Arc 0: Chapter 3:

Ritsuka listened to his Lord with bated breath. Every syllable that flowed from his mouth was a miracle in itself, and he did not wish to interrupt even a vowel's formation. The word was being spoken, and the flames outside did little but illuminate the man, the son of God, before him.

"Patrick did a great thing that day, for the others of the island who did not know my father. Taking a beast that challenged the nobles and kings of the small island, and crafting it to stone. Doing away with its evil and showing it to all."

"Crom Cruach. He witnessed her sacrifices?"

"He heard tales of them, and then he bore them sight." Jesus's kind gaze fell. "To witness such an evil as the destruction of new life was enough to spur him to immediate action. Foolish against the minds of men, but necessary when standing before a visage of evil."

"I can't believe he was able to do something like that. I-I don't mean I can't believe it, but that... It's true!"

"Oh, so you did doubt?" Terror seized him.

"No! No! I do not mean that! Only... only like hearing of a man who flew to the moon and planting a flag on it. It is known, but it so impossible to imagine without sight." He looked up to see a smile at Jesus's lips. "You were teasing me, My Lord?"

Jesus laughed with his words. Even that made him nervous.

"You are a wise young man, of younger age than many of my other prophets, though not the youngest to ever walk the Earth." Ritsuka nodded, well aware. "Hold your innocence, as it gifts others with humor. You will be repaid in kind, as my apostles were." He leaned back. "They carry the word with me as they do an empty pot, believing the pot alone is enough."

"Do you think it's... could it be because they don't know there's more to learn?"

"For some, I am certain it is that. There are many far more ignorant in far less important matters." For the life of him, and the god who stood at the helm of that life, he could not think of anything more important. "But for just as many, they choose to turn their eyes to the ground rather than the heavens, and care not for the warning ahead. They trust knowledge of my name is enough."

"And it isn't?"

"Not for those who wish to follow. Just as the Director of your mystics criticized you for not knowing enough." Ritsuka smiled along with Jesus. "To follow is to know, and to refuse to learn is to refuse to follow. You are not such a soul, as you were willing to listen to me even now."

"How could anyone not?" Ritsuka honestly couldn't imagine it. "You're God, you are God! The idea of me sitting across from you in any time has always been a dream to me. To actually bear witness to you... it's more than I ever could have imagined."

"But it is all you deserve." The boy felt his heart swell with a joy he'd scarcely even imagined before. "Just as I am sure the girl who sleeps near you deserves you as well." Ritsuka looked down at Mash.

Her hair had since covered her eyes, and head on his knees, she breathed softly. Her body curled for comfort, the ruined furniture she lay on hardly enough for a bed, but she didn't wear even a crease of discomfort as she continued to soundlessly snore. He smiled down at her, happy to see the soft breath leave her.

"She was kind to you."

"She has been, even before I knew her name."

"I would think that unchanging kindness shows the truth of her heart. Treating you no differently no matter your standing." The Son of God continued to glow. "Pharisees and kings, expecting bows and prostrations to those who gaze upon them. So different from the meek and humble, asking only to gaze into the eyes of those they converse with."

Jesus looked at him then. Truly gazed upon him. Ritsuka stared into the eyes of his Lord, seeing a peace and serenity beyond them that eclipsed any other brightness or hope he'd experienced before. No adoration of the Eucharist or blessing from priests compared to the sight before him.

"With that being said, we will be departing from here." Jesus stood. "The forces in this burning land are moving again." Ritsuka realized what he meant. His concern went to Mash.

"Mash, Mash." His hands gently shook her.

"Hmm... huh?" The girl roused herself, blinking away the sleep. Her consciousness returned swiftly, with a blush when she realized her current position. "S-Senpai! I apologize! I did not mean... n-no I did mean. I did oversleep, d-didn't I?"

"No, we're just going to start moving again." Hands on her shoulders, the girl collecting herself with a long breath, they both looked to Jesus. "Something is coming." Perhaps as if trained, the girl reacted, standing and preparing herself hastily. He stood after her, brushing off the ash and soot that clung to his garments. As they had said, it was easy to clean, but it was still darkened with wear.

It was nothing like his Lord's clothes. Immaculate even amongst the embers and fire.

"They have returned."

"Who?" The answer came in an explosion of air. One that made Ritsuka nervous the building was going to fall. If not the sound of the boom, then the rush of air that blew past them.

"Found them!" He recognized the cry though. "Tolda ya I could do it faster than your spell!"

"Y-You have no idea how effective my spells are! For all you know I... I-I could have found them in half the time!" He recognized that voice to. The laugh that came after it wasn't hard to place.

"Sure ya could! Just remember that boast next time the Archer is firing at us. I'll ask ya to find us a good place to hold up, kay?" A sound of indignation came from outside. "Good to see a bit of danger hasn't made you lose your fiest." Foot steps echoed across wood after that. Olga walked into the room a moment later, followed by Cu Cuchulain. "And here's the rest of the crew."

"You see us as a band of fishermen?" The question fell from Jesus. "Amidst a sea of flames, searching for men, it is an appropriate way to view one's self now."

"We are not fishermen, a band, or a crew! We are an organization. An official section of the Clocktower, overseen by the Lords, UN, and other magi facilities!" Olga's alabaster hair bounced with her heel slamming into the wood. "And this is not something to celebrate or make light of!"

"I-I don't believe any of them are mocking it, Director."

"They are putting down the danger!" Her face was a snarl when she glared at Mash. "And after what I just saw, that is unacceptable."

"Were there more monsters? More of those bone demons?"

"They are Dragon Tooth Warriors, not demons. They are crafted by mages." Her amber eyes stared at him. "What shot at us was not a creation of simple mage craft, but the making of a legend that has clearly underplayed the brute strength that was just witnessed!"

"Now that's impressive Lass. Underplaying and overplayin' what you saw. Got talent with your tongue to do that." The blue gowned man got a scorching expression pointed at him for the comment. "What? Prefer me to tone down the honesty?"

"I'd prefer you to turn up your usefulness!" She slammed her heel again. "After that monster attacked us, we still circled the city and found no one else!"

"None? But I thought you said that all the others... would have come here."

"They should have, and I'm worried that they did!" Her anger made more sense now. "Finding none of them though, and not even bodies left? That's just impossible! This Servant was moving fast enough that he could have lapped the city thrice over in an hour!"

"More like four times, but who's counting."

"But not only did we have to greatly reduce the pace, we still found nothing! No remnants of battle, no bodies, nothing. It's as if they never did come here. And before you mutter it, I refuse to believe that any of them appeared and simply resigned themselves. Unlike you, they are all top-quality Magi taken from the Clocktower following approval from their families."

"Senpai, if they had given up, it would have reflected poorly on their family's standing." Mash pulled Ritsuka's sleeve.

"More than that, it would have been against their very desire! Death for them would have been the end of their lineage, and the generations of work their families toiled over. So I refuse to believe any of them gave up! Not even you did!" It was true he hadn't.

"Then where are your thoughts now?" Jesus spoke, and Ritsuka listened. "Do you think they simply did not appear here, or that there is another reason you searched but could not find?"

"I... I don't know!" She slammed her foot down again. "All I know is that there is a monster out there that can shoot arrows comparable to my body more than any other weapon, with a city on fire, and the other Masters have left nothing behind!"

"Course, it is possible that that just didn't arrive anywhere easy." Cu spoke again. "And quite it with those eyes of yours, I'm talking to help us think."

"What is it you are attempting to help us think of?"

"Just that we searched all the easy places, like I said, but that doesn't mean we searched everywhere."

Ritsuka, this time, could understand Director Olga's outburst. Even the fists she beat uselessly at his chest. To his credit, not only did he not move away, it didn't even look like he could seriously feel the blows.

"Then what were we running around for! Where could we have gone that had a better option!?"

"Two places, from what I can tell ya. Only places that I haven't been around. One, the sniping range of Archer." It made sense why he wouldn't go there. "Course, if any Master ended up there, it's gonna be a short scream and quicker end, cause that guy's not gonna miss your average human up close."

"Wonderful." Olga growled the answer. "And the other?"

"The Cavern which houses the False Grail." Jesus's words rumbled in the air. "'Fallen into the mud of falsehood and power."

"Look at this guy. You got an Intuition skill on ya, maybe somethin' like Clairvoyance?"

"I know of answers obvious that come to me. And I know where the lives are drawn. You are different from the other Master whom this Mystic seeks. As are you Mash Kyrielight." The girl made a sound of sudden surprise. "Would their souls not seek an object of their desire if they fell? Would not those present fall to where they desired? Next to a companion? To company? To safety?"

"You're talking like we chose to fall where we did."

"Your souls are not of your mind. What you desire for yourself is not chosen so easily by your thoughts." He stepped away from her. "Only those who seek me separate from this damnable path."

"Wha- Where are you going now?! Don't walk away when I'm talking to you!" Ritsuka almost flipped.

"H-Hold on! That's Jesus! He's the Lord!"

"My father is a Lord. He, while extremely powerful given his age and likely legend-" Likely? "Is at the end of the day a Servant. Cu is also one of the most heralded warriors in the Ulster Cycle, carried on through Ireland like Hercules through Europe, but even he knows he's a Servant!"

"Course I do!" The man grinned ferally. "Then again, I'm just a guy who likes ta fight. And you're helpin' my odds against the other Servants around here."

"And that is my point! You know you're place no matter the circumstances, he on the other hand… he… Where did he go?" Olga looked around herself, Ritsuka as well. The boy felt a pit in his stomach. "Where did he wander off to now?"

Ritsuka didn't stop to answer her. Instead he moved past her, careful of the ruined floor as he exited the house. Once more his vision was overcome with the burning land around him, overcome by the sent of ash and soot. Howling demons across the landscape of all the land.

But with eyes turned to Jesus, standing at the front of the house, he knew all would be well.

"My Lord?"

"We should be short here." The holy man looked down the stretch of cracked and gnarled road. "A lost soul approaches us. I do not think she will listen to my word." Ritsuka didn't know what to do.

"Someone... i-is it one of the Masters?" He exited the building, just before Olga and the others came out after him.

"You see one!? Where!?" Olga's heard waved as if in a monsoon with how fast her head whipped. "Is it your clairvoyance? Where are they approaching from?"

"It is no Mystic serving under your name. It is a soul lost to the torment of their life, and given vile promises for their second breath." Ritsuka swallowed deeply.

"What in the name of the Root do you mean?"

"He means a Servant's coming." Cu stepped passed them both, walking before the Lord. "I can hear her howling in the wind now, too. Heh, if ya got a super sense, then good on ya. Be sure to share it with me when the fighting starts." The Lancer took a position of attack.

Ritsuka, having seen Yakuza, street thugs, and amateurs taking fighting stance all his life, knew the difference. They took up stance to look big, intimidating, towering even. Showing of their hammers, ice picks, or whatever else was on hand. That was not what this 'Servant' looked like.

Cu looked more akin to the champions of world tournaments, every position of every limb intently placed. Even the sharp grin, showing off the blood red of his slit eyes. It was a harsh contrast next to his Lord, standing tall and above the flames attempting to lick at his immaculate robes.

"A servant… is it Archer? No, can't be. He'd just shoot at us. No wait." Olga's quick rambling was stopped when Ritsuka felt her hands clutching his shoulders. She was strong, and her gaze was harsh. "Now is the time where you have to be a true Master. You have to direct Jesus in this fight."

"I can't do that. No one can do that. That's blasphemy."

"You can! You have the seals to prove it! You can make him do anything with those command seals." Ritsuka felt knots tying in him, and not even a burning city could cool his chilled mind. "You have to take action and direct him, otherwise Berserker may overrun us!"

"I can handle her just fine, didn't I tell ya that?" Cu spoke up. "What ya gotta keep of my back is Archer. Cause if we started a scrap, then that guy's going to fire more of those ballistas at us. I'm not gonna be able to keep up with the crazed woman if he's launching those at us."

"Great! A plan! Then you, Ritsuka, will direct Jesus on how to stop those."

"Would you please stop saying things like that? I can't tell Jesus to do anything!" He looked up to his Lord. "My Lord, I apologize. She doesn't know you and doesn't know how vile a thing it is to think to command you."

"The fault is not yours, so bear no illness from another's will." He smiled, as if there was no sin being committed. "Know that I am here, and should you ask, I will guard you. Just as you have held my name holy."

"So, he's a divine being that needs payers. Must be like one of the Indian Gods." It was only the teachings of the Father Ciel that kept him from reacting too harshly.

"D-Director, I do not think that is appropriate." Mash, bless her, spoke up. "And I believe from what I have been told, Jesus… th-the Lord Jesus is-"

"RAAAAAAAAAAGH!" The cry that split the air did the same to further discussion.

Even after watching bone warriors let out cries, the harsh sound of crackling fire over stone, and the rupture of buildings from the demolition of the land around them, no sound compared to this. It scratched at Ritsuka's mind like a claw, ripping into his soul. The screams of hell couldn't be far off, sounding right at home amongst a horizon of flames.

"What… was that?"

"Berserker."

"That's Berserker?" Olga almost jumped. "It sounds more like a crazed animal!"

"Least now ya get why I couldn't fight her quickly." Cu's grin hadn't shrunk with the comment. "One good bellow like that and Archer'll have our location. More of those lance sized arrows blown my way in the middle of another fight? Makes it a hard match ta follow."

Before he could speak on, the ground rumbled beneath them. Ritsuka thought it an earthquake, the most common occurrence in Japan. That was until he saw a nearby house, slightly taller than the buildings around it, start to tilt to the side. No flames exploded from it, and though the majority of the city was lit in flames, this building was no inferno onto itself. Further, he knew that dust didn't explode out in such a way. So did the others.

"That building... Berserker destroyed it?" Mash didn't sound enthused. "So quickly, and without a Noble Phantasm either."

"A what?"

"She's a strong one, like I was tellin' ya. Get in the way of her anger, and that'd be like trying to stop a ram with your own skull. Fun to think about, not so fun to try." Lancer rolled his shoulders as he stepped down the street. "Thankfully, I ain't a smart fella. Just ask my teacher all about it."

"You intend to fight?"

"Gonna have to, unless you'd prefer to hike that skirt and run." Olga's expression was a curious one to Ritsuka.

"No. No! We had to run from Archer, and that was while he was miles away! You say that this Berserker and Archer are the only two guarding the Grail?"

"Nope. You gotta remember the damn Saber hanging at the gates." Short as he'd known the lancer, the sudden snarl he had given Ritsuka a moment's pause. "Then you have ta recall that the Berserker is probably the easiest of them to handle."

"Until Archer starts firing at us! I haven't forgotten what you said either!"

"Then we just gotta make it fast." His boots were pushing at the ground… No, Ritsuka realized he was seeing it wrong. Cu was pushing the ground away. He took a step back. His Lord did not. "She's tough, but with a Master and another Servant at our side, I think we gotta a chance here, huh?"

"You intend to have my Lord fight?" The suggestion made Ritsuka's bone shake. RAGH! That, or it was the buildings falling down closer to them. The ground shook from that at least. "No! Absolutely not! I won't allow that!"

"A fine time for you to start acting like a Master!" Ritsuka stared at the haughty expression of Olga. "But he is a Servant. You are the Master. It is his literal job to fight for you, and you are supposed to survive."

"I'm not going to ask my Lord and Savior to fight again for me!" His head spun. "I-I mean… you already died once for me!" He looked at Jesus with a pleading expression.

His return was a rich laughter. One that drew the heads of all around them.

"Now he's laughing. Guess that's the benefit of bein' a pacifist. Danger doesn't faze ya."

"Quite wrong, as danger is something not only to err from, but prepare for. I laugh because a servant of mine understands the price I paid in blood and body." Jesus's voice was rich as he walked towards Ritsuka. "A danger looms now that threatens more than just you. Though we stand at the valley of death, you should fear no ends."

"I thought the expression was… fear no evil?" Mash's timid words came up. "I-I apologize."

"Both are true. Your innocence needs no apology." His smile shined brighter than the flames. He did not quiver as the ground shook. "Now be mindful. I am going to face this lost soul. But I will do so with words first."

The simple statement came as he turned away from Ristuka and Mash, walking just as calmly past Lancer and the Director. They all gaped at him. Ritsuka was sure none of them had the same reasons.

"You wish to speak to a corrupted Berserker!? You're clearly possessing a damaged Spirit Origin!"

"And what are ya thinking? I was the one who finally gets a chance ta throw down again and ya wanna waste it with idle chit-chat?"

"This is… bravery, Ritsuka?" The tug at his sleeve had him focusing on the lavender haired girl. "I mean… I-I recognize his bravery, but is it being foolish?" He shut his jaw and shook his head.

"No, that's not it. That can't be it. Jesus Christ is so many things, and among them perfection. Foolishness is not within his character." He turned back to face the lord, walking with pristine sandals and alabaster robe down a torn and burning street. The buildings over the hillside continued to fall, and pillars of smoke bloomed towards them. The cries echoed above it all. "We only need to have faith in him."

BOOM! Tighter than he found Mash gripping his arm, and him hers, as the street finally shook as if a large earthquake ruptured the ground. It was strong enough to have a portion of the hillside fall away, watching as portions of the road slipped down with the dirt, a mudslide to quench the flames below. Jesus continued to walked towards it, unimpeded.

"RRAAAAGH!" Even as the Berserker finally showed herself.

By jumping forth from the collapsed street like the round fired from a gun.

"There she blows!" Cu laughed as the figure hung in the air. He was the only one. Mash let out a whimper as she clung to Ritsuka, and Olga turning around and fleeing behind the blue-clad servant. "And just as much a looker as the last time I saw her. Course, that was when she was ready to bite into my neck."

The woman hit the ground like a dropped bowling ball. Dust and embers billowed up from her planted feet, lighting up her attire and features. He studied them all, staring at them as he would effigies about a new church. There he felt peace. Here, he felt terror.

An impossibly dark top was wrapped about her otherwise generous chest, tatters of garments hanging from the belts strapped about her. The remains of a crimson skirt were at her waist, be it naturally colored red or adorned from the scars of battle. Dark veiny lines ran up her arms and pale legs, her hand clenching a chipped sword and shield, each looking as if they were a good strike away from shattering. That was her appearance. Ruin and toil.

But her gaze was that of blood and war. Golden eyes that flickered like the fires around her.

"Romans…." She hissed, and Ritsuka almost swore he saw embers dripping from her lips. "More accursed Romans…."

"Romans? She thinks we're Roman? Why would she think that? Why is she talking like that?" Olga spat out the questions, just before she put her palm to her forehead. "No, she's a Berserker. She's focused on anger and that's it." Ritsuka didn't follow. The Lancer did.

"Smart lass over there." Cu complimented. "Think ya can say the same for the other guy?" He then followed to criticize Christ. Only because his Lord was still walking towards the woman. Ritsuka felt his hand gripping Mash's with a worried strength. She pushed against him in retaliation. "Guess now I get to see if this Jesus Christ is all he's cracked up to be?"

"Don't mock him."

"Not mocking, judging." He wagged a finger. "Maybe ya should do the same, for swearing your life to him and all." Ritsuka had many retorts, but none of them worth it. Not when his Lord began to speak.

"You who have been warped by wrath and anger, why do you approach us?" The Lord extended his arms, stride unfailing. "Do you have words that you need to share?" Cu, next to Ritsuka, started to giggle.

"Oh man, that's the wrong thing to ask the Berserker." He looked at the Lancer. "Case you don't know it, or didn't hear it, Berserkers ain't exactly the most level headed of Servants. Tend to give up the muscle upstairs for mass downstairs. In other words-"

"Romans are here... you are all Romans! Your gown, your words, your smile!" The woman snarled like a beast. Ritsuka could swear he saw the teeth to match. "Romans that killed my people! I'll kill you! I'll kill you all!" The Berserker knelt down, her blade pulled back. Ritsuka felt fear.

"My Lord!" He made to reach out for Jesus. A strong grip on his side, and another holding his arm, kept him from taking a step. It wouldn't have mattered if he had.

A dull boom rang out, and he saw slabs of concrete fly up before Jesus. An eruption perhaps, though one that came with the disappearance of the Berserker all together. His Lord stood tall and unwavering, arms outstretched. He didn't know what had happened.

CLANG! BOOOM! Not until something exploded next to him, sending him off of his feet, and tumbling down the road. Mash let out a scream as she did the same, Director Olga following. He stopped only when his back hit charred dirt, his hands beating at embers that clung to him. Mash was at his side, curled on the ground. He dared to glance up.

CLANG! CLANG! CLANG! SCRRRKKKK! And was greeted with something he couldn't recognize, or maybe just not see. Sparks were flying in midair, the faint traces of silver through it, but he could hardly see much else.

Even from the width of the road away, he felt the air rippling as the sparks began to conjured themselves from seemingly nothing. The fires that were blooming across the road wavered as if in a breeze. He got to his feet, kneeling still to maintain a posture, and grabbing at the cracked road for support. Mash kept herself balled up at his side.

"What... what's happening?"

"Servants are fighting. You must observe." Ritsuka looked to see Director Olga standing next to him. Standing, with arms crossed, and her attire beating in the wind of the explosions. "This is the power that has been described to you for the past few hours, and now you finally get to witness the brute force behind them." He dared to look away from her again.

Still, he couldn't see much. Cracks and marks scrapping and forming on the ground, chunks of dirt on the other side of the road falling away, fires trying to light themselves in midair, and of course, the feeling of a heavy breeze blowing against him in bursts. Heavy enough that he didn't dare to stand.

"You cannot even stand, can you?" The question came from the Director.

"Did you read my mind?"

"No, I looked at you." His hand gripped the ground tighter, just as burst of it made him shut his eyes. "Can you see at least the blows of their weapons."

"Weapons?"

"By the Root you really... Fine!" Ritsuka looked up, just in time to see the Director real her hand back. He prepared himself to be struck, shutting his eyes and twisting his head. Instead, he felt her hand grip him by the temples, her palm over the scellion of his nose. It was a very tight grip. "Hold still. For I must use the root of your magic to strengthen the concept of sight." He didn't understand what she was saying.

Not until he felt a burning sensation at the back of his eyes. Enough to make him hiss, clenching at the ground again. It felt like sleeping too close to a heating grate, then being held in place an unable to escape it. The idea of being able to smell his own flesh, the heat becoming so much, was a fast approaching one.

"There, done." Then it stopped. "Now you can pay attention to the fight, but I'm not going to reinforce your entire body! That will take more Prana than I have to offer you. Be thankful that I'm giving this much, as you are the sole Master available now." He didn't understand the first part.

"What about Mash! She's-"

"Unawakened, but I'm sure unharmed. You should focus on your Servant instead!" Her glare was filled with gold, and her snarl to match. "Unless you wish to live in ignorance!" Ritsuka didn't understand. Hand on Mash's curled form, he looked back to the streets.

CLANG! CLANG-CLANG! This time, he saw hell.

He saw the Lancer stepping about the street with the practice of an Olympian, or as he could imagine the highest levels of athletes. He was twirling his red lance about his body, guarding it over his head, to the sides, and pulling it back only moments before he would take a harsh step forward and stab with it. Each time he did that, he saw the air shift.

Ritsuka realized he wasn't joking before. He was strong.

"GAAAA!" So was Berserker. After all, Cu was just dodging her.

Her sword was swinging through the air at Cu, missing him by hair's breadths. Each time it ripped through, it was as if it was cutting paper. The force of the draw hitting the ground as Ritsuka could imagine bullets fired. They left marks, and the air was rippling with the effect. Her shield, battered as it looked, followed Cu's lance with an almost intended ease.

Now he could see where the sparks were coming from, not that he could tell how the pair of them were keeping up with one another.

The Berserker tore at Cu with wild slashes, something he thought was more akin to what the Yakuza members had done when they had engaged in fights outside the church. Ritsuka had always run when he'd seen them start. Cu was fighting in a whole other sense. If Berserker was like the mobsters, then he was more like the well trained policeman. He dodged out of the way, brought up his lance to push the sword further, and then struck out with the head of his lance in the moment that followed. It was masterful, but the woman was keeping pace.

But she was losing ground.

"She's hurt. O-Or she's being hurt."

"At least you can see that much." The Director commented in return. "Cu is keeping good on his word that he can handle her." He was, at least Ritsuka thought he was as well.

He was watching, one hand tight to the charred ground, and the other holding Mash, as marks began to decorate the burned attire of the berserker. Red slashes running up her body to match the lance striking at her, but failing to put any red on Cu's outfit. Her wild cries and savage strikes tore up the street further and further, but he was always out of reach.

Even now, Ritsuka watched as Cu hit at her with the butt of his lance, the Berserker stopping it with her worn shield. The distance gave the lancer time to spin on his heel, twirling the lance back with the same momentum, and plant his foot into the ground. The concrete cracked and spewed embers, bringing out the red in the lancer's eyes. A savage cry came out as he flung his arm forward again, as if to vault his lance.

But the Berserker dove forward. She didn't raise her shield or sword, she merely jumped forward. For her efforts, the lance tore at her face, ripping past her skin and pulling out portions of her face. Ritsuka had to look away. It had to be done.

"GGAAAAA!" Until her guttural cry ripped out. Followed by another disorienting explosion.

"GNH!" Ritsuka looked up again to see the Berserker holding Cu Cuchulain.

In the air, with her sword in his gut.

"NO!" Olga cried out, but Ritsuka found his own breath stolen. "No! Ritsuka! Order him to get out of there!"

"H-How-"

"That... was close..." He stopped when they heard Cu speak. "Anyone else an... ya wouldda got me." He was grinning to match.

"Filthy Roman... clinging to life... holding onto something you don't deserve."

"Don't hold onto many... things, got a few people... who can tell ya that. By my... life? That's one... thing... I'm not gonna give... up." He spoke with a calm voice, even as his feet dangled and hand gripped his red lance. "Cause this... aint'... my first fight. Not even the first time... I've been impaled."

His hand reached up and grasped the Berserker's red hair, pushing it back. It gave Ritsuka the clear and regretful image of her feral eyes staring up at him, even as her arm tried to wrench her blade out of Cu. He had to have plan.

"RAAAGH!" He did not expect pulling himself off the blade.

Off, and through.

The Lancer hit the ground in a roll, and Ritsuka expected to see blood and guts flow out from the impact. Instead, he saw the Lancer rise up with hand wiping over the arc of a wound through his gut. Blood traced down his hand, some spilled down his attire, but nothing more came out of it. He expected then to see a pale pallor in the Lancer's face.

"This woulda' been trouble if I didn't have a Master at my back. Need to Disengage and try again." He spun the lance around, stopping when he held it towards the ground, feet spread apart, and ready to lunge. "You ready for this Berserker."

Ritsuka felt at his arm. It was numb, and he imagined he was gripping his hand into a fist hard enough to stem the flow. He had to remind himself to breath. That wasn't a problem for the Berserker.

"Filthy traitorousROMAN!"

"I'll take that as a yes!" He laughed. Then he slammed his foot forward. "Now show me a battle worthy of a war!" The man's eyes were dripping they were so red.

And the ground was pulp and mulch where he jumped. Rituska gripped the ground, holding the curled form of Mash tightly as the surrounding air blew up. The Director must have done something else to keep herself up, but he didn't know what. He also didn't have the time to ask.

CLANG! CLANG! CLANG! Not when the sparks were flying again between Berserker and Lancer.

The red lance arced up with the man's mad swings, following his entire body as he twisted and jumped into the air. It skewered the ground and ripped up chunks of the Earth beneath the concrete with each stab. Berserker's shield parried everyone, but even Ritsuka knew there was a large difference between deflecting an attack and not being hurt. Blocking a punch didn't mean feeling no pain.

And the woman's slowly retreating footsteps, knees buckling as the Lancer beat against her with an impossible speed, showed she wasn't standing well against him.

"NO! NO!" Her words matched. "ROMAN!" And the arc of her sword was frantic to boot.

But Cu was dodging past them with an impossible sense of ease. He could move past more than the blade, but even the sparks and the slashes of air that followed. Where he did slip by on his feet, he pushed himself past with a shove at the Berserker's shield. When he couldn't do that, he rolled over her in the air, striking at her from above. And he did it all with a smile.

A smile that continued as Ritsuka watched, hands going white as they gripped the ground. He watched blood trail up and around them, with each brutal swing of the Lancer's tool of choice ripping out larger and larger portions of the Berserker. Thought he had been blessed to have never witnessed it, Ritsuka was aware of how the more brutal gangs would handle those who gave them no respect.

He couldn't help but imagine the surgical method to which Cu Chulainn tore at the Berserker would be something they'd like to repeat.

"GRAAAaaagh! AAAGhaaa!"

"Her voice is petering out. She's losing her strength." Ritsuka kept his jaw tight as he heard the jubilation come from Olga's voice. "He's going to win now... he's going to win!" At the cost of someone's life.

"This... this isn't right." He didn't feel right. "Why are we letting... it's not going to be a real fight to the death, is it?" The Director didn't answer. Neither did Mash. Neither did Lancer. Neither did Jesus Christ. "My Lord... we aren't going to-"

"GRAAAAAGH!" He cut himself off as the Berserker let out another howling scream. This time, for a reason far more obvious.

Ritsuka was too late. Cu had already impaled her through the chest.

He could see the crimson end of his lance poking out from her back. The mad warrior's body was falling forward, legs shaking as she nearly dropped her own weapons. The Lancer was holding her up, only one hand on his lance, at the very but of it, and standing far enough away the red-haired woman's swings couldn't reach him.

He'd impaled her with ease, at a distance, and was leaving her hanging by the strength of his own arms. Red eyes matching the viciousness and edge of his polearm stared forward. He looked joyful. He had just taken a life... and he looked happy.

"That's makes us even. Now are ya gonna show your first trump card now? Much as I love a good round of fishin', I can tell there's a storm comin'." But he sounded expectant.

"Trump card? Lancer, you've killed her, or are at least in the process of it. Just rip forward now and-"

"And you forgot what I said about her. She's got a mean streak for healing." She did. "I just had ta put her in a position to start using it first. Cause that healing factor is a thick plate of armor, and I'm gonna have ta wear it down to really make the last blow count." He took a step forward, gripping the lance with both hands. "Otherwise, I'd be wastin' my trump card."

The Berserker seemed to agree.

"Damn... Roman... Sadistic... evil... Romans!" Ritsuka watched, debating between running away or getting closer to the ground. "Killing... raping... ROMAN!" She drew her hand down her wound.

A black sludge, not unlike a physical shadow, almost looked to crawl up and down her body. He gasped at the sight. Olga screamed. Both continued to watch.

Watch as the wound became nothing, leaving behind only slightly bloodied skin and ruined clothing, the vicious look in the mad woman's eyes still boring at the Lancer with malicious intent. Hunched over still, baring her teeth in an almost permanent snarl, her red hair almost waved with the fires behind her. Her sword almost cried as she gripped it, and the ground rumbled as she bent at her knees.

"Here she comes!" Cu laughed.

"RAAAGH!" She jumped at him again. This time, when he dodged, she continued to fly. CRAAASH! She barreled into the building they had come from. It didn't stand a chance. Ritsuka was sure cannonballs would do less damage than what the woman did.

Charging through it, forcing the already burnt and charred wood to creak and moan, before ultimately collapsing in on itself with a plume of smoke and fire. It let up the darkened sky with more demon cackling flames, and had Ritsuka finally finding the strength in his legs. He had to, because the heat was too intense to stand near it. He knew the fighting would be even hotter.

"C'mon! Mash! Mash we have to move!" He attempted to rouse her, earning a moan of pain. He grit his teeth, putting hands under her and lifting her. "I-I apologize if this is too forward!" He rushed as he picked her up.

"Save your apologies and run!" The Director passed him. "And be damn sure you are still supplying Lancer with Prana! You're the only thing keeping him alive in this fight!" Ritsuka didn't have the time or breath to ask what that meant.

BOOM! He only knew from the crack of air behind him, and sudden force rushing at him, that the two were fighting again. He didn't turn to look. No, his first priority was the woods. They were glowing with heat, more than a few of them a bonfire lighting up the sky, but they were more cover than the crack-ridden road. He rushed into them, carrying Mash behind him. Olga didn't argue against it or for it.

He kicked his way up the hill, the sounds of clashing steel echoing behind him. He still fought himself from turning around, yet at least. He had to get to safety, because he had MASH! She didn't rouse herself in his arms, not yet, but he kept her tight to his chest for it. The trees were letting off heat as he passed, almost like they were ready to literally burst in to flames. The idea was too possible, especially after all else he had seen.

"What in the name of the Root was that?!" He barely got past the line of trees before the Director shouted her question. Her hands were at another marred trunk, her hands doing... something to the bark. "What kind of Servant can heal like that?"

"I... I don't know."

"I wasn't speaking to you!" Her amber eyes looked back towards the road, or what little remained of it. "We'll get our answers soon, hopefully." Ritsuka took a deep breath and watched.

Even if it was with the enhancement of his eyes, because of the Director, it was still hard to see the full fight. It was more like trying to find two flies flying in the air, beating at one another. But whereas they would be an annoyance if they were in his line of sight. Here... it was like the reaper's blade dancing in the air.

CLANG-CLANG CLANG CLANG! The sparks that flew from the onslaught were proof of that, even if he could tell that both were doing more than swing wildly. The same way how he could tell a professional athlete didn't take shots off of a whim. They had a plan.

Cu was trying to stab at her chest again. He was holding the end of the lance and trying to shove it forward with each free attempt he had. He ducked one of the Berserker's harsh swings, rising up with a lunge of his lance, only to have it reflect off of the beaten shield. He didn't pull it back, but lifted it up. It let the blade of the mad woman beat against it, sending off another array of sparks and fire.

And each time they flew, Ritsuka felt more and more of it. Like each blow was rocking inside of him. His nerves felt like they were on fire just watching this. The idea of being in the middle of it was… unnerving. But he wasn't the only one getting into the fight.

The Berserker was acting more... or maybe less, like a fighter now. She didn't lash back with her sword. Instead, after being blocked, she tried for a savage kick, one reeled back and swung up with the force of a wrecking ball. Ritsuka knew it, because she missed the street, but the force alone had the asphalt beneath her being shunted forward and high speeds, ramming into the rubble of the house. Her blade came after that, striking at Cu again. He retreated, and tried once more for her heart.

Sparks were the evidence he got close, but not there. All the while the fires danced around them.

"That fool is enjoying this. I don't believe it by that mad man is enjoying this." Olga hissed next to him.

"Who?"

"Lancer. He hasn't lost his grin yet! Even if he's still losing ground!" He trusted her on that, he could observe the former. "And this while he's at a disadvantage."

"He is?" The look of her amber eyes was more akin to the fire than any mercy.

"You saw her heal herself! Don't act as if that is natural!"

"I'm not," he admitted, adjusting Mash in his arms. "But he did too, didn't he?"

"He activated a Skill!" She shook her head with an open mouth. "Don't you- UGH! It's a trait that a servant is born with to put to effects their history. Kind of like repeating some great feat! Cu Chulainn is told in legend to have fought in a battle so long, he tied himself to a pole to just to keep standing, after he was stabbed through the heart and even gutted!"

"So... he can't be killed?"

"No you absolute idiot! He did still die! But he has a high ranking of the Guts skill, meaning it will take considerable effort to be able to kill him!" She managed to look away from him. "That woman, Berserker, is different. She didn't recover with a skill."

"How can you tell?"

"There is no skill associated with using black mud to cover wounds. No legend I can name that would use a corrupted source either." Her fingers pinched her nose. "It has to be the corrupted Grail. No wonder she's so hard to put down even with a legend like Lancer here."

"Good thing he has that skill."

"It's a double edged blade, for you." He looked at her. "It drains a lot of Prana to recover like that. You had to have felt it."

Numb nerves, hands on fire, hard to breathe.

"I-I thought… I was just getting caught up in the fight." The echoes of the fight blew at her hair, and made him guard his eyes.

"Yes, well, this time I may agree with you." Olga looked away. "It is hard to focus on clear thoughts with this lunacy.

"Ungh... S-Senpai?" His curiosities were left alone as he felt Mash rose in his arms. "Where... what happened?" She adjusted poorly. "I-I'm being carried?" He was quick to blush.

"S-Sorry, had to hurry." He adjusted his grip, helping her stand.

"RAAAAGH!" BOOM! Something else broke. Something big enough to make the whole forest shake. Looking down, it wasn't hard to miss what it was.

The forest itself, or at least the portion of it further down the road. A crater had been lodged through the mountain, blowing away a fair portion of the charred land. Where there were once decaying trees and burning bark, now there was a crater of dirt splayed out around a woman. The Berserker, pulling her blade from the dirt, adjusting herself as if it were a point in a patch, and not a blow that would kill the average man.

"-But we shouldn't stay here." He corrected himself. "Not if that's what we can expect."

"Where else are you expecting to run off to? You can't run away from here, or else Cu will be without a Master to properly support him!"

"How can I-"

"You are his Master. You are supplying Prana! He's mentioned it twice now! We explained it to you!" Her cries were almost overcoming the sounds of explosions. Almost. "And you need to be close, because you lack the experience of a Magus to tune your circuits for high ranges! Do you understand?" He really didn't.

"I just... I..." He let his breath catch, looking down at his left hand. It burned.

"Senpai?" He felt Mash put a hand to his shoulder. "Are you well? Is something wrong?"

"I don't know..." His hand didn't look injured. He didn't remember hitting it on anything to form a bruise either. It was just the marks... Command Seals, but they weren't any different than before. "It just... hurts a little."

"It hurts?" The Director inquired. "What does-" Her question was ruined.

BOOOM! Like the hillside they had run up.

Something, or maybe even someone, hit the base of the forest line. The ground ruptured beneath them as if something was trying to crawl out of it. The dead and burning trees flewinto the air with a heavy groan, their dried wood snapping as they lost track of their own weight. A cry of surprise ripped form someone, maybe even himself, but Ritsuka couldn't tell for sure. He only knew that charred dirt and burned wood were flying down at them, and he ran up the hill.

"C'mon!" He had a hand to Mash's. She didn't argue, not that they needed to go far.

Running up hill against an explosion didn't sound like a sound idea, but running into one was even worse. The dirt was dry and the trees dead, so it gave away easily underneath their hasty steps. The Director was huffing next to them.

"I thought I had finished running away from things!" He didn't comment to her. He didn't have the air.

BOOOOOM! The dirt falling behind them wasn't just raining from the sky. It was being torn out beneath them. He realized that when the trees around them started to tilt, and then started to fall. The ground wasn't just giving way, it was crumbling.

And they were still standing on it. Memories of earthquakes in Japan reached him, and the advice of the Father he was with at the time of a 6.9.

"Grab something!" He latched onto a nearby tree with is words. Mash grabbed onto him.

"Wha-Grab! Oh no!" He hoped that was a sign that Olga had managed to grasp something.

A moment later, they were tumbling down.

Ash and soot blew into the air with the descent, short as it was, and made a veritable screen in their way. The cry and groan of cracking trees, combined with the free splinters splashing against his face, doubtlessly inducing some cuts, didn't help. He grit his teeth as his fingers dug into the dried bark, carrying nothing for how hard Mash was holding him.

A short cry came out of him as he felt his equilibrium utterly thrown, enough for him to feel sick. The heat, the ash, and the fatigue. The rattling of his body was nearly enough to make him think they were about to go over the street and start rolling into the burning city below. Thankfully, the fall was short, just eventful.

Ritsuka coughed into the screen of soot and ash, trying his best to beat it away. It did little good. Mash pushed herself up next to him, eve as his own feet tried to find footing on the ruined dirt and crumbled vegetation.

"S-Senpai? Are you alright?"

"I think so, yeah." He coughed out. "The Director?"

"Dammit! What was that Lancer thinking?! And Jesus! Why did he not try and keep us safe!?"

"She is unnerved, b-but I think that's a reasonable reaction."

"A part of it is." He let out a breath, before coming to his senses. "But we can't stay here! There was a fight going on! We have to get out of here!" He made to grab Mash's hand again.

"Hold it, kid." Until Cu's voice spoke through the curtain of soot and ash. "Go runnin' off blind, and you'll run off a cliff. There's a few of those around here now." He tried to find the Lancer in the cloud, but had no luck.

"Lancer! Reveal yourself!" The command rang out. "We don't have time for fooling around!"

"Who's playing?" The question came with a rip of air. Or, more accurately, a twister of it.

One that was dragging up the cloud of soot around them faster than anything Ritsuka had seen in Japan. His head in the crux of his arm, he guarded his vision as the dust, soot, and ash were quickly swept away. When he didn't feel anything but the pull of the wind, he dared to open his eyes. After the ruined street, now buried underneath the rubble of the charred and burnt forest, before the familiar hellscape of the burning city, he saw the Lancer standing with his red lance above his head. A cloud of black smoke above him.

"Now that's done, you three better get runnin'." Boom! The speed with which he lowered his lance shoved the air, down, blowing up a the dirt beneath him. "Cause a cloud ain't gonna scare Berserker off it. Is it Lass?"

"RAAAAAGH!" The answer was clear enough. Turning to see the red-headed woman only made it perfect obvious.

Her entire body dripped with that black mud from before. Her eyes had lost none of their blood lust. Her screams none of their volume.

"Senpai? W-What do we do?"

"We RUN! Mash!" The Director called out. "Servants fight Servants, to protect us! There is no other way to take it!" The alabaster haired leader had already turned tail. Rituska did not follow. "What are you two waiting for!?"

"Senpai! We should run!" He felt her pull his arm. "I-I don't believe we are capable of fighting her."

"I don't think I am either. I don't... think I can fight anyone like that." He couldn't even stand up to drunks who barged into confessionals. "But I haven't forgotten whom I should call upon instead." His hands clasped together, even as the Berserker loomed in front of them. "Oh my Lord, forgiver of sins, please, protect us now."

"GRAA!" The mad woman screamed, destroying something as she lunged forward. Thuuum. But the blow of her lunge sounded as if it ran headlong into a dune. Ritsuka could only smile as he laid eyes on their savior.

"You do not forget me in your time of need. Do not forget me in your hours of peace." Jesus spoke, even as he had a hand raised before the Berserker. His palm was against the inner wrist of her sword arm, holding her back.

"NO! ROMAN!" She made up for it by swinging at him with a kick.

And the Lord... pushed her away. She swung at air. Hard enough that Ritsuka could feel the draft and even Mash bracing against him, but still hitting nothing of his Lord. Not even laying a soot print upon his flawless robes.

"GRRR! You Romans run! You FLEE! You rape and murder and kill and RUN!"

"Strike at me if you must, but do not accuse me falsely." His words continued to flow like a balm of pleasant memories. "Ask instead for what I may offer you. Ask of me for grace." The glow about him was brighter, and calmer, than anything the roaring flames may provide.

To Ritsuka, it was everything he had ever dreamed for being to one day witness. The full and unalterable majesty of his lord.

"Oi! Big guy! You're a fast one when called, but this ain't the time to be askin' for a sharin' circle!" Cu shouted back. "Case ya missed it, girl ain't exactly holdin' a sharp blade!" Ritsuka stared at him, his words shaking and blasphemous.

"He's right! Now isn't the time to do nothing! She'll kill us all unless you handle this now!"

"KILL YOU! KILL YOU ALL!" The woman's hair practically waved with her words.

"Do you hear!? I cannot offer clearer evidence of her intentions!" She would have slammed her boot down, Ritsuka was sure, if she wasn't standing on dirt and ash. "Just do what you did again, but kill her this time!"

Kill... so casually asking Jesus to kill someone. Just with a word, like it was natural.

"H-How can they ask that?" Ritsuka could not fathom an answer.

"RRRAAGH!" "Get your guard up, Christ!" There was no need, even as the Berserker lunged, sword over her head, and ready to deliver a savage blow.

Bwoooom. Just as before, the blow was deafened. Jesus caught the bladed hand again, wrist against her wrist. Bwooom. Thuooom. And doing the same for her shield and legs, both swinging at him with the force to rattle the air. But Christ gave none of his ground.

"Wow... He stopped it so easily." Ritsuka watched, prayers to heaven and thankful for the Lord his savior.

"You are consumed by wrath, but I wish to offer you peace. Ask of me for forgiveness, and I will offer in return your redemption." His words continued to balm the shaking air. "Will you not call out to me?"

"ROOOMAAAAAN!" The Berserker tore herself back, the black sludge falling off of her again. Ritsuka gasped, afraid that the vile liquid would fall onto his Lord! But it didn't, by a miracle it did not.

It fell to the charred earth, swallowing it like a shadow, it dripped over the fire, smothering it out, and it fell onto the Berserker's blades, darkening it to a malicious black. But Jesus Christ had not a drop fall on his robe. He did not run nor turn. He continued to face the Berserker.

"Can you not hear me?" "RRAAAAAGG!" The woman jumped forward again. Ritsuka had no fear for his Lord. Not as he stepped forward again, arm raised and moving towards the blade again. This time, not with the back of his hand, but the outstretch of an open palm.

Jesus clasped her arm by the wrist. Her strength, capable of pushing Cu back, couldn't budge within his grip.

"What has become of you, woman?" Jesus spoke calmly to her, even as Ritsuka saw the woman snarl up at him, wrenching her entire body to strike at him. He knew she couldn't do it, no more than she could fly tot he stars or sleep in the ocean. "Why do you torture yourself by running from me?"

"Is this alright?"

"Huh, what?" Ritsuka looked behind him.

"Jesus. He is the Lord, a-and, you told me how important he is. Is it alright to have him so close and... not fighting?" At any other time, he'd agree with her, in an instant.

"It's okay. He said he was going to help us." This time was different. "And no matter what I believe, his word is the law."

"If you refuse to heed my words, then be gone." And that was when Jesus delivered and ultimatum to the mad woman. "Turn your back from here and flee."

"Huh?" The single question fell from Lancer's open mouth. "What? Let her go? That fine catch? Buddy, Jesus, Fionn was less lucky when the Salmon of Wisdom bled into his thumb."

If the Lancer truly thought that, then he saw, but did not see.

"You cannot linger here and threaten those who I have vowed so save." His words were calm despite the clear and evident danger. His poster straight and noble, even as he held back the arm of a feral warrior. "Will you speak instead, or must you commit yourself to banishment?"

"Banish!? BANISH!? You cannot banish me! These are my lands! Mine! I am the queen and you the conquerer! RAAGH!" The woman twisted her torso and tried to strike at Jesus with her other arm. Ritsuka's Lord pulled her arm closer, and let her strike over his shoulder, missing him. "NO! I'll kill you! I'll kill you!"

"I have been killed by the hands of men before, and those who forsook my name, but I will not allow my life to be taken before I have saved those who have called out to me." Jesus took her other hand, holding it with the same sure grip. He clenched at her wrists, holding her sword and shield arm with an almost mocking easy behind her. The softness of his voice and calm of his words showed he was not belittling her. "What has made you come to think I am here to destroy you before saving them?"

"You've done it before! Romans! Romans always kill! They plunder and steal and rape and murder and kill and kill and kill and kill and kill and kill and kill!" Her body whipped erratically against Jesus. He didn't shirk away, even as her head beat against his chest. "Romans! I'll kill you all! On the names of my daughters and husband! I'll rip your lying throats and tear off your ruined loins!"

"Words like that, I wish she wasn't an enemy!" Ritsuka had to stare at Cu, the man pushing himself up by his lance, effortlessly moving into a walk. "I bet she'd make a mean enemy in bed."

"You… You can't be serious?"

"Are ya gonna seriously tell me you've never tried a crazy woman in bed? Nothin' will tire you out faster." His slit eyes matched his wry grin.

"RAAAAGH! Romans! All of you! All of you conquering, raping Romans!"

"I don't think that will help." Olga's words were a source of agreement for Ritsuka. "Best we kill her now. She'll otherwise chase us down or alert Archer."

"If she hasn't already." Cu grinned like it was a joke.

"Don't laugh about that!" The Director shot back. "Just take care of her while Jesus is holding her! Make it fast, too. We can't afford to drag this out any longer." Ritsuka stared at her.

She was so casually referring to the death of this woman. Perhaps not of sound mind, but a human nonetheless! And she was discussing her death as if... as if it were a fly to swat away.

"Sounds good ta me." Then Lancer responded the same. He even spun his lance as he stood up. "Not the best way to end this, but ain't much honor in a fight with an honorless fighter, is there?" He balanced his blade as he walked forward. "Oi, Jesus, hold her stead, will ya?" Ritsuka looked between them.

"I will not release her while the threat of death lingers. I have promised the safety of those who follow me." His eyes returned to the mad woman. "Will you not heed my words as well?"

"I'll kill you! Roman!" She thrashed against him, but Jesus was the wall to which the world could lean on. She did not make him budge.

"That's an answer if I heard one. Heard it plenty of times before~." His lance spun. Ritsuka shook his head.

"W-Wait," he spoke stepping forward. Mash gripped his hand, even as he earned the attention of Cu and Olga. "We aren't just going to kill her, are we?" Their looks were incredulous.

"What are you thinking we're gonna do? Ask her ta join us?" The Lancer's grin was lopsided enough to almost look vertical. "Girl's my kind of crazy, but if there's a pleasure a good Irishman knows not to mix, its war. No war's good on booze and I'm not about to start dreaming of screwing my opponents."

"That's disgusting, and completely irrelevant. What he means to say is that she is an enemy Servant, of a twisted and corrupted Grail that has led to the death of tens of thousands of humans. Unless you have somehow managed to miss the entirety of the burning city!" Her hand whipped out at the scorched horizon. He didn't forget. "Are you about to tell me you want her to live despite that?!"

"I-"

"Don't answer, because it doesn't matter!" The Director took a step at him. "Because even if she was forced to, didn't want to, or wanted to join us even, it wouldn't matter! She is a Servant, a slave to the Corrupted Grail. It would take a miracle from the Root itself to get her to change, and I don't have the power to do that. I know you don't either." A smile split his face, stupidly. "Oh for the love of... why are you smiling!?"

"A miracle... but the Lord of Miracles is-" He turned to look at his Lord, ready to see him in agreement.

Instead, he saw him turn the woman away from them all, then push her. He had to blink. Mash, behind him, gasped.

"My Lord?" The curiosity drew the attention of the Director and Cu. Theirs were louder reactions.

"WHOA! What do you think you're-" "You simpleton of a Servant! For all the worship you receive you have the foolish notion you-"

"Run to the home of your Lord. Do not return until you do so." But when Jesus spoke, they both stopped. The Berserker growled at him. "You ignore the word of God, you are ignorant to mine, but you are a slave to the commands of those beneath you."

"A Roman like you cannot order me!" She bellowed. Her arm drew back again. "And I will kill you!" For a single moment now, Ritsuka felt fear grip him.

"No." But the Lord spoke, and his heart was clear. "You will let your Master try." Even if the words meant nothing.

Nothing to them, but Ritsuka could see the Berserker shake. Her red hair quivered as her arm vibrated next to her, as if she was fighting to drop it on them. He could nearly see foam slipping past her lips, ruined as they were. But she didn't strike him down. The air was tense with heat and fire, but she didn't strike.

Instead, she twisted at her heel, and ran. The ground rumbled with her lunges. She was quick to leave sight down the ruined hill and the patchwork of remains of the street.

"Oh my God," Olga spoke in utter blasphemy. "He got her to run away."

"First time I've seen a Berserker listen to someone give a threat. And it was just a half-assed one at that." He let something fly. "Guess you are a miracle worker."

"And I have... I have to agree. Jesus, you truly are-"

"Be silent." His word was a command, one that Ritsuka followed. Olga gaped. "She did not leave by my word. She did not heed it when I asked her to stop before. Free as the gift of my father is, she did not accept it."

"Th-Then why did she run?" Mash's voice came out in carefully.

Jesus did not answer her. Instead, he turned away. His alabaster robe untarnished despite the ruination of the road and hillside. He walked towards the city of fire, stopping at the steep slope of ember clad ground. The wind did little to singe his air, the ash unable to darken his robe.

"Her Master is about to strike." Ritsuka didn't know what that meant.

"Oh shit!" The Lancer did.

"What?! What is it!? What is he talking about!?" The Director looked to Jesus, before spinning to Cu, grabbing him by his clothing and attempting to force an answer from him. "What's happen-IIING!" Her voice rose in a panic.

Ritsuska supposed that was natural when a man picked you up under his arm. She looked so much like luggage, but he dare not speak his thought.

"What's happening Is that you're about to get a good shot of the third Servant I've been fighting to avoid in this war, and I'm not about to stand my ground against 'em!"

"WHAT?! Why not!" The shout came with her fists beating at his back. "A-And put me down this instant! You have no right to-"

"You've got no legs ta get you out of here fast enough! I carried ya once, so I'll do it again! Hey Master and lassie! You two get behind the other guy! He'll have a way out for ya!" The Lancer turned his back to them. Olga screamed at the man something incoherent. Then the dirt exploded again.

He was gone.

"What... what is he talking about?" Fear and confusion took a vicious hold on him. The nails digging through his over coat told him much of what Mash felt. "My Lord, what is going on?" Jesus continued to stare towards the horizon. "My Lord?"

"A lost soul is bathing in a cursed power. She is about to strike by its demands." The calmness in his voice beget the danger he spoke of. "Stay behind me, believe in me, and I will keep her from harming you."

"Of course, my Lord." Ritsuka did as asked, climbing over the dirt and wood to do so. "But where is she? I don't see her."

"If it's a-another servant, as Lancer said, and we've already seen Berseker and they had seen Archer, then it has to be Saber. And Saber... was supposed to be near the Corrupted Grail, correct?" Ritsuka nodded. "Then... wouldn't she have had to have left? I-It would most likely be a clear path between here and there, wouldn't it?"

"Yeah, that makes sense. Two spots and a short line." There was a riddle a sister had told him about once. "And the Grail Room... cave... was where?" He looked the horizon for where it could be.

He needn't look far.

From a small hill, aside from the burning city, there was a flicker in the air. He thought it was a trick of the light or flames for a second, like the mirage in summer when the roads were hot, or the oceans were so still they lowered the horizon. For a moment, it looked as if the hill had flickered in darkness. He thought it a trick of the light.

Then the lights started to fade away. The fire and the demonic glow of the charred woods and city were slowly drawn away. The eternal dusk they cast finally falling into night. The buildings themselves falling into a dark shadow. A shadow that was growing... and churning.

"What is that?" The breathless question left him. "My Lord?"

"Be at peace, young Ritsuka and Mash. I am here, and you have asked for me to protect you."

The darkness coalesced into a tight ball, rising up from the hillside it had diffused from. Slowly, like a miasmic beast, it began to claw up towards the sky, small tendrils of darkness flickering up from the beastly howl. The fires around it dimmed further. Ritsuka's breath felt harder to grab, the air thinning, as the shadow became thicker. He watched, even as Mash leaned on him and he to the strength of his Lord. He watched on.

BRRRRROOOOOOOO- Then he slapped hands to his ears as the air shook with a defining cry. Mash fell against him. He felt his legs shaking. His eyes were soon to follow. Because looking up, the ball of darkness had shot into the sky like a tower. It vanished into the air, swallowing the stars around it. The noise it let out wasn't nearly as horrific as the sight of the dark mass itself.

Even less when he saw it reach to a tip, forming a giant 'sword'. One of darkness, a contrast to Michael's blade of light.

"My Lord... Jesus?" Ritsuka questioned, nothing being heard as the air continued to shake. "What is happening?" He didn't expect an answer. He didn't expect much. Not when the 'blade' of an object began to fall. "My Lord?"

Mash may have said something. Ritsuka wished he could answer her, but he couldn't understand what she said. He only knew she was leaning against him, perhaps crying. He shut his eyes and prepared to be taken into the arms of his Lord.

BRRRRRRRRRRRRRR-BANG! Instead he fell to his knees. The air suddenly cold as ice, and relief ripped from the depths of his lungs. He let out a gasping breath, trying to suck in anything. When he did so, he saw a sight as beautiful as it was mesmerizing.

Jesus Christ, standing as he was before, a hand raised into the air, and the blade of shadows and darkness tall enough to cover the stars, held above his head.

Ritsuka stared at it, watching as the darkness ran through the darkly ethereal blade like bubbles in a whirlpool, swirling up and around the impossibly large object. His breath was weak, it shook with his unease, and his legs gave out beneath him. Mash was just behind him, arms around his neck and holding him tight.

"Sen... Senpai..." He swallowed, but could not answer. "Jesus... he is..."

"This is a corrupt power, and one that has been fashioned by hate more than love." His words were louder than the boom of the blade. "It seeks to destroy, for it cannot create. I will not abide such a thing to be used against me." They cut harder than the dark sword. "Begone from here."

Jesus Christ threw his arm out. The dark blade was tossed with it.

The shadows that had made it bent and shattered in the process. Miles long, easily, and Ritsuka watched, slack-jawed, as the massive blade that had been birthed from the mountain twisted and snapped like a long piece of steel. It came apart at its center, then rippled up from there dispersing itself like rain over the land between them and the hillside.

Sound and light returned with its destruction, finally giving Ritsuka the room to hear his heavy breathing, and the whimpers of Mash behind him. He looked to Jesus, the son of God smiling down upon him, then he looked to his partner, the girl holding a hand to her chest, curled up.

"Mash... Mash?" He spoke her name with growing strength. "Are you okay? Are... are you okay?" He had to swallow, twice.

"That was... that was a Noble Phantasm." Mash whispered the words. Awe coated her voice as thickly as it did Ritsuka's soul. "That was the crystallization of the Servant's legend... and he deflected it."

"I ordered it." Jesus corrected, standing before them. "For none shall lay curse or harm upon me, not when they turn their minds and desires to things beneath my father." He faced them, smile plain as the white robes among the soot and ash. His strength shining as brightly as his warm eyes. "She will not try again, and we must now continue our trek."

"Of... Of course." Mash shook her head. Ritsuka had a hand to her back. "I-I apologize if I was disrespectful. I have not seen a Servant express powers such as this before, and in my studies of skills and possible manifestations, I-I did not come across a manner of-"

Clap. Her words were silenced by the Lord laying a hand on her head. Her gasp was soft, and her body calm. Ritsuka smiled.

"Your mind is acute, and your worries follow. If you wish to be peaceful in soul, rest within me, and do not fret." His hand fell from her, combing her lavender locks. "We have need to find the Child of Light and the Director of Chaldea. I cannot let a soul wander with lust or grief."

"Child of Light?"

"Th-That was a title of Cu in life, Senpai. He was commonly referred to as the Child of Light as he was the son of the lord of the Tuatha De Denann, and was even blessed with a blade of light to match his soul. His legend is rich about it." He nodded.

"Right, sorry, I didn't know."

"You had no need to know. You chose to read the words my prophets immortalized, rather than the historical texts of men themselves." Jesus smiled kindly as he spoke the truth. "You found peace in my words, and you share them now. Come. There is much work for us to do."

And then, he began to walk. Easily over the dunes and ruined street, down the street that had bore battle, and doubtlessly back towards the city.

"Senpai... is this common for Jesus?"

"What is?"

"Making... making me feel at peace. A-Anyone actually. After what we just saw, a-and he did... is that common?" He could only smile.

"It is. In fact, I'd say it's the greatest reason to follow him."

A long trembling sigh left Ritsuka as he followed behind Jesus, nerves frayed and the demons lurking in the fire playing with his imagination and nightmares. He wasn't the only one. He could feel Mash leaning against him, clutched against his side.

They truly were walking into a valley of death, perhaps the valley of death. Where a Servant was so overcome with rage they could ignore the words of Jesus himself, another that could fire arrows more akin to ballista's miles away, and the last fire a near beam of darkness, something so powerful it swallowed the light around it. Were it not for his Lord, they would have perished without even hearing the name of their killer.

Without Jesus Christ, they would all be dead. Ritsuka held that within his mind as he followed his Lord into the city's depths. It was a path he'd never walk alone.

But here, he literally had God on his side.