Author Note

Hello there and welcome to another chapter of Avalon Bond.


Avalon Bond

Part II – Fate Grand Order

Chapter 24 – Septem Part IV

Beta: Axel Emiya


As expected, Nero had saved no expenses to properly reward her troops after they managed to take back the City of Gaul from the United Empire.

As such, the Roman Soldiers received a feast of everything they ever required. Of course, Nero herself indulged in the spoils of war with her own troops, as well as Boudica and Spartacus as both heroic spirits enjoyed a good celebration here and there. Spartacus did remember the events of when he was alive, the feasts regarded by Ale and harlots for his fellow gladiators. As such, the gigantic man was seen with a couple in each of his arms as he downed a barrel of Ale. There was also Honey wine specially for the king and her guest commanders to celebrate.

Mash and Jeanne felt completely alien at this point. Ritsuka could actually enjoy the celebration, but he was a minor and kindly refused King Nero's enthusiastic drinking.

Shirou and Arturia flat out refused indulging, though. Not that they didn't enjoy a good honey wine every now and then, but in moderation. Arturia was no strange to these type of events as she would offer the same to her troops and her knights. The only difference was that she had rarely if never indulged in them as well. Back then, in her mind, a King needed to be beyond human and indulging in these celebrations wouldn't be fit for a king. Completely different from Iskandar's concept, but that what Arturia believed back then. And based on what she saw Nero practically embarrassing herself, she still did. As such, Arturia had made the decision to practically drag Shirou to the cabin that they were sleeping in and removed themselves from the event.

An action that was copied by Mash and Jeanne as well.

Back with Shirou and Arturia, the redhead closed the tent as he then watched Arturia slowly remove her heavy armory, before placing it on the bench close to the makeshift bed. The tent had a small bowl of water to freshen up and she gathered some of the cold liquid and sprang upon her face repeatedly, before taking a seat by the bed. Shirou saw it all happening and knew why his fiancée wanted to retire for the night. So, he slowly approached her and passed his tender hands on her shoulders, neck and her back muscles. Within minutes, Shirou had slowly but surely removed all of her clothing, before she lay down on the bed with her stomach down, while basking under the feeling of his calloused hands, massaging her lower back and then well-defined thighs and buttocks. The way he redirected her pent-up energy and even passed through her sensitive sensual organs.

"Ah Shirou, yes, that's the spot." The redhead smiled as he made his fiancée feel better. She still enjoyed a good fight like before, but afterward, sometimes a good message would go a long way.

"You could have simply told me what you wished before…I would have gladly given everything you desired." Arturia simply hummed in relaxation while Shirou used his thumb to release the tension knots, while the hands worked its magic.

"Uhmmmm, yes, just keep focusing there..."

"As you wish, my king." Arturia only smiled at the deference as Shirou continued. "Though, if you wish, I could kick it up a notch...if you wish."

Arturia's eyes barely opened as she eyed Shirou's hands glowing with prana, before working vigorously in her thighs and then in all her body, making Arturia lighter than air.

"You know you're welcome to join me anytime, Shirou…"

Arturia said seductively while grabbing Shirou through his pants and pulling him to the bed.

The redhead then got into position in between her strong legs while her hands grabbed his behind as they made out.


===Zelretch's Dimension===

"Okay, here they go again, I will get going. I swear…I have to start anticipating when they are about to do it, so that I can leave before."

Rin mumbled that last part while gathering her bags and leaving Zelretch's pocket dimension. Zelretch chuckled at Rin as he saw his apprentice look away from the scene of her friends' intimate moment.

"Oh, you're going to see him again aren't you, my apprentice?" The old wizard grinned as he heard her grumble in complaint before turning her back to him.

"Must you comment every time, damn senile geezer." This time, Zelretch opened a full-out laughter.

"Well, I can't help but see a pattern here…every time you see your friends in their let's say intimate moments, you go and see him. One can't help but get curious as to why, though." Rin knew that she couldn't get past her teacher's keen eye. Of course, Zelretch would catch her in the act of crossing other dimensions on her own. True enough, Rin felt like visiting him every time she ended up seeing Shirou and Saber together like that. She was still processing what that meant, however. But now was not the time to get stuck trying to work through the only mystery that perhaps she will never figure it out; her heart and to whom it belonged. When it started, it was merely physical for the Tohsaka heiress. Then, the more time she saw Shirou and Saber having sex, the more her urges spiked.

Nowadays, the physical part was still there, much to her inner delight. But now she had more and she wanted to see where this is heading, whatever it is.


===Next Day===

Once the sunlight invaded their tent, Arturia and Shirou had stirred on their makeshift bed.

It didn't take long for the couple to get dressed and leave the tent to see the extent of the damage from yesterday's celebrations. They knew it would be extensive, based on the excessive noise caused by Nero's army. And true to what they believed; it was mayhem. Mash, Ritsuka and Jeanne also emerged from their tent and sweat dropped by the sight before them. Spartacus and Boudica, being servants, were already awakened as well. Despite both of them joining their army in the celebrations, it would take way too much booze to affect them. And Nero…well, she did try to keep up with the servants, but there was only so much a mere human could take, before she passed out drunk. Of course, no one would dare take advantage of the drunken female emperor, but it was no less lack of decorum in Arturia's mind to see the tiny woman in a disheveled red dress, with her face on the grass, inches away from the royal tent.

"Well, it looks like the party yesterday was too much for the Emperor." Ritsuka laughed at Romani's first comment of the day and asked if Mash and Jeanne could take Nero inside and help her wake up.

"Will do, Master."

"I shall make us breakfast while we wait for Nero to wake up, then." Shirou had offered himself for the job and Boudica followed him. The rest of the servants - Arturia and Spartacus just took a seat close to the fire where Shirou was making his stew.

The King of Knights didn't have the patience that Shirou had in trying to follow up a conversation with the Roman Gladiator.

With breakfast out of the way and a now more sober Emperor Nero ready - or as ready as she could be, considering it all, the group from Chaldea and the Emperor's entourage began their return to the Capital. Some of Nero's Army remained in Gaul together with Spartacus and Boudica to finish the area's reconquest. Nero demanded as such, considering that the United Empire could strike anytime. It was a wise decision in the end, considering that the United Empire was composed of Servants as well and could easily overpower the Gaul expedition if remained defenseless.

Emperor Nero was up front of the entourage on top of her horse, while rubbing her forehead to keep the headache from last night.

Despite the consequences, Nero didn't regret doing so. Her army's morale was high, and her people had placed her in an even higher pedestal.

Nevertheless, Nero did feel herself cower under the scrutinous gaze from the King of Knights.

"Do you have something to say to me, miss Arturia? Or are you simply marveling at my beauty?" Arturia simply snorted in derision. She knew better than to speak her mind, much to everyone in Chaldea as well as Shirou and Jeanne's relief.

"I understand you keep the morale of your troops high, Emperor, but it wouldn't be prudent for thyself to be let's say less than optimal in a battle because you're nurturing a headache."

Nero was expecting to hear more colorful criticism by the fellow blonde knight. Still, her goal was met in the end.

"You said it yourself my valiant knight, keeping the troops' morale high is the ultimate goal. And you needn't worry about my state of health, I trust that your fiancée's more than capable in providing protection for me." Both Arturia and Nero looked at Shirou who was sitting behind Arturia on a shared horse. "To this day, I had never seen one person being a walking army." The redhead merely smiled at the compliment and bowed in respect. "You must have trained diligently to acquire expertise in multiple weapons like you do, huh?"

To Nero and pretty much everyone even in Chaldea except from Arturia who knew everything about Shirou, he would always remain a mystery. As a mage or a spellcaster, Shirou wouldn't be able to do half the things he did in his Grail War, of course, not without people knowing the relic that ended up shaping his skill. And as a servant, Shirou was not limited to a specific class. He had the abilities of the Saber and Archer classes. He could project noble phantasm of other servants and was even proficient in runecraft and healing mage craft.

"I guess you can say that your highness." Nero accepted that, before looking forward. She was absolutely ecstatic in anticipation for the welcoming cheers in Rome after her achievement in reconquering the city of Gaul.

However, before she could daydream about her citizen's thunderous cheers, the group was brought up to a halt as they heard the distinguished sound of a huge army stomping in perfect coordination. They had turned their horses around, to see the clear mountains behind them and clear skies, before three platoons emerged, shocking the army from Nero and even Nero herself. This type of movement is completely unheard of. She had just defeated them to reconquer Gaul, so it seemed far-fetched that the United Empire still had this level of numbers to take her battalion. However, Nero mostly gasped at the sight of a familiar face leading the army from the right. The members from Chaldea, however, were more focused on the other 'generals' that led the three armies.

"No doubt about it, these three are servants and quite strong at that. Based on the description from Sheba, these three servants are Caligula, Darius III and King Leonidas. Man alive, what a force!" Romani's voice betrayed everyone's tenseness.

"Romani, now it's not the time to pay respect to the enemy!" It was unusual for the team from Chaldea to listen to Olga Marie through the intercom. "It's quite madness to face three servants at the same time, you have to flee immediately."

The team from Chaldea looked at one another and then at Nero and her army. It was quite evident that the opposing army had positioned themselves to trap them in.

"Ah Director, I don't believe we can do that." Olga cursed at Ritsuka's doubt as she observed the system detailing the team's position.

"We will have to face the servants and hope that Nero's army can hold them long enough." Jeanne concluded, earning grunts from Arturia and Shirou.

Arturia and Shirou then turned to see Nero, who looked like she had seen a ghost. And true to it, they all saw whom her eyes focused on. This man wore golden tunic clothing, blue cape and had purple spiky hair.

His facial expression looked like the man wanted to get on a killing spree.

"Uncle Caligula..." The servant in question smirked at his little nephew and smirked.

"Oh my dear Nero, it's truly incredible how you became even more beautiful than the last time I saw you!" These lines could be heart-warming if the man wasn't practically ogling his own niece. "I want to take it, lust over it and then tear it apart…your purity my dear niece, your divine beauty, everything! I want to trample all over you with my entire body! I love…you, my beloved sister's child. NERROOOO!" The Berserker Servant wasn't much of a general as it was clear that he was barely holding himself from charging straight at Nero and claiming her for himself. Nero couldn't help but feel great sadness at the sight of him and her chest ached as she remembered just how it was that he had died. Still, Nero couldn't allow herself to show weakness here. She is the Emperor Nero, ruler of Rome.

"Right, now I remember…you're a beast. My uncle is dead. You're not him, just a mere representation of his legend. Everyone, fall in line…It's time we show them once more what it means to stand against Rome!"

Nero's Imperial image and privilege washed over her troops and made them scream together, showing their unity. As to the servants from Chaldea, Ritsuka had received Arturia's quick strategy plan.

"Master, I believe it's imperative that Mash and Jeanne protect Nero. That servant Caligula will target her. Shirou and I shall deal with the other servants. Shirou, I shall deal with Darius, we have faced him before. Can you take King Leonidas?"

The redhead nodded, recollecting their adventures for the Clock Tower.

"Be careful Arturia, this one doesn't look deranged like the one you faced back then."

Arturia had answered her fiancee's concern by unsheathing her sword. She then charged ahead to face the almighty Persian King all on her own, leaving Shirou alone with the rest of the team.

Shirou couldn't help but sigh at Arturia's eagerness for a good fight.

"Well, she didn't even allow us time to converse, so I guess we each have our opponents. Mash and Jeanne, being a Berserker, Caligula won't bother defending himself much, though if he is allowed time to attack, then he can be a menace." When Arturia faced Heracles in his War, she managed to fight him the smart way, dragging him to the cemetery where Heracles had difficulty moving freely. "It's prudent that Jeanne keeps the offensive and Mash brings in the rear." The Ruler and Shielder Servant nodded at the redhead as they eyed the smirking Caligula, before Shirou charged straight towards Leonidas's army.

King Leonidas, with well-trained and ripped muscles in practically part of his body, descendant of the God of War Ares, wore nothing but a fabric to cover his waist region, a long red cape and an iron helmet that covered his entire face and hair. Holding his lance and shield, he had simply stood as this warrior faced his army, displaying a great variety of skills. The King of Sparta could easily see that despite the ferocity that this redhead servant displayed, none of the soldiers received fatal injury from this man's strange sword. Back in his days, fighting with a long sword was impractical and difficult to maneuver, especially around multiple opponents. For him, the lance and shield is the perfect combination of offensive and defensive. Still, Leonidas respected strength…he respected skills in the battlefield….and also he respected honor. However, Leonidas saw him as the enemy to his master and he must be stopped.

"You fight with honor, warrior. However, those roman troops aren't my soldiers. Allow me to introduce the mighty army of 300 Spartans, proud warriors in the battle of Thermopylae!"

Shirou took quick care of the regular troops, before he saw his opponent slam his spear on the ground and ignite his shield up in flames, before an entire army of warriors lined up behind Leonidas. Shirou could see that they were surrounded by prana as they all charged at him with battle cry. Each one of them carried a spear and a shield just like Leonidas. Acting quickly, Shirou had summoned his longbow and sent hundreds of prana arrows to the skies. The three hundred spartans stopped their advance as they looked at the arrows blocking the sun, before they gathered together with their shields to stop the onslaught of rain from skewering them. King Leonidas observed the scene with a narrowed visage. This scene was practically the same as Xerxes's persian army tried doing.

While it couldn't be said that all 300 got spared by Shirou's attacks, most were duly protected as they cleared the arrows from their shield using the lances and charged at Shirou once more. Shirou observed the Spartans's battle cry with a calm closed eye. Muramasa's skill wouldn't do against an army, but Shirou had other spirit to draw strength from. While he wouldn't be using Unlimited Blade Works anytime soon, it didn't mean that he wasn't able to access his reality marble by other means. King Leonidas saw it forming.

'I am..the bone of my sword!

The people from Chaldea were surprised at the sudden spike in prana coming from the redhead servant and Da Vinci's eyes widened in surprise glee at seeing the initial stages of Shirou's reality marble.

King Leonidas marveled as around the redhead servant, hundreds, perhaps thousand swords from different shapes and sizes, different handles even, appeared and hovered around him. Still, the Spartan army wasn't deterred and kept on charging. The swords rain this time was much harder to defend against then Shirou's arrows. And the spartan shield was resistant, but it couldn't hold on against steel swords travelling at them with the same speed as arrows. With this attack, Shirou was able to release most of the Spartan army. The others he met head on with his twin-katana style of fighting. The Spartan army had skills and they had ferocity in their favor, but they were still prana constructs in the end and lacked mass to withstand Shirou's attacks. After dealing with everyone, Shirou stood face to face against the legend warrior of the Battle of Thermopylae.

Only now it occurred to Shirou that he stood face to face with this legend. Despite initially averse to accepting Zelretch's request, Shirou now found himself basking at this opportunity.

"You have earned my respect warrior. Servant Lancer, true name King Leonidas I. You shall do me the honor of knowing your name."

Shirou instantly recalled with fondness a certain brunette magus berating him for returning the courtesy.

"The honor is all mine, King Leonidas I. Pseudo Servant for the noble spirit of the Japanese blacksmith Senji Muramasa, my true name is Emiya Shirou."

Leonidas slammed his spear on the ground in recognition.

"You speak with pride and conviction warrior, truly facing such an opponent in battle is the embodiment of a warrior's life!" Shirou immediately stood in position and blocked Leonidas's thrusting motion with his spear, before having to evade the man's shield from slamming at his chest. Shirou returned full force with his swords, but only met Leonidas's shield. Unlike with Mash, however, Shirou's powerful strike met with an unmovable force and Shirou skidded backward. It wasn't the shield itself, but Leonidas's overall strength. Leonidas had then placed his spear above his shield and thrusted at Shirou's unprotected side. The blade part of the spear was blocked by Shirou's right katana, but the strength behind the attack was so fierce that he merely diverted its path and Shirou received a nasty cut at his side stomach.

"Do keep up warrior." Leonidas pressed on the attack, but stopped moving as he saw the amount of prana gathered in Shirou's fist. When the redhead extended it, a powerful beam of energy charged towards Leonidas, forcing him to stand behind his shield.

The beam hit the shield and Leonidas was surprised to be thrown back a few meters. Shirou reinforced his limbs and even increased the strength of the sword metal. Soon it became a dance of spear and shield versus a dual wield katana.

Leonidas had superior defensive skills, but Shirou had superior offensive and he managed to get inside Leonidas's defense, before the man could fully place his shield. Still, Shirou's katana ricocheted from the shield and slammed deep into Leonidas's helmet, sending it flying. Shirou was surprised to see hardened eyes and red hair staring back at him. It only got Shirou a respite of two seconds, before the Spear King kept on the attack.

"Excellent! Keep it up!"

The dance soon returned as Shirou then switched weapons to the trusty Kanshou and Bakuya. If Leonidas was surprised at the sudden but swift dematerialization and projection of new weapons, he wasn't showing it.

Still, with smaller swords, Shirou had the upper hand in terms of agility. Leonidas's shield and spear mode of attack worked better in tandem with his fellow Spartans. It's a style focused on attacking and defending as a group, rather than facing a single individual. So, as they progressed, Leonidas flinched at the small incisions Shirou managed to do with his short swords.

It soon became too much for King Leonidas as he backed away while taking a quick breath. Still, the man had the stamina to keep on going, despite many of his injuries dripping blood. Focusing as much prana as possible, everything he had, Leonidas gathered all of it on his throwing right arm and held his spear pointed towards Shirou. The sword servant saw the attack incoming and threw himself sideways to evade the threatening spear. He didn't bother to turn and see the spear smashing in the small mountain behind them and exploding.

Leonidas could only blink as Shirou slashed his swords and formed an X in Leonidas's chest, forcing the man to gasp in pain and spill in blood. Shirou then stood backwards to the legend.

"Ahhh, like I thought…in a battle with nothing to protect." Leonidas then turned to Shirou. "You fought with bravery and honor, Emiya Shirou. Perhaps in the future, we can fight side by side." Shirou then turned to Leonidas and bowed in respect.

While he didn't know if it was possible to meet the Spear King once more, it would be quite awesome to share the battlefield with him.

"Fair well, King Leonidas." The Spartan warrior then turned into golden prana and went back to the Throne of Heroes.

Shirou then inspected the other battlefields, only to gasp in surprise. He needed to act quickly.


===Arturia x Darius III===

Arturia had arrived at her battlefield Against the giant king and immediately got into a fight. No words were needed as the man was expelling fire as soon as Arturia arrived. The first time they exchanged weapons, her Excalibur versus Darius's battle axes, she realized that Shirou was right. The Darius she faced back then was more brawls than brains, but this one had both. Arturia had strength to match his attacks, but Darius used surprising agility and cunning to adapt to Arturia's attacks. Still, the King of Knights knew how to adapt and soon got used to this new Darius. Nevertheless, she realized with a dread that what she thought she would have against him, now she had none. Agility, the man compensated with surprising intelligence. His axes and fire attacks managed to keep Arturia second-guessing what he would do.

"How foolish of you woman to think of yourself capable of facing me! Soon you shall realize the foolishness of your actions."

Arturia then was surprised when the man used fury against her. Arturia soon got overwhelmed and her armor got the consequences of her underestimation. Such mistake managed to hurt her way more than Darius's battle axes.

"I may have underestimated you, but that does not mean this battle is won." The persian king merely showed his full teeth and smiled at that.

"Empty threats…just empty threats." Arturia then focused prana through her sword making it visible and she attacked.

Still, Darius merely accommodated her sword and made his axes glow in hot liquid fire.

Arturia was not perturbed by the swear heat that followed as she battled against the giant man. She still had some space to hit him with her sword, but most wounds were barely life-threatening. But Darius's wounds were and Arturia's armor was feeling the strain of being hit successfully over and over again. Even Arturia's mana bursts proved ill suited as she couldn't find a suitable angle to deliver more powerful strikes. Using Excalibur here would not be to her favor, despite this man's gigantic size. As such, keeping the fight to close-ranged proved to be ineffective and it only managed to smash her breastplate, making her scream in pain and on the ground. Darius was even salivating right now at his superiority as he observed the beautiful woman looking at him in anger.

"Oh what beautifully ferocious eyes you have woman, you shall be my pet for entertainment." This only served to make Arturia snarl. One more king to look at her for her body instead of treating her like a warrior.

The image of Gilgamesh only served to make her even more angry.

"You shouldn't have said that, King Darius…" The gigantic man saw when Arturia's sword glowed yellow, but he had smirked soon after.

"Oh, so the lioness still wants to play. Well, it was my wish to use my immortal army against Ishkandar's, but I shall give you a taste of it. If you wish to die, then I shall be merciful and give it to you." Arturia saw as Darius's body glowed yellow, before Arturia's eyes widened as thousands of skeleton warriors and a giant elephant emerged from out of nowhere. She remembered him saying Ishkandar's name and it reminded Arturia of the man's own noble phantasm, his army back then which ended up killing Assassin's numerous copies in the Fourth Grail War. Still, if before she had her doubts if she could win this, now it became clear that she was ill-equipped to handle such a foe.

Still, she was badly bruised, bleeding in various places and saw no other alternative than using her own Noble Phantasm and hoped to defeat all of them.

Or so she would have, had her peripheral vision didn't see a blue comet travelling straight towards Darius' back.

The persian king stood proudly on his throne on top of the giant black elephant.

Darius's superior smirk was then replaced with a full grimace as Shirou's Cadalbolg II pierced the giant man's heart from the back and coming out the front. His army of the undead and even the elephant, as the persian king vanished in golden prana.

Arturia then deflated at the not victory she had right now, just as her fiancée approached and healed her wounds and even projected a new armor for her.

"Are you okay, Arturia?" The king of knights felt the weight of his concern for her in his voice.

"Thank you, Shirou…but…I'm ashamed." Shirou said nothing as he worked on her injuries, before most of it was healed. "You were right and I didn't listen to you."

After finishing, Shirou placed one hand below her chin and another one caressing her face tenderly. Brown eyes crossed with emerald green as Arturia got lost in Shirou's, despite them being in the midst of the battlefield.

"It happened to me many more times than I could count, and you bailed me out every time. I'm only returning the favor."


===Mash and Co. x Caligula===

Caligula looked constricted as he looked down on his chest to see Nero's scarlet sword piercing his golden armor chest, straight to his inner core.

The look on her face was enough to show sorrow at being the one responsible for once more killing her uncle, but it was the only way possible. Both Jeanne and Mash had fought the Berserker with everything they got, even going into perfect synchronization. Jeanne is a soldier as well and she knew how to best coordinate her movements to aid Mash and vice-versa. With Shirou's strategy, they managed to circumvent Caligula's unrelenting assault with Mash's shield and Jeanne's lance. Still, Caligula was more focused in attacking Nero every time, despite Jeanne's lance carving the most injuries on his armor.

When Caligula then tried attacking Nero one last time, his great fist was stopped by Mash's shield long enough for Nero to step inside and attack her uncle.

Still, it came as a surprise to her when Caligula's eyes and even facial expression softened up completely, before he simply stared at his niece's beautiful visage.

"Oh Nero, my niece…oh so very beautiful and elegant, even when faced under such harsh circumstances. Do please forgive this poor and foolish man before you! Ah, I…"

"Please Uncle, you don't need to say anything more." Caligula, though, could see her sadness and wobbly walked closer to her, before caressing her face gently. He had lost too much blood already and wouldn't take long to leave this World.

"I do my dear niece! I do…I take responsibility for the suffering I had caused you and the great city of Rome. The only thing i can do to atone for my mistakes is to at least tell you the location of the United Empire capital." Mash, Jeanne and Ritsuka widended their eyes at the revelation, before Caligula's body vanished just like the other servants. Shirou and Arturia arrived at this precise point.

Nero merely observed as her last vestige of family in this world vanishes once more in front of her eyes.

She had heard rumors of her uncle descending to madness and the chaos it ensued. Now seeing it firsthand brought nothing but chills up her spine. It was so much that it managed to break her decorum. It managed to break her unyielding will to show up a tough front to her troops…to keep their morale high in the midst of this crisis. Nero never had an easy life. She had faced many hardships both to take care of her empire and to somewhat erase the dire actions taken by her predecessors and even her family. Now, she could feel the looks of judgement from the rest of her troops, waiting for their leader to give the next set of orders and all she wanted right now was to crawl inside the dark confines of her chambers and…cry….let loose all her frustrations in all single scream, though not even in her chambers, would she be free to do so.

Not without the entire Empire knowing about it.

When Nero gathered the courage to voice her commands, her throat was dry and unable to utter a sound. It became unbearable to her to bear the look in their eyes, while she attempted to voice something.

"Listen up everyone, we just managed a great victory today and all thanks to Emperor Nero's leadership!" The blonde Emperor was surprised when Ritsuka climbed on top of a tree log to address the army. "Not only in Gaul, but right now, three of the United Empire's generals were killed. All thanks to Rome's troops…so everyone, you've earned your rest. Emperor Nero shall give her orders once her troops are fully rested." Ritsuka's voice ended up meeting echoes of agreement as the troops did as instructed. Arturia and Shirou saw it with a smile on their faces as Ritsuka then went to check on the Emperor, together with Mash and Jeanne.

"Arturia, want to come with me check the troops, I think Ritsuka has this covered." The King of Knights acquiesced and followed him suit, while Mash and Jeanne gently ushered Nero to stand, before she saw Ritsuka extend a helping hand.

Nero looked at the brunette guy in front of her and smiled sincerely at his help, probably the first time she ever showed that to anyone…ever.

"Umu, I thank you Rtisuka…but how did you know I…"

"Yeah, sorry about that…" Ritsuka's retort made her pause. "I realize that I don't do much around here…" Ritsuka had a smile on his face, but Mash found herself eager to correct him for what he said. "Mash, Jeanne, Arturia, Shirou…they so far had carried all the weight for us…for me. All I can do is perhaps give my support. And it looked like you needed one, after witnessing your uncle losing control just now." Mash looked at her senpai with fondness and Jeanne merely observed with content smile. She may be a mere country girl, but she was a girl as well and she could see infatuation from the female gender quite easily. Arturia's look for Shirou was completely obvious to everyone, despite the King of Knights never denying it. Mash's look for Ritsuka was like that, though Jeanne could be wrong about the true reason for it.

A couple of hours later, the army was then ready to go and Nero now found her voice once more, ordering everyone to return to Rome and get some well-deserved rest.

Before they could march, however, they were surprised when a scout came riding on top of a horse, screaming for the Emperor's attention. The man was bleeding all over the place and the white horse was bathed in red, probably from the scout.

"Shirou, can you heal him?" the redhead servant nodded at Emperor Nero's order and quickly used healing mage craft. He managed to close most of the wounds, but the most he could do was give him a few more hours to live.

"Sorry Emperor, but the wounds are far too extensive, I don't think he will have much longer." Shirou cursed himself for not being able to save this brave warrior, but he at least helped the scout get up from the ground and hold him steady.

"Emperor Nero, I bring in urgent news. The Gaul Expedition…the troops...they...were all decimated." Emperor gasped at the news as the scout continued. "General Spartacus was killed and they captured General Boudica, Emperor." The strain of speaking fast made the pain spike once more and Shirou urged him to conserve his strength for a bit. Still, it was indeed grave news. Nero wanted nothing more than to march straight to the capital and deal with this United Empire once and for all, rescuing Boudica in the process. But, her troops needed nourishment right now. None of them looked to be in any condition to march, much less engage in another fight. Before she could usher an order, though, she observed Arturia who was talking to Ritsuka.

"We need to go and rescue her, master. Give me the order and Shirou and I shall march straight to the capital and rescue her."

Ritsuka backed away at the stern visage displayed by the King of Knights.

"Senpai, Arturia-taichou is right. We all need to go there. Emperor Nero can go back to Rome and tend to her troops, but we have a mission to recover the Grail as well."

The teen master now found himself at a loss about what to do.

"I shall come with you then Chaldeans!" Everyone turned to Emperor Nero who stood proudly with her scarlet sword. "My army shall return to Rome and wait for my return." Right after she said this, the entire army protested that they wouldn't leave the Emperor to fend for herself. This time, Nero then announced to everyone. "Listen up! You're Rome's finest and Rome's protectors. Therefore, you must go back and protect our great city! But ridding the United Empire is paramount right now. And with these strong warriors to aid me, I shall go there and defeat them with my sword." Nero's speech was fiery, and it incited her army into doing as commanded, but still the thought of leaving the Emperor alone didn't bode well with them.

Despite this, they marched back to Rome and left Nero alone with the people from Chaldea.

And with four horses left for them, the group then charged towards the location of the United Empire's Capital.


Author Note

Thanks for reading and thanks to everyone who added this story to his/her follow/favorite.

I was first writing this chapter up to the final fight, but then realized it would be best to split it in two chapters.

Props for anyone who knows about who Rin gets to visit every now and then…I was planning on making a scene or two about her some time ago, but never could find the opening.

Please tell me your thoughts.

Next update: TBD