Hello everyone and welcome back to the start of chapter 85 of the story!

And to kick things off, HOLY FUCK GUYS! DID YOU SEE?! FGOXMAHOYO COLLAB EVENT! AN ALICE SERVANT WITH HER PENGUIN CUSTOM IS POSSIBLE! AND IT AIN'T APRIL FOOLS! IT'S REALLY HAPPENING! IT FEELS LIKE A DREAM!

Meanwhile, the NA collab event this year will be with...the Riyo manga...yay. (No hate on the Riyo itself. Just the overall event)

But yeah, about the upcoming Mahoyo collaboration event. Wow...it came out of nowhere. Looking forward to it (and you damn well know Nasu and the others at Type-Moon will make the event an important piece of canon lore to FGO)

But anyways, with all that excitement said and put out of the way, let's start it!

DISCLAIMER: All of the Nasuverse characters belong to Nasu and are property of Type-Moon, with the exception of the OC that belong to me, the author

Fasting forward the next hours after the alliance between the Resistance and the West army having been formed, Edison had reopened the factories again, lowered down on the excessive security of the fortress and let the people return to the city of Denver now that his case of a rather maniac episode had been over. Now, having admitted his flaws and that his plan to save America on his own way was improper for all of humanity's future, the inventor was cooperating with the chaldeans to save his country, and by extent the world, from the Celtic Empire.

"Three days. It will be the time we'll need to get all the supplies needed and readied for the war." Edison told to Ritsuka, the two being accompanied by everyone else, discussing about the planement of a possible upcoming final battle against the celts in order to defeat them, retrieve the grail and fix this Singularity.

"How many soldiers could we gather by the end of that?" Ritsuka asked to the inventor with a lion's head.

Helena started to make mind calculus."Counting with the helter skelter as well as the human soldiers on our army, adding to the mass production of the presiking pushed to the max...Around forty to forty-five thousand." The occultist concluded.

"Including our own soldiers of the Resistance, you can up the numbers to 40.500-45.500." Robin said, mixing the two factions armies despite his faction barely having enough members to be a proper army.

"But with the grail on Medb's hands, the Celtic Empire will definetly have more than us." Peko speaked, taking into account that the celts had an endless source of backup in the holy artifact.

"What matters is not the number of soldiers each army has, but yes their worth." Rama replied. "Our side has clearly more Heroic Spirits than the enemy. That will be a crucial factor to achieve victory."

"However, servants like Cú Alter would need quite the effort to be brought down. Beowulf also doesn't look to be a pushover." Mash went for a realistic approach, viewing the Celtic Empire servants as incredible powerful, physical strenght wise. "And then there's Arjuna. Which if he's on the same level as Karna..."

Nightingale glanced at the hindu lancer. "Since in your tale, you are considered to be his half-brother and rival, what can you tell us about Arjuna?"

"Hmm, Arjuna is a relentless and cunning warrior. He hardly let's a mistake slip while in battle." Karna informed the group. "From all the heroes and warriors I've faced of India, I'd consider him to be the hardest adversary I battled with. His talent within archery and mana abilities perhaps putting him even above the oldest of the Pandava siblings when it comes to the most gifted potential."

"Basically, he is going to definetly be the most dangerous of the enemy side we'll have to deal with." Nala replied to the short summary Karna gave of him. "Now thinking back when we met him first at the woods, he really was a very collected guy. I wonder what he would have done if he knew we were enemies at that time."

Peko shrugged at that thought, having seen how precise and lethal Arjuna fought during his operation at the Celtic Empire's capital, being a level above everyone else in there. "To think we got lucky for him not knowing that at the time."

"Being a child of a god, it would most certainly not end well for you if he did." Karna replied. "Out of all of us Heroic Spirits in here, I shall be the one facing Arjuna as I'm also a son to a god of our pantheon." The hero of charity made the decision, reserving the task of taking care of Arjuna to himself. "I hope there isn't any problem with making a selfish statement like this. Are you mainly okay with it, Rama?" He asked politely to the other hindu servant.

Rama gently waved his hand. "No. No problems at all. Altough I'm also related to a god through being his avatar wich makes my Saint Graph closer to yours and Arjuna's, I think there is no more better fitting match against him than someone who's already familiar with his tatics and skills like yourself, Karna. We'll let him be your full responsability." The king of Kosala said, feeling okay with not opposing to his countryman's desire.

Karna smiled back to Rama. None were against the idea. "Vey well. It's official. I shall be the one fighting and keeping Arjuna occupied in this war!"

Edison then pointed to someone sitting with their backs against the fortress walls, staying some meters away from their discussion. "And what about that fella?" He said, staring at Li Shuwen who was mostly only hearing the conversation while resting his body, eyes closed. "Isn't he in this too?"

"Oh, that guy won't be participating!" Elizabeth clarified to Edison. "He is neutral in all of this!"

"Hm? Is that so?" Edison doubted slightly. Helena was the same.

"How can we know that he isn't an actual spy for the celts, hearing all of our plans and strategies to then return to the enemy's base and spill all out?" The occultist asked, being a bit reluctant with the martial artist.

"Do not worry about him. He already expressed his intentions in this Singularity to us in a through way." Scáthach said, explaning the motive for Li Shuwen current position in the conflict. "He was honest about it. I deduce he is not the type to be backstabing us without doing a better job at it." The spearwoman let it clear that the martial artist was not a threat to them despite remaining apart from their planning for the final battle.

"Medb is the queen as well as the one with the grail according with what Peko and Robin told us." Ritsuka told. "Therefore, she must be our top priority as well."

"And even then she'll be an adversary that won't go down without a fight." Robin pointed out, not underestimating the queen of Connacht for being the most 'easy' servant to fight with, having experienced what she could be capable of.

"With the grail in her hands, we have to be cautious of any surprises they might pull on us." Mash replied.

"You said it. Who knows if they're summoning more servants as we speak." Elizabeth replied.

"Having to fight against servant we don't know nothing about would be a real hassle." Helena commented to that.

"Well, I'm sure that Medb probably can't summon a servant every single minute just like she can with random celtic foot soldiers." Rama said, trying a realistic approach to that possibility. "The mana energy from the grail would much likely need some time to cool down before summoning another Heroic Spirit again."

"That's the most plausible scenario of it." Scáthach said, thinking the same thing as Rama. "However, we can't be too sure about that. It'd be better for us to take precaution with a situation like that."

"Eh! No worries! That'll be easy-peezy!" Nala speaked, a smug in her face.

"Hm? Why do you think so?" Mash asked to the young girl.

"Because while you guys were setting the table and eeverything else for this discussion, we came up with a strategy!" Peko said, also smiling with quite some confidence. He and Nala then stared at Ritsuka. "Haven't we, Ritsuka?"

The others were confused. "What are you three talking about, master?" Mash asked Ritsuka.

The master of humanity closed his eyes briefly, smirking. "A flawless combat strategy plan! We'll show you!" He bent his back a little bit, putting in position. "Peko! Nala!"

As a signal, the twins summoned their each respective swords, with Peko jumping on Ritsuka's back as piggyback ride, proceeding to Nala also jump on her brother's piggyback ride as well, the three having created a small tower.

"We present to you..."

Nala stretched her sword to the front as Peko extended both his arms, one doing the fingergun, to the sides.

"THE PERFECT WAR MACHINE OF COMBAT: R.P.N!"

All three of them exclaimed, introducing their incredible 'strategy' to the rest of the group, who all stared at them like they were some sort of autistic goofballs. Except for Edison and Elizabeth.

"Oh you guys..." Mash sighed, slightly embaressed as she brought a hand to her forhead.

"THAT'S INCREDIBLE! A HELTER SKELTER WITH A MODEL LIKE THAT MIGHT BE WHAT WE JUST NEED!" Edison exlcaimed enthusiastically, liking the concept he was seeing on the three of them stacking up above one another.

"You surely are being sarcastic with that, right?" Robin speaked.

"With a stunt like that, my concerts would surely always be trending!" Elizabeth said, already imagining and creating ideas in her mind.

The hologram of Dr. Romani appeared, trying to hold in the laughter. "S-Seriously...how do you plan to fight like that in the battlefield?"

"Easy!" Nala replied. "I'm on the top and my slashes will cut down anything in front of us trying to attack!"

"Being in the middle, I can take care of both left and right sides with my sword and free hand!" Peko added. "The opponents will have an hard time trying to flank us!"

"And then me at the bottom, while not having any weapon, I can use my kicks to back off any enemy that tries to approach us up close!" Ritsuka concluded the explanation with a smile. "Pretty neat, don't you think?"

"Hummm, kinda? And if an enemy comes from behind with a surprise attack? How will you prevent it?" Rama questioned, finding a fundamental flaw in the trio's 'great' strategy.

"..."

"..."

"..."

The three stood painfully silent, feeling like dumbasses for not having thought of that. Until they stared at Mash and smugged collectively at her.

"Mash..."
"We know you wanna join."
"C'mon now. There's no denying it."

The shielder took a step back, drops of sweat falling from her head from sheer weirdness. "T-Thanks but I think I'll pass..."

"Fou..." Fou shook his head in shame.

"Moving onto another subject, we should define the frontlines for this battle." Scáthach brought it up. "As a proper army, we shouldn't put all the eggs in one basket. Rather, we should divide it into two smaller ones."

"Thus making this war into two main frontlines." Nightingale added, seeing where Scáthach was going with it. "That's feasible."

"We need to determine the places where our two armies should be placed then." Karna told. "Assuming that we are aiming for an assault on the headquarters of the Celtic Empire, we could locate the two in areas that could flank each side of the city."

"For that we are going to need to see the map of the overall country." Helena speaked, about to unroll a giant map of America in order to show the geomilitary situation.

But Romani anticipated to it. "That won't be needed. Here's a more advanced map for you!" The doctor put a big hologram of the map on the table for everyone to see, the regions coloured in blue and red. "The blue represents our forces while the red represents the troops of the enemy. As you can see, there's currently a giant frontline of the war right in the middle of the country, representing how America is quite torned in half by the conflict." Romani typped on his keyboard, showing a dot on the end of the east side of the country. "And that is Washington D.C. Capital of the United States, now the capital of the celts. I'm pretty sure that if we want to win this war, we'll have to reach there and recover the grail from Medb's grasp."

"The future of technology is truly marvellous..." Edison muttered, fascinated with the presentation of Romani's more elaborated map of the conflict. Coughing, the inventor went back to bussiness. "I mean, I can visualize how we could approach to this war."

Rama observed deeply the area between the main frontline and Washington D.C., being all celtic territory. Hearing about Scáthach's idea of splitting their army into two smaller ones and analysing the map again, an idea forming on his head. "We could put an army a north front and the other in the south!"

"Ahaha, exactly my thoughts pal!" Edison replied to Rama. "Since one of our main objectives is to reach Washington D.C., one army can stay up north and the other down south, both pushing forwards to the city, giving the celts no place to go but to fight us! We'd be surrounding them on both sides!" He exclaimed, putting his hands together.

"I was also wondering about that before. Glad we got the same thinking!" Romani replied. "That would allows us to split the Celtic Empire's strenght as it wouldn't all be focused in one place! Their forces would have to worry about two armies at two different places at the same time!"

"Meaning that we could slowly but surely make progress until we'd reach Washington D.C.!" Nala exclaimed.

"Now I don't think that the two fronts would both need to invade torwards the city." Ritsuka thought, putting a hand on his chin. "One should be enough."

"Oh, I get it!" Peko replied, understanding what Ritsuka's trying to say. "One of the armies could serve as a diversion to the Celtic Empire, while the other is the one pushing through!"

"Then one of the groups could be a bait." Robin speaked, also imagining that possibility. "And the other one would be where we'd put more firepower on, being the main group that'd reach the capital to deal with Medb and Cú Alter while the first one stays occupying a little more than half of their troops."

"Depositing all hopes in a group only sounds risky. Specially in a task like this one." Scáthach gave her opinion about it. "But as the situation is right now, I think we don't have much choice left."

"Hmm, Edison could run a small simulation, showing how it goes out this two frontlines option if you want to." Helena shared that fact with the rest of the group. She then stared at the inventor. "Will you, Presiking?"

"You don't even need to ask!" Edison exercised his hands and using them like a projector, he materialized some mini figurines on the map, representing each frontline and the celtic army. Purposefully, he put a lower number in one of the two frontlines before beggining to run the simulation. "As you can observe, the frontline we put a lot more resources in is the one advancing quicker through the territory." Edison commented as one of the frontlines moved faster against the enemy troops while the other one was slower, stalling the other half of the celtic army. "The other front serving as decoy, will attract half the celts military and keep them occupied." Edison continued the explanation, with the figurines still moving. "By the time our enemy realizes either the south or the north front is actually a destraction, it's gonna be already too late for them as the stronger of our two armies will have arrived to Washington D.C. by that time, getting the grail and victory in our hands!"

Helena looked at the entire group as the figurines finished showing the simulation of their operation before Edison made them dissapear. "So? Any questions you might have?"

"I'm not seeing a better plan than that one. It's the only one with remotely chances of working out." Romani replied after viweing the demonstration. "Yeah, we're going ahead with it!"

"But I'm not sure that the Celtic Empire will only send normal troops to stop us." Mash speaked. "They'll much likely notice the sudden shift on the main frontline and prepare for the final war themselves."

"That and the very plausible chance that they'll have their own servants leading each separate army to deal with ours." Nightingale added, assuming that their enemies wouldn't be dumb enough to try and stop them with only average celtic soldiers.

"You think that Cú Alter could be leading one of those armies?" Peko asked, considering about that possibility.

"That could be the case." Rama replied. "But in any case, I'm sure that Medb wouldn't be joining the frontlines, as she's the one with the grail. They wouldn't risk losing their queen and she the grail by getting near the battle zones."

"That's exactly what I'd see Medb doing." Scáthach said. "She might appear like some dumb self-centered girl at the beggining, but she's cautious and perceptive enough to know when to not put herself at risk needlessly." The spearwoman pointed out. "As expected, our war will only be won when we reach to her lair and defeat her, either with Cú Alter being there or not."

"Well, with all of that decided by now, I think we should start planning on forming the armies and decide which one will be the decoy and the one that will go all the way to Washington D.C: the north or south army." Elizabeth talked, moving the discussion to another part of their operation. "We have to also see who'll integrate in each one. Preferably, the strongest ones here should all be part of the same army that will invade the home base of the celts."

"But we also can't let the other side that weak if we plan to use it as bait for the other half of the enemy army." Nala replied, knowing that they would need to more-or-less balance the destribution between the two frontlines if they wanted this plan to work.

"Well observed." Helena speaked up. "We need to think thoroughly on this."

Edison stared at Ritsuka. "Vice President, as my now second in command, how do you think the distribution of the two army fronts should be done?" He requested for Ritsuka's advice.

"I still don't have quite the idea on it." Ritsuka said, scratching his head. "We should give it time before defining it."

"And time isn't something that we're lacking now." Romani said. "Remember, we got three days until we oficially start the operation. Until there, get the ideas sorted out."

Edison agreed with that statment. "Hmm, surely, I do think we can save that draft decision for tomorrow or after tomorrow. America and the whole world's future lays on this entire operation!" The inventor clapped his hands together. "With that said, the discussion ends here for today! You're all dismissed!"

With the night having arrived, the party was now spending some time in their own way inside the city. Three days until the opreation for the final war commences. The period until there, would be filled with a lot of planning, thinking and reflection.

"Here you have it!" Ritsuka handed a small but very detailed cloth to an old lady, having been stuck in a crack of a building, being too high for the elder woman to reach.

"Thank you young man. This cloth means a lot to me."

"I'm sure it does." Ritsuka told her with a gentle smile.

"It was a gift from my husband. He sadly passed away some years ago. This is all that I have to remember him."

"For the lady to remember him that way, he must have been a really good man. Now it must be lonely without him." Ritsuka replied, chatting a bit with the old lady.

"It is. I can't wait for when my time finally comes up and I can join him."

"Hm? So you're saying you want to die?" Ritsuka asked her, not expecting that statement from the old lady at all.

"Eh, I am aware that putting it like that does sound off. But death isn't a thing we should be afraid of, nor perceive as an amalgamation of bad things." The old lady speaked. "It's a way to give conclusion to a person's life. And mine has already been lived to a great extent. I have no qualms in dying at any moment now, has it means my life has reached to an end and I was happy with it." The old lady looked upwards. "I believe that people don't fear death but rather, they simply do not accept it yet, as they believe they still have things left to do with their lives."

"That's..." Ritsuka was a bit wordless, the observation the old lady made about such a subject having surprised him.

"Oh, sorry! I hope you aren't taking me for a senile old woman with the words I said just now."

"N-Not at all. Quite the opposite, I do think what the lady said was of someone with a good mind." Ritsuka told her with a little chuckle, not thinking that the old lady was just spewing non-sense, alleviating her.

"I see. Well then, I do hope a young man like you continues to live his life to the fullest. See you around!"

"Take care!" Ritsuka waved goodbye to the old lady as she walked away. "Quite an odd interaction this was..."

"Senpai!"

Hearing someone calling him, Ritsuka turned to the left and saw Mash walking torwards him. "Oh, hey Mash! How are you?"

"Everything fine. I see you've just helped someone." Mash said, having spotted briefly her master's interaction with the old lady.

"Welp, I had nothing to do but stroll around and then I saw the old lady asking me for help and-"

"Senpai. Could I make you a question?" Mash interrupted him.

"Hum? Yeah. Go ahead Mash." Ritsuka accepted, wondering what it was.

"That strategy you had with Peko and Nala." The shielder speaked, looking at him. "You honestly thought that was a good idea?"

Ritsuka blushed a bit embaressed, looking to the side. "...Kinda? It was more on Nala's insistence and Peko seemed to roll with it anyways." He explained, resulting in a giggle out of Mash.

"Of course. Well, I do give some points for the creativity of it." She smiled, leaning her back to a building's wall and stare to the bright stars up there in the sky. "Another final battle we will soon have. It's becoming so common at this rate."

"Eh, you tell it. Another final battle to have another grail in the bag." Ritsuka replied, also leaning his back against the wall, standing next to Mash. "It kinda makes the word 'final' lose the meaning a bit."

"True. I do wonder when will we have the true LAST final battle however." Mash said, wanting to know if they'll ever stop having to fight.

"Only when we get all the seven grails and defeat Solomon." Ritsuka told her. "Until then, we must always fight to not give up on humanity."

"I speculate as much." Mash said, beggining to rub her shoulder. "I sure hope we can win this war. See the tomorrow after that."

"And we will Mash. We aren't going to lose this for anyhting!" Ritsuka speaked with a reassuring and confident voice, wanting his servant to feel the same.

"Then, you think we're going to see a new day after all of this is over after humanity's restoration?" Mash asked. "That my future will continue next to all of you, Senpai?"

Ritsuka wasn't very sure why Mash was making these questions. A small sign of trepidation and doubt within her perhaps. Eitherway, it was his job as her master and leader, to make Mash's morale be okay. He had to look out for her just like the rest of the team. "I'm sure of it Mash!" He told, looking at the Shielder. "After this is done, we'll make sure to live our lives to the fullest!" He smiled.

Mash liked the sound of those words. They were comforting. "I honestly hope that happens, Senpai." She then looked to the sky again. "But still, I also want to help Peko and Nala find their parents as well as get their whole memories back. As their companions, that's the least we should do."

"It sure would be a great if we saved humanity and foun their parents all at the same time." Ritsuka replied, wishing the same thing.

"Do you think those two objectives are somewhat correlated with each other senpai?" Mash asked to Ritsuka, reflecting if their two main goals could be achieved mutually.

"Who knows? It's a hard thing to tell." Ritsuka said, crossing his arms. And shortly after that being said, Peko and Nala appeared, accompained by Fou.

"Ritsuka! Mash!"

"We were looking everywhere for you!"

"Fou fou!"

Both Ritsuka and Mash stared at them.

"Hi there! What is it-hm?!" Mash was caught off guard as Nala showed her a sandwich in front of her.

"Here! Take one!" The young girl told Mash, handing her the piece of food.

Mash took it almost instantly, not thinking twice due to how spontaneous it was. "H-hum, thanks Nala."

Peko also gave one to Ritsuka. "Edison made it for us. According to him, its american fibers and protein like these that makes a person's body stay in shape...or something along those lines. So we decided to share ones with you."

"Eh. Appreciate it." Ritsuka took the sandwich with pleasure, taking a bite out of it. "Hm! It's good!"

"I don't know how he makes it, but Edison dubs it as the incredible power of 'mass produced fast-food'." Nala told him, eating as well next to Mash.

"Perhaps we should ask him for the ingredients later on." Mash said, taking a liking to it as well. They all sat down on the entrance to a saloon, eating their own sandwiches.

"Might start making these once we're back at Chaldea." Peko said, giving a bit of his own sandwich to Fou.

"Eh? So you're assuming to be the cook of the group now?" Ritsuka commented on what the boy had just said, surprising him a bit.

"W-Wha- N-No! I didn't mea-" Peko tried to explain but was cut short by Nala.

"Well, if that's so, then I hope you cook launch and dinner for us every single day during our missions." She declared, imposing it on her brother.

"But-"

"And the dishes better be my favourite ones!" Ritsuka speaked, continuing to push the subject alongside Nala. "Sashimi, onigiri, tempura, taiyaki..."

Nala nodded with her eyes closed. "Same here! Anything else that isn't my favourite food will go straight to the trash!"

Peko was already going crazy with that. "Waitwaitwait! I can barely cook simple dishes. How do you expect me to do more complex ones?!"

Ritsuka then dropped the act alongside Nala, laughing. "Just kidding! We were only messing with you!"

"...Ah?" Peko stared dumbfounded, feeling like an idiot.

Nala giggled, giving some taps on her sibling's shoulder. "I can't believe you actually fell for it! You're so easy to prank, hahahaha!"

Peko turned his head around, pouting with an annoyed expression. "You guys are mean..." He muttered.

"If you really look forward to start cooking, I believe no dish will be impossible for you to make in the future Peko." Mash told to the boy.

Peko smiled a bit, happy to see Mash encouraging him. "Thanks for saying it Mash. At least you aren't heartless." He speaked before feeling a crumble of his sandwich fallling into his chin. "Oh?"

"Let me take care of that." Mash told him, cleaning the bit of food with her finger, smilling cutely. "Done!"

Peko smiled cutely as well. "Jeez! Thank you again Mash!"

The cuteness the two created together was extremely contagious, affecting Ritsuka. "Levels of adorableness like this should be illegal!"

"Now that I think about it, Mash isn't a person to make fun or mock anyone." Nala said, analysing on how well-mannered the shielder behaved in some aspects when compared to the rest of the team.

"I-I think I just can't bring myself to be a person who can openly diss others. Even friends." Mash justified, looking shyly to the side. "Does it make me look kinda lame?"

"No! Not at all!" Nala said quickly said, not wanting Mash to feel bad. "You're good the way you are! Ain't that true guys?" She stared to both Ritsuka and Peko.

"Absolutely!" Peko replied.

"Without thinkng twice!" Ritsuka added.

Before the shielder could say anything in return, made contact with them. "Hi guys! Sorry to interrupt whatever chat you were having, but me and Da Vinci got some new info for you!"

"Do tell us about it then, Doc." Ritsuka replied, his and the team's attention now directed at him.

Da Vinci walked in, her hologram showing as well to share the news. "Do you still remember about Geronimo's comments on how those shadow devils had a familiar nature to the evil spirits of his native culture?"

"Yeah, we do. What conclusions have you reached with the studies on that?" Mash asked to the two.

"Before we jump ahead to the reveal, first we have to tell you about the meaning of the evil spirits on the native american's culture and what they represent." Romani told. "To Geronimo's and ither native tribes point of view, the evil spirits were seen as manifestation of a person's own flaws and sins. Their souls would darken and their bodies deform through the execution of evil acts."

"That would led to a trigger of some type of corruption curse, shifting gradually the bodies of humans who practiced such evil and sinful taboos into monstrous and demonic beings." Da Vinci continued the explanation. "Therefore, the evil spirits were perceived as the concept of a baleful magecraft that would taint a human's soul and body as consequence for the practice of such vile deeds to the indigenous."

"Then what you're saying is that the evil spirits are essentialy composed of sins, degrading whoever's body that commits them?" Peko tried to see if he got it right.

"Hmm, using that definition for it does sound fitting. What would an evil spirit be composed of if not of sins after all?" Mash commented, the explanation making sense to her.

"And they aren't the only thing whose whole construction revolves around sins and flaws." Romani said.

"What's the other thing then?" Nala asked to the doctor and the italian genius, waiting for the answer.

"Using SHEBA, we here at Chaldea went to search for areas with presence of evil spirits here in the United States, taking some samples of it and proceeding to make a study. Once done, we moved onto the research of the magic fundamentals that compose the shadow demons you fought a few days ago. And after dissecting and trespassing through some copious layers of what could be describe as a dense darkness, we discovered what those creatures are made of: sins."

The team went into a brief silence with the response.

"Then what Geronimo said about the evil spirits and the demons having a semblance was true." Ritsuka speaked. "They are basically made of the same thing."

"And Geronimo was right on another thing." Da Vinci said, having more to share. "The indexes of mana we captured from the shadow demons was on a far greater level than those we observed of the evil spirits. That's the main difference between the two despite the overall similarity in their construct."

"In a nutshell, the shadow demons are an upgrade to the evil spirits despite being two separate entities." Nala said.

"On a smaller scope, perhaps. But on a bigger scope, the two groups can fall under the same category: malignant beings, products of a man's flaws, crimes and negative traits." Romani said, seeing things on another angle. He begun to talk lowly as his mind theorized something. "Or I'm severly mistaken here or this connection might be more important than it seems..."

Ritsuka's mind also started to create its own thought. A figure that could be correlated to this. Someone known within sin. "Those imps..." Ritsuka said, his mind trying to connect the dots. "They were Man of Sin's creati-"

"Hello. I hope I am not interrupting anything here." A voice cut short Ritsuka, gaining his and everyone else's attention. Walking torwards them, Karna made himself visible to the group. "You seemed to be in the middle of an important discussion."

"K-Karna? Wasn't expecting to see you here on a walk." Peko told to the hero of charity.

"Because I'm not on a walk." The hindu servant replied, staring at the boy. "I've wanted to see you. You and your sister." He went straight to the point.

"Huh? See us? Why?" Nala questioned Karna.

"There's something I've been wanting to talk about that can only be possible with you two." Karna clarified.

"Do say what is it so." Ritsuka told him.

"Pardon, but I prefer to speak with the two siblings alone if possible." Karna requested, not wanting anyone else to hear besides Peko and Nala.

"..." Ritsuka and Mash both took it with some skepticism, finding weird on why the hindu servant only wished to speak with their other two companions.

"I do not intend to hurt them. I promise." Karna said with a calm voice, aware that they'd be reluctant to his request.

Peko choosed to believe in the servant, feeling he wasn't lying in his solicitation. "If it's the only way to say what you want to say, then I'll abide to it. You don't look like someone who would try to deceive us."

"And if you're going, I'm also going!" Nala speaked, also accepting Karna's request. "Permission for doing so?" Nala made the question to both Ritsuka and Mash, wanting their confirmation to at least know it was okay to speak alone with Karna.

Looking first at each other, Ritsuka changed his sight at Romani. "What do you think about it doc?"

"You're the leader here Fujimaru." Romani replied. "That decision is more up to you to make, not me."

Ritsuka sighed at that. "Thanks so much for the advice..." He whispered, sarcastically. "Well, I'm letting you talk with Peko and Nala alone like you wish to." He accepted Karna's request.

"Thank you for the understanding." Karna told Ritsuka before staring at Peko and Nala. "Now please, follow me."

Standing on top of the wall of the city's fortress, the trio of Peko, Nala and Karna were now alone, with the twins now wanting to hear what Karna had to tell them.

"So, what is it that you want to tell us?" Peko said to the hindu lancer, with him and Nala standing behind the servant as he stared to the vast nocturne scenario in front of him.

"Arjuna...How is he doing?" Karna asked to the two, still looking at the view in front. "Is he alright?"

"Eh? You wanted us to come here only to make us questions about him?" Nala said in confusion.

Peko was also befuddled by the question. Yet, he decided to answer. "He is doing fine despite being our enemy I suppose. Why the question?"

"You two have encountered him before, haven't you? If so, I'd like to know what impressions you had of Arjuna during your meeting." Karna clarified.

"Well, he was kinda stoic and distant when we met him for the first time." Nala said, remembering on how she and Peko met Arjuna in the woods. "Giving a bit of anti-social vibes."

"But he still did help us when we were lost. I didn't exactly judged him to be a bad person." Peko added, reminding how Arjuna appeared to help them fight against the wolves and even smile despite of the reserved behaviour he had most of the time. "Instead, he seemed like a good person who just chooses to keep things mostly to himself." He then remembered of Arjuna showing up during his fight against Cú Alter and Medb inside Nero's Bounded Field. "Which bugs me on why he is siding with the enemy here."

"Arjuna is indeed a good person." Karna replied, turning around to look at the two. "Unfortunately, he is now chained to an obsession that clouds his judgement."

"Does it have to do with you?" Nala asked him.

"Yes. I am Arjuna's very own obsession. He still can't let go off the conflictuous past that transpired between us unlike me." Karna responded. "Wherever I go, he goes to as well and vice-versa. You could say it's fate itself that puts us in these situations were we are obliged to fight one another."

"But you are siblings even if only half related, right? So why you two just don't sort it out by talking with one another?" Nala proposed the idea to Karna.

"That's what I aspire to do here. To finally put an end to this personal grudge." Karna revealed. "We never got the chance to in our previous lives but, I always wanted to fraternize with Arjuna as a brother. Even if we had different fathers and got on opposite ends of a war, I never stopped seeing him as a relative." The hero of charity speaked from the bottom of his heart.

"So all that you want is to make peace with him." Peko said, getting what Karna's objective was.

"Like true siblings that always fight each other for the smallest of reasons before settling it down afterwards." Karna smiled to the two. "I reckon that's a charecteristic of this type of relationship, no?"

Nala smiled back at him. "Pretty spot on! There's nothing more sibling than that! Us two are the epitome of that!"

"I mean, we are not always fighting majority of the time, but what you said is still true." Peko told to Karna. "That's why you wanted to talk about this with us alone? Because we're siblings too?"

Karna confirmed it. "Yes. The fact you two were the only ones here with that bond meant you would be the most easy to understand my emotions and thoughts in relation to Arjuna in a way that perhaps no one else would."

"If that's the case, then I sure hope you can reconcile with your brother." Nala told him.

"The way you described what Arjuna feels for you, it might be hard." Peko also said. "But I think Arjuna would let you say what you feel, so it can be possible."

The hindu lancer smiled gently to the two. Looking at how Peko and Nala interacted with each other made him want to achieve the same thing between him and Arjuna. "Thank you for the optimism. I long crave for that understanding to be reached. I'll try to make Arjuna see the same things I see." With that said, Karna was about to walk away. "It was nice talking this to you two. See you around."

"Likewise! Feel free to speak with us again if you want to!" Nala told to him.

"See ya around! Have a goodnight Karna!" Peko wished him as he and his sister saw the hero of charity abandoning the place.

And now alone, the two were ready to come back to Ritsuka and Mash when Nala spotted someone walking through the fortress main exit. "Hey! Isn't that Li Shuwen?"

"Huh?" Peko looked to where Nala was looking, spotting the artial martist below leaving the gates. The two wondered where he could be going. They decided to come down and went torwards Li Shuwen.

"Li Shuwen! Where are you going?" Peko asked, making the servant stop in his tracks before staring behind to look at the twins approaching him.

"Leaving." Li Shuwen simply responded.

"What? So soon?" Nala replied.

"I told you I wouldn't be joining this war, so I'm literally here doing nothing." The martial artist said.

"But why not stay these remaining days until the war starts with us? There could be things that you could do here like look out for the people or something else." Peko tried to convince him to stay.

Not much success. "Sorry boy, but that doesn't appeal me." Li Shuwen refused, about to walk away. "You can tell the others I do wish you good luck tho. And that the spearwoman still remembers of our promised duel by the time the war is over." He told the two, on his way to leave the city and roam around the country until the conflict ended. However...

"If that's what you wanted to say, you should have told me personally." Scáthach speaked, standing between the gates, having appeared behind them.

"S-Scáthach!" Peko exclaimed, the presence of the celtic spearwoman being a surprise.

"I'd beseech you to not leave yet, as I do have an offer you might be intrested in, Li Shuwen." Scáthach speaked as she walked torwards the martial artist, their eyes looking into each other.

"Hmm, what is it about?" Li Shuwen asked, willing to hear what proposal Scáthach had for him.

"You still owe me a favour due to my win on our quick warm up match, remember?" The celtic spearwoman brought up that detail.

"Ah, so that's what this is about. Well then, are you going to use it now and tell me what is it?" Li Shuwen asked her.

Looking to the martial artist, Scáthach gave a brief glance to Peko and Nala before staring back at Li Shuwen. She had the idea in her head. "I'm going to train them alongside me." She revealed, shocking the three but mainly Peko and Nala.

"What?!"
"You're going to train us?!"

"Excuse me? I am not suited to teach nor have students." Li Shuwen replied, rejecting the offer. "Aks me again when I become older and have nothing left to do."

"So you opt to retract your statement? I thought you said you would comply to my favour no matter what it was." Scátach played Li Shuwen's words against him once again. "And I perceived you as a honest man of word."

Fortunately, her method worked. "Tsk! You really don't let a thing fly past you, do you?" Li Shuwen gave an annoyed smile, knowing that the spearwoman was right. "Fine then! I'll open an exception for this two kids and train them!" He exclaimed, not backing on his word to Scáthach.

Peko and Nala were still in bafflement, their excitment going into overload.

"I can't believe this! We're actually going to be trained by two combat experts!" Nala almost couldn't contain herself from jumping happily. "And one of them is a martial artist!"

"But what made you choose to teach us all of a sudden?" Peko asked to Scáthach, wanting to know the motives behind such decision.

"You were unaware of it but, I've already witnessed you two fight." Scáthach revealed. "You do have potential, but until some aspects of your fight are ironed out, you'll never reach it."

"Eh? You've watched us fight before?" Peko murmured, wondering when did the spearwoman observed their combat skills ever since they came to this Singularity.

"Well, having watched or not, I do want to train under you two!" Nala told to both Scáthach and Li Shuwen. "Please make us stronger! Strong enough to take on Cú Alter!"

"One step at a time. Haven't you heard of it?" Li Shuwen slightly rebuked her. "Take too many hurry steps at once and you'll fall."

Nala calmed down herself. "S-Sorry..."

"It's alright." Li Shuwen told her. "Honestly. It's attitudes like that of wanting to learn everything immediatly that makes me not want to become a teacher!"

Peko looked at Scáthach. "So when are we starting? Tomorrow?"

"Right now." Scáthach answered.

"Right now?! But it's night already!" Peko shouted.

"And? Is it past your bed time?" The celtic spearwoman asked, making Peko embaressed.

"W-Wha-n-no! That's not what I meant!" The boy said clumsly.

"Then we're starting now." Scáthach went to look at Nala and Li Shuwen. "There is no problem with it, is there?"

"Not at all! Got loads of energy to spend!" Nala accepted the conditions.

Same with Li Shuwen. "If it keeps me from being bored then sure."

"Okay. Then let's start the training." Scáthach said, moving her spear. "Altough it shall not be in this place."

"What? Then where?" Peko asked her, confused.

Scáthach gave him a little smile. "At my residence." Striking with her spear at the ground, a red aura filled the area.

"I will show you

the true Land of Shadows."

From the sky, a giant stone gate descended.

"That gate's big!" Nala exclaimed.

"Is this her Noble Phantasm?" Peko thought.

"One of them it seems." Li Shuwen added, seeing the large gate land on the ground in front of them.

"Open the curtains

to the strange land."

Proclaiming it like an order, the gate opened up to Scátach's will, welcoming her host and the others.

"Even your soul is mine!"

"The Gate Leading to the Haunted Land, Brimming With Death: Gate of Skye!"

With the shine of the gate dying out, the opened doors showed a different realm on the other side. A rather shadowy and rocky location with a deep forest and castle far in the distance. The whole sky being pitch black as if the place was on an eternal night.

"What's that?" Nala asked curiously.

"The Land of Shadows. A place far isolated from the outside world. My home." Scáthach responded. "Do enter. Normally, it would suck all of the mana within your bodies until death, but I gave you permission to visit it, meaning the same won't happen to you." She explained how it was safe to enter as long as they had her protection.

Peko looked over the place once he passed through the gates. "Wow! This place looks quite eery."

"And lonely." Nala added.

"This is where Cú Chulainn trained with you?" Peko asked to the celtic spearwoman.

"Every single day in order to become the greatest Ireland has ever known." Scáthach told.

"Hmm, for a mystical place, it does look familiar to some remote villages back at my country." Li Shuwen commented, looking around.

"P..Peko...N...ala...Do y..ou...hear me...?" Some static noise sounded as the glitching image of Doctor Romani's hologram appeared.

" ! What are you doing here?" Peko asked.

"Are you trying to establish contact with us?" Nala said, seeing the difficulty the doctor was having in communicating with them.

With a single wave of her hand, Scáthach allowed Romani's presence in her domain, taking the Land of Shadows interference off him.

"Testing. Testing. Are you hearing me?" Romani speaked, inspecting the connection.

"Loud and clear doc!" Nala told him.

"Great! I wanted to check on you to see if your conversation with Karna was already over." Romani said, giving a look at the place the twin where in. "And...where are you now exactly?"

"In Scáthach's residence. I think it's called Land of Shadows." Peko told him. "She summoned it with her Noble Phantasm, so I guess this land is part of it."

"Ah! So you are in the mystical realm that's located in the Isle of Skye in Scotland!" Romani exclaimed. "Impressive! It isn't many who were able to ever reach it nor discover it! Mages of today would give anything to arrive and witness this place!"

"Congratulations in being one of the few lucky ones to ever see it then." Scáthach talked to him.

"I have a question. You rarely ever left this place, did you?" Romani made her the question.

"Yes. Majority of my whole life was spent on here. I can count the times I've exited my domain in one hand." Scáthach replied. Why do you want to know that?"

"Well, since its your residence and you its guardian, the myths says that you cannot be killed due to being granted nigh immortality when present in the Land of Shadows. So by all means yoi should still be alive." Romani explained, finding a problem in this. "So, how can you be an Heroic Spirit if that requires you to be dead?"

"Unless, the domain was destroyed by outside forces and you alongside it." Li Shuwen thought, having paid attention to what Romani said.

And surprisingly, he was right. "Correct. My death came up with the collapse of the Land of Shadows." Scáthach said.

"And who or what destroyed it?" Peko asked her.

"I'm sure you are familiar with the Incineration of Humanity accident. Well, my home might be isolated from the outside world, but that does not mean its detached from the world's plane of existence, with the events that happen outside also being able to effect the domain." Scáthach explained the bond the Land of Shadows had with the planet.

"Then, when the Incineration of Humanity burned the world..." Nala was reaching to the conclusion.

"It also burned and destroyed the Land of Shadows with you alongside it." Romani stated. "Now it's explained why you are a servant."

"And this Noble Phantasm isn't at it's full power, with the Land of Shadows that you're seeing here being only a minor replica of the real one." Scáthach said, looking at the copy of her home. "Had it not been destroyed, the gate would lead you to the bigger and real Land of Shadows instead of this simulated one."

"Well, the fact that you can still use that Noble Phantasm even with your residence destroyed is amazing!" Peko complimented her.

"True! It takes a lot of effort to do that!" Romani said. "But by the way, why are you here in the first place?"

"Don't you know Doc?" Nala speaked to him with a happy smile. "Scáthach and Li Shuwen are going to train us!" She exclaimed, much to Romani's surprise.

"What?! These two are going to train you and Peko?!" He shouted. "Oh man, that feels like winning the lottery!"

"And we'd like to proceed with the training without having onlookers here. Distractions can be a prejudice." Scáthach said to the doc, inviting him to leave. "So if you will..."

"Oh? Oh! N-No worries! I'm already going!" Romani waved his hand as a gesture of apology. "I didn't meant to interrupt you! Good luck on your training, Peko! Nala! I'll say to Ritsuka and Mash you are fine! Bye!" And his hologram dissapeared.

"Is he always like that? So gawky?" Li Shuwen inquired.

"Just a bit of a nerd." Peko replied. "Still a good person to hang out with."

Nala was now stretching her legs and arms, doing some warm up. "Can we start the training already? I feel like we should've started a long time ago!"

"Better not delay it anymore." Scáthach agreed, rotating her spear for a bit. "We should start it now!"

"But a warning first." Li Shuwen speaked, cracking his fist, moving his neck and putting his body into the combat position of the Bajiquan style, wielding his qiang with the armpit. "You better show us you are really worth training or else don't bother with it!"

Peko and Nala summoned both their swords, about to face the servant duo in front of them.

"We'll show you more than that!" Nala exclaimed, ready to fight.

Peko also adopted his fighting stance. "We're going to make sure you won't regret training us!"

"Very well." Scáthach smiled. "Then come forward!" She shouted, with her and Li Shuwen seeing Peko and Nala dashing at them, beggining what would be the first of three full days of training for the twins under the teaching of the celtic spearwoman and the chinese martial artist.

"Hey Robin! What are you doing up there?" Rama was walking around when he found Robin on top of a building's rooftop. The king of Kosala jumped torwards the roof, joining the thief.

"Just seeing the overall situation of the city." Robin replied, staring at the overall view of the city.

"I see. It sure is a nice view from here." Rama said, taking a minute of silence between the two as they gazed over the area.

"Rama." Robin broke the silence, caaling the other servant out.

"What is it?" Rama moved his head to look at Robin.

"There really is just us from the original group, isn't it?" Robin speaked, having thinked on the deaths of his two companions again.

Rama wasn't there to witness it, but he could feel the sadness and anguish from the way Robin said it. "Yeah. Just you and me left..."

Sighing, Robin put his hands together, lowering his head. "Geronimo and Billy..." He looked at Rama, having lifted his head. "We have to avenge them!" He said, determinedly.

That feeling was also passed to Rama, who nodded at the thief. Of the original members that founded the Resistance, only the two remained. They had to make sure Geronimo, Billy and all the other soldier's sacrifices of their faction would not be in vain. "We will!"

"Garghgr!"

Beowulf let out a painful yelp as his back strongly hit the wall behind him, having been knocked out by an annoyed Cú Alter.

"You're a fool!" The large spearman said with irritation, sat on his throne while he and Medb looked at Beowulf with disapproval. The arm that had been fried by Tesla had slowly recovered altough not completely, with Medb having tried to heal it non-stop ever since. "I might never have cared for Diarmuid and Fionn nor their demise, but the fact you choosed to abandon the battle instead of assisting them is of someone that lacks a brain!"

Beowulf coughed a bit of blood as he weakly got up from the ground. "I-I thought they would be strong enough to deal with the enemies by themselves and the large troops they had at their disposal." The nordic king cleaned the blood off of his chin. "But would'ya know? They were way more tougher than I originally thought."

"Grr! You're stupid anyways!" Medb shouted, swinging her whip at Beowulf who simply leaned his head to the side, avoiding it. "Those two were useful tools! And we lost them because you decided to go for a walk instead!" She raised her whip again, going for another blow.

But Cú Alter stopped her. "Hold yourself. There also isn't that much need in bemoaning the death of those two. It was an unfortunate that happen. We can always replace more with the grail."

Having been told her, and by Cú Alter, Medb did calmed herself down. "Yeah, you're right big guy." She smiled, putting her hands around his neck. "But man are so useless and dumb nowdays. If only they could all be like you Cú." She rubbed her hand on his damaged arm, approaching her face to his ear. "Big, strong, capable and obedient. Perfect like you are." Medb giggled with a sultry smile, about to continue to heal his arm. "Here have some more-"

"Oi! Aren't you pushing yourself too much with that stuff?" Cú Alter told her, seeing she was abusing of her healing magic. "You already did enough healing. Let my arm recover itself from now on."

Medb didn't gave him ears however, "Oh Cú, you don't get it, do you? I'd do anything for you." She grabbed his head with both her hands, the tip of the two noses touching each other. "But anything really. Every sacrifice imaginable just to have a longer time with you."

And as Cú Alter was beggining to get annoyed by her antics again, Arjuna walked into the room. "My King! My Queen! I bring you news from the frontlines!"

Medb immediatly moved her face away from Cú Alter, redirecting her attention to Arjuna. "Well then? I sure as hell hope it's about how we crushed that pathetic opposition!" She said, wanting to hear good news and good news only.

"No. In actuality, something far more unexpected as happened. The enemy troops have all backed off." Arjuna shared the news with the other servants at the room.

"Hm? They decided to retreat? Just like that?" Beowulf found it strange.

"Well, that is a good thing no? We get to advance more territory and they probably don't have much supply or troops left if they had retreated." Medb said, seeing this as a positive. "I already expect our absolute victory in a few days!"

"No woman! Can't you get it!? The enemy had hold its ground on the frontlines against us tooth and nail so far!" Cú Alter told her, believing something fishy was up. "They wouldn't retreat just like that after all that." He then stared at Arjuna. "They are planning something, aren't they?"

"A corrected guess my king. Some of our soldiers got to divulge me a bit of information about a new strategy of our enemy." Arjuna said, not being done with the news.

"And what startegy is that?" Cú Alter asked, resting his face on his hand but his ears making sure to hear well what Arjuna would say next.

"They are planing to gather an army big enough for a last campaign. A full out final battle that will only end once they have invaded our home base and kill you two." Arjuna gave out more details about it. "And I was also told they want to divide that big army into two smaller ones, both being frontlines in order to besiege the city and leaving us with no escape."

"So they are doing an all-in eh?" Beowulf speaked, turning around to look at Cú Alter. "What should we do about this, boss? Respond back in the same way?"

Medb wasn't in favour of that suggestion. "Can you be even more stupider?! Of course no-"

"How many days until they start this campaign of theirs? Got something about it?" Cú Alter asked it to Arjuna, wanting to know.

"If I recall, in about three days from now." Arjuna gave the answer to his king.

Cú Alter took the face off his hand, readjusting his back to the throne. "Three days..." He muttered, giving a low exhale from his mouth. "Call our troops in the frontline to retreat as well. We shall organize two armies of our own to prepare for this last war."

"What?! Cú?!" Medb yelled, shocked at her lover's decision.

Even Arjuna was slightly bewildered. "M-My king, are you insinuating that we should invite him to try attack and destroy us?"

"It's time to end this! Victory won't arrive if we keep playing this stupid standoff game with the current frontline!" Cú Alter got up from his throne. "If they want to be crushed, I welcome them to! This war will be the one to determine who shall rule this nation!"

Beowulf clapped, enjoying what he was hearing. "Ahahaha! Yes! That's the way of talking boss! The glory on the battlefield awaits us!"

Medb, who was initially against the idea, changed her opinion once Cú Alter gave his decision on the topic. If he was confident, she also was. "You speak like a true leader Cú! I too believe it's time to get rid of the nuisances in general! They can have as many armies as they want, but with the grail in our posession, we'll never be defeated!" She exclaimed, now sold out on the idea of engaging in the war. "For the glory and prosperity of my kingdom, the Celtic Empire!"

Cú Alter smirked, liking to see Medb fired up for the battle. "Arjuna! Beowulf! Gather every celtic soldier around the country and bring them here!" He ordered to the two servants. "We shall show our enemies what a true mightful army is!" He declared, closing his hand into a fist. "And I'm sure she'll also be there, looking for me!"

"On my way to do that, boss!" Beowulf replied, walking out of the room.

Arjuna followed soon after. "As you wish, my king." He said before also leaving the room. "So this will be our final showdown. I'll be looking forward to it, Karna."

As Cú Alter saw the two servants exit, Medb stood behind him, an evil smile creeping into her face as her hands held the holy grail. "And in case things don't go well, there's always a triumph card to bail us out, ehehehe!"

Three Days Later

"Well, may the founding fathers grace you all with luck and bring victory to the side of humanity!" Edison and Ritsuka shook hands, standing in front of each respective army, the day of the final battle having arrived.

"I say the same to you. Good luck!" Ritsuka replied back to the inventor. "Be sure to hold back long enough."

During these three days they defined which army would have which duty. The north army would be the decoy and the south army the one to push all the way through to Washington D.C. Hence why the north army ended up having a slight higher number of soldiers despite the south army having more servants and members of the group. In the south army, there were: Ritsuka, Mash, Peko, Nala, Nightingale, Rama, Scátach and Karna. Whereas the north army only had Edison, Helena, Robin and Elizabeth.

"You sure you don't want to have anyone else in your side? You are few when compared to us." Mash told to the four of the north army.

"No worries! We might be few in terms of Heroic Spirit but the number of helter skelters and other soldiers makes up for it." Helena said, making the counts. "Like it was expected, we got to have 42.000 soldiers on our army. 26.000 on the north army and 16.000 on the south. It should suffice to make this whole operation work!"

"Take care." Rama said to Robin as both said their farewells to each other. "I'll make sure the sounds you'll hear at the end of the battle will be of our celebration!"

"I sure hope so. That's a promise you owe to those who couldn't make it." Robin replied, remembering the fallen. "Let's make it for them!"

"Understood!" Rama nodded, also wanting to honour his deceased companions.

"I'll make sure to look out for him, so don't you worry about it!" Elizabeth said, coming in and putting herself next to Robin. "Like the previous time, you're going to make out of this alive puppy!"

"Eh. Guess I'm getting used to it by the way I don't feel bothered by that name anymore." Robin smiled to Elizabeth. "Which should definetly be a bad thing..."

Meanwhile, Peko and Nala seemed to be looking for someone.

"Where is he? He couldn't have gone out already, could he?" Peko murmured.

"Who are you two talking about?" Ritsuka asked to the twins.

"Li Shuwen!" Nala told him. "He was still here during the night of our last training. We thought he'd be here to wish us good luck too!"

"I suspect he must have left early then." Ritsuka replied. "He was really being honest when he said he didn't want to have nothing to do with the war."

"And that makes him decide to leave without a proper goodbye? That's plain out cold!" Nala complained angrily.

"Well, if that was his choice we should at least respect it. He was no longer obliged in staying with us." Peko said to his sister.

"We've heard he and Scáthach have trained you both during these days. Is it true? How was it like?" Mash asked to the two, having learned previously that Peko and Nala had some fighting lessons with the two servants.

"It was surely helpful! We felt like it helped us sharpen our skills and learn new stuff!" Peko replied, having liked the experience.

"Such has?" Ritsuka wanted to know what the two did learned.

"Can't tell ya!" Nala said, putting a finger in front of her lips. "It's secret. You'll see later on!"

"Aw man! Now that only makes me want to know more!" Ritsuka replied, his interest in it increasing.

Karna approached them. "Speaking of Scáthach, have you seen her? She also doesn't seem to be here in the middle." Having brought that up, the chaldeans only now noticed that indeed, the celtic spearwoman was nowhere to be seen.

"That's strange. I at least expected Scáthach-san to be here." Mash said, looking around.

"She wouldn't be the type of person to forget or arrive late to a moment like this." Rama commented. "So where is she?"

Edison crossed his arms. "With or without her, we can't delay the start of the campaign because of one servant if we want our plan to have success! It's with great pain that I have to say this but, we cannot wait for her!"

"But she said she would help and participate in the war algonside us!" Peko exclaimed. "So why she is not here?"

"I do know why." Nightingale speaked up, checking her gun, gaining everyone else's attention. "Or better put, I do know why she decided to not be here."

"Can you tell us then, Nigtingale?" Ritsuka asked to the nurse.

"Well, you see..."

In the woods of a forest more to the east part of the country, Scáthach peacefully sat down in one of a tree's branches, calmly hearing the chirping of the birds as one of them landed on her finger and the sun rays of morning passed through the gapes between the tree trunks.

A nice place to meditate as she waited for someone. She hoped he had felt her presence as a message.

Washington D.C

Medb stood tall on top of the walls of the city, staring down at the large celtic army that prepared itself to march forwards onto the battlefield and make front to its enemies in what would be the final battle to decide it all.

Arjuna appeared behind her, bowing in respect. "Everything is set, my queen. We shall soon begin our journey to clash with the opponet's armies."

"Splendid. Do bring me nothing else but the victory." Medb replied, still looking to the landscape as the wind went against her hair.

"It shall be done so as it is the queen's wish." Arjuna talked obediently. "But, if I'm allowed to ask, where is the king? Shouldn't he be here alongside the queen as protection?" He asked, noticing Cú Alter's absence.

Medb answered the archer. "Oh. Him?"

Passing through the trees of the deep forest, Cú Alter's steps made loud noises as the muscular spearman pushed down any obstacle in front of him, heading torwards the signal he had caught. That calling. He knew it very well from who it was. And with no hesitation he had already departed torwards its place of origin the moment he had captured it.

Having stopped in his tracks, the silence went back to the forest, with the corrupted Ireland's Child of Light grinning as he lifted his head up and spotted the other celtic servant that had been waiting for him, seating on a tree branch. A spearwoman. His teacher.

"She had business to take care of."

"He had business to take care of."

To be continued...

And that was it for chapter 85!

Next one: Scáthach vs Cú Alter! Looking forward to that! Also, with this chapter, I'm making the announcement that Pluribus Unum has reached its final stretch! We are close to this Singularity's end now that the final battle is about to begin. Expect 5/6 more chapters as it will end around Late May/Early June.

And yes, we will get to see some of the training Peko and Nala had with Scáthach and Li Shuwen. Don't worry about that, I'll eventually show it to you in the upcoming chapters.

This one served as a bridge between the end of the middle act to the beggining of the final act of this Singularity. I do think it's essential to always have at least one chapter or two dedicated to the preparations of a decisive battle or war as well as the interaction between characters before said war happens.

So, that's all I wanted to say, and see you next time on chapter 86! Peace!

P.S:

Jalter (Walking around the halls of Chaldea when she comes across the slightly open door to Peko and Nala's bedroom.): Hm? This is the door to the room of those two brats. Why isn't it fully closed? (Jalter peeks inside before opening the door) What a-

(Peko's half of the room is nicely cleaned and well organized, while Nala's own half is completely messy and dirty, with Nala herself being on her PC)

Nala (Bags under her eyes as she takes out her gamer kitty headset): Hum? Who's coming to disturb my game marathon?

Jalter: Game marathon? (Looks at the wasted trash of snacks scattered around Nala's bed and desk as well in the floor, sensing the bad smell from it) Eugh! How long haven't you come outside your room brat?

Nala (Having her attention back to the game in her PC): About three days, I think?...Or was it four?

Jalter (Checks some full bottles near her desk): Hell girl! All of these bottles here and you haven't drank any of them yet?

Nala:...Drank?

Jalter (Gulps at the implications of that): Okay! That's it! I'm telling this to master and you're coming with me! (Grabs Nala and attempts to remove her from her chair despite the struggle)

Nala: WAAAAAAAAAAAAH! BUT THE GAME RECORD I NEED TO BREAK! NOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO!