The workday for SCEPTER 4 was now over. Lancer was heading down the hall by his Master. Both were wearing street clothes.

"To your apartment, right? Or do ya need to run an errand first?"

"Neither. I promised my parents that I'd visit for Christmas dinner. I'd like for you to meet them as well."

"So I get to meet your folks! Wait, dontcha need to call a cab to get there? I don't recall seein' your car."

"No, it's Christmas so I don't want to keep the drivers from their families so have a different method. I got us permission to use a SCEPTER 4 van for travel this time. Use your runes to give yourself high enough Riding and take us there."

"Sure thin - Wait a moment! Why can't you drive us?!"

Reisi blushed and looked away. "...Reasons."

"You...can drive, right?"

"Wi-with gas prices, I found it easier to call a cab and when I became King, selected drivers drove the vans for me! Plus the seats are softer..."

A giant sigh from the spearman as he facepalmed. "I say it still wouldn't have hurt to call a cab you princess..."

"I never thought I'd hear anyone other then Suoh say that..."

Shortly after coming to a stop in front of a Japanese-style house, Reisi got out of the van along with Lancer, went up to the house, and knocked on the door. There was the sound of hurried footsteps on the other side. Then the door opened a bit and a woman probably in her 50s popped her head out.

"Reisi! You came over! And who's this?"

"This is Lancer, a friend of mine from overseas. He's staying in Tokyo for awhile. Lancer, I'd like to introduce you to Kohaku Munakata, my mother."

Then Kohaku notice the thing parked in her driveway. "Why is a van from your work here?"

"It involved an airheaded moment from your son," Lancer replied before Reisi could, the sentence used earning him a glare. "It seems the reason is that he finds the seats in the vans a lot more comfortable."

Everyone sat on their knees around a simple, low, square, wooden table. Plates of food of all varieties from meat to vegetables had been layed out atop it in an organized manner.

"We just finished preparing everything, so your timing's perfect."

Two kids went running up to them. "You're back, Uncle Reisi!"

"Umi, Kai, you're crowding him!" A woman called out.

A man joined in. "And what do you say to our guest?"

"Welcome inside!"

The man chuckled and got up, going over to Lancer and holding out his hand. "I'm Taishi Munakata, Reisi's older brother. My wife, Aoi Munakata is at the table. And these are our children, Umi Munakata," he gestured to the girl, "and Kai Munakata," he gestured to the boy.

The Servant shook the hand. "Call me Lancer. It's great to meet all of you."

"I need to call my husband, Jirou, in," Kohaku said. "He's probably too busy watching T.V." She left the room then came back a few minutes later with a man looking to be around her age. "...and here's Reisi's friend, Lancer!"

"Hmm..." Jirou went over to Lancer. "I'm Jirou Munakata, Taishi and Reisi's father."

Kohahu clapped her hands together. "Now that we're all acquainted, let's eat before dinner gets cold!"

Dinner was finished without anything weird cropping up, except Lancer saying he occasionally has the urge to chew on an entire boar that he just took down. Reisi quickly changed the subject and everyone forgot what Lancer said.

Now Umi was trying to braid Lancer's hair after he told her to go ahead, his hair having the golden clasp pulled out already, and Kai stared at the Servant from his position on his father's lap. After some encouraging from Aoi, he slowly got up and went over to help his sister, who was struggling to get it to not look like a mess of flyaway hair. At least she had the basic idea of how to do it. She said she braids the hair on her dolls sometimes. But this had to be her first time doing it on waist-length hair.

"Why is your hair this long? I thought boys didn't have long hair," Umi said.

Taishi chuckled. "Umi, that was rude. It's not strange for a boy's hair to be long. You just haven't seen any with long hair."

"Oh..."

Now it was Lancer's turn to chuckle. "It's all right Umi. I've gotten that before. Just focus on what you're doin'."

Umi returned to beaming. "Okay."

After a couple hours of just talking, Reisi decided it was time to go. He and Lancer got up to leave.

"You both will visit again soon, right?" Kohaku asked.

Reisi smiled at her. "Of course we will."

They hadn't gone far outside when a green parrot suddenly flew down to them. Almost immediately, Lancer began snarling like a dog.

"A familiar?!...No, not quite."

The parrot perched atop the Blue van. "Calm yourself, Servant. I'm starting to think you'll slaughter Kotosaka before I can say my piece."

Reisi raised an eyebrow. "A medium, then. How interesting. And may I ask who we're talking to."

"I appreciate your manners Reisi Munakata. I am the Green King, Nagare Hisui. And that makes me your enemy."

"Oya? You're the King who's been missing for eight years? And you mentioned having something to tell us."

"Both of you are expected at Ukita Airport in an hour. If you don't show up, I could order this place to come under attack."

"Threaten my family and I'm coming for you!" Reisi had suddenly turned as hostile as his Servant.

"Good, because we're waiting for you! Remember: Ukita Airport in an hour. And you both are to arrive alone."

After investigating that recent "gas leak", Rider traced the flow of the bits of mana that were being sapped from the victims due to a spell to the mountain village where the Colorless Clan is, Ichigen's Servant determined as the one responsible.

They were outside training when the two showed up, but none looked surprised, as if expecting them.

Rider crossed his arms. "I thought it felt like we were being watched from the time we left the building, but I wrote it off as my imagination. I take it that was you, Caster?"

"Of course. My eyes are everywhere. Going to one of my feeding grounds was a stupid choice."

"It was a good thing then Izumo hired those mages to set up an anti-spying bounded field around the bar," Rider whispered then spoke in a normal volume. "Why are you draining the people?! They're being rendered comatose!"

"Do you actually view this as that bad, Rider? We Servants feed on the living to sustain ourselves. That's all I'm doing."

"And you're okay with this?!" Mikoto angrily said to Ichigen. "Normally, I wouldn't give a shit but it's on my turf! And you seriously couldn't have approved this! You're supposed to be a pacifist!"

Ichigen was silent for a moment before speaking. "...No, she did this all behind my back. But is it so bad? She isn't killing anyone, just putting them in the hospital. And she's right. Servants are soul-eaters. They need to drain others to live. Wanting to survive shouldn't be viewed as good or evil. So I won't stop her."

Kuroh didn't lower his katana. "If that's what Master Ichigen says, then I don't oppose it either!"

Rider narrowed his eyes at the teen. "We aren't concerned with the fact you still roll over for your master like the loyal dog you are!"

Kuroh lunged at the Servant in rage, the katanain his hands blazing with colorless aura. "Don't say it like that!"

The male Greek sighed and materialized his spear, ready to stab the Clansman. The next thing to happen left him and Mikoto speechless. Ichigen suddenly appeared in front of Kuroh, pushing him away, then Rider's face was grabbed with strength not found in a King. He was too shocked to do anything but allow himself to be thrown into a tree. "The fuck just happened?!" He reacted in time to roll away from Ichigen and Kuroh's attempt to stab him, not wanting to reveal his Andreias Amarantos.

Caster was cackling loudly. "Unlike other Kings who can merely hold their ground against a Servant for a time, my magecraft to reinforce my Master has made it so he can fight on even ground against them."

Rider got up and readied his spear. "Brag all you want, you witch. It doesn't change that he's still a human."

Caster had abruptly gone quiet. Then she spoke slowly, each word dripping with venom. "Did you just choose to call me a witch?" Without waiting for a response, she levitated above the trees. Then her cloak fanned out like bat wings, a rainbow-colored pattern appearing on the side facing her enemy. At the same time, a silver staff, like a wand, materialized in her hand. "In that case, I'll blast you to smithereens!" After a single wave of her wand-staff, nine violet magic circles, each like half her size, appeared before her and the "wings". Before anyone could do anything, beams of violet mana as wide as the circle they came from rained down on the other Servant, who dodged each.

"Rider! I think you should switch your target to Caster!" Mikoto shouted. He used his arms to shield himself from rubble thrown up due to a beam of mana hitting and scorching the ground. "I don't think there's much of a choice now! I'll take on the Master!"

"Fine! Just don't bite off more than you can chew!"

While Rider's level of Magic Resistance wasn't high enough to block Caster's magecraft that she kept firing like a machine gun, his agility prevented any attack from hitting him.

The humans were currently clashing, two swords against a pair of fists. Mikoto used his aura to reinforce his left arm, making it as hard as steel, then held it up to block Ichigen's slash.

"Gah!" Mikoto jumped back as soon as pain cut into his forearm and red liquid came out. What he thought shouldn't happen happened. Caster's reinforcement also applied to that King's aura. And because his katana, Kotowari, was swathed in the aura, its strength was increased enough to break through Mikoto's defense and cut down to muscle, him having jumped back before it could've been worse.

Caster said something in an ancient language, a single Divine Word from the Age of the Gods, making Rider suddenly jump to the side, avoiding a spell that was to trap him in frozen space. At the same time he saw Caster had swooped down, preparing to stab him with a zig-zagged dagger. He was sure she couldn't injure him so he wasn't going to try defending. It doesn't matter if it reveals a clue to his True Name, it'll bring her close enough for him to take her head. It was completely unexpected to see a flaming roundhouse kick suddenly appear and slam into Caster's face, sending her back a little over 70 meters.

"Huh, that worked better than I thought it would."

"Why are you getting involved, Mikoto?!" Rider demanded.

"I sensed something ominous about that dagger. You were probably too focused on attackin' to feel it. Somethin' told me that if she cut you with that it would've been bad."

"You know how my defense works. I'd -"

"It was free of malice; it would've cut ya."

That's a weakness his Noble Phantasm has. Even if the Divinity is lacking, an attack that doesn't intend to harm but rather to, for example, make a comrade of the victim can bypass it.

"Regardless, she's a Servant. Your own's here so you should've left it to me. I could've found a way out."

"A Master supports their Servant. That's how Kotomine explained the relationship to me."

Caster got back to her feet. The burns and cuts she received from that kick were already healed.

"I think I'll have a better chance 'gainst her than with an empowered sword master."

"Fine." At that moment, the male Servant switched his attention to the King attempting to stab his Master. He deflected the strike with ease, now making himself Ichigen's target.

Rider was mostly blocking Ichigen's lightning-fast sword swings, waiting for an opening that Ichigen wasn't showing. Now that the initial surprise is gone, this is much easier. He did have to knock away Kuroh from time to time, who was pathetic in comparison. At one point, Kuroh's face met the back of Rider's fist, downing the fly for a decent amount of time.

Caster was being pummeled with flaming strikes from the Red King, not defending herself. It's like she doesn't know how to. Everyone else now too busy staring at this scene with "Holy shit!" expressions to continue fighting. They might actually witness a human kill a Servant!

"I may be hopeless in magecraft against you, but it seems a bitch like you is too ancient to know self-defense!" His fists blazed with fury even more when he said that. Normally, Mikoto wouldn't care if Caster drained people anywhere else. But no one stirs up trouble in his domain and gets away scot-free! He got his next attack to hopefully finish her off ready.

"That's enough!" Caster had gathered herself, avoiding Mikoto's crushing blow. In the blink of an eye, Caster had scooped up Ichigen and Kuroh, her cloak spread out behind her as she levitated to the tops of the trees. "This is why I dislike men, and not just because of what happened to me in the past! All of you are too brutish, not an ounce of maturity!" All three enemies broke apart into a violet cloud of fluttering butterflies.

Rider spat in disgust, using his spear to cut down a butterfly that got too close to him. "She retreated with them? What a coward."

'You probably could trap her in your Duel Field next time so you can kill her for sure,' Mikoto said telepathically to his Servant, given Caster would hear him otherwise.

'Not gonna work. She's a woman and I won't use the full power of my spear on a woman. Call it a self-imposed rule due to a regret from my past. She'd also have to agree to the fight and though she's really good at magecraft, I deem her weaker than me.'

"We'd better get back to treat my arm, though Kusanagi might lecture me as badly as that time I burnt a hole in my doorway," Mikoto said. His arm still burned with pain.

"Wouldn't be a concern if you didn't underestimate your opponent."

"I didn't underestimate him! That bitch allowed Miwa to break through my defense that would've normally held up!"

"You knew he was enhanced! Stop making excuses for why he got the upper hand on you!"