A voice suddenly blared over the speakers of Tsubaki-mon. "Emergency meeting in three minutes! All Special Squad members are to report to the information room! I repeat..."

The door to the King's office opened before the announcement even finished and two people emerged out into the hall. Lancer was keeping pace with Reisi. While the human wasn't quite speedwalking, there was some urgency in getting to his destination. "A sudden meeting? What about?"

"Some information has come to light that requires immediate attention."

"Ya know what this is about, then?"

"An incident was reported to me recently by my lieutenant and Mr. Fushimi regarding a Strain with a high threat level. Everyone will be briefed on it in the information room." As they got closer, a rushing Special Squad member almost crashed into them. It was Daiki Fuse.

"Sorry about that!" was the only apology given before he disappeared through the door to the room. Reisi chuckled. It seems Daiki was in too much of a hurry to process who it was he ran into.

The information room was slightly crowded with everyone inside. All the Special Squad members had assembled with Seri and Saruhiko having already been waiting for everyone to arrive. Seri sighed and lifted the tablet she held at her thigh, her attention focused on the screen. "That's everyone. Let's get the briefing started, shall we? As you all know, this morning SCEPTER 4 officers were sent out to apprehend a Strain. What you didn't know is that even though it was supposed to be a standard case, only one of the Clansmen made it out, but the doctors of the hospital he was sent to are doubtful he'll live. He suffered severe bleeding due to multiple bullet and stab wounds. At least, they were said to be bullet wounds. But the description of the incident's aftermath said they looked odd, like a mini explosion created the holes. It's a miracle he was found alive."

"The hell?! I thought intel said he's is a common-class! He must've had help from a Beta!" Akira exclaimed.

"No, he was alone. The incident report says four robotic arms were strapped to the Strain's back. Some research revealed the arms are from the Bronze-Link Manipulator."

Tatsuya crossed his arms and cocked his head. "And that is?"

"The Bronze-Link Manipulator is a Mystic Code created by Fiore Forvedge Yggdmillennia, a clan of magi in Romania. It was stolen during her trip to Tokyo and the four animal spirits possessing the arms were somehow reconfigured to obey the thief. It's dangerous because no matter the level of the Strain, be it common or Beta, using it puts them on the level of a high-ranking Alpha." In terms of mana output, without mystic eyes, common and Beta are third-rate magi, though Betas, like Clansmen, are high-level third-rates, Alphas are second-rate magi, and Kings, Extra-Alpha Strains, are first-rates that are capable of taking down the two weakest Servant Classes, Caster and Assassin, but only when favorable conditions like the element of surprise are on their side. "As for the surviving Clansman, visitors are not allowed to him at this time but we were able to take a picture since it was for the sake of documenting what happened. This is it." A photo appeared on one of the screens. In a hospital bed in a room was a single person wrapped in so many bandages he almost looked like a mummy, and was hooked up to countless machines. "As you can all see, this matter will require the upmost caution."

Reisi was the one to speak up now. "Due to the heightened threat posed by the Strain, only Special Squad and above are permitted to handle the case now. To prevent the damage from spreading further, we'll take immediate action. Prepare to meet in van 4 in ten minutes to go to Shizume. Mr. Fushimi has kept the Strain under surveillance so we know where to go."

"Since it's Red Clan territory, why don't we leave it for them to handle?" Lancer asked. "The Strain should also be stirrin' up trouble there."

A huff from Reisi. "HOMRA typically takes care of issues in Shizume such as drug dealing, human trafficking, and underworld people stirring up trouble. There are exceptions, like that time they had to manage their own members. While I have to admit the crime rate there has gone down as a result, I do wish they used more legal means instead of always using force." It's for this reason that Reisi has a serious love-hate relationship with the Red Clan, especially with their King. He and Mikoto have sexual tensions toward each other, but that's all, or at least that's what they tell themselves. In a business relationship, Reisi doesn't like HOMRA. "No, we'll finish this first. If we encounter them and it leads to an argument, we'll deal with it then."

"Well, if that happens I just hope Servant Rider shows up. I've been itchin' for a good fight."

The Homra bar was pretty empty right now. It was just Izumo, who stood behind the counter and typed away on his laptop. Rider was at the counter, having a drink when the bartender suddenly spoke up. "So, Rider. Ya have such a huge sex drive that you'll have sex with a dead body?"

That instantly grabbed the Greek Servant's attention. He spat out the liquid in his mouth like a hose after almost choking on it. "The fuck you talking about?!"

Rider noticed Izumo smirk and chuckle. "I was goin' through more of your legend online then also with an Amazon woman named Penthesilea who was in it. One version for after ya killed her says ya had sex with her corpse."

A bang after the green-haired man's forehead hit the surface of the counter with a groan. "That didn't happen in the timeline I'm from. I only called her beautiful. Do me a favor and never bring it up again."

At the scene, the van the high-ranking Blue Clan members were in screeched to a halt next to the entrance of an alleyway. Almost as soon as it did, the Special Squad and up threw open the door to the back and poured out. Saruhiko will be back at the van with two other Blue Clansmen to electronically monitor the situation. Of everyone, only the Servant wasn't wearing the crisp blue uniform everyone else wore. Lancer changed to his Celtic outfit, probably for easier mobility, and had his spear out; he looked more ready for a battle against another Servant than for this. Unknown to everyone else, he was secretly hoping that would happen. He was looking forward to some excitement after a boring week.

Reisi narrowed his eyes at the path then stepped back to Lancer. The demigod raised an eyebrow. "Huh? What's goin' on?"

The Blue King didn't answer his Servant's question right away. "We of SCEPTER 4 carry out our duties as men of the sword. We do not allow violence on consecrated land. We do not allow violence in this world. We will advance with sword in hand! For our cause is pure!" Then he looked to his lieutenant. "You will be in charge of this operation."

"Understood! Men! Draw your swords!"

While his Special Squad stated their family name then drew their saber, the blue Sword of Damocles materialized overhead. But Reisi wasn't doing anything. So he only intends to have his Sanctum support his Clansmen. He held an arm out to stop Lancer from following SCEPTER 4 into the alley.

"We aren't going to fight. We'll just relocated to a place with a better view." Without waiting for a reply, Reisi leaped to the top of one of the building creating the borders of the alley in one jump. Lancer breathed heavily out his nose in frustration, letting his spear vanish in a haze of red, then joined his Master with complete ease.

"Don't you think just standin' back and lettin' your men deal with an enemy like this is cruel?" He pointed out as he followed the King forward on the rooftops.

"They won't improve if we do it for them."

"It's a strong Mystic Code. They could wind up backed into a corner."

"We're just here to provide support. We'll fully step in if things go bad."

The alley opened into a wider path. It's here the Blue Clansmen came to a stop. "To the Strain: we are SCEPTER 4! Show yourself immediately and do not resist arrest!" Seri shouted. A mechanical banging sound was heard, drawing closer. All of Seri's muscles tensed. "Everyone, get ready!"

"Yes, ma'am!" The rest of the Special Squad replied, doing the same as her. Then the source of the banging came into view. Four spider-like, mechanical arms had the ends dug into the walls of the alley where they emerged from the shadows, keeping the whole thing suspended a few meters up each time it stepped forward. All four arms connected at a human's back, holding that person up.

"Come down and abandon the Bronze-Link Manipulator!" The blond instructed. "Then come over slowly with your hands behind your head!"

The Strain smirked. "And why would I do that? This device means I can take on SCEPTER 4 any day. The last batch had to be taught that the hard way! Ah, but that's right. A rumor circulating underground is that you Blues have some new badass weapon able to easily overpower a King. I suggest you crack it out if you want a shot at taking me down! Then when I destroy it, it'll prove I'm the most powerful!"

Andy chuckled. "We shouldn't. He-It'll be too much for even a scrap of you to remain."

Ryuuhou sighed. "Doumyouji, quit trying to provoke the enemy." It's annoying when Andy gets this cocky.

Seri's saber was lifted higher. "Then you leave us with no choice. Everyone! You're free to incapacitate!"

"Then I'll go first!" Yuujirou exclaimed. He prepared to swing his saber, blade engulfed in blue aura.

"I'll join you!" Himori swung his saber right after Yuujirou did, the two crest of blue creating a long-range X-shaped attack sent the Strain's way.

"Jupiter, intercept." The top left mechanical arm swung in front of the Strain in an instant like a shield, taking the full brunt of that attack. Dust burst from the impact area but when it cleared everyone saw that not only was the arm still there, but it lacked even a single scratch.

"What?!" Seri exclaimed. Then she spoke into her earpiece as Ren, Akira, Tatsuya, and Daiki tried breaking the arm with bolts of blue aura fired from their thrust sabers, all to no avail. "Fushimi! Do you have all the data on the capabilities of the Bronze-Link Manipulator yet?!"

"Yeah. The one you just encountered is Jupiter, the left arm. It 'intercepts'. It has stronger metal than the other three arms and is the primary defense. The right arm is Mars, which shoots bullets of pure magical energy. Both 'legs' are Saturn. It 'crushes'. In contrast to Jupiter its specs make it ideal for melee."

"What about weaknesses?!"

"One. Well, two if you want to be technical. The technical one is mana capacity. Unfortunately I don't know what that Strain's mana pool looks like, so who know how long he can rain hell? Now for the other. You know it's animals possessing those arms instead of being completely mechanical. While this does increase its reaction time it also means it can't handle multiple orders. One function needs to stop to use another."

"Mars, fire." Once those words left the Strain's mouth, the metal "fingers" of the right arm opened wide, revealing a hole in the metal like the end of the barrel of a gun.

"Everyone, take cover!" Seri abruptly shouted. Good thing Saruhiko told her what that arm's capable of already. Everyone ran as fast as they could back into the entrance to the alley they came from. No one wanted to take a risk to look back and see magical bullets tearing into the ground directly behind them. The building they now cowered behind acted as their shield from this relentless assault, like from a powerful machine gun.

"If they were normal bullets we could deflect these easily. But it looks like these pack a lot more power!" Yuujirou growled. He was at the corner of the building but he didn't dare peek his head around it. Then he and the hiding SCEPETER 4 members with him moved back as more of the bricks shielding their faces were chewed up. They had to basically jump back and shield themselves when the rapid fire ended for a moment only for a shot like from a low-caliber cannon sent several smashed bricks flying.

"Come out already! It's only a matter of time before I shoot the base of the building to pieces!" The Strain shouted then the rapid-fire recommenced.

"We're all gonna die!" Tatsuya whimpered. "There's absolutely nothing we can do except wait for the inevitable!"

"Saying that isn't helping!" Akira growled.

Ryuuhou, trying to help think of a way out of this situation, realized something after going over the battle in his head. "Wait, if he's only only paying attention to down here, then..."

Meanwhile, from the overlook he and his Servant were perched on, Reisi's right hand drifted to the handle of his saber. He probably needs to lend his Clansmen a hand. He was about to undo its lock to the sheath when something caught his eye. It was Seri, running on the roof of the building immediately to the Strain's right. He didn't notice the blond woman's heels clacking on the structure due to the gunfire or see her position herself behind the young man then jump down from the roof, saber ready to slash.

...That last part was easier said than done. While she succeeded in not getting the Strain's attention, Jupiter suddenly swung around and grabbed the blade of the saber. Before Seri could process what the hell just happened, her back abruptly met the brick wall of the building she was tossed like a rag doll into. She slid to the ground with a groan. Once the stars left her vision, she looked up and saw the Strain's attention was now focused on her.

Saruhiko's voice came out of her earpiece. "...Lieutenant, that thing will automatically switch to defense to protect its user." The fact he's currently sweatdropping could clearly be heard.

"I know that now!"

Mars, which had ceased firing, now swiveled around. The "fingers" were opened and pointing right at the blond woman's face. But before anything could happen, Jupiter suddenly blocked something behind the Strain. Seri saw that it was acting as a shield against Andy's saber, allowing Ren to slip past to the back of the person, leaping through the air to tackle him.

The Strain had turned his head to look over his shoulder in time. His hand was held to Ren's chest and a blob and a red-and-black magical energy like a bullet shot out, hitting the young man point-blank and knocked him down. No visible damage had been done. The Clansman's hand flew over his mouth, his shoulders were heaving, and his blood ran cold.

"What just happened?!" Reisi demanded. His Special Squad was asking the same of Ren but he wasn't responding, just shivering.

Crimson eyes narrowed. "Gandr?!...At least it was the single-action type and not a Finn shot." Thanks to the Holy Grail, Lancer could not only identify that curse but knew what a worse version would've been. A Finn shot would've destroyed Ren's heart if it hit him. "Because of his pseudo magic circuits, most of it got negated. It'll be like he's sick. Looks like the Strain took the time to practice simple magecraft."

The Strain turned his attention back to Seri. Mars was just about to open fire when a sudden crest of blue tore through the joint of the metal appendage. What?! That attack was too powerful to have been from a Clansman. Is the Blue King nearby?! But where?! No time to worry about that, the Blue lieutenant is getting back to her feet. Jupiter instantly shot towards her, the icy cold metal grasping her neck hard enough that she struggled to breathe.

A sudden blue gust of wind appeared at the side of the Strain and a humanoid form suddenly appeared with its back facing the enemy. In its right hand was a two meter long crimson spear. All the Strain had time to do was blink before he was suddenly blown forward as if by a wind. The two legs walked forward two steps to prevent their user from falling down. But what got his attention was the piece of severed metal that slammed into the ground on his left. A spider-like appendage with a three-fingered mechanical end.

"Don't worry about Ren," Lancer spoke to the others without facing them. "He just needs some rest."

"Jupiter's been taken down?!" Then the Strain looked back at the blue form that didn't even look at him before it abruptly vanished, as if that was his only task and now he isn't needed anymore. Is that the secret weapon of SCEPTER 4 said to pack more power than a King?! It can't be! But if the first strike, which took out Mars, was from the Blue King, then what about this? Besides, he doesn't even think that thing is human. Something about it, like the presence coming from it, was off.

Next to the Blue King, his Servant reappeared next to him and resumed just watching the battle, as if nothing just happened.

"I thought you had a long-range attack at your disposal."

"The position of the arm would've had Seri be put in danger by the collateral damage it would've caused to the wall she was against, so I went down and slashed the arm off personally."

"It's too powerful for her to have used her aura to defend against?"

"Unless it can shield her from a mountain of collapsin' bricks from the entire wall then yes. I ended up completin' your order of takin' out Jupiter without killin' the Strain, so it doesn't matter how it was done."

The Strain, still in shock over what just happened, didn't do anything to defend himself from being tackled to the ground by Himori. He was fiddling around with the remaining to mechanical arms, trying to figure out how to disconnect it. Then he saw the simple straps going around the Strain's shoulders.

"...Saturn."

It happened in a flash. One of the metal legs shot out and the blade the "fingers" formed dove through the left side of Himori's upper abdomen.

"Akiyama!" Seri exclaimed. The others ran to him while the Blue King and his Servant came down. Himori coughed some blood up then grinned. Ignoring that it only made his injury worse, the Clansman forced himself forward, both hands grasping the straps on either shoulder and feet stomping down on both hands. The Strain was too shocked to react. His saber, clutched in his teeth, swiftly sliced the straps. He then went limp as Seri shot forward, ripping the glove off the Strain's right hand before he could recover. The glove was white with several gold pieces on it. Saruhiko recently informed her the user need to have it on to control the Mystic Code. Without it, the device is simply an inanimate hunk of metal. Lancer pulled Himori off the arm while Reisi put power-dampening handcuffs on the Strain.

"Shit! What's going to happen to Akiyama?!" Akira demanded. "He isn't going to die, right?!"

Lancer laid the man down. His face was scrunched up and he was sweating heavily. "Look, he should be fine. But he should have a doctor look at him when we get back," the warrior replied.

"He'll be fine?! How?! He's bleeding out!"

"Do ya think I'm only good at combat? I'll prove ya wrong." The spearman placed a hand over the bloody hole on Himori. A rune was activated and a faint glow of magical energy shone from his palm.

"Are you...healing him?" Seri asked cautiously.

"I was drilled on mastering Odin's 18 runes in the Land of Shadows. The power was diminished significantly from Primordial Rune because of my Class, but I can save his life."

"So you can use magic?! Why didn't we see it before?!" Andy demanded excitedly.

"Magecraft, not magic," Lancer corrected. "I'm at only a fraction of my full power and I'm not a Caster. So I'm incapable of magic right now. To answer your second question, I think they're a pain in the ass and I can use my spear to kill someone in a hundredth of the time."

Everyone was too focused to notice a green parrot soaring through the darkening sky overhead fly away.

Tenkei was walking back to a parking garage to go back to base after going shopping, Saber and Assassin behind him. The sky was well-lit because of the stars and the full moon. It was also because night had fallen that Nagare ordered both Servants to act as back-up for Tenkei and to give them a chance to see the city. Both Servants wore modern clothes, though Assassin wore a hoodie to conceal his skull mask. He refused to take it off for some reason.

"Any idea why the Green King ordered us to return right away?" Assassin asked.

"No clue. I still have some shopping left to do, but it can be put off until tomorrow. Nagare rarely interrupts my shopping except for something important."

Saber paused, gazing up at the moon. Tenkei halted and turned to face the woman, realizing she was no longer following. "Is something wrong, Saber?"

"It's...nothing. It's that I always feel a faint connection to the moon whenever I see it, especially when it's full. It's almost like a part of me is there."

The next day is the first Servant fight and the first three-part day in this.