"Ugh. Exactly how long are we meant to stay here and do nothing, Master?" Berserker asked his Master, who was currently entertaining herself by juggling her umbrella without using her hands.

"Oh, give it a few more days, Berserker." The girl giggled, knocking her umbrella up with her elbow and yelping as it flipped and twirled in the air to smack her in the head.

"And why are we waiting so long?" He asked with an amused raise of an eyebrow.

"Becauuuuuse if we go in there with the intention to fight right now, you'll be gone and I'll have to get another body."

"Sounds like a good fight."

"It won't be one on one like you want though~ But don't worry Berserk-y I'll keep you company until they arrive~" She smirked and winked flirtatiously at him, getting no reaction.

"'They'?"

"The Yggdmillennia, they've managed to summon or collect 4 of the secondary summoned servants." She held up four fingers in a flourish while spinning around theatrically.

"Oh? Two united fronts, is it?" Berserker asked with an intrigued undercurrent in his voice.

"Yep yep! Based on what some familiars and a few….favours I pulled have told me, the main bulk of their forces will be arriving somewhere in the next 72-96 hours~ Though the Advance Party is a little bit closer than that~"

"Based on your expression, I'm guessing somewhere in the next 12 hours?"

"Right on the money!" She grinned and struck a pose while pointing finger guns at him.

Though the pose didn't last long as she straightened out and crossed her arms, a halfway-smug and halfway-demeaning grin stretched her lips as she stared down at the wider city of Fuyuki.

"Though I don't expect them to last long without any Servants."

XXXxxxXXX

Meanwhile, Main Market of West Fuyuki

"This is surprisingly peaceful." Shirou hummed to himself, a small plastic bag hanging from his arm with some ingredients as he walked alongside his three girlfriends.

"I'm surprised as well, I thought that with Miss Gorilla here things would have become a mess within the first twenty minutes." Luvia exclaimed while shrugging in a 'what can you do' type motion.

"What's that suppose to mean!?" Rin growled and stomped towards Luvia, leaning far into her personal space.

"It just means that you cannot help your nature, Miss Gorilla." Luvia replied with a smug grin at her twin-tailed rival. The young woman ground her teeth together for a moment before a spark appeared in her eyes and she straightened back out.

"Oh Shirouuuu, I have an idea~" Rin said in a sing-song voice as she made her way over to him, going to whisper something in his ear.

But not before Luvia enhanced her hearing with a silent Reinforcement, refusing to let Rin get one up on her so easily.

"Rin what are you-"

"When you and Luvia do 'Mana-transfer' I want to join in."

"ABSOLUTELY NOT!" Luvia screeched with a bright red face, only to cough and look away quickly at all the attention that she drew.

"I have to agree with Luvia. At least for this first round, Rin." Sakura gave a polite smile to Rin as she began to smolder over her plan already starting to fail. "The first time is special, but afterward sharing can be very fun too."

The fact that she'd also been eavesdropping went ignored, given the current situation.

"Ack. Fine." Rin moped, knowing that Sakura had a point about their first time.

"Though that reminds me, would it be possible to bring Rider into something at least once?" Sakura asked Shirou innocently, getting a blank look in return as both Rin and Luvia got in her face with annoyed looks.

"I feel like you're trying to insult me. So soon after I declared my love for Sherou and you're asking this?" Luvia asked, clearly a little annoyed at Sakura's suggestion.

"You really think that bringing in someone that isn't in this relationship is a good idea? Where the hell is your mind right now?" Rin, on the other hand, was a little blunter in her wording.

'What the hell is my life?' Shirou thought to himself, resting his weight on one leg and scratching the back of his head.

"I don't think what I'm asking is too farfetched?" Sakura tilted her head to the side a little. "Rider isn't quite comfortable with a proper relationship but still has some attraction towards Senpai. So, so long as I'm with her at the same time then it isn't really too bad and is more like 'experimentation'." Sakura smiled innocently at the both of them.

"While I can admire you wishing to help your Servant out and not trying to push a girlfriend on Sherou or us out of the blue. This is still a boundary you are pushing too hard on." Luvia spoke a little sternly, crossing her arms.

"While I don't want to agree with Luvia of all people. She has a poi-"

"You, Saber, and Senpai." Sakura cut in, her smile as sweet as honey yet her words as tempting as the Devil, "Just imagine it for a moment."

Rin didn't want to. She wouldn't let Sakura keep having her way like this. She wouldn't fall for her temptations of Shirou and Saber. And of Saber with her hair down. And all three of them in a bed together, warming up, getting sweaty, staring into each other's eyes-

"You have a remarkable skill at temptation." Luvia deadpanned, both women and Shirou staring at a near-comatose Rin as she smiled a little dreamily even with the glassy-eyed look she sported.

"Why thank you." Sakura smiled and did a small curtsy, "And I promise not to push too hard, I am only looking after my Servant and her emotional state."

"You're trying to guilt me." Luvia said flatly, giving Sakura an unimpressed look.

"Is it working?"

"…We'll discuss this later."

"Understood." Sakura acquiesced easily, having been truthful in her statement of not wanting to push too hard.

"Now in the effort to move to a less uncomfortable topic. What is the idea with that crystal ring, Miss Gorilla?" Luvia asked, her gaze moving down to the right hand of her rival.

And situated on the middle finger of her hand was a small, well-made, and polished ring made of multiple types of crystal somehow fused together. To Luvia the composition of the Ring was easy to parse out, but utterly alien in why it had been constructed in the way that it had.

The top of the ring, its "base" was a very pure Chrysoberyl that bled in a clockwise fashion into a sparkling light blue Angelite, followed closely by a somewhat translucent, white Lemurian Seed Crystal - otherwise known as Lemurian Quartz. Following that were the layered and multi-faceted colours of Tiger Iron and Jasper Polychronic, or Desert Jasper in layman's terms, and finally the simple purple-pink of Agate that looped right back around into the Chrysoberyl.

Such a ring was most certainly not made for any sort of fashionable purpose, of that Luvia was one hundred percent certain. So, the only logical reason was something to do with the Magecraft that they both unfortunately shared. Yet even with her clearly superior knowledge and usage of Jewel Magecraft she still couldn't discern the reason for such a strange amalgamation for the life of her. Such a formation was absolutely specifically chosen as well because most of those gemstones couldn't be found on the same landmasses let alone in close proximity to each other.

"Huh? Wha-!?" Rin seemed to finally snap out of her daydreaming at Luvia's question, looking around wildly and wiping some drool off her lips.

"Your ring, what purpose does it serve?" Luvia asked, deciding to be at least somewhat civil.

"It's for a specific spell. Why, can't figure it out miss know-it-all?" Rin taunted, placing her hands on her hips and leaning close.

"…"

"…"

"This morning was so peaceful as well." Shirou sighed, scratching the back of his head.

"I'm going to agree with Sakura's proposal only to make sure that you never share a bed with Saber." Luvia retorted, instantly killing any of the smug enjoyment that had been clearly evident in Rin's expression.

"I'll kill you."

"Oh, I'm sorry, what was that? I couldn't hear you over Caster and I-" Luvia placed a hand over her ear to mockingly gesture for Rin to speak up before Rin grabbed her ear and began to pull harshly, getting a loud screech of pain from the Finnish Magus.

"Enough of that you two." Shirou sighed, only giving them a dry look as they continued to argue.

"Senpai, shall I try and break them up?" Sakura asked, sidling up to Shirou as the both of them watched Rin and Luvia argue and tug each other around.

"Only if they start to leave the realm of normal humans." Shirou answered, not wanting to get between them unless absolutely necessary.

Yet as Luvia and Rin continued to argue, luckily still keeping things within the realms of regular humans, Shirou began to let his mind wander off. To that small feeling in the depths of his…stomach? Yeah, he'd say his stomach, at least that's where it seemed to originate in a fuzzy sort of way. The feeling of his completed inner world, his Reality Marble. He needed to test it, he needed to check it out and see its capabilities. He needed to know of it and experience it so that he could truly begin to draw on its abilities and the knowledge hidden inside it.

Of course, he couldn't do it now, that would be ridiculous and outright dangerous with his girlfriends and civilians around. But later today, he'd find an excuse to head off somewhere private and finally try to cast it for the first time.

If he could get his Reality Marble down pat, or even just functioning, then that would also give him a safe and secure testing ground for new weaponry and abilities. Which was useful because there was one in particular, he'd been putting off for a little while now out of safety precautions, but with a whole separate space to use it in…

Unknown to the red-haired swordsmith, a dangerous grin began to spread his lips as he thought about everything he could do and test out once he was able to successfully cast his Reality Marble. A grin that went unnoticed by even Rin and Luvia but was noticed by the ever-dutiful Sakura, who only gave a small hum and leaned over a little to get a different angle of his expression.

'Senpai can make such dark expressions sometimes. I wonder if that's Gilgamesh's influence or just natural.' Sakura thought to herself, otherwise completely unbothered by his expression.

"That's it!" Rin growled as she rolled onto her feet after being thrown by Luvia, reaching into her pocket for, undoubtedly, a gemstone.

And quick as lightning, Sakura struck out. A hand outstretched towards Rin and Luvia as barely visible wires of Od wrapped around their arms, a small gesture but one of warning. The quick movement of Sakura's arm and the draining wires being used pulled Shirou out of his internal musings as he quickly took stock of the situation.

"How about we just keep walking around and have a fun, peaceful, morning?" He suggested, tilting his head at the pair of rivals.

XXXxxxXXX

Current Time, Muramasa Residence

"It's so teeeeeense." Illya whispered to her mother as the both of them watched the gathering of adults and Servants.

Currently, the table of the Muramasa Residence 'War Room' was being occupied by a few key people in both the Great Holy Grail War and the wider Thaumaturgical World.

Artoria Pendragon: Legendary King of Camelot and current Fuyuki Forces' Saber.

Jeanne D'Arc: Saint of Orleans and Ruler class Servant allied with the Fuyuki Forces.

Illyasviel Emiya: Demi-Homunculous, Miracle of the Einzbern family, and master to Fuyuki Forces' Archer.

Irisviel Emiya: Full-blooded Homunculous and incarnated individual with a loose connection to the Greater Grail.

Kiritsugu Emiya: Magus Killer of legend and top-tier mercenary, winner of the 4th Holy Grail War.

Bazett Fraga McRemitz: Top-tier Enforcer of the Magus Association's Clock Tower, user of the Noble Phantasm Fragarach, and master to Fuyuki Forces' Lancer.

"Well…you're not wrong." Irisviel muttered quietly, a small bead of sweat rolling down her temple.

"I find it hard to believe that a Servant summoned by, and working for, the Grail would so easily agree to side with our cause." Kiritsugu spoke, his gaze locked dead on Jeanne as she nervously twiddled her thumbs.

She may have fought in a war and been a strong Servant, but at the end of the day, she wasn't a 'fighter' of the same mental caliber as half of those sat at the table alongside her. And that was showing in this exact moment in which she tried to keep a cool expression despite her anxiety-fueled action.

"I do not know what to say, Mr Emiya. Merely that whatever is within the Grail has no bearing on me or my ideals." Jeanne responded, shaking her head a little to try and corroborate her words.

"You're meant to be an arbiter of the Holy Grail War, are you not?" Bazett asked, resting her arms on the table, "If you are not colluding with Angra Mainyu then that means that there's some level of the Grails systems that it hasn't gotten to, correct?"

Irisviel and Illya both nodded when the Enforcer looked over at them for clarification, getting a small hum from the woman as she thought over what that could mean.

"We can't rule out the possibility that there's something going on here that Ruler isn't aware of." Kiritsugu pointed out calmly.

"Unlikely. Angry Mainyu doesn't have the patience for something like that. It'd be quicker and more effective to use the powers of the Ruler-Class Servant than it would be to make allies of us and do whatever." Irisviel argued with her husband, raising a fair point.

"Um, I'm really not-"

"But how can we be certain?" Kiritsugu stressed.

"I get that you're just being you, Kiri. But this is too paranoid."

"I promise there's noth-"

"This isn't paranoia, it's suspicion."

"I…I think I'm being ignored…" Jeanne mumbled, looking over as she felt a pat on her shoulder and just saw Bazett of all people being the one to do it.

"Don't worry. Stress levels are just a little high right now."

"No." The cold, clipped voice of Kiritsugu caught everyone's attention as they turned to the glaring match between husband and wife.

"If you're going to continue to be this cautious, Kiri. Then either I check Jeanne for any traces of Angra Mainyu or I call in the Nuclear Option."

Instantly Kiritsugu turned a shade paler, and Illya just pressed her hands together firmly. Her face slipped into an expression that could only ever be described as 'troubled'.

"Iri-"

"Your answer, Kiritsugu Emiya." Irisviel asked, crossing her arms.

"Ooh. She used his full nameeeee." Illyasviel conspiratorially whispered, her hand in front of her mouth.

"...Fine. You're the one here with the best understanding of Angra Mainyu's personality. If you believe them to be unsuited to that manner of attack then I'll trust your word." Kiritsugu finally relented, clearing his throat when he noticed the clearly somewhat smug upturn of Saber's lips.

Sure, she may not hate him after learning why he had done what he had. But it was also a lie to say that she liked him, so seeing that little bout of verbal jousting lead to his loss was slightly gratifying.

"Continuing." Bazett stressed, continuing the conversation from the small argument, "While the speed at which you chose to join our cause could be considered odd, having you alongside us even tangentially is a great boon."

Jeanne smiled at the compliment and gave a small nod of her head towards the Enforcer.

"I'm always glad to be of assistance. As for joining your cause…immediately upon my summoning, I was attacked by what I can only assume is a puppet for this 'Angra Mainyu'. I can only assume it was them because only the Grail should know of my origin of summoning. They tried to corrupt me with this horrible, sinful mud." Jeanne explained, shivering a little as she recalled the Blackened Mud that had been used against her.

She could only imagine what would have happened if some of it had hit her or, Lord forbid, she had fallen entirely victim to it.

"I see. An opening attack. No wonder you were so open to joining our side already." Artoria nodded her head while humming.

Off to the side, Kiritsugu very much tried to ignore the continued glare that his wife was giving him.

"Additionally it just felt like the right thing to do. My Lord had led me to that clearing to wait, until the moment that Shirou arrived. Therefore I believe it was his will that we meet and become allies." Jeanne answered, ever the devout saint of the Christian God.

"I see. Well, that brings our potential doomsday scenario down from seven Servants and Ruler to just seven Servants. A silver lining if I've ever heard one." Bazett summarized, raising eight fingers and then putting one down.

"Now then, this puppet of Angra Mainyu. Were you speaking of some sort of construct or something else?" Kiritsugu re-entered the conversation, entirely business as he stared Jeanne down.

"No. They looked human. Incredibly muscular, male, about- eh, uhh, um, t-this tall?" Jeanne muttered with a small dusting of redness over her cheeks as she stood up and abused her high heels for all they were worth to try and put her hand up to the correct height.

"So about 190 centimeters, give or take a few?" Irisviel guessed, taking an estimate based on the fact that Jeanne was clearly reaching the limit of her arm span to try and show it off.

"I'd…say so. I'm sorry, I'm not good with numbers." Jeanne apologized, sitting back down.

"Awwww. That's perfectly fine Jeanne. You just keep talking with your pretty accent." Irisviel cooed over the girl, ever the doting mother no matter the child.

She was only a year or two older than Shirou, after all. It's not like it was that much of a stretch for her.

"E-Eh? M-My accent?" The redness across Jeanne's cheeks grew a bit brighter at Irisviel's words.

"Please ignore her and keep detailing the puppet's appearance, Ruler." Artoria spoke, making a small hand gesture towards her to continue.

"Sabeeeerrrrrr! Don't ruin my fun!"

"R-Right. Well…they had white hair that came to their shoulders and red eyes. Like Miss Irisviel and Miss Illyasviel. Also, they were clothed in what looked to be black and red strips of some kind of fabric."

"I see. Definitely enough to start creating a profile for that appearance if nothing else." Bazett muttered, having already written down the information that they had managed to gain.

"Thank you, Ruler. The information is very valuable to us." Saber nodded.

"I'm happy to help. So long as they're within the Grail, it will never be able to function properly. So I'll do everything I can to help you combat this Angra Mainyu."

"I'm glad to hear that. Now there are some things regarding this city and the current circumstances that you should be aware of-"

XXXxxxXXX

7 PM that day, Fuyuki Harbour

"Woo! Finally off that metal coffin." A large, blonde-haired, and blue-eyed man groaned, stretching his arms out wide.

"I think that's the most ironic thing that you could have ever possibly said." A far smaller woman spoke as she walked past him, her silver hair done in a tight ponytail and a single bang swept over her right eye.

"Enough chatter. Now that we're off the ship we need to decide on targets and head out before too much time has passed." The stern voice of a bald man, perhaps half a head shorter than the muscled blonde, snapped at the two of them.

Quickly 7 individuals joined the bald man off to the side of the harbour where he currently stood. The bald man and another, wavy silver-haired man wearing some kind of band around their arms while the others all wore roughly similar variations of the same military-esk uniform.

The reason for this, and the rough similarities in all of their colouring, came from the simple explanation that they were all Homunculi of the Yggdmillennia family. Specially created combat units designed with specific strengths and sent to Fuyuki for a particular purpose ahead of the Master's and Servant's set to arrive within the coming days.

"Now. Our goal is the Masters. Known Masters are Bazett Fraga McRemitz, Shirou Muramasa, Rin Tohsaka, Luviagelita Edelfelt, Kristiina Edelfelt, Illyasviel von Einzbern and Sakura Matou." The bald Homunculi spoke, his grey eyes sliding over all 7 of the other Homunculi to make sure that what he had said had been heard.

"Lord Darnic has had all the Masters ranked by their threat level. We're only permitted to go after lower threat Masters first to weed them out." The wavy silver-haired man spoke, pressing a hand to the dock and creating a small carving of the seven Masters and their ranked threat.

Bazett Fraga McRemitz

Shirou Muramasa

Illyasviel von Einzbern

Kristiina Edelfelt/Luviagelita Edelfelt

Rin Tohsaka

Sakura Matou

"As you can see. These are the given rankings for the Masters. Illyasviel von Einzbern is allowed to be engaged only if found alone and proper Anti-Servant measures are put into place. If any servants or maids are found with her, avoid confrontation if possible, we don't need her family breathing down our necks."

"Ah, so she's a threat because of the repercussions of killing her, not necessarily her combat ability?" The ponytailed female questioned, cocking her hip as she shifted her weight.

"Correct, at least as far as has been relayed to us. Our targets are threat levels four, five, and six. Reminder, threat levels one and two are not to be engaged until all lower threats have been confirmed cleared from the board."

"So what you're saying is that they're strong?" The giant of a man that had first left the ship asked, a cocky grin on his face as he stared down at the list.

"Yes. Threats one and two are capable of singlehandedly wiping out either of our squads and will need all eight of us to properly combat. Threat one is to be avoided with the utmost caution as an Enforcer."

"Hah! I like the sound of that!" The blonde grinned and smacked his fist into his palm, beginning to walk off before the sheathed blade of the ponytailed woman looped around his elbow.

"And where do you think you're going?"

"To go prove my strength against threat one. Now move before I crush your skull like a grape."

The slight shift of weight from the female Homunculi got a similar shift of weight from the giant of a construct, the cement beneath his feet cracking minutely as he flexed his legs just a little.

"Enough. If he wishes to murder himself so badly, allow him to do so." The bald-headed leader grunted, getting a cocky grin from the Homunculi as he tore his arm away from her and continued to stomp off.

"Sir you can't-"

"F-34." The snap of her codename froze the Homunculi solid, a conflicted look on her face before she sighed and crossed her arms once more.

"Yes sir."

"Good. Now with M-5's desertion, we will travel together for safety. Our goals are targets five or six to begin with. Follow me."

"Understood, sir!"

XXXxxxXXX

A short while later, Fuyuki outskirts

"So aggressive Miss Gorilla, all I'd said was that your usage of gemstones could use some theory work to bolster the brute force you use them with." Luvia scoffed while waving her hand dismissively.

"And I said to bite me you smug bitch. My usage of gemstones beats yours any day of the week!" Rin growled, her fists balled up in fists that only got tighter as Luvia's smug smile grew wider.

"Oh yes, I'm very sure that's true." She taunted Rin, resting her weight entirely on one leg as she kept her arms crossed under her bust.

A feeling of pins and needles shot through both women's hands. A feeling like plastic wrap put around their heads.

"Oh? Now what's this?" Luvia asked, her voice demure and her eyebrow raised.

Her amber eyes slid through the sky around them. As if looking for the anomaly that was messing with her senses. Nothing immediately shot out to her vision as the cause for the pins and needles and vague 'separation', but the feeling of Prana on her skin was all too easy to feel. A feeling that emanated from all around her, pressing down on her like a particularly thick blanket dumped on her head.

An odd comparison, she herself would admit that but one that she was familiar with by this stage in her life.

"There's a Bounded Field around us."

"It took you this long to figure it out?" Rin scoffed, though Luvia could tell that the bite that had been there a moment before was no longer present. "It's blocking communication with our Servants."

Luvia just silently clicked her tongue as her rival spoke, keeping her annoyance as well hidden from the twin-tailed Magus as possible.

'Is this the level of our experience? In the time it took me to deduce it was a Bounded Field, she'd already started checking what had been affected. Did she even stop to consider what had happened? Was her first instinct to check in with her allies while I stopped to consider what Magecraft had been used?'

It was like a slap in the face to the blonde, the exact difference in their responses when faced with a potential threat; the way that their thought processes differed.

The feeling of a new Prana pressing on her skin snapped Luvia out of her thoughts as both she and Rin focused their attention in the direction of the new signature.

"Try not to slow me down." Rin smiled, reaching into her sleeve.

"I should be saying that to you." Luvia shot back, flicking some of her hair over her shoulder and grabbing a small gemstone hidden in the frills of her dress.

Neither girl got to say anything as the ground beneath their feet ruptured, throwing them high in the air.

XXXxxxXXX

Bazett lowered her hands from where she had been holding them in a defensive position, Scathach standing across from her with a satisfied smirk.

"A well-honed technique, I have to say." Scathach congratulated Bazett with a nod. "I have to say that when it comes to pure technique, you have even the current I beat in hand-to-hand combat."

"That's an honour to hear, especially coming from someone as skilled as you." Bazett responded with a small grin before sobering up a little. "Though I'm sensing a 'but' coming?"

"But I doubt you'd be able to handle fighting a Servant on my level, let alone defeating one."

"I'm well aware of that, thank you." The Enforcer had to fight not to let out a small bark of laughter at her Servant's words.

She couldn't help it. Though she knew that Scathach was just trying to be helpful and reiterate useful information, it was rather amusing to have such blatantly obvious information shared as if it was somehow previously unknown.

"Though I'm curious how you'll fair against whatever is heading in our direction?" Scathach pondered aloud, tilting her head in the direction of the approaching enemy while beginning to take steps back.

"An unknown enemy and you're leaving it entirely in my hands to deal with them?" The Enforcer couldn't help but ask, the smirk on her face clearly betraying her amusement at Lancer's actions.

An amusement that only grew more and more the further back that Scathach stepped until her back hit a tree. And even then she proceeded to hop up a couple of meters to sit on one of the sturdier, thicker branches.

"Of course. I trust that you'll win and I wish to see your prowess in proper combat."

"Hmmm, alright. I'll bite."

"MCREMITZ!" The brute of a Homunculi known as M-5 burst through the foliage in an explosion of wood chips and dust.

His eyes were blown wide and his lips split in a gargantuan mad smile. His intentions were as clear as day as he bulldozed straight towards her, his fist cocked back and clenched so tightly his knuckles went white. His hand swiped for her head and missing entirely as she hopped back. The speed and strength of his strike stirred the air slightly as his knuckles met the earth and cracked it, seemingly without a hint of pain on the man's end.

"Is that all? This will be quick." Bazett's fist met M-5's nose, and a crack echoed through the clearing.

XXXxxxXXX

Rin and Luvia

"Rather aggressive aren't you all?" Luvia spoke as she flipped through the air, entirely undamaged from the opening eruption of the earth.

A few meters across from her, Rin was in much the same situation. The Tohsaka Head landed on the grass silently as she followed a rapidly moving target through the bushes of foliage. The buildup of Od and the stance of her rival upon her own landing told her exactly what she was planning to do.

And in Rin's expert opinion, it wasn't a bad move. In fact, she'd even join in herself if she wasn't preparing her follow-up to Luvia's attack.

A hail of Gandr left Luvia's fingertip, arcing and curling through the air and into the bushes to flush out the silver and blonde-haired figures that had been scurrying about. The sheer variety in their sizes and builds made her raise her eyebrow even as one of them, with an armband she noticed, spoke up.

"Target 5!" The order was barked, harsh and loud in a way that only a drill sergeant could match.

Both young women watched the approaching figures as they all turned to launch themselves towards the two of them. The exact same thought floated through both of their minds as they prepared their own counters to the potential offensive.

'Which one of us is Target 5?'

And it was the slightest twist in the launching foot of one of the larger figures that clued both of them into the first target of their assault.

"Me first? So kind. Luvia. Ears." Rin's voice seemed to echo through the clearing despite her low volume.

Like a ripple across a previously tranquil pond, every living being in the clearing felt a shiver spread throughout their bodies as Rin raised her right hand. A right hand glowing with active and building Prana.

Acting on pure instinct, Luvia and all 7 of the approaching attackers went to cover their ears. But amongst all eight of them, only Luvia had the reflex to Reinforce her body to do so. Her strengthened hands and arms reached her ears before even the most agile of the attackers.

"Luftbrecher."

The sound of snapping fingers shattered the air surrounding the black-haired young lady, tearing at the ground beneath her feet and ripping through the clearing in an instant. The shockwave turned the air into buzzing static and a highly compressed wall of wind that slammed into and played havoc with the bodies of all seven attackers.

And like a gunshot, Rin shot off from her starting position. Her elbow was buried into the ribs of the largest ambusher before any of them had even had a chance to recover from her spell. The force of her strike cracked the ground beneath her and threw him back like a poorly rendered physics object.

"More warning next time!" Luvia called out, going to reach for a topaz before an idea came to mind.

"I see that grin, what are you planning?" Rin asked, hopping back to stand beside her so that whatever they said wouldn't automatically be heard by their staggered opponents.

"Try to group them all together. I have something."

"'Something' you say. Nothing with a wide enough range to get them all from here? Disappointing." Rin taunted her, getting a twitch of the Finnish Magus' perfectly maintained eyebrow.

"Oh, I'm sorry. I didn't realize you couldn't handle such a simple job."

"You're lucky we're working together." Rin growled, shooting left as Luvia launched herself right.

"Focus on Target five!" One of the women yelled as she seemed to regain her wits about her, flexing her fingers and creating sparks of electricity over her entire hand.

Kicking off she made a beeline straight for Rin Tohsaka as the target in question headed straight for her in turn. She wasn't like M-5, she didn't have the raw strength to shatter stone and the durability to do so without damage. Instead, F-36 was fast. She used her speed alongside her damaging and paralyzing lightning to make the most of what little strengths they had deigned to gift her in her construction.

And it was that speed that allowed her the confidence to take a full swing at her opponent. The lightning over her fists increased in intensity at the exact moment of expected impact. Only for her to feel nothing.

Still following through with the momentum of her punch, the woman's arm lowered from her field of vision and was met with nothing. Rin having disappeared from the woman's vision entirely.

But to F-36's allies who were watching, but nowhere near fast enough to interfere, the truth was even more horrifying than the possibilities flashing through her mind. Rin had not turned herself invisible, nor had she used some kind of Magecraft to dodge the strike. Instead, she had seemed to drop low to the ground in a single step, her speed increasing exponentially as she shot under the extending arm of the Homunculi and circled behind her. A picture-perfect example of the knee release to abuse the physics of her body to its utmost peak.

And now, in this moment that seemed frozen in time, she stood back to back to F-36. The Homunculus didn't even seem to notice as if Rin's presence had entirely disappeared from the woman's senses.

"BEHIND-" M-13, one of the two squad leaders, yelled.

But it was too little too late.

And while her avoidance had been the picture-perfect usage of a mid-movement knee release, that was a more Okinawan martial art rather than what she had truly been trained in. A trick picked up and refined rather than a foundational skill of her true fighting style.

The sound of shattering earth was the first clue to F-36 that she had missed something vital. The violent acceleration of her body in a crack of one body against another was the second. The twin-tailed Magus having executed the foundation of Bajiquan, the stomp, in a reverse Zhen Jiao maneuver to aggressively, and exponentially, increase her backward momentum. The young woman performed a hip-check that was perfectly combined with a shoulder strike to transfer all of her momentum as painfully as possible into F-36.

The result of the rapid sequence of maneuvers was the ragdolling of F-36 as she struck one of her fellow Homunculi and sent the both of them painfully grinding and bouncing along the dirt and grass.

'Less effective than I was hoping for. Though the one I struck directly took a fair amount of damage. She must not be the durability type. Though their expressions only show surprise, not defeat. I may have to try and use that to group them all up.'

Across from her, there was a crunch of bone as Luvia's knee positively flattened one of the Homunculi's noses. The young woman, ever the wrestling enthusiast, used the shock of Rin's own offensive to whip out a vicious throat strike against her opponent of choice and used their instinctive backward stumble to complete her makeshift combo. The heavily dressed Magus ran in and used one of the knees of her opponent to lift herself off the ground and slam her knee into the face of the Homunculi. The impact of the strike broke their nose easily and sent them flying backward, similar to Rin's own opponent.

Though immediately following this, Luvia pulled out a handful of gemstones, giving Rin a serious look while nodding her head.

'So it's all up to me from here on out huh? Who knows how long this buildup is going to be so let's make this quick.'

"Wow, you really don't know anything do you?" Rin taunted the seven of them as she began to walk forward, her arms out to her sides. "Coming after the both of us and this is all you bring?"

The seven combatants stayed silent in response to her posturing and taunting, beginning to activate spells that Rin would have to deal with. And all for Luvia's sake too, what was her life coming to?

"Don't want to speak? Alright. Did you know there's a type of Thaumaturgy here in the East greater than any regular Magecraft? No aria needed nor Od consumed. It's all focused on movements and breathing. People always claim it's so difficult to use but I never understood that claim." Rin clenched her right fist at her side and crouched low.

'She's a lot more prideful and boasting than the reports claimed. But no matter, that's a boon for us. When she goes to strike we'll use her pride to wring her own neck.' M-22 thought to himself, the veins in his arms beginning to turn a deep, pitch black.

'That's right. Plant the seeds. Put the idea in their heads.' Rin thought to herself, suppressing an evil grin as she shot forward.

The roots that burst from the ground were avoided with graceful ease. The curse-inlaid streams of blood that left M-22's fingertips sliced clean through the earth and the roots themselves as Rin twirled and flipped in a blur of red and black. Her feet touched the ground once more and immediately left her position in the dust as she closed in on M-22 faster than any of them had expected.

The sharp sound of Rin inhaling was practically all that M-22 could hear even as a fireball roared over his shoulder toward Rin's previous position and the ground cracked with even more roots beginning to rise.

The ability to actualize a Mystery through nothing but movement and breathing was an actual, recorded phenomenon primarily in Eastern Thaumaturgy. The technique to breathe and move with such perfection that the user's body became one entire, living and breathing, Magic Circuit capable of Mysteries outstripping any Western Magecraft save for Greater Magecraft.

The ability of a Shinto priest to simply clap their hands and banish spirits was one such example of this ability.

But it was rare and incredibly difficult to master. To the point that a child born with the natural inclination for breathing and moving was considered a Holy Child and trained to be one of, if not the only, Master of the technique for their generation. And it was with this knowledge, of not only its difficulty but also its power, that Gilgamesh had, in the last two years, been teaching Rin the perfect way to punch.

Rin's body began to twist and move, her fist approaching the sternum of M-22 and growing closer and closer as the air surrounding her extremity began to collapse inwards and swirl around her hand.

This skill –that required so much technique and precision that it could not be imitated or easily learned– that Rin Tohsaka had been taught…

Was not a skill that Rin Tohsaka could currently use.

Her fist struck M-22 and the swirling wind around her hand exploded in a shockwave that cracked the ground and broke through the hasty Reinforcement of the Homunculus. His body absorbed the entire impact as his jaw went slack and his eyes went white.

However, this was a skill that Rin Tohsaka knew how to fake incredibly well. The arialess application of a spell imbued in her Magic Crest, cast with such pristine timing as to make the impact itself look like the cause of the actualized Mystery.

And the knowledge that such a technique did exist, the boasting of Rin previously, and the 'confirmation' that she could use the technique. They were all a sly deception performed by Rin with the intention of intimidating her opponents, to give her even the slightest edge. Based on the looks she was getting as she stood in front of the Homunculus currently passed out on his feet, she knew that she'd managed to shake their morale.

Which was perfect.

Over the next ten seconds, as Rin abused her Reinforcement and every martial arts trick she knew to herd the attackers as close together as possible, as Luvia was busy focusing on her own technique. Though, unlike Rin's technique, this one was not one that she needed to fake.

The five gemstones that she had pulled out began to rattle in her palm, gently floating into the air as she raised a hand with her index finger pointed upwards. Prana began to flow out of her pointer finger, both air and gemstones beginning to orbit in a circle above it. The gemstones began to glow in a multitude of colours as the building Prana continued to feed into the spell she was preparing. The energy built up in the tip of her finger in just a scant few seconds easily enough to obliterate a low-level Phantasmal Species even without being used to power a spell. The equivalent of killing a person, not by powering a machine, but by carbonizing them with pure electricity.

And right as Rin kicked one of the Homunculi close enough to their companions, Luvia's spell completed. The five gemstones rapidly whirled around her fingertip as the ceaseless rainbow of colours reached even over the Homunculi.

"What the hell is-" Rin's wide-eyed whisper went unheard as Luvia acted.

The fingertip of the Finnish Magus, previously pointed at the sky, now pointed right at the roughly congregated attackers.

"Call."

The single-word aria spelled the doom for all seven Yggdmillennia Homunculi. The kaleidoscopic lights of the gemstones transformed into a beam of pure magical energy that reached them faster than they could ever hope to match. Tearing through the grass, earth, rocks, skin, muscles, bones— everything it touched as if it wasn't there. A terrifying and awe-inspiring use of Prana that Rin had never thought she'd ever see outside of true magical monsters like Caster.

As both young women stared at the gouged trench in the ground from Luvia's spell, said lady huffed in satisfaction and flipped one of her drill tails over her shoulder.

"So, Miss Gorilla. How did you fancy the Edelfelt's Kaleidoscope?"

XXXxxxXXX

With Bazett

'I don't get this!'

M-5's skin was entirely metallic silver as he roared and swung his fist, hitting nothing but air as the gloved fists of Bazett buried themselves into his stomach, ribs, and clavicle.

'I'm stronger than a Magus!'

His left wrist buckled and caved downwards as his fist impacted Bazett's head on and lost the split-second struggle for power.

'I'm faster than a Magus!'

Both of his arms curved at odd angles as Bazett struck his shoulders, her fists meeting his jaw and pectoral before he could even try to throw them forward once more.

'I'm more skilled than a Magus!'

A metallic fist shot between Bazett's head and shoulder as she shifted her weight only slightly to avoid the strike. Her own fist buried in the soft underjoint of his arm and she used his resulting jolt back to take a step forward and strengthen her following uppercut to his stomach.

'So why…'

Dents and cracks began to appear over M-5's skin. Skin which had not just taken on the durability and colour of carbonized steel, but the brittleness as well. The sheer strength of Bazett's uppercut began to lift him off his feet before the gloved left hand of the Enforcer shot out and grabbed the collar of his shirt, pulling him back in to receive a harsh backhand from her right hand. His vision went entirely blurry for a moment before the seemingly ceaseless fists of the woman before him began to fly once more.

He couldn't move his arms fast enough to strike back as she only seemed to get faster. His shirt was used almost like a leash to keep him in ridiculously close quarters with her despite the sheer strength of her strikes trying to throw him far away.

'Why am I the only one getting hit!?'

The metallic skin of M-5's torso finally cracked entirely with the catastrophic sound of breaking metal. Blood began to pour out of him like a broken wine barrel as all of his strength left him entirely. His metallic skin reverted back to regular flesh as his knees hit the ground and his vision back to go black.

"But i'm….t-the strongest…"

"If so, that's disappointing." A second woman he hadn't noticed spoke up as she walked up to Bazett's side.

"I'm going to call the others and let them know about this. Who knows how many there are." Bazett spoke, pulling out her phone.

'I was just…an annoyance to…her…..d-dammit.' And with one final cough of blood, M-5's vision went black and his heart ceased beating.

"I have to say, good technique."

"I hope you're talking about me and not him." Bazett snorted, clicking her tongue as the call to Shirou failed to go through.

"Of course I am. He was strength and durability and nothing else. A little lackluster if I'm honest." Scathach hummed, looking over the Homunculus' corpse.

"If there's multiple of him running around and they actually work together, some of the others might be in danger without their Servants."

"You're not wrong. It's certainly best to check in." Scathach agreed with her Master.

"And I'd love to but no one is answering their- Ah. Luvia, you answered. Listen I was just attacked by- Oh. You too? I see. Yes, I believe meeting at Muramasa's house would be best. Alright, I'll be there in fifteen minutes."

"Heading to Shirou's house?" Scathach questioned with a small smirk.

"Heading to Shirou's house."

XXXxxxXXX

Omake: A spooky, scary, sexy Halloween

"I thought this holiday was meant to be about…scaring people?" Artoria murmured, adjusting the ears of the playboy bunny suit that she and Scathach had been convinced into wearing.

"I believe that its more about dressing up? Scaring people may just be a more generalized theme?" Scathach hummed, walking past Artoria and her white costume in her own purple alternative.

As she did so, Artoria couldn't help but envy the Irish Queen's ability to walk in such small, high heels. The King of Camelot having had some experience with raised heels, but nothing even close to this level.

"Are you not going to dress up, Semiramis?" Jeanne asked innocently, wearing a costume that, while not showing anything, still left her legs sinfully bare.

"Of course, I'm dressing up! I'm dressing up as Queen Semiramis of Assyria!" Semiramis exclaimed grandly, a hand over her chest and a prideful look on her face.

"Booooo." Rin called out from the sidelines, humming innocently when Semiramis snapped her head over to give her Master a glare.

"Speaking of; what are you dressed up as Jeanne?" Scathach asked, placing a hand on her cocked hip.

"Oh! This is from a show that Illyasviel told me about. I believe I'm dressed up as a character called Sailor…Venus?" Jeanne muttered, a finger on her lips as she tried to make sure that she hadn't gotten the character wrong.

"Sailor Venus is right." Rin confirmed, nodding her head as she leant against the wall.

Decked out in full, very fancy, pirate gear. Complete with a blade and firearm that everyone present was 100% certain weren't fake in the slightest.

"A pirate? How fitting. I've heard that you get up to a lot of trouble after all." Luvia grinned at her rival, taking joy in the angered glare that she got almost as soon as she walked into the room.

And, very much unlike her rival, Luvia has decided to dress up in equally fancy and well-made military garb with a long but not prudish skirt instead of pants.

"I believe we're the only ones that dressed up in a 'scary' way." Medusa mumbled, covered head to toe in bandages to create what her Master had dubbed a 'Sexy Mummy'.

The fact that Sakura and Medusa had angled the bandages just perfectly to show off a good amount of her cleavage only proved the moniker more fitting.

"Perhaps. But it's fun this way, no?" Sakura questioned from besides her, skin green and various make-ups and Thaumaturgy used to make her look like a zombie.

Of course, with her clothes ripped in strategic places as well. She couldn't let everyone else get away with using their bodies to attract her Senpai's attention without doing the same, after all.

"Hmm. I have to say that I look rather odd with dark hair. Not bad just odd…" Morgan hummed, looking at herself in a conjured mirror as she turned this way and that.

"And who or what are you meant to be, Morgan?" Heracles questioned, walking up to her with a curious gaze.

"A character from an 'anime' that Rin had told me about. Sara Asano is her name, apparently." Morgan hummed, turning around and immediately raising an eyebrow at the giant of a man's garb. "And you're meant to be?"

Immediately Heracles perked up, puffing himself up a little and drawing the blade at this side valiantly.

"The mighty Conan the Barbarian!" He announced proudly, clearly happy with his own choice of dress-up.

"Say, Rin. Where might Master be?" Artoria questioned after walking/stumbling over to the Pirate-girls side of the room.

"He better be putting on the outfit that we got him." Rin huffed, crossing her arms.

"Should he not get to choose if he wants to partake- Eep!" Artoria leant back, trying not to fall over as both Rin and Luvia got very far into her personal space, each clutching her shoulders as if trying to grind them into powder.

"This is the one time a year that we get to see Sherou out of his usual outfits." Luvia hissed, eyes wide and slightly, ever so slightly, crazed.

"You will not take this from us." Rin continued, looking as if she'd physically fight Saber if she even tried.

"M-Message recie- oh." Artoria muttered in fear before going almost entirely slack, a blush spreading across her cheeks and nose.

And the reason for that became abundantly apparent as everyone else turned to see who had just stepped into the room. And saw the figure of Shirou Muramasa, dressed in the costume that had been provided to him. With his hair straightened and parted down the middle, and various make-ups and Thaumaturgies used to match some of the facial features, such as the beard scruff and prominent scars over the left eye.

Rin, Luvia and Sakura had given Shirou a costume of Shanks, from One Piece. And in return, had rewarded themselves and nearly everyone else in the room with a memory that they would never forget.

"Woah. Nice costumes all around." Shirou nodded to himself, utterly unprepared for what was about to befall him the rest of the night.

XXXxxxXXX

Alright so I'll be honest. If there was any omake that you guys could mistake for a side-story, this would be it. Honestly the only reason I didn't make it a side-story was due to conflicting timeline issues. So, if you guys want to treat this as canon to HttB, knock yourselves out.

Anyways, hello one and all to what I really hope is a chapter named "Ju-Jump some motherfuckers" because not only is it a jujutsu kaisen reference but I also think its funny (I'm writing this before checking if and ao3 will let me put a bad-word in the chapter title).

How was the chapter? I honestly enjoyed it quite a bit because I finally got to do something with Rin, Luvia and Bazett again. God they're fun to write fight scenes for, and for entirely separate reasons. Though, Rin's section definitely became a game of "How many martial arts references can I fit in a single paragraph?".

But anyways, we're over 4.5K favs and 5.3K follows and I couldn't be anymore excited about that. So hopefully I can keep the quality coming into the next chapter and beyond.

Discord code: ctMzhq3 or plasmaassassin

REVIEW REPLIES:

SentinalSlice: I think a lot of people are, honestly XD

NeoNinja73: You're welcome!

Dragoncat261: I'm glad you're enjoying the story.

Midoriryu: Correct!

TalonScythe: Glad to hear that you enjoyed the chapter and acknowledged the absolutely fucked powerscaling of the nasuverse.

Fujin of shadows: Yes. You absolutely will be seeing more Shirou original blades. Just not really too many that get close to Kuro or Gilgamesh in terms of quality/power. Since they're currently his top creations.

Silverhawk88: You'll just have to wait and see.

Yay-man: Thank you!...what does TFC mean?

Marsuvees Black The Dark Lord: Yeah sorry about that. But Gray was always meant to be like Shirou's closest friend. No dating or anything there unfortunately.

Ariadne Venegas: There was no one else at the Muramasa Estate when it happened. And whether Jeanne stays herself or becomes Jalter, you'll just have to wait and see xP

AnimeFan13579: I really enjoyed this estimation of Gilgamesh's abilities, ngl. It was quite a good read.

Jajur von Hohenzollern: Quite a few people would, apparently.

Adro-Sama: You may flee, but you will not escape.

Thedreadful2021: Thank you for your compliment, and he will learn from them, don't worry about that.

Kamori I'm The Infinity: I'm glad you enjoyed that joke. I had a little chuckle to myself when I realized that Jeanne would make the connection between Shirou and nobility XD

Zukafew119: Hello once more. And as for which French song that was, it's called "Le Carillon de Vendôme". And yes, you got the right idea about what happened between Shirou and Angelica/Okita Alter. And I'm glad to hear that you enjoyed Luvia's confession and the following conversations, I put a lot of work into it. And I honestly thought that this chapter would come out before your review did with the rate it was going XD But good to see you still hanging around.

REVIEW REPLIES OVER!

Alright peeps. Live well, farewell, and if I was to write a fantasy-based LN or straight up Novel, would any of you be interested in reading it?