The Way, Truth, and Light

by WizardlyWords

In the midst of tragedy, among the ruins in hell, a lone boy wanders through the valley of death. Chocking on smoke, swimming through tears, he looks up and begs for help. Clutching the symbol of his faith, begging for salvation as the world ends, he asks for his savior's embrace. And he is justly rewarded. For Jesus is never far from the cries of his flock.

8. Arc 0: What Lies Beneath

"It really is a school," Ritsuka spoke as they walked through the gates. "It's… huge." Much larger than he was expecting.

"D-Did you go to a smaller school, Senpai?" He looked to Mash, the girl carrying the shield next to her as if it were a duffle bag. The ease with which she lifted the portion of steel almost made his knees weak at the sight. Jesus had blessed her though, so it made sense she would be able to do such a thing. "Senpai?"

"S-Sorry. And no, I attended some classes taught by sisters, but nothing public like this. And I think it's public, even if it has a gate." He couldn't imagine being this big and still being private. Then again, he didn't imagine he'd be speaking to his Lord and Savior either.

"More decrepit than any I've seen, and lacking the sophistication that is expected to teach higher classes, but I suppose for the average citizen of Fuyuki," the judgement of the Director came down hard. "It surprises me that you said there were a couple of Masters that came here?"

"Two at least, one of 'em was actually Saber's master." The one trying to kill them? "He got done in pretty damn quickly though. Not much of a fighter."

"And you were the one to slay him?" The casualness of the question still made Ritsuka's skin crawl.

"Nope, ain't that lucky. Some little lass actually did it. Seein' as she was the one to gather up Archer." A young girl was the one who was responsible for the Servant firing at them. Ritsuka did his best to memorize the information, but he found it difficult. Memorizing connections without names or faces.

"Well it doesn't matter anymore. What we need is a connection with the Leylines," the woman drew her finger over the ground, more sparks flying up like back at the manor. These, however, were larger, like she was trying to start a fire. "And you are right, the connections are much denser here."

"Wouldn't led ya down a thicket without a torch, Lass."

"Of course not, whatever that means." Good, he wasn't the only one. "Then while Mash and I work on establishing the connection, you two Servants can make sure Archer isn't going to attack us again. Or rather… Lancer, you look out for Archer, and Jesus, you catch that sword if it falls again." Ritsuka glared at her. He ignored the affirmative from the blue gowned man as he jumped to the building's roof. Hard to ignore, but he did. His Lord was being insulted after all.

"Director Olga, Jesus Christ isn't someone to order like this." His words earned the cross armed posture of the woman. "He isn't someone you can tell to do things."

"I'm telling him to defend us. Isn't that what you do when you pray? I heard you saying plenty of them back in the manor's regalia room."

"I was asking for his protection, but I can't tell him to give it to me." His cross was heavy with the words.

"Actually, you can, and the crests on your hand are proof." Ritsuka covered them on instinct, wishing for a second time now he could rip them off. "We don't have time to hear you bemoan having the Son of the Abraham God at your beck and call. If you are so against ordering him, then you go out there and try to stop the next sword that falls on us."

"Director," Mash's words were matched by and outstretched hand, but Olga didn't look at her.

Neither did Ritsuka. He was too focused on the furious amber eyes of the prideful woman.

His fist clenched, wondering if Jesus would respect or judge him for striking a woman who belittled his name. Like the people who mocked him for asking for change, telling him to tell God to give him his means, or the children who walked out of Church on Saturdays, eager to escape his sight from Sunday. This woman was the same, and she was proud of it.

"I will do that." His response earned a look of surprise from the woman. "I think… I need to pray with him. My Lord, may I pray with you?"

"You never have need to ask such a thing from me," his savior responded down to him, smile able to banish the fears and anger that Ritsuka felt bubbling. "We may speak wherever and whenever you are in need."

"May we speak now? I need… I need your guidance." He did not look at Olga or Mash. He kept eyes on his savior, who kept his blue gaze upon him.

"Then let us speak. My consul is for you to prosper from." His arms were open and inviting, showing Ritsuka to a room a door he had no knowledge of. It could have been on fire for all he cared. His Lord was asking him to walk through it.

"H-Hey! Ritsuka!" He ignored Olga's cry for his name, walking through Jesus's open door.

---

"Ritsuka! Dammit!" Olga cursed as the boy entered the building, Jesus Christ following him. Her fists clenched as her teeth grated. "That stupid boy, acting as if Servants can't be ordered! No skill, no talent, no magic, he's going to become a liability that'll cost us our lives!"

"I don't… think that's true, Director." Amber eyes swirled to Mash, only to see the newly awakened Demi-Servant almost jump under her gaze. Olga let out a bitter sigh.

"You're one of the most valuable employees at Chaldea, but that doesn't mean you understand how to judge others. Trust me, Mash. I'm the one who has visited both the Clocktower and Atlas, not to mention I've been trained by my father, before at least, with judging the worth of others when it comes to future uses. It's necessary for managing the worth of the Animusphere fortune."

"And you believe… Senpai is not worth much?"

"He's not, but because of how he's acting. If he were to recognize his position as the lone Master and properly act as one, then he'd be worth more. But until he starts to listen to me, all I can do is remind him of where he stands." She combed her hair, clicking her tongue as she saw soot come off of it. Even this far away, ash and ruin rained with the first burning in the city. "He's not going to learn through kindness and lies."

"Jesus has been forthcoming though, and Senpai is very knowledgeable of him." Olga's eyes narrowed as the girl's hands worked over her shield. The power of the Leylines began to fold under it, the pressure of the Prana growing the more the girl worked. The shield was reacting well at least. "He's saved me… us, many times. A-And he is incredibly wise."

"Jesus Christ is one of the four great sages of the world, next to Buddha, Confucius, and Socrates. Of course he is wise. And more than that I'm not doubting the worth of Jesus. What I'm upset by is how Ritsuka appears to be unable to treat him as a Servant, instead trying to turn himself into one." Her nails scratched at her jacket, ruined as before. "The power dynamics are reversed, and it will only make future endeavors harder to work through."

"It will?"

"Of course!" Olga almost shouted. "How much time will it take for them to move if everything has to be translated into respectful words or begging tithes!? If Ritsuka were a proper Master to Jesus, then it would be as simple as 'do this', and it would be done! But now he has to ask and wonder and learn before he can so much as find a place of rest! When it comes time for a battle with the two, who knows what will happen!"

"It won't… won't be bad, will it?" Mash honestly bit her lip as she looked up. "He was able to keep Archer away from us, and Lancer said he was more than capable in a fight."

"But he didn't fight back," Olga pointed out. "Again, I have no doubt Jesus is strong, but the Servants in this war aren't going to listen to reason. They aren't going to listen to him. Remember how Berserker just kept screaming at him?" She couldn't forget at least. She thought Cu was going to die with the mud that was spilling out of the mad woman. "He could have taken her sword and run her through, or held her for Cu to do something with, but because he was such a pacifist and Ritsuka his follower, the Servant got away."

"She did, but… we are alive still." Olga let out a long sigh.

"For now, but we've also been buried alive, nearly burned, and you almost died just by arriving here." The girl looked down and away. "I'm… Sorry, I'm not trying to remind you of that. I just don't want you to think you can depend on Ritsuka. Not before he starts to prove himself."

"When will that be?"

"Hard to say." Olga shrugged, taking a long breath of the burning air. "I just hope it's soon. If he is half as good as you, he would have proven himself twice over by now." Mash didn't react to her words. It was clear why.

For not even a few moments after she was done, the shield began to spark. A collection of prana infused orbs jutting out from the large shield, circling it in a rapidly increasing rate. So fast that they moved from trails of light to a halo, glowing over the hardened steel. Olga smiled up appreciatively at it.

"See? This is what I mean. The boy can't do anything like this. He can only complain I'm not giving respect to his Servant." Olga grinned pridefully. "Meanwhile, you begin connections back to Chaldea, with magecraft and intelligence. Well done, Mash."

"Thank you… Director," the girl's subdued gratitude came slowly. Olga nodded her head and waited. Any moment now… any moment…

Any moment… Soon… Eventually.

"You did establish connection with them, correct?" She quirked an eye to the Demi-Servant. A nervous shake of her head was answer. "Then what is-"

"Hello! Hello! Can you read me!?" The sudden shout perforating the air nearly made Olga jump. "This is Doctor Romani Archaman at Chaldea! Who am I speaking to? A team A Member? Lev?" It was an odd feeling, seeing the medical doctor's worried expression coming to focus on the screen.

Focused enough for her to see frantic motions as he poured over a panel and almost hyperventilating as he shouted. It earned a long sigh from Olga. Of course this was how connection was established.

"Dr. Archaman, this is Olga Marie Animusphere, Director of Chaldea and in the company of Mash Kyrielight. Can you hear me?" The man's gasp of shock, and nearly blinding grin of relief, was a good answer. "I'll take that as a yes."

"An absolute yes! Oh thank God in heaven!" Olga heard cheers behind the man's two-dimensional image. Clapping as well. "You're the first person we've established connection with since the explosion. It's been nearly a day!"

"A day… yes, that seems right in timing," Olga noted. "No wait, time doesn't matter. What happened?"

"Oh! Right! You don't know!" The sound of the doctor floundering on the other side of the projection. "We still don't know what exactly happened, as in what caused it, but there were a series of explosions in the prana crystallization terminals, close to the crypts in the Rayshift chamber. The explosions caused damage throughout the facility. We… still don't have a death tally."

"They're… dead?" Mash's quiet voice was like thunder. "H-How many?"

"Mash… we don't know. But… more than I'd like to say."

"How agreeable." Olga rubbed the bridge of her nose. This was worse than she imagined. She thought there was damage on their end, but not to the point of a death tally uncountable. "I'm assuming that communication was knocked out as well?"

"Y-Yes, that's right. We haven't been able to contact the outside. Something is wrong with the SHEBA system as well."

"That one I know," the Director returned. "It's sent us to the fifth holy Grail War my father fought in, except that he's already dead, and all the servants but one have been corrupted by the grail!"

"It WHAT?!" This time she watched the normally lackadaisical man stand up.

Then fall over as he was jerked back.

"Go grab a cup of coffee Romani~," the sing song voice came out, followed quickly by Da Vinci stepping into frame. Her mechanical arm waved at Olga, the perpetual smile still on her face. Olga was wondering who she preferred to speak to. "And hello Director, and Mash! Do I see you've awakened the Demi-Servant in you? You have Prana readings far exceeding what you went in with, so don't tease me~." It was an honest tossup.

"She did, but a lot has happened," Olga redirected. "You said you haven't had contact with any of the other Masters, but do you have readings on any of them?"

"Straight to the point and pen to paper, you are your father's daughter." The compliment washed over her. Given the fire of the city, that was a soothing balm. "We have yet to breach the blast doors, though we should be able to open it within the next hour, maybe two depending on the damage to flooring when they enter."

"Good, but that isn't what I asked." The Mona Lisa titled her head but didn't lose her smile. "Da Vinci, where are the other masters?" Mash shifted next to her, hands folded over her chest.

"… We don't know where they are, we are honestly surprised by the area you've said you've ended up in. Even through my absolute genius, I've only been able to count the number of successful rayshifts. The Spiritron board was able to-"

"Da Vinci, the numbers." Olga gripped her forearms with clenched hands. She wished grit teeth would prepare her."

"Ten. There is a total of ten members of the teams that successfully rayshifted." The number sat in Olga's head.

Ten.

"T-T-Ten?" Mash's voice wavered next to Olga. The girl's lip was trembling, and Olga felt herself snarling at the ground, the glow of the shield and connection of Chaldea almost glaring down on her. "Only…"

"And you have no idea who?"

"You have more of an idea than us, Director~," the woman's hand rolled with her words. "Care to share on just what has happened on your end?" The woman's perpetual smile cut off with a finger to her lips.

Olga didn't waste time telling them everything.

---

Romani couldn't believe it. They were in hell. And here he was thinking they were the ones staring at it from the command center, looking at fire and smoke coming out of crushed or severed coffins. But no, the Director was the one dumped into hell. The same war her father had fought in, but one that had gone off the rails with her father dying.

Dying… Marisbury dying, HIM dying. Both of them… it had to be hell.

Just what happened in that place that rendered him unable to kill it?

"That does sound like a deviation from the Human Order, especially considering we are standing in living proof of how that war was meant to unfold~," Da Vinci swayed as she spoke. "Though… that may be evidence that the Rayshifting worked."

"How did you get THAT conclusion?!" The shout from the Director was one that Romani wanted to make himself.

"Several reasons, more of them only to my understanding because of my genius~! But I can simplify them for you, through my excellent dictation and comprehension of the material." The woman hummed, even as she was looking at her superior standing in what had to be an aspect of hell.

Romani couldn't forget it.

"The SHEBA system, designed by Marisbury and yours truly." Modified, not designed. "Was dedicated to observing the Human Order, cataloging historical events, energy readings, and the proposed outcomes of said events. The magnificent piece of Magical Technology allows for it dictate what are the heaviest deviations of the Human Order, recording them depending on their Human Order Foundation Value."

"I know all of this."

"But are you aware of how they are judged~?" The woman continued to hum. "Of course, the older orders tend to be ranked higher, as any deviation from yesterday shouldn't possibly compare to the same event happening three thousand years ago. However, there is more than a single variable for judging these temporal holes in the Order. And one of them is the impact upon the establishment of the SHEBA system itself."

"You ranked the events to depend upon the creation of the SHEBA system?" Romani didn't know that, and he was there when Marisbury was talking about designing it. He was there when Lev was helping. The sure smile from the famed Mona Lisa spoke volumes.

"I added it! After all, if we were ever to find a minor singularity, one that wouldn't be given UN approval to rayshift to, it would be important to ensure it wouldn't result in the loss of this facility~." Her point was founded, and it made perfect sense. The Director agreed.

"Makes sense… so if my father did die during this war… then that means that Chaldea would never be founded."

"And the SHEBA system with it. I must say, I dare to guess the last gasp of the system used Zephyrs' wind to send you to a place that would ensure its survival!." Romani could imagine the Queen of the old land doing just that, even as she came with enough gold to buy several kingdoms, to earn a moment of his time.

He shook his head. That wasn't important. Present, not past.

"Then handling the grail just became a higher priority. With luck that is where the other Masters are. It won't be easy…"

"We have Senpai to help us, a-and Lancer, and Jesus as well. With them we'll have more luck."

"Oh yes, the last man to enter the rayshifting chamber who lived, and without a crypt." The woman swayed as she hummed. "Perhaps he is a miracle attributable to the Servant he summoned. The Lord does work in mysterious ways~." Romani couldn't believe he almost forgot.

"Oh! Yes! Jesus! He summoned Jesus Christ!" He was on his feet again, staring at the screen. Olga gave an ire filled look, Mash glancing over her shoulder.

"Jesus Christ, the subject of so much renaissance art~." Da Vinci nearly swayed on her feet. "The Pieta, Salvator Mundi, The Sacred Heart, Assumption of the Blessed Virgin, and on and on." She was nearly dancing.

"Art aside, Jesus Christ is among one of the most heralded names in history, and he is the Son of God." A god he was claimed to be the coming of. "If you were able to summon him, then that'll be a great help."

"He's not nearly as much help as you two are making him out to be." That gave Romani pause. "He's capable, and I'm not about to deny his legends or history, but he was so against confrontation that he let both Berserker and Archer go after he had them surrendering. He's a great shield, but he's wholly against the actual killing of the other Servants. And that just touches on the issue of how the boy treats him."

"Hmm… are you saying the other Master-"

"He doesn't act like a master!" Olga shouted. "The beginning and end of his worth relates to summoning Jesus at all! He treats the summoned servant like a God and makes himself the subservient one! He gives no orders, has no talent of casting, likely is staving of necrosis by the skin of his teeth, and believes that I'm in the wrong for wanting to use all the tools we have at our disposal!"

"Oh my~," Da Vinci let out, hand to her lip. "He sounds like a pious man."

"We don't need piety! We need-"

BOOOOOM!

The sound of the eruption made Romani wish for a terrifying moment it was on Olga's side of the feed.

The shaking of the floor beneath him said otherwise.

"Wh-What happened what was that!?"

"Doctor! Are you alright!?" Mash and Olga shouted over the connection. He didn't have time to see them. His face was on the monitors again, pouring over them. The rest of the room was filled with shouting.

"Another explosion in the Rayshift Chamber! Contained, no casualties, but causing severe damage to the life systems!"

"How was there another explosion!?" He shouted, getting the look of terrified employees.

"Th-The oxygen line! We had it diverted down an ancillary line to keep it away from the fires, but the circuitry melting must have caused a bi-lateral valve opening. It went down both lines… and blew them up." Romani cursed.

"Shut down the line again, there's enough oxygen to keep them alive for twenty minutes." Da Vinci took over. "We'll open the valves again at that time and reduce the flowrate by 66%."

"I-If it's that low, they might not get enough oxygen to keep their bodies alive!"

"WHAT!?" Olga's anger wasn't only understood, it was shared.

"I'll take over monitoring them. A genius like me immediately knows how to preserve a body. I've studied them long enough~." Romani took her confidence in stride. "I suppose this puts a new time constraint on your mission, Director."

"No kidding!" The young leader shouted back. "Ugh! If its not being chased by monsters or having buildings dropped on me, its explosions and weapons being thrown at me! Mash, pick up the shield and let's go. CU! I KNOW YOU CAN HEAR ME! Get down, we have to go!" The director shouted, even as she twisted away.

"Dr. Archaman," Mash's voice echoed through the cacophony, earning his undivided attention. "I'm sorry we didn't have more time to talk, o-or if I did a bad job."

"Mash, no, you're doing amazing." He got in front of the screen, flashing the biggest smile he could, even as people were shouting around him. "You not only saved the Director's life, you saved someone you hardly even know. You awakened the Servant in you, and you've been teaching the 48th Master."

"I haven't taught him a lot. just basics."

"That's where we all start, and you started later than most." Her lone eye looked at him, filtered blue through the screen. "But you've learned what you did so well, now you're teaching others. That's a great thing. Be proud of that, cause I'm proud of you." He smiled his fullest. "And I know you're going to teach him a lot more."

Even as the Director was shouting in the background, the newly crowned Demi-Servant smiled through the connection, a subdued sign of cheer for the doctor.

"Thank you, Romani. I… I'll see you soon!"

"Mash! We have to hurry!"

"Okay! Um, goodbye!" He watched her reach for the shield, lifting it up, and severing the connection. He dropped his head, watching the screen fold and blip away.

"See ya."

"Roooomaniiiii~." The sing-song voice of Da Vinci drew him out of his short reverie. "I do love how dotting you are on our little Demi-Servant, but I would much rather you assist with the oxygen problem, especially if we are to recover the Masters still in the crypts~."

"R-Right, on it," he agreed. "I'll get the Oxygen tanks and respirators from the med bay. No wait. Is there a path cleared there yet?" One of the operators turned to answer him.

"Yes, sir! Remaining security forces say that there are supplies left."

"Good, put me in contact with them. I'll tell them what to secure." He put his face back to the console, fingers flying across the keyboard as he made up a list of equipment and medications.

Mash, the Director, and everyone else who made it through the Rayshift were racing a clock to save the Human Order and get back home. He had to make sure they got back home safe.

---

He took another long breath of air. He tasted the soot, running his tongue on the roof of his parched mouth. But he kept his mind on his breathing focusing on that.

Ritsuka had to keep his mind on his appearance as he worshipped his Lord.

No… as he conversed with his Lord.

"Your mind is acute, Ritsuka Fujimaru." The Lord spoke kindly to him. "Speak your troubles to me." He took a long breath before answering his lord and savior.

"Olga Marie… she is the Director of Chaldea… and she does not respect you," he spoke on bended knee. "She treats you as she calls you, a servant, and demands that I treat you as my lesser. It angers me, my Lord."

"It is a thing that may cause anger, but have you seen me raise voice and demands of her."

"No, but I believe that is because you have the patience of heaven. It is why I try and emulate you, but… but how can I speak to Mash of your greatness if I make myself meek whenever she puts you down."

"Have you been verbose in other matters?"

"I… don't like to be."

"It is not easy bearing mockery, but I believe there are many who would rather hear harsh words rather than walk through the flames of hell." A hand, light and strong, comforting and lording, held his shoulder. "And yet you spoke of the words of a superior rather than the terrors of this land. Why is that?"

"I… I'm not fearful of this place," Ritsuka answered honestly. "I have you, and with you I have no fears. But I have anger for those who disrespect you." Jesus nodded with his words.

"Then you are a great warrior for my church. I ask you only be mindful of the true enemies." True enemies. "The views of your Director, the head of the mystics of Chaldea, is that of a pagan. Ignorant of the word, acknowledging of the truth. She will listen in time, and you will speak to her of the Word. She will learn from you, as is Mash Kyrielight."

"Mash does not disrespect you."

"And she will hear my word before Olga," he answered with no pause. "But that does not make one superior to the other. Speak to them both, and embrace them as they worship my name. Can you do this?" There was no reason to ask.

"For you my Lord, I shall." The Lord smiled upon him, and his soul was at peace. The fires of the city that had scalded and mocked him were nothing, and the terrors of the Servants that could rend him were insects not worth thought.

"All will be well, Ritsuka Fujimaru. All will be will." All would be well, by his decree.

"Yo!" He did almost jump at the voice. "You guys here!?"

"An unorthodox method of searching, Child of Light." Jesus commented as he faced the windows. From one of the rafters hung the blue-suited Lancer, holding his red lance over his shoulder. "But we are here."

"Good! Lassie was lookin' for ya. Didn't get the greatest of news from yer home base."

"What happened? Did something else go wrong?" It wasn't terror the filled Ritsuka, but worry. He left when it was on fire and the smoke was dense enough suffocate him. He wasn't even sure there was a facility left to return to.

"Ain't sure. Just know the lass was callin' me in the straights and askin' ta put a rush on findin' ya. That said." He twisted around, putting his lance bearing hand to his mouth. "Oi! They're here!"

"There's no reason for her to walk so far for this message," Jesus spoke after Cu's shout. "We will meet her here."

"Appreciated, but I was already nearby," Olga was in the room in a moment. She must have been searching for them already. "I just finished communications with Chaldea, or it would be finer to say that communications were cut off." That changed things, somewhat.

"Were you attacked?" He looked at the Director, seeing only dirt and sweat coating her. Mash shook her head behind her. "Then what happened?"

"It wasn't on our end. It happened in Chaldea. And no, they weren't attacked again." She must have seen the worry creeping on his face. "They weren't able to contain the fires before they were able to melt through to the oxygen tanks. They had to keep those running in order to keep our bodies alive, but now they're titrating it to smother out the fire without killing us."

"So we… have to get home before we run out of oxygen?"

"Yes, our priority is now to destroy the Holy Grail as soon as we can."

"And the other Masters?"

"They had better be there," was her quick retort. "Otherwise, the best we can do is send Cu off to do another lap around the city for them. We won't have time to search for them once the grail is destroyed." That was alarming.

"Then… if they're not there-"

"Then we'll Rayshift home, they'll likely be unable to, and the breaking of the Spiritrons will likely result in their death." She threw up her hand. "I don't know the specifics nor do I think you'll understand, but they will die, and don't presume I am happy about this. I am desperate to hope that they are in the Grail Chamber, and I am sure only by the deduction that they are."

"They'll die?" Ritsuka felt his stomach twist and knot.

"We'll die." She added, slapping her sternum. "All of us, them included." She was scowling again. "I am not satisfied with this, and were it possible, I'd demand we search all of the ruined city for the missing Masters, beneath every block of rubble and through every ash pile. But we can't, because if we're too slow, then we'll die through asphyxiation, and the all of Human Order will cease to be."

"I've seen softer rocks than this," Cu noted, swinging in from the window. "Puttin' us on the clock. Least we're close ta the Chamber, and with an extra hand to match arms with." The tip head of his lance indicated Mash. Ritsuka's unease did not lessen.

Not even as the girl who he had saved, and had saved him, lifted up the likely ton's weight steel and gave a confident nod. It was hard to see her as equal to the woman who healed with black sludge, an Archer that made Cu run across the city to survive, or a Saber who crafted pillars of darkness to fall like fingers of the devil…

A shield alone didn't promise much.

"Then we will venture to the chamber of the Grail." The words of Jesus did. "So we may save you and those who wait."

"Thank you." Olga was emphatic. "So… let's think of a plan, quickly." At least she had her focus. "Mash will stay back initially, to defend us." Her hand waved towards him.

"Nah, that ain't a good idea," Cu interrupted. "She's got a shield, Lass. Whole point of that is ta stick ta the front. She'll let the Berserker bear down on her and do nothin' and I can get a clean kill. If it was archer alone, sure, but it ain't that way."

"I-I think I should be at the front as well," Mash stood to her tallest, the second shortest person in the classroom. "I was able to defend Senpai and you, Director, but I… I can't have Cu fight the Servants alone."

"Alright, alright! Then… then you and Cu will lead, try and take out the Berserker first, so that way you can tackle Archer, if he is present." Her fingers came together from opposite sides. "Because if we try and focus on him, then Berserker has the chance to attack you from behind. Or even worse, attack us."

"Ain't against tha', but I'm thinkin' Jesus over here will take on the crazy lady. She wasn't fawnin' over him, that's for sure."

"No, but he also won't kill her, won't you?" Ritsuka tightened his hand into a fist. The hand of Jesus on his shoulder kept him grounded.

"I will inflict no harm on a lost soul," his Lord spoke surely. "But neither does that mean I will allow sin to be inflicted upon you all. So long as I am present, I will keep the vices of those who rebel against the Word away."

"Well there ya have it!" Cu double tapped his lance on the ground. "I'm the one used ta being the guard dog, but if we're trading roles, I'm willin' ta let ya. Couple of Demi-gods, huh?" His toothy grin calmed nothing in Ritsuka. None of them respected his Lord.

"We are not the same, Child of Light." His Lord's words were decisive. "In few ways to we align, in no ways do our origins intertwine."

"Don't go sayin' that. I think we got a lot in common. Both bein' heroes of our age, born from the big God up above?" Ritsuka, by order of his Lord, tempered his anger. "Even both died fer our men. More than a few points."

"Your role was assigned by mistakes in life. Mine was ordained by my father." His words echoed in the room. "My father is the Lord of Hosts, King of Heaven and Earth. Yours was an angel of who's true name was unknown to you."

"Wait, what?" Even Olga sounded surprised by that one.

"You perished in battle for the lives of your men, against an army thirst for yours. I died for all men, and I returned to see them uplifted. We do not align, Child of Light."

"Oh? Gettin' testy now? Maybe you do got a bit of bite in ya?" Lancer swirled his lance. "A got one to match my bark, haven't had a chance to let it fly yet. Thinkin' putting the kiddo's life on the line is worth it?"

"No! We are not going to waste precious time with a debate about worth! We have far more important matters to work at!" She combed her hair with a huff, before laying amber eyes on Ritsuka. "But Lancer's words did remind me. We made connection with Chaldea, so we have established the circuit connection with them."

"I… don't know what that means." He could see the ire and fatigue take over her confidant features.

"Senpai, it means that you will not be supplying Jesus and Cu with Prana. You… Chaldea will be supplying them, and you are now more like… like a conduit rather than the source. It's more efficient, a-and it will prevent you from wearing out your magical circuits."

"Meaning you have less chance of falling over dead from anyone here going all out." Olga pointed, literally. "So I'm hoping this will give you the leg up you need to fight Archer and Berserker, Cu."

"Course it will! I've been waitin' for this!" He slammed his chest with his fist.

A small boom echoed out around them, and Ritsuka couldn't help but relate to like standing next to a vent before the AC was turned onto max. And imitated that, from a half a dozen feet away, by pounding his chest. He couldn't afford to forget how strong he was.

And how much above him his lord was.

"Good. And Mash, we still don't know what Servant Core you have, but you are able to utilize the shield, right?"

"I-I think so." They watched the girl lift and direct the shield, with considerable ease given the size. "I can't say… um, I don't know if I'll know how to really fight, but I know how to defend. There are… ideas in my head about it."

"Ideas?"

"Likely the Saint Graph from the Servant she's fused with," Olga explained. "Demi-Servants are a rarity, but aside from increased physical abilities and Spiritron core differentiation, they also carry with them experiences and skills. It makes since you don't know how to fight when explained with words, but the Saint Graph is like… a level of instinct to them."

"Don't need to think ta breath, don't need a thought to fight." Cu proved clearly that shorter explanation did not provide a better explanation.

"The point, Mash, is that you will likely be able to fight." The director put her hands on Mash's shoulders, staring at her. "But if you, for any reason, think that you are in danger, or that you're about to die, get out of there."

"I… I can do that." Her nod was slow, but Ritsuka could hear her grip on the shield. "I will."

"Good, don't forget it." She stepped back, before spinning and assessing them. Her nods of approval were saved when she gazed at him. "For all intents and purposes, we are rushing to the Grail chamber. It's not much of a strategy on our parts, but that's because we don't have time. As long as we're fast, and we have a bit of good luck on our side, we may be able to free the other Masters, and with their help, we can end this nightmare."

"Sounds good to me." Cu bowed deeply. "Lead the way, Lass." Ritsuka could see her hair bristle, again.

She stomped past him, muttering choice profanities. He laughed, walking out with a beat to his step. Ritsuka stepped aside for his Lord to pass.

"Ritsuka, you walk ahead."

"My Lord?"

"Follow Olga Animusphere. I wish to speak to Mash first." Both of them were startled.

"Je… Lord Jesus?" The title made him smile.

"It is of nothing to worry or fret. I only wish to speak to you about fears." He strode to stand before her, placing a hand upon her head. "You are restless, and it is your thoughts and doubts that weigh upon you. I wish to speak to you, and so I may carry these from you. Do you wish to speak to me?"

"Oh, um…" her eyes glanced at Ritsuka. "Y-Yes. I would… I would like that."

"Very good. Ritsuka, please walk ahead." He nodded. "And if the Director of the Mystics inquires, let her know I am preparing Mash for the trials ahead." He nodded once more, slower.

"It will be done, my Lord." For the first time, willingly, he hurried from Jesus' presence, glancing at Mash as he left. She would be okay. He knew she would be. There was no reason to doubt his Lord.

He was going to save them all.

---

It was a miracle almost akin to Jesus himself that Olga was patient with Ritsuka when he delivered the news, perhaps because he had spoken to her as he had commanded.

"If he's going to be using some part of his personal skills to ensure her survival, I'm not about to stop him." She had said. "And don't you forget. I don't doubt his abilities, just the admiration you have for him." She added. If only she stopped earlier.

But it was thanks to his confession and time of adoration with Jesus that he was able to only bow his head and thank her, waiting for Mash and Jesus to return. It took little time for them to arrive, and less time for them to begin their trek towards the Holy Grail Chamber.

Ritsuka would admit, he felt as if he were walking towards the devil's chambers.

The city was still burning, and with fires that seemed even more intense than when they first arrived. Perhaps it was the silence between eh five of them, kept away only by the dragging of steel or crunch of boots over ash, but the fires roared with not laughter, but terror. They shouted warnings with each gust of air, almost trying to grab Ritsuka with each hot lick of their billowy curtains.

But it was not enough to stop him. He endeavored through it, for he had the Word guiding him, and the Son of God as his path. More than once, he saw Mash look towards him, carrying a shield he would be challenged to push.

It was for that reason that instead of worried glances, he offered Mash kind smiles and sure nods. He was not afraid, for he was by the one who had conquered the world. She should not be afraid either. And each time, she returned with a smile of her own, before turning and looking at Jesus, her smile as immaculate as before.

A trio of them, walking with Jesus towards a relic of his corrupted by vile forces… and they were smiling.

"Oi, might wanna march front and center Lassie." Cu waved his lance at Mash. "I'm feelin' someone's got their eye on us." Mash made a noise of understanding, bowing her head to both Ritsuka and Jesus before stepping forth, shield raised.

It took Ritsuka a moment to realize it wasn't rubble and ruin like the rest of the city. It was a section of the mountains, beaten and rolled over, with fires having already charred and burned away all that was flammable. And then, it looked like it had been eroded, him reminding him of sea-side debris that had been beaten by waves for years.

But this was recent, it had to be, unless he'd gotten the timing of the war all wrong. It was a war, though.

"That feels… sick," Olga's words cut him off. He looked at the Director, only to see her gripping her biceps with white knuckles. "Putrid even. That's the Holy Grail?"

"It is wrong," Mash agreed, raising her shield higher as she walked. "It is like… like nothing I've ever felt before. I don't like it."

"Glad ya don't, makes me worry less 'bout either of ya tryin' to take a mud bath." The man twisted his head back to stare at Ritsuka, and then flick his red eyes at Jesus. "Don't suppose either of you are feelin' the heat, huh?"

"I don't," Ritsuka answered honestly. "But I thought that was because I don't have anything magical about me." He rubbed the back of his palm, the red cross Master Seals dropping from sight. "At least anything that's just me."

"When one is forced to sear his feet in the fires of hell and endeavor the bile of Baal and his ilk, the taint of a miracle is disappointing more than ghastly."

"Makes sense, probably why neither of us are turnin' our noses, huh? You walked through hell, and I dipped into the Shadowlands." He twisted his lance about himself, showing off now, Ritsuka was sure. "Feels more and more like your descriptor than mine though, gotta admit."

"In this regard, I'd rather it be more akin to your homeland than the land of the fallen angels. One could have celebrations and warmth, but in a place mirroring the deepest pits, we will find nothing but anguish and false promises."

"It's good you've realized that," Olga commented, before turning a gaze to him. "And in case you don't, or forgot, the Holy Grail is a wish granting machine, but any wish made on it now would doubtlessly lead to a corrupt wish with malevolent consequences. So don't think of using it. How much longer, Lancer? I'm starting to feel like I need to take a bath, desperately."

"No longer. We're here." Ritsuka looked up.

In front of them was the cut of a mountain side, almost literally at that. Like something that Saber must have done either before or during the many strikes with her blade. It ripped out what likely once was a large hill, something like many of the hilly regions of Japan, into a plateau standing over the burning valley of the decaying city. At the base of the great jut, scouring the already dreadful slice of the earth, was a cavern.

A cave that he could see nothing within, that felt as if it were a place he'd avoid faster than any dark alleys at night or invitations from unknown sources. He could hear nothing but the screech of flames, and yet he felt his hearing being dampened just by staring at the pit in the hill. He swallowed on nothing, feeling nothing, and that made him nervous.

"How decrepit." Olga summarized briefly. "Mash, be sure to keep your guard up when we enter there. Everything about feels like a trap."

"Yes Director."

"So disgusting. It's small wonder you avoided this." Her words made the Lancer snort.

"Didn't avoid it 'cause it felt off. I avoided it 'cause I'm not good enough ta swipe at Saber, Archer, and Berserker. Now we just got a chance." He twisted back around. "And it looks like the lucky lass has decided to prove my point." His offhand pointed towards the cave.

And from it, like an encroaching nightmare, arose the figure of the Berserker from before. The same dark top, the same blood red skirt, the same ruinous appearance matched in her blades. But now, there was more.

Now she was trailed by shadows, mud and corruption dripping from her. For any other time, Ritsuka would have thought she had walked out of the bog of nightmares, dripping with literal sin. The anger that was scorned over her features, cut through her lip and fashioning her red hair into a motely appearance of a demonic visage, made it all the clearer.

"She looks… different."

"Lookin' like she's been charged up by the Grail. Doesn't mean much for us then. I don't see Archer. But that's cause he's hidin' back, tryin' ta snipe us out, that's fer sure. Maybe try and ambush if we-"

"He's beyond the breadth of the trees, deep within as the height of a fallen oak." His Lord pointed beside them, above and past the dark cavern and the sludge-covered woman. "The desire for sin is impossible to miss, as he dreams of taking our lives."

"Thank you for pointing him out, though I hope we can rob him of those aspirations," Olga nodded stiffly. "Then, just as we planned, take out Berserker, then Archer. Sound good?"

"Sounds fine ta me!" Cu lowered himself, lance ready to be thrust forward. "Just keep the Archer's bolts offa' me, Lass, and I'll keep the woman back. Trust me, I got a talent for handlin' the feisty ones."

"A-Alright," Mash replied, glancing back towards himself. No, Ritsuka realized, towards Jesus. "I'll do my best." The air was stiff in that moment, and Ritsuka gripped his fists tight. HE was supposedly in charge of the, but he had no idea what to say.

Thankfully, The Director did.

"Very well, then Cu Chulainn, Mash Kyrielight, go forth for Chaldea and secure us victory!"

"YES!" The pair of them charged, just as Olga retreated to beside Jesus. Ritsuka did not comment.

"RAAAAAAGH!"

Instead, they watched as the roar of Berserker shook the air and made the cleaved mountainside shudder, just as she raised launched herself forward. She met Cu with a ripple in the air that had Ritsuka taking a step back, what he could through the cross of his arms.

He watched as the Berserker and Cu battered against one another like they had on the hillside before, jumping around and slashing with chipped sword and red lance at one another. The earth cracked each time they jumped, and ripples in the air each moment they met. Cu danced about the Berserker more often than before, ducking under her slices and vaulting over her stabs, each time taking swipes at her.

But each time his lance dug in, the woman twisted and all but wrenched it out. What would have felt horrible, having muscles being torn, instead only made the woman's gold eyes glow like sickly lights, as the miasma of darkness filled in the gaps of her wound. Spittle came out as she roared in anger, and each strike having to swing faster. Ritsuka only realized that when Cu started to lose their clashes.

That was when Mash stepped in.

The girl he had tried to save, crushed under a column of stone and then dead in a land of fire and ruin, carrying a shield looking befit for giants, and matching the terrifying strength of the red-haired woman.

When Cu was unable to resist a strike, Mash was there to catch the blade or shield of the Berserker and beat it back, letting Cu regain his footing and jump in again. She at one moment would swing her shield up, holding it above her head and forcing the Berserker to hold her arms up as well, and in the next, Cu had swum underneath her to send his lance screaming forth, gutting the Berserker.

It only came each time with the woman twisting angrily away with portions of her body being removed, then replaced. And each time, Ritsuka felt his gut twist.

"How disgusting. It's a mockery of Heroic Spirits to have one twisted like that." He agreed with Olga immensely.

"Those who delve into sin looking for light shall never find it. And rather than heed my word, they sink lower, believing they only need to search deeper. The farther they fall, the further they are kept from my grace." His Lord's answer came with a heavy sigh. "And so I must bear the horror of the failure of spirit."

"Whatever the reason, just watch out for Archer, if he tries to attack us, you're the only one who can protect us. Mash and Cu have to focus on her." His anger rose, naturally, and fell, by his Lord's request.

"I will protect. Such is my vow. Just as I will protect them." Ritsuka watched on with his Lord.

Watching as Cu jumped over the Berserker as she tried to stab at him. Her blade severed the ground, making him nearly lose footing even from so far away. Mash, however, slammed her shield down on the blade, pinning it. The Berserker roared again as she tried to pull back, but the weight and strength of the girl were too much. It left Cu plenty of time.

"Thanks, Lassie!" His shout came as his spear slammed forth.

Ritsuka had to look away as the Berserker's head was gored. His Lord put a hand to his shoulder in comfort.

"There, 'bout time we took her off the field. Always hard ta see the forest from the trees when they're all covered in smoke." The Lancer still stood proudly, even with the Berserker's head pierced on his weapon. His grin was the image of proud. "That just leaves-"

TWANG! The sound of a dull boom made Ritsuka think a bomb went off.

It wasn't until his vision corrected itself did he realize it was coming from Mash's shield, as she struck it forward beside Cu, and with a bolt large as himself clattering across the ground. He stared at it, for the first time realizing the danger of the Archer.

"There he is. Yer turn then?" Cu shouted. "Want me ta chuck my own weapon at ya? Or you gonna have the stones of your legend ta look me in the eye?"

"I can already see the joy in your gaze, Lancer." The voice echoed out, and it made Ritsuka tense. It sounded like he was being whispered to over his shoulder, but spinning around, he saw no one but Olga, Mash, Cu, and his lord and savior. "I'm thankfully your eyes are not as keen."

What did that mean?

"JUMP!" The command came as a shout, from his Lord.

Mash followed in an instant. Cu did not.

SHRINK! And his punishment was the chipped sword of Berserker spiking his gut.

"NO!" Olga shouted. Even as Cu let out an angry noise and kicked the decapitated body. The body, drowning in darkness and with miasma pouring from its neck, stood standing. The head on his lance unblinking. "WHAT KIND OF SKILL IS THAT!?" Ritsuka had no breath or answer.

"Romans… ROMANS…." But the headless body whispered a response. Shuddering and twitches of its body as the halter top wrapped and spiked, the veiny protrusions of the woman's arms spinning with the mud and darkness. "All of you… romans… MUST diiiEEeeEE!" Her hands, now more like claws, grabbed at her lack of a head.

And pulled from the severed neck a new black ball of darkness, ripped from her interiors. Ritsuka took a step back in horror.

"Killing my daughters… Killing my children… killing and killing and kill." Words fell from the ball of dripping darkness, falling away to reveal the angry red hair and gleaming malicious golden eyes of the Berserker once again. Her teeth were fangs, and lips pulled back to show the snarl. "Kill for the killing… Kill for the Romans you ARE!"

"SENPAI!" The shout dragged his attention.

TWANG! Just in time to see his Lord swat another loosened arrow from the sky. The rip of the air dragged at his cheek, making him hiss in surprise. But he was alright, even if the bolt of an arrow landed dozens of feet away.

"His eyes are keen. They must be, for one who knows my name." The disembodied voice of the Archer spoke again. "A pity he blinds himself with false good, instead of hearing to the truth in darkness."

"You will find no peace in the darkness, Alcides. Only the misery of isolation from my father." Jesus's words rang out the same, even over the howl of the Berserker.

"That will be a comfort to me. I have seen no good come from any father."

TWANG! The blasphemous words were matched with action. This time, it was Mash who beat the bolt away, landing with smoke rising from her shield, grimacing.

"Mash! Are you okay!?"

"I-I'm alright, Senpai! Archer is very strong!"

"For the child of a Dominion, it follows." His Lord who knew the man was. But the son of a Dominion. It took his mind a running moment to catch up.

"Archer's a child of an angel!?"

"HE'S WHAT?!" Olga shouted back, eyes around them. "Then… then he's divine!?"

"By birth and action, I am." The bodiless voice returned. "So heed my command and splinter on the rocks." Ritsuka prepared for another arrow to fire.

BAM! Instead, he was pulled back by his Lord just as Cu's body rocketed next to him. The lancer laying back in the ground, spear up, and spitting blood. So much more fell from the wound in his gut.

"Lancer!" Olga shouted. "Hold still, you-"

"Stay back, Lass!" The Irishman shouted back, before vanishing in dust and smoke. Ritsuka heard the boom before he could turn his head. When he did, he saw Lancer standing against the Berserker, lance twisted to hold back the blade trying to rip at him.

Tall as he was, and normally meant to loom over the smaller woman, the darkness that dripped from her, spikes protruding from her dark attire, and feral screams made her the far more intimidating of the two. Especially because of the blood falling from Cu. Despite her just losing a head, the Berserker only had a dark line around her neck.

TWANG! TWANG! And Mash was still dancing around the pair, trying to keep the Archer's arrows from hitting them. He couldn't even the see the man, the Nephilim, but Mash was at least able to keep pace with him. For now, that had to be enough. It had to be.

"Ritsuka!" Olga shouted at him again, anger it appeared directed more at the battle than him. "Cu is going to need your Prana to be able to keep fighting! You have to supply him with more!"

"H-How!?" He wanted to, but he didn't know how to do that. "I did it normally before! O-Or more like I didn't think at all!"

"Like this!" She came up behind him, his Lord stepping away, but eyes forward.

Olga wrapped her arms around him, pushing her chest into his back and folding her hand around his. Her cheek pushed against his as her chin tucked over his shoulder. The heat of battle kept any embarrassment away.

Instead, the Director moved his arms for him, pushing them until he had one of his hands clasped over his wrist, his left hand bearing the Crossed Command Seals clasping his right arm. Her fingers pulled back his right hand, until and open palm was facing Cu's back. Then she started to shout.

"Force your energy into your palm! Imagine… imagine you're trying to force air into it, like your full of open pipes that need to be filled!" He didn't question it. His Lord wasn't stopping her and he needed to do as she asked. "Your clothes are a Mystic Code that should allow for healing of your Servants. So focus on that wound on his stomach closing up!"

And Ritsuka did. He shut his eye and pushed 'air' through his arms. He focused on a ball in his hand trying to clothes up the wound in Lancer's stomach. He pushed until he thought he was going to force his arm out of his socket. He pushed even as arrows continued to pelt Mash's shield, and the Berserker was screaming at him.

"Good! Good! Keep that up! You're finally doing it!" He opened his eyes at the compliments.

He was shocked, to see the blue Lancer surrounded in a field of green.

"Thanks Master!" Cu shouted back. "And Lass! Help me pin this mad woman, down!" The Director released him, and it was then he fell to his knees, sucking in air. He felt like he had forced air to his arms, because he had none in his chest. Wide eyed and staring, he watched the Director step around him, take aim with her arm in the same position he had been in.

Except she wasn't making a green aura surrounded Cu. She was forcing a dark ball of crackling energy at her the edge of her fingers, folded like a karate chop.

"GANDR!" And then with a shout he didn't recognize, she fired it.

It flew like a thrown rock ignorant of gravity, screaming at the Berserker with half the woman's own fury.

Lancer must have heard or sensed it, because the Irishman used what had to be the last of his strength shove his lance forward, forcing the woman to stumble back against the strike. He dashed away in that moment, leaving dust and cracked earth behind.

"ROMAN! Filthy cowardice ROMAN!" The furious red-head shouted. Drools of darkness and dripping canine teeth salivated in the air. "Ill kill you! I'll kill-" Then her eyes saw the ball of magic, just before it struck her in the chest.

It flew like a stone, but it hit like lightning.

"GRAAaaaaaaAAGGHGHA!" Her voice crackled and echoed with the scream, forcing Ritsuka to put hands to his ears. "AAAGHAGHAAAAAAaaaaaaaaaghgh!"

"Cu! Strike her now!" Olga shouted. Ritsuka had to ask.

"Where's he going to!?"

"Just watch!" He did just that, on his knees, hands clasped to his head, and staring at the ruin in front of him.

He watched the blue Lancer appear again, behind Berserker this time, with a vicious grin at his lips. He watched the spearman pull back his weapon with a posture that befit only for men of legend. He watched as something swirled about the lance, and the Berserker, stiff as unbreezened trees, tried to twist around to face him, but could not.

SHINK!

Then he watched Cu gore the woman through the chest, through blood pouring out from her, and her heart on the tip of his lance. Gut churning at the sight, he thought he saw it beating. He would later convince himself it was in his mind.

But no amount of denial would change the fact that the heart of the woman was dark as the a cloudy night.

"You got somethin' thicker than a head, woman," Cu whispered from behind her. "But you're only alive cause of the yer Spirit Core, like the rest of us. No matter how invincible you are, once this is pegged, it's all over."

"Roo… RomAAAaaan…" The woman still spoke.

"Ain't a roman, but I am a hound." Cu pulled back, and lifted the woman into the air, the Berserkers veiny arms, dripping with miasmic sludge, trying to pull the lance out, fruitlessly. "And you got testimony my bite's worse than my bark."

In less than a second's time, Cu was feet in front of the woman, lance held out, and stuck in a crouch.

In the moment that followed, the flash Ritsuka knew he could see only by the grace of Olga's magic, Berserker's body was ripped in two, heart flung some impossible distance out of sight, and her gory body hit the earth with a moment of respite. Ritsuka gagged. Clap. Even with Jesus's hand on his shoulder.

"I don't… I-I didn't expect that…"

"I'm sorry, Senpai," Mash was there, and he was ashamed to admit he didn't notice her until she spoke. "That is… how Servants fight. Their legends are based off of great battles so… it happens." Her shield planted itself as she spoke.

"Your unease is a sign of purity," Ritsuka looked up at Jesus, before sucking on his dry lips. "And Mash Kyrielight is correct. Great heroes of men a heralded by blades and battle. But few of them are among the saints." Ritsuka nodded. He understood.

"Saints or heroes, I'll take either," Olga spoke up. "But it's a hero that we're against still." Her amber eyes looked to Mash. "Mash, do you know where Archer is?"

"Um… no, but… I can sense his attacks," the lavender haired girl lifted her shield again. "Because, um…" her eyes shifted to and from Jesus.

"Doesn't matter how." Olga's dismissal filled Mash with a look of relief. Ritsuka did not comment. "Just follow with Cu and take him out. Now that Berserker is gone, we can take care of him. He knows it, too."

"He does?"

"Of course," the Director waved her hand. "Why else do you believe he isn't attacking us? It's because he's trying to find new ground to hide from. He knows he has no chance against more servants, so he's hiding and hoping we either wear ourselves out to a point of being vulnerable, or we are taken out by Saber." She folded her arms and pointed her nose into the air. "A typical archer, only one step above an assassin."

"You think he waits in fear?" Jesus's question, thankfully, made the alabaster haired woman jump.

"W-Why of course! Lancer's have a clear advantage of Archers, and with Mash with us, and you're… defensive capabilities, he knows he has no chance against us."

"Were he a man who ran to darkness for fear of my father's word, I would agree with you. But I possess the Word, and I know Alcides is no coward. His father's will cannot allow it!" Olga stepped back from Jesus. Ritsuka stared.

He did not shout, but his voice was raised. His Lord was being direct. It was more than the Director had so far witnessed of him.

"But… But I thought-" CRACK! Whatever Olga Marie Animusphere thought went unheard and unanswered. Ritsuka turned just in time to see it. He almost didn't believe it.

In an explosion of dust and darkness, a figure suddenly appeared. Even after witnessing the power of the dark sword falling against his Lord, a building falling on himself, and all of the city burning, the man who he saw, the giant, standing before Cu, seemed to emanate more than that. Even the Berserker was only a light comparator to this thing. The blade… it was the only thing that was akin to the things power.

"GRAH!" Especially when the thing's appearance was matched with him all but slapping Cu across his body, hand matching the Lancer's torso in size. He once more flew out of sight, vanishing into the dense forest with a booming force.

CLANG! Mash, thank Jesus almighty, was able to keep her focus on the Archer, her shield resisting his blow. But not without sending her sliding back, bracing against it with all her strength.

And the Archer, beneath a brush of hair longer than Ritsuka stood, scoffed.

"Pitiful," he judged without more thought. "To think I thought against fighting you in the manor for concerns of hidden strength. All I needed for the Lancer to fall was for him to hold still. You?" He drew back his bow, taller than even the giant stood, arrow appearing at the taut string. "You will be easier."

TWANG! Ritsuka wasn't even aware the arrow was fired until Mash beat it away with a swing of her shield, crying out as the bolt slammed again into the earth some distance away, but with enough force to make construction vehicles seemed inadequate. It was a sobering sight.

The idea of the man being the child of an angel, and Nephilim, a giant, mad much more sense.

"That's Archer?!" Olga app eared no more thrilled to see him than he did. "Who is he!?"

"Alcides," his Lord answered immediately, even as the man pulled back his bow string. "The name of the man who became Heracles, famed through Greece and astronomers." His voice was even and unperturbed.

BANG! Even as he effortlessly batted away another bolt that Ritsuka didn't see, once more. He rubbed his eyes, dirt, soot, and fatigue starting to weigh on him. His Lord put a hand to his shoulder, as if to steady him.

"Be mindful of where you rest your gaze. Those of vile intent never wish to show themselves as they plot." A pull of his shoulder, and Ritsuka once again was looking at the Archer, Alcides… as he aimed his bow into the air and released another shot.

The dirt beneath him cracked for the effort.

"Always watch, always be wary." BANG! The bolt was slammed out of the air above Ritsuka, and he felt his air almost shred the blow. He caught himself with a grunt of effort. "For those who wish to score your soul and trample upon your faith shall never show their methods. Nowhere else but the dark."

"No hero shows their roots of their craft, sage," Archer spat out the words. "Your words are laced with hypocrisy."

"I am not," Jesus spoke, the strength of his voice giving the Nephilim pause. "You chose to ignore my actions and words, and then falsely apply a slanderous label. The Word does not change with your ignorance." This time, Ritsuka watched as the bow was unfastened.

TWANG! And as Mash caught the blow.

"Are you alright, Lord Jesus?" She asked over her shoulder. Ritsuka watched as a hot blush formed over her features. "A-And you Director, Senpai?"

"We're fine! Keep it up!" Olga shouted back. "Just stay safe and keep him back!"

"Yes, Director!" Mash's shield sung as she slammed it into the ground. TWANG! Then rang as she beat back another bolt.

"Ritsuka." Olga spoke next to him, hands still clasped together. "You have the brains to remember what Mash told you before, about Noble Phantasms?" Ritsuka thought back on the discussion, after seeing what the Saber was able to do, and how his Lord was able to prevent it. He nodded at her, earning a look of quick relief. "And do you also recall how Cu's regalia can be used as one?"

"I remember it was mentioned." She gave a look indicating 'good enough'.

"Cu's Noble Phantasm designed to guarantee a strike against an opponent, a weapon that folds the concepts of cause and effect."

Now she lost him. He must have had it evident on his face, because she rolled her head.

"Forget about that. I forgot I was talking to a commoner. Just supply Prana to Cu again and order him to use the Noble Phantasm to striker Archer." She blinked at the words. "No, wait, you don't have the Reserves for it. There's no way as a non-Magus."

BANG! The woman let out a sound as Jesus stepped forward to beat away another arrow from Archer. This one having apparently fallen from the sky. His Lord still struck it hard enough to have it fly parallel to the ground, disappearing into the burning city.

"The Command Seals!" Olga screamed at him. "Use a command seal to order Cu to do it!"

"How will that help?" Mash had the answer.

"The Command Seals are crystalized Magic, Senpai!" She spoke over her shoulder, edging closer to them with shield up. "They will supply him with the Prana needed to use the attack!"

"So order him and he'll guarantee hit Berserker!"

"But… but will it kill him?" He saw the Director's face whirl in a fit of rage. He was ahead of her. "Archer isn't like Berserker! He's listening to us! If Jesus talks to him-"

"I tried to speak to him while you searched in the underside of the mystic's home, Ritsuka," his Lord spoke, and his words once more stood above all noise. "He ignored me and mocked my words. At best he is willfully ignorant. At worst, he chooses those who fell." Blue eyes looked towards him. Blue in sight and emotion. "Do not request the Child of Light to kill."

"Oh Jesus!" It took Ritsuka a painful moment to realize Olga was not worshipping his Lord's name.

"But do strengthen him," Jesus spoke on. "He is injured in the forest now, spitting on blood and looking to face this man again. I do not condone his wish to kill, but a part of his desire is to see us safe."

"And you proclaim you are free from hypocrisy, sage!" Archer shouted at his Lords's words. "Ask a man to kill and ignore his desire to seek blood, and in the same breath proclaim the sin of taking a life!? You dare to claim you are free from sin!" Jesus turned to answer.

"He is!" Ritsuka shouted back instead.

"You idiot!" "Senpai!" He ignored the pair of women shouting at him. His eyes were on the Archer, standing a distance away, bow pulled, and doubtlessly glaring with red eyes past the curtain of his long hair.

"Oh? So the Master is blinded by the 'majesty' of his servant. The idiocy and twisted falsehood of him shows through your words."

"No, my devotion to him is shown," Ritsuka shouted back. "My Lord is free of sin, born of the Virgin Mary, she who is the Immaculate Conception! So many times he could have acted upon sin in his life, so many stories have recounted about how my Lord was tempted, but he never gave in! He didn't take the life of Herod, even after he ordered his cousin killed. He didn't damn the soldiers who stripped and mocked him for sport. He didn't even take the kingdoms of Earth from Satan! But you!"

The Archer paused as Ritsuka shouted, and he heard the Director shouting from behind him. She was dulled beneath him.

"I don't know much about you, I don't even recognize your name."

"In truth, Master of a Hypocrite, you have more respect from me because of it."

"And I'll deny it, because you have forsaken my Lord's name. I deny it because you have mocked him without knowing him, because you try to kill for the desire to kill, and you call Jesus a hypocrite for not acting as you do, because you have denied the Word, but act like you know the truth."

The lands burned around them, the almost demonic hillside, dripping with malice and miasma, churned in the break his words brought about. Even the Director and Mash were quiet. His Lord's silence was comforting, only because he was still known.

"I don't know you. But I know my Lord. You deny him, and for that, I'll deny you."

"What is your name, boy?" the Archer asked. He would not hide it.

"Ritsuka Fujimaru,"

"A name without declension or founding. An aimless name." The Nephilim judged him. "To you I offer my respect, if nothing else you'll take." He took aim with his bow. "Hold that close as I take you from this life." He drew his bow.

"Hell no!" And Lancer, with a crack of lightning and blow from the wind, appeared in front of him.

BAM! The heel of his lance hit the front of the arrow, knocking it out of the Archer's finger and loosened his bow string. Cu buried the head of his weapon in the same strike, spinning so much like the twister he appeared as and delivered heel strike to the Archer's head. With the boom of air, like thunder, Ritsuka thought the Archer's neck would crack.

Instead, Alcides only provided a jumping platform for the blue-clothed Irishman, who jumped away in almost a twirl.

"Damn, thought that would do more," he noted as he landed in front of Ritsuka. He pushed away a line of blood running down his lip. "Put everythin' I had left into it. Guess that means whatever's left is gonna cost me." His grin was feral, looking at Ritsuka.

No, his hand.

"So, ya up fer commandin' me?" The young Master, ill-trained and fit more for the clergy, shook his head. "Didn't think so."

"You fool!" Olga shouted with much more force behind them. "Don't shake your head like that! You have to command him!"

TWANG! Mash stopped another bolt, giving Cu time to breath. TWANG-TWANG-BAM! Only for her to stop two more, shield throwing back, then his Lord hitting another from flying at them. He had blinked again, the shock of being asked to command CU the way he wished, ridding him of the sight.

A good thing, as he believed he felt the cool steel of the arrow comb his hair.

"Do not command him to use his power in death." Jesus spoke again.

"Oi, kinda my wish on what he does with it." "And he has to do it!" Olga and Cu shouted at the Lord. He did not look at them. His gaze, perfect as his robes and shining like his heart, was only on Ritsuka.

"Ask him to fight. Give him the power to fight." His rasped Ritsuka's hand. "Just as you swear to me for strength, so to as he sworn to you for strength." That was right, Olga and Mash, and even Lancer, had all said the same thing. His Command Seals, and the connection with Chaldea, were strength and power.

But then… the Command Seals…

"No, that's good! That's a better idea!" Olga jumped in. "With Mash here, and you being the bridge for Prana, even if a bottleneck, gives him more of a chance! And you can at least sense where Archer is if her runs!" For her sudden agreement, the good will was killed as she pointed at Jesus like a work horse. "Do that! So that way we can keep his Noble Phantasm hidden from Saber!"

"Saber?" He asked, before widening his gaze. He'd completely forgotten. If Olga realized his shock, she didn't deign to act on it.

TWANG! Not when Mash slid in front of them, shield almost red from resisting a bolt.

"Wanna hurry up!?" Cu's voice was sharp. Ritsuka nodded, aimed his hand…

Then looked at Olga dumbly.

"Um… h-how do I-" She interrupted him with a howl, that he thought had come from Archer's bolts again, before she grabbed his hand.

"Say his true name! Say it's the name of the Command Seal-"

"SENPAI!" Ritsuka and Olga both looked up. There was a shadow covering them.

Alcides was there.

"That's far enough." First raised above his head, he swung it down.

BOOM! Ritsuka felt to his knees, sure that his legs were going to be into his chest. The howl from Olga made him sure she had suffered the same fate. A moment of caught breath and lack of pain later, he looked up, trembling.

Relief and joy flooded him as he saw his Lord standing there, hand raised above his head, and catching the dark fist with an open palm.

"You may deny me, Alcides, and conversation with the Word. But you will not rob others of their chance." His Lord held him in place and did not move.

"HURRY! HURRY HURRY!" The Director, on the other hand, started to almost shake him violently. The message was understood.

"C-Cu Chulainn! In the name of the Command Seal-!" He looked over his shoulder, staring at the shaking amber eyes of Olga.

"Give him the order!" Her voice didn't lack.

"Fight to defend us with all your might!" The Lancer grinned like the hound he proclaimed to be.

And Ritsuka's hand burned.

For a moment, he thought the embers of the burning city had jumped the field's length to his hand, or the clear pits of the inferno that roamed from the cave had scratched at him. It made him hiss and pull back his hand, grabbing at it and trying to pat out the burn that wasn't there. He stared at it, rubbing his wrist, and watching as the 'cross of the holy spirit' vanished from the back of his hand. It left only the harsh red outline of its existence.

"Oh YEAH!" It matched Cu shouting for joy, and spinning his lance around in his hand. "Like a kick of good drink after a night spent fightin' the hag!" Red eyes looked up at the hidden visage of the Archer. "Bad bet fer ya, not bein' invited."

The Lancer vanished in another flurry of wind. Alcides vanished with him, leaving his Lord alone. For a moment, Ritsuka wondered why.

He found out why as he watched the ground being split and stomped on in front of him, a flurry of shapes faster than his eyes could see, even with the reinforcement of magic. No, that was wrong. He could see Archer well enough, though still moving more akin to a leaf in the wind than a giant among the glad. Cu, however, was another.

The Irish lancer was the wind.

"Think fast!" He shouted, his lance rising up and attempting to gore Archer. Alcides flipped back, kicking out with a dark foot. It beat the air like a rock, and drew a cry from Olga as she braced herself on the ground. It still missed Cu. "I said fast!"

The man proved it as he was behind Archer again, this time kicking out one of Archer's hand-sprung wrists, forcing the man to curl his body and hit the ground in a roll. The red spear struck out, by Alcides avoided it with an explosion of his form, unfurling his body and pulling back his bow. An arrow was notched and loosened as fast as Ritsuka could real his arm back.

TWANG! Mash was there far faster than that.

"I have your back!"

"Thanks Lassie!" The man shouted for joy as he continued his offense.

Ritsuka watched as the Archer, dipped in mud and swinging the force of fallen angels, attempted to swipe and destroy the Lancer dancing around him. He was always too slow, Cu dipping around and striking out with shallow blows. The shallow blows over and over going for the farthest part of his body, never his head or neck. It took the boy a long moment to realize why.

And that was only after the third time Cu planted his feet and threw the lance forward, hard enough to make the trees some distance away sway with the force of the wind. It would have easily gored the Archer, despite all his vaunted strength. But he moved like water, bending out of the way and kicking out against the weapon.

"He's at a disadvantage… but he's not vulnerable," Olga summarized next to him. "Just a sever disadvantage, which means we will eventually win."

"Yeah, yeah," he noted dryly, watching the fight. TWANG TWANG! Or more accurately, the girl who still threw around the enormous shield, always fending off the arrows that were aimed their way. "But something feels… off."

"You're just not used to this. You've adapted faster than I expected, I'll admit that, but you are still far from experienced." The Director wasn't wrong, but he still shook his head.

Ritsuka looked away from the fight, gazing up at Jesus. The Lord of Heaven and King of Hosts stared forward as well, hands folded in front of him, and mouth pulled in a contemplative frown. Blue eyes did not blink as the red spear sliced at the dark giant, or Mash's shield glowed with the heat of clashing steel. Something still felt off.

He played with his hand, even as he observed Cu vault over a low kick from Archer. Alcides's foot hit Mash's planted shield, ringing out and sending splinters through the ground. But the man didn't shout when the flesh hit against steel.

He did grunt when Lancer came back down, finally goring the man's leg with the length of his spear. Olga cheered, even as Mash took the opportunity to jump back.

"Ain't one for cuttin' out the legs from under someone, but you've been spendin' long enough tryin' to pin me to a wall. I'm thinking we're even." The man commented, standing across the pinned giant, grin feral. "And all I needed ta get the high ground was an A Plus Master with a whetstone shaped like a fine lass."

"The dirty dog." Came the growl aside Ritsuka.

"See? Sharp one." So that was what he meant. "And she's the Lassie helpin' to shape the man keepin' me goin'. Put that with a man so damned heralded that they're still worshipin' him, and you know you got nothin to stand over us with. Specially now yer cut down ta size."

"Your arrogance is undeserved." Alcides commented, even reaching for the lance. "Ignorant of your stance."

"Wrong there!" The Lancer spoke as he let go of his lance. Ritsuka didn't understand why.

BAM! Not until the man threw his body into the forearm of the Giant, forcing him back down. He curled over the arm, like a child to a man's arm, their size difference so great. He didn't understand the purpose of it, and thought the Lancer was throwing himself into needless harm.

"Got ya!" That was until the Lancer jumped off the Archer again, before the man could slap at him like a gnat. But after he did, the dark arm of the man began to glow.

Then, it started to burn.

"GRrrrrr!" Smoke started to rise from the man's arm, and his palm slapped at it, clearly pained by the sensation.

"HA! Knew that would work!" Cu boasted, air billowing as he appeared at the man's feet again, gripping his lance and putting his weight into it. "Had to put everythin' into scratchin' ya, but a good bit of fire and yer goin' up like try kindling. Too bad ya weren't as mad as that Berserker, cause then this would probably be like a bit of a sun's sore spot." Ritsuka would be fair, he didn't understand everything the Lancer was saying. "Maybe ya should have dipped in the mud a bit more, huh?"

"I was doused in enough of it, and I would not take all that it offered me." The Archer spoke back. "I needed only enough to kill those who demanded we look to the Gods for salvation. Any gods, any." His hair billowed as if the wind was focused on him. "My father, my patrons, those of far of lands, or those of who fought in this war."

"So Berserker wasn't a devout woman at least, not that it matters," Olga noted dryly. "I suppose that's why Cu also didn't dip into the mud… no wait, what about Caster then."

"I used my Noble Phantasm, the eleven branches of it, to confront and kill Caster." Olga stiffened next to him. "He was stronger than near all else in this war, but he was still nothing compared to the mud of the grail. If nothing else, his Master fell faster."

"What? What did you say?" Olga stepped forward. Ritsuka grabbed her hand, but she wrenched it away from him. "Don't touch me! And you, answer me, repeat yourself!"

"You are not worth the extra breath." The long hair of the archer splayed with the twist of his head. "A girl who tramples upon the legend of those act."

"I act in the position that was placed upon me, and you are proclaiming your abilities would be enough to kill my Caster and his master! As you are defeated, you will answer my questions!"

"Ya do owe tha' much," Lancer agreed with another twist of his lance. Archer hissed and tried to strike at the red spear. His swung weakly, earning a confused look from both Ritsuka and Mash. "And that's the beauty of the runes tha' hag taught me. Doesn't burn yer flesh. Burns your Prana. Take long 'nough, that's gonna burn right through your core."

"Hmm… unless I speak?"

"Nah, yer gonna die either way. Question is if it's gonna be torturous burn out 'er a quick poke in yer noggin," the Lancer almost laughed as he double tapped his temple. Ritsuka swallowed on nothing. "Faster ya talk, faster ya get out of the sense of havin' yer soul on fire."

"Jesus… is this alright?" Ritsuka looked up at his Lord and Savior. "Isn't this… this is torture…"

"It is, Fujimaru Ritsuka. One that I tried to save him from." His eyes widened, again, he was not alone.

"You what?"

"I spoke twice now of how I opened a conversation between myself and the man bearing the title of Archer. Twas from my mouth I proclaimed a tossing of arms and exchange of words. He denied me all times, even while I spoke of how this would be where his path would take him."

"Being beaten by us?"

"No. Of pain." The man's face fell back, revealing the chiseled jaw, pulled into a pained grimace. The 48th Master of Chaldea could imagine the heat in his hidden eyes. "But it is pain I may yet free him from, but not before he asks it of me."

"How about you don't even if he does ask?" Olga spoke over her shoulder at him. Ritsuka tempered his growing irritation. "He can't be left alive."

"That is not for you to judge. You have no such power." His Lord was correct, but the words still made the woman bristle. Ritsuka would be remiss to not admit he was a bit enthused by the anger in her amber eyes. But it wasn't something that could go on.

"D-Director," Mash spoke, making herself known. "What is it you… you wanted to ask the Archer?"

"Archer… right, thank you Mash," Olga responded, having to drag her gaze away from Jesus and Ritsuka. "I need him to tell me, and in the few honest words he may have left, how my father and his Servant died. I refuse to believe it was by so simple a means as more power. Not when my father was gifted with far more intelligence."

"The ideas of the mind mean nothing beneath a heavy fist." Archer managed to push back. His hand gripped his steam arming, trying to tear it out. "Ask my progenitor of the wise who saved themselves from his fury. Ask the Lord over there of the wise who were spared the anger of Rome. Ask this hound of the intelligent who staved off his blade."

"Easy, they didn't fight me." Cu twisted his lance again. This time, lightning red as blood crackled out. "Too bad you ain't in their number."

"And a pity neither are you or that mewling child." The Director looked as if she was trying to grow with her words.

"You insolent failure of a legend!" She stomped closer to him. Ritsuka looked up at the King of Heaven, and he gazed back down, shaking his head solemnly. "You would rather insult me over telling me on how you tricked and robbed my father of his victory in this war! If you have any honor befitting your title, you will tell us of how you fell to cowardice and hate!"

"I've always been full of hate, no different than you. I only now was given the means to fight against those who truly deserved it." The snarl across his dark face fit the miasma of the tunnel well. "More than any trial spoken as punishment, but for those on high who demanded my blood for the supposed sin of my birth. The Caster, your father's Servant, was a man who called himself wise. I used my Noble Phantasms, with the rage of Berserker to take his life for it. By the same method and reason, I will still win. Your wisdom does not allow you to think and barely allows you to judge." Ritsuka saw it then.

It was quick, like the flick of a flame, but it was there, no different than the fire. A gasp of heat, and billow of an ember, there and gone.

A smirk across Archer's face.

"Mash Kyrielight, call forth the saint who dwells within you!" His Lord commanded. She started to do just that, raising her shield above her head, and let it glow

"Olga! Cu! Get back!" Rather than head him as Mash did his Lord, both turned, their eyes a mixture of impatience and curiosity. It was a moment too long.

"What are-AGH!" Olga shouted as the giant hand of the Nephilim gripped her leg. Her hands were down at the fingers, trying to pry them off. "Let go! Let go!"

"You are more than you appear, knowledgeable enough to reinforce your limbs. Otherwise your leg would be dust in my palm." Still, it will not be enough to free you.

"But I will!" Cu shouted as he wrenched his lance from Archer's leg, swinging it down at the man. Ritsuka watched, seeing as Mash poured Prana into her shield aside his eyes. He was therefore able to see the moment Archer caught the red lance in his other hand. "Wha- but my rune!"

"The last branch of my Noble Phantasm. The Pinning of Cerberus." The name sounded familiar, but the cold mirth in Alcides's voice only made Ritsuka panic. "I held back the guardian of hell, out of breath and out of strength. I can hold back any that I wish. And you pair will be enough." Then, like some kind of cruel mockery, he looked away. "Enough for her."

It was only because he was looking at the cavern that Ritsuka understood what he meant.

BRRRRRRR But the rumble that came from the miasma entrenched hole was more than enough confirmation.

"Ritsuka! Order Cu to save Olga!" His Lord commanded with a shout. "Mash! Rush forward, save them!"

"Yes, my Lord!" The girl jumped forward, faster than Ritsuka could raise his hand. He ran through the commands as Olga had before.

"Cu Chulainn! In the name of the Command Seal, I order you to free Olga Marie!" His hand burned again, but he bore with the pain. The rumble from the cave was growing, even as Cu was glowing.

"Ya got it, Master!" The Lancer shouted with the same feral grin. "Gonna save her, on my life!" Ritsuka thought the man was boasting again his dedication to the craft and legend. He did not expect it to be literal.

Not even as he let go and abandoned his lance, jumping at the massive digits gripping Olga's leg. IF he let out a cry as he pulled, Ritsuka didn't hear it, not over the clanging of Mash's shield and shrieking of the director. Ritsuka's legs were locking up, fists tight until he felt nails dig into his palms. He prayed aloud as he watched Cu try and pull the fingers of Alcides's from Olga.

He made no ground. And the man laughed for it.

"Struggle, Child of the Tuatha. Struggle and realize your futility against those who challenge you." The man replied, prone and only grasping at his foes. "You will perish for the ignorance of your strength."

"Would ya shut up!" Cu shouted back. "And Lassie! You gotta keep makin' your leg stronger!"

"I am! I am! It hurts!" Sher fingers did less than nothing against the dark hand grasping her. "I-I think it's going to break!"

"Yer leg might, but your body won't! Can't have ya losin' that spirit of yours!" The Lancer shouted back. Power crackled off of him, like the red lightning of his lance. Ritsuka looked at his hand, wondering for a brief moment if it was his Command Seal that did it.

Then he raised his hand to offer another. Just before Jesus put a palm to is hand, lowering it.

"My Lord?"

"You will need that in the fight to come. Save it, and depend on those who worship my name." His mouth was dry as his Lord spoke, and now he understood the fear that must have overcome the saints as they stared down death, having only the King of Hosts to depend on. But depend on him he will.

"Director! Lean back!" Mash shouted, shield now glowing as she planted herself next to Olga. The woman braced herself with raised hands and leaned back. "Oh Holy City! Followers of the True God! Pure Knight of the Noble Quest, answer my call!"

"M-Mash!?"

"Manifest, Lord Camelot!" Ritsuka had no idea what Mash was saying.

But when she slammed down her shield, it was clear what she did.

The sky air shook again, like the boom of Archer's shots, the growth of Saber's dark lance, and the fights of battle. It was the same, but different. Because this one wasn't a rumble something destructive. IT was the creation of something pure.

It was the sudden growth, the crystallization of bricks and walls forming slamming into one another with the force of clashing heroes, puncturing the decayed and burnt earth. If they didn't fall out of the sky like Mana, Ritsuka could only say they appeared like pillars of fire from heaven. They took over the land in front of him, blinding him with their alabaster glow, seconded only by the Lord himself. They were immaculate.

And they crushed the arm of Alcides, pulling Olga to their side of the wall. That was the beautiful blessing.

But Cu was nowhere to be see. That was the curse.

"AGH!" Olga shouted as she wrenched off the detached arm of the Archer! "Ow! That-That, CU!" The Director gathered quickly. "Lancer! Return here immediately!" She shouted up at the wall, banging on stone. Water had more effect on the coastal shores. "Mash! Drop the wall!"

"I can't!" The girl returned. "The attack is coming! My Lord knows it!" The Director did not comment on her title at that moment. Instead, she turned furious, terrified, amber eyes on him.

"Ritsuka! Recall him! Now!" She slapped the wall. "Get him out of there!" He nodded.

"Cu Chulainn! By my Command Seal, I-" He sucked in air, and found nothing coming to him.

BRRRUUUUUUUUUUUUUU

Saber's attack was launching, and it literally took his voice away.

Every other moment it had happened, they were so far away that all Ritsuka could recall feeling was a crawling in the air and the rumble at his feet. Compared to know, it was beyond comparison. Because when the blade erupted from the torn hillside, it was as if to compare a hill's apex to a mountain's full range.

The darkness blotted out the light from the fires, it screamed into the air and made him a mute, and it threatened to steal away his soul, just from its presence alone. It crackled with dark energy, something beyond words and comparable only to the darker texts of the Holy Bible. His jaw shivered as he gazed upon it, feeling hope being drained.

Clap. But then a hand fell to his shoulder, and his soul was lifted.

"Be strong, Ritsuka Fujimaru, for I am with you." Jesus spoke to him, easily where his own voice failed. "You have done well, so far what I have asked. Now… bear witness to another who holds my name." He looked back up, and the blade fell.

BRAAAAAAAAAA

His ear drums popped at is clashed with the great wall fashioned by Mash's Noble Phantasm, slamming into it with a force that nearly had him tumbling back. He braced himself as best he could, Jesus at his side. Olga was likely screaming, Mash was bearing the force, but anything else was beyond his understanding. The roar of the blade was too much.

And then… like before, it drained itself from the air, leaving only a packet behind.

Ritsuka took in a deep breath, sucking in the dry and malice tinted air almost greedily. He coughed, falling to his knees and hitting his chest. He could hear Olga doing the same, the woman almost crying as she did so. Tears in his eyes, he looked up to see Mash, still bearing her new armor, holding the large shield, and keeping her stance strong.

Then, with a sudden lax in her arms, the great alabaster wall began to dissipate. Brick by brick, shimmering like light from water, it began to vanish into the air. It tumbled away with not even air present enough to steal it. It left behind only what was left from the blade strike.

Nothing at all.

"Where… where are they? Where is he?" Olga asked first. "Cu he… where…"

"The Child of Light has been killed. The power of the Saber within the cavern too much for him." Jesus declared easily, though far and away from gleefully.

"No, NO!" Olga turned on him. "He has to still be here! He can't! Be gone!" Her voice was a panicked mess. "He saved me a-a-a-" Then it began to shake, hands in her long locks. "He didn't… he's too fast! He can't be dead!"

It was the word that created the rock in Ritsuka's stomach. The idea that there was a person who had just been laughing, helping, and traveling with them, reduced to a dust so fine he was not visible along the plane.

That the Child of Light was dead, and he hadn't even professed final words to remember him by.

"Lancer… Cu… I-I'm sorry," Mash's words were trembling. Olga's were shaking. "I-I didn't , I…"

"You did all that you could, Mash Kyrielight. Do not burden your mind with the guilt of another's actions." Jesus spoke on. "Mourn, but do not contemplate."

"He just… We need him! We need him to help us! We can't do this without another Servant! You saw how stronger Saber was!"

"You need him, for you are thankful for him." Jesus returned. "You saw what he was capable of, and now you have seen how he stands against one fallen into the embrace of those against the Word." His hand indicated the cavern, now far darker than its already pitch-black state. "And yet, you have another present who adhered to my word, and how she stood before their strongest." And then he turned to the shield adorned girl.

"Mash…" Ritsuka spoke her name, earning a short smile from the lavender haired youth. "That was amazing. But… but how?"

"I-It was my Noble Phantasm, or the Spirit within me." Her hand fell to her chest. "I didn't know how to use it, not when I first had the core summoned. But I spoke to Jesus… and he knew."

"You knew!?" Olga turned on him again. "You knew who her Spirit Graph belongs to!"

"I do, for all is told to me through the Word." He did not shake under her angry glare. "And this is shared easily and willfully to those who worship my name."

"She- no." The Director stopped herself, pinching her nose. "Just… just hold on. This is too much, far too fast."

"This is not a matter that you can dictate the haste of. And I tell you only of what is, not what is to be."

"And you know what is to be!"

"I know what the Word has told to me, and it is all that is needed to do what my Father requests. For those who ignore this, I cannot share with them." His eyes turned to the land again. "No different than how I could not save the Archer and Lancer, who both mocked and ignored my name." Cu had done that, hadn't he, calling them equal.

"No! That's stupid! You should have saved them! You could have saved them! So now instead… instead you're going to tell us what we have to do!" Olga shouted back, before turning on her heel. "You! Order him to tell us what's going to happen!"

"He could only stare dumbstruck at her.

"Do it!"

"D-Director-"

"No, Mash!" The alabaster haired woman shouted, rounding on the girl. Only to grit her teeth shake. "I'm… Sorry, you don't deserve that, but you have to agree that if one of us knows how to get out of here, then we all should know."

"Y-Yes, but-"

"Then while I am grateful you know who your Saint Graph is, and we will discuss that later, we need to know who is in that cavern and how to save the other Masters!"

"I'm not going to order my Lord."

"You will!"

"I won't!" He stood chest to chest against her. He didn't even know when he stood up.

"He won't, for it is not necessary." Then his Lord spoke, and both turned to hear him. "I am here to guide, and I have spoken to those who wish to listen. I will not abandon them, for they cherish the Word of my Father."

"The fool of a master here is the only one who is doing that!" Olga accused with a finger at his chest. "And it is your duty as a Servant to save him regardless!"

"It is my purpose, Master of Mystics, to guide those who call of me, when they ask from the depths of their soul." His gaze was low as he looked at Olga. "And for they who hear me, I have not led astray."

"But I do?"

"Did you not walk into the embrace of a corrupted man, who willingly gave his life to take others?" The comment rocked the woman on her feet. "Cu, who ignored me, was judged the same. Ritsuka heard me, and so saved your life. Mash heard me, and so protected us from the fury of the Saber." Amber eyes looked over them. "You who wish to deny me, I can do nothing but tell you of my grief. But for you who wish to blame me, you must show how I am at fault."

"You… You can do more." Her fists were shaking. "Cu did a lot… and Mash…"

"One ignored the Word, believing himself above or equal. His strength failed with none to lift him up." The Director continued to thrum. "The other did as I asked, and has done more than she could do alone."

"I'm not swearing to you, not when you're saying you might let me die because I don't worship you." And the words of the Director were blasphemy.

"And so, I mourn for you." Jesus folded his hand. "I ask you meditate as we move forward, for time is not patient for us. There is one who scorns my father's name, for amusement and mirth. She must be spoken to." And now he was nervous.

"Alone?" Ritsuka inquired. He was answered first by Jesus's kind smile. Then Mash's words.

"I'll be with him, Senpai!" The Demi-Servant held up her shield. "I couldn't save Cu, but… but I'll be able to save him." She held up the shield proudly, the one that had fashioned a wall to resist the miasmic torrent of Saber's blade. Ritsuka looked at her.

Collapsed on the ground, pinned under a pillar of steel, legs crushed, burning, not breathing, gone.

"NO!" He shouted rising at her. He blinked as he did so, just before turning to gaze at the Director.

She was giving him the same look.

"W-What?" Mash looked between them both.

"You can't do that Mash," Olga recovered first. "You may have awakened the Servant within you, but trusting you to face Saber, in what amounts to alone, is far beyond your current abilities."

"It is too dangerous. You almost died before, and facing her alone, you could die again." The idea of it, ripped in half, not fast enough to stop the blade. Burning. "If need be, I'll fight in your place."

"Stupid as that is even as a hypothetical suggestion, even I would rather he take your place. You're simply unequipped to face Saber as you are."

"And I say she has everything she needs." Jesus spoke, and Ritsuka listened.

"No. Now is not the time to be saying something like that! Look at that tunnel! Look at it!" She pointed at the dark cavern. "You want to send a young girl into that!?"

"It is not a matter of wish, no more than you wish to venture into the dark. You do so because you believe those Mystics of your temple are trapped within. What error has this girl made in wishing to help in the same way?"

"No! I know she cares, I know you care," she spoke to Mash. "But the danger-"

"Is not there." The gob-smacked look of the amber-eyed woman would have been funny any other time. "For I will be with her. And so long as she listens to my Word, no harm will fall upon her." Olga took a breath to retort. "Mash will be coming, as will Ritsuka. If you wish to follow, you may." He already started walking.

"Follow! You!?" she shouted at his back. "Why are you the one leading! Why… why are you the one going first!? Did you not see what happened to Cu!? Do you want that to happen to you!?"

"I do not care, for why think of what cannot be?" The words flowed as Jesus continued to walk towards the imperfectly dense darkness. Ritsuka watched, feet already shuffling forward, as the man descended into the cave.

And just as he imagined, the darkness fled his light.

He looked to Olga and Mash, one looking on with hesitant acceptance, and the other wondering of who should lead before her, her visible eyes shifting between him and the Director. Ritsuka looked at her, the shield, and recalled how she addressed Jesus Christ.

"C'mon Mash," he spoke with a joy filled smile. "Christ has asked us to follow him." And a smile spread across her own lips.

"Y-Yes, Senpai." He turned towards the cavern, and hurried after his Lord, the single and brightest light amongst the sundering darkness. They were venturing into the Grail Chamber, where other Masters could be held, and the last Servant was staying. One strong enough to wipe out Lancer and Archer in a single blow.

And he was not afraid. A cross about his neck kept him guarded.

"H-Hey! You two can not go ahead of me!" Olga Marie, for all her vaunted strength, was only now catching on as she caught up.

---

Author's Note: Fun stuff, right? Tried to treat this both as the fight that happens in canon, while making the villains not look like idiots, that is Archer is an archer while letting the fight happen, but being the sacrificial man he his. It did cost the heroes a servant, and not due to stupidity. At least I hope not, as I tried to make everyone act as they said they would. No one likes a story when someone breaks character to die.

Real quick though, I do want to just say that Ritsuka is Catholic in this story NOT to reflect him in canon. In canon, he's called a pagan by the Old Man, and doesn't have a character. He can flirt, then get flustered, then be self-righteous, then be weirded out by praise. He's all over the place, as is ANY blank slate character.

So I gave him a defining element, that will be tested, molded, and worked against other characters.

And Jesus is not everything you think he is. Unless your Catholic, then you know something is up. And I promise you, in the next chapter or two, that will become MORE apparent.

Also, not an excuse, but I know there are grammatical mistakes. I just suck at catching them.