would be the height of stupidity to do so again.

Thankfully Zouken's modifications came in handy for once. Purple was an unnatural color for hair, let alone for decor in modern affluent dwellings. Even half smothered in dust and debris, Sakura's current natural color was unmistakable from about twenty five meters away. He clearly wasn't the only one that had been thrown harshly from the attack.

She had fared better than him in some ways. She had not been half buried, but had apparently taken a hit to the head if the blood running down her face was any indication. Her unfocused eyes and confused expression indicated that she might even have a concussion, but she was clearly not unconscious. The longer he waited, the more lucid she would become and his window of opportunity would close. He had no doubt that the girl would not hesitate again.

Halfway in his rush to take the girl out, he had to jump back to avoid a blast of ivory prana that would have punched a fist sized hole through his chest had he kept on moving.

"I take back my earlier statement. You are clearly more proficient and aggressive in your craft than your mother was. No doubt that was from your father." Kirei hopped back and instinctively pulled out some black keys.

The Golden Grail of the Einzbern was covered in dust and minor debris much like everyone else there. However, unlike Kirei and Sakura, that was the worst she had sustained. Judging from the way the larger pieces of concrete and plaster were scattered around her, the girl must have used some mystery to protect herself at the last moment. Most likely it had to do with the wire constructs in the shape of birds that were still hovering over her.

"You wish I was like Papa," the girl growled, having lost her patience with both the man and the situation before attacking again.

Funny thing was… he did wish she was Kiritsugu, if only for nostalgia's sake.

The girl's thaumaturgy was strong and fast, but very small and easy to follow. Autonomous types that moved according to their owner's wishes, not by direct control. Their behavior and attacks were limited and frequently linear, thus easy to predict.

He was injured with minor cuts and bruises. The biggest issues were the concussion he currently had and his prana drained state. No prana meant no black keys too. If he took too long with Illyasviel then Sakura would wake up and end him regardless.

He clicked his tongue inside his mouth as the skin across his left check was seared. He was out of practice. He wouldn't have been hit by that even three years ago.

With all of these facts against him… the odds were almost even fair for the albino.

He charged forward without any hesitation, weaving left and right just enough that if he did get hit by Illyasviel's attacks the damage would be minimal or non-crippling. While he may not have been a Servant, he was still an Enforcer for the Church. A trained hunter and executor of Magi and Dead Apostles. Unlike his opponents, he had experience and physical prowess in spades.

Magi could keep their spells. His hands and feet were enough.

"What?" The Homunculus took a step back in surprise, clearly not expecting him to make such rapid headway against her assault.

He twisted his body smoothly to dodge another attack and knelt, coiling his powerful muscles in order to launch himself at the girl and position himself for a finishing blow in one movement. Sadly the dirt and debris shifted and slid ever so slightly as his center of balance moved, rendering that option all but suicidal.

Instead he, in his mind at least, awkwardly spun around another pair of beams that would have impaled his chest and legs to keep his momentum going and pressed forward, grabbing and throwing a rather large chunk of concrete at the young woman in the process with the speed of a bullet.

As expected, the projectile did not make it far before it was blown out of the air, but distraction and debris served their purpose of lightening the attacks on himself for another half a second in order to regain his balance and proper footing before continuing.

This would have been over already if he had his black keys. The blades made by prana would have served as suitable defenses against the attacks, making his charge all but assured. He was half tempted to use up a command seal just to restore his prana reserves, but that was just wasteful and Gilgamesh would never let him hear the end of it if he ever found out.

Then again, he was probably going to get an earful for having so much trouble with a bunch of novice girls regardless.

A swift, yet short kick sent another fist sized piece of rubble flying at Illya without breaking his stride, buying him yet another brief moment. In the scant few seconds since they had engaged in the petty game of keep away, he had already closed half the distance between them. His approach was inevitable and they both knew it. The only real question was whether he'd be able to deal with the Homonculus before Sakura regained coherence.

"Matou! Wake up! I can't hold him off!" Illya snarled, aware of the situation and no longer caring about appearances.

"Ngh. Huh?" Sakura's response instilled worry and confidence in both of them. Sakura was waking up, but she was also semi incoherent from what just happened. It was good and bad news for both of them.

"Damn it Matou! I thought Shirou prepared you better than this!" Illyasviel swore as she pulled two more hairs out from her head and threw them outward. Instead of the fickle looking birds that were attacking Kirei, the new constructs fabricated a small ornate wall between him and her. Given the proficiency the Einzberns had with alchemy, there was little doubt that it could handle a great deal of punishment.

The tactic might have even worked had it been anyone else.

With a last burst of speed, the priest wove through the last of the attacks and halted right in front of the girl's defenses like a war god, body and limbs coiled to strike with devastating results.

"… Fuuuuu."

Breathing out with a slow and practiced ease, the man shot out like a released spring and impacted the shield with the force of a bomb and the skill of a martial arts master in Bajiquan. While the mystical shield managed to hold firm, the shockwave produced behind it was left unimpeded, sending the girl hiding behind it flying. Even if she had been prepared for the surprise effect of his technique, there was little she could have done. Her body was too small and frail to deal with the forces exerted on it.

Not waiting to see just how effective his attack was, he leapt back to avoid being assaulted by the familiars. That had always been the annoying thing about autonomous defenses. So long as they had power, they would continue to function unless dealt with directly.

Despite the fact that they appeared as birds, the familiars floated and moved more akin to falling leaves, swaying in any direction with relative and irregular ease. No doubt their wings would enable them to move faster had they utilized more linear patterns, but that side observation was useless in the current circumstance.

There was one on each side with the shield in between. If he went after one recklessly he'd be attacked from behind by the other.

The first bird was down in three seconds. He had once more kicked up a piece of concrete at the other to distract it while taking out its counterpart. The small mystery shattered like glass with a single blow.

The other didn't even last half as long.

He didn't relax though. Matou was still waking up and there was nothing to indicate that Einzbern had a cap on just how many familiars she could make. With a quick sidestep, he made his way around the already collapsing shield and rushed forward to save time. His movements were quick enough that he was already on top of her before she had even managed to pick herself up from his previous attack.

His hand shot out quickly to ensnare hers viciously like a snake. She had been in the process of making another familiar as he had approached and he didn't feel like dealing with it right now. With a brief clenching of his fist, he broke her wrist like a twig.

"Aaaagh!" Her screams were barely heard above the chaos at the front of the castle, but it apparently was enough to get through to Sakura just a short distance away.

"Ugh? Illya?"

Kirei would have moved onto his main target had a rather large piece of debris from one of the upper levels nearly crushed him and Illyasviel, while simultaneously getting in between himself and Sakura.

"Tch." He was running out of time. He had planned on knocking both girls out, but that wasn't likely to happen now. More and more of the castle was falling apart around them.

With a swift shift in weight and a flash of his hands, Illya's pale neck was in his grasp. "Fair warning Matou, I have your friend's life literally in my hands at the moment. Killing me now is not in your best interests."

"Huh? What?" Sakura finally managed to regain enough coherence to realize what was going on. Much to Kirei's satisfaction, the girl's complexion paled in fear rather than a result of her thaumaturgy this time.

"I don't know how Emiya managed to determine you'd be able to control the curse that sustains me. However I am more than capable of breaking this girl's neck even without it," he carried on coldly, ignoring his hostage's thrashing as he lifted her off of the ground. "Ironic. It would be the same way I killed her mother."

"M-Mama? But she…" Illya would have been somewhat stunned by his comment, however his firm grip on her neck took priority.

"Died becoming the Grail? Was murdered by Kiritsugu? No. Neither of those happened." A small satisfied smile made its way onto his face. "What happened was that I asked the Matou representative at the time for a favor, and he delivered your mother right to me while your father was busy. She and I had a rather enlightening conversation about your father, and then I killed her. No heartfelt goodbyes. No screaming. No begging. It was as easy as putting down a crippled rabbit. Quite pathetic really."

"You! Bastard!" the albino managed to choke out before the grip on her neck tightened.

"Such language. You certainly didn't inherit that from your mother." The Priest probed further much to his amusement. He couldn't afford to kill the girl now with Sakura now awake, but he could still rub salt in the wound vigorously. "I don't know what's more ironic. That you are close to perishing the same way as your mother, or that your life currently depends on the family that damned her in the first place."

"Let her go and I won't make your death live up to the curse keeping you alive." Sakura's ultimatum would have been more threatening had she not been still struggling to stand up.

"And that bluntness clearly didn't come from Zouken. Then again, he didn't care for anything other than himself either. Consider it a small mercy that you didn't inherit that." Kirei turned to Sakura without worry. These girls were far too dedicated to Emiya to turn on one another and betray his trust at the risk of the other.

"-…"

He wasn't sure what exactly prompted him to move. With the chaos happening at the entrance, it was almost impossible to hear the girl he was choking right in front of his face. The shaking and pulses that were made rendered him incapable of feeling any shift in the air currents around him. Detecting prana was out given the sheer bulk that was being thrown about too. Even sensing killing intent was moot point.

Maybe it was the rumored sixth sense, the feeling only developed from years of battle and experience that set him off, triggered only by animal like instincts that sometimes bordered on precognition.

Whatever it was though, he had reacted far too late.

"Nn?" He barely managed to turn and pivot his body to avoid a direct hit, but the projectile's irregular shape proved his undoing and managed to snag onto his outstretched shoulder.

Both he and Illya were sent flying by the sudden contact. The muscles and nerves in his arm had been severed, but his hand had been around her neck during contact, so the transference of energy still applied to her small body.

The homonuculus was erratically thrown into a pile of debris harshly. Enough to likely crack a few bones and knock the wind out of her, but not to kill.

Kirei on the other hand was jettisoned like a rag doll down the rest of the hallway until hitting the other end of it with the projectile, which nailed itself into the stone wall like a dart with a harsh crack.

No, not like a dart, more like a spear… or a halberd.

"Your order wasn't wrong priest. You merely failed to follow through properly." Sella muttered, sweat covering her and Leysritt's faces from the other side of the long hallway.

It had been close. Far too close. Had Sella not been thrown with Leysritt during Kirei's assault, there would be little doubt that Leysritt would have ceased all functions.

Halfway decapitated. Speared through three times with blades. These injuries would have guaranteed the death of any human.

Sella and Leysritt were not human. They were Homonculi. Ones that had been designed specifically to tend to and protect Illya during the war. Sella was the girl's thaumaturgy teacher. While she was not exceptional or designed for combat, her primary function had always been to keep Illya alive and healthy to fulfil her purpose. Healing even grievous wounds were to be expected of her.

Leysritt on the other hand was the muscle of the two, so much that her cognitive functions had been sacrificed to enhance her prowess. When compared to a Servant, her Strength could be considered almost B rank. Ultimately, she was designed to be Illya's meat shield when Berserker was not around.

Kirei's assault had done lethal damage to the latter maid. That was unarguable. However, unlike humans, Leysritt was still treatable.

That was not to say that it was a complete recovery.

"Hah. Hah."

The combat maid was barely able to stand and bleeding from the mouth. Her ability to speak was non-existent from the extremely raw and angry slash across her neck. Judging from the soaked uniform she wore, it was impossible to tell if she had stopped bleeding from her stab wounds.

Her treatment had been a rushed job at best. Just by looking at her it was easy to tell that her life was still on the line. The fact that she was able to stand at all, let alone throw her halberd, which was made of a material three times the density of iron, with pinpoint precision across the hallway was nothing short of astounding. Had anyone from the main Einzbern family saw the feat, they would instantly make plans to take Leysritt back for dissection and examination to see how and why she had managed it.

They had wanted to get back at the priest from the beginning, but in their condition there was only one chance to do so, especially from their distance. The man's experience and skill made it impossible to hit him when his guard was up.

The fact that Illya had to be put into such a devastating position did not leave a good taste in their mouths.

"Ngh." Kirei coughed up some blood and faltered in picking himself up. His left arm had been halfway severed initially, but with the following trajectory he had just taken, it was all but hanging onto his body. Splintered bone could easily be seen through the blood pouring out from his now useless limb.

He had completely disregarded the maids after he had thought he killed the combat oriented one and now he was paying for it. He really was out of practice. Gilgamesh really might kill him after hearing of this just to save himself the embarrassment.

Sakura was picking herself up now. If he wanted to continue his assault, he'd have to do so now or run away immediately to get out of her range. If he hesitated in either he'd be killed effortlessly.

His left arm snapped to hold the hilts of three black keys, one of the many command seals on the arm glowing to supply him with prana and heal his other arm…

"Now now. We can't have you wasting those valuable things so quickly, can we?"

"Ngh?!" Kirei flinched and leapt to the side without any other warning. It was a movement that few humans would struggle to keep up with, let alone imitate.

Static generated by raw power forced the hairs on everyone's necks to stand on end.

With the sound of a cannon, a violet light shot from the sky and pierced the priest's torso, downing him instantly.

A shiver of horror traveled down the spines of Illya and Sakura. Kirei Kotomine, one of the few genuine humans on the planet that even Shirou was wary of, had been taken out with impossible ease.

"Caster? But… wait, when did the bounded fields shut down?" Illya frantically tried to make sense of the situation. One of the main reasons why they had relocated to the castle in the first place was because of its bounded fields. Even Caster would not be able to get close without triggering them in one way or another.

"Hmhm. Why so surprised child? It's not that difficult. With all that raw power those foolish boys are throwing about, is it at all confusing that the defenses around this castle were pushed to the limit?" The Witch smirked in satisfaction, hiding her own insecurity.

She had spoken more truth than she'd care to admit. In order to mask her intrusion, she had waited for the security bounded fields there to reach a certain level of strain before merely adding her own nudge to push them past the brink without raising alarms.

She had also managed to sneak a small peek at the battle in the main entrance of the building, and quickly decided she wanted nothing to do with it.

The boy. The King of Heroes. It didn't matter which. If she had attempted to even try from a distance to take either one of them out, she would have been murdered without question.

It was ridiculous. Every time she encountered the brat, he would do something that made her desperately want to kill him, only the same action prevented her from doing so in the first place. In this case, he was holding off Gilgamesh.

If her luck held out, the two might even kill one another. If not… best not to prattle here, just in case.

Before wasting more time on the girls, Caster muttered a word under her breath and levitated Kirei high enough such that he was at her height. Even if the man was the Master of Gilgamesh, she had no intention of using Rule Breaker on him. She could tell just by looking at him that she wouldn't be able to control the King of Heroes even if she did desire to be frivolous with Command Seals.

"Your timing leaves much to be desired." Kirei coughed up blood as he was moved against his will.

"We both know I was not fooling anyone. It is your fault for pretending otherwise for too long." Caster didn't bother taking his insult to heart and instead rolled up his right sleeve to reveal her main goal. "My my. Quite a healthy number you have here. Such a waste to leave them in the hands of a layabout like you."

Shink.

"Ngh!" Kirei grimaced as Caster severed the arm at his bicep with Rule Breaker. The Noble Phantasm was brittle and not suited for battle, but it was still more than enough to perform the job with much ease in the hands of a Servant.

"Just a grunt? You certainly have a strong will. Most would scream or beg by now. I suppose that is to be expected from the overseer of the Grail War though," the Witch complimented the man as she slipped the limb into the folds of her robe. She would have transferred the seals to herself right then and there, but there was too much chaos happening and she didn't want to risk messing up the process or being distracted. There was no need to rush things just yet.

"I might as well be one in just name by this point. More participants have broken the major rules in this War than the others combined." Kirei allowed himself to smile bitterly. He still had one seal left on his halfway severed left arm, but using it would accomplish nothing. Gilgamesh would kill him if he dared. As it stood, he was a dead man and little would change that fact.

"If nothing else, you certainly are taking this well." His captor looked at him skeptically. She didn't trust him even now. Not when both the boy and Assassin were wary of him. Anyone that made those two on edge was not someone to drop their guard against.

She paused as her eyes met his chest. "Oh? Now what's this?"

Illya limped to Sakura as quickly and quietly as she could and grabbed her wrist while Caster was momentarily distracted by Kirei. They had to escape. There was no if's, and's, or but's about it. If they stayed, they were dead. At the very least, they could run and stall for enough time for Berserker to finally recover and get back to them.

The Black Giant only had two lives left after Gilgamesh tore him to pieces with that last attack and needed an absurd amount of time to recover from the damage, but it would have to do. In a worst case scenario, Illya could use her Command Seals to replenish his lives, but she didn't want to have to resort to such measures unless absolutely necessary.

They barely made it ten meters before their way was stopped by a slew of giant armed skeletons.

"Now that's just rude. Even in my time it is only polite for a host to inform their guests when they are to depart."

They didn't know when, but at some point without anyone else noticing, Caster had all but flooded the room with her familiars. Though they were weak, their numbers were enough to pose a threat to a seasoned magus. Sakura could handle them easily enough with her powers, even in her current state, but the same could not be said for Illya. And that was if the Servant did nothing in the meanwhile.

Their backs were against the wall and their lives were in the Witch's hands. The second either one of the Masters moved, all hell would break loose.

Or… it would have if someone else didn't do just that.

Throughout the entire ordeal, the battle against Gilgamesh had essentially taken place in the background, but was always a factor in everyone's decisions. Much like an erupting volcano in the distance. If they weren't careful and pay attention, they could easily die from the erratic blowback that was a mere byproduct of the event. Even Ig Alma, the massive stone blade that severed off a good chunk of the castle had been nothing more than an errant stray that happened to go in their direction.

Having Excalibur go off and take out nearly a third of the castle in a horizontal blast of raw power on the other hand, was akin to having another volcano erupt right next to them.

It had caught everyone off guard and for good reason. The Sword of Promised Victory was a well-known and powerful Noble Phantasm, but along with that power came an assumed charge time. Even if it didn't take long, there should have at least been a noticeable spike in prana that even a deaf dumb and blind baby could detect with ease before it was unleashed.

Instead, everyone there, Servant, Human, and Familiar, were knocked off kilter from the sudden deafening blast and blowback from the golden attack.

"Move!" Illya, more experienced and shrewd than Sakura, made the first move and all but dragged her fellow Lesser Grail out of the hallway into the courtyard where an opening in the wall had been made earlier.

It didn't have to be long. They just needed to buy a little bit more time. A minute. Thirty seconds at the most.

The bone warriors tried to stop them, but Sakura's magic was faster than they were. A small, paper thin sheet of black was all it took to render them less than nothing.

They had barely made it to the middle of the courtyard before they were frozen in place by mysteries from the Age of Gods.

"Really now. Must they always try and run?" Caster sighed as she floated on her staff, hovering close enough that her feet almost touched their heads.

Illya and Sakura couldn't even look away if they wanted to.

"As annoying as you are, don't be concerned with me killing you. I shudder to think what the boy would be willing to do next if I ever did such a thing. I merely need a hostage." Caster cajoled them, as if what she was saying was good news.

Illya could only grunt in anger and frustration. The fighting had clearly stopped, but considering how harsh the battle had been, it would still be some time before Shirou would find out something was wrong, and that was if he had not wasted all of his energy on Gilgamesh.

Just. A little. Longer…

"Which to choose? The adorable doll who controls Heracles? Or perhaps the tainted child and further my control over Rider?" The woman's smirk widened. "Oh! How silly. I'll just take both of-?!"

Caster's monologue was interrupted when a stone column that had been a part of the building flew through the air and barely missed her. No, that wasn't quite right. It would have torn off her legs had she not protected herself with mysteries earlier.

Even so, the shattering stone had erupted with enough force to disrupt the spell binding the girls and send them flying back, peppered by a spray of rocks of thankfully negligible, but still painful, size.

"▅▅▅▅▅."

Berserker had finally recovered, and even in his madness he had apparently taken offence to what Caster was about to do to his Master.

"Berserker? Tch. Of course you wouldn't have been finished off by now." Caster looked around briefly to see if there were any other annoying surprises in store for her, only to find nothing.

Illya grimaced as she wiped her face of the dust and grime she had been sprayed with. Judging from her throbbing face, she was most likely bleeding from several cuts. "Give up Caster. With Berserker back you can't win. Onii-chan's killed Gilgamesh. Saber will be here soon too."

Medea remained silent for several moments, her expression unreadable. "Don't play me for a fool, doll. As mighty as he is, I can tell that Heracles is on his last life. Two at the most. Even I am capable of overcoming that much. Even so, if we were to fight here and now…"

The rattles of several skeletons filled the courtyard. Dozens of armed emotionless warriors stood up imposingly bearing their crude arms.

Sakura manifested her shadows once more, but grimaced in the process. The more she used them, the more she felt her powers taint her deep down. Zouken had been dealt with, but she was still a Lesser Grail, and by extension connected to Angra Mainyu. Normally she had it under control, but if she used it too long or frequently…

Thump thump.

"?! Kuh?!" She couldn't breathe. Her lungs filled with air, but what was filling her body was anything but.

Something. Something.

Somethingsomethingsomethingsomething stopstopstopstop pleasefortheloveofgodstop stopstopstopstop…!

It was pain beyond pain. She had thought that taking in Caster's attack was unbearable. That her Grandfather's training was maddening. But this? Words could not even come close to painting the tapestry of undiluted agony that was inflating her very body and mind at that moment.

"Do you think he would be able to protect the both of you adequately in the process? Like you won't end up like the other dolls?"

Had Caster not spoken those words then, Illya might have even noticed her comrade's plight.

Other dolls?

It took several moments for Caster's words to register before her heart fell to her stomach.

A sickeningly wet thump met her ears as if to answer the question that she had yet to ask.

A small distance away from the hole in the castle that she had just exited the castle were the bodies of Sella and Leysritt. Their corpses hacked and beaten to the point that it was difficult to recognize them anymore. No doubt the two had been overwhelmed by the familiars in their weakened states. They wouldn't have fallen otherwise so quickly.

"I learned my lesson last time. Anything and anyone that the boy touches is too dangerous to ignore. Unlike the Priest, I won't take my attention off of the weaklings." Several purple lights began to spawn around Caster. She could not hold back against someone like Heracles.

The Witch's eyes did not miss Sakura drop to her knees gasping for air, her shadows receding as quickly as they had appeared. The Servant felt power flooding the girl, but it did not support her. More like the child was being forced to contain it against her will. "I see. So she is the one that has taken in the defeated Servant."

"You killed them. Sella. Lys. You killed them." Illya's eyes dilated. Her teeth ground hard enough that she could taste blood.

"Kill her! Right now! Put that bitch down Berserker!"

"▅▅▅▅▅▅▅▅▅▅▅▅▅▅▅▅▅▅▅▅▅▅▅▅!"

Despite being insane to the point of having little to no cognitive function, Heracles' raw battle instincts and prowess were among the greatest in history and legend. Instead of charging forward recklessly, the Servant grabbed hold of several massive fallen pieces of the castle behind him and chucked them with enough force to make even the sturdiest Servants buckle down.

Violet beams of power decimated the irregular projectiles, but the sizeable remains continued onward at absurd speeds and pelted the Witch like shrapnel.

By the time her vision had cleared, Berserker had managed to cross the sizeable distance between himself and his master, wielding another fragmented column of stone like his former battleaxe. His might and fury were so great that the demigod didn't even have to attack her familiars in order to get rid of them. Just his rampant passing was enough to shatter them.

"Tch." Caster clicked her tongue and, with a few unpronounceable words, assaulted the area around the girls, knowing that Berserker would take the hit even if she wasn't aiming for them directly. She had hoped that between her magic and her skeletons she'd be able to keep Heracles away from the girl for at least a few more moments, but that was just wishful thinking.

She was away from the temple, her seat of power. There was only so much she could do away from there. Not only that, but she wasn't a complete Servant either thanks to being summoned with her counterpart and sharing the identity known as Caster. She had limitations that could not be ignored. It was only because she had managed to fight dirty from the get go that she had become a genuine player in the war at all, let alone one of the leading ones.

Hovering back even further, the Witch suppressed a shiver. She really should escape when she could. She was getting a bad feeling, and it was getting worse with each passing second. Something was approaching. Whether it was the boy, or the King of Heroes she didn't know, but she was running out of time.

She still had an opening though. She couldn't give up. She needed to get her hands on at least one of those girls in order to keep the boy off of her if he was victorious. It would all but assure her victory…

Thump thump.

Before she had even acted though, something ominous snatched her breath away. As if that wasn't unnerving enough, the heavily wounded Berserker had moved at nearly the same time, cradling his master in one of his titanic arms…

… And leaving Sakura right where she was.

The Master of Rider. Gasping for air helplessly.

Surrounded by ebony and crimson ribbons.

"A-ah? Hah."

The girl was weak and almost pathetic looking. She clearly was barely aware of the world around her, desperately trying to stay awake and functioning.

In contrast, the black ribbons that seemed to stretch from the pool of shadows below her gravitated to the two Servants, reaching out like boneless blind limbs.

Unlike earlier uses though, they were now clearly acting independently of her will, or perhaps, acting upon her subconscious will. Stretching and writhing not to protect or battle, but to feast instead.

In fact, the ribbons seemed to be originating not from Sakura at the center, but from a point that was right next to her. A point of pitch black that was slowly rising out from the ground ominously.

Caster instinctively hovered away from the girl. Wrong. Twisted. Unsafe. It was dangerous to be near her…

… It was extremely dangerous for Servants to be near her. Even Berserker could tell that much.

"Berserker?! What are you doing?!" Illya looked around confused and a bit jarred from the movement. The fact that the giant was focusing not on murdering Caster frustrated and infuriated her.

Hunger to the point of crippling implosion. Fullness to the point of rupturing. Two extremes, polar opposites, plagued Sakura to the point of madness. The overwhelming pressure that had plagued her nightmares the past week had become reality, staining the world around her vermillion from her perspective.

Lesser Grails. Their purpose was to collect the souls of the fallen Heroic Spirits in the ritual known as the Holy Grail war. Once enough raw power was obtained, they would connect to the Greater Grail system and start it up.

Originally they were supplied by the Einzberns and in the form of inanimate objects. This practice ended with the third war however. Valuable inanimate objects that were designed to hold untold power were frequently targeted and at risk, regardless of how important they were supposed to be. Fragile valuables and violent clashes between Heroic Spirits rarely mixed well.

Starting the Fourth War, the Einzberns decided to switch things up by making the Lesser grail not an object, but a person. The first being Irisviel, Kiritsugu's wife and Illya's mother. A hidden (for a time), ever moving, and self-protecting Lesser Grail, capable enough of keeping itself intact till the apex of the War.

That did not mean that these human vessels were infallible however. As they obtained more power, they would need to function less as "human" and more as a "grail".

Sensitivity. Organ functions. Cognitive processes. As more Servants were defeated and the vessels stored more Heroic Spirits, they as individuals progressively lost themselves to their purpose.

Even so, a special case had to be made for Heroic Spirit Gilgamesh. The King of Heroes, whose worth and power held the weight of no less than three heroic spirits of legend.

Doubly so when the Lesser Grail that absorbed his spirit was Sakura, who was already in tune with the Greater Grail, and in turn Angra Mainyu.

Illyasviel was designed with collecting Heroic Spirits and function as a Lesser Grail as originally intended by the three families that designed the Grail War Ritual in the first place.

Sakura on the other hand was an imitation Grail made with partial knowledge and more importantly, residual corrupted components of the previous Lesser Grail that had once been Irisviel Einzbern.

In simpler terms, Illya was geared for "Completing the Holy Grail", while Sakura leaned to "Resurrecting Angra Mainyu."

And Avenger, in some way, knew this.

Had Sakura only taken in a normal Heroic Spirit, she wouldn't be as terribly crippled as she was now. But taking in the equivalent of three at once was simply more than she could had handled, especially when she was distracted by Caster and Kirei.

With her mental defenses overwhelmed unexpectedly, the subconscious impulses and hunger that she had reigned in had broken free violently.

Without warning or sound, the black tendrils shot out at Caster and Berserker like serpents striking at prey.

The actions were futile though. While the Shadow was a natural predator of the living and Servants, it was still unstable and underdeveloped. It was only recently formed, and did not know how to hunt. Almost akin to a child that did not know how to use its weak body just yet. It could eat and consume Servants, but its ability to capture them was still horrifically lacking.

Berserker and Caster both dodged the tendrils easily, leaping and floating to the sides, but putting more than enough distance between them in the process.

"So that's why Rider was so concerned for her Master." Had Caster foolishly captured her earlier, she would have consumed her without warning.

Taking her was out of the question now. She didn't have the means to transport the girl over such a massive distance safely. If she was to take a hostage, it would have to be the doll, only Berserker was in the way. Killing the giant would likely kill the girl, and it's not like she could whip up a mystery strong enough to pin him down in a moment's notice to pry the two apart.

"Caster! What did you do!?" Saber's approach didn't make things easier for the intruder. Her only saving graces were that the King of Knights looked fairly winded and she was carrying her unconscious and heavily wounded Master over her shoulder.

"I have done a few things since arriving, Saber. However if you are referring to Rider's former Master, I'm afraid I am unrelated to her current state. I take it that this is the influence of Avenger?"

Saber risked a grimace and glared at the Witch. It appeared as if Shirou's assumption that Caster had pressed either Rider or Assassin for information was correct.

Sometimes she hated it when he was right.

"The boy's recklessness is on par with Icarus'. If she is like this in an incomplete state, I shudder to think what would happen should she become complete. It would be a mercy to deal with her now," Caster continued to chide, a matrix of power hovering over her shoulder. She really didn't intend on killing either of the girls when she first arrived, but the feeling she was getting from the girl was too much for her to ignore.

"Don't you even dare, Caster," Saber growled dangerously, not ignorant of the fact that she was slowly being surrounded by skeleton warriors.

"Both you and Berserker are too weakened and occupied with protecting your Masters to tend to this cursed child adequately. I might have been more wary had the boy been awake, but that is clearly not the case. If anything I am doing everyone a service. Be grateful for my generosity."

As if to prove her point, the Servant unleashed a blast of pure energy at Sakura before anyone else could react in time.

Saber's and Illya's shouts of alarm were for nothing however as said beam of light vanished into a paperthin wall of black that had instantly surrounded Sakura. There was no sound or ripple as the two made contact, almost as if the power had simply continued on travelling on indefinitely into another dimension.

And then the wall was gone, revealing Sakura once more gasping for air on the ground.

"Humph. Assimilation of ambient prana on this scale… no, instead of assimilation, she's more of a pit with an undefined and ever changing opening. Even the process of taking in undefeated Servants would be seamless should her powers go rampant and she loses control. What was that boy thinking, playing with something this dangerous? He should have been able to tell how dangerous she is," Caster couldn't help but mutter in annoyance at her carelessness. This was the same mystery the girl had used back during the boy's assault on her base. She had attempted to kill her after she had escaped the temple, but her mysteries had absorbed her attack in its entirety.

She stretched out a hand and spoke out a few choice words. If raw power was unsuited for this fight, then the raw elements would have to do.

Several orange sparks spawned around her like will o wisps.

Fire was always fairly reliable in times like this. Simple and effective. It didn't always kill by direct damage after all. Extreme heat and asphyxiation were quite effective in taking out the masses indirectly, and the wonderful thing about fire was that it tended to stay and grow if left alone for too long regardless of the caster's intent if they weren't careful about its use.

Several of them darted out to her side, exploding and destroying several more tremendous projectiles that Berserker had launched at her when it appeared she wasn't paying attention. Had they been made of sturdier materials, like with Archer's arrows or Assassin's bullets, she may have been concerned, but they were merely hunks of stone and wood with fragments of weak modern era thaumaturgy enforcing them.

The rest of the sparks darted outwards, not at the enemy Servants, but at their surroundings. With the cursed girl proving unresponsive and impossible to retrieve via normal means, it would be quite easy to at least finish her off…

A tremendous gust of wind tore through the garden and snuffed out the flames without warning. Those there had to brace themselves lest they be knocked off balance and be open to attack.

That… should not have been possible. Caster's spells were potent enough to stop such a thing from happening.

"At the risk of sounding cliché, I wouldn't do that again if I were you."

"That's…" Illya's eyes widened in surprise as she looked up.

Saber didn't say anything, instead readying her body to move at a moment's notice.

"What… in the world?" Caser turned around in disbelief and confusion.

Above the castle, a giant Divine Beast floated as naturally as if it were a fish in water. The eerie symmetrical patterns on its underside and its massive otherworldly like image gave it the impression of an invading alien battleship than a creature. Its size was massive enough to completely black out the sky from the perspective below, and it wouldn't be too far off to assume that it was literally covering the entirety of the castle.

Its massive manta-ray-like wings that extended out further than it was long. Its countless tendrils from the front and immense whip like tail from behind. The otherworldly and infinite beautiful colors it possessed. If Caster's origins were akin to ancient eldritch mysteries, then this creature could be thought of as an exploring giant from the cosmos.

And on top of its back sat a one armed one legged Merem Solomon.

"My apologies for arriving late." The Dead Apostle Ancestor waved his remaining hand casually. "Something unexpected came up that required my attention. That, and the sun has only just recently set. Travelling when there is light out is rather uncomfortable for someone of my disposition."

Indeed. In fact, to say that the sun had set was a bit of a stretch. If anything, the sun was still in the process of sinking beneath the horizon. Merem was a powerful Dead Apostle Ancestor to be sure, but exposure to direct sunlight still rapidly accelerated the natural decomposition rate that his kind all shared. The fact that he was out even now in itself could be considered a tell of just how significantly the vampire valued his relationship with Shirou.

Caster couldn't believe not only her bad luck, but the absurdity of the situation in general. A Divine Beast, a monstrous existence even during her time. Just how in the realms of Hades did the boy keep on managing to pull impossibilities like this out of nowhere?!

"A joke. This has to be a joke. You mean to tell me that the boy had something ridiculous like this up his sleeve the entire time?"

Merem looked down on the Witch with a gaze that indicated that he didn't really care one way or another about her. "As resourceful as my friend is, he isn't that well connected or influential. I came to Fuyuki for my own agenda. It just so happened that our goals tend to align, so I lent my services when it suited me."

"And what goals would someone like you have? Are you too after the grail and its power? Or the curse in it?"

The Ancestor remained quiet for but a moment, his eyes momentarily flickering not to Shirou but to Illyasviel for some unknown cause. "Because reasons. However, due to your recent actions, I unfortunately have another cause for being involved."

"My actions? I'm afraid I don't know what you are talking about, Apostle. Until this moment I had no knowledge of your existence, let alone your presence." Caster was getting a bad feeling down her spine.

Merem shook his head and sighed. "It's less what you've done to me, and more of what I have to do out of obligation, regardless of whether I am suited for it or not. How annoying. This is going to only make things more complicated. Sometimes being a member of the Church just isn't worth the headache it entails."

Her heart fell through her stomach.

The Church. This monster had clearly stated that he was a member of the Holy Church.

"You don't mean…" Illyasviel quickly came to the same conclusion that Caster had.

Merem nodded. "Mmm. I can tell that you killed Priest Kirei Kotomine just a few minutes ago, Servant Caster. Do not pretend otherwise. Had you kept him alive, I would not be forced to take up his mantle as Overseer of the Fuyuki Grail War as there are none else here able to take up the obligation."

She had to escape. She had to run. She couldn't fight odds like this. Even if she set everything about her ablaze, she would be overwhelmed easily.

Death. A twisted façade hidden by alien-like beauty that contorted the world was in front of her. Had she been in her temple, she would have been able to surmount the incredible creature in front of her, but she would just be consumed here.

So close. She had been so close to crippling the boy, to finally getting the critical stroke that would guarantee her wish…

But the tides of the war had contorted once again against her.

She'd have to do with just the Command Seals and the priest's corpse.

"I should warn you, monster, if you are to take your task seriously, you should know of the condition of my Master."

"You mean of how you turned her into an unstable conduit of power to activate the Greater Grail? I am well aware of what would ultimately happen should you perish, Caster," Merem cut her off instantly, catching her off guard.

The Servant flinched, not expecting him to know of that.

What was more alarming though was that Saber and Berserker's Master didn't look all too surprised with the reveal… meaning they had already known about Marjatta's condition.

Her temper rose even more, but not by too much. Them knowing about her Master's condition didn't change much in the grand scheme of things. In fact, it was to be expected knowing the boy. All it did was lose her some shock value if forced to rely on the fact in the first place.

"So what dare I ask happens now, Vampire? Am I to perish here, and you damn the ritual and the town in the process?" Caster pressed, not at all hiding her anger and frustration by this point.

Merem didn't flinch or hesitate. "… No. Killing you here would do more harm than good in the end. You may go now, but make no mistake, the position you had placed Shirou in earlier with Kotomine is now yours. The War itself is still postponed indefinately, but you are now the target of scrutiny."

"Solomon! You would let her leave now even with your position and everything she's done?!" Saber yelled at Merem. Though this was her first time encountering the Vampire in person, she had heard more than enough from Shirou to feel insulted. As ambiguous and mysterious as he was, Shirou still saw Merem as a friend.

"What would you have me do, Saber? We don't have the means to incapacitate or capture her alive. Perhaps if Shirou was awake and capable, it may have been possible, but not now. Then there is the issue of Miss Matou's condition. If it was simply a matter of killing Caster, then I wouldn't even have bothered to show up and left matters up to you, but that isn't the case now. There are only so many problems that can be addressed at once."

"I don't care!" Illya snapped at him, raising a few eyebrows. "That woman killed Sella and Leysritt! She killed them! She needs to die!"

"And what do you think Shirou would say if you did kill her here and now?" Merem's words pierced through her chest instantly, causing her rage to falter and peter out.

"… This is too good to be true. You truly intend for me to leave without issue?" She couldn't believe her luck.

"I would ask for Kirei's Command Seals back as well; however, you would no doubt hold yourself hostage in order to retain them. You are the type to desperately cling to anything you get your hands on to the point of irrationality. As things stand now, you're the only person left that actually wants to complete the Grail." He didn't seem to care much for her accusation or her opinion. In fact his tone clearly indicated that there were other things he'd rather be doing.

His words rung with an ominous finality to everyone there.

He was right. Caster was the only one left that wanted to complete the Grail.

She was the only one left that was genuinely against Shirou.

Zouken. Kirei. Gilgamesh.

All the other enemies were gone. All the other Masters were aware of what was going on. All of Shirou's primary targets had been dispatched. There wasn't any confusion anymore, any skepticism or guessing as to who was planning what.

She was all alone.

The Witch of Betrayal glanced back down at the garden, at Saber, at the frozen boy folded over her shoulder…

"I would avoid that train of thought if I were you." A cold warning drifted on the wind behind her. "I don't care much about the War or this town, but he is different. I don't have a lot of individuals that I can genuinely call friends, but I do like to consider myself a decent one from time to time."

She forced down the lump in her throat. Taking her eyes off of the monster above had been a mistake. Pushing her luck had been a mistake. Thinking she could still get something else out of the situation once the Vampire had arrived had been a mistake.

"… By your leave then, Overseer."

A shallow and shaky bow. A flicker of violet wings so dark they were almost black. And Caster was gone.

Saber would have breathed out in relief at this, but she had to jump back quickly in order to avoid Sakura's black ribbons attempting to ensnare her suddenly. "Sakura! Stop yourself! It's me, Saber! I have Shirou! We are ok!"

"Shi-rou?" Saber's words only barely managed to stir Sakura from her delirium.

"Oh, right, the Matou's haphazard Lesser Grail. She's in quite a state." Merem turned to her as if just noticing her condition for the first time. "She's taken in quite a large spirit from the get go. Small wonder she's unable to close herself off."

"We can't get near her like this." Illya grimaced. Sakura would take out any Servant in her current state, and she was too powerful and erratic for a normal magus to deal with. Shirou might be able to snap her out of things, but he was clearly in no condition to do anything for who knows how long.

"What about that dress?" Merem asked the Homonculi, pointing to the body of Leysritt. "It is clearly designed with some function related to the Grail. Wouldn't that work?"

The girl held back her bile as she was forced to look at her dead maid, her friend. Now wasn't the time. Her combat maid was a lot like her, designed with a secondary purpose. Only instead of being the Lesser Grail, Leysritt was a golden dress for Illya to wear, designed to maximize her ability and control over the Greater Grail for when she supposedly won the War. "It won't work. Humans can't touch the dress in its natural form, Grail or not. It was designed for only me in mind."

Merem tilted his head to the side as he watched the Shadow hone in on Saber and Shirou. Whether it was because Saber had more prana than anything else nearby or because the black existence was also attracted to his friend much like Sakura was anyone's guess. "Pity. I suppose I'll have to improvise then."

Without any other warning, a thin blue tendril shot out from the titanic creature above everyone and coiled around Sakura, yanking her up into the air before a word or sound could be made. The snatched girl's shadows reacted instantly in an attempt to assault their source's attacker, or rescue her, but they were woefully slow.

"Sakura!" Saber shouted in alarm, not knowing what the vampire was intending to do with the girl.

"What is he…?" Illya blinked in surprise as Sakura was lifted high into the sky above her castle until she was face to face with Merem.

"That is quite the greedy curse you're linked to. My King of the Sky is not something that was brought forth from the Grail, yet it's trying to consume it regardless." His eyes trailed to the black corruption that was slowly travelling up the boneless limb holding her up. If he left it alone or placed Sakura on the main body for a time, he could possibly lose the leg entirely. As powerful as his limbs may be, they were still familiars and followed many of the same laws that Servants did.

"Ah. Shi-rou. Can't. Breathe." Sakura gasped, panting heavily and barely aware of the world around her.

"Shirou is unfortunately not in any condition to aid anyone at the moment, Miss Matou. However that does not mean you are beyond help." He stretched out his remaining arm and pressed it onto her chest.

"I see. Absorbing Gilgamesh wrenched open the entrance inside you and caused damage. You can't close the connection between yourself and the Grail by yourself, as if it was not already difficult enough for someone in your condition. How unfortunate. Zouken's work was haphazard, but the shards of the tainted grail in you, the groundwork is still clearly the Einzbern's… more specifically, they're still hers. That makes things simpler."

A gasp. A shudder. And Sakura went limp.

Below, the errant and alien shadow contorted in itself as if experiencing… not pain but discomfort none the less, before vanishing into the air.

Illya blinked in surprise as Sakura was lowered to the ground by the tendril gently. "Wait, how did you do that? I've never heard of anyone or anything that can influence a Lesser Grail's connection with the system before."

Another tentacle of the Divine Beast cracked like a whip at the one that had held Sakura, severing it several meters above where the corruption had traveled. Moments later, the entire beast had vanished entirely, leaving Merem to fall several dozen meters right in front of them with both legs in place. Child sized or not, he was still an Apostle Ancestor. A fall of that height was nothing to him. "Hm? Oh. The capability to perform ambiguous miracles and mysteries isn't something that's limited to alchemists and the Einzbern. You could say that I'm intimately familiar to the craft. Enough so that I can recognize and influence similar procedures if needed."

Saber walked up to the center of the garden, slightly relaxed, but her guard never dropped. "You have my thanks. Merem Solomon, correct? Shirou has said much about you."

"I'd be concerned if they were all positive." Merem bowed deeply. "Well met, King of Knights. I could not have asked for a better companion for my friend. From what little I managed to learn of the King of Heroes, I doubt that I would have fared nearly as well against him as you had I been in your position. The legends do you little justice."

Saber shifted uncomfortably. "I may have performed the final blow, but it was my Master that should claim credit for the victory. He managed to overcome Gilgamesh's Gate of Babylon by himself. We would not have fared nearly as well, or at all for that matter, without him or his magic."

The vampire's eyes briefly shimmered with a childish eagerness, as if Christmas was coming earlier than normal. "Truly? Does that mean he had finally completed his Reality Marble? I've been looking forward to seeing it for quite some time."

She shook her head. "No. He's close. Close enough that he managed to open a stable bounded field to it, but it's not complete."

He deflated slightly. "Oh. A shame. Perhaps I may be able to catch a glimpse of it through the portal's remains later."

He was interrupted as Shirou suddenly lurched and began to cough harshly, spewing more blood over Saber's combat dress to accompany that which had been leaking out of him already.

"Oh. I was wondering how long the temporal feedback would last." Merem mused absently.

"Shirou. Are you ok?" Saber carefully took him off her shoulder. In hindsight, being carried on such a narrow limb probably wasn't the most comfortable or safe thing to do for someone in his state, but she was in a rush at the time.

"Give him space. He can't even stand as he is right now." Berserker lowered Illya obediently, though he never took his red and yellow eyes off of Merem.

Illya couldn't help but gasp though as Shirou used his remaining arm to pull down the shroud from his face and reveal his torn up left cheek and shattered teeth. Not only that, but upon closer inspection, it was clear that his head and arm were not his only wounds, as portions of his legs had been literally blown off and there were a couple of holes in his torso.

Of course, the majority of these wounds were already beginning to heal with Avalon inside of him and near perpetual contact with Saber, but it didn't stop the fact that her brother literally looked like he had been through a grinder. The fact that he was even awake, let alone alive was astounding.

It took almost a minute for the teen to get enough blood out of his lungs to focus on something other than breathing, but even then it was clearly a labor. Looking up, his normally sharp silver eyes had a dull hue to them, as if he could barely see anything at all. "M-Merem?"

"I arrived slightly later than anticipated, but still in time to be of some use." His friend nodded.

Shirou blinked slowly as if trying to process the Apostle's words. He then turned to his Servant. "Saber?"

Everyone pretended to ignore the thick and noticeable slur when he talked on account of his missing cheek and shattered teeth.

"From what little I've gathered so far, Kirei appeared first, soon followed by Caster. The priest is gone and Caster has escaped, but she did so with the Command Seals that Kirei had. Sakura and Illyasviel are both alive and safe with us though," Saber relented, only to blink in disbelief as Shirou began to pick himself up.

"Can't. Wait. Caster… Caster…" Shirou's mangled legs shook uncontrollably as he tried to rise, only to be pushed back down by Merem.

"Will do nothing. Rider and Assassin struck at the other Caster's location not too long ago. Both sides are in no condition to battle now. Caster knows better than to push her luck now, especially now that she knows about me." His news caused everyone to turn to him in disbelief.

"She attacked Edelfelt and Tohsaka?" Illya blinked in surprise, momentarily distracted by the mess that was her brother. "Are they still alive?"

"They are. However I believe Edelfelt's Butler was a casualty in the initial attack." Merem shook his head. "Pity. My left arm was fond of his cooking."

"I wouldn't be surprised if she was hoping to just take out her counterpart and hoped that Luvia was still working alone. That, or she wanted to distract them while she went after Kirei in person without distraction," Saber mused thoughtfully.

"What do we do now?" Illya looked about worriedly. She managed to catch a glimpse of Sella and Leysritt's bodies, but quickly turned away and grit her teeth. There was no point in getting upset over their deaths now, no matter how she wanted to rage. As familiar as she was with torture and death, she was unusually done with it for the day.

Saber too looked at the fallen women, but other than clenching her teeth in frustration said nothing. It wasn't her place to talk about them.

"Rest, recover, and contact Edelfelt and Tohsaka to let them know what happened. That's all any of you can do. Travelling won't do Shirou or Sakura any favors, even if you have a car, especially if any fighting breaks out again." Merem shrugged before glancing at his fellow paraplegic. "I am curious, Shirou. You aren't the type to ignore the possibility of Caster showing up when she did. If I didn't appear and you weren't in such terrible shape, just how would you have planned on beating her? Let alone if she had a hostage?"

The Emiya hacked out a few more chunks of lung, blood, and what appeared to be almost a whole tooth, before letting out a brief and dry laugh. "Command Seals. Can't teleport other Servants. Caster can't make it back fast. Call her bluff. Blitz the temple. "

"Huh?" Illya blinked a few times in confusion before dropping her jaw. "Wait. You don't mean."

Merem burst out laughing. "Hah! You and the Einzbern would have had used a Seal to have your Servants teleport you back to Fuyuki and join with the other Masters to rush her temple while she would be all the way here! Brilliant and ironic! Hahaha!"

It really was. Caster's goal was Kirei's spare seals in the first place. As powerful as the charges were though, they did have limitations. Caster could not "command" herself to do anything was one of them, and as great as her mysteries from the Age of the Gods were, being able to teleport all the way to Fuyuki, let alone her temple under her own steam was not one of them.

By the time she would have managed to get back, Shirou and Illya could have easily managed to team up with Rin and Luvia and storm the temple in her absence. While everyone save Lancer was exhausted, the raw numbers and the fact that they had Saber and Berserker on their side would have easily given them the momentum to get the Princess to Marjatta without too much trouble.

Once that was done, they could have severed Marjatta's connection to the Witch, or even better, have the girl use her last seal to have the bitch kill herself.

Had Shirou not been in such terrible condition, he really could have managed to deal with all of his problems in one fell swoop that night.

"Heh." The teen let out his own bitter blood-laced laugh before his face grew stern again. "Merem. The Church. Kirei…"

"Taking care of it as we speak, along with some other errands that we can talk about later." It didn't take much to tell what he was talking about. The King of Rats was Merem's public face after all. Not many people knew what he looked like outside of a select few in the Church, the Association, and the 27 as a whole.

"Are you certain it's safe to do so? It would take time to get back to Fuyuki from here and every moment we wait Caster's position will strengthen." Saber looked at everyone else there.

"… Onii-chan and Sakura need to rest at the very least. Berserker's on his last two lives, and you are nowhere near as powerful as you normally are, Saber. As much as I don't want to stay here, it's for the best. Rin and Luvia are smart enough to keep themselves alive for one more night before we meet up tomorrow. While most of the castle is destroyed, one wing of it is still intact. We can stay there for the night without much trouble." Illya spoke up first.

"I will keep an eye out for you while you rest. You have my word." The small immortal bowed politely.

Shirou replied with a brief nod of his own before looking around with a blank gaze. "Sakura? S-Sella? Leysritt?"

"Sakura apparently took in Gilgamesh's spirit. She didn't react to it well and needed to be knocked out." Saber gave him a gentler explanation of what happened. "The maids…"

"Caster killed them. You'll make sure she dies, right Onii-chan?" Illya coldly interrupted Saber for obvious reasons.

As if mirroring his Master's inner rage, Berserker growled dangerously behind her.

"… Heh. Magus killer." Shirou let out a weak laugh. "Consider her gone. Nee-chan."

"He must be worse than we thought. Your brother hates being called by his titles. Even being in formal events or addressed as one in a higher position than others makes him uncomfortable." Merem gave the Homonculus a wry grin.

"Shut up. Merem."

"See?"

Illya would have felt appalled, shocked, embarrassed, and terrified that her brother was talking so casually to one of the Twenty Seven Dead Apostle Ancestors, but she was too tired and angry from the night's events to let it get to her. "… I'm not going to bed until Sella and Leysritt are taken care of. They were my attendants and they treated me well. It's the least I can do."

Saber nodded. "It is a great crime to leave the bodies of loyal attendants unaddressed."

Merem bowed. "Funerals have never been my thing, despite my being undead. I am not familiar with the manner you wish to address the dead, burial, cremation, or otherwise. However I do have the means to preserve the bodies until such a time. I will handle them with care while you tuck in for the night, rest assured."

"The wing with the baths was undisturbed. The bounded fields that affect the plumbing and the heating should still be functioning. We should clean up while we are here." It was clear that Illya was just trying to distract herself. Without another word, she started for the least molested part of the building she had called home.

"Saber. Take Sakura." Shirou winced.

"But…" The Servant turned to her Master, but paused at the look he gave her, knowing what it meant. "… I'll be back in a few minutes. Try to keep yourself alive until then."

After carefully lowering him to the ground and taking Sakura, Saber followed Illya inside, leaving Shirou alone with Merem in the quiet gardens.

"…"

"…"

"… That bad?" Shirou broke the uncomfortable silence first. It hurt to breathe, let alone talk. In fact, he couldn't even muster the strength to look at his friend, settling for lying on the ground and staring at the nearly full moon.

He allowed himself to smile painfully. His friend knew him well. "You're the Ash of Miracles."

"… Figures." Shirou let out a snort despite the pain that wracked his body. He should be surprised, he was, but he was hurting so bad and so exhausted that he couldn't spare any energy to get upset, let alone raise his voice. No doubt Merem had told him knowing that it was impossible to be angry. "Why now?"

It was a reasonable question. Apostles were extremely long lived, and if Shirou was anything like them, then it wouldn't have been surprising for Merem to hide his identity from literally everyone for another decade. In fact, that was probably what the vampire had originally intended to do in the first place. "That's the same thing I asked earlier. I have myself to blame. We know that I don't bother much with my kind socially, but that's turned against us. Anyone that has my support before anyone else is bound to attract attention. I just underestimated just how much."

"Who?" There were only a handful of individuals that Shirou could think of in his crippled state that would give Merem pause, let alone force him to do something he didn't want to do, and the teen really hoped that they weren't going to be the topic of conversation.

"Altrouge sent Fina to contact me to set up a meeting and make a deal with you. He arrived this afternoon and held me up just before I left to get here."

"… Shit." He was wrong.

He didn't ask why Merem even allowed it to get this far in the first place. The vampire absolutely loathed Altrouge with a passion that almost surpassed his hatred of Zouken. If his friend was actually considering the deal, then the Black Princess must have played a pretty damn big card. Big enough that Shirou wouldn't even bother asking what it was in the first place.

"Pretty much. Thankfully he can be patient when he needs to be, being the pretender's guard. I'm announcing my position as the War's Overseer tonight. He won't do anything stupid until everything settles down."

"Thank God. For small mercies."

"Ha ha. Very funny. I see what you did there."

"Bite me."

"You first. Oh wait, you can't."

"You suck."

"You do realize that half of these insults apply to you as well, right?"

"Don't care. Dead tired."

"Honestly, do you have to develop a poor sense of humor every time you are nearly killed?"

"Too tired. To care."

"Just go to sleep or else I won't help you get your arm back tomorrow."

"… Kill joy."

"Now that one I know you did on purpose."

"So?"

"Point made."

The two didn't say anything as they continued to stare at the moon. More specifically, Merem stared at it. Shirou's glazed eyes merely gazed at its general direction. He was so tired that he couldn't actually see anything now, and was just allowing his instincts to guide his attention to where the moon was.

They didn't bother bringing up Fina again. It wouldn't serve any purpose to worry about him now when Caster was still the biggest and immediate problem at hand.

"Hey."

"Yes, Shirou?"

"Tilt my head? Teeth fell out. Might choke if I pass out."

"You know, I was just wondering about that head wound of yours. Must be painful."

"Shut up and help."

Ten minutes later Shirou was asleep with his head to the side, drooling blood from his mouth.

Merem on the other hand had materialized a small glass and poured a sizeable portion of Lancer's "donated" blood into it. He wouldn't have had so much, but travelling in the day really did take a lot out of him and he needed to refresh himself more than normal.

He held the glass up to the moon in a toast. "To a battle well fought, a victory long deserved, and a future as harsh and captivating as your lands."

o. o. o.

The rat disguised as an elderly priest coughed to clear his throat. He stood in the center of Kotomine Church at the podium, right were several built in hidden mysteries and devices for announcements.

"Testing. Testing. Am I getting through?"

Lesser mysteries and objects were normally utilized for communications with the Church and the Magus Association, and stored in the office deeper in the building. However, for larger announcements, the main hall was used.

"You're not Kotomine." A bodiless voice from one side of the room stated darkly.

"Identify yourself. I do not recognize you." Another demanded.

"I am Agent Crown, of the Burial Agency. I understand that this is a bit unorthodox. However the situation is just as such," the King of Rats bowed apologetically.

"The Burial Agency?" The first hissed in surprise. "What is the meaning of this? The Church was supposed to remain neutral in the ritual!"

"Don't throw accusations like your pagan mysteries fool. We did not know of his presence in Fuyuki either." The other voice snarled. "Crown. Explain yourself. Why are you there in the first place? Where is Kotomine?"

"I was bored, and dead." The rat grinned, knowing very well that they couldn't argue against his selfish reason. "It appears that the original overseer was less impartial than anticipated."

"That is exceedingly generous of you, taking over for a holy judge that plays favorites. Isn't that what your kind refer to as divine punishment?" the Magus jabbed at the others.

"No. He was killed by Caster after playing his game for too long… It appears that the Queen's dog has a sharper nose than any of us had thought." Normally he hated playing politics with others, but then he had moments like this where everyone had no option but to be strung on his every word. Humans were so amusing like that.

"… Go on," the contact from the Church warily pressed.

"It appears as if my predecessor was harboring the Servant Archer from the previous war. One, Gilgamesh of Uruk. A frighteningly powerful specimen, even among Heroic Spirits. Not only that, but it has been confirmed that the Greater Grail system has been corrupted, for a lack of a better term, since the Third War. Both of these have been estimated to be potential Counter Guardian level security hazards."

"… And the Magus Killer decided that to deal with them he needed a Servant of his own instead of revealing his hand to the enemy." The Association's representative quickly got to the bottom of the problem. "I can't imagine that the other Masters took too kindly to this. What of Fraga? She should have contacted us about this."

"Some more than others. As for Ms. McRemitz, she's unfortunately been placed in a situation that she was unable to do so." He didn't dare elaborate on the fact that most of the Masters not only knew Shirou, but also that a majority of them had various levels of intimate feelings for him as well.

"What is the status with the threats then? The errant Servant and the Grail? Surely they have been addressed in some way," the invisible priest pressed, not at all caring about the woman's fate.

"From my sources, Archer was killed shortly before his accomplice by the Magus Killer and his Servant, though not without extreme effort and luck. This took place just over an hour ago. The Greater Grail, on the other hand, is benign so long as the Lesser Grail is not adequately filled. The current representatives for the Einzbern, Tohsaka, and Matou are of the same mind to put off the war due to the circumstances."

"And the bad news?" The Magus knew that everything couldn't be resolved so cut and dry without them knowing.

"Unfortunately our issues have yet to be resolved. One of the Edelfelt's Servants, a Caster, has deviated from the rules and gone rogue. She has not only taken her Master hostage, but has usurped control of three other Servants and has set up base above the Greater Grail. She intends to use her own methods to complete the ritual, and as I said she has killed the previous Overseer. More importantly, she has stolen his Command Seals. From prior attempts at the territory, the Servant has fabricated an unstable Lesser Grail and has already accumulated a notable deposit of prana. Should the situation be mishandled, the fallout could easily dwarf what happened a decade ago."

"Of course." The contact for the Church sighed. "And your thoughts?"

"Position as many disaster and information management teams around the area as possible, but refrain from sending any forces. Have them all on standby." The rat smirked. "Caster is already aware of my existence, and has proven unstable enough that any further outside provocation could make the situation worse. From what I've gathered, I believe it is in our best interests to have Emiya manage things."

"Emiya? Yes, because everything has gone so well leaving that dog in charge in the first place." The Magus laughed. "I wouldn't be surprised if the Queen put him down because of this."

"Really? Because if things continue as they are, the war will be canceled but the system will still remain intact. Meaning there is a likely chance that that "mad dog" will have at least one Servant backing him up. Possibly more if the other Masters decide to support him."

"Hahaha! I'm not so sure about a dog, but he certainly does seem mad. Even the Queen wouldn't be able to brush off her tool amassing such influence!" the voice from the Church bellowed, clearly amused by the disgruntled choke the Association's representative made. "But… you raised a good point Crown. If the system is corrupted to the point of putting everything at risk or exposing our existence, we cannot leave it be."

"A meeting between representatives of the three families, the Church and the Association will obviously have to be established to determine the future of the ritual. Regardless, until the system is purged of the contamination or shut down entirely, it is highly inadvisable to organize the execution of the Servants," the Rat reasoned.

It was a power play. Intended or not, Shirou's net worth, should he survive the oncoming days, was going to skyrocket in the eyes of the moonlit world. The brat was still next to worthless as a researcher as far as the world knew, but his combat aptitude was obviously another matter.

"I don't like this. We are leaving a delicate situation in the hands of a lowborn Japanese mercenary brat," the Magus snarled.

"Perhaps, but he clearly knows more about what has happened than anyone else. Best let him clean the mess up first before bothering to attempt to punish him for his transgressions. Though I doubt you lot will be able to do anything. Everyone knows you magi are all bark and no bite when it comes to Barthomelloi."

"Tch. Better than worshipping a figment of my imagination."

"What was that?!"

"Gentlemen, please. We must not lose focus. The situation is still delicate. We must prepare appropriately for possible contingencies." The Rat got them back on track.

As the conversation went on throughout the night, the small squad of Japanese soldiers in the back of the room remained silent and listened.

The representatives of the Church and Association did not notice them, and the King of Rats pretended they didn't exist.

o. o. o.

A/N

Again, thank you Wayfarer for betaing.

I'm baaaaaaaaaack.

Ok. First thing's first. Fate Grand Order. Counter Guardian Kiritsugu Emia. Confirmed.

Pauses to listen to absurd screaming of butt hurt forums and posters before everything goes silent.

(Breathes in deeply through the nose).

Gimme a sec. I need to change my pants.

Ohhhhhh. That felt soooooo gooooood.

Ok. So. Back on FFD. This chapter was harder than I thought it would be, otherwise it would have come out weeks ago. Timing events up to what happened in the previous chapter was a pain in the ass, and even now I'm still not totally satisfied with how it turned out.

Yes, the difficulty is totally why it took so long to write this.

(Behind me, a door opens, revealing the cadavers of my character from Dark Souls 3 in my attempt to beat it.)

… I will not apologize for my suffering.

Before anyone asks why Sakura took in Gil's soul and not Illya, it was because Sakura was using her powers at the time and she was almost right next to Illya, so she had, at the time, had the stronger pull on nearby errant Heroic Spirit souls.

So confirmed. Kirei's dead. Sella's dead. Leysritt's dead. Sebastian's dead. Caster's pissed. Merem's a troll. And Shirou's too damn fucking tired to care.

So more drama's coming up next, obviously. More yelling. More teen girl angst. More Shirou being Shirou. And more me being an absolute prick to my characters.

Really though, switching gears between two elaborate stories with different themes is way harder than you'd think. They have completely contrasting styles to them.

On other news, I'm going to Anime North in Toronto in two weeks! I'll be there for all three days, so if anyone wants to try and find me… well… try and find me! My sister is going as well! She'll be cosplaying as Tifa, Rey (from star wars), and much to my amusement, Shadow, from my other fic Yet Again, an OC that I incidentally had based off of her in the first place.

As for me… well I don't cosplay, but I do like wearing an Urahara hat to cons.

I always wanted to do this thing where I'd dress as him with a bag of pocky and wear a sign that said "I am the candy man. Ask me about my candy."

… I also had a horrible joke idea about how Urahara wasn't allowed to be near small children, but that probably wouldn't have gone well with security…

I am a bad person.

But… yeah. Me. Anime North. Doing stuff. Yay.

So uh. That's it! Yeah! Again, if anyone wants to do fanart or update the tv tropes page or whatever, please do so!

REVIEW! WORSHIP THE LOG! HOLY CRAP I'M ACTUALLY KILLING CHARACTERS! AND REVIEW AGAIN!