Chapter 6 - Trifas Section 3

The time is now 11:37 AM. We are walking through the grass toward the fortress that was talked about yesterday. After we all slept, we checked out and left the inn now heading toward a new base with Jeanne d'Arc in the lead.

"How much longer is it gonna be?", Ritsuka asks the saint.

"I'd say this won't even take us an hour.", she responds.

"There's no point in stopping at this rate. Let us continue!", Mash energetically says while being at the front of the group.

Ritsuka and Mash are in front of me while Alice, Nick, and the Director are behind. We pretty much have formed a line behind the Ruler naturally. We've been walking for a while now, so my legs are starting to hurt, but I don't want to slow everyone down so I bear with it.

The scenery is a grassy field on a perfect day. The wind has a nice cool feel to it and the sun's rays are just warm enough. Thinking about it, this would be the perfect place for an outdoor nap. That does sound nice about now. But as a nap isn't possible, I keep walking with everyone else.

"Hey, Jeanne?"

"Yes, Ritsuka?"

"What was this 'Great Holy Grail War' like?", he asks.

"The Great Holy Grail War? It was…special, that's for sure. There were 14 Servants with 7 on each side, a red and black faction. Sieg was minted in a lab from the black faction. Let me see. On the black side was Siegfried the dragonslayer, Chiron the centaur, Vlad III, the one who Dracula is based on, Astolfo who is an annoying brat, Jack the Ripper, who's complicated, Avicebron the golem maker, and Frankenstein's monster, that one I am sure you know."

"That's certainly a lineup. There are a lot of strong figures there.", the Director says. "The very origin of the Sagittarius constellation became a Servant, huh?"

"Yes. That one, the Greek centaur and teacher of several famous Greek heroes."

"Dracula himself, huh? Is he like the legend?", Nick asks with a bit of curiosity.

"He is the king, but not a vampire. He despises the Dracula title and will kill you if you mention it. He does have a Noble Phantasm that can access the form though and it is not fun to fight. Had he thought strategically, he could have wiped all of us out in a certain battle and won the war, but he wasn't thinking like himself at the time."

"That strong, huh? I'd love to fight him, but I guess that won't be happening, what a shame.", Nick says disappointed.

Alice seems interested and asks about Jack the Ripper. Probably because she's lived in London for a lot of her life.

"Her? Instead of being the Jack the Ripper you would know, she's more so a concept. Unborn children and those that also died very young, taking the form of a little girl who especially likes to kill women."

"So Jack didn't exist? Or am I to believe a child killed 5 women at the end of the 1800s?", Alice asks in disbelief.

"No no. Jack the Ripper did exist as a real person. Just this Jack is not exactly that one. I'm sure the real one is a Servant too, though it would be best to not meet them.", Jeanne responds.

"Never heard of Siegfried, Astolfo, or Avicebron, but Frankenstein?", I ask the saint.

"Frankenstein? She seems nice even if a Berserker. She's an artificial human made of parts of several dead bodies by Doctor Victor himself. She wanted a mate but Frankenstein would not make her one and he was afraid of his monster, so she was attacked and I am sure you know the legend. In the War, however, she was a valuable asset, to say the least. She's part of the reason we won, even if indirectly."

"You said there were two teams?", Mash politely asks. "Who was on the red team?"

"The red team? Mordred who was a Round Table knight, Atalanta whom you've already met, Karna who is the son of the sun god Surya, Achilles who you also just met, William Shakespeare who was a poet you may be familiar with, Semiramis, the black-haired woman who chained all of us up yesterday, and Spartacus who was a famous Roman hero. As you can tell, they also had very strong members."

"Wait,", I say. "Where did you and that Amakusa fit into all of this?"

"We are both Rulers. Rulers are meant to oversee Grail Wars and make sure everything goes smoothly. I was summoned to do just that and was neutral, but I later sided with the black faction against the red faction, which Amakusa completely dominated later on. He too is a Ruler Class Servant, but he comes from long ago from another Holy Grail War in Japan. Long story short, he survived and waited all this time to fulfill his wish via the Holy Grail."

"And the wish was…?", Mash asks.

Jeanne d'Arc stops walking and turns around, a serious look on her face.

"For the salvation of humanity. His goal was to rid humanity of evil and make it so everyone would be happy and no conflict would exist. The issue with that is that it would rob humanity of their free will, the most important thing for a human. Sieg and I had to stop him because it wouldn't be the right thing for him to do."

"That does sound bad. Conflict isn't always good, but it's needed, right?", Ritsuka asks and tilts his head.

"Correct. Without conflict, humanity would simply stagnate. Sure everyone would get along, but then humanity would no longer strive to be better since there would be no point. Everyone would be happy with what they have and choose not to reach greater heights. And if humanity stagnates… no, I will not go that far just yet. Just know that it would not be good.", Jeanne ends her explanation with a dark tone of voice.

"I see, thank you, Jeanne d'Arc,", Mash says. Our group continues to walk forward. And after a little longer, we reach the fortress.

As explained, it looks like a castle. White and made of stone with a blue roof. It's surrounded by green land and trees like a large forest.

"Is this it?", Olga asks.

"Yes, now, let us hope it is empty and is suitable for us to use.", Jeanne steps forward and leads us along into the castle. She easily blows open the gate with a strong punch. That's B-rank strength for you.

But as we take a step through, I get a very bad feeling and yell at everyone to stop. At first, Jeanne looks back to see what's wrong, but then senses something too and manifests her armor. We all manifest our combat Mystic Codes and get ready for a potential fight!

"What is this? Intruders, hm?", a masculine commanding voice says, his voice covers the entire area with his body nowhere in sight.

Jeanne looks surprised and looks up.

"Who goes there?"

A Servant manifests and in front of us between us and the castle is a man with blond hair and blue tips at the end of the hair. He has a blond beard and mustache. He wears a black coat with some gold on it. A man who looks like royalty.

"Now you are a familiar face, Ruler. Are you on my side, or his?", he speaks of Amakusa.

"Vlad III, we are against Amakusa Shirou, so I guess that means we are on your side, Lancer.", Jeanne says while slightly bowing.

Lancer nods his head and looks our way. "Chaldea, I suppose these are? I heard about you all from when I was summoned by the Grail."

The Director steps forward and introduces herself. "My name is Olga Marie Animusphere, director of Chaldea. It's a pleasure to meet you. These are fellow travelers with Chaldea. Serena Mirai, Alice Narukami, Ritsuka Fujimaru, Mash Kyrielight, and Nicholas Ketsueki.", she says while gesturing to each of us.

"Tell me, why are you here at my fortress?", Lancer orders and Jeanne begins to speak again.

"We are hoping to seal refuge here. Trifas is no longer safe, and Sieg has been captured by Amakusa. Since you are here, we would like to ask your aid to retrieve Sieg along with the Holy Grail, and defeat Amakusa Shirou."

"Seek refuge, huh? Very well then, because we share the same enemy, I will allow you to stay here. Just do not forget, I am a king, so I will be treated as such."

"Very well then.", the Director nods her head. "We can agree to that."

And with that, we were all let into the fortress. Vlad III led us to the rooms and we each took one with plenty extra to spare. Alice dropped off all of our stuff in each of our rooms with her Imaginary Space and then we all met in the "throne room."

"Chaldea, which of you is the Master? Do you only have one, or several here?", Vlad asks.

Ritsuka steps forward and announces that he is the only Master here.

"Only you? Very well, this will work. The fortress just so happens to be built on a leyline."

"Lay…line?", Ritsuka has no idea what that word is since of course, he is not a magus."

"A leyline is a path of mana running through the earth. Connecting to a leyline would be like plugging a cord into an outlet. By plugging into a leyline, you can draw a lot of mana from the earth.", Nick states, clearly well-informed of this sort of thing.

"What would you like me to do then?", Ritsuka asks the king.

"Connect to the leyline and you may be able to summon a Servant to your aid. You can use all the help you can get, right?"

We all get a surprised look on our faces, then look at Ritsuka. "Do you know how to summon a Servant, Ritsuka?"

Ritsuka gets an uneasy look on his face. "I'm not sure, Da Vinci gave me a light rundown, but I wonder if I can manage?"

"Oh, let me help!", Mash manifests her armor and places her massive shield on the floor. "Da Vinci said this can help channel mana to help you summon."

Ritsuka smiles and pats Mash on the head. "Thank you, Mash. You're very helpful." Mash blushes and backs up a bit to give her Senpai some room.

Ritsuka manifests his Mystic Code and places his hand on the shield, closing his eyes, he begins to attempt to draw mana into the Mystic Code and summon a Servant.

"Heed my words! My will creates your body, and your sword creates my destiny!"

A strong pulse of mana enters his arm, his veins feel like they are about to explode.

"If you heed the Grail's call, then follow humanity's path and answer me!"

Mana begins to fill the air around him.

"Seventh Heaven clad in the great words of stargazers… Come forth, pass on your judgment, and punish my enemies… Guardian of the Scales!"

Bolts of lightning shoot out of the shield and the room begins to shake. Olga runs in front of all of us and throws down a few runes which produce a shield. "Careful, everyone!"

A figure appears where the ritual takes place, and as the lightning vanishes, the person takes form.

"You—!", Jeanne quite nearly screams out but contains herself just barely.

Appearing on the spot, a woman with pink hair stands proud. She wears a white and gold outfit with a white cape. Her pink hair has a black bow and a white streak in front. There is a sword on her left hip, so he must be a knight, Saber maybe?

"Yahoo! My name is Astolfo! My class is Rider! So…ermm, please take good care of me!", she says while striking an excited pose.

"Astolfo, huh? Nice to meet you.", Ritsuka says as he extends his hand to shake hers. Astolfo grabs his hand and wildly shakes it, nearly throwing Ritsuka off his feet.

"Cut it out, Rider. You'll hurt him!", Jeanne orders as she breaks their hand contact and pushes Astolfo back a bit. "Sorry, he's a bit hyper but overall well-meaning. He will make a good ally."

He?

"W-wait, what do you mean 'he?'", I ask.

"Ahaha~ What I wear may tell you otherwise, but I'm a boy!", Astolfo remarks in an amused tone of voice.

My entire worldview shatters and I am left stunned.

But then I notice that the summoning has not yet ended. And another figure has appeared a few meters behind Astolfo.

"Senpai, look!", Mash shouts out and everyone looks over to the new figure.

Standing there is a massive man with white hair and dark skin. His silver armor shines in the light, and a great sword is on his back.

"Saber, Siegfried. I have come in response to your summon.", the man says. His eyes meet Astolfo and he slightly smiles. "You are here too, Rider?"

Siegfried also recognizes Ruler and then Vlad who sits on the throne.

"I'm fully caught up with everything that has occurred here, though I never thought I would see this place again.", he says while looking at the familiar walls of the fortress.

"Hang on, where's Sieg?", Astolfo asks Ruler. She fills the two newcomers in on the events that have occurred up to now.

"That scum of the world! I won't let him do that to my Mas— former Master!"

Jeanne nods her head. "That is something we can agree on, Rider. We will come up with a plan and get him back."

As we all disperse to do our things not long after, Mash stays behind and stares at Siegfried as if she wants to talk to him, but is too shy.

"What is it?", he asks while looking at her. "Do you need something?"

"I uh, it's an honor to meet you, Siegfried! I've read your book telling your tale and Lady Kriemhild's, the 'Nibelungenlied,' and I liked it."

"Thank you. However, it is not particularly a story I enjoy as some facts were changed in its recording of my tale. But I am happy someone can enjoy my story nonetheless."

Mash blushes a bit and then looks back at him. "My name is Mash Kyrielight. It's nice to meet you" I already said that, stupid Mash. She thinks to herself.

"Nice to meet you, Mash Kyrielight. My name is Siegfried. I look forward to working with you, and Chaldea.", he extends his hand, and Mash takes it.

"Well, I best be off to check on Senpai. Take care, Siegfried!", Mash waves and hurriedly walks off to her room.

"You are not going to die early this time I hope?", a stern voice asks Siegfried from behind.

He turns around and is met with Vlad III, the Servant with the most power in the Black Faction in the Great Holy Grail War both physically and status-wise.

"I do not plan to…" Siegfried responds. "I will fully aid Chaldea and rescue that 'Sieg' boy, for he has my heart beating inside him. I will not meet my end until my mission here is finished."

Vlad smiles and laughs a bit. "Very good, Saber. I will hold you to that."

Lancer returns to his throne while Siegfried turns away and leaves the main hall.

It is now midnight. Everyone has already gone to bed, but I cannot bring myself to sleep in a new space so easily, so I decide to just go for a walk instead.

Walking through the hallway, I can tell it's pretty cold, and wearing a nightgown isn't helping the case since my upper body is fairly exposed and my legs and arms have almost nothing covering them. I have nothing else on me so I cross my arms and suffer in the cold.

And after a bit of walking and exploring the castle, I see a familiar figure on the balcony. I open the door and walk up behind him.

"Ritsuka? What are you doing out here?", I ask him. He turns around and responds.

"Couldn't sleep, you?"

"Same here. It's a nice view, isn't it?", I ask.

"Yeah, it's a bit chilly but otherwise the view is great. All this grassland is new for me since I lived near a city in Japan."

Ritsuka is wearing a gray sweatshirt and sweatpants. From what I've heard, men don't usually wear pajamas like women would when going to bed, so my nightgown is out of place compared to his outfit.

Ritsuka then takes a good look at me and I can see his eyes quickly look me up and down, and then he looks away embarrassed.

"Pervert.", I lightly tease him.

He gets even more red in the moonlight. "I'm sorry, I can't help it when you wear something like that. And you're nice looking."

I lean over the balcony railing and begin to talk to him. "So, Ritsuka, what was your life like before all this?"

He does the same as me. "Where is this coming from?"

"Curiosity. There's not much else to talk about right now, is there?"

"I suppose so, but I'm afraid my life wasn't anything special. Just an average teenager, that's all. I mentioned I have a little sister, right? I hung out with her quite often, even after I moved into an apartment."

"You said her name was Gudako, right?"

"Yeah, that's her nickname." Ritsuka scratches his head. "It's funny because we didn't always get along. We hated each other but we eventually grew closer due to an incident involving bullies. It was the only time I've gotten into a fight until this Grand Order."

"I see. I wouldn't know, I have no siblings.", I respond.

"You're your family's only child, huh?"

I nod my head. "It's quite nice. I get my room, more attention, more stuff, I don't need to share either."

"I gotta say that sounds nice, as much as I care for Gudako, she can be quite a hassle. She's 16 right now, but ever since she was 10, she's been obsessed with gacha games, so it's annoying hearing about her rolls all the time."

I look at Ritsuka and smirk a bit. "Is she cute?"

Ritsuka gives me a weirded-out look. "How should I know? I'm not that type of person."

"Haha. So, anyway, what about your school life? Any girls?"

Ritsuka shakes his head. "No, I never really tried though. I played volleyball in high school and got some attention, but nothing ever worked out. Other than that, I was an average student. Not super good but not bad at all. I was known to be good at history though."

"History, huh? I suck at it unless it concerns Miyamoto Musashi, I'm an expert at that stuff, but other than that I'm bad at history. As a student, I would say I'm average too, but on the lower end. As for sports, I didn't do any. I tried kendo for a while but it wasn't my thing. It's too… by the books? There's not a lot of freestyling in it and I hate that."

"Kendo? I never tried it. A sword doesn't fit me I think. I view myself more of a hand-to-hand type of guy, that's why I have Alice train me."

"Oh, how is she?"

"Brutal. She holds back but even then, it hurts.", Ritsuka touches his stomach area. "It still kinda hurts where she bullet-punched me recently."

I punch the air a few times and shake my head. "I could never become a hand-to-hand combatant. Swords are my thing and I don't plan on changing that."

Ritsuka smiles and looks into the night sky. A band of light stretches on seemingly forever.

"What about you? What was your school life like?", he asks the one question I'd rather not answer.

"Well you know… my Mystic Eyes developed and my high school time was hell. Everyone wanted me to help them out in and out of school by reading the future. I was bullied when I refused, and my ex-girlfriend, and a boy I fell for shortly after betrayed me and beat me up to near death after I refused to use my eyes for her. Yeah…great times…"

"Serena, I'm not sure what to say, but I'm sorry you had to go through that…", Ritsuka says with an apologetic tone of voice.

"It's all in the past now… don't worry about it, but I'd rather not bring it up again. I hated that part of my life and it's the reason why I don't want my Mystic Eyes anymore. I thought seeing the future would be cool, but I should've never told anyone I could do it. I wonder how my life would've turned out had I kept it hidden from the public?"

"Well, I'm sure that you'll find peace with your eyes someday, whether that be by getting rid of the Mystic Eyes somehow or accepting them, everything will turn out okay; that's what I believe."

I can't help but smile at what he said. "Thanks, Ritsuka. You're a great friend." I let out a loud yawn and grew a bit sleepy.

"Tired?", Ritsuka asks.

"Yeah, I think I'm gonna go back to bed. Talk to you tomorrow, Ritsuka."

"Yeah. See you. I'm going to bed too, I think. Talking like this made me tired."

And the two of us return to our rooms for a night of rest. I crawl into my bed and cuddle up under the white sheets, swiftly drifting off to bed.

Right as class ended, I ran straight from the classroom and onto the roof where we normally always meet for lunch break.

"Hana! Are you here?" I yelled out into the air.

A familiar girl with purple hair responded as she was sitting against the metal fence. "Right here, Serena-chan." She patted the floor next to her and I sat down where she patted.

I opened up my bento and saw that my mom packed me a simple sandwich and various fruits.

"What's in yours, Hana?"

"Let's see…"

She opened up her bento and it was like holy light poured out of hers. As the daughter of rich parents, naturally, she got only the best foods around. In her lunch were fruits and vegetables, perfectly cooked chicken and rice. Before I could even tell, I began to drool at the mere sight of her lunch.

"Jeez," Hana said as she wiped my mouth. "I'll share some with you, just take it easy. As an exchange, however, give me your cherries."

"Deal!" As promised, I handed over the red balls and she gave me a third of her chicken. "You really like cherries, huh? All this for a few of them."

Hana chewed one of them and quickly swallowed it. "Of course. I always eat them on our dates, have you not been paying attention? Besides, you're my girlfriend, so I don't mind sharing if it's with you."

I felt my face get a bit hotter and began to drown my embarrassment in food. We enjoyed our lunches and finished every last bit of them.

"We still have ten minutes left,", I said as I checked my flip phone. Hana checked her smartphone and confirmed the time after checking on some texts from friends.

She put her phone in her bag and unexpectedly laid her head on my lap.

"Hana!?"

"Please let me rest a bit in your lap, Serena-chan, I'm a little tired.", she said as she closed her eyes and dug into my black skirt.

"That's fine with me, I was just a bit surprised. Besides, it's not like we've never shared a bed before. A lap pillow is nothing!"

Hana sighed. "That sounds kinda weird when you say it like that. We're only 16, so we would get in trouble if someone misunderstood us. Especially me if my parents thought we did stuff like that."

"They're the type who wants you to get married first, right?", I asked.

"Yeah. They're fine with me being with you, but deep down I can tell that they want me to get with a rich person. If they thought we had sex at this age, they'd flip out.", Hana responded in a somewhat depressed tone of voice.

"Yeah, mine too. They don't care who I marry or be with, as long as I'm happy. But they don't want me to do anything like that until I'm 18 and responsible."

Hana opened up one eye and smirked. "You know, I'd let you grope me if you wanted. Though, I want your entire lunch the next day. Nothing beats your mom's cooking when she goes all out."

I jumped a bit in place but stopped myself to not disturb her rest. "No way! I like my lunches! Besides, you don't have much of a chest to grab anyway."

"Hey! Rude. Not everyone is as lucky as you, Serena-chan! All that fatty food must be going straight for your chest. A delicate lady like me would never experience such a thing as I eat sparsely.", her cheeks puffed up like a cute little chipmunk.

"I give you lap pillows all the time so you clearly like my thighs a lot. Eating so much may not be bad after all don't you think?"

She looked away from me. "You have a point there. Your lap beats my pillows at home. I—"

The bell went off and cut her off mid-sentence.

"Damn, lunch is over. I'll see you after school?", I asked as she lifted her head and sat upright.

"Can't, I have track after school today, and my parents will pick me up right after. We can still text tonight though."

"Sounds good, Hana. Talk to you then!"

Hana was about to stand up when she seemed to remember something. "Hey, Serena-chan?"

"Yeah?"

"Could you use that power of yours real quick? I want to know what the quickest route to class will be." She asked.

"Fine. You're lucky I love you, I wouldn't do this for just anyone. People have been hounding me lately to see their futures."

Hana's purple eyes lit up and she thanked me, I told her the quickest route, and as she was about to leave, she leaned in and gave me a quick kiss on the lips, then began to run off. "Thank you again, Serena-chan. I love you!"

"Love you too, Hana!", I said as I began to slowly walk to my class.

Just where did things go wrong after that? Why can't I remember much of it anymore? Have I blocked it out of my memory? I'm glad I can only vividly remember the happier times, but, I wish I wasn't able to and could get rid of everything involving Hana.

My eyes jolt open and I am greeted with a surprised-looking Alice face above me.

"Alice?", I say as I groggily sit up.

"I'm sorry if I scared you, Serena. But I came to wake you up and it seemed like you were having a nightmare. Is everything alright?"

I look at Alice and nod. "Just a bad dream, that's all."

Alice smiles and grabs my uniform from the hanger and places it on the bed. "Get ready as fast as you can. Breakfast will be ready soon."

Alice turns around, beginning to walk out, then looks back. "I think your nightgown looks pretty."

"Oh, why thank you! It's my favorite!", I reply. "You look very pretty too, my dear Alice."

Alice's face flushes and she quickly runs out of the room embarrassed, shutting the door behind her.

"Oh, bye-bye."

It didn't seem like I offended her. That blush was really cute on her. Maybe she's more girly than I first thought? I think as I stand up and begin to change into my Chaldea uniform.

After eating a large breakfast in the dining hall, we all converged in the main hall where Vlad sat on his throne like yesterday.

"Today I would like to evaluate you Chaldeans. If we are to fight Amakusa Shirou, I must know your skills.", Vlad orders.

"Sure thing, but using what?", Olga asks.

Vlad snaps his fingers and the Servants summoned yesterday walk up in front of us.

"You will train using us,", Siegfried says.

Nick smirks. "Are you sure about this? We might accidentally kill you."

Siegfried smiles back at him. "You would be wise to not underestimate a Servant, boy."

"I would like all of you to work together and try to take down either Rider or Saber. Ruler, you stay out of this, and Ritsuka Fujimaru, no summoning Servants. It would be a shame to waste those. I will examine how you fight and put together a plan of attack."

We all agree and exit to the field behind the fortress, putting on our Mystic Codes and ready ourselves. Siegfried and Astolfo manifest their weapons and prepare to defend themselves.

"Begin when you're ready! We sure are!", Astolfo exclaims enthusiastically.

The Director looks at all of us and nods. "Okay, Chaldea. Give it your best but of course, don't kill them. Ready? Ready!"

Olga gives the word and everyone charges forward to fight the two Servants… except me. I stand back and look toward the ground feeling defeated before the fight even starts.

"What is wrong, girl?", Vlad says, suddenly appearing beside me.

"I'm sorry, Mr. Vlad, but I can't do this."

"Oh? And why not?"

"I'm far too weak to be of any use against Servants. I didn't even last 3 minutes against Amakusa. All I have is this sword."

Vlad III looks over and sees Ritsuka out in the battle against the two Servants. "Ritsuka Fujimaru seems weak as well, yet he is fighting, and you are not."

I look over toward Ritsuka too. "Yeah, but he's much cooler and braver than me. I can't compare to someone like him. He at least has his summons he can use, but in a fight, I can't do anything of use."

Vlad III raises an eyebrow and reaches out his hand into the air.

Kazikli Bey!

Several pikes burst out from the ground and my body goes cold the moment I see one of them.

Without even thinking, my Mystic Eyes activate and I jump back into an unconscious act of self-preservation.

"So you do have something, young one. What kind of Mystic Eyes are those?"

There's no point in hiding the truth at this point, so I answer him reluctantly. "I can see up to 30 minutes into the future with them. Various futures depending on my actions."

The pikes vanish and Vlad is left standing there thinking for a moment. "I get it now. You are no fighter, not yet anyway. If you cannot bring yourself to enter combat, why not instead stay on the sidelines and give orders to the people who can fight?"

"You mean a tactician?", I ask.

"Indeed. You can see the future, so use that to keep them safe, along with yourself, and ensure they all take the path that would end with victory."

Why have I never thought of that before? It makes perfect sense, I can be safe on the side, and protect everyone else with my eyes. Ritsuka does the same thing as this but with Servants, so I could join him and tell everyone the best course of action.

Lancer grins and points toward Chaldea, who is still fighting the Servants. "Serena Mirai, I command you to join them in their fight using what I have just taught you."

I swallow nervously and comply with his request, running over to all of them yet standing far enough away that injury could not occur. I don't like using my eyes, but I'm too afraid of the Lancer behind me to disobey.

My Mystic Eyes activate and I see the future. They all fight against Siegfried and Astolfo. Various futures flow into my mind like memories, though none end fatally in any way for anyone. No one even gets injured since the Servants are holding back.

Alice focuses on using her rune-enhanced fists, Ritsuka uses spells from his Mystic Code, Mash protects with her shield and attacks, Olga fires off her spells, and Nick uses his hemomancy.

"Mash! Defend your right side in two seconds!" I yell out, using what I have seen in my mind to help protect her, and on cue, she defends her side from an attack from the blunt edge of Balmung.

Without hesitation, Nick jumps over Mash and comes crashing down with a sword made of blood and impacts the dragon slayer's shoulder, pushing him back slightly. Olga, as if to follow up, fires off three orange balls of magic and attempts to halt the Saber from further movement, yet he still moves. His magic resistance is too powerful to be thwarted by simple gandrs.

I view what is happening with Alice and see that she and Ritsuka are essentially being toyed with by the pink man. Alice attempts to punch, her fists and feet glowing green, both reinforced by magecraft and runes. But Astolfo simply dodges every attack at speeds humans cannot reach easily.

"Hahaha! Try and hit me!", Astolfo shouts out in a playful taunt to motivate the two to do their best.

"Ritsuka! Your stun, use it! Alice, prepare a big attack, let your instincts follow through!"

Alice hears me and nods for a moment, Ritsuka presses the button on his arm, and just as I said, Astolfo's body stops in place for a brief moment. And at that moment, Alice's leg sweeps Rider's and he falls over to the dirt ground. Alice then uses all she has to punch into his stomach and creates a crater surrounding the man with pink hair, leaving him in the dirt.

"That's enough!", Lancer yells out, stopping everyone in place. He walks forward and past me. "Good job, all of you. With this, I can formulate a plan. I do not want all of you to use up your energy, so go rest for a while if you so choose." And with that, he walks away. A man who gets straight to the point and spares no words.

Alice runs up to me. "Were you just using your eyes?" She asks, touching my cheek with her gloved hand.

I nod my head in confirmation. "Yes, Vlad 'encouraged' me to do so. Was I useful?"

Alice nods her head. "Yes, you were. Great job!"

I warm blush fills my face and I step back a bit to get some room when suddenly my stomach rumbles. "Ah, I guess that stress made me hungry.~"

"I could go for something too. Using all that mana stored in the Mystic Code made me lose some energy. I'll cook?" Ritsuka says, already content with cooking for all of us.

"Senpai's cooking…yes please!"

Ritsuka scratches his black hair and looks at the blue sky above. "Well, if Mash says so, then I guess I will do it."