Merry Christmas everyone. I know it's a bit early but I figured I should do so for all of you who are here reading this story. To be honest the reception has been underwhelming compared to my last two but eh, I figured as much given everything that went down earlier this year. Still, this had started out more as something for a friend but well I think I enjoy it for myself.

Anyway, on that note let's get to reviews and then the story.

evilstatistic19 and end5: thank you both. You actually are the most constant reviewers right now as well.

b90371607: Merry Christmas to you too.

Disclaimer: Well, I don't see me bashing heads on NA for being late and getting bad translations wrong so… yeah I don't own this series.

"Archer."

Tokiomi Tohsaka looked at the person in front of him as he was at a loss for words. Not because of who she was but because of who she wasn't. Long pink hair, violet-colored eyes, fox ears, and a fluffy tail. Her outfit was a modified blue regal-looking short kimono with white outlines that exposed her shoulders and connected to her semi-detached white sleeves similar to that of a Miko's. A short shirt, or rather a short blue hakama held itself down to just above her knees. Long black stockings covered her legs from the end of the hakama down. The last noticeable things about her outfit were a golden crown of some sort on her head with a small sun motif and her long hair tied back with a suspiciously similar ribbon to one his oldest daughter used to wear.

One extremely obvious thing was just who this Servant was not. She wasn't the King of Heroes Gilgamesh. 'Had something gone wrong?'

"Are you my summoner?" Archer's words caught Tokiomi out of his thoughts.

He had still summoned a Servant to fight for him in the Holy Grail War. "I believe I did though you must excuse me I wasn't expecting to summon you as you see-"

"You were seeking to summon someone else," She cut him off as she noticed the fossilized snakeskin nearby.

Of course, forcing herself to be summoned was going to cause issues if the summoner used a catalyst. An excuse for why she was summoned is needed. Lucky for her she already had thought of a few just in case she took over another Servant Summoning with a Catalyst. Seeing how she was likely in Fuyuki, which she was certain was the case, there was one to explain.

"Strange because I think the Grail must have mistaken you for using the land itself to summon me."

Her explanation sounded weak on the surface. After all, that wasn't how the summoning was done from the notes that Tokiomi knew about it. Looking at the magic circle though he thought about it a bit more. Could he have unknowingly taped into the ley lines during the ritual? That was a possibility but he didn't think he did.

'Wasn't there something written that Heroic Spirits from Japan are excluded?' According to the notes left for him, there was a rule preventing it. Tokiomi would comment on the impossibility but any experienced mage would tell you that loopholes did typically exist to rules under certain conditions. "I will admit I didn't know one could use the land itself as a summoning catalyst."

Tokiomi may have to write this down just in case he failed to get the grail. A discovery like this was probably something none of the founding three families knew about until now. "If I may, what is your true name?"

She looked over at Kirei as she hadn't noticed him in full until right now. Two things stood out to her the most. One was that he looked familiar to her though she could not quite place it, and the other was that she could tell he was a master himself. Confusion and suspicion were going through her mind as she looked at him.

Tokiomi, seeing her reaction to him, decided to explain. "There is no need to worry, Kirei is our ally through this war."

His explanation was enough to lower her suspicion at least. She'll keep an eye on him for later. "Very well I'll trust your judgment then master."

A light bow was given as a sign of respect. Given his original plan to summon Gilgamesh, Tokiomi had expected to walk a bit of a fine line with the power and arrogant King of Heroes. If nothing else it seemed this pink-haired Kitsune wouldn't be as hard to deal with.

"My name is Tamamo-no-Sakura, Divided Spirit of the Sun Goddess Amaterasu."

Amaterasu, the Sun Goddess of Japan and whom the Japanese Imperial Family had claimed as their ancestor. A facet of her at the very least given that it was unlikely that he could truly summon a Divine Spirit such as her. As for her name, Tokiomi was given an explanation after he pushed on the relationship between it and Tamamo-no-Mae. It was the name of another divided spirit of Amaterasu. Fascinating to hear but what was currently on Tokiomi's mind was what she said he could just refer to her as.

'Sakura,' It wasn't long since he had given his younger daughter to the Matous. Now his Servant wished for him to refer to her by that name. 'Fate has a cruel sense of irony.'

"She isn't Gilgamesh but summoning a faucet of Amaterasu in Japan likely makes up for it," Risei knew about the bonus that this awarded Tokiomi. Adding in all the other things that they had going the priest was certain Tokiomi could win. "Although, to my knowledge, there is nothing that could qualify her for the Archer class."

Taking Tamamo-no-Mae into account alongside the stories, neither the priest nor Tokiomi could see a reason for her being so. Caster was the most obvious choice though Saber was a possibility given that Amaterasu was given the sword Kusanagi-no-Tsurugi by her brother Sunsano. "I believe we'll see it once our plan is set in motion."

Seeing how it wasn't Gilgamesh that he had summoned, Tokiomi didn't feel as tense about the possibility of her disagreeing. In fact, if he was honest she seemed rather agreeable with him. Originally he figured that given the reputation of Gilgamesh, he was going to have to let the King of Heroes do the war in how he wished. Tokiomi would hopefully be able when everything was said and done to use his command Seals to force him to commit suicide. With Sakura though it might be less of a hassle. He felt somewhat uncomfortable as the thought of ordering her to kill herself at the end did cross his mind. Perhaps it was her wanting to be called Sakura.

It had been so long since she had seen her father. One hundred and forty years is a long time and in that time her thoughts about her family hadn't grown favorable at all. At some point, she wondered where the feeling of hatred had come from but she knew better. Being here in her past was bringing her feelings up to the surface after being gone for so long.

'I should be at the Matou's right now,' Her memories of that time were practically just one long memory of the same exact thing. Taking out Zouken was well within her ability to do. 'No, one of the Servants will be there to back him up.'

Sakura wanted to curse at this. Murdering him was something she looked forward to. Unfortunately, if her earliest memories about the Matou family were correct, which had faded somewhat but are still there, Zouken spent some of the war away from the mansion taking care of some kind of intruder. Who exactly that was she didn't remember and nor did she care. What sucked was that he would likely be gone from the mansion as soon as the war began. Looking at the moon overhead she realized something she overlooked.

'Shirou…' He should be somewhere within Fuyuki. 'This is before the Fuyuki Fire.'

She wanted to find him and it took every ounce of will to not give into it. Over a century since she had last seen him but there were a few issues. One this was before he became Shirou Emiya. Secondly, this probably wasn't even her Shirou. With the way she was summoned, she could be in a world that was extremely similar to her own, or she could be summoned in the past of her world creating a divergent timeline. More than likely it was the former instead of the latter.

Putting that away from her mind she instead focused on her plans. Defeat the other Servants or their Masters. All of which sounded simple on paper but like everything, there was more to it.

'Right the Fuyuki Grail is corrupted,' Any wish granted by the accumulated mana would bring destruction. A monkey's paw were no matter how well-worded the wish, will find a way to cause pain. 'Except if someone can overpower the will of the grail.'

When it came down to it the nascent being within the grail was rather passive. A wish would be made and then it can twist it. However, if someone could impose their will directly on the grail when the wish is made then theoretically they could get their wish with no downsides. The only issue was having to directly fight against the corruption and hope that they could endure it. The only other methods would be to directly purify the Greater Grail of the taint or to replace the core of it with a suitable replacement.

Option B was out as there was no one who fit the bill. Her first choice was the only one she had. There was also the issue of her Master and his Command Seals. Sakura wasn't ignorant of the true point of the Fuyuki Grail. Made to form a gate to the root using the defeated energy of their summoned Servants. Because of this very noticeable fact, Sakura's best interest was to kill her Master. There was no conflict in her mind at doing so right now but it would serve only to mark her as a target.

'Best to hold it off until I have a better idea of who I'm up against,' A new source of mana would be needed which shouldn't be too much of an issue. Her ability to use Magecraft wasn't all that affected by her current class. 'I could link myself to one of the ley lines and draw from it.'

Can't make it around the Tohsaka estate as Tokiomi would likely notice it at some point. Fortunately, Sakura knew just the place for her to go. Scouting the area was a good enough excuse that she could give for her brief disappearance after all.

Pain racked his body as the light faded away. Instead of the strain he was expecting from the weight of summoning a Berserker the stain felt steady but controlled. The blur in his eyes gave way as he looked at who he had summoned. Her outfit looked like a white and red wizard robe that had been modernized in such a way as to not hinder the movement of her arms or legs. As a side effect, it clung to her body a bit revealing a rather developed figure. None of that mattered after he saw her head and more specifically her face.

Purple hair held in a pair of twin tails. A face that was familiar to him even if the owner of it seemed to be in her mid-twenties. "Rin?"

"How do you know my name?" The Servant was confused as she was still processing everything that was going on. Knowledge fed itself into her mind about the time, place, and what was going on. 'I was summoned?'

Ghost Liners were something that was known to exist but how was it that she was even summoned? To her knowledge her grandfather, grandmother, and her ancestor all concluded it couldn't be done. Here she was standing revealing that it could be done and somehow she had made it.

Another world was likely the reason after all they theorized that if it wasn't for them they could have made it work. A shame the grail couldn't provide her with answers as to what happened in her own world but it didn't matter right now. "Well, you already can guess I am a Servant Caster and since you seem to know me, yes I am Rin Tohsaka."

Kariya's mind froze at this as he tried to process what Caster just said. How was it that she was Rin? As for Caster, she saw the state her Master was in.

A laugh echoed through the room as the one other individual watched this exchange. Zouken, who was on the side, looked at this turn of events and couldn't help himself. "Well, Kariya, you seem to have pulled something either extraordinarily or have failed spectacularly!"

Turning towards the source of the voice Caster stopped and looked at the old man. Immediately as she did she could tell that his form wasn't right. It was just a corpse being held together by a nest of familiars. Familiars that held the same twisted spiritual presence.

"Dead Apostle," No sooner as those words left her mouth did she unleash several Gandr shots from her hands which smashed into the body of Zouken. Each one tearing out a large chunk of his body.

"You annoying fami-" Zouken only caught it for a brief moment but she summoned into her hands a large jewel mass edged into a scepter handle and pointed right at him. A bright flash covered the area as his body was simply annihilated alongside part of the wall behind him digging into the foundation of the Matou estate.

Caster looked at where that creature had been. Buzzing sounds echoed in the room as all around a swarm of familiars came right at her. "Königliche flamme platzte!"

Bringing the weapon down a burst of flames engulfed the area all around her much like an explosion. Kariya was tossed off his feet while all the familiars burned to death. Caster turned her attention over for just a moment.

"Master," At that one of the familiars tried to latch on to her only to get immediately blasted away by a flash from the jeweled scepter. As another host of them seemed to come for them both she reached for the jewel and pulled off energy from it. "Blitzkäfig!"

Lightning arced around the both of them as it tore through each and every familiar that got two close. Kariya felt himself get pulled up as Caster swung around letting arcs of raw light tear through the stragglers. These familiars, she could not put her finger on but reminded her of what her mother had shown her. What she could do herself.

'Is this,' There was no way that it could be it. Yet, with each one she destroyed it was made more and more obvious to her. 'Zolgen Magecraft?'

Slowly off to the side Crest Worms and other such familiars grouped together. Out of the mass Zouken's upper body formed as he watched the basement turn into a small battlefield. "Even if it's an inferior copy the Jewel Sword lives up to its reputation."

Zouken moved to the right and instead of having his reformed body fully destroyed again only a large part of his right chest was. He cursed at this while looking at the Servant and her Master. Despite the usage of her spells, there was not a single ounce of strain on him that his Crest Worms could detect. 'Of course, she's using her Noble Phantasm to supply her with all the energy she needs.'

Because of it, Caster didn't even need her master to supply her with mana. She was completely self-sufficient and didn't have to worry if she had one or not. As a bonus, she could keep throwing spell after spell at her enemy forcing them to be able to either take it or respond to her with equal force. Outlasting her was not an option. Hell, if she wasn't so concerned for her Master's safety she could have probably just destroyed the mansion completely which would kill him given he was hiding the Crest Worm that held his soul together in this very building.

Zouken's only option was the Command Seals that Kariya had to get her to kill herself. Doing so though meant losing another Holy Grail War as well as a Servant, that as much as he loathed to admit it, was his best bet at immortality. 'Damn it.'

Caster though was starting to see that her only option to stop this was to seemingly destroy everything around her. "Zweifaches Schutzkristall Kuppelfeld!"

With a fling, a handful of jewels were tossed at Kariya before they exploded. All around him, a crystalline bounded field solidified. With that out of the way, she turned to the Dead Apostle practitioner of Zolgen Magecraft. She had wanted to deny it was so but he was using that and she couldn't in good conscience allow such a thing to stand!

"You're going to destroy the mansion just to kill me!"

His words were less focused on himself and more so at Kariya. Especially given that the both of them weren't the only ones in the Matou estate right now. For a bit of bonus, he agitated the worms in Kariya just a bit. Just to give him an idea that it might all be pointless in the end.

Destroying the building was the only way she could see herself eradicating this swarm. Mana gathered within the scepter causing it to glow violently as she readied to aim it at him. "Caster no, don't kill him!"

A flash of red consumed the broken room. A command was given and with it, one Command Seal was removed. As it did Caster's swing stopped before it could begin as a force held her in place. Her own desire fought the command but she just couldn't unleash the energy at him.

"Master, why?"

"Because my son and I have an understanding," Sakura would have been killed if she had gone through with her little attack. As will Kariya who was practically destined to die anyway. "Summoning a Tohsaka though is rather ironic, especially being Tokiomi's heir."

Speaking of which, her summoning really shouldn't have happened. The catalyst he had acquired seemed to be useless. Either that or perhaps Kariya's desire to save Sakura was strong enough to act as a catalyst in itself. Another possibility could be whatever the Einzberns had done with their summoning of a Servant outside the typical seven.

Caster turned over to her Master, the man the Dead Apostle called his son. Her Master looked half dead state that the abomination most definitely had a hand in! 'An abomination that uses Zolgen Magecraft in such a manner.'

Yes, she knew what those familiars were. They are something that the Zolgen family had abandoned but still toyed with here and there. Crest Worms were more of a horrifying and somewhat inferior method compared to the more direct memory transfer method that they developed, but their uses as means of defense had proven why they still existed. Using them to hold one's body and soul together? A method that she was drilled not to even persuade less she lose herself.

"Who taught you Zolgen Magecraft?!"

"Taught me?" Zouken was almost insulted by this. "I wasn't taught this I created it!"

Caster stared at him with her expression, one of complete shock. This Dead Apostle, a colony of insects possessing an aged corpse, was Makiri Zolgen? A man that had chosen to die in bed rather than live on? She wanted to deny this as it couldn't be possible but it was hard to do given the fact that she was standing here. Anger washed over her as she gripped her scepter as it pulsed with energy.

"How?" She pointed it at him as she raged at the Command Seal keeping her from unleashing a ray of energy to rip his body apart. Even if it was pointless she would keep doing so until he disappeared from her sight. "What did Justeaze think about what you did!"

"Justeaze?" Zouken could feel something in the back of his mind. A memory that was just out of reach. "The former head of the Einzberns, what about her?"

"What about her?" She couldn't be hearing this. "She was your wife for almost a hundred years," How she really wanted to unleash on him and was actually starting to feel herself resisting the command given to her. "My grandmother!"

Silence filled the room at Caster's outburst. "Your," Kariya was almost at a loss of words at what this all implied. "Grandmother?"

Zouken didn't respond as he could feel a strange mix of emotions echoing in her mind. Frustration, annoyance, and above all regret. When he first learned her identity he was quick to figure she was from another world. How she became one didn't matter much but he just knew this would torment Kariya. Now looking at her he felt so empty inside.

'I could have…' A voice spoke from within the depths of his mind. One that didn't get to finish as it felt both familiar and alien to him. "Kariya, good luck I guess."

Kariya had expected something mocking. Maybe even a laugh at Caster's expense given what she told them. Not a single hint of emotion in his words. He just turned and left, not even passing another glance at either of them. Not a word was said for a few moments as he left leaving both Master and Servant alone.

"Ri-Caster," He stopped himself as he wasn't sure if he should even use her name. "What exactly was that all about?"

Caster let out a sigh as she looked at her Master. Technically he was her uncle, or was it more accurate that he was the counterpart to her mother? 'No, she doesn't exist in the world.'

Somehow she did exist, or at least a version of her. Just thinking about it made her wonder who else she knew existed in this world. Did her father exist or was the Tohsaka line radically different? What about her friends and allies from the war against the Dead Apostles? Did they exist or had everything been too different for them?

Another thought entered her mind. What if he was alive here? That monster that forged weapons from blood leading to the deaths of millions. The very dame monster who she had taken out at the cost of her life. Did he exist somewhere in this world as well?

'He would just be some nobody living in Japan,' She tried to talk herself out of where she was heading. Just because he had ended up within the embrace of the Dead Apostle Ancestors in her world didn't mean he was destined for that in this one.

"Caster?"

Caster was pulled as she refocused on the here and now. She was taking part in a Holy Grail War with the prize being a wish from the Grail. "Right, where do I even begin?"

On the outside, the flash of light within a small unassuming home within Fuyuki went unnoticed. Inside the building had become the scene of the latest in a list of gruesome murders. As the light faded Ryuunosuke, the serial murderer responsible for the deaths of the parents, was overjoyed that it had worked. Before him though wasn't a red-skinned horned being from a stereotypical hell. Neither was it some kind of monster out of somebody's nightmares.

Instead what had appeared was a beautiful woman dressed in what looked to be a mix between a light chainmail coat hung over some sort of wizard robes. In her right hand was a staff of some sort while in her left rested a sword. A black crown adored her head that had a black veil over her face. Finally, long silver hair hands down her head that ended at her lower back.

'Not the look I had expected,' Maybe she was some sort of succubus, or that this was just a disguise. "So, cool!" Whatever the case was, he had summoned a demon! "Hello, I'm Ryuunosuke."

Before he could continue the woman cut off as she took a step out of the magical circle. "Are you the one who summoned me?"

Ryuunosuke was taken aback by her sudden questioning. Almost immediately after he recomposed himself. "Yeah, I found this old book in my parent's house," Turning around he presented the captured child, the son of the family he murdered. "Here I got something in case you're hungry!"

Once she looked at the child something happened. Her face twitched with a look of anger. Another will within her mind that wanted to attack her summoner. Berserker was the class that she had been summoned to and her brand of madness was making itself known.

'He expects us to eat a child!' Fighting against it only made the other personality more engaged. Rather than deal with fighting for herself to maintain control the immediate issue was dealt with.

With a swing, the top half of the child fell to the ground as Berserker didn't even hesitate. The now-freed organs fell out of his torso as a pool of his blood and bile stained the ground below. A moment later the lower half similarly fell to the ground. A small line of the fluids touched the blood made summoning circle. Acting as a twisted last-parting connection between the parents and their child.

In a twisted sense, this was an act of mercy. Berserker looked at the dead bodies in the house as her other self was enraged at this act of murder. 'This monster can't be my Master I must…'

Her other self tried to take control again. On the face of Berserker, her expression twisted to one of disgust and rage. Gripping the sword in her hands she tried to move, hoping to swing the blade through him. Nothing came of it as the dominant one fought against it. A brief struggle ensured that ended with the dominant personality reassuring itself

"Summoning me this way will likely draw the attention of the Overseer," The knowledge given to her from the Fuyuki Grail made it clear that Magecraft in this era was a hidden affair. Killing a family just to summon a Heroic Spirit would be looked on with suspicion. "The Church might officially be neutral in the conflict but a rogue mage might get them to look the other way."

"Okay, what is this about an Overseer and the Church?" Ryuunosuke didn't know what she was talking about. What did the Church have to do with summoning demons?

Berserker stared at him without a hint of emotion on her face. More analyzing her Master than anything else. She could feel the connection of mana being delivered. It was faint but there if in a suboptimal. His circuits are likely opened but only so much as in a passive state. Meaning he didn't use them much if at all. Given how confused he was summoning her was probably the first spell he had ever truly cast.

'This could be a problem,' Whatever the case she will have to make this work. "Let's leave this place and I'll tell you everything you will need to know."

"Alright, so this Holy Grail War is a fight between like seven wizards and their what was it Heroic Spirits?" Ryuunosuke recounted what was told to him as he tried to make sense of it all. A secret contact between those who could use magic summoning figures from history and legend. "With the prize being the Holy Grail?"

It seems he was getting the basics of it all. Berserker looked over the book that he had used to summon her. A book he said he found amongst things in his parent's house. By the looks of it, he happened to be from a family that once practiced Magecraft but ceased doing so at some point probably due to a failure to produce an heir with Magic Circuits. The fact they kept this meant that at some point they hoped that someone else down the line would develop them again.

"Yes, seven Masters and Servants compete with the last pair standing receiving the Holy Grail to grant them each a wish," Berserker closed the book as she thought about what to do. Clearly, her Master wasn't what would be ideal but right now that didn't matter. "I am of the Berserker class, the class of madness."

"Madness?" She didn't seem at all like someone who was mad. Berserker gave him the idea of some kind of barely coherent warrior like a Viking. "You don't seem all that mad."

"Madness comes in many forms," No sooner as those words left her mouth did she feel her other personality pushing at the reigns of control. Her hand gripped her sword handle while she gritted her teeth at the ongoing mental struggle. "Like having personalities with conflicting desires."

Ryuunosuke saw her distressed face and before he knew it the sword in her hands was edged right into the wall behind him. Just narrowly missed his neck. His eyes turned to the sword as he realized that she had almost taken his head off his shoulders. On the face of Berserker was utter contempt that was soon replaced with her original expression.

"One of my personalities wishes to kill you for your actions," Had she been summoned to another class she was certain this wouldn't be an issue. Madness Enchantment unfortunately made it an issue. "I, however, do not care one way or another about what you do."

The sword was removed from the wall as Ryuunosuke got the message. Just because she didn't sound mad didn't mean that she was all right in the head. "Got ya," A breath he didn't know he had held in was let out. "Say, you told me that this is supposed to be a ritual done with a bunch of dead famous people so who exactly are you?"

Right, there was something she had forgotten to tell him. Her true name and identity. "I am Morgan le Fay."

War had taken over Japan as the enviable clash between the two Shogunates had happened. Tonelico for all her attempts couldn't prevent it. All she could do was secure Kyoto's neutrality and keep it safe in case of invasion. For Sakura, this conflict hadn't been much of an issue for her at first as she stayed within Kyoto.

Unfortunately what she was working on couldn't be completed with what was within Tokyo itself. As she ventured out across the Japanese countryside she occasionally saw the effects of the conflict. A conflict that soon started to snowball as she learned that the youkai were taking full advantage of this mess on her own.

"Dead," Bodies lay on the ground all around. She recalled that the nearby village had warned her that there was a monster who lived in these lands. "No random beast could have done this."

They weren't cut to pieces in a way one would expect from large claws. No bite marks or signs of predation. The wounds they suffered were done using a weapon of some sort. All of which pointed to an intelligent being and not a beast of some sort.

Not long after coming across the scene did Sakura learn just who the monster the villagers spoke of was. An Oni mixed-blood had taken the area up as their home and wasn't keen on dealing with humans. A confrontation occurred between them both.

If it's not obvious, Sakura's little summoning hijack basically confused the ritual. Normally, the ritual should only aim for servants native to the timeline you summon them from. Thanks to that a bit of random chaos was given to two of the summonings. Also, yes I wanted to try out my take with a decade old concept of a Servant Rin. Plus, let's be real, there is something to think about given the World Tsukihime apparently can't summon Heroic Spirits. What happened to the three founding families of the Holy Grail War?

Oh, right that bit at the end is a sort of brief glimpse into Sakura's life. I'll be adding them at the end of each chapter.