I do not own Fate/Apocrypha nor any other Servants depicted here.

Garden

Ruler ran up to the castle doors, which appeared to be torn off its hinges. She paused to look at the twisted metal and the splintered wood before hurrying through the entrance. She went past the large group of injured homunculi and leaped up to the roof. The pieces of earth were still rising up. She stopped to observe and caught sight of the bulky armor that was standing on the largest piece of floating land. Making a note on where the Servant was, she quickly hopped on the nearest piece and waited. Eventually, she reached the Hanging Gardens and straight into the Servant, who had somehow run all the way to her position and was now aiming a gun at her. Calmly, she stepped off her mini island and faced him.

"Berserker of Red, stand down. I only wish to speak to the Masters of the Red Faction," she told him as serenely as she could while also preparing to retreat if it didn't work out, "I promise I am not here to harm anyone."

He maintained his aim on her. She gripped her standard tightly and prepared to move. Thankfully, the Servant lowered his weapon and moved off.

"Berserker of Red," she called out, stopping him in his tracks. She continued with, "Could you take me to them?"

His helmet turned to glance at her and shook from left to right. The green armor then strode off into the shadows, disappearing from her sight. She sighed. She knew it was a little far fetched, but maybe another may help her. She closed her eyes and stretched out her senses. From what she could determine, there was a big group of Servants in a certain direction, a different path from the Berserker. She opened her eyes and hurried on her way. She needed to get to the bottom of this mystery.

Why was the Red Faction so adamant about removing her presence?

Were they doing it by their own free will or is something sinister controlling them? Something beyond the War?

As she neared the site, she could hear strange explosions going off in the distance. Another clash it seems. She quickened the pace. If possible, she needed to question the other Red Faction Servants and shine a light on this conundrum.

They had made good progress into the fortress. The strange skeletons were no match to Archer and Lancer. Whatever stragglers that remained were mopped up by the sole squad of battle homunculi that was brought along. That was until...

"Take cover!" shouted Archer suddenly as he ducked behind a support pillar. Lancer quickly pulled his Master with him. The squad was unlucky enough to be slow in their reaction as they were peppered with a laser barrage as they moved to the sides of the long hallway. Half their number fell. A loud cackle echoed down the long passage.

"Hi! What's up doc?" greeted a short girl with metal feathers sticking out of her spindly arms, flanked by a tall person wearing strange dark blue robes.

"Greetings. I am Caster of Red and this is Archer of Red. Welcome to the Hanging Gardens," the tall person said, "I am afraid that your path ends here."

"I am afraid that we cannot do," shouted Lancer in reply as he stepped out from behind the pillar, "You took the Greater Grail. We will take it back."

Instead of replying, Caster shouted, "Yol Toor Shul!"

A huge gout of flame was sprayed out, covering the hallway and leaving little room for advancement, sending Lancer back behind the pillar. The burst lasted for a while before dissipating. However, that brought enough time for Archer of Red's little scheme.

"Alright, George! New move! Attack of the Clones!" she announced gleefully as she pointed at the group in cover. From behind a corner, several cars housing a bomb with the number eight on it raced down the passage straight at them, riding past just as the flames stopped.

"These damned bombs again?" muttered Archer of Black as he leaned out and shot each car accurately with his handgun, causing several explosions that didn't even touch them.

"Hey! No fair!" his counterpart yelled in protest.

The Servant next to her shook his head and shouted something different, "Fo Krah Din!"

A great blizzard seemed to appear out of nowhere and barreled down the hallway.

"Alright, take this then!" she shouted and pointed at the group.

Once more, loud droning sounded from around the corner. This time, however, the bombs were riding small planes. As they flew over, she started sounding off a loud tune. Caster looked over to her quizzically.

"What? Never heard 'Ride of the Valkyries' before?" she retorted with a big grin.

"Annoying machines," grumbled Archer of Black as he shot those down too.

"We need to get past these two to get the Grail," muttered Lancer as he watched the developments unfold.

"Do you seek aid, Lancer?" asked a familiar voice from the pillar behind him. He and Darnic turned around to find Caster of Black.

"How did you... mages... If you have any means of combating these two, do so now," the crown prince ordered before turning his attention back to the skirmish.

"Damn it! Stop shooting down my boy George and blow up already!" yelled out Archer of Red as she pointed forward another wave, "I wanna get back to the T.V."

"...No," replied Archer of Black with professional calmness as he continued to shoot whatever planes and cars she threw at the hunkered down group.

"Perhaps you should get Darnic back to safety," proposed the old Servant as he assessed the situation, putting a hand to his beard.

Before Lancer could reply, cries of horror came out from the death throes of the remainder of the homunculi squad. His eyes narrowed. A woman in a... fashionable white dress, now slightly dirtied by blood splatter, stood among the dead.

"Rider! You made it!" cheered on Archer of Red as she waved, more planes droning past over her head.

"It seems we are caught between a rock and a hard place, my liege," spoke up Darnic, still maintaining his calm and composed manner even under this pressure.

"Very well, change of plan. Caster, take care of the other two. I shall deal with Rider," Lancer as he got out of cover and walked towards the Servant.

"Deal with me... Quite a brave one," Rider of Red stated, still in a relaxed stance, "Brave ones sometimes die first."

"That has yet to remain to be seen, Rider," replied the Exemplar as he readied himself for this fight.

"Take care of the other two... well, I certainly shall," said Caster of Black, inwardly letting loose a dark chuckle. His coat slowly lost the red hues, transforming into a sickly yellow color. A pale blue glow enveloped his hands as he stepped out into the open and he motioned at the nearest corpses, the ones that died to Archer of Red's lasers. Three bodies rose up, also sporting that same glow. They turned to face the enemy Servants and walked towards them. The blue glow slowly bulged out, forming cloth, leather and metal, making shields, armor, maces, and daggers. The two in front held up their shields while the third prepared to use the daggers.

Lancer lunged forward as Rider parried the tip aside. He halted the momentum and swung the lance the other way; she moved her sword in tandem and spun round in a half leap, landing on her feet. Pushing herself off the stone floor, she surged forward sword first. He was not taken unaware and moved his lance in the way. She tumbled forward and landed on his lance feet first, her sword raised. He steadied the lance and swung it round as his golden aura lit up around his entire body. While her sword moved faster, it couldn't go through the aura and she was forced to block the lance on the round way back. She let the force of the blow carry her through the air and planted both her feet on the stone wall. Pushing herself off, she moved forward for another attempt at his life.

"Get 'em, boys!" ordered Archer of Red as the bombing runs switched targets to the reanimated bodies of the homunculi. Explosions rattled the ethereal shields but the bodies inched forward, slowly but surely.

Lightning arced over Caster of Red's arms as he unleashed two bolts of electricity at both protectors but to no avail. "Hmph, what a peculiar necromancer Caster of Black is." he muttered as the lightning shorted out, "Perhaps I should make use of this..." A golden-tinged staff with a draconic headpiece appeared in his hand.

"Archer, allow me," he asked as he waited for the planes to stop. Then, he aimed the staff at the approaching bodies, "Feel the Agony of Mora." Beneath them, a black circle formed and black tendrils shot out and latched onto the reanimations. They began flailing around as the tendrils tugged and pulled them every other way. "Continue, Archer," he ordered.

"About damn time!" she cackled as she threw her arm forward, "Get 'em, boys!"

The latest blows drove them apart and they stood opposite each other with deep grooves in the ground. They were in a stalemate. Both of them favored big heavy swings. Saber of Black was more agile while Saber of Red pretty much weathered through everything that she didn't parry.

"Is that all you have?" she asked, giving him a toothy grin, "I can do the same thing you know."

He only smirked. Of course, he could. But like in the fight with Lancer, you can't really expect him to show all his tricks... not right away at least. "You want to spice things up? Sure," he replied with a smirk, "Buster Arm."

A large metal claw in silver and red materialized over his right arm. The blue highlights seemed to beat with power. Saber of Red raised a brow and muttered, "Eh?"

He dashed forward, taking advantage of her surprise and slammed the devil breaker into her face. He was not surprised when her head didn't snap back as per normal reaction. Still, being faster than her, he quickly grabbed her head and slammed it into the ground, breaking the earth. Without breaking stride, he swung his sword from the ground up and sent the armored Servant airborne. Leaping after her, he was surprised when she was able to swing around and bear her sword on him as he reached the apex of her ascent.

"Don't mess with me!" she yelled as she slammed her sword down on his defense. He landed on his feet and jumped back, avoiding her landing, the ground shattering and sending a lot of debris up.

As his feet touched the broken earth, he stepped forward in a flash and swung Red Queen from the side. Her quick reactions had already countered the blow, but that was already expected. At the same time, Buster Arm unlocked and extended with a crackle of blue lightning. He grabbed her free arm, off-balancing her while setting his sword on his back. His left hand grabbed her head in a hold and with both arms, lifted her up.

"Enjoy!" he shouted as he spun around 180 degrees and fell over backward, slamming her on the broken ground. He got to his feet, the devil breaker shattering and disappearing, and stepped on her pauldron, asking, "So, that better for ya?"

Without a word, she spun and got up, slashing once on the way. He leaped back and asked nonchalantly with a gesture, "What? Not satisfied?"

"Heh, I admit, that was a good try," she told him with a smirk, pointing her sword at him, "But I have a feeling you still haven't shown off everything yet."

He shrugged, not wanting to say otherwise. She was right, after all. He still had a trump card which he kept very close to his chest.

"Che, fine if you don't want to give this your all. I, however, will. That wish is mine and I will take it," she declared as her sword began glowing red. A second later, it shot a large beam skyward. He could feel the power that was coursing through that one beam. Power and anger. Not a healthy combination.

"Where I'm standing, you sound like a spoiled brat," he taunted, fully intending to get under her skin, "What, daddy didn't look at you enough?"

Her smirk turned furious and glaring. The beam sword started to look more unstable. Chaotic even. She definitely lost her temper quite fast. She raised the sword overhead.

"Clarent..." she chanted through gritted teeth.

"Gerbera," he called out. Glancing down, he smirked as he recognized which version he got. The red and white slat segments were quite familiar to him.

"...BLOOD ARTHUR!"

She slashed downwards, a great beam of red lightning surging towards him.

"Alright, you want more? I got more!" he shouted as the circular array of the breaker deployed. Thrusting it at the incoming attack, he fired a beam of his own, colored pure white. It grew larger as it tried to match the width of the blood-red blast, trying it's best to push back. It held for a moment, but he could feel it being pushed back.

"Well, I think I can let loose a little bit," he thought when he saw his own body slowly being pushed back by the blast. With a roar, he channeled out a bit more, blue ethereal wings faintly appearing on his back. The devil breaker held.

For now.

Darnic was puzzled. One moment, it was an all-out fight. The next, it was silent. No more droning planes. No more explosions. He peeked out from the pillar and looked both ways. Much to his surprise, all three Servants of Red were lying face down on the ground.

"That was rather... anticlimactic," spoke up Caster of Black as he motioned his possessed to stand down.

"What do you suppose happened?" asked Lancer of Black as he looked at his opponent warily, slumped over in a heap.

"Perhaps Assassin and his Master did something to their Masters," proposed Archer of Black as he got out of cover, "Regardless, we should kill them just in case."

"Enough."

The Servants and he turned around to find Ruler walking up to them. "If something happened to their Masters, then I hope it was just their Masters," she said calmly as she stood in front of them, "The remaining Masters of the Red faction still need to answer my questions."

"This is Faction business, Ruler. We do not need..." began Archer but was cut off.

"Very well, we will spare them for now," spoke up Lancer. Darnic stared at his Servant questioningly. The other two Servants did so as well.

"Our sole objective has been the retrieval of the Grail, has it not?" questioned the Servant of the Lance. Getting nods, he continued, "Then we have been delayed long enough. We should achieve our goal first and foremost. Let us hurry on and not tarry any longer." He turned and jogged down the hall. Ruler ran past them after him.

Inwardly, the Yggdmillenia leader smiled as he watched the other two Servants follow after his Servant after Caster dismissed his summons. Soon, the Grail will be back in his hands. Using Reinforcement on his legs, he ran and caught up with them, just in time for Lancer to called out, "Archer, take out the defenses!"

"Yes, my liege," he concurred as he skidded to a kneeling position and materialized a sniper rifle.

Very soon, the glowing animal heads on both sides of the walls started exploding as the group ran past each one. However, a thought struck Darnic. If Caster of Red's Master had been assassinated, then maintaining this floating fortress would eventually put a great strain on the Servant. The entire structure would eventually fall apart upon the Servant's death. With this troubling thought in mind, he hoped that they would have retrieved the Grail by then.

Sagara was not fond of combat. If anything, avoiding combat was a lot more beneficial to him. However, his Servant preferred it. How a battle maniac like his Servant ever got to be contained in the Assassin class was beyond his understanding. However, rather than trying to argue and disrupt Master and Servant relations, he allowed Assassin to fight back against whatever skeletons they encountered. They were unable to resist his Servant and that was fine, Spying on another magus or normal people was one thing. Sneaking on another Servant's fortress is a whole can of worms entirely. He was quite glad that they did not come across any of the other Servants. As capable as Assassin was, he'd rather be far away from the fight once it happens. After defeating the fourth patrol of Caster's skeletons they encountered, they found a strange suit of armor lying on the ground.

Assassin appeared and held him back, shaking his head. This puzzled him. "Servant?" he asked. He wanted to be sure. If it was, he was going to duck in the nearest room while he left his Servant to do his thing.

Suddenly, it began to move. Assassin quickly dragged him away, the nearest room only a few feet away. Inside, he leaned against the wall, his heart beating fast. "Well?" he sounded, his Servant peeking around the corner. His Servant then tapped his shoulder and motioned to follow. It seemed to him that Assassin wanted to tail the other Servant.

Quietly, they went across the way and peered around the corner, into the alleyway his Servant saw the other one went into. The green armored Servant punched down a doorway and entered a random room. The behavior puzzled him. What was the Servant doing? Did it know? Was it leading them into a trap?

"Assassin, go and look around. Lend me your eyes," he ordered.

The Servant of Murder nodded and shifted into what Sagara believed was his invisibility mode. He closed his own eyes for a moment and then reopened them. A little disorienting as he was looking at what he assumed was the interior of his Servant's head case. four bars in both bottom corners, each a different color. One small box in the top left corner all greyed out, with the words NOT AVAILABLE in its center. Right under the box were the words 'Spy on Servant' with a little checkbox on the side. Truly strange.

There were several people in the room slumped against the seats in the circular room, wearing all manner of clothing and accessories. He narrowed his own eyes. Were these the Masters of the Red Faction? If so, what happened to them? Why is the room full of smoke? The Servant seemed to be examining one of the hands and arms of the men. It clenched its fist and them stormed out of the room, Assassin quickly ducking out of the way as it stormed past.

"It is strange, Master./ Be careful of the smoke here./ Contents are unknown," his Servant warned him as he quickly moved to look through the door. His nose tingled as it caught the sickly sweet smell. He took a few steps back. He had to be careful. As his Servant noted, who knows what is inside the smoke. He didn't even know if it was magus-made or Servant-made.

"Assassin, do you think they are Masters?" he asked. A nod.

"Then... we should eliminate them," he stated. Taking out the majority of the Masters now would certainly ensure victory.

"Look underneath us./ Who is Caster's Master here?/ You know how to fly?"

It took a moment for him to understand. One of them would have to be Caster's Master. It was assumed that Caster made this fortress. If Caster was taken out of the picture right now, everything would come crashing down. With them on it. He would have to think up some other way.

"Do you see where the smoke is coming from?" he asked as he tried to peer into the room, "Can you remove it?" Seconds ticked by. then, Assassin ran forward and picked up a censer in the middle of a table at the center of the room. The Servant came out and threw it down the alley. It rolled out to the main walkway and a gunshot followed soon after, the green projectile hitting and dissolving the metal item. Sagara smirked and then turned to examine the room. He would let the smoke dilute first before heading in. Then, find out which one is Caster's Master without waking anyone up and hopefully swing this into their favor.

Commentary:-

Happy New Year everyone. Welcome back to the next chapter of Doubtful Origin. So... two Servants lost already. The War rages on. Ruler shows up again, this time encountering Berserker. Thankfully, it isn't her time yet. She is not a demon, so at most, she gets a cursory glance. Black Faction bumping into Red Faction. Lots of fighting. Then, taking a break to see the battle of the Sabers. Some swordplay. Some wrestling. Some taunting. Saber of Black has no idea of the nerve he struck when he said that. Then, back to the clash of the factions. Ruler stepping in. No biggie. Walking down the road leading to the chapel. They just don't know it yet. Finally, we look to see what Assassin of Black and his Master is up to. Yes, they did stumble upon Berserker. He recovered quite fast though, I think. Yes, they did stumble upon the poison room where the other Masters are. And yes, everyone is still under the assumption that the fortress belongs to Caster of Red. Normally, they'd be right. Currently? We'll see.

Alright, folks, that's a wrap. If you're able to, please leave a comment or a review after reading, would you kindly?