Kotomine Risei had been in Fuyuki for about a week now, and he had spent almost all of that time waiting for the other shoe to drop.

The Grail War was due to start any day now, as soon as all the participants were gathered and these 'Servants' summoned. In his capacity as Moderator, Risei had already met a couple when they and their Masters came to register their participation at his new church, and they were nothing like he'd imagined.

First had been Assassin, summoned by the Magus Association representative. Instead of a lurking killer, she had been a small Chinese girl in flamboyant purple and blue robes, who had referred to her clearly overawed Master by about three different names over the course of their introduction. She had magnanimously accepted Risei's refusal to simply hand the Grail over when demanded, recognising the importance of ceremony to the occasion of her reascension to Heavenly Emperor.

Next, the green Archer that had paired with one of the 'wild card' Masters, a fakir from some Indian tradition who clearly stated his intention to use the Grail to wish for an end to British occupation of his home. Archer had said nothing the entire time, and in fact had disappeared from sight as soon as his Master had proven his existence.

Just what Risei was expected to do to enforce any kind of sanctions against Heroic Spirits was beyond him – for that matter, while his close combat skills were considerable he was doubtful of his chances against even one of the Masters, with their 'Reinforcement' magecraft. Still, the Church was unwilling to let the opportunity to witness a genuine relic slip through their fingers, never mind that they had investigated over seven hundred similar artifacts and none of them so far had been the cup that had caught the blood of Christ. (And especially never mind that the whole concept of the Holy Grail was a later addition to Christian canon imported from a hodgepodge of Celtic, Welsh and Arthurian myth.)

Given that, who else would they send but Kotomine Risei, who'd already made a career out of recovering holy relics from all across the globe?

Now, it was time to meet the third Servant summoned – and this time, he was making a house call. When the Second Owner of Fuyuki decided you were to meet him in his house instead of exerting himself to go to your church, you didn't argue, not as a priest not even into your twenties and only just moved into your parish. If Mohammed will not go to the mountain, and all that.

Honestly, with Assassin and Archer being the two Servants currently at large, Risei could even see the sense in it.

So, he knocked on the door to Tohsaka Ren's huge Western-style house, and waited. After a moment, it opened by itself.

"Father," came a strong male voice, the sound carrying strangely from within the house. "Please come in. You are expected. I and my Servant await you in the living room."

"Thank you," Risei said, to no-one in particular, and did so.

He made his way inside, resisting the urge to appear too fascinated by the Western-style home, something of a rarity here. The Kotomine Church (and how weird it felt calling it that) was another anomaly in Fuyuki, but this was certainly the first time Risei had been inside so grand a home.

It was, however, a perfect fit for the men who dwelt inside it.

Tohsaka Ren rose to greet Risei when he arrived, an intimidating figure, surprisingly young, in a sober black Western suit. The Tohsaka were in many ways a family apart – not only as magi, but even in their choice of religion and to adopt Western culture. Despite this, they had remained pillars of the community, or even establishment in some ways. Balancing the two took will and skill, especially with what Risei had heard about the up-and-coming Yakuza group in Fuyuki (the Fujimaru group? Fujimura? Something like that).

Tohsaka had held onto his city against all comers, through careful manipulations and leaving no openings for others to exploit, and not for nothing was he regarded as one of the favourites to win this Third Holy Grail War. Both as Second Owner and as a powerful magus he would have been one of the most imposing figures Risei had ever met…

… had it not been for the other man in the room.

Risei had thought he'd readjusted his expectations for Servants, but this one's presence was completely unlike Assassin or Archer. A tall, aristocratic-looking man in a fine long black coat that contrasted with his pale, almost washed-out skin and hair, he radiated power and authority – with just a hint of blood underneath it all. He fit into the elegant affluence of Tohsaka's house as if he'd lived there all his life.

They even angled their wineglasses the same way. It was eerie to look at.

It looked as if there really was something to the rumours that the Grail could see into the hearts of men and pull the most appropriate soul down from Heaven for them as a Servant. Yes, the Church was right to not ignore this.

"Welcome to my home, Father Kotomine," said Tohsaka. "Please forgive me for having you come all the way to my home. I take my security very seriously, especially these days. May I present my Servant, Lancer?"

The Servant – Lancer, rather – inclined his head. "It warms my heart to see that the word of God has spread so far into distant lands," he said. "Any man of the cloth is welcome here, and shall be so long as I… or my Master… live."

Risei bowed low. Something about Tohsaka and Lancer's combined presence seemed to require it. "I am very grateful to you for inviting me to your lovely home," he said. "Though, please – call me Risei. I am still just a teenager, despite the position the Church has honoured me with, so being called 'Father' just seems strange."

Tohsaka smiled. "Then you must call me Ren."

"I will. And you, Lancer?"

Lancer stroked his beard, frowning. "… simply Lancer will do. I am not the man I once was – that man is surely facing whichever afterlife the Lord has seen fit to send him to. I am merely a copy, given shape by the Class of Lancer – so a lance indeed I shall be to those who threaten my Master's land, and Lancer you shall call me."

"Then it is Lancer that I am pleased to meet regardless," said Risei, and found it was more than simple politeness. He'd not interacted with either Assassin or Archer, so he'd missed the obvious. Servants, no matter how powerful or epic, were still people.

The pleased smile on the Servant's face at Risei's words was a little more toothy than might have been expected, but it warmed his heart to see anyway.

The main thing about being the Moderator between rival factions of magi and Heroic Spirits was that you were neither required nor expected to get involved – the opposite, if anything. Lacking any real sanction power, the Moderator's role in the case of a participant breaking the loose rules of the Grail War was really limited to bringing this fact to the attention of the others, and to encouraging or co-ordinating collective responses.

Direct action was not in the job description.

That said, if the Church wanted some dusty old fart to simply sit back and quote the rules at the Masters, they should have chosen someone else, because that just wasn't who Risei was. He was a fit and vital young man, unaccustomed to passively waiting for others to solve his problems…

And he did have a problem. Through his small but growing flock of parishioners, he'd heard rumours: strange figures on the streets, growing gang warfare, and disappearances. When asked, Tohsaka had said that he'd heard the same thing, and had already looked into it. The Fujimura Group swore up and down that they weren't involved, Tohsaka said – which, unfortunately, made it Grail War business, and therefore Risei's problem.

However, relying only on testimony from a single Master was hardly very impartial, so Risei had decided to see for himself if there was any truth to these rumours.

So, here he was – wandering the silent streets of Fuyuki in the dead of night. All the participants should know him by sight as the Moderator and leave him alone, and he had little to fear from any thug. Risei had turned to Bajiquan years ago as a method of physical meditation and path to self-improvement, and while he believed he had indeed become a better person for it he couldn't deny that the ability to break cinderblocks with his bare fists had come in handy once or twice.

He had been out here for a couple of hours now, and it was already past midnight. He'd worked his way through the residential areas, and was now in a commercial zone near to the river. He passed an alley – and froze, not even turning his head to peer into the darkness.

Something was there.

He couldn't tell what, couldn't even get a look at the shape, but there was a strange, shuffling movement in the corner of his eye, and an unearthly squishing noise. Whatever it was, it was not human. Risei cursed himself for a fool. Why on earth had he believed his martial arts made him safe? Magic and monsters was not his specialty – even if he wasn't facing a Master or one of their Servants, he was still out of his depth.

He was stuck in place, the sheer alien horror of what he had only glimpsed paralyzing his limbs. Even if he could move – was it better to face the thing, to try and intimidate it, or to simply turn and run? The moment stretched on… and then he heard the squishing noise, closer than before.

Risei reacted, turning towards the alley with a shout and bringing his fists up, prepared to sell his life dearly. There was a flurry of grey-green tentacles, and spikes, and teeth, like an enormous starfish had decided to scuttle spider-like out of Risei's nightmares and onto dry land – and then it burst, sending foul-smelling ichor flying all over the place.

When Risei wiped his eyes, a warrior stood where the tentacle-thing had been – stout and red-haired, with a simple helmet and suit of mail under a green cape. And… a spear?

This was no Servant. Apart from the fact that Lancer was already accounted for – it was not impossible that another Servant might also use a spear – this man didn't radiate the same sense of menace and power that the others had. But if not a Servant, what was such an anachronism doing in Fuyuki?

The red-haired warrior grunted something in some strange language, and gestured with his spear for Risei to leave. He did so, stammering his thanks, and fled back to the safety of his church.

Along the way, he saw more strange soldiers – some spearmen like the one that had saved him, others bowmen, others still holding short swords. They moved singly, or in small groups, and always with purpose. Twice more Risei caught glimpses of tentacle monstrosities like the one that had attacked him, fighting with these warriors, and once he even saw a squad of figures in Chinese robes dragging one into an empty building.

He did not investigate the rumours any further, but he did issue a general announcement reminding all Masters that the people of Fuyuki were not to be interfered with. It was all he could do.

Another of the Moderator's duties was to broker alliances, when requested.

Since the prize was something that required the death of the other party and couldn't be shared in the first place, Risei assumed such alliances could only ever be temporary at best, and rather strained besides. In fact, he had thought that such a duty would only ever be theoretical at best, and never actually called on.

Now, however, he was hosting such a parley in his own church. Risei had been extremely polite in relaying the request, and had stressed the importance of neutral ground, particularly since he was acutely aware that either of the Servants could bring the building down brick by brick if they chose, and that it was extremely unlikely to survive a fight between the two. Fortunately, Risei was confident that Tohsaka Ren would not order such a thing without considerably more assurances that it would pay off, and even more confident that Lancer would not carry it out if he did. Before today, Risei would have called Lancer the most pious person he had ever met.

However, Tohsaka had not been the one to request this parley, and since the pale Einzbern Master and her Servant had arrived, Risei had had to revise his baseline.

It wasn't every day you had a literal saint praying in your church, after all.

Ruler knelt before the altar in silent prayer, where she had been ever since introducing herself – including her name, which Risei took as the show of trust that it was – and shyly asking Risei if she would be permitted to worship there. Risei had agreed, privately wondering what right he could possibly have to prevent Jeanne d'Arc from doing whatever she felt was correct.

Her pale Einzbern Master, somewhat surprisingly, had joined her, though she too had not spoken since politely greeting Risei and passing a certain object into his care for safekeeping. She now knelt next to Ruler, occasionally shooting the Servant nervous glances and adjusting her position to match.

Tohsaka had said that the Einzbern were almost entirely homunculi, which meant that this woman was not in fact human. Theologically speaking, Risei was on somewhat shaky ground as to what that meant – but if the Grail had seen fit to match her with someone like Ruler, then Risei had no problems if she wanted to pray for her soul as well.

Suddenly, Ruler rose – and as she did so, the rear door to the church opened to admit Tohsaka and Lancer. Ruler turned, smiling.

"Lancer," she said. "I trust you are well?"

Lancer inclined his head, looking grim, although he did shoot a quick smile at Risei. "In my own person, yes. Thank you. However, both I and my Master are troubled at the chaos unfolding in his city."

At the reminder, Ruler's smile strained, and Risei couldn't blame her. The disappearances had not stopped, and there were new reports of fighting between strange groups of foreigners every day. The police had stopped short of issuing a curfew, no matter how strenuously Risei (through Tohsaka) recommended one, but they had encouraged residents to stay indoors after dark due to 'gang warfare'.

Worse, the Matou's Berserker was almost entirely uncontrollable, and had managed to stalemate Lancer in a very loud and flashy battle only barely past sundown, only forced to retreat when Assassin had snuck onto the battlefield to deliver some kind of magic item created by her Master which severely worsened every wound already taken. Both Lancer and Berserker had recovered by the following night, but over a dozen bystanders had bled to death from minor cuts and bruises, or had medical conditions suddenly worsen dramatically.

"Yes… well, that is why we asked Father Kotomine to facilitate this parley," said Ruler. "I haven't seen Archer since our first battle, but if these three armies fighting in the streets represent three of the other Servants, it seems likely that we are some of the only Servants intending to fight this War properly. I haven't encountered Saber, yet…"

"I have," said Lancer flatly. He exchanged a look with his Master, who nodded. "We attempted to assault Caster's lair beside the river. Saber is working with him – in fact, they seem to be two aspects of the same Servant. It was he who prevented me from reaching the Noble Phantasm that kept spawning those monsters. I was not impressed with Saber's skill, but it was enough to force even me into retreat when combined with the sheer number of monsters that Caster could provide as reinforcements."

Tohsaka snorted. "Typical Edelfelt honourless tactics. And, sadly, typically effective. I don't know how they induced the Grail to offer up a single divided Servant in two different Classes, although I suspect the," Tohsaka coughed, "completely unexpected and random presence of an Extra Class may have had something to do with it." Ruler and the Einzbern Master looked almost sheepish, if such a thing were possible. "Still, the combination of frontline fighter and backline spellcaster is potent. Quite apart from teaming up to quell the chaos, I would be willing to consider it for that alone."

"You'll agree to an alliance, then?" Ruler said, beaming. "I'm glad – you struck me as an honourable and God-fearing man when we first fought, Lancer."

"Indeed. You struck me too, with your mailed fist, as I recall," said Lancer, with a tiny smile. "Nevertheless, I am pleased to fight on the same side now, because I too have not seen Archer for days. He struck me as a woodsman and a hunter, so he may simply be hiding, but I mislike that he has apparently found no new opportunity to attack, when his traps were so effective the one time we fought. I fear he may be dead, and that we two are indeed the last two left who still remember how to act with honour."

Ruler frowned. "Mmm… I haven't received any visions about Archer, but I feel as if I would know if he were dead…"

"In any case," said the Einzbern Master. "The alliance is set. Who is our first target?"

Risei cleared his throat.

"Well," he cut in. "It seems my part in this is done. I can hardly be a part of any strategic planning meetings, after all. Please feel free to use the church for as long as you need, however." Risei bowed and removed himself from the discussion. While it could hardly be said to be impartial, the fact was that he really would much rather the Grail go to Tohsaka and Lancer or Ruler than anyone else. Given that, he was quite happy to let them scheme, even to let them use an ostensibly neutral building to do it in.

The way he saw it, the Church's part wasn't just to stay on the sidelines. In this, as in all things, God had a say. Building and supporting an alliance between the parties in His service was not really within his purview as a Moderator – but it was definitely part of his role as a priest.

He just hoped he didn't regret honouring one duty over another.