FateBleached Apocrypha part 1 Factions

by TransG1fan

The Holy Grail & Hogyoku: both of these devices created for the purpose of granting wishes. So what happens when the worlds that created them collide? Aizen decides to watch as the Grail war in Trifas unfolds except he's decided to make some modifications: instead of 2 factions how about 6? And Ruler gets help from a certain substitute soul reaper and midget soul reaper.

3. Ch3 Final Faction and Arrival in Trifas

Fate/Bleached Apocrypha

Part 1 Factions

Sorry for the delayed wait but here's the latest chapter for this story. Good news! This chapter will be more action oriented than the last one though how far this will extend before we hit a stopping point, or the 100-page marker is anyone's guess as it will depend on which is achieved first.

The opening section of this particular chapter was very heavily inspired from the fanfic Fate Magnus Bellum by 00Altair as they had a similar introduction scene for the Red Faction. I did ask and was given permission to use some of their content of the Red Faction introduction scene provided I do something to differentiate between theirs and mine as they were already planning to rewrite the above-mentioned fanfic. If it's still up on the site I highly recommend reading it. The latter part of this chapter will be dialogue heavy with most of the material taken from the type-moon wiki though altered to reflect a conversation than that of a wiki page. For those that wish to skip through that part, I did put skip indicators and scene changes where the heavy dialogue begins and ends. Hopefully, that will make things easier. Otherwise please enjoy!

Personal thoughts, Servant/Master (also Jeanne and Laeticia internal) communication, Zanpakuto speaking, Inner Hollow/regular Hollow speaking.

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Chapter 3: The final faction and Arrival at Trifas

===Romania – on the road to Bucharest – early morning

Kairi Shishigou drove the green pick-up truck he rented down the country road as he was going through the back roads and forests of Romania. As he was driving, he couldn't help but glance over to his passenger. Said passenger was technically a female but if there first conversation in the graveyard where he summoned her was anything to go by, he knew better not to bring it up again. He'd rather not have a sword held at his throat again, thank you very much. Though she had the face of a young girl, Kairi also saw the possibility of her being male when first seeing her face after her summoning. Her physique and face was an almost identical match to a certain Saber of Blue. The only difference was that her wild blonde hair was tied up in a messy ponytail.

In Sighisoara, Kairi had made a stop to buy her a tube top that exposed her abdomen and a crimson leather jacket along with daisy duke shorts and a pair of black boots. He found it a bit ironic that for someone who hated being identified for her gender both these clothes and the underclothes of her armour from her summoning, which had consisted of a detached red neck guard, a red chest wrap, a red loincloth for her front and back, detached red sleeves that stopped at her upper arm, red leather tassets, black thigh high stockings secured at the top with red leather straps, and finally red high heeled leather boots that stopped at her lower calf, left her toned physique highly exposed. Though I guess since she's a Servant, means that the exposure to the weather, especially since we're heading into the early spring season here and throwing off the last vestiges of winter, isn't even an issue so the lack of coverage from either of her clothes is a moot point. He thought as he kept his eyes focused on the road. He also noted that his passenger was also sporting a sour look on er face.

"Dare I ask what's gotten that sour look on your face? If you're upset about the clothes, I already explained that I'm not made of money, and we have to conserve our resources long enough to last us the war. Especially if we decide to go solo for this war. So those clothes were the cheapest we could get." he tried to explain again. The passenger sighed.

"It's not that. I understand fully the need to be careful with one's allotment of resources." she began regally but then tossed in her seat and whined, "But this trip is taking forever! Why do we have to take back roads? Why not take a faster route? I'm just so bored!" she continued to whine and toss in her seat.

"This is the fastest route to our destination. And besides it's in Bucharest, the capitol of Romania. Which means that once we get to our destination, see who our fellow faction members are, and decide if we want to work with them or not, then we can look around and see what the capitol has to offer." he said nonchalantly. This seemed to appease her as she stopped tossing in her seat and resumed staring out the window though now more sullenly. To think this girl is a Saber Class Servant and not just any Saber, The Knight of Rebellion and bastard son of King Arthur himself, Mordred Pendragon. He thought ruefully.

"Hey Master." she said suddenly.

"Yeah?" he asked.

"Do you think that the other Masters of Red are people we can work with? Or do you think that going it alone might be better?" she elaborated. Kairi quirked an eyebrow at that, but he answered all the same.

"I know the names of all the other Masters of Red and I can say with confidence that all but two I've worked with before and I can say that I trust these guys with watching my back. And that's not something I can say with most mages as a whole." he said.

"Who are the outliers?" asked Mordred.

"That would be Sembrem and Kotomine. Sembrem I've never worked with as he's been an instructor at the Clock Tower and this is his first time leaving the place on assignment, and Kotomine works as a member of the Church, so our paths have never crossed before now for either of them." he explained.

"So, what do you think, then?" she asked looking at him directly now.

"About working with the rest of the Red Faction?" he asked. She nodded. "Let's just give this a shot and see what happens. I mean the whole point of this meeting isn't just a meet and greet. We're going to strategize on the best way to defeat Yggdmillenia clan and bring in any survivors for punishment and obtain the Holy Grail for study at the Clock Tower and see if it has any potential uses as a whole." he stated. He looked at her as she seemed unenthused by this. "But if you feel that working with them isn't a good idea, I'll trust your instincts. And I won't give them your True Name without your permission, Your Majesty." he said smiling at the end. Her reaction to that little title at the end was priceless. She had a look of astonishment on her face.

"You called me . . .." she trailed off surprised.

"What? You said that you wanted to prove that you were worthy of the title of King, and you were King Arthur's kid. So, calling you your Majesty, at least when we're alone like this, seems appropriate, wouldn't you agree?" he asked. This had an immediate effect as Mordred sat up more regally.

"Yes. I agree. I will permit you to call me when we are alone like this. But do not say that in public as there might be enemies trying to listen in for any clues for my true identity. And when we're around other factions, including our own until I deem otherwise, you are to address me only as Saber of Red. Understand?" she asked, speaking more properly than before. Kairi nodded still with a light smile on his face.

"You got it. Oh, hey will you look at that. We're here. That went by quicker than expected." Kairi said as they arrived at the church. "Better get your armour on. Since you want to see if our companions are trustworthy." he suggested. With that Saber of Red went to spirit form. Kairi got out of the vehicle. After closing the door, he walked up to the church where Lord El-Melloi II (Waver Velvet) was waiting for him at the entrance. "Ah Lord El-Melloi . . .the 2nd." he added quickly. This seemed to satisfy Lord El-Melloi II.

"Kairi Shishigou. Glad to see that you made it." he said with a small genuine smile. "Is it safe to assume that the person who had been in the vehicle with you was your Servant?" he asked curiously.

"Yep. That was Saber of Red. Currently they're in spirit form and wants to see who our allies are." said Kairi. That seemed to make Waver gain a sour expression. "Is something wrong?" asked Kairi, now getting concerned. Waver then turned and headed towards the church.

"Let's head in and meet the others as you're the last one to arrive. Then it will become clear." he said. Curious Kairi followed him inside.

The two men made their way into the sanctuary where, sitting in the pews, were three other people that all looked very unusual but the one thing that they all had in common was that they all looked quite young. Teenagers at most to Kairi's eyes which surprised him.

"Now let me introduce you to the other Masters of the Red Faction. Everyone as you all know I'm the Master of Rider of Red, Lord El-Melloi II a professor and Lord at the Clock Tower." said Waver gesturing to himself once he had everyone else's attention. He then gestured to Kairi. "This is Kairi Shishigou. He's a mercenary for the Clock Tower and the Master of Saber of Red." he introduced. Kairi gave a wave to the three teens trying to be friendly though only the girl in black returned it. He simply shrugged at that. Waver then gestured to the first of two young girls. This girl was the youngest looking of all the Masters of Red. She had brilliant blonde waist-length hair, pale white skin reminiscent of a doll, she had European features and had both clothes and grace that were similarly picturesque. She seemed to be a girl no older than fifteen years old. Her most impressive feature was definitely her green eyes; blazing like fire, overflowing with strength and determination. Her outfit consisted of a blue cap with a silver rose ornament on it, along with a matching dress with silver crosses on the sleeves and a white blouse with a blue ribbon tied around her neck, black leggings, and brown boots. "This is the current head of the El-Melloi family and the Master of the Archer of Red. Reines El-Melloi Archisorte." waver said. Reines eyed Kairi with suspicion but said nothing otherwise.

"I thought you were the head of the El-Melloi family." said Kairi looking at Waver curiously.

"He's actually a stand-in until I come of age. So officially he is my adopted older brother. But his title of Lord is very real." said Reines with the air of an aristocrat.

This satisfied Kairi as he gestured Waver to continue with the introductions. Waver gestured to the other girl sitting next to Reines. The girl looked to also be about fifteen years old also with green eyes and grayish hair though Kairi was sure there were streaks of blonde in her hair. She too also had European features. Her most memorable feature was that she bore a striking resemblance to his Saber of Red. Her outfit consisted of a black jacket and gray skirt with a black cape with a hood and fur trim on it and she wore black boots on her feet and black gloves on her hands. "This is Gray, my apprentice and Master of the Lancer of Red.," said Waver. This caught Kairi off guard, and he looked at the now named Gray in surprise.

"Wait a minute. This is Gray. Jeez she looks different from the last time I saw her." he said in shock. Gray looked away shyly and put her hood up. Reines looked at her neutrally but did place a hand on Gray's that was on the pew seat next to her. It was her way of showing comfort.

"As you know Kairi, I took Gray as my apprentice about three years ago shortly before you and I worked together on a case involving a renegade mage. What you don't know is that about six months after we parted ways, she was captured by the cult that she had been born into and they tried to use her as a catalyst in an Auxiliary Holy Grail War. Due to her being a distant descendant of King Arthur they had hoped to summon King Arthur into her body thus fulfilling the prophecy of King Arthur's return to the current era to once again rule as King of Britain. Thankfully that scheme was thwarted but unfortunately her face has now changed permanently to resemble that of King Arthur himself." explained Waver. The boy sitting in the pew across from them looked at Gray with sympathy but said nothing yet. Hey Saber. Is this going to be a problem if we work with them? Since she looks like your father? He asked over their Master/Servant connection. After a few moments Saber of Red responded. Nah. She doesn't act like my father, and she doesn't smell like my mother or act like her either. So as long as she doesn't sick her Servant on us, I think I can work with her. I mean I think I can already guess what her wish is: to restore her original face. She probably has to constantly be going through an identity crisis wondering who she is. I can relate to that sadly. It's just going to take some getting used to is all. Kairi was relieved by that answer. Well, that's at least one less problem to worry about though I do wonder if Lord El-Melloi lied to the Association just to allow his apprentice to participate. Ah well. I'll ask him later. He said over their connection before focusing back to the group in front of him.

"If you're ready we'll get through the last of the Masters of Red and get on with the Servants." said Waver eyeing him with expectancy, like he knew that Kairi was speaking with his Servant. Kairi nodded. Waver then gestured to the last of the trio of teenagers and the only boy in the group. He looked the oldest of the three teens, about 17 yrs. old. He had an innocent, boyish face showing that he had yet to have aged past twenty years of age. He appeared to be a tanned-skinned youth with white hair like snow and with dark golden eyes. Despite this he had Asian features. He wore the vestments of a priest and a golden cross around his neck. His vestment looked like a type of a red holy shroud, and he wore a red stole over his cassock. He smiled in a way that was meant to be charming, but it just put Kairi on edge.

"I'm the Church's representative and the Master of Assassin of Red. My name is Shirou Kotomine. If you don't mind, I think it might be best if we get down to business and start exchanging information." he said pleasantly.

"I don't mind but I got a few questions. 1st I was under the impression that the Church was to be an Overseer of the Holy Grail Wars, so how does that work with you being a Master? 2nd Where are Feend Von Sembren and Jean Rum? There are supposed to be 7 of us but I only see 5." asked Kairi.

"I'll start with your first question." said Shirou K. He then explained about the Ruler Class making a Church overseer redundant, but the Church still wanted a say with what happened to the Grail so they sent a representative as a Master instead and that he and Waver will be acting as co-coordinators for their faction during this war. When asked where he got information on this class Shirou K. simply stated that his father Risei Kotomine had been the Overseer of the 3rd Holy Grail War in Fuyuki. There he met the Ruler Class Servant and found out about the Class as a whole, including when they would normally be summoned. "Since this is a faction war between two factions of Servants, it guarantees that a Ruler Class Servant will be summoned as the Grail's Overseer. As to why a Ruler was summoned during the 3rd War, simple. The Einzberns cheated to try and get themselves a victory as they were getting tired of continuously losing. This is all my father told me during the last few years of his life before he died." On this everyone thought it surprising but not unexpected and said no more. So, Shirou K. continued. "As for the 2 absent members, shortly after picking me up, the two informed me that unavoidable complications came up that they couldn't leave be and so they rescinded their Command Seals to me so they could go take care of their affairs. As to what those were, they never divulged that information to me. However, they are still supplying their respective Servants with Mana. I just have their contracts." he said. Shirou K. then brought out a briefcase and opened it to pull out documents that he passed to Kairi and Waver who looked them over. "These are written testimonies from the two absent Masters to prove my claims." he said.

"People can be coerced into signing things. But we have no proof that you're lying, and these documents do appear to be genuine, so we have no choice but to assume you're telling the truth." said Waver though he seemed reluctant to do so. The others followed his lead. "So, by process of elimination that leaves them as the Masters of Caster and Berserker of Red. Do you know who had what?" asked Waver. Shirou K. nodded.

"Yes, Ms. Rum had Caster and Sembrem had Berserker. Now since we're on the subject of Servants why don't we let our Servants introduce themselves." Shirou K. suggested. Everyone agreed with this. The first to appear was Waver's Servant Rider.

Rider was a gigantic man standing over two meters in height. He had large muscles that gave the impression of being able to kill a bear with his bare hands. He had sternly chiseled features with eyes that gave off a dazzling glow, showing sharp intellect, and burning red hair and beard. He wore bronze armor, with cuffs and greaves with white-furred fringes, that left his arms and thighs unprotected. He wore a thick red mantle with a fluffy white fur collar. It was luxuriously decorated and looked like a curtain wrapping the stage of a theater. "Hail and well met, Servants of Red. I am Iskandar, King of Conquerors. I extend an invitation to all of you to join my army once our Red Faction Alliance comes to an end." The now named Iskandar proclaimed loudly ringing throughout the building. The other Masters looked surprised at how bold he was announcing himself like that. Shirou K. gave an amused smile. Waver just looked annoyed and resigned to his Servant's antics. Now all of the Servants of the present Masters materialized.

Standing on the pew behind Reines was her Servant, Archer. Archer was a dignified man with golden hair swept back save for a single strand that hung between his eyes. His face could best be described as handsome, and his eyes, crimson like blood, were visibly not those of a human and gave off a mysterious radiance that would make people wither. He had a "perfect, Golden-proportioned body" emanating a majesty that would make flames surrounding him afraid to come close, like his very soul glowed golden. He wore gold armor that covered his waist, shoulders, and legs along with a red waist cloth. But his chest and arms were bare save for a gold necklace and a pair of gold bracelets on each wrist. On his feet he wore what could be described as gold armored sandals. On his back were two swords attached there. He chuckled highly amused. "Surely you jest, mongrel. As if I would lower myself from my rightful position as the one True King of the world. However, if you wish to challenge me for my position know that I'm as skilled with a blade as you seemed to be foolish with your tongue." he said with a challenging grin.

Iskandar hardly seemed disappointed by this refusal. In fact, he returned the grin with one of his own. "Oh ho! I can already tell that this shall be a glorious battle when it should come. But we are allies for the time being. Why don't you introduce yourself properly, fellow king?" Iskandar asked with a more genuine smile.

"If you do not recognize the one True King of this world, mongrel, then there is no point in divulging my name. However, since it seems our masters are family, I shall allow all present to know that I am the Archer of Red and I will aid this faction when it suits me." said Archer of Red haughtily.

"If that is Archer's wish then I have no choice but to comply." said Reines. This caused Archer to give her a small smile but said no more. Everyone complied. Shirou K. looked at him with wide eyes and even with a little fear but said nothing.

Saber of Red appeared in Servant form. Compared to the other Servants she was small in stature, covered completely in thick armor that was entirely wrapped around her small frame. The single mass of steel and her face-covering helm concealed both her face and gender. Kairi knew that the helmet was one of her Noble Phantasms though this was constantly activated. And to use her other one she needed to remove her helm so she couldn't help revealing her appearance when utilizing it. "Servant Class Saber of the Red Faction." she said and that was it. Shirou K. looked at her with a frown but remained silent.

Then there was the Servant standing next to Gray in the aisle of the church. He appeared to be a great hero just from his appearance, one who would be admired by any man or woman, young or old. While his face was pleasing to the eyes, it wasn't like the knights of old whose courteousness softened the hearts of noble ladies. He had the golden eyes of a raptor, a strong and firm build, and the lack of any appearance of crudeness. He had spiky green hair that stood up except for a single bang that hung over the left side of his face. The chest piece of his silver armor also featured a bird. An orange cloth was wrapped loosely around his body. He had other silver amour and black underclothes and wore a shield on his back. Like Archer he appeared to be in his early 20's while Iskandar appeared to be in his late 20's. "Well guess I'll go next. I'm Lancer of Red. At least officially." he said giving a friendly smile. At their questioning looks Gray spoke with a slight Welsh accent revealing that she was both British and Welsh though given who she was descended from that wasn't surprising.

"What Lancer of Red means is that upon being summoned he was originally going to be summoned under the Rider Class but since my teacher summoned his Servant already under that class he was summoned as a Lancer, but he came with what's known as the double-summoned skill. So, while officially under one class he gets access to his capabilities that he would normally get under a different class. In this case Rider. Or to put it another way, he's a Lancer with Rider capabilities." she explained shyly. Lancer gave her an encouraging smile which seemed to relax Gray somewhat.

"Well, hail and well met, fellow Grecian and Rider. Will you not join my army when our Alliance does break down? After all, once the factions have clashed and 7 are lost then the survivors will conduct a proper Holy Grail War. It would delight me to no end to have a fellow Greek Hero to fight alongside and then afterwards conquer the world together." suggested Iskandar. Lancer seemed to consider this before he spoke.

"I'll admit that your offer is tempting, and your Master is my Master's teacher, so it gives us even less reason to be hostile to each other. But my loyalty is to my Master and if she would prefer not to, then as her Servant, I've no choice but to abide by her wishes." he said, giving a non-answer. Iskandar took this as not a rejection, so he simply gave a big cheerful grin.

"Most excellent. I suppose I'll just have to convince you before our little alliance is done with." he said excitedly.

Then attention was focused on the final Servant who materialized next to Shirou K. in the aisle. She was also the only obvious female in the group. She could best be described as a "depraved beauty" and a "peerlessly beautiful woman" wrapped in a dress as "dark as midnight". She had long black hair that actually went to the floor and looked like a cloak at first glance. She had two thick locks of hair that hung in the front and had been tied off at the end with a gold bead and spike. She had pale skin, golden eyes, narrow elven features and extremely pointed Elven ears. Her black dress had a gold lining and surprisingly stopped mid-calf to keep her from tripping on it. It was also strapless and showed off her cleavage. She also wore a detached neck guard with a black feathered collar that was meant more for fashion and sex appeal than for protection. Then she had black detached sleeves with ruffles on the end near her shoulder joint. On her feet she wore black high-heeled boots which oddly enough had a gold spike on the toe of the boot. But the most unusual feature was the thin gold spikes that seemed to go through the palm of her hands with a gold disk on the back of said hands. Stranger still was a gold and black leather strap strung through them. This didn't seem to hinder her arms and hands movements, but it did seem to simply be impractical decoration. "Assassin of Red. At least officially. Oh, and Rider before you ask, I have no intention of being beneath a King. I ruled my own empire in my own right for nearly my entire life. I have no intention of spending this one as merely the arm candy of a King. So, I will decline your invitation." she said in a sickly-sweet way but with an air of high nobility. Archer had a look of disdain on his face at the sight of her. Iskandar merely shrugged but before he could say anything Reines actually giggled catching everyone's attention. "And what is so funny, Master of Archer?" Assassin asked with a frown and quirked eyebrow.

"It's just a bit ironic that a priest would summon someone who would be thought of by his own organization as a representative of one of the cardinal sins, particularly Lust. Makes me wonder if this just proves your Master's got a few dirty little secrets that he's hiding." she said with a mischievous look on her face. Archer immediately began laughing, Assassin looked absolutely peeved and Shirou K. looked absolutely shocked by her words.

"Why you little-" Assassin began, raising her hand as if to strike her.

"Is my Master wrong in her observation, Assassin?" asked Archer with a sly smile on his face. "Considering that compatibility plays a role in the summoning, and you are obviously not someone of the same faith as your Master, perhaps you have other things in common that allowed you to be summoned. Perhaps similar intimate preferences?" Archer suggested with a cheeky grin. Assassin was seething now at the implication. By now the other Servants were roaring in laughter and the Masters were trying their damndest not to laugh.

"Alright we still have to work together for the foreseeable future so let's not get ahead of ourselves and start infighting. Father Kotomine, Assassin said officially that's her class does this mean she also is a double summoned Servant?" asked Waver, regaining composure. Shirou K. latched onto the question eager to end the teasing.

"Yes. Like Lancer, Assassin is also a double summoned Servant. Officially she is under the Assassin Class, but, if need be, can act as a back-up Caster." Shirou K. explained.

"Strange that we have two Servants that have this skill when it's supposed to be extremely rare." said Waver surprised by this.

"While I can't speak for why Lancer has his, Assassin's is actually because I used two catalysts during her summoning. One was confirmed to be directly connected to Assassin while the other was associated with her but was never confirmed." explained Shirou K. "Since neither Mr. Sembrem nor Ms. Rum are here, I don't think that there's any issue in revealing the True Names of their Servants." he then suggested. After a few moments everyone agreed. "Very well. Our Caster of Red's True Name is William Shakespeare, and our Berserker of Red's True Name is Eric Bloodaxe."

"Who?" asked everyone, Servants, and Masters alike, sounding like a flock of owls. This caused Shirou K. to chuckle.

"I'm not surprised no one here has heard of either of them. Even I have no idea who they are either." Shirou K. admitted.

"Actually, I know of William Shakespeare but not of Eric Bloodaxe. I just never thought that someone who's famous only for being a writer could qualify as a Servant." Waver revealed. "Well now that we've revealed our Servants if not their names, is there anything else that needs to be addressed?" he suggested.

"Yes. There is." said Shirou K. as he pulled more files from his briefcase. He handed one to each of the other Red Masters. "Within each of these files is the confirmed Masters of Black and descriptions of their respective Servants. All of them have assembled. But we can only confirm the Assassin of Black as being Hassan-I-Sabbah though we can't determine yet which one. The only other Servant we're certain of is Lancer of Black being Vlad III." explained Shirou K.

"Can't say I'm surprised. Assassins are usually defaulted as being one of the Hassans. Hell, your Servant being an Assassin is actually the first time I've heard of a non-Hassan being an Assassin. And as for Lancer, considering how the 50 mages that had been sent previously died, I'm inclined to agree with your assessment as to who he might be." said Kairi.

"Yes. I believe their Lancer will be our greatest concern." said Shirou K.

"What do you mean?" asked Gray looking up from reading the files.

"Surely you are aware of the boosts that Servants get based on age and reputation, right?" asked Shirou K. Gray nodded. "Well, there's also geographic boosts. In this case here in Romania, Vlad III is boosted to an absurd degree. As long as he's in his homeland his power will rival that of Heroes who already have worldwide fame like King Arthur or Heracles. But once he leaves those lands, his powers are drastically reduced since the fictional Dracula is more famous than Vlad himself though he served as a basis for Dracula." he continued. At the mention of the names Arthur and Heracles both Saber and Lancer perked up which Iskandar noticed, and a look of delight and interest came over his face, but he kept silent for now.

"And what of our Servants? asked Kairi.

"While Assassin's True name is the only one, I don't know, since I handed out most the relics to our faction or was given the Servant's True Names, I can say that while half of our faction is either lacking or unknown, the other half is truly outstanding in terms of quality." said Waver.

"Well, that's a relief." said Kairi. Suddenly Reines got up from her pew picking up her file.

"Well, I think that concludes things for today. So, Gray come with me. We're going shopping." she said, grabbing Gray's hand and pulling her up as she almost dropped her file. Then Reines led them to the door. At the threshold she stopped and looked back. "Archer will you be joining us? I'm sure we can find something that will be to your taste." she suggested. Archer shrugged.

"Very well. I shall indulge you. But this had better be worth my time." said Archer going into spirit form. Gray looked behind her.

"Lancer are you coming?" she asked tentatively. Lancer gave a small fond smile and moved to join them.

"Sure, why not?" he said also going to spirit form. Reines looked at Waver.

"Brother please give the father the address and phone number to contact us at our base. I expect to see you there when we are finished, Brother." she said as she led Gray out the door of the church without another word. Shirou K. watched a bit surprised when Waver walked up to him and handed him a slip of paper.

"This has the address and landline that you can contact us by if you find out anything else. I already have the Church's landline on file, so we'll be able to keep in touch and abreast of the situation as it changes." he said. Before Shirou K. could even voice anything he was heading out the door with Iskandar. "Kairi are you going to be joining us? Or would you prefer to do things solo this time?" asked Waver as he paused at the door. Kairi seemed to consider before answering.

"You know, I think I will join you." he said as he and Saber went to join them at the door.

"You realize that our faction will be split into two groups while our enemy is giving a united front. Not to mention that the enemy has already established itself and has an army at their disposal. By trying to coordinate between two groups we will suffer delays and inconveniences. With all this in mind you all still intend to leave?" asked Assassin with a frown.

"May I ask why you insist on doing things this way?" asked Shirou K. genuinely curious.

"While I may be a Lord at the Clock Tower, Reines is the true head of the El-Melloi family even if not officially and she does have a tendency to do things on a whim. I find that it saves me headaches by just going along with her whims as she's more inclined to listen to my suggestions when they really count." explained Waver.

"So, you're willing to divide our faction for the sake of a child's whim?" asked Assassin in disdain.

"Reines has been known to ruin people including causing them to lose their sanity and I would like to keep mine, Madam. If all that requires of me to do is indulge in her eccentricities from time to time, then I will do so. Apologies for the inconvenience." said Waver. With that he closed the door to the church behind him, Kairi, and their Servants.

Outside the two masters of Red walked away from the Church. Their Servants had already gone into spirit form. Are they following us? asked Kairi aloud. We're fine. She responded over their link.

Yes, even an Assassin would need to materialize when launching an attack. And considering its daytime it would be child's play for Servants like me and Saber to intercept and counter. Iskandar gave his two cents. This caught Kairi off guard. Good, replied Waver over their link. "Hey Lord El-Melloi." said Kairi.

"The 2nd." said Waver a bit tiredly.

"Right. How is it that Rider of Red and you can hear us when Saber and I use the Master/Servant Link? I thought that was meant for just the specific Master Servant pair." Kairi stated.

"According to Rider and the other Servants in our faction, that is true in general but Masters who choose to work together in a faction like we are doing now can all 'link up' if you will and share information without other factions gaining information. But if you address your Servant's Class Name or True name and then speak through the link then the conversation over the link will remain between the two of you. If you don't then all members of our faction will hear what you're saying over the link though they must be nearby to do so, like at least within eyesight otherwise you must play a game of telephone with another Master to address another Servant regardless of Faction affiliation." Waver explained.

"I see. I'll keep that in mind. Well in any case, I wanted to ask what the real reason was for why you didn't want to work with the priest?" asked Kairi.

"I wasn't lying about Reines making people lose their sanity when they dare cross her but she's also very good at noticing deceptive people as in those who might try to backstab us when they get the chance. Though a priest summoning an Assassin and one who isn't one of the Hassan-I-Sabbah is a pretty obvious sign to not fully trust what's being said by said priest. Though why she herself decided to not work with the priest I do not know. We'll just have to ask her when we catch up to her." Said waver. The two men walked up to where they saw the two young girls waiting at the end of the street.

"There you are brother. What kept you?" asked Reines.

"Having to explain your actions." Said Waver annoyed. Reines simply gave a girlish giggle.

"Come now brother. I had complete confidence that you could handle explanations." she said with a girlish giggle. Waver sighed in exasperation.

"Still, I do wonder what the real reason was for why you didn't want to join forces with the priest." said Kairi.

"Simple. Archer didn't want to. Right Archer?" she asked, looking over to her right where nothing seemed to be. While I am not personally familiar with that woman who is that priest's Servant, she reminds me too much of a certain useless goddess that I had the displeasure of knowing when I was alive. It would be best to keep both that Servant and Master pair at arm's length especially since said Servant is an Assassin. Archer stated to Reines. "Then I made the right choice. I trust my King's judgement." said Reines aloud with a smile. Archer laughed over their connection. Most excellent. Finally, a mongrel who understands their rightful place in the world. He said heartily to Reines who still smiled in delight. However, mongrel, knows that I will only indulge in this war when I feel it will be entertaining for me. Like facing a worthy opponent. I will not tolerate a mongrel who dares to act as equal to their King. This shall be your only warning as a courtesy from your King. He proclaimed seriously to Reines whose face grew more serious. I understand, my King. she said simply over their connection. This seemed to satisfy Archer as he said nothing more. With that the group continued onward.

So, he too didn't trust that Assassin either. Said Saber. "You didn't like her either, Saber?" Kairi asked aloud for everyone in their group to hear. Just a hunch but that Assassin woman reminds me of and smells like my mother. In other words, she is not the type of person who should be trusted. "Then our team made the right decision. If Ms. Reines trusts her Servant's judgement, then I have faith in your instincts." he said aloud. There was a pause before Saber spoke again over their link. I appreciate it. I'm relieved that my Master is not so easily fooled by such deceitful people. Though only a little, mind you. Saber quickly added at the end of her haughty reply. Kairi simply smiled.

"Um. Ms. Reines? Were you serious about going shopping?" asked Gray shyly.

"Of course. We simply must browse and see if anything is suitable to our tastes." said Reines haughtily.

"Just please let's not spend all our budget in one place. We still need to eat." said Waver with a groan. Reines' girlish giggle echoed loudly as they walked down the street.

===Back at the church – same time

"It seems as though no one in that group trusted us." said Shirou K. sounding very disappointed.

"Surely it wasn't anything I said or did." said Assassin haughtily.

"Still this meeting wasn't a complete waste. We learned the True Names of all the Servants of Red save for Saber. Most likely a noble phantasm protected their identity from being exposed even from my abilities." said Shirou K. as he put a hand near his eyes as he was in deep thought.

"And just who makes up the rest of our faction. We know that Berserker is Eric Bloodaxe, Caster is William Shakespeare, Rider is Iskandar . . .." Assassin trailed off.

"Assassin is Semiramis, Empress of Assyria." said Shirou K. with a smile as he looked at the now named Assassin Servant who smiled in return before he continued. "Lancer is Achilles, A hero of the Trojan War, and finally our Archer is none other than Gilgamesh, the king of Heroes. In terms of quality, I'd say just the knight Classes, yourself, and Rider we've already won this war. The problem lies in the Servants personalities. Lancer is too loyal to the Master who summoned him, Rider and Archer are too independent minded and greedy for their own goals, Berserker is simply a Berserker, Caster will go along with what we have in mind so long as it coincides with his goal, you've pledged your loyalty to the cause so long as you get something out of it. So, the only one who is a mystery through and through is once again Saber." Shirou K. concluded.

"So, what now? Those masters already don't want to work with us unless they must, and their Servants all are more liabilities than assets despite their power." said Semiramis.

"For the moment I think it would be best to let them be as they will have to work with us for the foreseeable future. Let's see who survives first contact with the enemy and assess who's left. Then we'll see what to do from there." said Shirou K. Semiramis, who seemed disappointed by this answer but continued.

"Then is it safe to assume that once the gardens are completed, you'll try to persuade them to have it act as our base of operations?" she asked.

"Yes. Even if they don't trust us, your gardens will have all sorts of defenses and protections that would benefit them so much that it will hopefully outweigh their caution against us." After a pause he continued. "I believe that the last of the materials needed to build the gardens arrived today. All that's left is the ritual itself, right?" he asked.

"Correct. The entire ritual will take 72 hrs. to complete. So, if there is anything else that you need of me, now is the time to voice it as I can't be disturbed once I begin the ritual." she said. Shirou K. thought it over before shaking his head. "Then I will head over to where all the materials are and begin the ritual." said Semiramis as she walked towards the altar and reverted to spirit form in a flash of blue particles. This left Shirou K. alone with his thoughts as he sat in the pew.

===Japan – Karakura – streets – midafternoon

Jeanne walked down the streets of the suburb area of Karakura alongside Ichigo, his friends, family, and Rukia. Renji and Toshiro decided to stay overnight at the Urahara Shop as Kisuke wanted to work on some projects after lunch had been finished. He saw them off telling them to come back to the shop early the next morning as he had some items that he wanted to give them that would hopefully help them in their mission. Jeanne found herself in deep thought, not sure what to do.

"Ms. Jeanne?" asked a voice. Jeanne snapped to attention.

"Yes!" she shouted as she was a bit startled out of her thoughts. She looked over to see that Uryu had been the one to touch her shoulder. She quickly straightened up and calmed down. "Yes Mr. Ishida? What is it?" she asked calmly and politely. Uryu gave a polite cough and spoke.

"I wanted to ask if you are alright. You looked like you had a lot on your mind." he stated. Jeanne saw everyone in their group had stopped and was looking at her with concern. After a moment she answered.

"You're not wrong. I'm anxious to head to Romania as soon as possible. So, saying that I must wait til early morning tomorrow is making me anxious." she admitted.

"Why?" asked Karin curiously.

"It's been a full day and a half since my summoning, and I took a huge gamble to come here. Though it seems to have been a good call. But I feel like I should be getting on my way to Romania as I'm sure the 6 factions have arrived or are at least gathering at Trifas. And as a mediator I must oversee the different battles as they are to take place at night to avoid as few witnesses as possible. I just feel that the longer I delay, the higher the chances are that fighting will break out between the factions and without me being present innocents could get hurt." Jeanne explained.

"That may very well be. But you must not neglect yourself even if the body you're using is technically being borrowed by you. In the last 27 hrs. you've only had about a 3-hr. nap and in 19 hrs. you've only had one meal. As a doctor I can't allow that to continue. You need proper rest and food before you leave." said Isshin with a serious look on his face.

"I agree. Not to mention that the rest of us need to make necessary preparations." said Uryu. At her confused look, he elaborated. "Ichigo needs to pack his things as do the rest of us, we need to come up with cover stories and make the necessary arrangements to get all the materials we will need before we leave." said Uryu. Suddenly Isshin stopped where he was. Catching everyone off guard. He turned to face them.

"I want to make this clear, the only ones going with Ms. Jeanne are Rukia and Ichigo. The rest of you are staying here." When several looked ready to protest he continued. "Think about this. Mages have been verified to be cold-hearted and merciless. And while one apparently turned himself into a living Hollow to cheat death and he was an extreme example, both Kisuke and Ms. Jeanne have stated that most mages are not only allowed but actively encouraged to throw away all traces of their humanity in the pursuit of their goals. And those goals can be as depraved as they wish as long as they don't reveal this Magecraft to the world at large. So, think about this for a moment. A bunch of powerful teens none of which have magic circuits and yet they possess powers that could potentially rival the high ranked members of their society and how they got these powers nearly all go against their beliefs of lineage and pedigree." He turned to Jeanne. "Jeanne how would mages react to such a thing?" he asked.

"Best case scenario is that they would try to capture all of or at least one of the teens present alive and study them, though the methods would be far from humane. Then if they can't find a way to understand how their powers work and take it for themselves, they would use them as breeding stock in the hopes that those powers would be passed onto the next generation. The mid-range option would be to transfer their souls to the teens' bodies and consume their souls in the hopes of absorbing those powers into themselves. Worst case scenario would be after rigorous study and no satisfactory results the mage would just kill them, dispose of the bodies, and make sure to leave no trace of them behind." said Jeanne as a matter of factly. The teens looked outright horrified.

"You see. By having only Rukia and Ichigo leave, their sheer power can have them pass as Servants and since it's only two, no one will question their presence especially when told the two are acting as her bodyguards due to the circumstances for the war. Right, Jeanne?" asked Isshin. Jeanne nodded.

"Yes. Mages are also very paranoid and if I show up with a whole team of 'Servants' even if I say that they are here for my protection, Mages will be more inclined to think I'm lying and treat me like an active participant rather than a mediator. Which means that the mages won't have their Servants exercise restraint because you all look very young. They will order their Servants to kill you if they are given the chance regardless of how the Servant may personally feel. I have no intention of giving them that chance. With just two 'Servants' and an explanation for their presence, it actually lessens the chance of being targeted." said Jeanne with conviction.

"Not to mention that if they can't find any of you in the historical record it'll spark their curiosity trying to figure out who you are which could lead to your potential capture and experimentation. Especially when none of you wish to kill your opponents. I hate to say it but you've all been lucky so far in that none of you have had a direct hand in the deaths of anyone and Hollows are already dead so those don't count. But from the sound of things, you might not have a choice and have to kill your opponents. Orihime Here can't bring herself to hurt anybody that isn't a hollow even if it's in defense of somebody else and her odd powers would make her a very tempting and prime target which means somebody else would have to be guarding her in addition to Jeanne. Tatsuki your powers are still very underdeveloped which means that you would also be a prime target. And of the rest of you the only people I would even allow to go with Ichigo would be Chad and uryu. But there's a bigger reason I want you all to stay other than Ichigo and Rukia, who's going to protect karakura town?" asked Isshin. This caught the entire group off guard. Isshin nodded. "Don't forget the whole reason that the soul society hasn't bothered anyone yet is because you've all been staying here protecting karakura. If any of you leave the area and use your powers, there's no idea what's going to happen or how the soul reapers will treat this. So as much as I think it would be interesting to see what kind of servants are summoned, it might be in everyone's best interest to just stick with having Ichigo and Rukia accompany Jeanne and everybody else will stay here to protect karakura. Especially if they decide to send mages here. Here we have the home field advantage and can use the entire town to try and set traps and whatnot then we can take them and interrogate them to see why they're here." Isshin argued.

"I Agree. Plus, it'll get me Peace of Mind Knowing that my friends can take care of my family as well as protect our town while I'm away." Ichigo added.

Reluctantly after hearing these arguments his friends and family agreed to this arrangement. Then Keigo spoke up.

"All right then! How about since Ichigo is gonna be leaving tomorrow with Rukia and Jeanne, we all go and get something to eat?" he asked.

"What did you have in mind Keigo?" asked Chizuru.

"Well since miss Jeanne over here has probably not had any proper Japanese cuisine other than what she had a little earlier today why don't we give her a proper send off? There's this really good ramen stand not too far from here and you can basically pick whatever you want. What do you say?" Keigo asked. Jeanne thought about it for a moment before nodding in acceptance.

"Then it's settled. We'll eat and then Jeanne and Rukia, you both will come with me, Ichigo, yuzu, and Karin and stay the night over at our house period. Then Ichigo will get packed I'll make the cover stories needed to call the school tomorrow to let him know that he'll be absent for at least the next two months due to family matters outside the country and then we'll take you back to the shop and pick up whatever stuff that urahara had made for you. Sound good?" asked Isshin. Jeanne thought about it again for a moment and once again nodded.

"Then, shall we?" asked mizurio. With that everyone followed the mood immediately being lifted.

===Romania – millennium fortress – grail chamber – unknown time

Old man acht Approached the grail as it was hung suspended in an otherwise dark chamber being the only source of light in the room. He was accompanied by 4 knights and Merlin. In other words, most of the gold faction servants.

"This is where the four of you will be for most of the duration of the war, at least in its early phases. Your task for now is quite simple. You four will be here guarding the grail should anyone somehow manage to make it all the way down here. Once they are here you are to eliminate them on site. Do you understand?" He asked.

"Yes master." All of them said solemnly while also nodding.

"Good. Merlin you are to start putting up all sorts of traps and illusions that will be able to hide the grail from anyone who enters the room should they somehow make it here save for members of the black or gold faction understand?" Asked old man acht. Again, Merlin nodded. "Then I leave everything to you." With that old man acht left the chamber. Once the doors were closed Merlin turned his attention to the four Knights of the round

"Well, I have to say this is a truly blessed encounter." Said Merlin with a beatific smile.

"More like A sick joke from someone who wants to see me suffer and that's saying something coming from me." Said Kay deadpan. Merlin fell forward being caught off guard by the harsh comment.

"You don't have to be mean about it." cried Merlin.

"Still, I find it to be a bit strange. Aren't you supposed to be in Avalon, Merlin?" asked Bedivere. Merlin quickly recovered and looked at Bedivere with an ever-present smile.

"That's correct. I was trapped in a tower by Vivian in Avalon shortly before our King departed for Rome. And had been stuck there ever since." Merlin informed them.

"Had been. As in you aren't there now and this isn't some form of magic that you're projecting to be here." Gawain pointed out. "So how did you become a Heroic Spirit?" he asked. Merlin's smile dropped then, and he frowned in deep thought.

"That's the thing. I haven't become a Heroic Spirit as I haven't technically died yet. But as to why I am here. Essentially Alaya herself intervened and destroyed the tower I was trapped in. But in exchange I had to do two things: 1 was to agree to answer a summoning for this Holy Grail War. Why? Well from what little details I gleamed; something is going to happen during this Grail War. Something that even the Counter Force is fearful of and can't prevent or stop it, so it decided my presence was needed and allowed me out of my tower which it otherwise would have left me be until the world ended. From there I used my clairvoyance and saw a catalyst being used to summon me and used my magecraft to link up with the summoning ritual and summoned myself here. But unlike all the other Servants I'm here in the flesh and am not dead yet." said Merlin smiling at the last part.

"So, you're here at your true living strength, not as a powerful Servant. Incredible. What was the other condition?" asked Galahad. Once again Merlin frowned in deep thought.

"This is where it gets cryptic. The other condition was phrased as 'once I find my true master, who shall be a true child of life and death, whose an existence that shouldn't be possible and yet they exist, and whose gone through their life making the impossible possible. Upon finding them I am to swear and pledge the same fealty as I did for our King and that shall last for all their existence. All this in exchange for my freedom from the tower." recited Merlin. The knights looked on in confusion.

"A child of life and death? But what could that mean?" asked Bedivere. Merlin shrugged.

"I have no idea. All I understand is by accepting the summoning here will be the first step to finding my True Master. But I'll have to wait until all the fighting over the Grail has died down so I can go looking for them. So, until then I'm serving as a Caster for the Gold Faction." finished Merlin.

"I take it your 'fill in' Master has no clue about any of this?" asked Kay

"Of course. You should know how all mages get when they are denied toys they want to play with. They decide to simply break the toy rather than share or hoard it for themselves. So naturally I've only told all of you, and I sincerely hope you will keep all I've explained in confidence." said Merlin sternly. While a bit surprised. The quartet agreed to keep all this a secret. "Excellent. Well, I'd better start setting the illusions and traps as incantations like that will take an eternity." he said cheerfully as he headed over to one of the walls and tapped the ground with his staff and began chanting.

"Despite everything Merlin. I'm glad to see you again." said Gawain with a fond smile, which Merlin returned.

"As am I." he said happily after he finished the incantation and then resumed his work while the four knights got into a diamond pattern formation surrounding the Greater Grail.

=== Japan – Karakura – Kurosaki Clinic – early morning

"GOOOOOD MOOORRRNING ICHIGOOOO!" Shouted Isshin. A crash could be heard resonating throughout the house. Jeanne Was startled out of her sleep and leapt out of the bed ready for combat.

"It's all right. It's just the Kurosaki manly ritual that they do every morning." Said Karin sleepily. She quickly went back to sleep. Jeanne Looked at all this in astonishment. On the other side of the wall, she could hear screaming or rather yelling from Ichigo to his father but couldn't really make out what was being said as she was still trying to process what she had been told. This Sort of thing happens every day?She thought somewhat blearily. Still, she was already up so she went to the restroom and went through the daily routine. Once finished, she returned to the room that she had been staying in Which had been the twins room. She then went to the window and kneeled to pray. When that was finished, she stood up and turned back to the cot that she had been sleeping on only to see that the twins were up and looking at her.

"Is something wrong?" she asked curiously. The twins both shook their heads.

"No. It's just that since Japan isn't really a monotheistic religion center it's a little strange seeing somebody praying like you are. Not that there's anything wrong with that of course it's just odd for people like us." Yuzu quickly added.

"What my sister means is since we already kind of have in-depth knowledge of what the afterlife is like it's a little weird seeing somebody praying when…." Karin trailed off.

"When most of the things my religion teaches me might not be correct?" suggested Jeanne. The twins nodded. "It's all right. When I became a servant there were a lot of things about my religion that I realized weren't correct. However, I assure you even if I've learned some uncomfortable truths about my own religion and about what they've taught me, I can say with full confidence that my faith in God has not wavered in the slightest. In fact, all it proves is that I have a lot to learn about my own religion." Said Jeanne with a smile.

The twins shared a smile in return. With that the three girls changed into their clothes they would wear for the day. After that yuzu went down to the kitchen to prepare breakfast. Karin went down to help her where she could, leaving Jeanne to finish packing up her clothes so that she could head for Romania. She once again dressed in Leaticia's school outfit. When she had finished packing, she grabbed the suitcase and carry on and headed downstairs to the kitchen. Once there Yuzu presented her with a breakfast That consisted of steamed rice, miso soup, grilled fish, what the grail told her was tamagoyaki or a rolled omelet, nori or seaweed, and a variety of side dishes which mostly consisted of steamed vegetables. The girls sat down and began to eat at the table. A few minutes later isshin came into the kitchen from the clinic area and began to eat with the girls. From there conversation was kept light and amicable.

Finally, Ichigo and Rukia came down carrying a carry-on bag on his shoulder and she a small suitcase, respectively. He was dressed in blue jeans, hiking boots, a yellow shirt and brown casual coat. Rukia was dressed in a yellow sundress and brown mid-calf boots. "Ah son, third daughter, so glad of you to join us." Said Isshin. Ichigo just eyed him grumpily. "I have good news. I just got off the phone with your principal and told him of the fact that you Ichigo would not be in school for at least the next few Weeks due to family business Outside the country. While they weren't thrilled by it, they allowed it on the condition that I send your homework from the school. So, I'll be sure to be sending you homework at least once a week once I get your address of the place you're staying at. In exchange they'll grant you extensions to get them finished and turned in by the end of the month." Isshin said proudly. Ichigo looked really surprised at this So much so that he couldn't utter a response.

"What about Rukia?" asked Jeanne.

"Since I'm a soul Reaper I don't need to worry about things like schoolwork. I just attend school as a cover so that I can blend in with the world of the living while I hunt hollows. So, since my assignment was going to be finished today, I don't have to worry about needing to turn in homework." Said Rukia with a smirk.

"Yeah, lucky me. I'm the only one of this group that's going to have to do homework on top of having to help protect Jeanne." Said Ichigo looking depressed at this.

"Actually, I'm going to be working on Leaticia's homework so perhaps maybe We can do homework together?" Suggested Jeanne. Once again, Ichigo was caught off guard by that. But he did give her a small smile.

"I'd like that." He said quietly. But this little moment was again interrupted by isshin's antics.

"Oh, my. Smells like loOooove. Well, I commend you on your taste in women son but keep in mind that you can only marry one of them Legally. Which is a shame my money was on Rukia that you would try to marry." Said Isshin with a shit eating grin. At that point Ichigo simply punched his dad in the face sending him flying to the other side of the kitchen looking furious. Jeanne flushed in embarrassment.

"Knock it off. We're just talking about studying together you pervert. Geez why do you have to act like an idiot and be so weird?" Shouted Ichigo.

"Finish up your breakfast. Karin and I have to go to school. And I want to say goodbye to Rukia Ichigo and Jeanne before we leave." Said yuzu. Jeanne Looked at Rukia confused.

"Is it always like this in the mornings?" She asked.

"Believe it or not this is actually a quiet morning for us." Said Karin sardonically as she finished eating. After this exchange the girls all finished eating and cleaned up and put away food while the boys got everyone's things together. Once everyone was ready to go, Yuzu and Karin first hugged their brother then Rukia.

"Please be careful both of you. I want you both to come home safe and sound." said Yuzu tearfully.

"And make sure to kick ass and take names. I want to know all about the Heroes that you encounter when you get home." said Karin with a small watery smile. Both Ichigo and Rukia smiled at the two in return.

"I'll make sure to bring this idiot home safe and sound. I promise." said Rukia chuckling.

"And I'll be sure to watch Rukia and Jeanne's backs. And I'll tell you all about the trip when we get home." he said. Then the girls turned to Jeanne.

"If this is the last time we see you, know that it was amazing to meet you, Ms. Jeanne." said Yuzu. Karin nodded.

"And it was cool seeing you in action like that, yesterday. But do try to stay safe, okay." said Karin looking embarrassed. Jeanne smiled at both of them and bowed to both of them. Only to be surprised when both girls came over and gave her a group hug. She quickly recovered and returned and said hug. With that the girls were off to school while Isshin followed the trio to Urahara's shop. When asked Isshin grinned and stated that he wanted to say his goodbyes to them there.

Once there they were greeted by all of the people that had been present yesterday save for Ichigo's sisters. Jeanne also noticed that all of Ichigo's non soul reaper friends were dressed the same and realized they were in school uniforms. "Are you guys heading off to school?" asked Jeanne.

"Yep. Yesterday was Sunday and the only day of the week during the school semester that we don't attend school. But we wanted to show up early to say goodbye to you guys." said Orihime with a smile.

"And we'll be heading back to the Soul Society once they head off to school." said Toshiro. He and Renji were dressed in their Soul Reaper attire. Urahara came out with a pet carrier and a carry-on bag of his own and Tessai came out with the two children carrying an assortment of items. Yoruichi, in her cat form, brought up the rear.

"Oh, good you all made it here. Well let's take care of the last-minute business." he said then turned to his assistants. "Alright lay out the items." he ordered. They did so. Ururu laid out 5 iPhones, three tiny plug-in projectors, and several small pads and charging cords and plugs on the covered porch. Jinta placed Ririn's and Noba's plushies next to the electronics. Yoruichi sat next to the two plushies. Then Tessai laid out a black haori onto the porch followed by a brown cloak with a wooden fastener. Finally, Urahara placed the last items on the porch which turned out to be four bracelets, three plastic cards, an envelope with a bit of weight to it, and finally 2 maps.

"Ririn and Noba need no introduction. So, I'll just hand them off to you and Rukia, Ichigo." said Urahara and he did so. Ririn went into Rukia's suitcase while Noba went into Ichigo's carry-on. However as soon as she opened her suitcase another plushie popped out. This one was a lion plushie. Much to everyone's surprise. Ichigo looked absolutely pissed.

"Kon! What are you doing here!?" he said angrily. The lion plushie pointed his paw at them.

"Did you really think that I was going to let my precious Rukia go to some foreign country without me there to protect her?" said the now named Kon.

"You just want to get away from Yuzu don't you, you little rat." said Ichigo. Kon flinched but crossed his arms in defiance.

"You're already taking these other two mod-souls. Why not take me along, too?" asked Kon angrily. Only then did Isshin reach forward and grabbed Kon and kept a tight grip on him as he pulled him away.

"Kon it's very important that Ichigo and Rukia stay entirely focused on their mission. Which means that they can't have themselves be pre-occupied by distractions. Like you going on a joy ride in his body. Not to mention the fact that while your leg strength will certainly stand out in a crowd, for this mission it's critical that they blend in and not stand out as that could put everyone here including Orihime, Yuzu and Karin in danger." he said seriously. That caught Kon by surprise.

"You're really serious about this." he said in surprise. After a moment of thought he turned to Ichigo and pointed his paw at him. "Fine. I'll stay put but you had better bring my precious Rukia back to me." he ordered. Ichigo looked like he swallowed a lemon but answered.

"If it will get you to stay put then I will." he said sourly. Kon nodded. Only to then be tied up in golden light threads and then Tessai grabbed him and ran back into the shop. Leaving Jeanne confused and everyone else relieved.

"Tessai will keep Kon secured until we're all far away and he has no idea where we're going. Alright let's get back to business. The two maps are of the country of Romania and of the town of Trifas itself. Those are self-explanatory." he said as he put the maps in his carry-on bag. "Now onto the items that will need to be explained." Urahara held up the white iPhone with the kanji for 10. "Ichigo as you know iPhones have now become the communication device that people rely on now for communication and entertainment. So, I made 5 of these Denreishinki based on smart phones to give to you, Ms. Jeanne, Yoruichi, Captain Hitsuguya, and Isshin. Of the 5, only Ms. Jeanne's and Captain Hitsuguya's don't have an international sim card so we can make and receive calls from each other in the world of the living despite being in different countries though all five can make and receive calls from the soul society no problem. I've already added everyone's numbers into them so only Rukia and Jeanne need to add each other to their phones and Rukia to ours." he explained. Rukia began to do so with everyone's new Denreishinki.

"You didn't make one for Rukia or yourself?" asked Ichigo.

"I have one and I make a new model every year to make the necessary changes to improve on it." answered Urahara.

"My current Denreishinki is still functional, so I see no need to replace it with a new model. Though I have to ask while I know you have one, Urahara, why bother with making and giving others these new models?" Rukia asked.

"For Isshin and Ichigo it's to allow the Kurosakis to keep in touch with each other for the duration of the war. For Yoruichi it's to be used as a back-up should anyone lose their Denreishinki during this war. Jeanne so she can communicate with Ichigo and Rukia and coordinate with them during the fights to come. For Captain Hitsuguya it's so that we can test if the video call function will work in the Soul Society." At everyone's confused looks, Urahara elaborated. "I want us to do daily meetings at the safe house, Captain Hitsuguya's office, and here at the shop and keep everyone abreast of the situation. Not to mention that it will hopefully allow us to assist in discovering the identities of the Servants that have been summoned." he said.

"I don't think that will be necessary. I have a skill that already does that." to everyone's surprise she continued. "The Ruler Class has a skill called True Name Discernment. With this skill, during a direct encounter, the Ruler Servant can see another Servant's true name and entire status information will be automatically revealed. Though there are exceptions." she explained.

"But you require a direct encounter with a Servant to do this. So, if I were to go and find clues about a Servant, if you didn't encounter them directly you wouldn't be able to discern anything about them, correct?" asked Yoruichi. Jeanne thought about it and sadly nodded.

"That is true. Along with the fact that if a Servant has an ability or noble phantasm that conceals their identity from my skill then I wouldn't be able to know their identity anyway." she admitted.

"All the more reason to have these daily meetings. The Kuchiki library has the honor of preserving the history of both the soul society and the world of the living. That's roughly 4-5,000 yrs. of history. I think with my brother, Renji, my captain, and Captain Hitsuguya helping us on the side along with Urahara and Yoruichi assisting us more directly we can better understand who we're up against and figure out how to deal with them." Rukia pointed out.

"And we can help as well. We can use our resources to help at least with identifying the Servants." said Tatsuki. Everyone else nodded.

"Okay but what about the other parts of the electronics? The charging cord and plug are self-explanatory. But what about the mini projector and plastic pad?" asked Ichigo.

"The plastic pad is to test and see if simply putting the smartphone on the pad will still charge the phone. If it does, then it will help me further in my research in creating a Denreishinki that runs entirely on reishi. If not, then the charging cord and plug will still work. As for the mini projector, it will work like a regular one but will connect to the FaceTime function of the Denreishinki and enlarge the screen so that way people won't have to cram to see the small screen." explained Kisuke. Everyone looked very impressed with this. "Well, this is the test run to see if it works, anyways." he added on making everyone eye him with suspicion. Still Hitsuguya, and Ichigo both took a plug, pad, charging cord, and mini projector and tucked them in their haori and carry-on bag, respectively. Hitsuguya took the phone Kisuke had been using as an example. Ichigo took the iPhone that was black with the same icon as his badge in white on the back. Isshin took the plain silver iPhone. Rukia took the iPhone that was purple with a black kitty on the back and put it in her breast pocket. Then Jeanne was given a blue iPhone with silver lining with a gold Fleur-de-lis on the back. She took this and put it in her carry-on bag. Laeticia squealed in delight at this as she had always wanted an iPhone. Jeanne gave a small smile. She was just relieved that now she had a way to communicate with Ichigo and the others since the Servant/Master link was not an option for her here. Kisuke took the third group and left them with Ururu much to Jinta's chagrin.

"Oh, one final thing Noba and Ririn both know how to use the smartphones so if they have to, they can utilize them." Yoruichi added.

"That's good to know." said Ichigo.

"The three plastic cards are two credit cards and one debit card to allow you to continuously make the necessary purchases. The credit cards are to be your main way to purchase things but if you come across someone who would prefer cash, you can just use the debit card to withdrawal cash from an ATM. The debit card is linked to a Swiss bank account, so you don't need to worry about spending beyond your means." said Kisuke.

"And I know the pin numbers for all the cards." said Yoruichi with a smug grin. Kisuke took the three cards and put them in his carry-on bag.

"If my experiment is a success, I'll just leave these at the safe house when I leave." said Kisuke. Then he held up the envelope. "In this envelope is the address and three sets of keys to the Romanian safe house. I'll leave these with you when I leave but I will text Isshin the address to send you your homework, Ichigo. If my plan doesn't work, he can send it to you via international mail." he stated. Ichigo nodded in gratitude. Then Urahara picked up the four thin golden bracelets that looked like two pairs of his and hers bracelets causing both Ichigo and Rukia to blush profusely, but they listened as Kisuke spoke. "Okay for these I need Noba and Ririn in your bodies and you two in your soul reaper forms." Ichigo and Rukia did as asked. Jeanne watched in fascination as they pulled two round pills from the plushies, swallowed them, and then saw their souls being pushed out of their bodies in their soul reaper attire. "Alright all four of these bracelets have a special function: they act as built in translators. Since we need to keep up the ruse of you both being Servants, and Servants are already multilingual thanks to the Grail, these bracelets will be able to act as automatic translators for any spoken language for both you guys and the people you're talking to. The only real downside will be that it won't work for written languages so while it will help you speak, you won't be able to read and write in any language outside ones you're already versed in." warned Kisuke. He placed one set of bracelets on the left wrists of the body and gigai of Ichigo and Rukia, respectively. Then he placed the other set of bracelets on the right wrists of Ichigo and Rukia's soul reaper forms. "The set of bracelets on your bodies will be visible to all while those who are spiritually aware will see the bracelets on your soul reaper forms. And only those who are spiritually aware will see both sets while those who aren't spiritually aware will only see one set." he explained. Both nodded at his explanation.

"Alright just a few items left to go, and we will be heading out. As you know Yoruichi will be coming with us and will be staying in my stead after I set up everything, but I wanted to ask you can either of you sense her presence?" he asked with a cheeky smile.

"You know I suck at that Hat n' Clogs." Ichigo pointed out sourly.

"Ms. Jeanne and Ms. Kuchiki?" Kisuke asked the two girls in question. The two looked at Yoruichi only to realize that they couldn't sense anything from her and saw that she was wearing a simple black collar. They voice their observations.

"Very good. That collar she's wearing is in fact concealing her spiritual pressure from everyone spiritually aware or otherwise. Making her nearly impossible to detect. Combined with her training as an Assassin and head of the Stealth Force and she's virtually invisible." said Kisuke proudly.

"So, it's like a mystic code." Jeanne said in surprise. At the surprised looks of everyone she quickly explained that mystic codes were devices created by mages to perform some sort of magecraft task such as casting fire quickly without the need for incantations or some other tasks. Everyone seemed satisfied with that explanation.

"Alright Ms. Kuchiki you can return to your gigai as the last two items are for Ms. Jeanne and Ichigo." said Urahara. Jeanne in fascination watched as Rukia had her gigai, possessed by Ririn, pull out a red glove with a skull on it. She put it on and then pressed her glove covered hand onto her gigai and watched as the pill was spit out of her gigai's mouth which then would've fallen to the ground had Rukia then not caught both it and the pill and gently set her gigai on the ground. She watched further as she put the pill in Ririn's plushie and then pushed herself into her gigai regaining control of it once again and moving it under her own power.

With that done she focused back to Kisuke who showed the last two items a black haori coat and a plain brown cloak with a wooden fastener on it. "Now Ms. Jeanne could you transform into your Servant attire. Don't worry about people seeing you. I'll set up a temporary barrier so no one will notice." Kisuke reassured her. Then with a snap of his fingers the entire area became encased in a domed barrier that shimmered slightly in the morning over the area. Jeanne looked at this in awe. A barrier large enough to encase a building and the yard in front of it with no incantations and it will keep people outside from watching what's happening. Just how powerful is this Mr. Urahara? She wondered. Still, she focused back on everyone and willed her Servant attire into existence. Kisuke then pulled the brown cloak off the porch and put it on her. The cloak went to her ankles and Kisuke pulled the cords to tighten the cloak to secure it around her neck and saw the wooden badge fastener. It was a hexagon and she saw in black lines two intersecting rectangles with four five pointed stars at the ends of each of these rectangles. Lines from these four stars intersected at the square in the middle. In the middle of said square was a diamond and inside the diamond was a crescent moon.

"What's this?" she asked.

"The cloak or the badge?" asked Yoruichi watching her.

"Both." replied Jeanne.

"I'll start with the badge as it leads to the cloak. The badge is the crest of the family this cloak belongs to. The Shihoin family. My Family." said Yoruichi with a smirk. At Jeanne's confused look Yoruichi elaborated. "My full name is Yoruichi Shihoin. And I'm the former head of the Shihoin clan. And this cloak is one of several one-of-a-kind relics that my family is in charge of safeguarding. Specifically, this cloak allows the user to fly and move quickly with a mere thought. Also, it's very durable against elemental attacks. The only real weakness it has is it can get cut up very easily from direct attacks from blades" she finished proudly. Jeanne looked stunned by this.

"I can't accept this. It's far too valuable." she said as she attempted to remove it, but Kisuke put a hand on hers which had rested on the badge, effectively stopping her.

"Ms. Jeanne you're going to need all the allies and tools you can get for this Great Holy Grail War. You mentioned that over 40 Servants are present and even with Ichigo, Rukia, and Yoruichi helping even then we can both agree that any little extra help is welcomed. So, while this item is valuable, we, Yoruichi and I, want you to use this." Kisuke reassured her.

"Besides this tool often is used in helping members of the Shihoin clan learn Flashstep so it's not like it's a museum piece that hasn't been used for hundreds of years." Yoruichi added. This seemed to convince Jeanne to leave the cloak on.

"Alright so how do I get this to work?" she asked.

"Since you'll be using it the first time in Romania you just need to give commands like 'fly' or 'move left' or 'land' etc. But eventually you will merely need to think the command and it will do as you ask as the cords securing the cloak to your neck have Kido spells woven into them that allow the cloak to link up to your mind which dispels once the cloak is removed." Yoruichi explained.

"Now return to your human attire and see what happens." ordered Kisuke. Jeanne did so and to her surprise the cloak disappeared with her Servant attire. Kisuke smirked at this. She looked at him for an explanation. "When you dismissed your armour, the cloak read that it went to spirit form and since the cloak is made of spirit particles as well it also was dismissed with it. Now summon your armour again." he ordered. Jeanne did so and the cloak reappeared with her armour much to her surprise. "Excellent." he said gleefully. Jeanne reverted to her civilian form once again and bowed to them.

"Thank you so much for all of this." She said gratefully. Kisuke waved them off.

"Don't mention it. After all, we get the opportunity to see these Servants up close so we should be thanking you." he said. He then turned to Ichigo. "Now for you Ichigo. I have this." he said holding up the black Haori. Ichigo put it on, and everyone immediately noticed the difference. Now Ichigo's Spiritual pressure has been reduced significantly.

"If it weren't for the fact that he's standing in front of us alive and unharmed, I'd have thought he was in the middle of a fight against a very strong opponent and was badly injured and might be in need of assistance against whoever he was fighting. As he would have been almost dead when his spiritual pressure got this low." said Chad in surprise. Everyone else nodded in agreement.

"That is what I was hoping for when I created this Haori. You see, Ms. Jeanne, Ichigo has very bad control over his spiritual pressure. Over the last few months, he has made progress in reeling it in especially when in his body, but if he becomes emotionally compromised his control slips. But from what you've implied, even with this control, he simply has too much power leaking out of him on a regular basis for areas not saturated in spirit energy like Karakura. Making it stupidly easy to track him and thus vulnerable to potential assassination attempts. So, while this haori wasn't made specifically for this conflict he's going into, it was created by me to help in assisting his in keeping his spiritual pressure in check." Kisuke explained.

"What happens if his spiritual pressure is allowed to leak out constantly?" asked Jeanne in curiosity.

"For most nothing but for those who might become constantly exposed to him, it does start to affect them. Most of the time it allows them to become spiritually aware and see spirits or in rare cases of constant exposure, even helps them develop spiritual powers like that of all his friends as that's what's happened to them." Kisuke explained. Again, everyone nodded, and Ichigo flushed in embarrassment.

"But if he has no spiritual presence at all that will make the masters even more suspicious." Jeanne pointed out.

"I'm aware which is why it's only concealing all but 20% of his spiritual pressure. Similar to the limiters placed on lieutenants and captain ranked soul reapers when they have to go to the world of the living. Those limiters can be removed at will but only if absolutely necessary. The only real difference between those limiters and this Haori is when the usual limiters are removed those soul reapers full power is usually only about 5x stronger than when they have the limiters on. By comparison with the Haori if removed, Ichigo's true power would be about 10x stronger than what his power would be with the Haori on. So, this Haori is concealing far more than the standard limiters would be able to do for Ichigo." Kisuke explained. With that Ichigo went over to Noba and switched positions and put his pill back in his plushie. Yoruichi got into the pet carrier while Kisuke grabbed his carry-on bag. "Okay now those who want, say your goodbyes." he said as he picked up the now closed pet carrier.

Handshakes, fist bumps, polite bows, hugs, and either confident or watery smiles were exchanged along with promises to kick ass and take names, to stay safe and to come home safe. Jeanne watched all this unfold. "Alright let's get going." said Kisuke.

"Wait. You said that the soul reapers are heading back to the soul society, correct?" asked Jeanne. Everyone looked at her curious "Can I watch them head back?" she asked. Suddenly everyone gained sad looks as they realized why she was asking that despite how innocently she asked it. For a heroic spirit like herself this was the closest she would be able to get a glimpse of the afterlife. An afterlife she would never be apart of.

"Sure." said Captain Hitsuguya sadly.

Renji stepped forward. Renji simply placed his Zanpakutō in front of himself and inserted it into the spacial area before turning the sword like a key while declaring "Now Open!" When it appeared in this fashion, the form of a traditional Japanese waiting room doors or Shōji. As the crease of the door appeared and fully opened, another door beyond it opened, releasing two black butterflies. Beyond that Jeanne saw a few buildings beyond all clean and white. But why do those buildings look like the ones I've seen here in Japan? She wondered.

"Good luck. We'll keep in touch." said Renji as the two headed inside. Everyone watched as the two pairs of shoji doors closed before fading from existence.

"Amazing." she said in awe. Then she heard the breaking of glass and watched as the dome collapsed and ducked only to realize nothing hit them as the barrier disappeared as well.

"Not funny, Hat n' clogs." said Ichigo irritably.

"Gotta keep you on your toes, Ichigo." Isshin stated loudly. He then walked up to Ichigo and hugged him to Ichigo's surprise. "Come home safe and sound, son." he said quietly. Ichigo looked at him in surprise but then gave a sad smile and hugged him back.

"Thanks . . .. Dad." he said quietly. He then headed over to Kisuke and Yoruichi. Isshin then hugged Rukia and Jeanne and wished them luck and to be safe. The girls joined them. As everyone departed their separate ways, they waved goodbye to each other. As they left the shop Jeanne then spoke up.

"Excuse me, Mr. Urahara." she said.

"Yes?" he asked, still looking ahead, but he had since pulled out his paper fan.

"You mentioned that you have a place near Trifas that we can use for our base. I want to know more about it." said Jeanne.

"Now that you mention it, I'm a little curious about this safe house we're going to be staying at." said Ichigo.

"As am I.," said Rukia. From there Kisuke talked about their house that he and Yoruichi bought nearly 20 yrs. ago. Yoruichi added that it was a 5-bedroom, 3-bathroom house with large kitchen, recently renovated with modern amenities as of 10 yrs. ago, move-in ready and finally had an underground training area like the one below the shop so they came keep their skills fresh during this mission. Jeanne smiled.

"Thank you so much for all this. Even though you've all known me for less than a full day, you all provided me with more items, allies, and even a base to work from. That's more than what I've received from the Grail itself." she said in gratitude.

"Actually, we should be thanking you for bringing this to our attention." said Rukia with an encouraging smile.

"And by doing so, you're placing your trust in us to help you protect the non-participants because you are aware of your limits and know that you can't do this by yourself." said Ichigo.

"And us providing you all this is our way of showing our appreciation for that trust." said Yoruichi in her pet carrier. "Oh, that reminds me. I forgot to tell you the pin numbers for the credit cards. You all might want to make a note of it in your phones. Rukia your pin number is 0114. Jeanne, your pin number is 1425. And Ichigo for you the pin number is 1515." she finished. Ichigo looked at her with a sour frown.

"Very funny." he said sarcastically.

"What it's literally your name. It'll be easy for you to remember. I thought you'd appreciate our thoughtfulness." said Kisuke with a sly grin. Yoruichi smirked and Rukia giggled. Ichigo just looked exasperated. Jeanne was the only one not in on this joke but realized she had one final thing to say as they were heading to the train station.

"I do have one last bit of information that needs to be heeded before we reached Trifas. See when being summoned to a Holy Grail War, a Servant's True Name is their most precious commodity. As the True Name can potentially reveal how they died in legends or what weaknesses they might have. So, unless they are incredibly arrogant, confident that they have no weaknesses that others can exploit, or they died in a way that can't be replicated, Servants will guard those names fiercely and only reveal them either as a sign of respect or as a sign of goodwill if to say form an alliance with others. In my case I would reveal my True Name as a show that I am a neutral party. But outside of that, I am to be referred to as Ruler for my name." she explained.

"So, from here on out we are to call you Ruler unless we're at the safe house, right?" Rukia asked for clarification. Jeanne nodded.

"Yes, and we are to refer to all Servants as their Class names and Faction colors like Saber of Red, Archer of Blue, Lancer of Black, etc.," said Jeanne.

"So, what color Factions exist?" asked Ichigo.

"Red, Black, Blue, White, Gold, And Silver." Jeanne answered.

"And what of our group?" asked Kisuke curiously. Jeanne paused in thought.

"Honestly, I don't know. Rukia could be mistaken as a Caster Class Servant and Ichigo as a Saber Class Servant. And since my faction is neutral maybe refer to them as Neutral Saber and Neutral Caster?" suggested Jeanne.

"I think that's perfect since they are supposed to be acting as your Servants. As for myself and Yoruichi we'll present ourselves as your associates rather than Servants and we'll have code names for ourselves." said Kisuke.

"What did you have in mind?" asked Jeanne curiously. Ichigo and Rukia looked equally curious.

"Well, I think for the duration of this mission I'll be referred to as Mad Hatter." Kisuke announced with a goofy grin.

"And I shall be known as Cheshire." said Yoruichi with a jovial smile. Ichigo gave an eyeroll.

"Really?!" he asked, "That's so cliché." he said now annoyed.

"True but I want to see if anyone else gets the reference. I'll be very impressed if they do." said Kisuke acting goofy.

"So, I'm to refer to you both by those names once we reach Romania?" asked Jeanne for clarification. The pair nodded. "Alright then." she said. By then the quintet had reached the Karakura Train station and they went to go purchase tickets as they started their journey to Romania.

===Romania – Millennia fortress – living room – evening

Lancer of Black (Vlad) sat in one of the plush chairs that was placed at one of the ends of an ornate coffee table. He sat there sipping his red wine from a crystal wine glass. Off to the side, his Master, Darnic, was holding a wine bottle at the ready as he stood by. "Humor me, Darnic. What do you think I was lacking during my lifetime?" he asked offhand.

"Well, one as young as I would never dare presume such things." said Darnic as he poured more wine into his Servant's glass.

"It was proper manpower. If I had the Servants we have summoned now as my generals, I wouldn't have lost my throne and have my name disgraced." said Vlad with a regretful tone.

"It will be different this time, my King." said Darnic trying to sound encouraging to his Servant. However, before he could say anymore, the door on one side of said living room opened. It revealed the figures of old man Acht with his Servant Merlin entering followed by Angelica Ainsworth and her Servant, Hundred Face Hassan. Or rather one of his bodies. And Fiore and her Servant Chiron pushing her wheelchair bringing up the rear. "What is it?" asked Darnic curiously.

"I have some interesting news that I felt needed to be brought to our leadership's attention." Said old man Acht. "The homunculi we placed at the airport along with angelica's assassins to see if we could spot any mages from the Association have picked up something very interesting. It seems that the Ruler class servant I mentioned before our summonings began, has finally arrived here in Romania. However, it seems she's also brought company." He then proceeded to describe all of ruler's companions to those who assembled. Once he finished Fiore was the one who spoke up first.

"Are the people who were with her possibly her Servants that she summoned for a faction" asked Fiore.

"It's very possible as the assassins and the homunculi all detected them as having high concentration of mana from what we would assume were their Spirit cores. Something that would only be found in Servants. However, homunculi reported that all of them exited from a plane that had just come out from Tokyo. It seems a little odd that she would summon her Servants all the way from there rather than summon them here where the grail wars are occurring at least then she would have some kind of advantage by having a Servant who could benefit from being famous in the country." explained old man Acht.

"Could it mean that Ruler is also a master and are the Servants hers to form her own faction?" asked Darnic looking a bit surprised.

"I already told you how we cheated to summon our own Ruler class Servant during the 3rd war. So, it is a possibility that our two attempts of cheating and the activation of the back-up system have resulted in the Ruler class Servant being able to summon her own faction of Servants and could be our competition." admitted old man Acht. Lancer of Black chuckled.

"That's warfare for you. You can plan a stratagem to engage with an enemy but plans rarely survive first contact with said opponent. So, one should be flexible enough to change and adapt to new information and be able to counterattack as quickly as possible. And not let the enemy dictate the flow of battle. I speak from hard learned experience when I was alive." said Lancer of Black.

"Experience is always the greatest teacher. I commend you on your sound advice." said Archer of Black (Chiron) with a small smile. Lancer of Black nodded to him.

"Then what should we do? Do we treat her like an enemy?" asked Angelica.

"Let's not be hasty. After all the Ruler of this war is a free agent and has two command spells for every Servant in the war. That makes her valuable either as an ally or for her command seals. For now, I think it would be best to see if we can convince her to join us and if she refuses at least, we can hopefully find out if she is indeed here to fulfill her role as mediator or if she's here as an enemy." said old man Acht. He then turned to Merlin, his Caster of Gold. "Where are they now?" he asked. Merlin closed his eyes and seemed to go into deep meditation for a few minutes then he opened them once again.

"They are trying to secure transportation as one of the individuals known as both Mad Hatter and Hat n' Clogs apparently owns property here in Romania." he reported.

"What?!" the Masters asked, shocked.

"Yes, apparently, he's not a Servant. He came here 20 yrs. ago and purchased property as a simple vacation home and now he's offered it to Ruler to use as a base of operations for her during the duration of the war." Merlin continued. He then described the one called Mad Hatter and it matched one of Ruler's companions. That led to a startling conclusion. Despite being mistaken for a Servant, he wasn't. Which begged the question of how powerful was he for that mistake to be made?

"Where is this property he purchased?" asked Darnic. How did someone potentially powerful slip under my nose?! He thought internally angry.

"About 20 miles outside Bucharest city limits." replied Merlin.

"That puts them 30 miles away from us here in Trifas." said Fiore. "Well outside our jurisdiction. That would explain why no one here even noticed. But why would Ruler bring in an outsider?" she wondered aloud.

"I think such questions will have to be put on hold for now. I believe that we'll need to send a Master and Servant to act as envoy to speak to Ruler and her group. Darnic, do you have any idea who should be sent?" asked old man Acht. This put Darnic in a thoughtful position before speaking.

"That will depend on what we want. If we genuinely want to send someone to act as a diplomat, then Fiore and Archer of Black would be the best choice. But if we want to send someone to act as a challenger, then Gordes and Saber of Black would be the best choice." Darnic replied.

"In that case let's send in the latter pair. They'll leave here as soon as possible and meet up with Ruler and her group. It'll give Gordes something to do as he's been eager to prove himself worthy of being a Master. After he and Saber have assessed their motives, they can try to persuade them to come with them but if they fail then they are to simply return to base. Saber of Black is too important to lose on a simple investigative mission. If Ruler proves hostile, however unlikely, then Saber should be strong enough to at least match them long enough to make a strategic withdrawal. Any objections or additions?" asked old man Acht. When nothing was offered Darnic spoke.

"Then I shall inform Gordes of his assignment and get the familiars set up so that we can monitor the situation without risking our more valuable resources." He said as he left to complete his assignment.

===Romania – Bucharest – hotel room – Red faction's current base – same time

Waver heard an incessant knocking on their hotel door. He quickly made his way to the door before their Archer got pissed enough to potentially cause bodily harm to whoever was on the other side of the door. Once he opened the door, he was surprised to find Shirou K. on the other side of said door. He quirked an eyebrow at him. "My apologies but I had to get to you as I have some information that needed to be discussed with our group. May I come in, please?" asked Shirou K. After a few minutes of deliberation Waver opened the door further to allow Shirou K. in. He then noticed that the young priest had a large manilla folder tucked under his arm. "Could you please gather up all the other Masters? I want to say this once. The Servants are allowed to join as well if they so choose." said Shirou K. Waver, looking rather grumpy, nonetheless went and did as asked while Shirou K. took a seat at the kitchen table and pulled things out of the manilla envelope.

20 min. later the other Masters of Red were tiredly coming out to the kitchen table. "There had better be a good reason why my beauty sleep was disturbed." said Reines somewhat grouchily. Shirou K. Gave a small smile.

"My deepest apologies, Lady Reines. But I have information from my fellow priests." He said as he pulled out several photos. They were Ruler, Ichigo, Rukia, and Kisuke carrying a pet carrier with Yoruichi in cat form.

"Who are they?" asked Gray curiously.

"This is the Ruler class Servant and possibly her Servants that she's summoned. But the oddest one is the one with the pet carrier." Said Shirou K.

"What information do we have on this group?" asked Kairi.

"Rulers are usually saints according to the church's information that was salvaged from the 3rd Holy Grail War. So, this Ruler, whom my sources have narrowed down their True Name, may be either St. Martha or Jeanne D'arc. But as for her companions, I have no idea who they could possibly be but from what we were able to see of the airport they disembarked from it seems they came from Tokyo Japan. So, at the very least we can assume that at least one of her companions are Japanese. However, I think the more interesting individual is the one with carrying what looks to be a pet carrier." Said Shirou K.

"Why do you say that?" asked Lancer of Red curiously. Shirou then pulled out another photo. This one showed kisuke but it was a black and white photo, and he was standing in front of what looked like to be a Japanese shop.

"This is a photo of the same individual that's carrying the pet carrier. But this was taken almost 30 years ago. Do you notice any difference between the two photos of this individual?" Asked Shirou K. Everyone scrutinized the figure in both photos Reines finally answered.

"I see no difference between the two whatsoever." She spoke.

"Exactly. Aside from the quality of the photos there is absolutely no change in his physical condition whatsoever. I also know that this shop is known as the Urahara Shop. which was established roughly around the same time as this photo was taken. We even have the land deeds and various other legal papers that show that this property and this shop belong to the person by the name of kisuke urahara. Who I'm almost certain this particular individual is. And considering that ruler just came from a plane whose stop was from Tokyo gives credence to my belief in who this is." Explained Shirou K.

"So, what does any of that matter?" asked Archer of Red frowning.

"According to my sources this shop was established in a place known as karakura Japan. Where this gets to be very strange is the fact that over the last 30 years there has been an unusual spike in what seems to be supernatural activities. Interestingly enough it was right around the time when this shop was actually established. Several of my fellow priests actually have churches that are just right on the borders of karakura. But as of about 25 years ago an invisible barrier that ran along the city limits appeared. But its purpose was unknown to everyone. My fellow priests around this same time started noticing a pattern concerning someone who's been confirmed to be a mage when they crossed what was effectively the city limits of that town. Then one of about three things would happen to that mage once they crossed. Either they would return but have their memories of the entire time in there be completely wiped and find themselves in an alleyway in Tokyo and feel compelled to avoid Karakura at all costs while in Japan before leaving, or a similar thing would happen except they'd be found stark naked, or their bodies would be found outside of a morgue most of the time looking like they'd either been mauled by a wild animal or cut to very small pieces. Now since this happened to mages and even then, most of them were Renegades anyways the church pretty much looked the other way as there seemed to be No civilians actually being harmed. However shortly about almost a year ago supernatural events began to start ramping up to the point that the barriers being put over the entire town had made it to keep out any and all supernatural Individuals, like priests and mages, that tried to approach the town from the outside. The barriers were quite complex to the point that none of the priests could actually break it. We even brought in outside mages to see if there was a way to somehow get through the barriers since it most likely was a mage who created those barriers but to their shock and surprise, they had no luck either. The only thing they were able to deduce was the barrier was so unique that only the person who created the barrier could actually undo it. Then roughly about three months ago the entire town went completely black." Shirou K. explained.

"What does that mean?" asked Saber of Red looking confused.

"It means, Saber of Red, that there was no communication going in or coming out. Also, there was nobody coming into the town or leaving the town. This went on for 48 hrs. Interestingly enough on both all hallows eve and All Souls' Day or October 31 and November 1, respectively. As soon as communication and travel were permissible again many of my fellow priests decided to investigate subtly in hopes of being able to uncover what was going on. When we interviewed almost all of the adults that were willing to talk to us, they all told us the same thing, something mundane must have happened like a gas leak or some sort of episode due to their personal health such as epilepsy. Nothing out of the ordinary. However, when we tried to interview any children that were willing to talk about what was going on we got something very different. Essentially every child under the age of about 14 all said the same thing, that they were able to see monsters with black bodies and white masks. And they saw people wearing black robes and carrying swords. But beyond those basic parameters any further details of either these monsters or these robed swordsmen became very unique and depending on which child you were asking would be completely different from another's testimony." Said Shirou K.

"Well how many children were you guys able to talk to and adults for that matter?" asked waver.

"Of the half million inhabitants of karakura town? Roughly about 5000 individuals both adults and children. And these were the ones that were willing to talk to us." Answered Shirou K.

"And of those 5000 how many were children?" asked Kairi.

"About 2000 children. This is why I'm not so quick to dismiss the testimonies of children. Even if most of the descriptions vary from child to child the fact that there is at least some measure of consistency between the things they saw is enough to tell me that something else was going on and most likely somebody was covering it up but why let the children be allowed to keep their memories is my question." Said Shirou K.

"Considering that the children who gave these testimonies are under the age of 14, perhaps the person who was tampering with people's memories felt that their age was enough that most adults wouldn't listen to them or take them seriously. Or mistake them for children's imaginations running wild." Said rider being one of the first servants to voice their opinion. "But what does that have to do with this kisuke urahara That you mentioned earlier?" He asked.

"Several of my fellow priests actually purchased several crucifixes that he was selling about 2 yrs ago. And upon inspection found that they were packed with all kinds of protections and spiritual defenses that made them qualify for mystic codes, but these were designed specifically for spirits. They've become very popular with our exorcists due to their potency and how well they work. In fact, these items have worked so well that it's had several upper-level leaders even considering commissioning Mr. Urahara to make more of these specifically for the Church. But upon investigation we found that he had no records aside from the documents I provided here and records of him having two Swiss bank accounts, which was an ordeal and a half just to find out that much but that's it. No birth records, no documents from the Church or the Association of his existence and interestingly enough any files on financial payments like taxes and what not are paid for under the family name of Shihoin not Urahara." explained Shirou K. looking visibly frustrated.

"And what of these Shihoins?" asked Reines curiously now looking very intrigued.

"Even less information than Urahara. All we have for them is records of this family owning properties around the world that date back hundreds of years, records showing that they are still paying for the property taxes to this day for all of them showing that they are being maintained, so they are incredibly wealthy, and they have 4 Swiss bank accounts but that's it. So, I couldn't begin to speculate what the connection is to Urahara. But one thing I was able to discover is that there's a homestead here in Romania under the Shihoin name that I think they are heading for. It's about a 20 mi outside of Bucharest and 30 miles from Trifas. It's the perfect neutral territory for Ruler and her comrades to set up base. Here's the last known address of that homestead. Granted it's about 20 yrs old but it should still be accurate." said Shirou K. as he showed them the paper with the address on it.

"How long ago were these photos taken?" asked Kairi as he held up the photos of Ruler and her companions.

"Roughly about two hrs. ago. If they haven't already left the city, they're probably in the process of doing so now as they need to get transportation to get them to their destination." answered Shirou K. Archer of Red then moved towards the door. This catches the attention of the group.

"My King. Where are you going?" asked Reines in curiosity. Archer paused but didn't turn around.

"I refuse to let this Faker continue taking the name Ruler without my permission. Especially when there is only one true king of this world and that is myself. So, I shall intercept them and remind this Faker of their place." he said arrogantly.

"And what if Yggdimillenia's Black Faction intervenes? What will you do then?" asked Reines curiously. Archer of Red looked at her in confusion.

"Do you doubt your King's ability to fight?" he asked. Reines immediately bowed her head.

"Of course not, my King." she said simply.

"Then you should know that should these Black Faction members interfere then I will happily take them on. Who knows they might prove to be worthy opponents in this War." he said with an eager grin. With that he disappeared into spirit form. Waver sighed in exasperation.

"Come on, Rider. Let's get your chariot ready and head out with him." he said tiredly. Rider grinned.

"Excellent. Maybe I can extend my invitation to this lot." said Rider happily.

"Gray I want you, Kairi, and Lancer and Saber to stay here and guard our base and look after Reines. We'll let you know what happened when we return." said Waver. With that he left with the two Servants. Unbeknownst to anyone in the Red Faction, the fireplace which had been burning at a steady pace, briefly showed a face before disappearing once again.

===Romania – outskirts of Trifas – Emiya's base of operation – same time

The Caster of Silver (queen of Sheba) stepped back from the fireplace of their base. "I have to say this is a brilliant way to spy on the other factions. Using the smoke and flames from various fireplaces to observe and listen in on conversations and as long as we are careful to not be seen, they can't detect our presence." said Kiritsugu impressed. Caster of Silver quickly turned around sporting a happy smile.

"Thank you, Master of Saber. As a being who is half djinn, I have an intimate connection with both fire and smoke." she stated happily. Kiritsugu gave a small smile before he turned to the other occupants in the room which included Rider of Silver (Ozymandias) and his wife.

"Iri what do you know of this Ruler class that the Red Faction was talking about?" he asked his face becoming serious. Iri nodded and relayed all the information she could gleam from her connection with the Greater Grail about Ruler. Once finished Kiritsugu mulled over this information.

"Kiritsugu. There's something else I need to tell you. Upon entering the country of Romania my connection with the Grail has gotten stronger." Iri informed him. Kiritsugu looked at her in surprise.

"Is it something that we need to be worried about?" he asked concerned. Iri shook her head.

"No nothing like that but I did make quite a shocking discovery. It seems that far more Servants have been summoned than even we realized. It's not just 22 Servants counting Ruler that have been summoned but closer to 42 counting Ruler have been summoned." she revealed. While Caster and Kiritsugu looked at her in shock, Rider seemed absolutely delighted by this new information as he sported a challenging grin.

"Most excellent. All the more chances of meeting worthy foes to fight in this war." he said happily. Kiritsugu quickly composed himself and focused on Iri.

"Iri, can you use your strengthened connection to the Greater Grail to find out the names of the other Factions Servants?" he asked. Iri shook her head.

"I tried but the Greater Grail is shutting me out. So aside from some bare bone basic information, we can't rely on my connection even if it's strengthened here. Sorry." said Iri as she looked down in disappointment and sorrow. Kiritsugu quickly came to her side and gave her a loving embrace.

"It's alright. I didn't think that we could get much information using that method anyway. It just means we're going to have to gather intel the old-fashioned way." he reassured her. "Incidentally what other information were you able to gleam?" asked Kiritsugu.

"Not counting Ruler and her group, there are about six factions in total." said Iri. She quickly rattled off all the colors for the different factions.

"Strange." said Kiritsugu thinking out loud.

"What is it that has left you puzzled, Master of Saber?" asked Rider of Silver looking intrigued.

"The numbers don't add up. If what we heard is correct, then Ruler has at least three companions including this Kisuke Urahara who has since shown to not be a Servant. Along with 7 Servants for 6 factions the number of Servants should be 45 not Iri's account of 42." Kiritsugu reasoned.

"Perhaps not all the Servants were summoned yet. We're only short three so perhaps the Masters wanted to wait til they were in Romania to summon their Servants." Caster of Silver suggested.

"That would be a good guess except the only Servant who hasn't been summoned yet for 5 of the 6 factions is Saber of White though why, I don't know." explained Iri.

"What of the last faction? What information was your connection able to gleam, Lady Iri?" asked Rider of Silver.

"Only that there are three Sabers, three Casters, and an Extra Class Servant that make up that faction. That being the gold Faction. But that's all I'm able to gleam from it. No True Names, no Master's names, just that basic information. I'll probably be able to tell you which Servants are eliminated but that would be it. I'm being blocked out otherwise. Though whether this is because of the Einzberns tampering with the Grail or the Grail itself choosing to block me out I don't know." said Iri deep in thought at this. Kiritsugu smiled at this.

"I think we've gained some very valuable information from all this at least on a preliminary basis. We know there are 6 factions and their colors. We know that we are the Silver Faction, Yggdmillenia is Black, the Association is Red and the Einzberns are gold as they are the only ones with enough knowledge to tamper with the system to summon abnormal spirits or at least a faction that they find suitable to themselves." reasoned Kiritsugu.

"So, the only factions that we are uncertain about are the Blue and White factions." Rider of Silver noted.

"And of those, I'm certain that the Tohsaka's and Matous are involved somehow." finished Kiritsugu. "Though whether as a single faction or both of those factions I don't know. For now, I don't see any harm in assuming this until we can get more information."

"But what makes you so certain that the Tohsakas and Matous are even participating in the War in the first place, Master of Saber?" asked Caster of Silver.

"The Einzberns have already joined and thrown in their lot with the Black Faction if the setup of the Gold Faction's Servants is anything to go by. By contrast the Association essentially snubbed the other two Founding families of the Grail War. Mage pride would never allow such a slight to stand. I have no doubt that after hearing about the forming of the Red Faction with mercenaries and the fact that the Fuyuki Grail has resurfaced, I can picture the other two families making their way to Romania even forming one or two factions just to get their hands on the Grail and find a way to take it back to Fuyuki, somehow." Then Kiritsugu frowned. "Iri what about Ruler's Servants? Can you tell us their Class Names?" he asked. Iri closed her eyes and concentrated for a few min only to open her eyes in surprise.

"I don't understand." she said with concern. Looking at the curious looks of the other occupants, she elaborated. "The number is still 42 Servants but when I went to see which Servants were in Ruler's group, I found nothing. Like she doesn't have any Servants with her."

"Then who are her companions, Master?" asked Caster of Silver. Iri shrugged.

"I don't know. I just know that there are no Servants that she has summoned." she said. Rider of Silver looked intrigued.

"Well then, it seems that we too will have to send some Servants out to look into Ruler and her companions. I for one am curious to see how well they do against a Servant since they aren't Servants themselves." Rider said with an intrigued smile.

"Will you be one of the Servants from our faction to test them, Pharoah?" asked Kiritsugu. Rider chuckled slightly.

"While I do want to test this Archer of Red who calls himself the 'one true king' and see if my title 'king of kings' holds up, I think it would be prudent in this case to keep this excursion as strictly reconnaissance. Therefore, I think it would be best to send those best suited for such a task." he said.

"So, Archer and Assassin." said Kiritsugu.

"But Jackie is just a child. I would feel horrible sending her out to face other Servants. Especially when Assassins are the weakest class." Iri protested.

"Actually, Lady Mage, I was thinking of sending Archer and Lancer. That way if they run into any trouble, Lancer can hopefully hold off an attack long enough for the both of them to make a strategic withdrawal." suggested Rider. This left Iri relieved and Kiritsugu smiling.

"That works. We'll just have them keep to the shadows and observe, gathering as much information as possible. Then have them return once they feel there's nothing left for them to observe. Then I'll go tell them of the plan and send them on their way. Where are they by the way?" Kiritsugu asked curiously.

"I think they are with Saber right now in the kitchen along with the children as he and Shirou are in charge of making dinner right now." said Iri with a sweet smile.

"Alright why don't we send our chosen Servants on their way, and we'll all grab a quick bite to eat?" Kiritsugu suggested. Rider got to his feet with an eager smile.

"I believe that's a most excellent suggestion, advisor. Your son's culinary skills are impressive for one of his age. Perhaps when he is older, I shall employ him as my personal chef." he said giving a hearty laugh as they exited the room with Rider leading.

===Romania – forests outside of Trifas – Tohsaka's base of operations – same time

Tokiomi sat in a plush chair as he listened as Kirei gave his report, verbatim, about what Shirou K. told his Faction about the Ruler Class and the speculations. "I see. So that is the situation. A Servant of the Grail itself acting as a mediator. Assassin and your contacts at the Church have done well." said Tokiomi. He looked at Kirei then. "I have to ask Kirei, despite being a descendant of one of the three founding families of the Grail War, this is the first time that I have ever heard of this Ruler Class Servant. How did you come by such knowledge or the Church for that matter?" he asked, eyeing Kirei whose neutral expression remained.

"That is because my father met the Ruler Class Servant 70 yrs ago during the 3rd Holy Grail War. So, I have his account to go on. And he in turn shared this knowledge with the Church save for a few details." he replied. At Tokiomi's surprised expression Kirei continued. "During the 3rd war this Servant would often visit the Church and converse with my father mostly about comparing the different interpretations of scripture. According to my father, this Ruler Servant while not a particularly skilled fighter or magic user, he was quite a capable individual. He actually almost won the War and due to his master being the Lesser Grail even made a contract with the Grail itself. But then Darnic stole it and robbed him of his chance to grant his wish, whatever that might have been. From there he met up with my father again and told him that he was now incarnate, in other words he was now, for all intents and purposes, a flesh and blood human and wanted to simply live out his existence so my father got him set up with a new life and identity and from there he's been living to the modern era ever since. Naturally, this bit of information was only told to me on his deathbed. As the rest of the Church all thought that the Ruler Class Servant perished at the end of the War." he explained.

"He's still alive to this day?" asked Tokiomi shocked.

"He was only 17 at the start of his new life so he would be about 87 yrs old now." Kirei calculated. Tokiomi grew thoughtful.

"Hmph. When this war is over, and we both survive, you should introduce me to him. I don't think very many people can claim that they've met an incarnated Servant." he said. Kirei looked off to the side in thought.

"I'm afraid that you'll be very disappointed, Master. You see I haven't seen this individual since my father's funeral 2 ½ yrs ago. 20 yrs earlier he headed out to the Middle East for some reason and stayed there only coming back briefly for the funeral before heading back there. So truthfully, I have no idea where he is now." said Kirei. Tokiomi looked a little disappointed but pressed forward.

"Well, it was a mere curiosity, but it will have to wait for another time. Now back to the matter at hand. According to your sources, Ruler and her Servants have arrived in Romania and now are on their way to Trifas." said Tokiomi.

"So, what do you want to do?" asked Kirei. After a moment of thought Tokiomi looked directly at Kirei.

"I want you to bring in Ayaka and Kariya and have them bring in their Servants as I have a very important task for their Servants." ordered Tokiomi.

"They are going to be sent to spy on Ruler. Wouldn't Assassin be the better choice?" asked Kirei looking somewhat curious.

"Normally you'd be correct, but I have a different task for her." he said with a cryptic smile.

===Romania – Trifas – millennium fortress – basement – same time

There were well over one hundred tanks of liquid and in each liquid, tank was a figure. These figures were male and female and save for undergarments were essentially naked. All of them appeared to be asleep as they floated in the tanks. Their silver-to-silver brown hair waving in the liquid. Yet Roche and his Servant Caster of Black strolled through undeterred as they glanced at each of the tanks.

"Teacher, have you decided which homunculus you want for your next ritual?" asked Roche curiously. Caster stopped in front of a tank with a particularly small homunculus. Her gaze lingered on him for a few minutes before moving on.

===Romania – unknown location – inside of cave – Manaka's living quarters – same time

Manaka was sitting in her lounge chair eating her heavy meat meal as she watched her scrying mirror. Rider (Perseus), with his mask still on, was with her acting as her guard. It was then that Lancer (Karna) and Berserker (Lancelot) materialized with the former approaching her.

"You kept me waiting." she said simply.

"I was following your prior instructions of keeping an eye on Berserker. Has something piqued your interest?" asked Lancer of White. Manaka gave an angelic little smile.

"Yes. My scrying mirror showed that the Ruler Servant of this War and her companions are heading towards Trifas. However, I can't feel a connection from them to the Grail meaning that these companions of hers aren't Servants. Which begs the question of why Ruler would bring in outsiders to the Grail War. I want you and Berserker to go and intercept them. And then test them to see how powerful they are, Lancer of White." she said her smile turning devious. Lancer remained impassive.

"As you wish, Master." he said simply.

===Romania – on the road heading to Trifas – minutes later

Jeanne, Kisuke (gigai), Yoruichi (in cat form in pet carrier), Ichigo (in his body), and Rukia (gigai), all sat in the back of a used slightly rusted green pick-up truck as it drove down the road. Due to the wind whipping past them, it made talking difficult, so everyone opted to try and sleep however uncomfortable it may have been. Jeanne was the sole exception as she had a lot on her mind. She stared up at the sky not really focusing on anything. Suddenly she saw something in her mind's eye.

(A figure sitting on a highway road sign and the truck they were all riding in moving past. A shot of flame fired at them causing the truck to become overturned, possibly injuring or killing the driver.)

Jeanne gasped and immediately shook her companions awake.

"Wha- What?" asked Ichigo as he looked around blearily. Rukia was also doing so. Urahara either was just a light sleeper or hadn't been asleep at all as he was already on alert.

"I need you and Rukia to get into your 'uniforms'." she said loud enough for them to hear her. Rukia and Ichigo looked at her in surprise but did nod seriously. Uniform had been agreed upon codeword to use for Ichigo and Rukia to get into their soul reaper forms. Once they did so, switching places with Noba and Ririn in their body and gigai respectively, Urahara snapped his fingers, and a box barrier enveloped them. This allowed them to talk without wind interference and kept others from hearing their conversation.

"Alright. Here's the plan. Noba and Ririn you two are to continue riding to the safe house with Yoruichi as she can disable the barriers there to allow you both access. Ichigo, once the barrier here is disabled, climb to the front of the truck, and see if the driver is spiritually aware. If he is, we'll have you both jump out and hide until the truck is out of sight. If he isn't just get out with us when he stops. I take it you had one of those 'revelations' of yours, Ruler?" asked Urahara.

"Yes. We need to get out of this vehicle before we pass a highway road sign, otherwise someone will attack this truck bringing harm to the driver." explained Jeanne. Everyone nodded and with that the barrier vanished. Ichigo got to the front via the roof of the truck and waved his hand in front of the front windshield. The driver didn't react at all. Ichigo looked back at the others and gave them the thumbs up. With that Jeanne leaned onto the side of the vehicle so the driver would see her.

"Please stop by the side of the road and let my uncle and I off. My other two companions will continue without us. Please take them to the address we gave you earlier." she said calmly, her eyes glowing briefly. The driver glanced at her briefly before looking to the road ahead again.

"I can't in good conscience leave you and your uncle here, young lady." he said though he did pull over.

"Please it's very urgent you do so. Something very important got blown away by the wind and my uncle and I want to retrieve it. We'll walk from here to the vacation house." she said her eyes glowing briefly once again. Now the truck came to a complete stop.

"Well, if you're both sure about this. . .." said the driver, uncertain. By now Jeanne and Urahara along with Ichigo and Rukia, in their Reaper forms, had all gotten out. Urahara walked up to the driver.

"We're sure. Besides, I know this area pretty well and will be able to guide my niece to the house once we retrieve what we lost back there. Meanwhile her friends will stay with you until they get to their destination." he then pulled out a few colorful bills which Jeanne recognized as money, more specifically Romanian Leu. "Here a little something for your troubles and as thanks for the ride." he said, handing him the cash. The driver took the money and looked a little reluctant to leave. "We appreciate the concern, sir. But I assure you we'll be fine." said Urahara gently. Jeanne gave a small smile.

"Yes, please don't worry about us. Have a good night." she reassured him.

"Well alright. If I don't see either of you again, I wish you safe travels and hope you find what you're looking for. Good night." With that the driver pulled away with the other three passengers still in the back. Urahara and Jeanne waved goodbye until the truck was out of sight.

"So, what now?" asked Ichigo as he and Rukia approached the two blondes.

"Saber, can you not sense them?" asked Rukia calling him by his code name. Ichigo concentrated for a few minutes before he opened his eyes wide.

"Yeah. I can, Caster. Oi why don't you come out and show yourselves instead of staying to the shadows like cowards." He shouted out to the darkness. For a few minutes nothing happened. Then two figures materialized in front of the quartet.

"I must say you're quite bold." said the figure wearing a red feathered cloak and gold armor. Beside him was a figure in black mists. He then looked at Jeanne. "I take it that you are Servant Ruler. And that these three are your companions." he said looking at the three Reapers.

"And you two are Lancer and Berserker of White." said Jeanne. But I can only discern Lancer's True Name. Berserker of White must have a noble phantasm that is shielding his True Name from me.

"AAAAAARRRRRTHUUUUURRR!" screamed Berserker of White suddenly as he charged at Jeanne. Ichigo quickly drew Zangetsu from his back and intercepted Berserker. When Berserker grabbed Ichigo's zanpakuto, it started to have dark tendrils spread from his hands onto the blade. But then the blade and Ichigo flared their spiritual pressure causing the tendrils to recede altogether. Then fired a point blank unspoken Getsuga Tensho at Berserker. This caused him to be thrown back a few dozen feet. Lancer of White, who had been along with Jeanne and the others, watched silently and raised an eyebrow at that turn of events. Ichigo scowled deeply before shifting his attention to Lancer of White. Lancer pointed his golden rod he'd been holding with the sun ornament atop at Ichigo. But before either moved. Rukia's voice was heard.

"Carriage of thunder, bridge of a spinning wheel. With light, divide this into six. Bakudō #61. Rikujōkōrō." chanted Rukia. Pointing her index finger at Lancer, she generated a spark of yellow energy, which summoned six thin, wide beams of light that slammed into Lancer's midsection and held him in place. Lancer's eyes widened as he found himself unable to move any part of his body, including the parts which were not struck by the beams. Urahara joined in with a Kido of his own.

"Bakudō #63. Sajō Sabaku." he chanted. Raising his palm up to the target, Urahara closed his hand into a fist and called forth yellow energy, taking the form of a very thick rope, which bound the upper body of Lancer.

"Will these hold him?" asked Jeanne.

"Normally physical strength alone should not be enough to break out of this. Combined with Rikujokoro he should be secured as both are high mid-level Kidos. But these are binding Servants not Hollows and who knows what kind of shenanigans they have at their disposal." said Urahara. Still Ichigo smirked but then Berserker of White returned and charged again making a beeline for Jeanne. Ichigo glanced over to Lancer.

"Stay put until I get done taking care of your friend." he said as he re-engaged with Berserker of White.

"A sense of humor. Cute." said Lancer, almost bored. By now Jeanne had already transformed into her Servant attire along with the cloak and materialized her flag. Ichigo had decided on a different approach and sheathed his blade and engaged Berserker of White with his fists. This seemed to catch Berserker off guard as he slowed slightly but nevertheless, he continued his charge. Ichigo's fists became coated with blue spirit energy as he landed a punch on Berserker.

Meanwhile Jeanne placed a hand on Rukia's shoulder. "If it looks like Saber needs back up feel free to intervene. Mad Hatter and I will talk with Lancer, alright Caster?" asked Jeanne using the agreed upon code names. She and Rukia exchanged looks.

"Understood, Ruler." replied Rukia resuming her vigil. Jeanne then approached the still bound Lancer where Urahara was with his fan still out.

"Lancer of White. For the sake of courtesy, I will give my True Name. I am the arbitrator of this Great Holy Grail War. Jeanne D'Arc. As such I'm impartial so why did you and Berserker attack me and my companions? Berserker I'm willing to overlook as I'm sure his madness enhancement played a role in this, but you did nothing to stop him. That tells me that your arrival here with us was either a deliberate attack on your part or you felt that we would be hostile to you for some reason. So, which is it?" Jeanne asked.

"Before I answer that I want to know how your spell was able to bypass armour and magic resistance combined I'm effectively untouchable to modern magi." asked Lancer of White.

"That's because Kido is a spiritual based attack. Magecraft is meant to affect the physical world and while Kido can also affect it, its primary function is to affect the spirit. Everyone has a soul or in your case a spirit core. So, by targeting that and bypassing your body Kido essentially works around your armor as it's a spiritual restraint or attack rather than a physical one like magic or magecraft. The only thing I'm unsure of is what level spell correlates to the level of magic resistance. Ms. Jeanne with her EX-level made it a bit hard to judge." groused Kisuke.

"I already explained how my magic resistance works, Mad Hatter. But for now, I still want answers from you, Lancer of White. I want to know why you and Berserker came here?" she asked.

"My Master simply ordered the two of us to come here and test your group after they learned something very interesting about your companions. As a Servant and per our contract I simply act as instructed." said Lancer simply. Urahara's expression turned serious, and Jeanne gasped in surprise. "So, you know what I speak of. Good. Since you've thus far not revealed my True Name in public, I will grant you the same courtesy and keep this information to myself." he finished.

"Then do you understand the meaning of baring your fangs at me?" asked Jeanne.

"It's unwise of you to ask questions that you already know the answer to. My presence is a clear declaration of war." Lancer said simply. Suddenly his whole body became engulfed in flames. Urahara grabbed Jeanne and flashstepped away from the immediate area. Rukia and Ichigo were distracted by the display long enough for Berserker of White to tackle Ichigo to the ground. Ichigo did in fact keep him a small distance from any vital points. Rukia then came in and shouting "Hado #33: sokatsui!" Fired a blue Kido ball of energy at Berserker of white physically knocking him off and away from Ichigo causing him to roll a few feet away but he immediately regained his bearings and was on his feet an instant later. Ichigo also got to his feet and was ready for the next round. Meanwhile Jeanne and Urahara saw the fireball die down and saw Lancer of White now free of his restraints and seemed completely unharmed and untarnished.

"Huh so he did find a way to nullify it. That's troublesome." said Urahara sounding disappointed.

"Actually that's because of a skill he had." said Jeanne getting into a defensive stance. Urahara followed suit.

"Let us proceed." said Lancer of White, his golden lance burning brightly in flames. "Considering your special privileges, Ruler, I have no need to hold back." He then pointed his flame covered lance at Urahara and Jeanne. "One attack as a tribute. Considering your current company, that should be more than enough to finish this encounter." he said definitively.

"I'd appreciate it if you didn't underestimate myself or the other two people here." said Urahara his hand on the shaft of the cane while the other on the curled top of the cane. Lancer then charged at them at blinding speed. "Jeanne, the cloak!" Urahara shouted as he flashstepped out of the way.

"FLY!" she screamed, and she then found herself pulled into the air just barely getting out of Lancer's way.

Ichigo was once again engaged with Berserker and Rukia firing off low level Kidos at Berserker to help support. "Caster, go help Ruler and Hat'n Clogs. I got this." he said, keeping his gaze fixed on Berserker who was now sporting a few dents in his armor.

"Are you sure Saber? I can provide you with back-up." suggested Rukia.

"Call it a gut reaction. But I got a bad feeling concerning that, Lancer. He reminds me of your brother back when I first met him, when he almost killed me that night. I think those two will need all the help they can get. I'll keep this guy occupied in the meantime. Okay?" he asked. Rukia looked between the two Servants then back at Ichigo.

"Alright. Good luck. He's all yours." she said, and she turned and flashstepped towards Jeanne and Urahara's location.

"AAARRRRRRRRRTHUUURRRRRR!" screamed Berserker.

"If this is all you got then I can do this all night." said Ichigo as his fists glowed with blue spirit energy and his whole presence glowed blue and black as he took another defensive martial arts stance.

If Lancer of White was surprised by Jeanne's escape from his attack, he gave no outward expression. He looked up to see her flying in the sky with the cloak billowing in the air. He quirked an eyebrow in curiosity at the sight.

"Quite the impressive noble phantasm. Except I don't recall your legend ever mentioning you owning such a cloak which means that this cloak isn't a noble phantasm but a powerful mystic code. I suppose that makes that cloak all the more impressive." he said with a small smile on his face. He then leapt up into the air and small flames shot out under his feet giving him the thrust he needed to fly himself. He then came at her again.

"LEFT!" she yelled and found herself going left. This continued for a few minutes until Lancer found himself defending against two blue fireball attacks. They attacked him from different angles, but he was able to fend them off with only minimal effort. He only realized too late however that this attack was meant as a distraction as he heard chanting again.

"Limit of the thousand hands, respectful hands, unable to touch the darkness. Shooting hands unable to reflect the blue sky. The road that basks in light, the wind that ignited the embers, time that gathers when both are together, there is no need to be hesitant, obey my orders. Light bullets, eight bodies, nine items, book of heaven, diseased treasure, great wheel, grey fortress tower. Aim far away, scatter brightly and cleanly when fired. Hadō #91. Senju Kōten Taihō." said Urahara who was now standing on a reishi platform to be on the same level as Lancer of White and Ruler. By this point, Urahara had Generated ten pink energy points around himself and then fired them all at Karna, who seemed shocked by how fast those energy points were moving to where he couldn't dodge or deflect, resulting in an exceedingly devastating explosion that lit up the night sky to anyone spiritually aware and churned up a severe gust of wind. Lancer of White fell out of the sky but managed to right himself and land on his feet. He also was bleeding from the mouth and looked pretty battered, but his armor was still intact and still looked untarnished and he seemed still willing to carry on fighting. He even gave a small smile.

"Truly impressive. This Kido of yours actually did manage to damage me despite my armor. Had I not coated myself in flames before that last attack connected, I have no doubt that the damage I sustained would've been far worse. You have my sincerest respect." he declared with pride as he looked up at Kisuke who silently watched him. "It seems that it would be rude to not fight you as an equal. Allow me to remedy that." Lancer of White once again activated his flames covering his golden lance in them and pointed it this time at Kisuke. "Before we continue, I have one question to ask. What is your name? In exchange I will tell you mine." said Lancer of White.

"Is your Master ordering you to ask this?" asked Kisuke.

"My Master has nothing to do with this. This is for my own satisfaction. Nothing more." replied Lancer of White. Kisuke simply shrugged.

"Alright my name is-" started Kisuke only to be interrupted.

"Saber! Get him!" shouted another voice. Ichigo upon hearing an unknown voice shout this, immediately poured an absurd amount of power into his foot and landed a kick to Berserker of White's solar plexus and sent him flying back this time roughly a ¼ of a mile away from their location before grabbing the handle of his zanpakuto and flash-stepping to Ruler, Rukia, and Kisuke's location. All of whom watched as yet another Servant had arrived on the scene.

This one was Saber of Black followed closely behind his Master. He jumped trying to land a hit on Lancer of White from behind which Lancer easily met and threw Saber of Black behind himself and spun around to meet him head on. This is well as Saber of Black easily recovered from this and landed on his feet. Then bringing his Great sword in an upward one-handed slash sent a wave of blue flames at Lancer who merely brought his flaming lance up to stop the wave. Which it did but only canceled out the two forces extinguishing both sets of flames in the process. The shockwave caused by those forces meeting caused a nearby road sign to topple over as said shockwave had cut the metal pole the sign was on clean through.

"Land." said Ruler more calmly as she descended to the ground safely followed by Ichigo, Rukia, and Kisuke. She looked at the newly arrived Servant, her True Name Discernment identifying who he was instantly. I see. So, this is the Saber of the Yggdmillenia clan.

"I take it you are Saber of Black?" asked Lancer of White. Said Saber only nodded in response. "Well then, that could only mean that your objective is also Ruler and her companions." Lancer commented. On this note Saber of Black quirked an eyebrow.

"Hey! Could you not talk about us like we're not even here?!" shouted Ichigo indignantly.

"That was a close one Ruler." said the rotund man in a white military suit as he panted heavily running up to Jeanne's side. "I have come here to welcome you." he said, breathing heavily. Jeanne turned to face him.

"I take it you are Saber of Black's Master." said Jeanne. The man then straightened himself up and his posture became more prideful.

"Yes, that is correct. I am Gordes Musik Yggdmillenia. The Master of Saber of Black. It's a pleasure to meet you and your Servant." he said his tone dripping with pride and gave a smile meant to be pleasant but came off as cocky. His gaze shifted to Lancer of White, and he had a look of anger about him. He pointed an accusatory finger at Lancer of White. "Now then Lancer of Red, we arrived here just in time to clearly witness your attempt to murder Ruler and her Servant. Plotting to eliminate the arbitrator of the Holy Grail War is in direct violation of the rules!" accused the now named Gordes.

"I thought that aside from getting rid of witnesses, keeping civilians out of the War, and keeping Magecraft a secret, there were technically no rules to this War. So, what he did technically wasn't violating any rules." said Rukia clearly confused.

"You are correct in your analysis, Caster companion of Ruler. I will not deny what I did and while getting rid of the arbiter is certainly frowned on, no actual rules were violated. Especially since as Servants, the only rules we follow is our Master's orders." said Lancer of White as he looked at Rukia. Saber of Black shifted his gaze over to the three Reapers off to his left side, but he now had a confused expression on his face.

"What are you blabbering about?" asked Gordes, getting angry about being seemingly ignored. Lancer then shifted his gaze back to Saber, his Master, and Ruler standing before him.

"But now that the Black Faction is here, I must resume with you two." said Lancer. Saber met his gaze steadily still not saying a thing.

"Silence! Prepare to accept your sentence. Which will be swiftly delivered by Saber, Ruler, and her Servant." said Gordes in a commanding and arrogant tone.

"Why is he acting like Ruler only has one Servant? We're standing right here." said Ichigo clearly getting a little offended at being ignored. Ruler looked at Gordes neutrally.

"I'm afraid you misunderstand, Master of Black. I have no reservations about you fighting here if you wish. Rest assured, a battle between Servants is not something I or my bodyguards would interfere with." she explained calmly.

"What?" asked Gordes shocked and flummoxed.

"This Lancer and the Berserker that accompanied him making reckless threats against my life, and a sudden battle between he and Saber of Black are two entirely different matters." Jeanne then turned to face Lancer. "As Ruler it is my duty to uphold the rules of the battle before myself and my bodyguards." she finished calmly. Lancer of White immediately aimed his golden lance at Saber of black as he was mentally sizing him up.

"Huh. So, you were intending to fight me 5 to 2. But it makes no difference." he said dismissively. By now Berserker of White had also made a reappearance. Ichigo sighed in exasperation.

"This idiot doesn't know when to take a hint." He then turned to Jeanne. "Hey Ruler, I'm gonna keep Berserker busy, alright." he shouted to her. Jeanne merely nodded.

"Yes. Go ahead. That would be appreciated." she said. She then turned to Gordes. "My Servant will handle Berserker of White." For his part Gordes seemed to be hyper focused on Lancer and looked absolutely livid.

"Very well, Ruler. SABER KILL HIM! I want you to slaughter that Lancer of Red while Ruler's Servant deals with the Berserker of Red!" He ordered. Saber merely nodded and got into a battle stance.

"AAAARRRRRRRTHURRRRRR!" screamed Berserker of White. But no sooner had he finished did Ichigo punched him hard in the helmet, sending him stumbling back a few feet. Ichigo grimaced after the act and cradled his hand while flexing it to see it still worked but hurt like hell.

"Definitely gonna need Hat' n Clogs to look at this later. Knew I should've poured more spirit energy into this hand. Damn! That hurt more than I thought it would." said Ichigo slightly strained as he was holding back a pained scream. Lancer, who eyed this interaction, turned his attention fully back to Saber.

"Well then, it seems that we can now proceed with killing each other." Still Saber was silent, but he held his battle stance. "Hmm. Once, long ago I met a warrior with eyes very similar to ones you have now, and that man was undeniably a great hero. For you to have that same gaze, this battle isn't a coincidence, it was fated to happen." Lancer declared. With that the two raced at each other and met in the middle spectacularly causing an explosion of energy that everyone could see. This caused the Soul Reapers to look on in awe, Gordes looked on in fear, while Jeanne was the only one to remain unfazed. The two combatants were moving at such blistering speeds that it was difficult for anyone to follow the battle.

/

OI! King! Quit drooling over the fight and focus. Tall, dark, and gruesome is coming back for another round. Said Ichigo's inner Hollow. Ichigo turned away from the Servant battle before him and saw Berserker making his way back. Again, Ichigo flared his spiritual pressure and got Berserker of White's attention. After a few minutes of their own standoff Berserker did something unexpected. He drew a sword from his back. Ichigo responded in kind and drew his own Zanpakuto.

It seems that this Berserker of White has finally decided that we are a threat and will take this fight seriously. Said Zangetsu.

About damn time! Now let's really cut loose and see how he fights with his blade! Ichigo's inner hollow said gleefully. By now Jeanne looked over and saw the mists surrounding Berserker of white were gone but his dented armour remained. Then her eyes fell on the sword and her eyes widened. So that's Berserker of White's real identity. I see now why he kept attacking me. Her eyes showed a brief moment of pity, but she forced it away. Poor man. I pray you find peace after your defeat. Good luck to you Ichigo. You're going to need it fighting someone like him, even with his sanity completely gone. With that she turned her attention back to the Servant battle in front of her.

/

Rukia and Kisuke watched as the fighting progressed. Being supernatural beings who fought the darkest part of humanity following the movements of similar beings was rather tame.

"Have you noticed, Caster?" asked Kisuke using Rukia's codename.

"The fact that both have been scoring hits on each other repeatedly and yet neither of them has anything more than scratches on themselves, yes. The question is how is that possible?" asked Rukia.

"Well, Ruler did tell us about all Servants having x factors and noble phantasms that defy logic. What I'm more impressed by is the fact that despite the flashy spectacle both Servant's spiritual pressures feel like that of two 3rd seat officers and bear in mind all Servants are operating at best at half capacity upon summoning or less than that depending on the circumstances." Kisuke stated. Rukia's eyes widened at that as she focused on their respective spiritual pressures and confirmed that both felt at about a 3rd seat level.

"Then if both were to ever fight at their full strength . . ." Rukia trailed off, her face paling.

"Yeah, quite a scary prospect." said Urahara his face serious.

As for the combatants themselves, they merely continued their bout. Lance piercing armour. Sword slicing flesh. Flames dancing around the two combatants as they performed this dance of death.

Strong. That was the word that came to mind for both of them as they fought each other. As the two moved swiftly around the area the land itself was being diced up quite significantly leaving craters in the ground, scorched earth, rocks being sliced up or exploded, not to mention sonic booms being created every so often at the speed both were attacking.

Despite chaos reigning out in the real world, Saber of Black's mind was serene as he fought. To think that my first true fight of this Great Holy Grail War would be against one as skilled and strong as this Lancer. Not to mention he's managed to actually wound me something that hasn't happened since I fought the dragon Fafnir. But then we are heroes after all. We fought and died in obscurity. Truth seekers and Warriors. By now Lancer of white had in fact leapt into the sky and Saber of Black leapt up to chase after him. Even now, after being granted a second life, that fate does not change. But Lancer used his own weight and terminal velocity to send Saber of Black crashing back down to earth, cutting Saber's cheek in the process. Lancer landed gracefully on the ground as Saber of Black got to his feet.

"A magic lance pierced through my armor. That technique, that legend, that hardship. I pay you, my respects." said Saber of Black speaking for the first time from the whole encounter as he placed his thumb over the scratched cheek. Lancer of White merely smiled pleasantly.

/

So, this is what a battle between Servants looks like. It's so . . . overwhelming. Thought Gordes looking awed and even a little frightened now as he stood next to Ruler. I . . . don't know what to do. What commands should I give to him in this battle?

It was then Gordes saw the shallow cuts on Saber of Black. What?! Saber has received damage?! But how? His True Name is Siegfried. His body is completely invulnerable save for his one weak spot and that hasn't been hit yet. So how in the world has he been wounded? Could it be that this Lancer of Red is using attacks strong enough to nullify Saber's noble phantasm? But that means that it has to be A Rank or higher to do so.

Gordes held up his right hand and it began to glow green. In any case I can heal the damage with magecraft but . . .is this really all I can do? Suddenly he heard the scribbling and rummaging of paper. He turned to the direction of the noise and found the scraggly looking character apparently called Mad Hatter now standing mere feet from himself and Ruler though how he got there was anyone's guess and was now furiously scribbling something on a notepad he was holding and eyeing Gordes with intense scrutiny.

"What are you doing?!" Gordes demanded.

"Taking notes as I observe your magecraft in action." Kisuke admitted with no shame. "Judging from the lack of wounds I see on your Servant now I assume it was a healing type of magecraft." he added.

"WHAT?!" said Gordes looking outraged. "How dare you!"

"Looking at that green light I almost thought it was healing Kaido as it produces a very similar light when used. But from the distance that you used it, I'll admit that it's impressive. I wonder if it's because of contract to Saber of Black though if that's the reason for you being able to utilize it like this from that distance or if you can use it on any target you select." Kisuke went on completely ignoring Gordes which only angered him further.

"Aren't you supposed to be dealing with Berserker of Red?!" demanded Gordes.

"You mean you haven't noticed?" asked Kisuke quirking an eyebrow.

"Noticed what?" asked Gordes, still looking angry. Kisuke pointed to where Berserker was and saw that he was fighting but he couldn't see anyone he was fighting with. In fact, one could be forgiven for thinking that Berserker was practicing his sword forms. "Why is Berserker of Red practicing sword forms? He was hell bent on trying to kill you just a little bit earlier." said Gordes clearly confused.

"That's actually Berserker of White and my Saber is actually engaging in combat with him." informed Jeanne. She looked at him confused. "You mean that you can't see my Saber?" she asked curiously. Gordes looked surprised and looked back at Berserker.

"I . . . I don't see anything or anyone there besides Berserker." Gordes admitted.

Hmm. So, it seems that means that Gordes isn't spiritually aware. So, he can't see Ichigo or Rukia in their soul forms. Now the question is, can his Servant also not see them as well and is it due to being contracted to a Master that isn't spiritually aware or some other factor? Kisuke wondered his mind was going a mile a minute.

"And what do you mean Berserker of White? The only other faction that is participating in the war is the Association's dogs. The Red Faction." said Gordes.

"Not exactly. "You see-" Ruler began except suddenly they were interrupted by lightning crackling across the sky. This caught all the combatants and observers off guard.

Another Servant is entering the fray?! Ruler thought in shock. Everyone looked up in time to see a chariot pulled by two bulls flying across the sky and seemed to be coming in to land at their current location. Specifically, where Gordes, Kisuke, and Ruler were standing. Rukia then flashstepped over to their location.

"Attention all Servants! Cease all fighting and hear me! I am the Rider of the Red Faction! My True Name is Iskandar King of Conquerors! Lay down your arms and join my army to help me conquer the world!" proclaimed the now named Rider of Red.

Iskandar? Wait. That's the Eastern name of Alexander the Great! He's Alexander the Great! Thought Ichigo was actually shocked to hear who the Servant was who had just arrived.

Oi! King! Berserker is coming in for another round. Either we gotta continue fighting him or we got to send him flying. Said Ichigo's inner hollow.

"Alright! Alright! I got an idea!" Ichigo said aloud. Ichigo held out his hand in front of him aiming at Berserker of White who was now mere feet from him. "Hado 33: Sokatsui!" Ichigo shouted. A ball of energy formed in his hand but then it exploded and sent both combatants flying in opposite directions. Ichigo landing near the chariot and Berserker of White landing near the forests. "Ow." said Ichigo in clear pain. He did get to his feet except then Rukia came over clearly upset and kicked him in the shins "OW! What was that for, R- Caster?!" asked Ichigo hoping no one noticed his near slip-up.

"You Fool! What were you thinking?! You have barely had any training with kido and your first time using it in a combat situation, you discard the incantation?! Are you trying to kill yourself?!" she ranted completely forgetting about the audience.

"Well, it worked, didn't it?!" Ichigo retorted.

"What are you all gawking at?" Gordes demanded. This seemed to snap everyone out of the state of odd fascination of watching the two disguised Soul Reapers have a spat. The two also snapped out of their argument as they realized they gathered quite an audience and attempted to salvage the professional image they started with. By now a young man with a red coat got himself to stand in Rider of Red's chariot though he was sporting a very annoyed look on his face.

"I really wish you hadn't done that, Rider." said the young man as he pinched the bridge of his nose. Iskandar looked at him curiously.

"If I recall correctly, Master, you told me that I did the exact same thing the last time I was summoned, right?" Iskandar asked.

"Yes, that's right." answered the young man now identified as Rider of Red's Master.

"So why tamper or change a winning system?" asked Iskandar with a confident grin.

"You died in the last war I summoned you in, I'd hardly call this a winning system." his Master responded snarkily.

"Waver Velvet. Head of the Modern Magecraft department. And one of the Lords of the Clock Tower. Association Dog." said Gordes with disdain as he eyed the now named Waver.

"Gordes Musik. No Sorry. Gordes Musik Yggdmillenia. Second only to the Einzberns in Alchemy. And the third in the line of succession for the head of Yggdmillenia clan. It seems you're always chasing after someone else's coat tails." said Waver rather pointedly. Gordes looked like he was about to pop a blood vessel at that slight. However, before anything else was said Berserker of White made another appearance but now, he looked like he had seen better days. While his sword was still in hand, his black armor was now dented and dinged up and his helmet was now sporting cracks. Growls were now emanating from him putting everyone on guard.

===Romania – unknown mountain location – Manaka's base of operation – same time

Back in her cave Manaka had been observing the whole thing via both her connection to her Servant's senses as well as her scrying mirror. She was smiling as she watched. She sat up straight on the couch that she had been reclining on. She stretched her arms over her head getting the kinks out.

"I have to say. Despite not being Servants, that trio has proven to hold their own quite well. Well, I suppose that if I want to see how far they'll get in this war it wouldn't do to have them die in the first bout of the War." she said as she came to a decision.

Berserker, withdraw from the field immediately and return to my side. She ordered watching her mirror. She saw Berserker give a roar and prepared to charge once again revealing his intention to ignore her order. The first time this night Manaka stopped smiling. If you will not listen, then I will show you why I hold your chains. She held her right hand up to the mirror that showed Berserker in the reflection. "With a command seal, I order you, Berserker of White. Cease your attacks, withdraw from the battlefield, and return to my side." She ordered again.

This time one part of her command seals disappeared showing the command being used but her entire body glowed white, and the command spell returned to its full glory showing that the grail she possessed restored the used command seal. The mirror showed a red-light engulfing Berserker of White showing the command taking effect. Soon after he disappeared from sight in black mists. Manaka smiled in satisfaction. Lancer, stay there and gather what this new Servant wants and await further orders from me. She ordered.

Understood, Master. Was his reply.

===Romania – road heading to Trifas – battlefield – same time

Back at the road where the Servants, Masters, and Soul reapers had gathered, they watched as Berserker of White disappeared from sight in a black mist and then all traces of him were gone. Now all who was left were Rider of Red, Saber of Black, their respective Masters, Lancer of White, Ruler and her Soul Reaper allies.

"Well now that Berserker has left, I reissue my invitation for you all to join my army." said Iskandar.

"Wait you were serious about that?" asked Ichigo in surprise.

"Of course. We of the Red Faction had been watching the fighting happening here for a while now. And I wanted to have a chance to recruit Servants to my army so I couldn't allow such fine warriors to die before I could extend my invitation." explained Iskandar.

"Then why did you send Lancer and Berserker to kill Ruler? Were you trying to get rid of her so she wouldn't interfere with your recruitment?" Gordes accused, pointing his finger at the Red Faction pair.

"You are mistaken. I am more than happy to extend an invitation to Ruler herself if she wishes to join me." Iskandar defended.

"That Berserker and Lancer aren't from our Faction." Waver pointed out. Before Gordes could say anything, Ruler spoke up.

"Rider of Red's Master is speaking true. My special skill can identify not only the Servant's True Name but their class and which Faction they belong to. The Berserker that just left and the Lancer that remains are both part of the White Faction." she said.

"That is correct." said Lancer of White. All this silenced Gordes' accusation.

"What?" asked Gordes in shock at this.

"So, what is your response, my Fellow Warriors? Will you join me and assist me in my goal to conquer the world?" asked Iskandar. Waver just sighed in exasperation.

"Negative. As the arbiter of this Holy Grail War, it is crucial that I remain impartial. Besides, my entire legend was about me helping my country repel invaders seeking to conquer us. It would leave a very poor taste in my mouth if I were to find myself as a conqueror rather than a defender." stated Ruler.

"I must also decline your offer as well. As my summoner is the one who brought me into this world, as a Servant, it's only right that I give my loyalty and service to my Master and them only." said Lancer of White simply. Saber of Black silently shook his head. Iskandar looked disappointed at this but then turned his attention to the three soul reapers.

"What about you three?" asked Iskandar curiously. The three shook their heads no.

"I fancy myself a man of science, not a conqueror. I'm more content to live and let live rather than force others to live as I feel they should live." said Kisuke stated.

"I fancy myself a protector, not a conqueror. So that's a no for me too." said Ichigo.

"I'm only here to serve as Ruler's bodyguard. Nothing more. Same with Saber." said Rukia simply. Ichigo nodded in agreement. Ruler noticed Gordes and Saber of Black were looking between Kisuke and Rider of Red.

"What are you going on about there being three? There's only one Servant standing there." said Gordes pointing at Kisuke.

"Actually, there are three Servants standing there. You just can't see them, Master of Black and apparently nor can your Servant." said Ruler. Gordes looked shocked.

"What?" he asked in surprise.

"Allow me to clarify. You see Saber and Caster here have a skill that allows them to not be seen by most people. In fact, only a small group of people can see the two of them as they are now." explained Kisuke.

"Oh, and what kind of people can actually see them. As I can see the three of you just fine." asked Waver curiously.

"As they are right now, they can only be seen by those who have experienced near death trauma. As for why Saber of Black can't see them either. That's most likely because he's contracted to a Master that hasn't experienced that kind of trauma, so the contract handicaps him as well." Kisuke deduced. He then eyed the air off to the side above Rider of Red. "Why don't you have your friend come out and introduce themselves as well?" asked Kisuke. Waver's eyes widened as he followed Kisuke's gaze to where their fellow Red Faction Servant was hovering.

Gold mist formed revealing Archer of Red. Ruler's eyes widened as she identified who this Servant was. Oh God! To think such a Servant would be summoned for this war as well.

"Well, mongrel. Your senses are quite impressive. What gave me away and how long have you sensed my presence?" asked Archer of Red curiously.

"As someone who has developed a 6th sense for spirits and the subtle differences between the different kinds of spirits that exist in this world, sensing your presence was child's play especially when you weren't even trying to conceal your presence in the first place. Makes sense when you've never had to worry about people who can sense you even when you go into spirit forms. As for how long I sensed you, probably since Lancer of White and Saber of Black started fighting." explained Kisuke.

"And yet you never told your Master about our presence." Archer pointed out arrogantly.

"Neither of you showed signs of hostile intent. Even when Rider descended, he wasn't doing so with hostile intent. If either of you had, Caster, Saber, and I would have grabbed Ruler and hightailed it out of here." explained Kisuke.

"Indulge me. Who are you. You've yet to give your Class Name or True Name." asked Iskandar. Kisuke looked to Ruler who nodded.

"Very well. Since we already had a Caster and a Saber class Servant, I decided to give myself a nickname to differentiate myself as technically I would in theory be able to qualify for Saber, Caster, and Assassin class all equally. So, you can call me the Mad Hatter." Kisuke proclaimed with a sly smile. Then Archer laughed arrogantly.

"You must have a very odd sense of humor as the name suits your appearance perfectly, mongrel." said Archer of Red giving a good-natured smile.

"What sort of a nickname is Mad Hatter?" asked Gordes grousing.

"Mine. And shouldn't you be more concerned about the fact that there are more than two factions of Servants than what I call myself?" Kisuke pointed out eyeing Gordes off to the side.

"That's a good point as this is the first time that I have heard this information. So, there are three factions of Servants?" asked Waver curiously.

"Actually it's 6 factions of Servants. 42 in all." stated Ruler as a matter factly. Both Gordes and Waver were shocked by the number of Servants said to be summoned. The Red Faction Servants looked intrigued and even sported challenging grins at such a prospect. Saber of Black looked rather shocked. The only one besides Ruler who wasn't reacting was Lancer of White. Kisuke noticed this but made no comment on this.

Ichigo and Rukia, who had been silent up until now, had been quietly observing as they let Kisuke speak for them. However, ever since Archer of Red appeared Ichigo felt his inner Hollow surfacing but what caught him off guard was that his hollow wasn't being his usual psychotic self. No. No way. It can't be him. He's actually here? He can't know that I'm here. Ichigo heard his Hollow. But before he could ask what was going on, his Hollow receded violently. Retreating to the deepest recesses of his soul. Now it felt just like when he went to the Soul Society to save Rukia when his Hollow was buried beneath the surface and Ichigo was oblivious to his presence. Ichigo hadn't expected to have himself feel incomplete when this happened. But he was brought back to the present when Rukia elbowed him roughly to get him to focus on what was happening before him.

"Well, if you wish to continue Saber of Black, then I estimate that we'll be fighting until sunrise." said Lancer of white. He looked over to the two Red Faction members. "That is of course unless the Red Faction wishes to enter into this fray." he added. Iskandar shook his head.

"No, I only came to observe and extend an invitation to you all and then depart regardless of the outcome." He stated good naturally. He then turned to Archer of Red. "What about you, Goldie? Anything you want to say or do? Otherwise, we'll head back to the hotel room."

"Hold on." said Kisuke. He scribbled something onto a pad of paper and then handed it to Waver. "This is the address of our safe house. If you need to see us for anything this is where you need to go. It's neutral territory so as long as you leave your grudges at the door you're welcomed inside." He then handed a similar paper to Gordes. Both Masters took them. Then he approached Lancer of White with caution before he handed a similar slip of paper to Lancer of White who simply took it. Archer was eyeing Ruler with a look of anger. Ruler looked at him curiously.

"Have I done something to offend you, Archer of Red?" she asked.

"Yes, mongrel. You dare call yourself something that is above your station? Change your class and I will overlook this affront." he said arrogantly. This caught everyone off guard.

"What is up with this guy? Does he just call everyone mongrel?" asked Rukia.

"Seems like it," said Ichigo. However, he then saw several portals of gold appear in a circle behind Archer of Red. Then the group saw sword tips poking out of those portals. Then the one closest to the right side of Archer's head was fired out and headed towards Ruler.

"Dance, Sode no Shirayuki." said Rukia as she flashstepped in front of Jeanne and used her zanpakuto to block the sword which on contact froze creating a small ice hill encasing the sword. The group was surprised either to hear her use what many presumed was her noble phantasm or the ones who couldn't see her were surprised to see a small hill of ice appear seemingly out of nowhere. Archer of Red quirked an eyebrow at this.

"I take it this was caused by your two other Servants, mongrel?" he asked. Ruler nodded.

"Yes, they are Caster and Saber, respectively. The one that created the ice was Caster." Ruler elaborated. "Can you see them, Archer of Red?" she asked.

"I wouldn't have asked, mongrel if I could." Archer said annoyed. "Still to stop one of my treasures with ice is actually quite impressive. Treasure this compliment I give to you, invisible mongrel for I seldom give them at all." said Archer of Red. With a wave of his hand the sword dissipated in a golden mist and the portals disappeared. He looked over to Ruler again. "But you still haven't followed through with my original order, mongrel. So, you had better explain yourself or you won't like it when I get serious." warned Archer of Red.

"You're referring to the fact that you don't like my Class Name. Given who you are, that's understandable. Please understand that I merely see my Class Name as little more than a title and not an actual Ruler. Given my origin as a peasant, it would be arrogant of me to believe that I'm worthy of such a position." she said humbly. This caused Archer to give a satisfied smile.

"Ah so you acknowledge your true place, do you. Very well. Then I shall allow you to keep your title. But know this, should you disrespect this mercy I've bestowed, and I will end you." Archer of Red stated arrogantly.

"Geez. What is up with this guy?" asked Ichigo aloud knowing that Archer couldn't see of hear him. Iskandar then got Archer's attention.

"Come now, Goldie let's get going. We can have a drink when we get back to headquarters." He said good naturally.

"One last thing before you leave. There is something I want to relay to the Red Faction." The two Servant and Master of Red looked at her expectantly. "I ask that you tell the rest of your respective factions that there will be a 3-day ceasefire which I hope will give me time to figure out why so many Servants were allowed to be summoned or at least locate the Grail and establish a firmer connection to it." she explained.

Reluctantly all present agreed. "And when will this ceasefire take place?" asked Lancer of White.

"At sunrise today. So, if you two wish to continue your earlier bout, I would ask that you finish it before sunrise." said Jeanne. "As a final token tonight, I wish to inform all present the faction colors of all those participating in this Grail War. They are the Black, White, Gold, Silver, Red, and Blue Factions." she finished.

"Well, if there is nothing else that you wish to tell us then we'll be heading back to our base and relay your ceasefire to the rest of our faction." said Rider of Red. With that he took off in his chariot with his Master on board. Archer reverted to spirit form and also left. Now only Lancer of White, Ruler, the Soul Reapers, Saber of Black and his Master remained.

"So, you're willing to help the faction, whose Servant tried to kill you? Are you and your Servants not even going to assist in Lancer of White's demise? If Saber of Black falls, then Lancer of White might kill you again. That makes him your enemy as well, doesn't it?" Gordes asked getting frustrated.

"It's as I said earlier this evening, those are entirely separate matters. For me or my bodyguards to interfere in their bout should they decide to continue due to personal circumstances would defile my pride as a Servant and as a Ruler specifically." said Jeanne. She then turned to Lancer of White. "Well? What have you decided?" she asked him.

"I don't mind if we continue clashing swords till sunrise as my Master has given me no further orders. But it seems the Master of Black has had enough." Lancer of White pointed out. On this no one countered. By now Saber of Black stood his full height and spoke clearly for the first time that everyone could hear him.

"My only wish is that for our next encounter, we can fight each other to our heart's content." he said. Lancer of White smiled at this.

"Yes. I hope so as well. I am deeply grateful that my first fight in this war was against you, Saber of Black. Until next we meet." said Lancer of White. With that he turned around with his back facing the group and departed from the area. With that Saber of Black sheathed his sword. Ruler, Kisuke, Ichigo and Rukia approached him.

"Marvelous. Truly a splendid battle." she said. Saber nodded.

"Not to mention, terrifying." added Kisuke as he pulled out a green fan.

"Can't wait to learn who some of these guys actually are." added Ichigo.

"Well first things first. We need to start making our way to the safe house immediately. "We've already delayed by a few hrs." said Rukia. By now Gordes had walked up to the two people he could see, and his original overconfident and pompous attitude had returned.

"Now that Lancer of White has finally gone, will you and your entourage please come with us to Millenia citadel, Ruler?" asked Gordes, almost expecting her to say yes.

"Negative. I must continue to remain impartial." she stated.

"Yes, but our lord's castle is a prime location for observing the Great Holy Grail War. Not to mention that if the number of combatants are at the number you say they are, the castle has plenty of defenses that will more than adequately protect you." he said, trying to convince her. Kisuke couldn't help but chuckle slightly at Gordes terrible attempt at persuasion though he hid the lower part of his face behind his fan. Ichigo rolled his eyes and looked at him more annoyed. Rukia straight up giggled. Ruler ignored their antics and answered.

"Your concern is appreciated. My skills allow me to perceive all of Trifas. And while the base that we will be staying at is a bit far, my bodyguards are swift and will get me to my destination within minutes. And Mad Hatter is quite skilled both in setting up defensive measures and as a combatant. Not to mention Caster and Saber are both skilled combatants with years of experience under their belts. I have complete confidence in their abilities. So, you need not worry for me. However, I will most likely come to the citadel to commune with the Grail in the hopes of gleaming information from it sometime during the ceasefire." she said diplomatically shooting down all of his arguments. Gordes looked like he'd swallowed a lemon.

"If you insist." he finally conceded. He then turned and headed for a parked black car on the side of the road. "Saber let's go." he ordered, seething. With that Saber of Black disappeared from normal sight. The trio watched as the car drove away.

"So, this is the result of the first battle of the Grail War." said Rukia as the now quartet stared at the diced-up landscape. What looked to be miles of devastated landscape including the road that they were traveling on was now just rubble after just one fight between Servants which had been going on for a few hours. "How are they supposed to keep this War a secret when this is the kind of devastation the\at Servants bring?" asked Rukia shocked.

"Most likely they'll send in subordinates to clean up the mess with magecraft in an hour and come morning the only signs that there was a fight will be sizeable potholes in this very road." said Jeanne. Suddenly, Ichigo turns towards the forests on the opposite side of the road they're standing on.

"Oi. Why don't you guys come out instead of staying to the shadows? We're with Ruler so we aren't looking for a fight." he shouted. This caught the rest of the group off guard. They turned to the forests and sure enough 4 men in various strange clothes walked out in to the open. The odd clothes immediately announced that this quartet were all Servants.

"Berserker and Lancer of Blue and Archer and Lancer of Silver. Are you here also to challenge me or bare fangs at me as well?" asked Jeanne as the three Soul Reapers got into battle stances. "By the way how many of my bodyguards can you see?" she asked curiously. This caused at least one Servant to quirk an eyebrow.

"3." said both Lancers and Berserker of Blue.

"1." said Archer of Silver.

"Ah so it looks like you're contracted to a Master that hasn't experienced near death trauma then, Archer of Silver." noted Kisuke. He then turned to Ichigo. "Out of curiosity, how long had you sensed their presence, Saber?" he asked.

"Since Rider of Red's arrival but got distracted when Archer of Red showed up and then picked up their presences' again when they left, and they hadn't moved from where a last sensed them." Ichigo answered.

"Getting back to the matter at hand. What is your reason for coming here?" asked Jeanne. Lancer of Blue held his hands up in a non-threatening gesture.

"Point for airing on the side of caution, but while I can't speak for the Silver Faction Servants, we of the Blue Faction were given exact instructions to only observe and report back." said Lancer of Blue.

"Same for us of the Silver Faction." said Lancer of Silver.

"And how long have you four been here?" asked Rukia cautiously.

"We all arrived at about the same time which was during Lancer of White and Saber of Black's clash. We've been listening and observing since then." stated Berserker of Blue.

"Then you four heard about the information I relayed to the other Servants about the sheer number that has been summoned and the ceasefire I have ordered, correct?" she asked. All 4 nodded in response.

"It's understandable why you would need time to sort such matters out as even 20 Servants under normal circumstances would most likely drain the area's Ley lines dry if it wasn't saturated with mana. Instead, here even with over 40 Servants summoned, the Ley lines seemed to be acting fine with no signs of strain or being drained dry." Berserker reasoned as he adjusted his glasses.

"Really? No drain on the Ley lines?" asked Archer of Silver.

"Yes. That's why I want time to investigate before the War gets underway. Will the 4 of you return to your respective factions and relay this information to them?" asked Jeanne. The 4 nodded again. Kisuke then handed both sets of Servants slips of paper with the address to the safe house that Ruler and her entourage would be at and asked if these could get delivered to their factions. The 4 Servants nodded and then all 4 physically left the area.

"Well alright then. If there are no more surprises, then we'd better get to the safe house as soon as possible. It's already almost midnight." suggested Kisuke as he put his fan away. Ichigo picked up Jeanne bridal style causing her to blush. With that the three Soul Reapers and Ruler flashstepped out of the area.

===Romania – unknown mountain location – Manaka's base of operation – after midnight

Manaka turned off her scrying mirror as she saw enough. "Just what kind of companions did Ruler manage to get? They can go toe to toe with Servants, but don't have command seals to keep them in line. So, what are they?" she wondered aloud. Still there are some true concerns. While I'm aware of the sheer volume of Servants even I have no idea why so many were summoned at once. I wonder . . . am I the cause of that because I brought another grail into this world and a corrupted one at that? She thought, placing her hands under her chin in deep thought In the end she shrugged. Well, it doesn't matter. In the end as long as I'm reunited with my prince then that's all that counts. I suppose though that in the meantime I'll honor the ceasefire for now. She then gave a sly smile. But as long as we don't engage in actual fighting that doesn't mean we can't gather information about the other factions while the ceasefire is in effect.

===Soul Society – Seireitei – en route to Captain Hitsuguya's office – early morning (7am)

Despite the fact that it was considered before work hours, someone was up and about using flashstepto quickly move about. This person was Captain Ukitake of squad 13 and Rukia's superior. He was a tall man with a somewhat emaciated appearance, his eyebrows were black, his hair was worn long, almost reaching his waist. He wore it parted on the left side with one long piece that fell over his right eye. He has Brown eyes. He wore the standard Shinigami shihakushō with a long sleeved captain's haori, and a crimson lining. He wore a narrow white obi, in which he secured his Zanpakutō. the reason for his speedy travel was he was quietly making his way to Captain Hitsuguya's office. He was a bit surprised when he received the report that Rukia wasn't coming back to the office as Captain Hitsuguya already asked her to oversee something happening in his jurisdiction area in the world of the Living. Even stranger was Rukia agreed before he signed off on the request. Thankfully, this wouldn't be nearly as problematic as the violations that happened that almost led to her execution, and this would just be written off as a clerical error. Still why would Captain Hitsuguya specifically say to meet him at his office before work hours to discuss the orders in private. This is all very strange. He thought to himself.

By now he had flashstepped to the squad 10 barracks and to his slight surprise he saw both Renji and someone else already standing outside of Captain Hitsuguya's office. The second figure was a man as well though one who carried himself with far more presence than Renji. He had slate gray eyes and long black hair, which he kept up in intricate white headpieces called kenseikan, which symbolized his nobility as the head of the Kuchiki Clan, wearing three on top of his head and another two on the right side. In addition to the standard captain shihakushō, though his was sleeveless and had cobalt blue lining, he wore a white scarf. The scarf Ukitake knew to be a family heirloom, given to each head of the Kuchiki Clan. He wore fingerless white tekkō which only cover the back of his hands. This was the captain of Squad 6. 26 Head of the Kuchiki Clan. Renji's superior and Rukia's older adopted brother, Byakuya Kuchiki.

"Byakuya, Renji. What brings you both here?" Ukitake asked. The pair looked at him, Byakuya with a quirked eyebrow and Renji with a nervous look on his face.

"We are here because Renji handed me a report informing me of Rukia being sent to investigate something on Captain Hitsuguya's behalf in his jurisdiction. And then I received a missive from captain Hitsuguya an hr. ago informing me that the both of us had to come here before work hours to further discuss the matter in private. I assume that being her Captain that you received a similar report?" Byakuya asked. Ukitake nodded. "I see. And I take it that you also sent word to your third seats that you'll be late coming into work as well" he said. Again, Ukitake nodded. Without further ado he politely knocked on the door to the squad 10 Captain's office.

Minutes later, the door opened to reveal Captain Hitsuguya. "Good you all arrived. Please come in." he said simply ushering in the trio. Inside they saw what the trio recognized as a new model for the Denreishinki that looked similar to iPhones from the world of the living. What was strange was that it was set up on a stand with what seemed to be an external camera attached to it. "Apologies for the early hour, but I felt that this had to be done in private and when I knew that I could catch you before you both headed to your offices and the least likely chance of being overheard by unwanted parties. My lieutenant already told me that she'll be late coming to work today and knowing her I won't see her until 10 am. Which works perfectly for this, so I'll let it slide." he apologized.

"The request and missive were most intriguing especially when you sent Rukia on a new mission before I signed off on the request. What was so important that you had to bypass protocol, Captain Hitsuguya? And judging from the missive you must have hand delivered those two missives to mine and Byakuya's office not even an hr. ago. Just how sensitive is this information?" asked Ukitake as he and Byakuya sat down in the seats provided to them while Renji remained standing nearby. Instead of answering Toshiro simply snapped his fingers and the entire room took on an orange hue. Both seated Captains eyes widened in surprise.

"A Hako barrier? Is the information you need to relay really that sensitive to require this?" asked Byakuya in surprise.

"Information has just recently come into mine and lieutenant Abarai's possession. Information that could shake the very foundation of the Soul Society itself. As such we're hoping that these nightly conferences with Rukia, Ichigo, and those in Romania with them will help us sort things out enough so that when I have to eventually present this to the Head Captain, we'll not set off the wrong people who will want to just eliminate that which they don't understand. And I need the two of you to assist in sorting this out to present this to the head Captain when I eventually have to. Which is one of the reasons that Rukia was asked to accompany Ichigo to Romania." explained Toshiro.

"And just what kind of information had you recently acquired, Captain Hitsuguya?" asked Byakuya calmly.

"Have either of you heard the terms Counter Force, Alaya, Gaia, or the Throne of Heroes?" asked Toshiro causing the other two captains to look confused. Toshiro sighed. "I thought so. This is going to take a while for both me and Renji to explain in full." said Toshiro.

===Romania – forests outside Trifas – Tohsaka's base of operation – after midnight

"What?! What did you just say?!" asked Tokiomi as he looked at the two Servants in shock. Kirei, who was standing off to the side also had widened eyes at this.

"Did we not say that clearly enough? Alright we'll try again. Ruler told us that apparently- started Berserker of Blue only for Tokiomi to cut him off.

"I heard you the first time you said it." groused Tokiomi. Berserker of Blue bowed.

"Apologies Master of Caster. I assumed that you were asking because I misspoke. Forgive my assumption." he said humbly.

"Return to your Masters. I need to discuss matters with Kirei." Tokiomi ordered. The two Servants disappeared from sight. Tokiomi ran his hand over his face in exhaustion.

"Teacher?" asked Kirei curiously.

"I anticipated a few issues but never did I think that so many Servants could be summoned at once." He looked down at his hand holding the slip of paper with the address of Ruler's temporary residence. Then he turned to Kirei then. "Recall Assassin from her scouting mission of the Yggdmillenia fortress and its defenses. We need to rethink of our plan for this War." he said wearily.

===Romania – outskirts of Trifas – Emiya's base of operation – same time

"Well, this confirms what you found out earlier, Iri." said Kiritsugu. "42 Servants including ours."

"And now Ruler has issued a ceasefire. So, what do we do about it?" asked Iri looking at Kiritsugu curiously. He seemed to be in deep thought as he pondered the slip of paper that the Servants returned with that had Ruler's temporary residence before he spoke.

"For tonight at least, we'll sleep on it. Then I think we take advantage of the time, and both shore up our defenses for our base and see if we can find a way to spy on the other factions without being seen or detected. Then we can research everything we can about the other factions Servants." he said then he yawned. Iri smiled.

"Then how about we go to bed first like you suggested? We'll talk about strategies in more depth in the morning." she said. With that the couple headed to their bedroom to get some much-needed rest.

===Romania – Millenia fortress – Darnic's private study – same time

Darnic sat on the couch in his study with Lancer of Black (Vlad III) present sitting in a chair adjacent to him. Both were drinking red wine. On the coffee table in front of Darnic was a slip of paper with the address of Ruler's temporary residence. Darnic was glaring at it.

"To think this many Servants would be summoned at once. I knew that the Einzberns could cheat the system but for it to backfire like this. This was unforeseen." he admitted with a glare at the paper.

"That's war for you Master. You can make all the preparations, and plans you want till you think that you've covered every conceivable angle, but then something that you didn't expect happens and suddenly you have to adapt to the new circumstances. Those who can't or won't only find themselves staring defeat in the face." said Lancer of Black as he sipped on his wine. Darnic eyed him.

"I take it you speak from experience, Lancer?" he asked. Lancer of Black merely nodded. "Then what do you suggest we do with this new information?" he asked.

"Further shore up our defenses here at the fortress during the cease-fire, now that we know we have to potentially have to deal with more than 30 other combatants not counting our allies in the gold or black factions try to identify and spy on our enemies then go after the ones who are the greatest threat to us and our allies. And also prepare for Ruler's arrival and try to convince her and her Servant's to ally with us. That's about all we can do for the time being." answered Lancer of Black. Darnic got up from his spot and headed for his bedroom.

"It's a sound strategy. But it will have to wait until later in the morning. It's already after midnight and I need to rest. Perhaps then I can think more clearly about potential strategies for the war ahead of us." said Darnic as he opened the door to his bedchamber.

"Then I wish you good night, Master." said Lancer of Black. With that Darnic entered the bedroom and closed the door behind him.

===Romania – hotel room in Bucharest – red factions current base of operation – same time (now after 1 am)

"Could you repeat that!?" asked Shirou K. in shock.

"It's as I said earlier, mongrel. You dare tell me to repeat myself." said Archer of Red (Gilgamesh) arrogantly. Shirou K. tried to regain his composure but he along with the rest of the Red Faction were still letting this new information sink in.

"Respectfully, my king, this is truly uncharted territory that we are venturing into for this war. Surely our shock is an understandable reaction." said Reines as she was also trying to maintain some sense of decorum. This caused Archer to relent.

"Very well. Due to the extenuating circumstances, I shall overlook this and see it as nothing more than just shock from the intelligence that was gathered." he said with an almost bored sigh.

"Still, it does pose an odd question. How can so many Servants be summoned in an area as small as Trifas and not outright drain the ley lines of the area? I went to investigate them earlier after we met up at the church and they were functioning fine. Granted we've no idea when the other Servants were summoned so that might've changed." said Kairi.

"No, not likely. Assassin is in the middle of a magic ritual and hasn't contacted me about there being any sudden lack of mana." added Shirou K.

"Could it be that something else is powering the Grail?" asked Gray curiously.

"With what? You'd have to have a massive amount of power to be able to power the Grail and Servants without draining ley lines or forcing the Masters to pick up the slack. Unless you either have a massive amount of magical energy at your disposal which, need I remind you no modern mage possesses, or a group of powerful individuals willing to be batteries for it there's simply no way to have another power source for the Grail" Reines stated.

"What about the one I told you about Kisuke Urahara? What did you find out about him?" asked Shirou K. From there Rider (Iskandar), his Master, and Archer relayed all they witnessed of Kisuke and the other two of Ruler's companions' abilities. This left everyone in a state of shock. "Are you certain of what you saw?" asked Shirou K. trying to regain his composure. The trio nodded.

"So even though we know that that this Kisuke Urahara is actually not a Servant yet has enough power to go toe to toe with one and even after he was hardly phased by the battle. And that's not even going into the potential of the other two who we're now questioning if they're even Servants themselves." suggested Kairi.

"Correct. For all we know we might've just stumbled upon a newly discovered group of magic users whose abilities are greater than any modern mages. Throw in the fact that they have an ability to not be seen by anyone who hasn't suffered from near death trauma and Servants who are contracted to Masters who suffer from this are also hadicapped meaning only certain people can fight them. Though I wonder if Yggdmillenia made contact with other members of this group and are perhaps using them to power the Grail?" Waver wondered.

"A sound theory if there's a way to prove it. But why was Kisuke seen by all while the other two could only be seen by a few?" asked Gray.

"Good question too bad no one has a definitive answer. Still if a group of these individuals were infact powering the Grail either willingly or through coercion it would theoretically match up. The Grail would not be taking from the world around itself and when the back-up system was activated it could've misread the power source as having too much power which may have allowed for more Servants to be summoned than would be normal." Shirou K. theorized.

"All of what you're saying may well be true, but does it matter? As it doesn't change the fact that we now have more enemies to face or perhaps allies." Rider pointed out.

"Yeah. I'll admit that I'm a little curious in fighting them myself. See what kind warriors were summoned now that so many are here." said Lancer speaking up for the first time during the debriefing.

"As am I.," said Saber. "So how do we want to go about this?" Saber asked.

"Would it not be better to simply treat the ones called Saber and Caster who were with Ruler as if they were Servants? At least until we have proof that they aren't?" asked Kairi.

"That might be the best course of action. If it turns out they are Servants, then since they are with Ruler, we can just assume that they are present to support her and the only one we'd have to actually worry about is this Kisuke Urahara." suggested Waver.

"And if they aren't or we can't find any evidence of them being Servants then do we start thinking about potentially dealing with them. I see. Then that will be the course we take." said Shirou K. as he got to his feet. "If you could give me a description of the other Servants that were present for the battle, I'll contact my colleagues in the church to start research on them along with the photos of the people who were with Ruler in the airport. If they find anything I'll let you all know as soon as possible." said Shirou K. as he turned to the door. Waver stopped him and handed him a paper. "I see you already thought to write down their descriptions, thank you." he said politely, taking the paper.

"Actually, we can do one better. The girl with black hair in the picture is referred to as Caster and the boy with orange hair is called Saber. And Ruler's Caster even revealed what we think is her noble phantasm." said Rider of Red. This surprised Shirou K.

"Really? What was it?" asked Shirou K.

"Dance, Sode no Shirayuki." replied Rider of Red.

"Translated it means Sleeves of White Snow. So, she's Japanese and has something to do with ice or snow. Well, that could narrow down the potential suspects for her identity. I'll get started then and let you know if I find anything." he said, opening the door to leave.

"Right, we'll be in touch." said Waver absently as he waved him off as Shirou K. left. With that he closed the door. Kairi and the rest of the group looked at Waver who was in deep thought. After a few minutes Kairi spoke.

"You still don't trust him, do you?" asked Kairi.

"Of course not." said Waver immediately.

"Ooooh do tell brother." said Reines looking very pleased. The rest of the Servants looked intrigued.

"I contacted a colleague and asked them to confirm if the reports that we received from Father Kotomine were true concerning our missing comrades Jean Rum and Professor Sembrem." said Waver.

"And?" asked Gray.

"While Ms. Rum is a mercenary so hearing nothing from her is not unusual, Sembren is a professor at the Clock Tower so he has to keep in touch with his substitute so that way he can keep his classes on schedule. According to my colleague, the substitute for Sembren has been trying to contact him for the last several days and has received nothing but radio silence." said Waver.

"Huh. I thought he would've canceled his classes upon receiving his command seals" said Kairi thinking out loud.

"Normally that is what would happen. Like I did but my classes hadn't yet started so it was good fortune for me. Sembren wasn't so lucky as he was just starting finals for his classes. So, since it would be a few weeks or so of absence on his part he felt it was best to simply get a substitute to do his classes while he participated in the war. So, the substitute was to contact him and send him the graded finals for his verification and signature. But instead, the substitute hasn't received any of the finals back from Sembren and there's no communications from him to tell us why. And considering the Association wants to be kept abreast to the situation for the War such radio silence is effectively forbidden." explained Waver.

Archer of red chuckled. "Oh, you think this priest has done something nefarious, mongrel?" he asked with a challenging smile.

"The last time anyone heard anything from the two of them was when they went to retrieve Father Kotomine. Now there's only radio silence. Sure, the testimonies were authentic but not even allowing them to keep in contact with the Clock Tower? That's more than a little suspicious." explained Waver.

"You think he's holding your other comrades hostage?" asked Saber.

"He can't possibly support three Servants on his own especially when one of them is a Berserker. So, he needs them to support their Servants magical upkeep like he said earlier, and he keeps the command seals. What I think he left out was that he's holding them up somewhere where we can't make contact with them. Why he's doing that? Couldn't begin to speculate. All I will say is that we need to keep him at arm's length with us but still maintain ties long enough to figure out what he's planning and then decide if we want to cut ties and leave him to his own devices or some other course of action." said Waver. He then turned to Kairi. "Kairi, I want you and Saber sometime tomorrow to go scouting for a potential new base of operation for everyone here. For now, we'll use this hotel but if things go sour with Father Kotomine I want us to have a place to fall back to that he won't know about or at least once we're there it won't be easy for him to assault us if it comes to that." said Waver. Kairi nodded.

"Right. As the priest will be too preoccupied to notice our movements especially when it's supposed to be during a ceasefire, and we're not supposed to take aggressive action." Kairi agreed.

"Finally, something to do instead of just sitting around doing nothing." said Saber.

"Tomorrow. Right now, I think all us masters are going to hit the sack." said Kairi. On this every one of the remaining Masters of Red agreed. Saber of Red looked deflated a bit but said nothing. With that Everyone went to bed.

===Soul Society – Seireitei – Toshiro's office – same time (8am)

It had taken roughly an hour to fully explain all that had happened when Jeanne came to Karakura asking for assistance with the Holy Grail War. Once both Toshiro and Renji were done, they looked to see the two captains looking shocked and overwhelmed. A rarity for two captains known for keeping a cool head and rarely showing signs of distress.

"Let me see if I understand this correctly. You're saying that for as long as human history itself there has been a plane of existence that we here at the Soul Society have been made completely unaware of until now called the Throne of Heroes." said Byakuya. The younger reapers nodded. "And on that Throne resides spirits of people who, whether they were real or fictional, had an impact on human history." said Byakuya. The younger pair nodded again. "And they remain on the Throne for eternity, barring unusual circumstances or exceptions, acting as agents of the planet to guide humanity towards a prosperous future." said Byakuya. Again, the younger pair nodded. "But this comes at the cost of all of them having a true afterlife denied to them in the process, is that about, right?" asked Byakuya, now regaining his stoic composure.

"That and while they may not have the raw spiritual power as Soul reapers the age and fame of their legends as well as the legends themselves give them boosts and allow them abilities that we don't have a way to counter. The culmination of which is their noble phantasm or trump card similar to a zanpakuto's special ability in say shikai or bankai. Such as warping time and space to ensure a target is always hit, for example." added Toshiro.

"And through a ritual humans can summon them to act as their personal property and can treat them as they wish while they are forced to follow orders as their 'Masters' have things called Command seals that can hinder or enhance them depending on how their used by the Master, is that about right as well?" asked Ukitake giving a severe look. The younger pair nodded.

"From what Urahara told us the relationship is symbiotic in that these Mages get essentially a fully realized zanpakuto spirit, even though it's not from their own souls, to act according to their will. Though the nature of this relationship ranges from Master/Slave to equal partners and due to Mage culture it tends to favor the former sadly. In exchange, the Servants get a free supply of what they call magical energy from the Master as well as an anchor to tie them down to the living world so that they can interact with the living despite being technically spirits." Toshiro added.

"Could you elaborate on this 'magical energy'?" asked Byakuya acting like he couldn't believe he was asking the question in the first place. Toshiro nodded and explained Urahara's current theory of magical energy, mana, and prana were all a case of same entity, different name to different groups for what they knew to be spirit energy, reishi (spirit particles), and reiryoku (spirit power) respectively though Toshiro admitted that reiatsu (spiritual pressure) might be a more accurate comparison for Prana as he thought about it. This seem to satisfy the two older captains.

"And aside from Ruler, Servants tend to be classified into 7 different warrior classes. The Knight Classes of Saber, Archer, and Lancer and the Calvary Classes of Rider, Caster, Berserker, and Assassin. All are pretty self-explanatory." added Renji.

"And now one of these Servants came looking for help through Soul Reapers. To help supervise a battle royale called the Holy Grail War where in addition to protecting her from anyone who might seek to kill her to uncover the names of the combatants as they keep their names hidden and in this case are referred to only by their class name and faction color. And this is due to the fact that there are multiple factions that exist for this War. I assume Ichigo was selected as he's not a true member of our ranks yet and can act with impunity and Rukia was sent due to how well the pair work together and also to keep us in the loop of what's going on in Romania, correct?" added Byakuya. Again, the younger pair nodded. Before anything else could be said the phone on the stand started ringing and Toshiro turned it on. The projector kicked on revealing Urahara, Jeanne (in her civilian clothes), Ichigo, Rukia (both in their body and gigai respectively), Yoruichi (in cat form), though the plushie forms of Ririn and Noba were absent.

"Captain Hitsuguya! I'm glad you were able to get everything set-up for us." said Kisuke.

"Mind telling me what happened? You texted me when you got off the plane, which was about midnight here and 7pm there, to get everything set up and that once you were close to your home in Romania, you'd text me to send missives to the other two captains and bring them over. Then I don't hear anything from you for 5 ½ hrs. It wasn't until 5 am you finally texted and told me to send the missives. So, what happened?" asked Toshiro.

"We encountered Servants from 5 out of the 6 factions. The only one not accounted for was the gold faction." said Kisuke. That shut up Toshiro. Renji got to his feet immediately.

"You guys are okay, right? No injuries?" he asked concernedly.

"We're fine Renji. Just a few bruises and cuts." said Rukia reassuringly.

"Yeah, and that's mostly on me as I was fighting a Servant up close." said Ichigo nonchalantly. That surprised the four Reapers.

"You might want to start from the beginning and explain what happened." said Ukitake getting his bearings. The group in Romania relayed all that happened from the time they arrived at the airport to the point where they placed the call to the Soul Society.

"So, we're going to relay all the information we have on the Servants we saw tonight with the 4 of you. Someone might want to take notes as a way to give yourselves a reference point on your end and not have to rely solely on us and I'll be making my own copy for when I have to return to Karakura and update it accordingly." said Kisuke. Toshiro nodded and got out a notebook and a ballpoint pen as he sat down and prepared to take notes.

"But you only referred to the Servants by their Class names and Faction colors so outside of a physical description what other information did you get?" asked Byakuya. Jeanne quickly relayed her True Name discernment skill and what it entailed and its limits. Renji couldn't help but chuckle.

"So, it's a built-in cheat sheet for you." he quipped good naturedly.

"For me, yes. For everyone else they'll have to get information the old-fashioned way." she replied. "But only if a noble phantasm meant to hide one's identity isn't active." she added. "Like Berserker of white. So, we'll start with him and Lancer of White as they were also the first Servants that we encountered. But I think it would be best to sort out what information needs to be relayed for everyone, first." said Jeanne. Everyone looked at her confused.

"Wouldn't any information on the Servants be relevant?" asked Rukia.

"I understand relaying skills, names, noble phantasms, and information along those lines is necessary, but I think we can leave out their legends beyond referencing them, physical descriptions, and Masters of the Servants would be unnecessary, right? Otherwise, we're going to be here for far longer than can be tolerated, especially since we need to rest on our end." Jeanne pointed out.

"I understand your consideration, but I think all information you can give us will be helpful especially if our enemy Aizen ends up getting involved by finding a way to use these Servants for himself. What about the Masters themselves? Can you give us any information on them yourself." asked Yoruichi. Jeanne shook her head.

"Unless they introduce themselves and declare who they are all I can tell is when the person we're talking to is a Master or not as my command seals will suddenly feel warm when in the presence of either a Master or Servant, but it won't tell me which one or how many of either are nearby. That's why I didn't realize there were other Servants in the area when the Blue and Silver Faction made their appearance. I assumed that I was still feeling the presence of those who were leaving." Jeanne admitted.

"Well, I'll just have to ask for some more outside help than concerning the Masters. But then I still think that any information regarding the Servants needs to be relayed though I think the legends of these Servants can be abbreviated at least." said Yoruichi. On this everyone agreed.

"The Kuchiki Family Library contains almost every piece of writing in human history spanning at least 2,000 yrs from both the Soul Society and the World of the Living. From every subject of fiction and non-fiction. So, if you just gave an abbreviated version of their Legend or merely named the legend they are from, Renji and I could easily head to the Family Library and conduct further research on the Servant on our end to assist your group." Byakuya pointed out.

"You're really gonna let me into the family library, Captain?" asked Renji, caught completely off guard.

"Since we need to be discreet when leaving this room about this matter, it won't look as suspicious if my subordinate accompanies me to my family library for research purposes. But it's also because you've proven your loyalty to me, Rukia, and to your comrades more times than I can count, Renji. I have complete trust in you." said Byakuya. Renji looked floored by that compliment. Everyone else gave small smiles at this exchange.

(Heavy dialogue incoming. If you don't want to read it, head to the next scene change.)

===30 mi outside Trifas – Urahara's safe house (Ruler's base of operations) – dining room – same time (after 1 am)

"Very well then. Let's get started with Berserker of White and we'll see what information we want to leave out after." said Jeanne. Everyone nodded as Ichigo, Toshiro and Kisuke had pens at the ready. "Berserker of White's True name is Sir Lancelot du Lac. The Knight of the Lake and King Arthur's most outstanding knight. And lover to Queen Guinevere. Needless to say, he's from Arthurian mythology. In fact, he plays such a big part in the mythology especially in the downfall of Camelot that he's effectively gained the title of tritagonist in the mythos." she stated.

"Wait so I was fighting Sir Lancelot of Arthurian myth?" asked Ichigo astonished. Jeanne nodded. "Holy shit!" he exclaimed. Everyone besides Jeanne snickered or looked amused. Ichigo glared at them, and no one said anything more on this.

"But why a Berserker? Wouldn't a Saber be more appropriate since he was a knight?" asked Ukitake though the amusement in his tone was still present

"Near the end of his life, Lancelot is said to have gone mad with grief as if it hadn't been for Mordred's rebellion, then the scandal of his and Guinevere's affair would have been just as devastating for Camelot. So, his legend does allow for him to be summoned as a Berserker." said Byakuya.

"Yes. The only way he would be summoned as anything other than a Saber is either due to the compatibility of the Servant or Master, a specific relic connected with that part of Lancelot's life was used in the summoning, someone else already filled the Saber slot when he was summoned, or his summoning was tampered with some other way." said Jeanne.

"Alright. So now that's the legend and name, what about his power level and skills and of course his noble phantasm?" asked Toshiro. Jeanne nodded.

"Right. I'll start with his parameters. You've been made aware of the ranking system for Servants?" she asked. The soul reapers all nodded. "Alright. So, his Strength is A, along with his Endurance, and noble phantasm. His highest parameter is his agility which is A+. Then the last two parameters are lower than A. Luck is B and Mana is C." reported Jeanne.

"Okay and using the formula you gave us in Karakura Town, then that means his overall rank as a Servant is A-. Kisuke calculated. "So, if Ex is Captain level, then A is Lieutenant level. Followed by B for 3rd through 10th seats, C for 11th through 20th seats, D for unseated officers, and finally E for non-soul reapers." Kisuke rattled off.

"So, he's a lieutenant level Servant but barely." mused Renji. He then looked at the group on the screen. "So, what are his skills since they aren't part of the overall rank?" he then asked.

"We'll start with his Class skills as he only has two. They are Madness Enhancement and Magic Resistance. They are ranked C and E, respectively." said Jeanne.

"Madness Enhancement is when they trade their sanity for strength and magic resistance is self-explanatory." explained Kisuke. "Considering that all he was doing during our encounter was screaming or roaring incoherently that makes sense though I'm surprised that it's only C rank." he added.

"E rank magic resistance makes sense due to him being a Berserker, but wouldn't he just be too insane to use magic against?" asked Byakuya.

"But could be opened to be manipulated by others with or without magic." pointed out Jeanne. That seemed to satisfy everyone. "As for his personal skills he also only has two and they are Eternal Arms Mastery which is ranked A+ and this guarantees that despite his current mental state he'll be able to fight as if he was a Saber Class Servant. Like when he fought Ichigo in sword play. He didn't use it like a club but fought him like a proper knight despite his lack of sanity. His other skill is Protection of the Spirits which is ranked A. This skill was gifted to him due to being raised by the Lady of the Lake as a child, a member of the Fae. If he is on a battlefield his luck will be boosted to perform feats of arms that will help him out of danger. Hence, it's high rank but only in certain scenarios." explained Jeanne.

"So, despite being insane his skills as a combatant haven't dulled in the least." noted Yoruichi.

So that just leaves his noble phantasms, right?" asked Rukia. Jeanne nodded.

"Then there are his noble phantasms which he has three. They are his sword Arondight which is Anti-Unit meaning it's to be used against a single opponent and is ranked A++, For Someone's Glory which is also Anti-Unit and is ranked B, and finally Knight of Owner which is also Anti-Unit and is ranked A++." she said.

"Can you give us details about each of them and what they can do?" asked Ukitake.

"Of course. I'll start with For Someone's Glory. Basically, it was the black mist that surrounded him when we initially met him. This also had the effect of keeping his identity hidden from my True Name discernment skill. As a Berserker he can only use it like this unless a command seal is used then he can use it as it was meant to be. That is to change his appearance into another heroic spirit since he often disguised himself in legends. Only as a Saber can he use it properly without a command seal. It was negated however when he brought out Arondight as in order to use his sword he must reveal his identity." explained Jeanne. This surprised everyone.

"So, what does Arondight do?" asked Ichigo. "When I fought him, we mainly stuck to sword play."

"That's because as a Berserker that's all he could utilize. If he were in his proper Saber form, he could use the blade to implode his enemies with a cut. Basically, he'd gather magical energy at the blade and upon cutting his enemies, the energy would be released at the wound tearing his enemy apart. Essentially what was made to decimate armies, he's repurposed to utterly destroy one opponent. But as a Berserker he can't do this and had to stick to sword play only due to his lack of sanity." explained Jeanne. Ichigo looked pale no doubt because the idea of having his body being torn apart with a cut definitely wasn't the way he wanted to go.

"Guess I should count my blessings." he said nervously.

"Let's move onto the last of his noble phantasm." said Jeanne trying to change the subject.

"Why don't we call them nps? We all know what it means, and it will be shorter to say as we still have 8 other Servants to get through." said Yoruichi. After a moment of thought everyone agreed.

"So, his last . . . np is called Knight of owner. Since using Arondight reveals who he is and he doesn't fight unarmed, Lancelot has an . . .np that makes anything he physically touches turns into a D-rank np and he can wield it flawlessly like he's been doing so for years. This can be from another Servant's np to planes, to poles, to guns, even mundane objects like eating utensils all become his np to use against his enemies." explained Jeanne.

"I thought I felt like he was trying to take Zangetsu from me but I nor Zangetsu or my hollow were having it." said Ichigo with a challenging grin.

"Most likely since your weapon has a soul it could easily reject Lancelot's influence and make it impossible to steal from you. Though I don't know if that would be the same result if he was a Saber." said Jeanne.

"Well thankfully we don't have to worry about it." said Yoruichi.

"Still just with this Berserker of White alone he seems pretty formidable." said Rukia looking over the information. "I mean he gets downgraded due to his lack of sanity but even then, he's still a fierce combatant." she added.

"If he's this intimidating as a Berserker makes me wonder how much of a force he'd be with his sanity." said Renji.

"I'd rather not think about that." said Ichigo. "Okay so now we move onto Lancer of White."

"Lancer of White. True Name: Karna, sun of the Hindu sun god Surya and one of the major players in the Hindu epic the Mahabharata. His part in the legend is pretty extensive do you wish for me to go over in detail his legend?" asked Jeanne.

"Renji and I can research the full legend at a later date. For now, let's focus on his skills as a Servant." said Byakuya.

"Right. So, his parameters are as follows: Strength is B, Endurance is C, Agility is A, Mana is B, Luck is D and finally his NP is ranked EX." Jeanne rattled off.

"And calculated that puts his overall rank at a B or at a high seated officer level. So, what about his skills?" asked Kisuke.

"He has two Class Skills: Magic resistance which is ranked C and Riding which is ranked A.," said Jeanne.

"Okay magic resistance is self-explanatory although it's mid rank might explain why a mid-level Kido was able to successfully restrain him. But what does the Riding skill pertain to?" Kisuke asked.

"It's just a skill to show that he was known for having a mount in his legend. But where it really comes into play is when you have to drive something in this current era. With its high rank he can essentially drive, or ride, any vehicle in this current era or ride any beast save for dragons. And he can do so with the skill of someone who's been driving or riding the said mount for years." said Jeanne.

"So, if he were presented with a car of today, he could just hop in and drive it like he'd been doing so for years even if it were the first time, he laid eyes on it?" asked Ichigo amazed.

"Car, plane, train, motorcycle, boat, anything meant to get from point A to point B he can drive or ride it save for dragons." said Jeanne with a proud smile.

"Incredible." said Ichigo astounded.

"As for his Personal Skills he has four of them. They are Discernment of the Poor which is ranked A. This skill basically allows him to make it impossible to lie directly to him. He will be able to tell when someone is being directly deceitful to him either through words or actions." Jeanne explained.

"So, it's like a built–in lie detector for him. However, if you were to lie either through omission or lie indirectly to him it's possible to get around this skill." Kisuke thought aloud.

"So, we just have to be careful what we say to him when we see him again." suggested Rukia. Everyone agreed. "Okay what's next?" she asked.

"His next skill is Divinity which is ranked A. This skill is to both show his lineage as a demigod but also how much of his parent's authority over their specific attribute he can wield as a Servant. In this case as the son of the sun god Surya he can wield the element of fire and make it as hot as the sun and due to its high rank, he can wield it as if he were the sun god incarnate." she explained and saw everyone looking at her with slack jaws. She politely coughed and continue. "The next skill he has isn't ranked but is called Uncrowned Martial Arts. This skill is due to not being recognized in legend for his skills as a warrior. Due to the caste system in India at the time, whatever caste you were born into was how you were judged so upward mobility was practically impossible. Hence the lack of recognition because of his presumed low birth even though he was actually a demigod and a skilled warrior. As a Servant it lowers the ranks of several skills and nps by one to the eyes of his opponents therefore allowing them to think he's weaker than he truly is. But should his True Name be revealed than its effects are negated but only to those who know his True name." she said.

"That's actually a pretty useful skill." Renji commented. Jeanne nodded continued.

"His last skill is Mana Burst in the form of Flames which is ranked A. This skill allows him to coat all his weapons in magical energy or spirit energy which manifests in the form of flames. He used this earlier when he was using the flames as boosters to allow him to fly during our fight. He can use this skill as a way to charge an attack that is powerful enough to potentially kill a Servant in one hit." said Jeanne.

"You know the more we investigate this Servant, the more I'm beginning to suspect the Overall B rank is a misnomer." Ukitake commented for the first time in a while. "What about his nps?" he then asked.

"Officially he has three, but he technically has four nps. They are Kavacha and Kundala which is meant as one np and is ranked A and is a defensive type of np meant for himself. So, it's classified as a self-anti-unit np. Brahmastra also ranked A and is an anti-army but can be pushed up to an anti-country np. Brahmastra Kundala also ranked A and also an Anti-country np. And the last one is Vasavi Shakti which is ranked EX and is an anti-divine np meant to be capable of slaying gods." she explained. By this point everyone had either a quirked eyebrow or slacked jaws.

"I stand by my earlier statement." said Ukitake.

"We'll start with Brahmastra. This is a projectile attack that in his current summoned class is in the form of a beam he can fire at will from his right eye. And when fired after giving an incantation it will pursue the target and surely hit it. The only known drawback is that he can't use this np against an opponent greater in skill or power to himself due to a curse he obtained in his legend. The curse in question was when he disguised himself as another caste and his deception was discovered by his teacher who then cursed him to forget his lessons as a warrior when he needs them most." Jeanne explained.

"Considering that we don't know how many would hit that specific requirement it could be that very few actually would be safe from that np." Yoruichi pointed out. "Let's move onto the next one." she added.

"That would be Brahmastra Kundala. Basically, it's when he channels Brahmastra into his golden lance and combines it with his Mana Burst Skill and can create an attack that would be the magical equivalent of a nuclear bomb when it hits his target." she said. Everyone was quiet at this. "Moving onto the next np. That would be Kavacha and Kundala. That would be his golden armor we saw him in and the gold earrings that he was wearing. In his legend these were gifted to him at birth by his father Surya at the request of his human mother to prove his status as a demigod and they grew with him throughout his life. It's a defensive type of np that rather than nullify all attacks it instead reduces the damage taken from an opponent's attack to about 1/10th of its total potential damage. And should he face a stronger opponent he can use his Mana burst skill to cover his body in flames as added protection. In fact, only when he invokes its name, he can become truly invincible but then it only lasts as long as his magical energy from his Master will last. In fact, despite all of these very powerful nps and skills, Karna is very much spirit energy heavy consumption to the point that even a first-class mage can only sustain Karna and his nps for only about 5 minutes. Before they are left too weak to even move." said Jeanne.

"So that might be why I was able to use Hados against him. The Bakudo and Kido in general being spiritual attacks I already figured would be able to bypass his defensive abilities, but the fact that the Hados can be used even if they're effectiveness is reduced significantly is still something to consider going forward with future encounters." said Kisuke thinking out loud.

"I wonder if his Master were a soul reaper how long would his energy last in a fight and how much of a drain would it be for a soul reaper?" wondered Toshiro. "That's three nps so what's the last one?" he then asked.

"That would be Vasavi Shakti. Basically, it's the true form of his golden lance when specific circumstances are met. If he sacrifices the golden armor, then the spear reveals it true form which is a spear that is taller than Karna by at least a meter and converts his armor's defensive capabilities into offensive ones and becomes anti-divine upon doing so. This is because it's supposed to be the spear of the Indian god of War, Rain, and Thunder called Indra. In his legend, in an attempt to protect his son, Indra disguised himself to trick Karna to give up his armor. Karna saw through it but still gave up the armor out of respect for the god's fatherly love for his son. Indra, impressed by Karna's nobility, gave him his personal weapon, his spear as compensation for his sacrifice. As an np, the only thing that holds it back is once activated he has to use it in his next attack and can only use it once in a battle. It's possible that given enough time and spirit energy he could eventually regenerate his armor and maybe use this attack again but there has to be substantial time between them to make this attack viable again." Jeanne explained.

"I'm beginning to see why the skills and nps aren't quantified in the overall rank. As while his parameters are decent, his skills and nps act as the X factors you mentioned." said Yoruichi.

"I think we need to do an overall team assessment for the 6 factions so we can get a clearer picture of the make-up of them and do proper threat assessment for the factions." said Kisuke.

"Well if we're going off of just the White Faction alone, we got a Berserker that despite his lack of sanity, is able to fight at a lieutenant level and with enough prowess to rival those in almost all but the top fighters in squad 11 and a Lancer that while he's at a high seated officer position, has enough X factors that allow him to hit far beyond his weight class and could even rival captains with just his martial prowess alone." said Renji with a very concerned look on his face. "And that's not even adding in the other members of their faction or looking at the Servants for those other factions." he said, not liking what he might hear.

"I think the key to fighting Servants is to fight smarter not harder. So, who's next?" asked Ukitake.

"Well let's move onto the Black Faction as we only saw one Servant for them the previous evening. That was Saber of Black. True Name Siegfried. The hero of the German epic poem of the Middle Ages, the "Nibelungenlied"" she said. At every one's confused looks Byakuya spoke.

"The name means Song of the Nibelungs, which is an epic poem detailing events in the 5th and 6th centuries. Interestingly enough, the story is actually about Siegfried's wife Kriemhild and her quest for revenge after the death of her beloved husband via assassination. All of Siegfried's exploits happen in the opening chapters of the poem but he is out of the picture by the middle of the poem but even then, his actions are essential for how the rest of the plot unfolds. I find it interesting that someone who while essential to the story has enough fame on his own to be summoned as a proper Servant." he said intrigued.

"Probably because everyone likes those parts of the poem so it's more famous than the later parts of the poem." suggested Jeanne. "Still let's get started. Strength is B+, Endurance is A, Agility is B, Mana is C, Luck is E, and finally NP is A." she rattled off.

"So that means his overall rank is B- which means he also is a high seated officer level but given Karna and the information on him, I now don't know how much to trust this." said Ichigo.

"So, what about his skills?" asked Rukia.

"Well for Class Skills technically he has two but only one he can use as a Servant." said Jeanne.

"Could you elaborate on that?" asked Ukitake. Jeanne nodded.

"One of his nps is completely defensive in nature that as compensation for this np the skill of Magic Resistance is lost but should that np be lost then he would regain magic resistance as a Class Skill." On this everyone nodded in understanding. "The only other Class skill he has is Riding and that is B rank. Which just means that anything save for monsters or phantasmal beasts can be ridden with above average skill." explained Jeanne.

"Huh. Surprisingly pretty straightforward so far." commented Renji.

"Alright. What about his Personal Skills?" asked Byakuya.

"He has three of them. They are dragon-slayer, which is ranked A, Disengage, which is also ranked A, and finally Golden Rule which is ranked C-." Jeanne rattled off.

"Well two of them seem self-explanatory but it might be best to elaborate on them." said Kisuke. Jeanne nodded.

"Very well. To elaborate Dragon slayer is a skill possessed by those who brought down a member of the Dragon Kind. This skill drastically improves one's offensive power and defensive power against Dragon Kinds. As a result, it makes Siegfried a dangerous existence to any Servants with the dragon characteristics be they have a piece of a dragon within themselves or some other association with dragons. Next the Skill disengage is the ability to either withdraw from combat or reset the state of affairs around oneself. It both restores the condition of one's techniques to their initial value while simultaneously, it forcibly releases some of the bad status ailments that were inflicted on them like confusion, stuns etc. But not if they've been poisoned as that requires an actual antidote to get rid of it.

"That 2nd skill sounds really useful in a fight. I can think of a few squad 11 members who would kill to be able to have a special ability like that." commented Toshiro. On this all the Soul Reapers agreed.

"Finally Golden Rule is a Skill that refers to the measurement of one's fortune to acquire wealth. The reason for a mediocre rank is because he attained the treasures of the Nibelungs, being promised a lifetime of wealth, but his Luck decreases due to the rank of this Skill. The reason for this penalty is that in life, Siegfried's kingdom was the wealthiest of all the surrounding regions, often throwing great feasts and tournaments and giving tributes so large that even an entire caravan would have trouble carrying them, but it was cursed so that whoever owned the treasure would suffer great misfortune. Like he did when he lost his life." Jeanne explained.

"So how does that help him as a Servant?" asked Ichigo curious. Jeanne thought about it for a moment before she explained.

"Actually, it helps his Master more than himself. If he has a Master who is financially struggling, then when this skill is activated, he can guarantee that they will be fine financially for the duration of the war though due to its mediocre rank it would just be fine. Not great, just fine. An example would be if they were out of town Siegfried would find paper money dropped on the ground guaranteed. But after an hr would only have enough money to pay for a room at a cheap hotel and a meal for that night but if he did so every other hr he would find more and if the master was prudent would save that money for later use and would gain a substantial amount of wealth after two weeks. Perhaps by the end he would gain enough to be financially stable for a few months." she said.

"Shame that Renji wasn't his Master. I know he would love to benefit from such a skill." said Rukia poking fun at Renji. Renji just rolled his eyes at the joke.

"Very funny, Rukia." he said sarcastically. Rukia giggled at this while Kisuke, Ichigo, Yoruichi all smirked at this exchange.

"Alright that's the Class and Personal Skills so all that's left is the nps. So, what are they?" asked Yoruichi trying to keep everyone on task as she reminded everyone that there were still 6 more Servants to get through after this one.

"Technically he has three but only really uses two of them. They are Armor of Fafnir which was ranked B+, Balmung which is ranked A+ but could go up to EX under certain circumstances, and finally Das Rheingold which has no known rank." explained Jeanne.

"Which one is the one that he can't use?" asked Toshiro.

"That would be Das Rheingold which is the unending mountain of treasure from his legend that both provided great wealth and cursed its owner with great misfortune." she said.

"That's the treasure hoard that Siegfried gained from defeating Fafnir, correct?" asked Byakuya.

"That's right. It's worth was allegedly enough for some to be left even by the time of Siegfried's great-grandson being an old man. But if the treasure is both summoned and allowed to flow freely, the humans who find it will become prisoners of great wealth, eventually causing much destruction as they would be filled with betrayal and distrust. But from what I can tell that treasure wasn't summoned with him, but it's still listed as part of his nps even though he can't use it." said Jeanne.

"So, then what about the two nps that he can use?" asked Kisuke.

"I'll start with the Armor of Fafnir. This one is Siegfried's main defensive np and is ranked B+ and is a self-anti-unit. It comes from when he defeated the evil dragon Fafnir and bathed in its blood after the fight rendering his body basically invulnerable. It's a continuously active armor that negates all attacks of B rank and below. When receiving a regular A rank attack, it is only recorded as an E rank attack. In case he is attacked with a Np, the armor's defensive value will rise to B+. Furthermore, the B+ defensive value is only applicable when he is attacked while defenseless, and in the case where he takes defensive action with Balmung to match the opponent's Np, the armor's defense will be reduced. Should the enemy use a Np or skill that has the properties of an Anti-Dragon special attack, this additional defensive value will not be included. In other words, when Siegfried goes all out in a defensive battle, he is effectively a moving fortress." she said.

"For quick reference I've theorized that B rank attacks or nps are equivalent to a Soul Reaper's Shikai and for Kido that's equivalent to spells #60-#79. A rank attacks or nps are equivalent to a Soul Reaper's Bankai that is weaker in terms of power levels like say the 3rd seat of squad 11 and his Bankai and for Kido that's equivalent to Bakudo spells #80-#99 and Hado spells #80-#89." added Kisuke. Jeanne nodded.

"Why the discrepancy between Bakudo and Hado?" asked Ukitake.

"Because EX rank is simply a label for attacks that are off the charts for Servants. Bakudos even at our strongest can get negated and do have a limit for their power level. Anything more powerful than a Bakudo #99 and you may as well use Kido seals as those are more powerful and harder to break. Hados by contrast don't at least not when they get into the 90's as a Kido user can overpower the spell and make it several times more destructive than its original calculation. Bakudos can't be overpowered as they'll just backfire or fizzle out when used by a novice Kido user." Kisuke elaborated.

"I see. So, for reference and getting back to Siegfried, unless we're using a Bankai or at least a level 90 Kido, he's virtually untouchable. And even then, it would only register as a minor wound. At best." concluded Toshiro.

"Yep, and keep in mind that is if he just stands there and takes it. If he decides to take offensive action and uses his sword Balmung, which is his other np, only then is the rank reduced enough that we could cause more harm than just minor wounds but that means risk getting hit by his offensive np in turn." concluded Kisuke.

"While very impressive you're all forgetting one crucial part of his legend." Byakuya spoke up getting everyone's attention. "Just before he bathed in the dragon's blood, a single leaf from a nearby tree fell onto his back and covered a single spot where the dragon's blood never touched him. This single weak spot is what allowed him to be assassinated at the end of his portion of the story. I assume that that carries over to him as a Servant?" asked Byakuya as he eyed Jeanne who nodded.

"Yes. This single weakness, from his legend, does carry over to him as a Servant. It's the reason why his back is exposed by his armor is because of a "curse" that forces him to do so. It conceptually prevents him from protecting his back. Even if Siegfried were to be protected by something like a barrier, a hole in it would definitely open facing his back. It becomes extremely difficult for him to be healed with healing magecraft if he is wounded there even once. As a result, should his True Name be revealed it would be fatal, as a result of his renowned legend, knowledge of his weak point will be known to all should his identity be exposed. Utilizing his Np around witnesses and even speaking could give critical details about him away." explained Jeanne.

"You think that's why this Saber of Black barely said anything the entire time we saw him?" asked Rukia. Jeanne nodded.

"I'm almost certain that his master, Gordes Musik Yggdmillennia decided to forbid him from speaking exactly for this reason. Despite this worry however, there aren't many heroes who possess the skill to pull off the tricky feat of aiming for Siegfried's back while fighting him in the first place, so Assassin-class Servants with Presence Concealment are seen as his greatest threat." added Jeanne.

"Oh, I think several Soul Reapers here could pull off that feat. Byakuya being chief among them." said Yoruichi. At Jeanne's confused look she added. "Byakuya's shikai and Bankai take the phrase 'death by a thousand cuts' quite literally except he can control where every cut will land on a person and how fast they'll receive that cut." Byakuya nodded.

"That's more or less correct." he agreed. "But now we have only his offensive noble phantasm left to assess. Could you please explain it, Lady Jeanne?" he asked politely. Ichigo looked a little put out but didn't say anything and listened to the last np explanation for Siegfried.

"Yes. That would be the great sword Balmung. It's his only weapon and main offensive np and is A rank but can get boosted to EX rank and is an Anti-army np but can be boosted to anti-fortress. It's able to unleash a wide-range attack that is capable of wiping out an army, while also inflicting additional damage on those with the dragon attribute. I don't know if any of you saw this about his weapon but there was a blue jewel encased in the hilt of the sword which contains spirit energy from the Age of Gods, and it is possible to pull out the sword's power to the maximum with just a small quantity of it. His sword's accumulation of spirit energy is overwhelmingly faster than that of an average Anti-Army Np, making it almost like a quickdraw for nps. But Siegfried cannot instantly replenish the spirit energy he expends so while he can fire it off quickly, he can't do so repeatedly. Although when he was alive, he could activate it faster, thanks to his inborn disposition combined with the transformation of his heart due to being bathed in and drinking a dragon's blood, the moment he was summoned as the Servant Saber, that special characteristic of his was highly degraded." explained Jeanne.

"Is it safe to assume that when Siegfried uses the sword as a melee weapon only, it's rank is A but when he uses the jewel it gets boosted to EX rank?" asked Yoruichi. Jeanne nodded. "So in summation despite his overall rank being equivalent to a high seated officer, his nps and skills allow him to hit above his weight class and is essentially a moving fortress capable of wiping out armies unless he either runs out of spirit energy or someone goes for his weak spot that, thanks to Jeanne, we now know of, and he is especially dangerous against opponents with dragon attributes. Is this a fairly accurate summary?" she asked, looking at Jeanne. She nodded.

"He's also the only member of the Black Faction that we ran into. But if the rest are like this than I think the Black Faction is going to be a pretty formidable force." commented Ichigo.

"Considering Trifas is in Wallachia of Transylvania, Romania, it's also safe to assume that the Servant Vlad III is most likely a participant as well though I don't yet know who's team he would be on as he wasn't among the Servants we encountered tonight." said Jeanne.

"What makes you say that, Jeanne?" asked Rukia.

"Something I forgot to mention last time but Servants can get territorial boosts when summoned and remaining within their homeland. I'll use two examples, one more famous and one not so much. So, if Heracles was summoned in any other country besides Greece, he'd still be a formidable foe due to his worldwide fame. But if a Holy Grail War was somehow able to take place in Greece, then if Heracles was summoned, you'd be guaranteed victory as you'd need to summon either world famous heroes or other Greek heroes just to compete with him. I'll use a Japanese example for the less famous one. If you summoned say Miyamoto Musashi in any country save for Japan no doubt that they would be very formidable opponents, but they could still be defeated though it would be a hard-earned victory. By contrast if they were summoned in Japan during a typical Holy Grail War, their power would be boosted to a degree that only very old, very famous, or other Japanese heroes could go toe to toe with Musashi and possibly win. That's how much of a boost one gets when summoned in their homelands and why where the Grail War takes place is critical so mages can take advantage of the territory boost by summoning a Servant of that land." explained Jeanne. Everyone looked at her with wide eyes shocked by that piece of information. Yoruichi then politely coughed, getting everyone to focus again.

"While amazing, I think I need to ask who Vlad III is as he doesn't sound familiar. When I think of Transylvania all I think of is Dracula and he's entirely fictional." she pointed out.

"Vlad III or more infamously Vlad the Impaler is actually one of the main inspirations for what would become the character of Dracula. And before anyone asks, he was called the Impaler due to it being his favorite method of execution of his victims. Wallachia is actually Vlad's birthplace. So given our location, he's most likely been summoned to take advantage of the territorial boosts that are here as with them he would be able to be as powerful as Servants sporting worldwide fame like King Arthur." said Jeanne.

"I see. Well, we'll have to leave that be for now as we don't know if he was summoned or not and whose team, he's on, as you said you haven't encountered him yet. So, let's focus on the ones you have encountered so far. So, we've got none for gold, two, Lancer and Berserker, for white, and one, Saber, for black so far. That just leaves the red, blue, and silver faction Servants. So which group do we assess next?" asked Toshiro.

"Well, these last three we encountered two for each group. Let's do the Silver Faction next. The Servants we encountered from this one were the Archer and Lancer of Silver. Their True Names are Arash and Diarmuid Ua Duibhne respectively." said Jeanne. Everyone looked at her with cocked heads and confused looks. "Judging from your reactions, I'm going to assume that neither of these names sound familiar to any of you." On this everyone nodded.

"We'll do the same as Karna where if their legend is relevant with their skills or nps then talk about it if not leave it for Byakuya and Renji to study later." suggested Ukitake. Everyone nodded in agreement.

"Very well. Why don't we start with Arash or Arash Kamangir. He's an Ancient Persian Hero. His legend is actually very brief. He's known for his one great feat of shooting an arrow that killed him in the process and decided the border between two countries known today as Iran and Pakistan and brought about a peaceful resolution to a war through this feat." said Jeanne.

"That is shockingly brief. I'm surprised he has enough fame to be summoned as a Servant. Don't they have to be famous to become Servants?" asked Renji confused.

"Famous or old. The Persian Empire was founded a little over 2500 yrs. ago and lasted for 200 yrs. So this Arash's legend is anywhere between 2300 to 2450 yrs. old. Making him even older than King Arthur. If my knowledge of geography is correct this puts Arash in current day Iran or Pakistan or both. So even though he was most likely a local hero his fame has been kept alive for that long so he qualifies as a Servant through this method. Is that a correct understanding of how that works?" asked Byakuya. Jeanne nodded.

"That's actually a very good way of understanding that. Anyone who had an impact on history is technically able to become a Servant, but their strength depends on the age and fame as I said earlier. But some just don't have either and have to manifest as Servants in other ways usually as composite Servants or demi Servants. Which is just combining with either other minor heroic spirits or wraiths as we call them in order to gain enough strength to manifest at all or even in compatible human hosts like I did though mine was for another unknown reason, but the point still stands." said Jeanne.

"That is an interesting thing to research at a later time. But why don't we get back to Arash himself? What are his parameters?" asked Kisuke furiously, taking notes.

"Right. Sorry. His parameters are as follows: His Strength is B, his Endurance is A, his Agility is B+, his Mana is E, his Luck is D, and finally his NP is B++." rattled off Jeanne.

"So that calculated his overall power level to a D Rank or an unseated officer's power level. A bit underwhelming compared to the other three powerhouses we looked at so far." noted Kisuke.

"I wouldn't be so quick to write him off as Archer can shoot salvos of up to twenty arrows at the same time and each of these has enough power to easily shatter boulders. However, between each of these barrages, a very small pause occurs. He is also able to launch a much greater barrage if he makes a more extended pause." Jeanne pointed out.

"Uryu would love this guy." Ichigo commented sourly.

"I take it that this is due to an np of his?" asked Toshiro.

"A skill actually but first let's start with his Class Skills. He has two. They are Magic Resistance which is C Rank, the same as Karna, and Independent Action which is also C Rank." said Jeanne.

"Magic resistance we understand and it's the same rank as Karna's, so it requires no further elaboration but what about his other Class Skill?" asked Ukitake.

"Independent action is a Class Skill unique to the Archer class. It allows them to stay manifested in this world without the need for a Master for a duration of time. This makes them ideal scouts and spies along with Assassin class Servants as neither need a lot of spirit energy to perform tasks like say a Saber or Berserker who require double or triple the amount just to stay manifested. The higher the Rank the longer the duration of time an Archer can stay manifested without a Master. For Arash his C rank means that he can stay manifested in this world for one day before he needs to find a way to sustain himself." said Jeanne.

"But only Archers have this skill?" asked Rukia curiously. Jeanne nodded.

"Assassins have Presence Concealment which is similar but not exactly like Independent Action but other than that no other Class has either this particular Skill besides Archers or something like it. Though individual non-Archer Servants may have this particular Skill for one reason or another." elaborated Jeanne.

"Alright what about Personal Skills for Arash?" asked Ichigo.

"He has three Personal Skills. They are Robust Health, which is EX Rank, Clairvoyance which is A Rank, and finally Bow and Arrow Creation which is also A Rank." said Jeanne.

"Elaboration please?" asked Yoruichi.

"Robust Health is a Skill that is made up of anecdotes of "not receiving a wound on the battlefield" and "never becoming sick even once since birth". It is also a composite Skill and includes Poison Resistance and a boost in stamina. Arash, who is strongly endowed with the vestiges of the Age of Gods, was born with especially robust health. When he activates this skill his Endurance parameter is ranked up to EX and attacks, he received have their damage reduced by a rank. So, an attack that was A rank, with this skill he'll receive only B rank damage and so on." explained Jeanne.

"I wonder how the guy would do against someone like Kenpachi?" Renji wondered aloud but he shrugged. "Anyway, what about the other two?"

"The first of his remaining two skills is Clairvoyance. This skill, due to its A rank, allows Arash to be granted a kind of future sight or allowing him to predict the future, which is especially useful on the battlefield, and even mind-reading is possible to a certain extent. As a result, no one is able to escape his insight and intuition." explained Jeanne. This caused the Soul Reapers to become concerned.

"So, is there a chance that he might know about what we really are already?" asked Rukia with a frown.

"I don't think so. We already determined with Saber of Black, who was contracted to a confirmed non-spiritually aware Master, that he also couldn't see anyone save for Urahara and Arash was in the same position despite both being Servants." Jeanne pointed out. This got the quartet of soul reaper officer's attention.

"We're going to need to be brought up to speed on this information." Byakuya pointed out.

"Right. Sorry forgot that none of you were present for this little info we stumbled upon." noted Kisuke. From there he proceeded to explain how several Servants and Masters could or couldn't see Rukia and Ichigo in their soul Reaper forms and the conclusions they came to as a result of this. He also brought up his theories surrounding magic circuits and how many one possessed could be affecting whether they could see Rukia and Ichigo in their soul reaper forms. "I need to emphasize that this isn't fully proven yet until we can confirm if the Masters of the Servants who can't see us are not spiritually aware. Not to mention that Ichigo's habit of leaking spirit energy could end up making everyone become spiritually aware anyway due to his presence. Though the cloak I gave him should at least reduce or delay that likelihood significantly." he added.

"Definitely something worth investigating at a later date. But what's Arash's last Skill?" asked Ukitake.

"That would be his Bow and Arrow Creation Skill. While the goddess Armaiti supposedly gave him the knowledge, the designer and the creator of the bow was Arash himself. As long as he has the materials, he can instantly make a bow and arrows. A bow needs physical materials; however, arrows can be made by using his magical energy. Because of this, Arash can intermittently fire a countless number of arrows. In fact, Arash has a special move from when he was alive which he would be able to momentarily invoke by effectively using his Bow and Arrow Creation Skill without preparing a large number of arrows beforehand. He can release 10,000 arrows that could fill even the sky, and it would be expected that he could kill all of the people in Trifas. Even the structures in the middle of Trifas would be destroyed from the barrage if Arash does not make any adjustments in his aiming. So, while not his np, this Skill alone allows him to be a one-man artillery barrage without any significant cost of energy the only downside is that there has to be a pause and the more arrows he wants to launch at once, the longer that pause is though it's usually not much longer than a minute." said Jeanne.

"Wait! If that's just a skill of his then what is his actual np?" asked Ichigo in surprise.

"His actual np is called Stella which is A rank and is an Anti-army np. It's the "Ultimate Shot" that employs all of Arash's might. It is a maximum range, a long-range attack. Its massive amount of energy is comparable to even an Anti-Fortress Np. But in exchange for this great power, this Np can only be employed once for its usage always results in Arash's death, simultaneously destroying him and the Np, and in a sense, it is considered a "Double Broken Phantasm"." explained Jeanne. "However as an added bonus due to it being the 'shot that ended all strife', it means that whatever it's fired at will be either stopped or destroyed. This applies even to np's that are of higher rank than his. Lower ranked attacks or nps will be destroyed while higher ranked attacks or nps will simply be cancelled out." she added.

"Considering his legend, that would make sense for his np. But it does limit him in a lot of ways. So, on the whole as a Servant, while his power level is that of an unseated soul reaper, he is good for long range support but if he's used to his fullest potential, he dies after one use even though that one use is very powerful and guarantees either the opposing attack either destroyed or cancelled out. So, I agree with Urahara's original assessment of being a bit underwhelming compared to the other Servants we've talked about so far, but I would add that under someone with a good strategic mind he can be utilized well without sacrificing himself. And if it comes time to sacrifice him, he'll at least be able to utilize power equivalent to a low powered Bankai and can guarantee at least the cancelling out of a higher level attack in the process." said Toshiro. "Anyone wish to add anything or argue against it?" he asked, looking around. When no one did, he looked at Jeanne. "Alright let's move onto his faction partner." he said. Jeanne nodded.

"That would be Lancer of Silver, True name Diarmuid Ua Duibhne. One of the heroes of the Fenian cycle of Irish mythology. First spear of the knights of Fianna. He is also known as Diarmuid of the Love Spot, due to a magical love spot granted to him by a young girl who turned out to be the Celtic goddess of youth. This love spot is one of his Personal skills, so I'll elaborate more on that later. But he is a tragic character, and this love spot was the main cause of it. Diarmuid is an extremely accomplished spearman, capable of skillfully using two spears of different lengths with blinding speed and agility. He has amazing warrior prowess overall. Even when he resorts to utilizing just one spear, which is not his preferred style, he is still able to fight without being at a disadvantage. In addition to his close-quarters combat prowess, he's also good at landing a hit with his spear from a distance. This is a throwback to his legend, where he used the same lance to strike down a flying witch after he was in great pain from having been hit with poisonous darts." she stated.

"So, it's no surprise he's in the Lancer class. Alright let's see his parameters." said Yoruichi eagerly.

"His Strength is B, Endurance is C, Agility is A+, Mana is D, Luck is E, and finally his NP is B." Jeanne rattled off.

"So calculated together that puts Lancer of Silver at a B+ rank overall putting him at a high seated officer level at best. So already he's stronger on a basic power level compared to Archer of Silver." assessed Kisuke. "So, what are his class skills?" he asked.

"He only has one and that's Magic Resistance which is B Rank." said Jeanne.

"So, for Kido that means spells level 60 or greater would have to be utilized to affect him. Odd that he only has one class skill though." stated Toshiro. "Alright what about Personal Skills?" he asked.

"He has 3. They are Mind's Eye (true) which is B rank, Love Spot, which is C rank, and finally Knight's Strategy which is B Rank." explained Jeanne.

"Why don't we start with his Love Spot as that was mentioned earlier?" asked Byakuya. Jeanne nodded.

"His Love Spot is a physical mole under his right eye that is constantly active and is a passive ability of his. It's a spell, or curse depending on how you look at it, which enchants those of the user's opposite sex with magical energy. It is because of this curse that he is known as "Diarmuid of the Love Spot". A woman who confronts Diarmuid gains a strong love affection for him. It is avoidable for female Servants with the Magic Resistance Skill thankfully so I wouldn't be affected by it. But as I said earlier this also caused his tragic downfall." said Jeanne.

"Could myself, ririn, or Rukia be effected by it?" asked Yoruichi.

"I was standing in front of him earlier and I don't feel anything towards him." Rukia pointed out.

"Did you feel anything off during the encounter, Rukia?" asked Kisuke eyeing her cautiously. Rukia thought about it and shook her head.

"No, I didn't. At worst I felt a bit of discomfort but that's it." said Rukia.

"Even female mages can avoid being affected by his Love Spot by just circulating their magical or rather spiritual energy in their bodies so as to flush it out whenever they encounter Lancer of Silver." Jeanne pointed out.

"So, females who are spiritually aware could theoretically be immune to his Love Spot. And the sheer volume of Spirit energy female soul reapers possess could render it moot." theorized Kisuke.

"We don't know that for certain until we encounter him next. So, let's not jump to conclusions until we can confirm this." Yoruichi pointed out. She turned to Jeanne. Now you said that this Love Spot is what led to his downfall in legend. Why don't you elaborate on that concisely as you can." she said.

"Very well. When his lord Fionn mac Cumhaill decided to marry he chose a bride that was young enough to be mistaken for his granddaughter. Her name was Gráinne. During the wedding party she came under the influence of his Love Spot and used a magical contract called a Geis to force him to run away with her. As a result, they were pursued relentlessly by Fionn. Even while at large, Diarmuid stuck to his fidelity to Fionn and did not lay a finger on Grainne. After much blood was shed, Fionn decided to recognize their marriage, granting Diarmuid a proper title and land, and welcomed them back as subjects." said Jeanne.

"Sounds like a happy ending to me." said Renji looking curious.

"There's more to the legend. Sometime later while hunting with Fionn, Diarmuid was fatally injured by a Demon Boar. Fionn, who had the ability to transform spring water into a powerful healing agent was with him, so technically he had no fear of death. Fionn only needed to walk a few steps to the nearby spring, but with jealousy and hatred towards Diarmuid on his mind, he spilled the water twice. By the third time he went to scoop water, Diarmuid had already succumbed to his wound. It's said that the story of his tragic love affair with Grainne would later become the model for the story of Lancelot and Guinevere." Jeanne finished.

"I take it back." said Renji sourly.

"It strange but it seems like this particular Servant just seems to be the receiver of misfortune despite doing very little to actually earn the tragedy that he wound up in." observed Ukitake sadly.

"I'll admit that I agree with you on that but there's very little that can be done about it as it's what let him have an impact on history and mythology. All we can do now is focus on the here and now which means moving onto his next skill." said Kisuke.

"Very well. Mind's Eye (True) is a skill that allows him to be capable of calm analysis of battle conditions even when in danger and deduce an appropriate course of action after considering all possibilities to escape from a predicament. He is extremely insightful, as he is capable of leading others into a well thought out trap. Thanks to this skill, he excels at using battle tactics designed to trip up enemies stronger than himself. In particular, he is the natural enemy of those Heroic Spirits which rely on the power of their Np to fight." said Jeanne.

"So, anyone who relies on sheer brute force or raw power is someone who he can counter against. Makes sense as he has to compensate for the lack of sheer raw power by being an incredibly skilled warrior. So that leaves his last Skill." said Byakuya.

"That would be Knight's Strategy. It's a battle methodology in which one grasps the flow of battle and induces the opponent to make a mistake, even without being a match for him/her in strength. A Skill not for self-strengthening, but to invite a check failure for the opponent. It consists of composed observation powers to wager on a momentary chance of victory. To give you an example, depending on his strategy, he could either win a more traditional holy grail war or suffer a humiliating defeat at the hands of an Assassin class Servant. While he usually follows the codes of chivalry during the War, it would be possible to have him to use underhanded tactics to have a better chance at claiming the Holy Grail. Convincing him that Heaven's Feel is filled with filth instead of an honorable battleground with other heroes and avoiding contact with likeminded heroic spirits to keep him from awakening his Chivalric Pride would allow him to utilize a hit and run strategy. Briefly engaging opponents in order to land precise hits with the spear and then retreat would become the main form of attack. He would not directly engage them, allowing him to cripple his opponents one by one by repeatedly attacking them. The other tactic would involve manipulating or taking advantage of a Berserker in order to let Berserker defeat other Servants and fight him in the final battle." explained Jeanne.

"Both of which would be sound strategies. And using these two skills together would make him a very dangerous opponent to face for those who are not well-rounded in their abilities." commented Toshiro.

"I wonder how he would fair against members of squad 11?" Ichigo wondered aloud as he continued to jot down notes. "So that just leaves his np. So, what is it?" he asked.

"Actually, he has two nps. His Nps are his twin spears both of which are B+ rank, and Anti-unit Gae Buidhe and Gae Dearg. Gae Buidhe is a short gold spear that makes any wounds caused by it to be unhealable, and Gae Dearg, a longer red spear that renders magical defenses powerless by piercing through mana. He keeps them tightly wrapped in amulet cloths from their tips to the handles, sealing their abilities and acting as a countermeasure to avoid revealing their names by hiding the shafts of the weapons. Their abilities begin working immediately after undoing them from their bindings, so he doesn't even have to say their names to activate them." said Jeanne.

"Huh. A spear that renders Kido barriers moot and the other one creates wounds that won't heal, at least not by conventional methods. We might have to bring in Orihime here after all or Captain Unohana at least. Still the best strategy for now is to not engage with him at all if you can avoid him." Yoruichi advised.

"I still stand by my earlier statement. As an individual assessment, while only about mid-level in terms of power, his skill and strategic prowess compensate for this tremendously. Then he has weapons that if used to the fullest can make him deadly to any opponents that are overly reliant on their power or special abilities and he's probably the most well rounded of the Servants we've assessed so far." said Toshiro.

"Respectfully Captain Hitsuguya, keep in mind that Lancer of White and Saber of Black we've determined are powerhouses that can hit above their weight classes and have a lot of X factors in their favor that it would render Lancer of Silver dead. At best I can see him taking out the weaker Servants but once we get to the major powerhouses, we've discussed already I just don't see him coming out on top." objected Renji. Ukitake nodded in agreement.

"And as an overall assessment for Silver, we have one Servant that can only be support at best and in order to fight at his best he would have to die and the other that is in the middle of the pack of Servants we've seen so far. I have to say that unless the other Servants are all powerhouses and these are just the weakest of their Servants, I don't see the Silver Faction lasting longer than midway through this battle royale." Ukitake continued.

"So that's four out of six Factions down. All that's left is the Blue and Red Faction. Which one should we look at first?" asked Rukia.

"Let's do the Blue Faction next. That would be Lancer and Berserker of Blue. Their True names are Cú Chulainn and Jekyll and Hyde, respectively." said Jeanne. Kisuke looked surprised.

"While I've never heard of the former until meeting you Ms. Jeanne, I know for a fact that the latter is a completely fictitious creation." said Kisuke.

"Real or fictional as long as they impacted humanity somehow, they can qualify to be a Servant." Jeanne reminded them.

"True. And despite being only 124 yrs. old, their story is one of the most famous gothic horror stories of all time along with Dracula, and Frankenstein that we're talking about." Kisuke conceded. "Alright let's start with Berserker of Blue as their more familiar. What can you tell us about them?" he asked.

"Jekyll and Hyde have different parameters. So, while technically the same Servant, we'll treat them as separate entities. We'll start with Jekyll. His parameters are as follows: Strength is C+, Endurance is E, Agility is A+, Mana is E, Luck is C, and his Np is C." Jeanne rattled off.

"Even though we haven't calculated anything yet, even I can see that he's a pretty weak Servant." Rukia commented giving an uneasy look.

"And calculated Jekyll's rank is C-. What about Hyde's parameters?" asked Kisuke.

"His parameters are as follows: Strength is B+, Endurance is B+, Agility is B+, Mana is D, Luck is D, and Np is C." Jeanne rattled off.

"And calculated Hyde's rank is C+. Not a whole lot better than Jekyll." noted Ichigo.

"So, no matter who is in control, as far as power levels are concerned this Servant is either at the level of a low seated officer. Jekyll is about a 15th to 20th seat while Hyde is about an 11th to 14th seat. Is it safe to assume that he's classified as the Berserker because of Hyde?" Yoruichi asked.

"Actually, one of his Personal Skills is the double summon skill which is B rank. Under this skill he can possess either skills or nps or both that belong to other classes he would qualify for. In this case he possesses skills that belong to both the Assassin and Berserker classes." explained.

"Why Assassin?" asked Renji.

"Because outside of either of these two classes, Jekyll possesses practically no combat ability. While Jekyll is of the Assassin-class, he turns into the Berserker-class as Hyde with the help of his np which we will get to shortly." said Jeanne.

"What about Class skills?" asked Byakuya.

"They have two. One for each side of this Servant. For Hyde it's Madness enhancement which is ranked A. And for Jekyll it's Presence Concealment which is also ranked A.

"Madness Enhancement we know about already thanks to Lancelot though his was C and Hyde's is A. So, is it safe to assume that most of his sanity is gone?" asked Toshiro. Jeanne nodded.

"It's very likely that only either a very close personal bond with his Master or using command seals would get him to be even the slightest bit cooperative. As for Jekyll's class skill of Presence Concealment: This skill is almost exclusively for Assassin class Servants though I'm sure there are exceptions like Independent Action for Archers. This skill is suitable for espionage activities, suppressing one's presence as a Servant. Due to its high rank, it is nearly impossible to be detected when this skill is active but when preparing to attack the skill has to deactivate as a direct attack on a target renders the skill moot anyway." explained Jeanne.

"So, onto the Personal Skills. What do they have?" asked Ukitake.

"As I explained and elaborated on earlier, they have Double Summon which is B Rank, so we won't go over it again." Said Jeanne. On this no one argued. "So, we'll cover their remaining skills. They are monstrous strength, which is B rank, voice of panic, which is A rank, self-modification, which is D rank, and finally powerless shell which is A rank." Jeanne rattled off.

"Which skills belong to which side of this Servant?" asked Renji.

"Powerless shell is the only skill specific to Jekyll. All the others either belong to Hyde or they share like the double summons skill." Said Jeanne.

"Let's start with Jekyll and his skills." Said Byakuya.

"That would be Powerless Shell. While his mind and body are in the state of Jekyll, the true value of his personal Skills are not shown, his abilities and Parameters are lowered as well, and his presence becomes difficult to perceive as a Servant. If this is combined with his Presence Concealment skill than he is virtually indistinguishable from ordinary humans." explained Jeanne.

"In other words, he, as Jekyll, can maneuver himself into the perfect position to launch a surprise attack without other Servants, Masters, or otherwise being the wiser. Which, given what we've seen of him so far, is about the only viable strategy where he'd have any chance of success within a fight." noted Yoruichi. "What about Hyde?" she then asked.

"Hyde has the remaining three skills attributed to him. Monstrous Strength is as its name implies and allows Hyde to temporarily Rank-Up his Strength Parameter by one rank. Given its own mid rank that can last for up to several minutes but more importantly is reusable for several times in a fight. Then there's Voice of Panic. This skill performs a mental attack on his targets with a resounding voice that weakens the minds of people who hear it. Though I assume this lasts as long as his vocal cords last or as long as his Master is able to heal them. Finally, his last skill is Self-Modification. Basically, it remodels his own body into a form specialized for combat. However, because of the double summoned skill allowing for Assassin skills to have equal share for the Servant, the rank of this Skill is lowered, and it does not even work very effectively, to the point that it is not certain whether his limbs have grown slightly longer or not. If he were to put this Skill into operation at the time of having materialized without the double summoned skill and as a Berserker, it's likely it would be of a higher rank and he would be able to change into the form of a mad beast that does not completely appear human, a form suitable for his Parameters that were strengthened by his Madness Enhancement Skill. But as it stands now, this incarnation of Berserker of Blue is different in that he retains his human form, as well as more of his sanity and even his reason. The difference in transformation performed between being an Assassin and being a full Berserker lies in his Self-Modification Skill. The Skill would be limited by the double summoned skill interfering with it." explained Jeanne.

"So, he can't modify himself for combat all that much but does retain his reason and sanity somewhat in exchange. That might not be a bad thing in hindsight." noted Kisuke. "So, what about his np?" he asked, looking at Jeanne.

"Jekyll's np is Dangerous Game and is C rank and a self anti-unit np. It's the miracle drug that transforms his existence into Hyde from Jekyll, and vice versa. When he is Hyde, he acquires close-combat power that can even overwhelm the Three Knight Classes. But in exchange, once he's Hyde he effectively has no np until he decides to flip back over to Jekyll. But that's about it." explained Jeanne.

"So, if our analysis of this Servant is correct, we're looking at a Servant who is at a low seated officer's rank for power levels at best. Has skills as an Assassin that are only good for one effective fighting strategy or for espionage. And who's own trump card is simply turning into a Berserker and just cause chaos on the battlefield as any direct combat with any of the other Servants we've looked at so far would destroy him in only a few moves unless he got one lucky hit from a sneak attack. Is that about, right?" asked Toshiro.

"That's a fair assessment." Jeanne said.

"Blue Faction's not off to a great start. Makes me wonder how their other Servant will compare." Ichigo commented. "So, who is the other one, again?" he asked blushing in embarrassment for forgetting the other Servant's name so quickly.

"That would be Lancer of Blue with his True Name being Cú Chulainn. One of the main heroes of the Ulster cycle of Irish mythology. Also known as the Hound of Ulster and Ireland's child of Light." said Jeanne.

"Hm. Another Irish hero. Interesting." Ukitake commented. "Parameters?" he asked.

"His Parameters are as follows: Strength is A, his endurance is C, his agility is A+, Mana is B, Luck is D, and Np is B." Jeanne rattled off.

"Alright so calculated that puts his power level at a solid B rank. So high seated officer at best." said Kisuke. "Well, that's slightly better than Berserker of Blue. Anything outside of his skills worth noting?" he asked.

"Outside of Lancer, Cú Chulainn also qualifies for the Saber, Rider, Caster and Berserker classes. Having seen in him a worthy student and disciple, he was taught by the renowned warrior Scáthach everything she knew about martial arts, various weapons including how to use what is now his np Gáe Bolg which we'll get too later, and Runic magecraft. Cú Chulainn is not simply a reckless warrior and is able to tell the quality of a Bounded Field and how to proceed further with it. His percipience of cavalry, that came from the renowned feat of riding two ferocious war horses, Liath Macha and Dub-Sainglend into battles. And he had gone berserk several times in life. But the Lancer class suits him best and is his preferred class to be summoned in. As a Lancer, he possesses supreme agility, as well as excellent close combat skills. Hence why he qualifies for so many other classes." said Jeanne.

"And going by what you mentioned in Karakura, if a Servant is summoned and only qualifies for one class than at their strongest, the Servant is only fighting with half of their soul present, so half strength at best. But that half normally can get broken up into 7 pieces at least. And the more classes they qualify for the less of their soul is summoned. So, let's say the whole soul is broken into 14 parts equally and apply that to this Cú fellow. Following your explanation than at present only 2-3/14ths of his soul is present as I'm not sure if you count the class he's summoned in or not." said Yoruichi.

"Hold on you're saying that 2-3/14ths of his soul is present as he's summoned and he's still at the level of a high seated officer in his current state?!" asked Ukitake shocked. Jeanne nodded. "My god!" he exclaimed.

"Anything else outside his skills you want to add?" asked Byakuya hesitantly with widened eyes.

"While I mentioned this briefly with Vlad III, I need to clarify that geographical boosts technically apply to all Servants including Lancer of Blue. If he were summoned in Japan Cú Chulainn obtains no geographical boosts since those of Celtic mythology are not well known there. If he were to appear outside Japan, he would be on par with Heracles and King Arthur. In western Europe particularly, he would receive a general boost in power similar to other European Heroic Spirits, and he would display a much sharper increase in power in his native Ireland, being one of its greatest heroes." said Jeanne.

"Well, there is proof that the Celts were inhabiting Transylvania as early as the 4th century during the Roman empire. So how much of a boost does being in lands inhabited by the Celts do for him?" asked Kisuke.

"The boost he gets while in Europe is he receives a boost in the rank of all his parameters by one, and his Np by one as well. If he were to be summoned in his homeland of Ireland, he'd get both these boosts and he would have access to several more Nps, including a fortress, a Chariot known as Siabur-Charpat pulled by his two horses Liath Macha and Dub-Sainglend, and a Blessing of Wakefulness skill which is a skill that allows him to remain at his peak performance even when he's expended all his energy. So, the parameters I gave you earlier are when he isn't being boosted by his location. So, move all his ranks of his parameters and Np up by one and recalculate it." she suggested. They did so.

"Okay so with just the boosts in mind that puts his overall rank at A rank. Or a lieutenant level." said Ichigo.

"Wait a minute do we have to go back and redo the others with this boost in mind?" asked Rukia in concern.

"No, I don't think so. At least not all of them. Karna's fame is limited to India, Arash to Iran and Pakistan mostly, Jekyll and Hyde and Siegfried are limited to more Western Europe not here in Eastern Europe Romania, and we can calculate the boost for the Red Faction going forward if we need to. So aside from Cú the only other Servants we'd have to recalculate for are Diarmuid and Lancelot and the only things that are affected are their parameters and nps.

"So, for the recalculation, for Lancelot's overall rank is now EX or Captain class level but barely and his nps are 2 EX ranks and 1 A rank np for him. And for Diarmuid his overall rank is still B+ and now his 2 nps which are now A+." said Kisuke. That surprised everyone.

"Why was the boost so much for Lancelot and Cú but not as much Diarmuid?" asked Toshiro.

"It could be a number of things and keep in mind Lancelot is sporting worldwide fame whereas the two Celtic Servants we've examined are only sporting fame from Europe and anywhere the Celts inhabited with their homelands of Ireland giving them the biggest boost." said Jeanne.

"Alright. So, moving forward we'll need to keep geographical boosts in mind. Anything else?" asked Toshiro.

"Cú Chulainn specializes in survival, and he's capable of returning alive no matter how hopeless the situation is. He also usually prefers to fight with his full power as a warrior." said Jeanne. "From here I will move onto his Skills, starting with his Class Skills. They are Magic Resistance which is C Rank and Divinity which is B Rank." she said.

"So, his magic resistance is the same as Karna's. Is the divinity skill mean he's a demigod?" asked Ichigo in curiosity.

"Yes. This Skill shows that a Servant possesses Divine Spirit aptitude. The higher it is, the more one is a mixed race of a physical divine spirit. In Cú Chulainn's case he inherited the blood of Lugh, the god who governs over the sun and main god of Ireland's pantheon, the Danann. As the son of Lugh, who possessed every skill such as knowledge, techniques, and magic, Cú Chulainn exhibited superior talent from birth. Boasting supernatural ability that separated him from ordinary people from a young age. As a Servant under this skill, he also passively draws extra power from the sun during the day, but his overall power hardly diminishes at night. Once he intentionally activates this skill, at his rank of B, this skill allows one to break through and defend against otherwise invincible Skills, such as Protection of the Faith which is a skill that acts as a protective blessing for the one who possesses it." explained Jeanne.

"Alright. What about Personal Skills?" asked Rukia.

"He has 5 personal Skills. They are Rune Magecraft which is B rank, Protection from Arrows, which is B rank, Battle Continuation, which is A rank, Beast Slayer which is B+, and finally Disengage which is C rank." Jeanne rattled off.

"The only skill in this bunch that I recognized is Disengage. But Siegfried's was A ranked rather than C. But let's move onto the Skills we don't know." said Toshiro.

"Very well. How familiar are any of you with Runes?" she asked.

"They're a form of writing that exists in Scandinavia and other Northern European nations at least in the mundane world. I'm assuming that it's different in the mage world, correct?" asked Byakuya. Jeanne nodded.

"Runes are a form of magecraft unique to Northern Europe, which if performed by engraving a word of power into stone to induce various mystical effects. By using different Runes, strong and diverse effects can be used. Besides attacking, the main usages are effects proper of the Magic Resistance skill, effects of the Clairvoyance skill, effect of rising parameters, etc. These are all temporary and can't be used simultaneously. Cú Chulainn studied rune magecraft under Scáthach in the Land of Shadows. Although he is a nearly first-rate mage, since he sees Runes as a hindrance, he does not usually employ them in combat. He appropriately utilizes them to respond to different situations. For him he can use one such rune for the purpose of searching, another rune like Ansuz rune allows him to set a blaze to reduce an entire room to ashes, causing a continuing conflagration that can seep into the building structure and cause it to crumble. He can use them as a counter measure against Mystic Eyes, even those as potent as Mystic Eyes of Petrification. He can inscribe his armor with runic protections, and he is able to set up a powerful Bounded Field in an instant by carving all of his runes onto the ground. Said barrier is able to block even a Np. Another use of multiple Runes is a ritual called Ath nGabla, a seal formed by pointing his spear at the ground and carving four runes, Algiz, Nauthiz, Ansuz, and Ingwaz, in four corners around him. It is a curse passed down to the Knights of the Red Branch that creates an arena formed from four branches, guaranteeing one-on-one combat without the possibility of retreat. But beyond that it does not carry any inherent magical energy." explained Jeanne

"Damn! These runes sound extremely flexible and useful. And from what it sounds like no incantations are required to activate them." commented Yoruichi in fascination.

"What about the other Skills?" asked Ukitake.

"The next skill is Beast-Slayer which is a skill that when activated has a special effect against Demonic Beasts or wild animals. This is due to Cú Chulainn, knowing deeply about the nature of beasts, and therefore knows the way to kill them." said Jeanne.

"I wonder if that skill would apply to hollows?" Renji wondered aloud. That made Jeanne pause as she thought about it.

"I'm not sure on that one. I guess we'll have to see that at a later date. After all he was able to see all of you when we met him. But moving onto his next skill. That would be Protection from Arrows. Cu Chulainn was born with the special ability to deal with projectiles. It's said that it's possible for him to avoid any long-range attack as long as he has made visual confirmation of his opponent. He can deal with most projectiles even in conditions where the opponent cannot be visually seen. He can read the course of the projectile attack by using the sound of cutting air and the enemy's murderous intent. As long as the attack is a thrown type, he can avoid even Nps, but he can't gain the effects of this protection with respect to wide range attack types where the attack range of the weapon explodes on impact, or a direct attack by a weapon that has simply long reach." explained Jeanne.

"Interesting as that means that he's weak to sabers but can counter Archers perfectly. I assume that this sort of triangle of counter classing is normal for Sabers, Lancer, and Archers?" asked Urahara. Jeanne nodded.

"Yes, in fact counter classing exists for all but Berserkers as they are defined by their madness and so take damage from everyone. To put this as concisely as possible, Archer beats Saber because of sheer range; having high overall stats doesn't help when your opponent can kill you before you can even see them. Lancers, meanwhile, are fast enough to get in close to Archers without getting hit; most Archers are rather weak in close quarters. However, Sabers tend to have more stamina than Lancers, and would thus tend to win battles of attrition against them. Then Casters beat Assassins because they likely have access to scrying or other forms of sensory enhancement and can thus find them even when they don't want to be found. Riders are good against Casters because they can charge in and trample them before they finish their spells. Assassins ambush Riders while they aren't mounted, which is when they're at their weakest. Or another way to look at the latter triangle is this way; Riders beat Casters because the Rider class inherently has Magic Resistance, making it easy for them to plow right into their bases and take them out head on. Casters beat Assassins because most Casters have the skill of Territory Creation, allowing them to create Bounded Fields that warn them if intruders are entering, and while some Assassins may bypass it, Casters have enough tools to protect themselves. Assassins beat Riders because Assassins are best at killing the Master, if a Rider charges out to battle, what can the merely Human Master do against an Assassin? But there are exceptions to every rule." she explained.

"Hm, I wonder if Mages who summon them even think about that when they summon or send their Servants out to battle?" wondered Toshiro.

"Probably not. As most are concerned with trying to summon Sabers as they are considered the most outstanding of all the classes in terms of parameters." answered Jeanne.

"Ah. Good old hubris coming in with the clutch. Well, that is also something that has to be considered going forward. So, what's Cú's last skill as we covered 4 of his 5 personal skills?" asked Kisuke.

"That would be his Battle Continuation. This comes from his legend which said that the dying Cú Chulainn tied himself to a tree or boulder before taking his last breath. Because of this anecdote, he possesses the highest possible rank in this Skill. It's possible for him to fight even on the verge of death, surviving as long as his injury is not decisively lethal. Even in a hopeless battle, Cú Chulainn was still able to demonstrate astonishing tenacity. Even without an active heart or Master, he is able to hold his rapidly fading form through the use of this Skill." explained Jeanne. Everyone had slacked jaws at that.

"Don't ever introduce him to Kenpachi. I don't think the Soul Society would survive if these two met." said Ichigo worriedly. Everyone nodded save for Jeanne who just looked confused.

"Moving on. So, all that's left is his Noble phantasm. What can you tell us about that?" asked Byakuya. Jeanne refocused back on the question.

"Yes, Cú Chulainn's Np and main weapon is Gáe Bolg which is B+ and can be either anti-unit or anti-army depending on the circumstances. It's a two-meter spear, allowing him to only need to attack when an opponent enters his range. A distance of three meters between him and the opponent matters little, so while it is easier to thrust at an approaching enemy instead of moving out, he will still quickly close the distance between an opponent instead. All of his thrusts are enough to be a finishing blow. The main strength of Gáe Bolg is in its swings rather than thrusting as its shape would indicate. Its wide swing utilizes its long range to not allow the enemy to dodge by stepping back. Partial retreat from a strike will not allow for escape, attempting a counterattack would result in receiving a slashed stomach, and simply going forward will result in a smashed rib from the long shaft of the lance. Thrusts are still dangerous, but it is possible to avoid an attack that targets a specific point once it has been seen through to allow for the strike to be redirected to create an opening. Cú Chulainn is able to easily put distance between him and his opponent at any point in a battle, and uses his lance to vault thirty meters, in simple terms, his speed is extraordinary. He fights with intensity, and it would normally be that closing in on an opponent in such a matter would be suicidal with such a long weapon. As I stated earlier, Lances are effective against swords because there is no effective way of parrying them with a sword. Strong rebuffs from a sword only result in a counterattack, while weak rebuffs do not create any openings. The most important part of a battle between the two is defeating the enemy while they are at the wrong range. Spearmen normally use their length and freedom of range to win a battle, and discarding such an advantage by closing in should mean defeat. But such by the book tactics mean little to Cú Chulainn, as his ability with the lance shows no vulnerabilities due to not having to follow the general rule on lances. His strikes are fast enough that even the afterimages are blurred and allow him to easily remove any possible openings, and he can constantly increase the speed of his thrusts and make continuous attacks without allowing the slightest pause in between. And keep in mind this is just him using Gáe Bolg as a melee weapon only. I haven't even talked about his spear special ability." said Jeanne.

"There's More!?" everyone exclaimed. Jeanne nodded.

"Yes. When using it as a melee weapon only, it's green in coloration. But when he calls out its name and activates it as his np, it turns red. And that's when its special ability comes into play. It's the spear of causation which carries a curse that reverses causality. As a passive ability even when used as a melee weapon, the wounds inflicted by the spear cannot be healed as the curse of the spear renders them incapable of altering their fate, as long as the spear remains in the world. The weapon has two main techniques as an np which can be classified as separate nps on their own, the first of which reverses causality to always strike the heart but he can only do so at close range, and the second of which unleashes the full potential of the spear to strike the enemy by hurling the spear with overwhelming power but can't reverse causality when used this way. If he reinforces the spear with Runes, it will temporarily raise its rank to A, giving Lancer a chance of victory, however small against a durable opponent like Saber of Black. The only known weaknesses is to either quickly get out of range of either attack or have high luck for Servants like B rank or higher for the Luck parameter." said Jeanne. Everyone was silent for a few minutes.

"I stand by my earlier statement." said Ichigo deadpanned.

"Well, I think it's safe to say that the Lancer of Blue more than compensates for Berserker of Blue's lack of quality as a Servant. So on his own without any extra factors, his base power level is that of a high seated officer soul reaper and he is an incredibly skilled and well-rounded warrior with the ability to fight both close and long-range and with melee and magic, can slay beasts, and who is both near impossible to kill and, despite counter class being a thing, can outpace the other two classes that he is paired up with. Throw in the geographical boosts and now he's a lieutenant who can hit well above his weight class like Karna." summarized Ukitake.

"So, while Berserker of Blue is lackluster, Lancer of Blue more than compensates. The question is will the rest of the Blue Faction be like Berserker or Lancer, because if it's the former then Lancer is the one carrying the faction. But if it's the latter than Berserker is an anomaly among them being this weak." said Byakuya.

"Since we only have one last faction to look into, we'll assess counter classing with all 9 of the Servants we've assessed so far once we're done with the last Faction." said Kisuke.

"That would be the Red Faction and their Servants would be Rider and Archer of Red. Their True names being Iskandar King of Conquerors and Gilgamesh King of Heroes, respectively. I want to start with Iskandar first." said Jeanne.

"Neither of those names sound familiar." said Yoruichi a little disappointed.

"Gilgamesh comes from the Epic of Gilgamesh which is one of if not the oldest known written epic story in human history dating back at least 4-5,000 yrs. ago. Iskandar is the name given to Alexander the Great by those in Persia, the Caucuses, Southwest and Central Asia, as well as India. Interestingly enough, another variant Sikandar means conqueror or warrior in both Persian and Hindi. Quite fitting." said Byakuya looking at Yoruichi with a small smug smile while Yoruichi narrowed her cat eyes at him with a frown before smirking.

"You know this just proves that you're a huge nerd, little Byakuya." she said slyly. Renji immediately clamped his mouth shut so as not to laugh, Toshiro coughed politely and Jushiro just looked amused. Byakuya glared at Yoruichi. Urahara and Ichigo also looked amused, and Rukia tried not to laugh at that comment.

"You said you wanted to start with Iskandar, right? Then I think we need to know if he gets any geographical boosts from being in Romania." said Toshiro, trying desperately to move on taking charge of the situation.

"Alexander's home was Macedonian, and he went onto conquer all of Greece, the former Persian empire, and headed all the way to India. By contrast Romania is located above Macedonia and perhaps he crossed it during early campaigns with his father, but it was never counted as part of his empire. So, he receives no boosts here. So, his parameters are as follows: Strength is B, Endurance is A, Agility is D, Mana is C, Luck is A+, and Np is A+." Jeanne said.

"Okay so calculated that puts his overall rank at B. Again, another high seated officer." said Kisuke. "Anything outside his skills and np we should know about?" he asked.

"While his class makes him prefer to ride into battle, Iskandar has no hesitation in fighting on foot, and has prodigious ability despite being geared better towards mounted battle. The sword that Rider wields is a spatha referred to as the Sword of the Kupriotes, which was gifted to him in life by the King of the Cypriots; its hilt was decorated with the likeness of a lion. Strong and lightweight, the blade can be wielded with great dexterity. Though it is not noted to be a Np itself, it is utilized in the invocation of both of Iskandar's known Nps. Rider is also skilled in knife throwing, and can even use a spear. He also possesses the power to imbue his weapons and attacks with the power of lightning." said Jeanne.

"Odd. the historical records the of the Kuchiki's have said that Iskandar used a kopis in life." said Byakuya offhandedly.

"It could be that when he became a Servant, he wanted to be summoned with a weapon that he liked from his time alive and wanted to wield it instead." suggested Jeanne.

"I see. Anything else?" he asked. Jeanne shook her head. "Very well then. Let's move onto his skills." said Byakuya gesturing to her to continue.

"Very well. He has two Class Skills. They are Riding which is A+ Rank and Magic Resistance which is D rank." Jeanne rattled off.

"So, any Kido #40 or higher we can use." said Kisuke.

"I think I need to clarify something for Magic resistance. The more lines that are spoken, the more powerful the spell and the harder it is to resist the effects of the spell. For example, saying the type, rank, and name would be thought of as single action spells which is what Rider of Red's D rank resistance can counter. Anymore lines than that and he would be vulnerable to it." Jeanne clarified.

"Hm. Interesting. Still, that really doesn't change the initial assumption that we came up with just juggling some numbers around. I think that it would be best to just air on the side of caution and stick to our original calculations for Kido and just remember to use full incantations when possible and use higher level spells if that isn't possible as that means that the higher-level spell will still affect them even with the skill active." said Yoruichi.

"Siegfried's riding skill was B so what's the difference between A and B?" asked Ukitake.

"Basically, that Rider of Red can ride virtually anything except for members of the Dragon kind but can ride phantasmal beasts if necessary whereas Siegfried can't. Any other questions for Class Skills?" she asked. When there was none, she nodded. "Alright we'll move onto personal skills. They are Charisma which is A rank, Divinity which is C rank, and Tactics which is B rank." Jeanne rattled off.

"Let's start with Divinity as that one we've heard before. Why is he ranked C when Cú was B?" asked Rukia.

"Because Cú was the son of the chief god of Celtic mythology. Whereas Rider of Red despite the absence of clear evidence, many stories claimed he was the son of Zeus, the greatest of the Greek gods and simultaneously the son of the king of Macedon, Phillip II. Hence, it's lower rank. But it's because of this skill he can imbue his weapons and nps with lightning" Jeanne said.

"And the other two skills?" asked Renji.

"Charisma is simply the natural talent to command others. In his case an army. It can be said that he achieved the greatest popularity as a human being. You'll find that many Servants who were leaders in life will have this, Skill. As for tactics, When Iskandar was alive, his military prowess resounded in the Islamic world and derived into many heroic tales and was propagated all over Asia. Tactical knowledge used not for one-on-one combat situations, but for battles where many were mobilized. When activated, this skill provides bonus modifiers either during the use of his own Anti-Army Np or when dealing against an enemy Anti-Army Np." said Jeanne.

"Alexander's Tactics are still studied to this day, so this last skill makes sense." said Byakuya. "Is that all for his skills?" he asked. Jeanne nodded. "Then let's move onto his nps" he suggested. Again, Jeanne nodded.

"One of the other things most Riders have is a large number of nps at their disposal. While most Servants have one or two Riders usually have double that for nps. For Iskandar he has about 3 technically 4. Two are mounts and one is his army while the last one is a technique, he can perform with one of his mounts. I'll start with his secondary mount known as Bucephalus. It's B+ rank and is anti-army. Essentially, it's the horse he initially rode as a child and on early campaigns but has access to as an adult. By releasing its True Name, Bucephalus performs a ferocious assault upon the enemy, scattering and trampling them down with lightning worthy of his alleged father Zeus. The scale of destruction is less than that of his chariot, but it has excellent mobility. He also only uses this mount if he loses his chariot or when he's with his army." Explained Jeanne.

"So, he mainly uses this chariot as his mount?" Asked Kisuke. Jeanne nodded.

"Yes, his main mount is his Chariot called Gordius Wheel: Wheel of Heaven's Authority. It's A+ rank and is an anti-unit np. It's a large antique war chariot with two prows that is led by two Divine Bulls. Its dimensions are greater than that of an average truck and it has two large, curved sickles on its sides used to demolish surrounding obstacles and hurl the debris at enemies. The bulls and the chariot tread atop lightning strikes, manifestations of Zeus, allowing it to also move through the air just as easily as it travels atop the ground. They create thunderous sounds and webs of lightning with each "stomp" as they travel. The bulls, which Rider calls the "Children of Zeus", were originally an offering to Zeus from King Gordius, but Alexander claimed them by cutting the Gordian Knot with his sword. The reputation of this act apparently defined him as a being of the Rider class. The chariot can be freely summoned anywhere by Rider by cleaving the air with his Sword of the Cypriots, much like the way he cut the knot in the legends, in order to open up a rift in the empty space resembling a gaping mouth. With a thunderous roar and a tremor, the chariot will emerge from the rift into the world. The impression of the aura of lightning and thunder is great enough to believe him to be some sort of thunder god upon first seeing him, and Zeus is instantly brought to mind in connection to the bulls." she explained. Everyone was silent for a few seconds before Yoruichi coughed politely.

"And this is just when he's using the chariot as transport not as a weapon, correct?" she asked hesitantly. Jeanne nodded.

"Yes. When he uses it as a weapon, he activates the special technique that comes with the np. The true trump card of the chariot is called Via Expugnatio: Distant Trampling Domination. It is a powerful trampling attack performed using Gordius Wheel. The damage is decided by two factors, damage from the eight strikes from the hooves of the bulls and the damage from being struck by the wheels of the chariot, with both physical damage and the effects of the lightning strikes taking effect with each attack roll. If the target is not strong enough and fails a saving throw, additional damage will also be dealt. The power emitted is significantly greater than its normal charge after Rider calls out its True Name. Its speed is also very significant, reducing a distance of one hundred meters to zero the instant after its activation. This is where it gets its anti-army classification from." said Jeanne.

"I wonder how that compares to Flashstep?" Kisuke thought aloud. "So that's three nps. What's the last one?" he asked.

"Ionioi Hetairoi, Iskandar's army. Its EX ranked and is anti-army. This is his ultimate trump card. With an incantation, Iskandar creates a Reality Marble, an endless desert where tens of thousands of warriors that used to form his armies are summoned. Each of these warriors is their own independent Servant without a Master with an E Rank Independent Action skill, allowing materialization possible for a maximum of 30 minutes though it depends on the Master's magical or spirt energy amount."

"What is a Reality Marble?" asked Toshiro.

"Laymen's Terms it's the materialization and projection of one's inner world onto reality itself through Magecraft." she answered. Everyone's eyes widened and their jaws went slack.

"WHAT?!" they exclaimed.

"You can do that?" asked Kisuke in true shock.

"Yes, but it's very difficult to maintain for long periods of time. Even a few moments are life threatening for Mages. You are literally overwriting the world itself with your own and anyone that gets pulled into it with you is at your mercy as you control everything about that world." explained Jeanne. Everyone calmed down at this.

"Hm. Well Soul Reapers have to get themselves to their own inner world to gain shikai and for Bankai training have to manifest their zanpakuto spirits into reality. So, this could be seen as a natural progression of bringing your inner world to reality where you are at the mercy of the creator of that world. Just not through magecraft methods." said Kisuke aloud.

"You're not seriously thinking about trying to find a way to do that yourself, Kisuke?!" asked Ukitake in shock.

"Why not? Look I won't be doing it right now as we've still got this and Aizen to deal with now but if we are alive after both? Well, I'd be lying if I thought that this wouldn't be a fun concept to research and experiment with later down the line to see if it's possible for a Soul reaper to accomplish. Not to mention that it could be the next step of Soul reaper power evolution. As the ultimate trump card where you bring an enemy into a world where you have complete control and the rules of reality only apply because you let it and can change whenever you please. Though I'm sure that the duration of time to be able to deploy it and other weaknesses make it risky but it would be worth looking into for the future. Then there's the bragging rights I'd get by being the one to discover this and utilize it first before Mayuri. There's that." said Kisuke with a gleeful smile. This caused exasperated sighs and annoyed eyerolls from everyone.

"Aside from the last bit your argument does have merit even if it seems like a high-risk high reward method. But we need to finish this up as we still have one more Servant after this to get through. Is there anything else about this np we need to know about? Like maybe the reality marble itself?" asked Toshiro looking at Jeanne.

"This explanation will be quite lengthy. The Reality Marble embodies Alexander the Great's dreams and philosophies as a king and the bond formed with his subjects, his life sublimated as a Np. Ionioi Hetairoi is the actualization of Alexander's commanding abilities and his kingship. It is an irregular Reality Marble compared to those used by others. Normally, only a magus or something beyond normal reality like Daemons are capable of materializing the environment inside their minds or souls, and as Alexander is neither, reproducing it alone is impossible for him. It comes about through the combined efforts of his personal guard who all shared his dreams and pledged allegiance to him after many victories and defeats, even after death and becoming Heroic Spirits on their own as well. This Np drags the enemies into a terrain that has no obstacles on the desert battlefield. Once fully materialized, the heavily armed cavalry of soldiers slowly appears as mirage-like images and completely manifests as a diverse fighting force with the fierceness of a true army. The entire fighting force is fully composed of a peerless array of famed and legendary warriors only heard reverently in legends, all of whom personally fought with Alexander on the battlefield. They are quite literally able to break the rules of space and time to fight once more at the side of their king, and like him, they wager everything that they are on the king's dream. But they cannot leave the Reality Marble under normal circumstances and can only remain materialized for as long as the reality marble lasts. They lack Skills and Class designations due to being summoned through Rider's ability, making it unnecessary to assign them anything based on the rules of the Holy Grail War, and, due to the limit of Rider's abilities, their Nps cannot be materialized. As for the generated land, it's Alexander's preferred battlefield due to the wide plains allowing him to best display his numerical superiority and his preference of facing enemies directly. He generally leads the army at the front of the vanguard usually while atop Bucephalus, but he can also freely use Gordius Wheel within the confines of the Reality Marble if he wishes. Their battlefield, sublimed into eternity, can be actualized anywhere, and if he were to again set forth in tyranny, all of his servants would hasten to him no matter his location. He can freely organize the positions of those that enter Ionioi Hetairoi, grouping them to keep allies safe and align enemies directly before his army. The downside is that it takes a great deal of energy to maintain it, and like most Reality Marbles, it can only be utilized for a few minutes at a time. Both the activation cost and the summoning of the Servants are taxing, but it wouldn't cost as much if most of the army wasn't brought out. Using it two nights in a row for example would bring him to the point where he would be forced to take spiritual form to conserve as much energy as possible, and even after receiving boosts in energy from three Command Spells, he still can only use it one more time. Once activated, it is maintained by the collective magical energy of the entire army, which means that it will not remain stable if a large portion of the army is destroyed in a single attack. The Heroic Spirits of Ionioi Hetairoi themselves are called to the aid of Iskandar and are granted fundamental knowledge needed for existing by the world itself, are then given a chance to accept or reject the summoning, and manifest as Servants upon accepting." said Jeanne.

"So, in summation, if I understood you correctly, this final noble phantasm is the crystallization of his dream of conquering the world and his belief in what a king should be. It's only able to be brought into existence because other Heroic spirits answer his call to arms and should a good chunk of the army be destroyed the marble becomes unstable and will crumble to nothing. And he can only deploy it sparingly for several min. 30 tops. But for a reality marble while the concept is amazing is unique even among other reality marbles. Is that about, right?" asked Byakuya. Jeanne nodded.

"So then as an overall assessment for this Servant alone his overall power level is at a high seated officer. He's weaker to magic compared to the other Servants we've assessed so far, and is a Servant geared towards mounted combat and commanding armies to the point that his Skills and nps reflect this. But should his mount be destroyed then he can only use his army a few times and if a good portion is destroyed the reality marble, it will crumble leaving him vulnerable to being attacked. I'll admit while intimidating at first once you break it down, he at least seems less daunting but then only with lieutenant or captain class attacks or abilities can he potentially be defeated. Still the fact that such a small number of opponents could defeat him at least proves that he's no pushover." Ukitake summarized.

"Alright so now we just have one Servant left. This Gilgamesh Servant." said Rukia happily. She looked at Jeanne. "What can you tell us about him, Jeanne?" she asked. Jeanne looked very nervous.

"Well to start with Gilgamesh is the strongest traditional Heroic Spirit on the Throne of Heroes and thus the strongest Servant one could summon into a typical Holy Grail War. If you can summon him and get him to go along with whatever you have in mind for achieving victory, then you've already won before the fighting even starts." said Jeanne. This shocks everyone as they look at her in surprise.

"Are you serious?" asked Ichigo. Jeanne nodded sheepishly.

"But that strength doesn't come from being physically strong. In fact, Gilgamesh is only as physically strong as Saber of Black or Lancer of White, if not weaker. The reason Gilgamesh has the advantage over most other Servants in combat is that he is capable of exploiting their weaknesses thanks to possessing the originals of all Nps. All Heroic Spirits have things they were weak against in life, their greatest weak points, and he possesses all of the Nps ever owned by humanity, including those that killed each hero. As a result, he could be called the "Servant Killer". In terms of the "firepower" available to him due to the versatility of his weaponry, he can be said to have the strength of 5 Servants or more." she said. The others looked at her with slacked jaws, so she continued.

"Gilgamesh is the most self-centered person in the world, and he is able to properly read the situation around him. While he is not an evil person, he has a callous personality. He has no real interest in the Holy Grail due to him seeing it as one of his treasures so it's already his as far as he's concerned, so he instead wishes to establish himself as the greatest of Heroic Spirits since he's already the strongest technically. He finds incomparable joy in the battle of heroes splendidly fighting each other to the death for a miracle and is angered by the fact that such an event never happened during his lifetime. Gilgamesh's pride and carelessness often keeps him from fighting to his fullest. He will refuse to use a few nps against anyone he deems unworthy, either hesitating with its usage or testing them to make sure they are worthy of it. And we will get to that later. He has the absolute self-confidence to calmly show himself before his opponents, but he is also apt to simply kill by raining Nps behind his enemies' backs depending on his mood. In his mind, "The will of the king cannot be simply gauged by the concept of tactic." explained Jeanne.

"So, he's a weird combination of Byakuya, Aizen, and Kenpachi's personalities but has the power to back it up. Joy." Yoruichi summarized deadpanned then she sighed before continuing. "Alright let's move onto his parameters." Jeanne nodded.

"Right. His strength is C, his endurance is C, Agility is B, Mana is A, luck is B, and Np is Ex." she rattled off.

"So calculated that puts him at B+ rank. Another high seated officer. And there's no geographical boosts to consider as his legend is from Mesopotamia." said Kisuke as he grew thoughtful. "Interesting how most of these Servants we've looked at so far have been at this level for base power levels, yet many have skills and abilities that make one believe that they should be ranked higher." he added.

"Well, we have lieutenants and seated officers whose power levels and skills should have them at higher positions in the 13 court guard squads and yet we still keep them in their assigned positions." said Ukitake ruefully. "So, what about his class skills?" he asked, looking at Jeanne.

"Right, he has two Class skills. They are Magic Resistance which is at E rank but under specific circumstances can get boosted to C rank and Independent Action which is A rank." she rattled off.

"Both we've seen before but at different levels. So, what are the differences and why the fluctuation for Magic resistance?" asked Toshiro.

"As I said before, Arash's Independent Action was C so he can only remain manifested in the world without a Master for no longer than a day. By contrast Gilgamesh's A Rank allows him to remain manifested for up to a week without a master but if he uses Nps of great spiritual energy consumption, backup from the Master will become necessary." said Jeanne.

"And given his personality, you either are going to have to have a silver tongue or have a good rapport to get him to do anything that you want him to. So, this skill makes him even harder to control. I bet a lot of Masters get pretty frustrated by that." Renji commented with a smirk.

"As for the fluctuations in Magic resistance, it's because he did not have any abilities to resist magecraft during life, so he only gains Magic Resistance as the class ability of the Archer class. But it remains at only the minimal level, rank E, that provides light damage mitigation against magecraft rather than full neutralization. Yet the state of his Magic Resistance matters little, as he is able to neutralize most magecraft with his many items that defend against it. For example, the armour that Rukia, Urahara, Ichigo, and I all saw him in, a shield, and various other items are able to repel magecraft depending on the rank with ease. Overall, he is much more likely to simply unleash a raging wave of Nps against those he deems "mongrels" impeding the king by attempting to use large-scale spells, completely crushing them without even giving them the time to cast." said Jeanne.

"So, the armor we saw him in was also an np?" asked Ichigo Jeanne nodded looking at him.

"Yes, and we'll get to those shortly." she said.

"Right. Onto the Personal skills." said Rukia.

"Right, he has 4. They are Charisma which is ranked A+, Divinity which is technically supposed to be ranked A+ but was bumped down to B, Golden Rule which is ranked A, and Collector which is ranked EX." Jeanne rattled off.

"3 or those 4 we've heard before. So, we'll start with them and then move onto the unknown one." said Byakuya.

"Very well. I'll start with Divinity. He would normally possess the highest rank of Divinity among all Heroic Spirits due to being 2/3 God. Hence the technical A rank. The rank is instead decreased from A+ to B because of his hatred of the gods, who caused him much trouble in his life. Particularly because they were the ones who killed his only friend and companion, Enkidu." said Jeanne. Ichigo felt a great deal of sympathy and sadness well up in him for a few seconds upon hearing that only to have it vanish leaving him confused for a second but pushed it aside to get back to the conversation. "Next is Golden Rule but while Siegfried's was C, Gilgamesh's is A. Meaning the level of riches provided by rank A will make the user, or even his Master if he's feeling generous enough, incredibly wealthy to the point where money trouble will be unknown, allowing them to live a life of untold luxury." explained Jeanne.

"I'd make a joke like last time, but given this Gilgamesh's personality, he'd probably kill Renji rather than just give him any wealth." said Rukia deadpanned.

"Yeah, on that we both can agree on." said Renji equally deadpanned.

"The last known skill is Charisma. He has the highest rank of this skill with the influence to build a grand empire on a global scale. He is often praised as the greatest king, so his ability to command and lead great armies is excellent. Being such a rare talent, with even a B rank being sufficient enough to lead a nation, his A+ rank makes it no longer a matter of popularity or skill, but closer to something like sorcery or a curse. His ego and self-confidence can boost the morale of any army led by him to an extremely high level, allowing them to gain a tremendous increase in abilities. Then there's his Collector Skill, the only unknown one. Basically, this skill acts as a Golden rule to Gilgamesh only which guarantees he alone can collect rare and valuable items that are the essence of humanity and its ingenuity. It's what allowed him to amass quite literally all the treasures of the world including the prototypes for nps of other Servants and even prototypes of concepts that humanity would utilize thousands of yrs. into the future like that of a washing machine for example when he was still alive in ancient Mesopotamia. So, in summation it's a Golden Rule like skill that ties to one of Gilgamesh's nps, the gate of Babylon and allows him to fill up that gate with literally all the treasures of the world. The only treasures he can't collect are those who created their own weapons or devices, creating something beyond the bounds of humanity itself, weapons that came from other civilizations from the stars, or from a completely different universe." explained Jeanne.

"So that means that it's very likely that any device or weapon wielded by soul reapers he doesn't have as the afterlife as we know it was created long after he died, and our weapons are manifestations of our souls so of course he wouldn't have anything like them in his gate. I guess that means that anything I create he doesn't have either." said Urahara smugly.

"Careful Kisuke. If your head gets any bigger than you are in danger of floating away from us." Yoruichi taunted. Kisuke pouted at that.

"So, let's get to his nps." said Rukia wanting to get this over with.

"This Servant needless to say has a substantial number of nps but most are locked away in one. So, I will only give the ones related to him personally or nps that he uses the most often." she said everyone seemed fine with that. "Okay so his main nps are the Gate of Babylon, Sha Naqba Imuru, Enkidu, Enki, his unnamed golden armor, Bab-ilu, and finally Ea and it's attack called Enuma Elish." said Jeanne. Everyone's eyes widened at this.

"That's about 7 nps technically 8 counting the attack from one other np. I thought you said most Servants have only about 1 or 2 nps." Toshiro stated.

"The Servants and the number of nps they have is only limited by their legend and what they have in them. And how many they have access to depends on what class they get summoned into and what nps they can access in that class." said Jeanne. "As for why Gilgamesh has so many, it is due to the interpretation of the Class of Archer. In this case anyone that uses something as a projectile can qualify for the Archer Class. In this case, firing nps off as projectiles can count as him being an Archer class Servant and then have the weapons still be used in their original capacity." said Jeanne.

"That's a hell of a work around. That or it's just straight up cheating." commented Renji.

"Regardless, we still need to know what he's capable of. So let us continue." said Byakuya. He turned to Jeanne and gestured for her to proceed. Jeanne nodded.

"We'll start with his armor. It's a self-anti-unit non ranked np. He normally wears Golden Armor consisting of golden pauldrons and backplate with a gold chain connected in the front, a golden cuirass, red and gold waist cape that goes to above his ankles, golden cuisses, golden grenouilles, and golden greaves and armored sandals. This armor is materialized from magical energy. It is extremely strong to the point that many initially assume that it is his main Np. It has a strong innate Magic Resistance which boosts his magic resistance skill to C rank, and it is durable enough to block numerous strong blows from other Servants weapons even nps simply by protecting his head with his hands." said Jeanne.

"So, it's more than just gaudy decoration he's wearing." said Ichigo. "What about the others?" he asked.

"Did you see the red tattoo on his body?" Jeanne asked.

"It was pretty dark and considering we were more concerned about what he might do we weren't focused on what was on him besides the armor or the swords on his back." said Rukia.

"Well, the red tattoo that consists of red lines on his stomach, his upper right arm, his shoulder blades on his back, and his chest in the front and forming a tattoo necklace around the collarbone connecting the two upper portions are all another one of his nps called Bab-ilu: Key of the King's Law To Enshrine. It's a fluctuating ranked from E-A+, anti-unit np. This intricate tattoo proves the kingship of Gilgamesh and acts as a key to access his treasury. It allows him to draw out weapons like Enki for personal use and fire an endless barrage of swords and other weapons and nps at enemies like a machine gun. Now his other np Gate of Babylon does essentially the same thing, but they differ in one aspect. The Gate of Babylon has the ability to manifest these weapons and other items from ripples that are omni-directional and can appear anywhere, while Bab-ilu allows a circular pattern of ten glowing orbs that appears around him personally. Essentially, it's best to think of the two as the Gate of Babylon is generally used from a standing, long range position, while Bab-ilu is used while rapidly moving around and engaging in melee combat with his personal weapons of choice." said Jeanne.

"Why the fluctuating rank?" asked Yoruichi.

"Because everything in his treasury has a different rank and whatever he pulls from the treasury will be that rank. Hence the fluctuation of the rank." answered Jeanne.

"Alright. Well, why don't you tell us of this Gate of Babylon since it's in the same vein as this Bab-ilu?" Kisuke suggested.

"Very Well. Gate of Babylon: Treasure of the King. Like Bab-ilu it's a fluctuating ranked np and is anti-unit. He is placed into the Archer class because of this Np. It's the storehouse that Gilgamesh built to store all the world's treasures he claimed in life which include prototypes of other heroes' Nps, and he can launch them as the strongest arrows towards his opponents. It connects the space of reality to the vault, opening an "invisible door" of sorts between dimensions that allows for the contents to pass through upon their owner's command. Allowing for easy access to the items of the treasury, he is able to pick and utilize them as he pleases. The items passing through the gate form gold-glowing energy ripples in the empty air as they appear instantly. He can summon items directly into his hand, pull out weapons from directly behind him, or prepare numerous weapons midair, loaded like bullets. While he may sometimes choose to wield them as regular weapons, he can fight by simply raining down an overwhelming number of weapons on his opponents, each of them fired with godspeed and fatal power. If he has a natural weak point besides his tendency to be overly arrogant, it is that he is not a master of his weapons. He is not a "wielder" who has mastered his weapon to the limit, leaving some room for counters." explained Jeanne.

"Can you give us some examples of what kind of things are actually in this Gate of Babylon?" asked Ukitake.

"Certainly. He apparently has a glass bottle containing a medicine that can cure any poison in the world. One of his Nps grants Gilgamesh the ability to levitate high into the air, to the point of being able to casually float over 100 meters above the opponent and remain perfectly still while having an all-out battle with other Servants. He is capable of freely controlling it, allowing him to briefly descend to the ground before quickly returning to the air shortly after if he decides to do so. Then although he does not normally have an aptitude for Magecraft, he has several Mystic Codes of great power that allow him to cast spells of considerable strength, such as a stone tablet capable of casting runes, and countless magic staves capable of using Magic from the Age of the Gods, which vary to flaring magecraft-based fire attacks, launching magecraft-based homing light attacks, and surging magecraft-based lightning attacks. He also has more mundane items such as vehicles like a motorcycle for personal transport, food and wine of the highest and purest quality and I've even heard that he can even summon a functional hot spring bathhouse if he wanted to. And that's just a few things that can be found in this treasury and we've yet to go to his personal weapons." said Jeanne.

"Good God." said Toshiro pinching his nose feeling a migraine coming on. "Alright let's just get this over with. What are the others?" he asked.

"The last non weapon np that is for Gilgamesh is called Sha Naqba Imuru: The Omniscient Omnipotent Star. It's an Ex-rank anti-unit np. It's the mentality of Gilgamesh sublimated into a Np. Gilgamesh is a clairvoyance user with a "sense of 'sight' several levels above the ordinary." It is a "continuously active-type Noble Phantasm" that does not require its name to be invoked, but Gilgamesh keeps it intentionally restrained. It can discern heavily concealed truths with a single glance, from that of the opponent's True Name to their Nps. Upon releasing its True Name, it will work as a form of "instruction" for him to guide others with the most optimal tactics, simultaneously increasing the attack power and defense power of his whole team near his position. For example, when facing him in a game like chess, he claims that even someone making advanced predictions and reading the flow of the game will have already lost at that moment. He does not read the future of the chess board, but instead gazes down upon and oversees it, allowing the correct move to always be visible to him. He can also see the possibilities of various parallel worlds should he so choose. But, as a Heroic Spirit, the Throne of Heroes normally adjusts his memories and knowledge to the world in which he is summoned to keep him from being confused by multiple sets of memories. Even with this ability, his personality would cause him to reject certain world lines as nonsense though what some of them would be to get that reaction, I don't know. As to why he keeps this ability restrained in the first place, it's because he finds it more entertaining to not know what's going to happen as then he can enjoy whatever comes his way in his own way. But should he feel it necessary he will use it." explained Jeanne.

"So as long as he doesn't feel the need to use it then we don't need to worry about it for now. But the best solution would be to avoid him as much as possible and not gain attention from him as we need to keep up the ruse of Ichigo and Rukia being your Servants for as long as possible," suggested Yoruichi. "So now we move onto the personal weapons, right?" asked Yoruichi. Jeanne nodded.

"Yes. First is Enkidu: The Chains of Heaven. It's an unranked anti-divine and anti-unit np. It's the Np most trusted by Gilgamesh, even more so than his trump card np, and the so called "greatest secret" stored in the Gate of Babylon. It is a chain named after his closest friend and is able to bind the gods so they cannot escape, making it one of the few Anti-Divine weapons that holds the concept of "reigning over the gods." The strength and durability of the chain grows stronger with the target having higher Divinity but is no more than a tough chain to a target without Divinity. Gilgamesh is capable of taking out the entire length of chain from the Gate of Babylon to use in conjunction with his trump card when he is serious about fighting, or he can simply summon part of it from the Gate. The chain can be summoned from anywhere the Gate of Babylon can reach, elongate, and contract without any shown limit, and multiple individual sections can be summoned at one time. The blade on the front of the chain is capable of acting as a striking weapon when launched at a high speed, and he can summon a single length to wrap around an opponent so he can drag them towards him by pulling it. Once activating it as a Np, numerous segments instantly appear to wrap around the opponent in order to bind them for his projectiles. He generally binds the opponent's weapon, limbs, shoulders, neck, and abdomen, rendering them completely immobile. The chains continuously twist and tighten with enough force to attempt to tear off a Servant's head and bend their arms past their limits in a normally impossible direction. It can even bind the space around itself, and it is capable of rendering transportation ordered by a Command Spell, which is capable of magecraft close to that of True Magic, completely useless and nullified." explained Jeanne.

"But this one is meant to be used against those with Divinity so technically this doesn't apply to us, and we could in theory break free of this chain if it was used against us." Byakuya pointed out.

"Honestly the Gate of Babylon seems more intimidating than this one." Renji commented.

"Still best not to underestimate this weapon." said Ichigo feeling a little defensive though he wasn't sure why. "Alright so what's the next one?" he asked, looking at Jeanne and trying to shake off the odd feeling.

"His next np is called Enki: The Sword of the End is the name of the pair of golden twin blades that are often worn on his back. It's named after a Sumerian god, Enki. He uses them in close combat in conjunction with weapons fired from his vault with enough skill to equally battle other Servants in close quarters. They have the function to turn the hilts ninety degrees to allow them to be used as tonfa knives. Now this one does have a drawback to this nps ultimate move. He has to meet a condition to unleash this Np, and it takes most of his magical energy in order to utilize it. It's a sword which can summon floods and it must be deployed for seven days as the volume in water increases each day after its activation. After the seventh day, it turns into the Surge of Utnapishtim from the Epic of Gilgamesh, the original tsunami that gave shape to the deluge myth of Noah in the Bible of Christianity. Upon invoking its True Name, Enki then takes the form of a longbow by connecting the two swords at their hilts. It generates an arrow that is fired at the ground to act as a "tracer round" for his true trump card that is deployed high in satellite orbit above the earth. The actual Enki is surrounded by six bolts that converge around the sword in a spiral to become a spear that falls toward the Earth as a "Star of Destruction". Upon reaching the area, it disappears in the sky and deploys a giant Magic Circle that cleaves space to summon the Surge of Utnapishtim. The tsunami easily covers a city the size of Tokyo only seconds after emerging, and it's implied that it has the capacity to destroy the world. There are a few nps that could counter this particular np but that aren't from Gilgamesh himself. But they are rare. Even my abilities wouldn't be able to stop it at maximum power unless I used my command spells to either seal it off or to kill him before he deploys this np." said Jeanne. Everyone looked at her with widened eyes.

"And your np can block up to three Bankais. And you think you can't stop this guy's np?!" exclaimed Renji.

"She did what, now?" asked Jushiro as he and Byakuya looked at Renji in shock this being the first-time hearing this.

"We'll talk about that later." said Toshiro trying to redirect the conversation back to what was being discussed.

"And this is the weaker of the last few nps?!" exclaimed Rukia. Jeanne nodded.

"But that's not the most devastating of his nps. That honor goes to his last np known as The Sword of Rupture, Ea. As a weapon its rank and type aren't known but it's attack's rank and type are known, and I will get to it momentarily. This one is the most powerful Np contained in the Gate of Babylon and the pinnacle of all those used by Servants. Unlike all of his other nameless weapons that were able to be passed on to other wielders throughout history, it is a sword only Gilgamesh possesses. It can be used as a close combat slashing weapon wielded much like a regular sword and even with its dull tip, it can pierce directly through a Servant's chest. It has an abnormal shape that doesn't match what would normally be classified as something specialized like a sword. It is something that was born before the appearance of the concept that the world calls a "sword," so it is not something that can truly be called a sword or have the shape of any known blade. While it has a grip, hand guard, and is the same length as a longsword, the section that should contain a blade deviates from the normal form of an edged weapon. The "blade" itself and the tip of the sword, spun in a spiral shape, are dull. It has the shape of a cylindrical, drill-shaped pillar made up of three independently rotating segments engraved with crimson cuneiform lettering that spin slowly in an alternating direction like querns, the middle segment spinning clockwise and the top and bottom segments spinning counterclockwise. The drill design would be similar to what bedrock excavators used to drill underwater tunnels. While Ea is categorized as a sword, its way of being is closer to a wand. Its three sections respectively represent the heavens, the earth, and the underworld. It exemplifies the world's way of being by having each one of them rotate in opposite directions. The "cosmos" is thus represented by matching all three of these representations. Everything together represents the universe. Gilgamesh considers it his greatest and most trusted treasure next to Enkidu, one of the few esteemed treasures, which is only used against those he deems worthy of facing it. He greatly admires the weapon, claiming that it is no less than his other half, and often speaks to the Np as if it were a living being." Said Jeanne.

"Sounds like some kind of primordial zanpakuto but he didn't forge it from his soul." said Yoruichi.

"The sword itself is nameless, with "Ea" simply being the name that Gilgamesh chooses to call it. It is something that does not appear in any modern legends, crystallized during the Age of Gods at the beginning of the world. It is the primordial sword that is the actualization of the works of a god recorded before humanity came into being, and it is that which divided the formless into distinct heaven and earth in ancient Mesopotamia. It is a Divine Construct created by a god, and its status as a unique existence means it cannot be reproduced in any way. As it is "The Sword That Cut the World Apart", he calls it "something that knows the hellish planet before genesis," the planet's primordial form before heaven and earth were split, where it was a land filled with naught but lava and gas and a hell of scorching heat and intense cold. It is the first memory of life that is a genetically inherent and repressed knowledge which can only be shown to those looking upon the sword. The names that were given to the sword, and its ability by Gilgamesh is thought to be references to the Great God of Earth and Water, Ea, of the Mesopotamian and Babylonian myths, and the Babylonian creation myth, Enuma Elish." Jeanne said.

"Interesting but what is the attack that it does that makes it so dangerous?" asked Byakuya.

"Unlike most other Nps, the ability of the sword has its unique name instead of simply chanting "Ea" to use its function as a Np. The attack he chants instead is called Enuma Elish: The Star of Creation That Split Heaven and Earth. It's an Ex-rank np and an anti-world np. It's an attack performed by unleashing Ea's maximum output. Said output is equal to or even greater than Excalibur's and can be further increased by absorbing the energy of the other Nps within Gate of Babylon. Thus, its power cannot be completely neutralized even when colliding with something like Excalibur, unless it is blocked by an Anti-Purge class armor or counterbalanced by an attack that deals damage of the same level which again, I must remind you there aren't that many in existence." Jeanne said as she looked at everyone who were all looking speechless. So, she continued.

"Borne of the winds drawn unto the revolution of the three cylinders of Ea, a spatial severance is formed by use of the Sword of Separation. Compressed and intertwined stratifications of wind become a virtual dislocation of space-time, annihilating any who would stand in opposition. Aside from what I said earlier, the damage rendered cannot be defended against. The only np that I know of would be something like Avalon as the only defensive ability to defend against it completely. It attacks everything in sight with a single strike. It cannot be said that what the blade cuts down is limited simply to "the enemy" as it is not a matter of aiming it, and it is impossible to even discuss whether it will hit its target or the practicality of the force behind it. Grinding at the laws of space with its power, it creates a rip in space that extends from not only the earth but also to the sky and atmosphere. It is a crack that distorts space to pierce the very nature of the World itself to show the "Truth." All that uses the cut space as a foundation is swallowed and crushed by the void, and the dazzling light only continues to grow as it continues to complete the destruction. Its use in a fight is not something that can be called a battle, but rather the wrath of nature itself. Performing the miracle of genesis, something that reveals creation - the beginning of everything, the attack opens an abyss capable of crushing anything. The center of the storm is not calm, but rather a hole to hell itself that returns all that enters its realm to the nothingness from which it originated. The wind pressure creates a vacuum that takes all things with form, the land, the atmosphere, and the sky, into the whirling void. The tumult of genesis takes everything that was nothing more than chaos, which could not form any meaning, and creates a new truth that divides and distinguishes Heaven, Sea, and Earth. Within the darkness where everything is returned to nothingness, only Ea is left to shine with brilliance like a Star of Creation amidst the destruction, the first thing illuminating the new world." Jeanne finished.

"That was both beautiful in description and terrifying in how you described how Enuma Elish works." said Kisuke. "So, I guess all that is left is our assessment of this Servant, the assessment of the Red Faction as a whole, counter classing, and any final thoughts." he stated.

"For assessment on this last Servant I think it's pretty obvious. He's terrifying. Even if his base power level is only a high seated officer. The nps and abilities more than make up for that rather lackluster power level." said Renji.

"As for the Red Faction right now, both of these Servants are not to be underestimated in the slightest. While they may not seem the most powerful, if push comes to shove both will hit their opponent hard with overwhelming power. I have to say that if the other Servants are at or near a similar level of power to either of these two than I can see the Red Faction getting pretty far in this battle royale." said Toshiro.

"Then all that's left is the counter classing assessment. We know that the Berserkers take damage from everyone, so the two Berserkers here are the most vulnerable of the 9 we've looked at. Berserker of Blue being the most at risk of being killed early on. Berserker of white I can see lasting a while longer so long as the other Servants don't gang up on him but once the others have finished their counter classing bouts, I can see him not surviving against whoever is left." said Yoruichi.

"Of the 7 remaining Servants all but one are either Saber, Archer, or Lancer class Servants. 1, 2, and 3, respectively. Six total. As it stands now, if the 3 Lancers gained up on Saber even if he's a walking fortress, he would go down eventually as one of them would inevitably find out about his weak point and then it would be over for Saber. Now if the two Archers ganged up on the Lancers, they could get rid of Lancer of Silver for sure. But I can see Gil just killing Archer and Lancer of Silver and it being a stalemate between him, Lancers of White and Blue. And that's not even accounting for Rider of Red or Berserker of White." Ichigo reasoned.

"Right. Rider of red doesn't have anyone he counter classes here right now. But if he, Berserker and the two Lancers ganged up on Archer of Red, I can see them barely pulling out a victory cause given his arrogant attitude, I don't think Archer of Red would just pull-out Ea and be done with it. After that, I can see Rider of Red getting rid of Berserker of White due to sheer numbers with his army. Then the two Lancers both have anti-army nps so they can counter Rider and his army. Then if Lancer of White uses that np that requires his armor to be destroyed, and Lancer of Blue uses that barrier rune thing, I can see Lancer of Blue coming out as the ultimate victor in this. But just barely." reasoned Renji.

"Either that or Gilgamesh decides to fight seriously. In which case he would win automatically." Rukia pointed out.

"True but that's only for the 9 we currently know of. We still have to assess the remaining 32 not counting Ruler." Toshiro reminded them.

"As a final note I need to stress that most likely the Servants within their respective factions will work together to eliminate the other factions. And this will go until one Servant from every class is left and when that happens the survivors will conduct a proper Holy Grail War regardless of previous affiliations until a winner is decided." said Jeanne. Everyone nodded in understanding of this fact.

(Heavy dialogue is finished)

===Soul society – seireitei – Toshiro's office – same time (almost 10 am)

"So, is there anything else we need to look over?" asked Ukitake. "Like for example should we look into whether or not the Factions will go rogue? After all part of the reason, you asked Rukia and Ichigo for help is because you worried your abilities wouldn't be enough to handle so many summoned Servants at once." he pointed out.

"Sadly, that will all depend on the Masters. Something I can't discern. And I don't know how to gather that kind of information." Jeanne pointed out.

"Good thing you have two formerly trained assassins who do." Yoruichi smirked. "I'll contact Sui feng and see about gathering information from the Clock Tower as that's the Mage's Association's main headquarters. Which means that they'll mostly likely have files on anyone who left for Romania within the last year, and we already have the name for one of the Black Masters. Yggdmillenia." she said.

"Bless you." said Renji reflexively looking a little confused.

"No that's their last name. I can also call Kariya and see if he and Sakura will consent to acting as informants on the Masters or Servants to us." suggested Urahara.

"Who are they?" asked Byakuya. Yoruichi and Urahara quickly filled in the others about the Matous and the Tohsakas and their involvement with them. "I see. It could be dangerous involving them further than they are already especially since Miss Sakura is only 11 yrs old." Byakuya pointed out.

"There's really no one else that we can trust of the Masters outside those two. Believe me when I say that I don't like this either which is why I'll be doing as much reconnaissance as possible to keep their involvement to a minimum." said Yoruichi seriously.

"Alright since we lack info on the Masters, I suppose we can only assess the Factions on how much of a danger they pose to Ruler's safety via the Servants either through their power or their personalities as well as their chances of winning this War and only with 5 out of six." concluded Kisuke.

"If we're going by which one is the biggest threat to me for my safety, based on power alone it would be either the Red or White Faction as both have a Servant who could easily kill me. Blue and Silver I can deal with even with a Berserker and Black is no threat to me." Jeanne concluded.

"Right. Black tried to recruit you to get access to those extra command seals I bet. In short, you're worth more to them alive than dead." Ichigo pointed out. Jeanne nodded.

"And based on our assessments of the Factions capabilities so far, excluding gold, it looks like Red, White, and Black have a good chance of making it to the end of the War while Silver and Blue will be lucky if they make it halfway through the War." concluded Rukia. On this no one disagreed.

Okay just a few housekeeping things before we wrap this up. Everyone here know what we're doing for the moment?" asked Kisuke. Everyone nodded.

"Captain Ukitake and I will see if we can build up a case to present to the Head Captain and see if we can head off interference from those like Captain Kurotsuchi and Captain Zaraki." said Toshiro.

"I also think you should get in contact with the 4th division and think about sending a member from there to here in Romania. While mine and Rukia's skills in Kaido are decent it would be best to have someone trained as a combat medic in case, we run into a problem we can't solve." suggested Yoruichi.

"So high seated officer or higher ranked. We'll see what we can do." said Ukitake.

"And Central 46?" asked Rukia looking concerned.

"I will throw my influence and authority behind their case, and we will start gathering allies to keep Central 46 from acting prematurely. Worse case they will find themselves facing Civil War in the Soul Society on top of dealing with war with Sosuke Aizen. Something that they will not want to deal with." said Byakuya. "In the meantime, Renji and I will head to the Kuchiki Family Library and do further research on the Servants we currently have and see if their legends can give us information particularly on any other weaknesses that weren't discussed now." said Byakuya.

"What about you guys?" asked Renji curiously.

"I'll be setting up the Kido barriers and the basement along with a few other side projects here in the safe house before I head back to Karakura. And I'll call Kariya sometime tomorrow and see where that goes." said Kisuke.

"And I'll call Sui Feng and get started on gathering info on the Masters and do other reconnaissance tomorrow." said Yoruichi.

"I also will be doing investigations on my end for the Servants and factions. I also need to head to the Black Factions Fortress sometime during the ceasefire to get in contact with the Grail." said Jeanne.

"And the two of us?" asked Ichigo.

"You'll both follow the plan of pulling double duty of patrolling for Hollows and guarding Ruler." said Kisuke. "I think that's everything. Anything anyone want to add?" he asked. When no one said anything, he spoke again. "Alright then, Rukia, Ichigo, and Jeanne. Why don't you all head to bed? It's late on our end and we'll all be feeling a little jet lag, so we'll get a late start tomorrow anyway. Noba and Ririn should be done unpacking and putting away your clothes in your rooms. I'll put this away." he suggested. By now Ichigo stifled a yawn and he got up and stretched and bid everyone goodbye and goodnight.

"Technically it's mid-morning on our end, Ichigo." teased Renji. Ichigo simply waved him off, tiredness starting to set in as he walked to his new room.

"Alright. I'll be heading off to bed myself. Good luck and talk to you all soon. I'll send in written reports where I can. Bye." said Rukia as she first bowed and then she waved goodbye and headed to her room. Jeanne got up and bowed her head.

"Thank you so much for all you've been doing. I greatly appreciate it. Goodbye. I'll see you all hopefully at the next meeting." said Jeanne. With that she bid everyone goodnight and headed to her room. Once all three doors were closed, Yoruichi turned to Kisuke

"Alright Kisuke what's the real reason you sent the three of them away?" she asked suspiciously along with the other four still on their end of the video call. Kisuke sighed.

"Put up a barrier so that they don't hear this. I don't want them to hear this and potentially act impulsively." he said sounding weary. The reapers narrowed their eyes in suspicion, wary of what was going to be discussed now.

End of Chapter 3

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Author's notes: For the duration of this story, I will be using Waver as the name when he is talking as it simply easier to type than Lord El-Melloi the 2nd every time. So, unless he's addressed by his title in story it's Waver otherwise. Also, I will be using Shirou K. and Shirou E. to differentiate between the two so there will be less chance of mix-ups.

I finally decided to have the Servants contracted with non-spiritually aware Masters to also not be able to sense Soul Reapers or Hollows at least at first. I think it will make the early fights more interesting when they can't see what they're fighting. Eventually all will be able to see Soul Reapers and Hollows just not right now.

I did decide to change a few things with the Servants here like have other Servants use the double summon skill, not just Semiramis as it makes things a lot more convenient for Servants to have the similar perks she got in cannon and not have it be a one-off deal. Jekyll and Hyde in particular, as this way I can use the Assassin version of him technically as the Berserker as originally that version has him turned into a werewolf as Hyde. I didn't want that as I have something planned for him story wise, but I wanted to have Serenity be the Assassin of Blue cause I have something planned for her in the future. So, the double summon skill gives a story reason for why the Assassin version is summoned under the Berserker Class. For the Servants from Prototype, I combined aspects of their final forms with their prototype forms as I felt that there wouldn't be much of a change between the two and I just think their Prototype forms look better.

Finally, I do the heavy dialogue scenes cause I'm a huge nerd and like to work out how things work within the rules of a world. Especially when doing a crossover. I never liked the Bleach trope of the characters going in detail about how their powers work. I know it's to convey information to the audience but to me, doing that mid-battle always felt like it was making things too easy for villains and heroes to defeat each other because they were literally going in detail as to how to do so. Some instances, this works like characters being so arrogant in their own abilities that they don't care if others know about how their powers work but that's it. So, it just makes more sense to do this with characters sitting around a table discussing in detail how things work. Finally, keep in mind that Ruler's ability of True Name discernment makes her a fountain of knowledge when it comes to Servants she's met and she's relaying this to people who are completely new to this world and how it works. So, to me at least, it makes sense that they would want to go in detail to understand exactly how things work.

So given that there are about 32-34 Servants (those who've seen cannon Fate Apocrypha know what I'm referring to) left to be discussed, needless to say there will be at least a few more chapters like this though I will both trim and edit as much as I can and keep the important information intact. And if the indicators were helpful, I will continue using them as well. Feedback is appreciated. Also, the reference guide below will be posted at the end of each chapter going forward at least for now.

Quick reference: EX and A rank nps are equivalent to high and low powered Bankais respectively, B rank is equivalent to Shikai, C rank is equivalent to sealed zanpakutos. D and E ranks are weaker than sealed zanpakutos and would be destroyed by them easily.

For Kido: Ex- negates all Bakudo Kido but #99-#90 Hado Kido spells do effect Servants, A- #99-#80 for Bakudo Kido and #89-#80 for Hado Kido, B- #79-#60 Kido, C- #59-#40 Kido, D- #39-#20 Kido, and finally E- #19-#1 Kido.

For power levels: Ex- captain level, A- lieutenant level, B- high seated officer level (3rd- 10th seat), C- low seated officer level (11th-20th seat) D- unseated officer level, and E- non-Soul reapers.

Thank you for reading this. I sincerely hoped you enjoyed it, and I will do my utmost to not take too long in posting the next chapter.

Bye!