From Fake Dreams

by Third Fang

Emiya Kiritsugu was happy living the rest of his short days. He had put his past behind him... until he began to dream of futures that had yet to be. Let it be known that the Magus Killer was not dangerous simply because he was dying and had no plans to fight. Slowly being put on Royal Road over time.

24. Chapter 24

Chapter 24: Starter Pistol

I do not own Fate/Stay Night and stuffs:

o. o. o.

Fuyuki Highschool Roof:

"So I assume that you all know why we are here?" Rin asked calmly as she opened her lunch on the rooftop, sitting equally distant from Luvia and Sakura who also had their lunches out.

"I think so." Sakura nodded somewhat hesitantly. "We're setting up rules for the war between us aren't we?" She looked around. "But then, why isn't Shirou-kun here with us?"

"Ryuudou needed him to fix more of the school equipment." Luvia sighed aridly as she unpacked her own rather extravagant and flashy meal in front of the others. Had it been anyone else, her food would have been the envy of everyone there, however since Rin and Sakura had both been testing their cooking skills against Shirou's the quality of all three meals were pretty much the same. "Honestly that boy has no sense of priority. He's involved in a secret war and despite everything he drops what he's doing to help out others when asked out of the blue. Someone really needs to correct that."

Sakura and Rin winced at the comment, both knowing that such an achievement was next to impossible.

"We can deal with that later." Rin sighed, shaking her head and trying to ignore the memories of fire that weren't her own while at the same time ignoring the servant behind her trying to play innocent. Bastard. "Personally I'm astonished that he hasn't summoned his servant yet."

"He has." Sakura pointed out as she began to eat her rice. "It's just that his Servant has an odd condition, so he decided it was best to leave her at his place for now."

"Her?" Luvia raised an eyebrow. "You've seen his servant?"

"Why the hell didn't he bring her with him? He could get killed at any time!" Rin grunted. "He was literally surrounded by three possible enemy Servants this morning!"

"Well, he was only going to go to school and then go straight back home, and since no one is reckless enough to start fighting in broad daylight he wasn't worried." Sakura answered honestly.

"She has a point." Luvia nodded as she drank some of the iced tea she brought. "Though it pains me to admit it, while we are enemies for the war we are also responsible that things don't get out of hand. By that logic he is correct."

"You obviously haven't researched the previous war then." The brunette of the group growled. "Caster and his master of the fourth didn't care about hiding the existence of magic and went on kidnapping children from this and nearby cities for their sick amusement. I was told that in the end everyone save for Berserker had to team up to destroy Caster when he summoned a massive demon and nearly unleashed it upon the city."

"So are you suggesting we team up, or that we should agree to keep to ourselves with the war unless such an event happens again, and in that case unconditionally cease fire between our parties until the issue is addressed?" Sakura asked skeptically.

"Probably the latter. The recent "gas attacks" are obviously a servant and master attempting to gain more power for the war. Judging from how many people are affected and how frequent the attacks are, I'm guessing either Caster or a very talented master who knows how to use bounded fields and siphon energy from others is behind them all." Rin sighed. "Though if Shirou-kun finds something's wrong with the war before any of us, the odds are likely he'll try to deal with it by himself."

The other two girls nodded, knowing that it was just like their male interest to try and help out everyone without asking for help.

"So we are in agreement? Enemies at night, and neutral during the day unless the situation provides otherwise." Luvia asked in an authoritative tone.

"Obviously." The Tohsaka rolled her eyes before eating some more of her lunch. "Not that either of you stand much of a chance against me." She commented with a sly grin, flicking her eyes to where her Servant stood for a moment.

"Humph. Overconfidence will be your undoing as usual Tohsaka." The Edelfelt smirked. While the actual war had taken backseat to finding out what the back story to the previous war was, she still wouldn't back down from a challenge if needed.

"I don't think I would be beaten without some effort either. Please don't underestimate me." Sakura frowned.

Rin just grinned knowingly. "Oh believe me, it would be far too disappointing if the war was won too easily considering all the effort my family had put into it. I look forward to destroying both of you one by one." She looked at Luvia. "And do try to stay alive Edelfelt. It would be bad business to kill my main source of income after all."

Luvia scoffed. "How amusing Tohsaka. I was thinking along the same lines. I guess the only difference between us is that I have the self control to hold my tongue."

"Calm down both of you." Sakura chided. "Save the fighting for the war. Sometimes I wonder who is the youngest of all of us here."

Rin and Luvia grunted before stubbornly stuffing their mouths with food to prevent them from making things worse. Everyone noticed however when Rin turned around and glared at where her servant was supposedly laughing at the situation.

Peculiar. That was the word that ran through both Caster's and Rider's minds as they watched the entire event play out in front of them. The grail war was supposed to be played out violently between seven parties, each one using whatever means they had available to them to achieve victory regardless of the time or place. Yet here three of the parties were, sitting and eating a peaceful… well, somewhat peaceful lunch with a fourth party nearby, alone and exposed, that knew of what was happening yet didn't seem to capitalize on it. Neither servant knew if they liked or disliked their current situation, but the sheer difference of what was happening as opposed to what was to be expected when they were first summoned was rather discomforting.

The following few minutes were filled with nothing but idle banter, more jabs between Rin and Luvia, and the occasional attempt for one of the masters to try and gain information on the other's servant to no avail. All in all it was not that momentous, until…

"On the subject of Emiya… I am rather curious about something." Luvia brought up casually as she looked at the last of her iced tea. "Has he ever mentioned having a sibling before?"

Sakura and Rin blinked in confusion before turning to one another expectantly and seeing that the other didn't know either. "Can't say that I have." Rin shrugged. "Unless you're talking about Fujimura-sensei, Waver-sensei, or Bazett-san, I don't know anyone that Shirou would consider a sibling. He was the only actual kid I've seen live in his place.

"Same here. Shirou-kun's never mentioned anything like that. He doesn't have memories from before the fire started by the Fourth War, and I don't think that Kiritsugu-san had children of his own." Sakura tilted her head to the side confused. "Why do you ask?"

Rider and Caster on the other hand both noted that Rin's servant had suddenly stiffened at the comment.

"Is that so?" The blonde frowned as she looked at her reflection gazing back at her from her drink before she drained it and smiled lazily. "Oh well, I guess that's that then. If he never told you, then I guess that mean's it really was just a rumor."

"Rumor?" The two separated siblings blinked in confusion.

Luvia nodded though deliberately not making eye contact with either of the girls. "Yeah. I am researching the Magus Killer correct? To adequately gain more research material, I happened to have spent a moderate amount of resources to confirm what Emiya-san has told me about his father is true. Well, that and hopefully find out anything else that he might not have known or told me." She yawned. "Unfortunately, virtually everything I've gotten in that second category is nothing but wild speculation and guesswork that's either been blatant lies or wild fantasies. This was just another one of those."

"I see." Rin nodded as she continued to eat. "That makes sense. When it comes to Shirou-kun, Sakura and I know everything there is to know about him." In reality, she really didn't and she knew that much. She had thought she had known, had thought she had understood everything there was to know about him. Yet, after seeing that dream, could she really have such a claim?

"Shirou would have told us if he had a stepsibling." Sakura agreed as she finished up her meal. Really, the thought of him hiding anything from Rin or her was absolutely fictional. Why would he see reason to hide something from them after all they had been through? If he trusted them with the knowledge of his Reality Marble, then he would have trusted them with the identity of a lost sibling if he had one…

o. o. o.

Marjatta waited outside of the rudimentary school that her sister was wasting her time for the past six months. No one really noticed her since she had a small bounded field set up that made people that weren't attuned to the flux of prana to just look past her as if she wasn't there, and she preferred it that way. She didn't want to bother dealing with the mundane masses that wouldn't know what a person of higher birth looked like if they were standing right in front of them and making eye contact.

She wasn't worried about being pegged for a master. Caster was far enough away that none of the other servants would be able to detect her unless they had some sort of ability to do so, yet close enough to watch or step in if needed. Any magus that found her would assume that the mana she was gradually leaking out was simply to maintain the cloaking mystery she had around her. Those who knew who she was would merely assume that she was there to help out Luvia in the war. In fact she was counting on the other masters making that assumption.

Really, why her sister had spent so much time here was beyond her. Taking proper surveillance of a city and all its potential points of assault for an event like the Fuyuki Grail War was an important task, but more suitable for Sebastian or one of the branch houses to do, and the time it would take to familiarize with the information would only take a month tops. Honestly she had yet to go one day outside without spying a rat crawling somewhere and eating some sort of trash. Such a disgusting city.

True, they were attempting to kill the Magus Killer in his own home town, a very stupid idea to most who were familiar with the title's legacy, however the sisters were not inexperienced commoners. They were Edelfelts. The most elegant mercenaries above ground, and they had the skills to back up that claim. While they did not get along a lot of the time, Marjatta was quite certain that there were few that could stand up against them when they worked together…

"Master." Caster spoke into the girl's mind. "Another servant and master are approaching from the school. It is not our other halves…"

The girl rolled her eyes. "Let them come Caster. There is nothing they can do with the sun up, and you are able to keep tabs on them far easier than they us. It will be to our advantage to see who our future potential opponents are. In fact it would be to our advantage if they tried anything later since they would probably assume that they are only going up against one servant…"

Her conversation was cut short as what seemed like the tenth wave of students passed by the exit of the school, eager to get back home, ignore homework, and hang out with friends… and leaving behind a curious but on guard Sakura Matou staring at her in the process.

The two females stared at one another for a short amount of time before Sakura broke the silence. "So you are involved in this too."

"Did you figure that out yourself?" Marjatta sighed aridly with a hint of mild irritation. She hated speaking in any language that didn't originate from Europe. Even if her thaumaturgy took care of the translating, speaking in backwater tongues always left a bad taste in her mouth. For a moment she thought she was in danger, but in reality it was only the Matou girl. One look at her screamed of inexperience, naivety, gullibility, and low birth. The only things going for her were that she had circuits and she seemed to at least carry herself appropriately. "Honestly if you are one of the masters in this war, then things will certainly be easier for us in the long run. Founding family member or not, oblivious magi like you are usually woefully substandard compared to the higher houses."

"Is that so?" Sakura replied looked at her with only mild interest. While she did not display this side of her personality often, it could be easily noted that she resembled a certain Tohsaka when she was irritated. "Funny, for a moment it sounded as if I was talking to a head of a family."

The obvious jab at the legitimacy of Marjatta's claim to her family's craft did not go unnoticed. However the blonde girl had enough experience and self control to not lose herself. Caster's chuckling at the comment however did not help things. Whether she allowed herself to be heard or not could be discussed later. "Humph. As expected from an uneducated country. You are not even aware of my family's Ore Scales." She exposed her right arm to reveal the large magic crest on it. "Our blood allows us to have two heirs per generation for our crests and make copies of it."

Sakura gazed upon the circuits with neutrality. "I am very much aware of how lucky you are Edelfelt, and I am not in the least impressed." She didn't bother to pay attention to the gob smacked expression Marjatta had on her face. The blonde had occasionally heard people downplay the value of her family's sorcery trait before, attempting to expose potential flaws in its concept or covertly trying to learn more about it in order to possibly recreate it… but never had she heard someone flatly tell her it as if it was near useless.

"Personally, I feel that Ore Scales is just a way to ensure that your family's legacy is not accidentally wasted on a child that could ruin their work with a single stupid mistake." Sakura continued. "It allows you to be more reckless and unrefined with your research as there is a backup should you foolishly kill yourself. The fact that you parade your inheritance only enforces my suspicion that you are the risk to your family's work. Thankfully, your sorcery trait and the fact that you were not born first ensure that the Edelfelt name and crest will continue on. Of course, that train of thought merely applies to those that possess limited magus perspectives." She lazily looked away as if she was observing something vastly more interesting. "I'm honestly curious if you'll even manage to produce anything moderately significant to contribute to your crest should you live long enough to pass it down."

Caster's laughing grew slightly in volume. Clearly her loyalty to her master did not extend to defending her honor.

"You…" The blonde girl growled with absolute loathing at the girl who was looking down upon her with a combination of pity, distaste, and disinterest. "How. Dare…" It was only due to the many years of training with her family that she managed to reign herself in, albeit with a long shaky breath. As much as she hated to admit it, she did have a slight anger issue when it came to being looked down upon.

A combination of a superiority and inferiority complex had left her disliking those that she considered below her and those that she had difficulty accepting were stronger than her. True she would back away if one from a nobler house or from a higher political position challenged her, but otherwise she saw herself as above everyone else and believed that they should see it too. Those that didn't match the criteria in any way got on her exceedingly short nerves.

It should be noted though that this issue was quite prevalent among those in noble houses in the Magus community. As such it was fairly obvious to many that the Noble's way of addressing these issues obviously didn't work. However since the nobles were frequently the ones that paid for the various research projects among other things, few actually brought this fact up for debate and lived. Hence the issue had yet to actually be properly addressed.

… Marjatta will not stoop to the level of a hick of a magus. She was born and raised better than that. Regardless of the disrespect she had been given, there was no real reason to lose her temper. "Your words are less than meaningless girl. Many noble families are jealous of our sorcery trait, and you most certainly are as well. The ability to ensure that our legacy continues through multiple branches is something that most lines would surrender all their research to have." She put on a confident smirk and shook her head condescendingly. "I see now. You poor, poor, insecure little child. You have no faith in your abilities do you? I know that you are the last of your line and that your family's circuits dwindle with each generation. What a shame, to have so much responsibility on such weak and unstable shoulders. How capable are you in your family's research? To be thrown into this war and represent your entire family and expected to live is indeed a large burden. Why some would even claim that death would be a more preferable position-"

Sakura remained quiet for several moments before closing her eyes and sighing. "I pity you."

Marjatta's lungs got caught in her throat. What did this girl just say to her?

"You cannot even comprehend how fortunate you are to have your sorcery trait in your position, or understand what could have happened to you if you did not." The master of Rider turned away with a look of distaste. "Such painful ignorance is the reason why I am glad I am not like the rest of your kind."

The blonde's mind was frozen, unable to process what the Matou had just said. Pity? Ignorance? She was one of the heads of a noble house! She was the leading expert on the fin curse! She had wealth, recognition, a great deal of circuits, and a sorcery trait… and yet she was being looked down upon?!

Teeth ground together as Marjatta subconsciously recalled all the times that she was passed up for Luvia. Despite her claims and skills, she was always turned aside for her elder, more talented, more refined, prettier, smarter, and better sister. In her society, the elder sibling was supposed to inherit everything. The magic. The knowledge. The power. Being an Edelfelt was supposed to counteract that rule, enabling both to possess their own throne above society and claim their own legacy. Their respective fortunes funded by the mercenary work that they performed and enhanced by their countless investment firms that they were closely tied to.

Such events had dropped in recent years as she gained more experience and showed her own capabilities to the magus world, however the absolute loathing of being considered anything less than a significant individual remained deeply embedded into her very body.

"Master." Caster chuckled, but with a hint of seriousness behind it. "I do hope you aren't planning on attacking the girl now. I am not Archer. I cannot protect you from this distance should her servant counterattack from its position. Not to mention the fact that there are plenty of civilians nearby…"

Both master and servant knew that neither cared about the wellbeing of the mundane. They had been after all periodically going into town at night and draining the energy from small groups of them without their partner's knowledge. Witch Caster's prana reserves were immense and her knowledge of thaumaturgy enabled her to use the mana that she didn't absorb to empower the jewels that Marjatta possessed to unheard of levels.

So what if a family or two perished in the process by accident? Non magicals reproduced like rabbits and, save for grunt work, they had no real significant purpose in the grand scheme of things. True her sister would be most displeased should she find out, but since it greatly enhanced their odds of victory the ends justified the means.

"Sister? What are you doing here?" Luvia's voice snapped Marjatta from her borderline murderous whiteout, not that Caster's mocking advice hadn't been pushing her in that direction regardless. Apparently while she was contemplating Sakura's imminent death Luvia had appeared through the gates while the target of her ire had left. "I thought you were to stay home during the day?"

The younger blonde frowned as she watched Sakura walk away without a care in the world. She knew that the girl's servant had been expecting an attack and probably would have killed her the second she made a wrong move, but right now even thinking about putting the Matou in her place sent satisfied shivers down her spine. "I was bored and felt like exploring the town a bit." Taking a deep breath to calm herself some more, she shifted her attention to her elder sister. "Now that you are free, I assume that we can continue working on our project… once you get out of those tasteless garments the school makes you wear of course."

Luvia sighed and shook her head. "Unfortunately, there is something I must look into personally while there is still daylight. You will have to make do without me for a few more hours." Her eyes narrowed. "I expect you to be back at the mansion when I return. To be outside by yourself now is dangerous, even during the day."

It was only through sheer willpower that the girl didn't thrash out at her older sibling for treating her like an idiot. "I am aware of how dangerous things are right now sister and I assure you I have made precautions to ensure that I am not in any danger." She grunted without breaking eye contact to make her point. "I thought you would have more faith in me to know that I wouldn't do something as asinine as that."

"But still you were asinine enough to actually reveal to others that you are here." Luvia crossed her arms. "Intimidation and misdirection have their places, however once a fact is known it cannot be unlearned or disregarded in future encounters. You have lost us a valuable resource."

Marjatta's eyes grew cold. First that Matou witch was chiding her and now Luvia. She wasn't going to stand and take any more of these simpletons assuming that they knew more than she did. Lifting her nose into the air, the girl snorted in an insulted but dignified fashion before walking away. "I will see you at the manse. Hopefully whatever foolish endeavor you wish to complete will actually serve a purpose. As you said yourself, it is asinine to be out by yourself during the day…"

She didn't wait to hear her sister's response as she walked down the main road that led back to their home. She didn't have Sebastian drive her as Caster's magic was enough to get her anywhere she wanted quickly. As soon as she was out of everyone's sight, she had used the small rune the servant had embedded onto her to teleport to her chosen location several blocks away on top of a building.

Much to her displeasure, the servant was still chuckling with amusement at her master's inconvenience.

"I do hope that your amusement will not afflict your ability to do your duties." The blonde growled irritably.

"Mhmhm. Not in the slightest Master." The Witch grinned softly, clearly not intimidated by the girl's ire. "I must say, that Matou master is an interesting one. Both with her tongue and her magic capability..."

Wresting herself from the comment about the irritating girl's tongue, the blonde concerned herself with the other fact Medea brought up. "Her magic? I did not sense her use any. Why are you so interested in that uneducated hick's capabilities when I am right here?"

Caster's smile turned sly. "Why master, you of all people know that there are those with special properties in the world. As a Caster class, even from this distance my ability to discern certain traits about others is unparalleled. Most magi of this era are limited by the standard five elements and then expand from there using them as tools. It is a workable approach and gives you a wide range of ability… but limiting as well as normally only an individual aware of their origin or a unique mind can truly diverge into something more notable. There are things that can only be achieved from those who possess more... specific traits." Her grin turned into something almost scary. "I find these sorts of individuals useful to examine and experiment with."

"Specific?" Marjatta frowned. "Experiment?"

"From what I could see, the Matou girl has potential to be something quite intriguing… it would serve our cause greatly if we were able to capture her." She paused as she looked down at the school entrance and saw the Emiya boy walk out casually. The sight of him caused her to raise an eyebrow. "Oho? Well isn't that a surprise. It appears that your target is even more interesting than the Matou girl, ignoring the fact that he appears to be completely healed from last night's events." Her eyes focused on the premature graying male as he walked home. "He's quite a specimen indeed. Surprisingly refined too If I could manage to get my hands on either of them, preferably the boy… there would be a chance that I wouldn't even need to resort to some of our more risky strategies…"

"I recall that we agreed to leave Emiya for now unfortunately." The master stated in an annoyed tone, recalling the previous night. The fact that he was in good health was surprising, however nothing to be concerned about. Since he had gone on apostle hunts and other excursions before, it was only natural that he would have had some means of healing himself adequately. All in all he didn't even seem to be that injured from what they saw in the fight. Still considering he had encountered Berserker by himself, it was likely that he had yet to fully recover. "As much as I dislike admitting it, it would be best if he was alive and allowed to perform his activities so that we know more of what he knows and so he can manage Berserker for us… but the Matou girl…"

Caster's hood did nothing to hide the hungry expression she had from being seen. "I believe it is time for our group to make another excursion."

o. o. o.

Emiya Residence:

"Saber! I'm back!" Shirou called out as he walked into his home and took off his shoes. In order to avoid suspicion from the others, Sakura didn't go home with him after school. Instead she was going to meet up with him in an hour or so at the park on the edge of the river by the bridge. It was a little out of the way to the Church, but not by much, and it was unlikely to be found by the other Masters.

Considering all the chaos he had gone through with Illya, today so far had been almost uneventful. Save for three servants being brought to the school at once and Taiga almost killing them in her desperate attempt to be on time for work, nothing really important happened. Granted he was somewhat concerned with the looks that Luvia and Rin had been giving him throughout the day, almost as if they were trying to figure something out… oh well. It was probably nothing important. If they thought it was they would have talked to him about it by now. It wasn't as if they weren't friends by now.

"Welcome back Master." Saber replied evenly from the living room as she walked out to see him. "Seeing as you are in good condition I assume that nothing happened at school."

The Emiya shrugged. "Other than coming across some of the other masters that I knew were already fighting, nothing important happened. There's a ceasefire truce for the daytime, so you don't have to worry about me getting attacked there."

The blonde's eyes narrowed somewhat at the mention of the other masters and servants. "Exactly how many enemy teams did you encounter today? I am only aware of Matou and Rider."

Shirou walked to the kitchen, intending on making a quick snack for the Servant before he got ready to leave. "Two more teams. Rin Tohsaka and Luvia Edelfelt are the masters. They didn't show their servants though. No one knows who has which servant save for Sakura and Rider with respect to us and vise versa."

Saber looked at Shirou expectantly. Whether it was due to the fact that he was more knowledgeable about the war than anyone else or because he was in the kitchen was up for debate. "And if your father's information is correct? I have yet to get through all his notes."

Shirou looked briefly at Saber before getting some drinks from the fridge. "Rin's servant should be Archer. Dad never gave me much info on him other than he was a male and that he had the potential to be my greatest ally or enemy. Given how confident she is with her servant though, whoever she has now must be really powerful. Luvia…"

He hesitated before going into detail. Considering how different the current situation was compared with what Kiritsugu saw, he was unsure about how things were going to turn out. "My father's visions showed that Lancer's, Caster's, and Assassin's original masters were killed for one reason or another before I ever got involved with the war, and I was the last master to summon a servant. Now I summoned you before Rider and Assassin, and Assassin is still not here yet according to Sakura. Things have changed due to dad's interference. I don't know how reliable the information coming from him is at this point."

He breathed out tiredly. "Luvia's should be Caster, once known as Medea of Colchis. Waver-nii sent me a text message that she and her sister were hired to kill me. Using their family's sorcery trait they managed to split her between two of her aspects, but he didn't get much info out of them after that save that one of them does have Rule Breaker. Apparently things had gotten too dangerous for him to stay in the city for much longer so he couldn't risk getting more than he already had."

"I see." Saber nodded with a frown. As much as she disliked the fact that one of the servants in the war had the ability to sever the connection between a master and a servant and gain control of the servant in the process, she had read how valuable a tool it could be if added to Shirou's reality marble. The real problem was getting the Caster that had the tool to show it in the first place. "And Lancer?"

Shirou closed his eyes. "I received word from Sirius-jiji that he is Cu Chulainn, also like in dad's visions, and that he was summoned by Bazett-nee, one of my Magus teachers and without a doubt the strongest master in terms of direct combat in the war. In dad's notes, he said that Kirei killed Lancer's original master and took control of him without anyone knowing, but apparently that didn't happen here. Seeing as she knows the priest personally, I can pretty much guess what happened in his version of the war." He clicked his teeth in irritation. "I really want to let her in on this, but if we do it too early, she might try to do things by herself and cause things to get out of control. At least this way she'll have to look around for her opponents first before she can do anything else. Plus if too many of the masters act suspiciously and join together so early in the war, it would cause Kirei and Gilgamesh to move faster than we want. I want to put off their movements as much as possible."

The King of Knights growled at the mention of the golden man who claimed her as his own against her will. To think that that obnoxious person was the legendary King of Heroes was nauseating to her. While he held the bearing, looks, power, wealth, and tongue of a King, his attitude towards others was deplorable and unbecoming of one. Such a spoiled man should not be given a second attempt at life. "While I will enjoy watching that monster's body fall before me, I still would prefer to put off seeing him as much as possible."

The Emiya chuckled lightly as he placed the rice cakes and tea that he had gathered from the kitchen onto the living room table for his servant to snack on. "Given what I've heard about him, I could say the same thing." He turned for the hallway. "I'm going to take a shower before getting dressed for tonight. Is there anything you want to talk to me about before I get prepared?"

For a moment Shirou thought he saw a flash of panic and worry on his servant's face but before he could second guess himself the blonde had returned to her normal and cool demeanor while grabbing one of the rice crackers. "No. I spent the entire day reading the book you left for me inside the workshop and making sure that no enemy servants or masters invaded your property while you were away. I did not tamper with any of your tools, equipment, or other materials inside it." And with that she began eating, preventing any more conversation to be had.

"Oh… ok then." Shirou blinked in some confusion at the oddly specific reply. Shrugging and deeming it inconsequential, the teen went to the bathroom to wash up. After that he would go to the workshop and get his "work" equipment…

Then he would have to deal with Kirei.

o. o. o.

Fuyuki Park:

"I must admit… I may have underestimated your descriptions of this area." Caster mused in spiritual form as she looked around the area and suppressed a shudder. "Its condition is far more severe than I had anticipated."

Luvia glanced at her servant, trying to ignore the dregs of tainted prana brushing against her skin. "I did say this area was heavily scarred… however your reaction is saying that there is something else I am not aware of. Care to elaborate?"

Medea nodded, trying to ignore the oppressive, malevolent, and stagnant atmosphere that she was currently in. "While my counterpart is more suited for this brand of task, I can without a doubt tell you that this curse is severely aggressive, especially towards living beings and spiritual based existences like myself. Given enough time here, I suspect that my very core would show signs of contamination. It would be akin to staying in an area with trace amounts of corrosive gasses for you. Not immediately damaging, however prolonged exposure is not recommended." She looked around with a skeptic eye. "Whatever happened here was most certainly not done by the hands of a single servant. The effects are too wide spread and long lasting to be so…" She shivered before looking at Luvia. "However, just in case, could you perhaps tell me who was summoned in the previous war? Their identities may give us a hint as to what happened."

"Guille de Reis was summoned as Caster. Alexander the Great was Rider. King Arthur of England was Saber. Gilgamesh of Uruk as Archer. Darmuid of the Love Spot as Lancer. Hassan-I-Sabbah as Assassin. Berserker was never identified however he was a knight in black armor with unmatched skill in wielding weapons." Luvia replied almost instantly. She had spent long hours studying the war after she had found out she was chosen to be a master after all.

"The Kings of Heroes, Knights, and Conquers in one war?" Caster's eyes widened in surprise and some fear. "Gods preserve us. I thought that Heracles was a daunting enough opponent. Pray that the opponents we are tasked against are not of that pedigree. We would have been destroyed in the mere crossfire of such an altercation." She shook her head and regained her composure. "No, that is irrelevant to our current predicament. Who were the servants present when the fire took place?"

"To my knowledge, only Saber and Archer remained at the end of the war." Luvia frowned. "Which is odd. Neither should be capable in the slightest of producing curses, let alone afflicting area in this way. If there was any servant in that war that would have been able to do this, it would have been Caster."

"Oh?" A new young voice spoke up, causing both Master and Servant to freeze in their tracks. "You are quite well informed Edelfelt."

Caster and Luvia turned around nervously to see the snow white haired little girl from the previous night standing in front of them confidently dressed in thick winter European clothing. On her back was a large wrapped package strapped over her shoulders, giving her an odd appearance. While by herself she only seemed like a mild threat, the overwhelming presence of the spirit behind her left them with little doubt that she was far from defenseless.

"I see you know who I am." The girl continued, smiling innocently. "And judging from your terrified reaction upon seeing and hearing me, you know who my servant is as well. That makes things much easier." She looked around. "However the location is a bit unsuitable for such an occasion. To think we would meet in such an unpleasant place as this."

"Einzbern." Luvia stated with as much control as possible. She had anticipated that the girl could come to the park at the same time she did, but not that the girl would be able to get the drop on her and Caster without them knowing. Apparently the tainted air around them had clouded Caster's ability to detect other spirits, even ones as mighty as the bastard son of Zeus. "There is still plenty of daylight out. Don't tell me that you are planning to start a fight now and here of all places?"

The homunculus smiled cheerfully, belying the shrewd personality she held. "While I do think that now would be an excellent opportunity to kill you and your servant, I am a follower of the rules. Once the sun sets the war will start again, but until then we have no real reason to fight." Her eyes opened, revealing the amused glare of a predator. "Unless of course you want to."

The blonde laughed nervously and raised her hands in surrender. "No. That's quite all right. I didn't come here to fight and I don't intend to now. There are better places to do such things."

Illya's demeanor matured a bit and nodded. "You are right. There are indeed better locations to conduct the holy ritual than this tainted place." She looked around. "To think that this was once one of the major leyline points in the city… how demeaning. The Grail War is a sacred event. To have it in such a location is insulting." She looked back at Luvia with bored interest. "So why are you here Edelfelt? I must admit that your knowledge of the previous war is rather impressive, in some cases it is even greater than my own, but I don't see how this place could serve any benefit to you. Even Berserker is uncomfortable being here, and I have long since taken his mind away from him."

Luvia swallowed heavily and chose her next words carefully. From what she had seen the previous night, Kiritsugu Emiya was a very touchy subject with the girl so unless she wanted to die a spectacularly bloody death, she would have to be careful. "I'm concerned with the state of the Grail War's system." She said honestly as she waved her arms to point Illya's attention to the park. "This place has been like this from the ending of the previous war, but as far as I can tell there has been no suitable reason as to why that is. Neither the remaining servants at the time, Saber or Archer, were heroes that would possess anything that could accomplish such a feat, so how did this happen? Even if the Grail was destroyed it as reports claimed, the resulting destruction would not yield such tainted attributes. Rather the ambient energy would eventually serve as a source of mana for the local environment. At the very least this area would prove to be a very suitable setting for larger scale rituals with the ambient energy lingering here." She nodded to the half dead vegetation that surrounded them. "As you can see, that is obviously not the case."

Illya frowned at Luvia's glancing reference to Kiritsugu's betrayal, but she didn't say anything. Remaining quiet as she occasionally shifted her gaze upon Luvia and the park for several minutes, the artificial girl appeared to be deep in thought. The elder looking teen did nothing to interrupt the process as she did not want to do anything to provoke the master of Berserker.

"What happened here is none of our business. Personally I believe you are chasing ghosts that either don't exist, or are completely irrelevant to what you should be paying attention to. I have more important things to waste my time thinking about… speaking of which, your servant is Caster, isn't it?" The albino finally broke the silence with a smile, enjoying the shocked reaction on her acquaintance's face while suddenly changing the topic of conversation. "How else could you have known about Berserker and his identity without encountering me earlier? Unless you possess an Archer with the ability to lip read. I know for a fact that Assassin has yet to be summoned, so you don't have him. I encountered Lancer a couple of weeks ago as well, so you don't have him either, not that it matters. Berserker is the strongest servant ever. There's no way I can lose with him under my control."

The Edelfelt's breathing momentarily hitched and her face paled. Despite being such a small girl, the Einzbern master was far more capable than she had originally guessed.

Illya pouted. "Hey. Don't be rude. Am I right? If it is Caster, I have a favor to ask. If you agree to help me out, I'll hold out on hunting you down in the war until some of the other servants are killed."

Waiting no more time for her master to respond, Caster materialized into physical form, standing straight up with noble posture as she had been raised. "I am indeed Servant Caster, master of Berserker. How may I help you?"

The Einzbern ignored Luvia's late response and smiled happily like any child her age. "It's nice to meet you Caster. I was wondering if you could help me out with something. It should be easy to do for someone of your caliber and knowledge." She then began to struggle taking off the bag strapped to her back, looking more like a grade schooler than anyone would ever admit to her, and handing it to the woman. "I want to know what the relationship is between this and the park."

"I shall see what I can do." Keeping her emotions in check to prevent the girl from noticing that the servant knew what she had been handed. Caster opened the package delicately to reveal the black sword she had seen the previous night…

Cursed.

That was the first thing that came to her mind when she had laid eyes upon it. The weapon was without a doubt cursed by the same source that had scarred the land around them… only the sword had received a far more concentrated dosage of the taint. It was so obvious to anyone that was exposed to both that she was somewhat surprised that the girl needed her input to confirm it. In fact Caster was somewhat disturbed that the child had been carrying it on her person for any extended amount of time without receiving some sort of penalty or aftereffect.

Personally, the Servant didn't even want to touch the thing now that it was unwrapped. Every hidden whisper in the world that she could hear warned her that the tool was not something she should ever be in contact with for any extended period of time. Despite the warnings however, the Princess of Colchis continued to unwrap the parcel and hold the weapon by its grip, the only part of the weapon that seemed to be untainted.

Ignoring the obvious signs of corruption pervading the blade, Caster had to admit that the weapon was of extremely fine make for a projection. Granted it was not something a true heroic spirit would ever wield, but it was of great quality considering the standard of this era. She probably would have been able to appreciate it more if she possessed an Item Construction ability like her counterpart, however she had lost that in exchange for her ability to summon. Still, her skills in discerning mysteries were great enough that she could at the least delve into the quirks abilities of this tool.

The rather plain and small guard, leather grip, and moderately ornate yet still small pommel indicated that this weapon was designed for execution, not flair, yet the unique coloring of the blade signified that the weapon had either more than one property, or it was desired to intimidate others. Or both... no, definitely both. Ignoring the curse, there were two different concepts that enacted upon contact with the edge of the blade. She couldn't tell what they were, but odds were likely that it wasn't pleasant.

"This weapon… I do not know what its story is, or how it came to be, but it is not one that I believe I would enjoy listening to."

"Those patterns…" Luvia muttered as she inspected the blade of the weapon. She had definitely seen them before… Her eyes widened. They were exactly like the ones inscribed on those sword mystic codes that Emiya used the most of the fights she had seen him in. One had the red edges, and the other had the vein patterns… so this sword would have both of their abilities? She glanced at her servant warily. "Am I to assume from this weapon's designs that it has multiple traits that can be enacted separately?"

"No. There are indeed two conceptual effects embedded into this tool other than the curse, but they are tied together. The sword would enact both at once on contact. The curse just makes it more effective on the living and spiritual existences like myself." Caster frowned. "From what I can tell, the source of both effects and the curse is the same, mixed into the ether enriched metal to the point that it is part of the metal itself. I believe the metal is referred to these days as Damascus Steel, a very useful but exceedingly uncommon alloy for thaumaturgy. To make such a tool with such volatile and dangerous ingredients is impressive, more so in that the properties were not diluted in the process. It is without a doubt a weapon made by one of the greatest forgers in this era."

"It's most likely Sirius McGinty." Illya sighed not impressed. "He's very infamous for his skills and his crass behavior." She frowned as she held back that he was also well known to be the teacher of Shirou. "I am assuming that the curse that pervades the blade and this place are the same, but is there anything else you can tell me?"

"The malignancy in this weapon is indeed the same as the one on this land, but stronger. If this land was bathed in the curse, than this weapon was directly infused with it inside and out." Medea nodded as she began to focus. "alcthesvcvcz." She muttered in the ancient divine language to the world, enacting mysteries to perform an ancient and more basic variation of Tracing (not that she was aware of it) to delve into the tool, forcing her way through the mysteries that it possessed to see the source of its powers… and gasped. "This is… unexpected."

"What is it?" Illya frowned. "Speak."

"The source of this weapon's power and curse is… human remains. Donated willingly after a slow and painful demise that extended for years on end." Caster reluctantly responded. "Of a single man to be exact, one with a dual origin. This is an origin weapon. Not on the level of a noble phantasm, but it is without a doubt something that should not be disregarded."

The white haired girl snorted and crossed her arms. "Is that all? This sword is made from the body of some poor fool that was caught in whatever cursed this land ten years ago?" She paused as she turned to see Luvia staring at the weapon with horror, fear, and realization. "Something on your mind Edelfelt?"

"No…" The blonde teen whispered to herself, barely paying attention to her heart beating so heavily it hurt or aware that the skin on her face had matched the coloring of the girl's hair. "No it… it couldn't be… him… could it?" She could hardly believe what she was guessing, but there were just too many coincidences for it to simply be brushed aside, in fact it was almost comical how many things were lined up in her mind in perfect order to support her theory… but how could she prove it?

"Master?" Caster asked cautiously.

The blonde looked at the Princess warily before looking at Illya and back again before swallowing and taking a deep breath. "Caster, may I ask you to perform an experiment? Einzbern, I will need a small bit of aid from you."

The small girl looked warily at the elder looking one. "Depends. What do you need?"

"Just a moment. I… I need to talk to Caster privately." Luvia excused herself before engaging in telepathic conversation with her servant, much to the girl's ire. It took less than a minute for the pair to reach a conclusion before the servant stepped forward with some discomfort. "I will need a single strand of your hair if you please. Do not worry about me using it against you, I do not utilize the black arts. You have my word as royalty."

Illya looked skeptically at the woman before leisurely taking a lock of her silver hair and cutting it with magic. "Try anything funny and Berserker will kill you before you can even regret it." She warned as she handed it over.

"Believe me. I have seen Heracles rampage enough in life to know its best to avoid such an event when possible." Medea laughed nervously before holding the hair and the sword each in a hand and briefly chanted in the ancient language once more. "alcvc."

As if responding to some command, both objects momentarily glowed white before they slowly hovered towards one another and then turned a faint bright blue hue, circling one another as if they were familiar with one another…

"Well?" Luvia looked at her servant nervously.

Caster nodded slowly. "It's as you feared. Had it not been so, they would have merely returned to my hands and lost their shine."

"What happened?" Illya pouted. "Tell me. What did you just find out?"

The blonde looked down at the albino with mixed feelings. On the one hand she was an enemy, but on the other Shirou had for some godforsaken reason decided it was a bright idea to make the girl carry her father's cursed weaponized remains all over Fuyuki. After Illya's display of instability the previous night the Edelfelt was willing to risk keeping her in the dark. "Due to certain reasons that I won't say… I believe it's best for my personal health if I don't tell you."

"As opposed to the risks to your health that I pose if you continue not to tell me?" The girl asked not irritably, but with a more dark curiosity.

"So long as you have Berserker with you, I wish to be as far away as possible when you do find out." Luvia clarified with mixed fear and regret for obvious reasons. "And to be clear, I do believe whoever gave this to you will tell you what it is the next time you see him." She paused for a moment and thought about the oncoming scenario. "And if he doesn't, I'll kill him… granted I was going to kill him anyways, but I'll do it worse than what I originally planned."

Illya looked at Luvia skeptically. "You do realize that if we are talking about the same person, the odds of you doing the deed before me are noticeably slim." She closed her eyes and sighed, looking far more mature than what her physical age appeared. "You don't seem to be lying about thinking that it is safer for you not to tell me whatever it is you discovered about the weapon… however if you do not inform me of anything else about it that I would not be able to determine on my own as compensation, I will have to force you to tell me anyways. It's very rude to keep personal information away from others after all."

"You make a fair point." The blonde muttered as she closed her eyes and began to desperately try to think of what else she could find out about the weapon that would normally be impossible to find without revealing the identity of the man who contributed his body to make it. Powers? No. what it did was probably useless in the grand scheme of things. Potentially lethal, but not important. Its age? No. It was a projection, and she had spend enough time with Shirou to know that the tool would appear to be the same physical state as when he first saw it… wait. Maybe she could use time as a basis of her question, but from a different approach. Not when the sword was made, but…

"Caster." The Edelfelt spoke up suddenly. "Can you determine when the person who contributed to this sword was cursed, in particular can you tell if he was cursed before, during or after the park was?"

The faint purple haired woman frowned as she went through her extensive knowledge of the ancient language and the properties of the projected weapon in her possession. "… Perhaps. It is a risky procedure on an imitated object like this. I will have to utilize several vague work arounds and other approaches in order to achieve this, and thus may break in the process, however its stability is high enough that I believe it is possible. Truth be told I am somewhat astounded that an imitation could be made by a single human so easily."

Illya raised an eyebrow. "Dare I ask why the timing between the two is so important?"

Luvia remained quiet for a moment as she watched her servant prepare herself. "If… the person was cursed during or after the field was, it will simply mean that he was caught in whatever messed up this field. However if he was before the field…" She frowned.

"Then?" The albino questioned with a hint of irritation

"Then both of us unfortunately will leave with more questions than answers."

o. o. o.

Fuyuki Church:

"Ah. I was wondering if I would see you here for the war. It has been a long time since we last met, hasn't it Shirou Emiya? I can't say I'm surprised to see that you were chosen to be a master." Kirei Kotomine welcomed Shirou and Sakura with a hint of amusement. Rider was in spiritual form between the pair and Saber was waiting outside so that the priest wouldn't recognize her. "And you are already teamed up with the Matou. A very interesting turn of events. I had personally placed my money on Rin being the one to seize your aid. Considering your current reputation, I would assume that your services are rather high in demand as of late." He looked down at Shirou with the barest hint of amusement. "At the very least, I would have thought that you would have offered help to Einzbern…"

"Cut the theatrics Kotomine." Shirou grunted, dressed in his "work" attire. He maintained the coat he normally wore at the Association, however the pants he wore were now thick dark tan cargos that held several useful items for fighting non human existences, and while his shirt was his standard casual black and blue long sleeve, the under armor made from the same material as his bow lay underneath giving him a slightly larger appearance. Completing his attire with the Shroud of Martin wrapped around his head, leaving his eyes uncovered. "Let's just get this over with. This place gives me a worse feeling than the park."

"Shirou-kun…" Sakura frowned and chided her partner.

The priest seemed to share the girl's sentiments as he replaced the normally dispassionate look on his face for a mildly displeased one. "I would appreciate it if you would not slander the house of God like that Emiya. I take offence to statements like that, as would most who work for the Church." A faint spark of something flashed in his eyes. "Or are you hinting that you are possibly something that is an affront to the almighty?"

The Emiya's eyes narrowed in irritation. The comment had hit slightly closer to home than the teen would have liked, what with his partial vampirized state and all. The longer he stayed in the church, the more of a chance the priest would learn of something that he could use against him in the future. Coming with Sakura alone was already a risk in itself. "How I feel about where you live shouldn't matter right now. You know why we're here."

The middle aged man closed his eyes and sighed faintly to express mild frustration. "You are indeed your father's son… though to be blunt he was far more intimidating than you are now despite your attempts to look otherwise. Very well. Show your proof as masters in this ritual and state your servant's class."

Sakura held out her right hand to show the three identical marks around an empty space. "Sakura Matou, Master of Servant Rider."

Shirou held out his left hand revealing a sword shaped set of command seals. "Shirou Emiya, Master of Servant Saber."

Kotomine didn't react in the slightest to learning of the servants either of them had summoned. "Do both of you know of and swear to follow the rules of the Grail Ritual, lest you suffer the consequences as agreed upon by both the Magus Association and the Holy Church?"

"Yes." Both teens nodded at the same time.

"Then then as the monitor I now accept you both as participants in the Grail War." The priest bowed his head briefly. "Should your servant be defeated in combat, you are welcome to come here for protection and in doing so sacrifice your rights to compete in the ritual. There are now six servants summoned. Otherwise you are not allowed to come here unless it is related to the rules of the war. Only one servant is left now, however that does not mean that the fighting has not started yet."

Shirou had half a mind to comment that the man was a bit late with that particular warning, but he held his tongue. Doing so would probably only give more ammo for the man to use later.

"Do either of you have any questions regarding the war before I send you on your way?" The man asked, dropping the hint of authority in his otherwise emotionless voice while looking at the teens skeptically. "I am somewhat surprised that you have not already asked me questions Emiya. I would have assumed someone of your mindset would jump at the chance to find some sort of loophole to exploit."

Another twist of words. The man obviously meant that the teen would have used them to try and keep deaths to a minimum, but it was worded to sound like he would use them to win the war as soon as possible. Still he had a point. No one was supposed to know that the war had come early and it caught everyone by surprise. To not ask any questions now would be suspicious.

"I'm teamed up with Matou Kotomine." Shirou closed his eyes with a sigh. "Do you really think that I would not have asked Zouken as much of the war as I could about it while I had the chance?"

A faint twitch in the priest's face was all the Emiya needed to confirm his father's very vague suspicions that the so called holy man had some sort of grudge against the worm user. Good.

"You make a fair point. Zouken Matou would indeed know more about the grail war system and rules than possibly anyone else today save for perhaps a select few members of the Einzbern family." Kirei relented while recalling the existence of one of the few individuals he truly disliked other than Kiritsugu. He turned back to the boy with a focused but curious gaze. "Though… if you are nearly as capable as the rumors say you are, then there would no doubt be questions that you knew better than to ask him about."

The Magus Killer remained quiet as he sorted his thoughts out before carefully picking his words. "What would happen if the remaining masters and servants of the war decided not to continue with the ritual? I am aware that the Greater Grail is part of the reason why most of the masters are capable of maintaining their servants with an adequate supply of prana in the first place. By themselves, only the most capable of magi are able to perform such a feat. The rest would simply die as they attempted to perform a miracle that was beyond their abilities. The timeframe for a war is two weeks, but in reality it is more like the expected amount of time it takes for the masters and servants to kill each other off. I haven't been told anything that says what would happen if the remaining participants decided not to go through with the ritual."

Sakura's eyes widened in surprise at the question. True it was a valid thing to ask, but still he had promised to save her. The only way to do that was to win the war and give the grail to her grandfather. To be honest, she didn't even know why he would need to know the answer to such a thing in the first place.

Kotomine on the other hand didn't react in the slightest. "I see why you didn't ask Zouken that. It would indeed give him the wrong impression if you did." He nodded. "You are no doubt concerned that should you be defeated and the other servants and masters have different agendas than the war, it would cause issues for many that would be difficult to solve. You are also correct in that so long as the ritual isn't completed, the Greater Grail system would still be intact and the drain on the masters to support their servants would be reduced to far more manageable levels, regardless of where in the world they may be. Be rest assured though, this has already been thought up of. Should that unlikely scenario ever come to pass, a specialized team from the Church specializing in spiritual exorcisms will be assigned to address the issue. While standard rituals are ineffective against Servants with Masters, Servants are still spiritual beings with a core. There are methods that are able to disrupt those cores to the point of killing them. Of course doing so would end the ritual without a winner and steps would also have to be taken to properly disperse the energy stored in the completed grail, however it is a necessary evil in order to ensure that such a power does not go unchecked." His eyes momentarily flashed with a hint of amusement. "After all, we already know what happened the last time someone disposed of the grail in a haphazard manner. Plus having heroic spirits on the loose would be a nightmare to manage under even normal circumstances. We have enough trouble with the Apostle Ancestors as it is."

The Magus Killer resisted the urge to roll his eyes and ignored the jab at his father. "If I ever have to go up against another Ancestor in mortal combat again it will be too soon."

While the Queen of the Clocktower did frequently send him out to hunt Dead Apostles, his saving grace was that when the woman had an Ancestor in her sights, she went after it personally and only brought her personal army with her. Shirou was more of an assassin in a division all his own that took out virtually every other Dead Apostle that she couldn't be bothered with at the time, but still wanted absolutely dead.

Thankfully he had only needed to use Kiritsugu once during his employment against a particularly vicious and indiscriminate female Apostle specializing in bounded fields that had a taste for the blood of very young children. The word thankfully in particular was used because when he told Barthomelloi that he used it and described the vampire's reaction, the woman actually SMILED faintly. He had trouble sleeping for a week after that particular event, and swore to himself afterwords that he would never tell anyone of what he had been witness to.

"Can we not talk about Apostles please?" Sakura asked with a nervous smile. "They bring up bad memories for me."

"All of us can agree to that." The Priest nodded. "Save for one particular Ancestor, most of their kind has proven themselves to me as a rather unscrupulous species." He walked behind the podium and looked upon the rather expensive looking cross past it. "If I may Emiya, I have a question of my own to ask of you. Call it curiosity but do you actually have a wish for the grail should you win?"

The teen shook his head. "No. Should I be victorious, I'd hand it over to Zouken for Sakura's freedom from the Matou Family." That was the official plan at least. He had no real intention of handing the cursed thing to the old demon if he had anything to say about it. He saw Sakura look at him with mixed amounts of gratitude and depression, as if what he was doing was making her both happy and guilty at the same time. He didn't understand why she would feel guilty about why he was fighting, but right now it didn't really matter.

The Priest paused for a moment before glancing back at the son of the man he hated most. "And should she die in the conflict? Would you continue to fight even if your reason for winning was lost?" The magi in the room froze at the question, but Kotomine continued. "It is a simple question. No one can truly control how the war will turn out. Both Masters and Servants are valid targets in the grand scheme of things. Should Miss Matou here die, what would you do? Would you still give the grail to Zouken? Would you take it for yourself and wish for something foolish like world peace like your father wanted?"

It took all of the teen's self control to not blurt out something stupid at that point, gritting his teeth and clenching his hands as he held back his temper. This man was far more infuriating than those pompous fools at the Clocktower for the sole reason that he pointed out sore points in others not to make himself feel better, but for the sake of making his target feel worse. The best he could do in the situation the man had suggested was blackmail the Einzberns with the grail and how they had tainted it to give him Illya, and THEN force them to use Heaven's Feel to bring back those that had died using another medium to do so, but he had focused most if not all of his time on trying to prevent that scenario from happening so he had little more than that planned…

"I understand your curiosity Kotomine-san, but I would appreciate it if you would stop asking these excessive questions, especially since they regard me being killed." Sakura spoke up coldly, gaining both of the population's attention. "If you continue speaking like this, my servant will consider you to be a threat to me, and she happens to be very loyal." She shook her head. "And keep in mind that Shirou-kun here is the Magus Killer. I'm confident that should my abilities not be enough to deter an enemy master, his most certainly will." She paused and looked at the eldest one there skeptically. "Or am I to interpret your questions as a confession that you have your own agenda for the war?"

Both males blinked in surprise at the girl's interruption before the elder of the two chuckled a couple of times in amusement. "My apologies Matou. It was not my intention to cause friction between us. I was merely satisfying my curiosity with Emiya. His father and I have a… unique history and it influenced my decisions a bit." He bowed. "It will not happen again."

"Be sure that it doesn't." Sakura continued channeling her less pleasant side. "You are a man of god. You are supposed to be relieving others of their worries, not adding to them."

Shirou couldn't help but laugh a small bit. "Heh. There's a reason why I'm not that worried about Sakura's safety Kotomine. She's scarier than Rin when she wants to be." He wasn't kidding either. Ever since the Louvre incident the girl's self confidence and control had increased over time with the further controlling of her powers. While she was still normal sweet Sakura most of the time, she had occasionally slipped into a rather dark and intimidating persona when pushed hard enough. So much so that she could manage to beat Rin at her own game. Occasionally. Not that Rin would ever admit it.

"Yes… my mistake. You do seem to have quite a bite." The priest managed to regain himself before looking at Sakura with mild recognition. "Must run in the family. My apologies."

None of the three commented on Sakura's face bleaching a shade or two. Shirou doubted that the priest made that family comment as a casual offhanded statement. "… That's quite all right." The girl replied after a moment's hesitation. "I expect you to be more accommodating next time."

"If there is one, I most certainly will." Kotomine nodded. "I was not joking when I insinuated your possible demise. Each war past has seen the death of at least half of the masters participating. I do not see why this war should be any different."

Yes, because every war has at least two extra servants, a corrupted grail, and a moderator who wants to give said corrupted grail to the master whose wish will be altered the most without them knowing. You're probably planning on at least six of the masters dying by the end of this thing. Shirou mentally grumbled. "You have a point." He admitted though the sentiment didn't reach his eyes. "Come on Sakura. We're leaving. We have other things to take care of tonight."

"Allow me to wish you good luck." Kirei added as the two walked back to the main doors of the Church. "There has never been two Masters starting with such powerful classed servants pairing up so early in the war before. I am interested to see how far you get. I hope to see you again soon, as peculiar as it may sound."

Shirou paused for a second and looked at the man as well. "Believe me Kotomine. We will be seeing one another again fairly soon. And when we do, I expect you to do your job."

o. o. o.

As the doors to the Church closed in front of the very confused man, the building was left silent… for a good five seconds.

"Hahahaha!" A golden man dressed in expensive but casual clothing applauded and walked out from the back rooms of the building, showing mirth and amusement in his red eyes. "How interesting! A grand way to end a prequel!"

The man of god turned to the King of Heroes with a hint of mild curiosity. "It appears that Emiya has some sort of plan for me."

"Indeed!" Gilgamesh snickered. "What an intriguing jester that faker is. Managing to push some role on a playwright in his very own work! The retainer has truly exceeded my expectations. He has already outdone your first attempt at a script Kirei. I fear you are slipping. The absurdity of what I have seen makes for a fine comedy."

"I must admit, I have mixed feelings about this." The human nodded. "On the one hand I am quite perturbed at being the one manipulated once more, something that has only been done when I was under Tokiomi's meager guidance, and by a child not even half my age this time. On the other, I am quite curious as to what he expects me to do, as what he wants to do with the rest of the war…"

The former Archer calmed down, his eyes glittered with ethereal knowledge. "The fool does seem to believe he knows much about what is happening in the war. While we may be forced to put him down sooner rather than later if we let him free for too long, there is no need to rush it now. In fact I am rather curious as to how he will attempt to address his little problems." He held his hand out and summoned a golden cup and some wine from the Gate of Babylon. "It is best after all to let some things wait for a while in order to get the finest taste…" He took an elegant sip. "Although, I do believe that one of the things he wants to address is something that has aged to the point of being vinegar…"

"Zouken." Kotomine muttered the name of the elderly magus who had been on his bad side since the fourth war. If Kiritsugu could be considered a man that he despised due to personal reasons, Zouken could be considered an existence he could not tolerate out of principle. The only reason why he had left the monster alone for as long as he did was simply because he saw no reason to go after him. There was no point. The man kept his disgusting activities to a minimum and well within the regulations that the Church and the Magus Association had set up. Going after the man now was more trouble than it was worth. However if the boy had some sort of plan set up to get rid of the sickening existence… well, as long as empty man's plans were completed in the end he might as well kill two birds with one stone.

"Hmhm." The golden king mused as he looked at his reflection in his wine. "This war is most certainly turning out to be far more fruitful and interesting than I originally assumed. Who would have thought that the mere squabbles between women and children would be so amusing?" He drank some more of the ambrosia that could not be matched anywhere else on the planet. "Ah, such is the beauty of true entertainment. You never do know when and where the next source of it will come from…"

o. o. o.

Matou Residence an hour later:

He couldn't breathe.

His heart was burning. His brain was pulsing. His very veins were searing him from the inside out. The mere concepts of "seeing", "hearing", "thinking", and other basic functions had been ignored in order to deal with the primary issue that was the pain that pervaded his very nerves.

Seconds? Minutes? Hours? He had no idea how long his body had undergone such torture. The only thing that pierced the veil that clouded his mind was the drive to deal with it. That it would end soon and that it was all to help her out. Who she was he could not even bother to conjure up the name of, but she was important to him and he would save her. That was all the reason he needed to remain sane enough to not black out…

And soon enough, or not, his patience was rewarded. The black cloud that had flooded his eyes so densely that he had forgotten he could see slowly lifted. Similar blocks to his other senses also faded with varying speeds, allowing him to function as a "human" once more. Unfortunately the first sense to truly recover was that of smell… overwhelming his brain with the sickeningly sweet scent of decay.

Thus it was no surprise that his first coherent action was to roll himself over and empty his stomach onto the cold stone floor of the catacombs underneath the Matou Mansion.

"Hmhmhm." The gravelly voice of Zouken Matou chuckled as the owner approached the tortured body. "That was certainly an interesting sight to behold Emiya. For a moment there I worried that you wouldn't make it."

"Shirou-kun! Are you all right?! I didn't think that the stress would be so hard on you! Please tell me you're ok!" Sakura's panicked voice reached his ears, easing some of the stress on his mind. Judging from how close it sounded and the hands touching him, he was fairly certain that she was trying to support his body so that he didn't accidentally collapse into the bodily fluids he had just upchucked.

"Master…" Saber's voice grunted nearby, though clearly not hovering over him like Sakura's was. If he had to guess with his addled mind, he assumed that the Servant was standing between him and Zouken, for good reason.

"Urgh…" Shirou moaned as his vision returned to him alongside his motor control and slowly picked himself up. Raising his right hand he rubbed his temples in order to get some blood flowing in his head again. He made some movement to move his left hand to prop himself up better when he realized it was holding something…

A small red book.

"Are you well… Master?" Rider asked her new master neutrally from behind Sakura, not at all showing displeasure or concern from the recent events.

"I'll manage." Shirou hissed in pain as he forced his aching body to push itself into a standing position despite protests from it, Sakura, and Saber. He winced through his teeth. "I can see why it's advised to not have two servants at once." Indeed he was somewhat surprised that after all the pain he had just gone through, all his circuits were still intact and undamaged. Still burning hot and actually damaging his physical body in some points, but otherwise unblemished.

"Indeed you do." Zouken chuckled. "Most magi these days would have perished the instant the second servant began to drain them of their prana. Our little helpers here will have to reduce how much they take from you on average, but it is something that can easily be worked around." He looked at the boy skeptically. "Speaking of reserves boy, I am somewhat concerned of your situation. As you are now you, the famous Magus Killer, are completely unable to defend yourself from even the weakest opponent. Should anyone find out about this, it would make your, and through it my position in the war quite uncomfortable…"

"Now you're worried?" The Emiya sarcastically asked before breathing the sour air deeply a few times to stabilize himself. "Don't worry, I'm a fast healer. Besides…" He made eye contact with the sickening man. "For some reason I doubt that you've simply let me take control of your servant without abusing the system in some way to your favor."

The worm user grinned sadistically at the accusation. "You're a sharp one boy. Good. Very good. I see that Barthomelloi's decision to employ you was not simply due to your meager fighting abilities. That'll tilt things more to your favor." He began to walk around the group of teens and servants slowly, giving them a wide berth since the servants no doubt would not hesitate in trying to kill him if given the opportunity. "I have managed to learn quite a few things from observing the past wars while the other Masters try to abuse the system in their own way. What I did with you two is similar to what the master of Lancer did for the previous war. As of right now Emiya here is indeed the master of both Rider and Saber here. He provides prana to both of you and his command seals can be utilized on either one as well. But since Rider was originally bound to Sakura, my granddaughter can at anytime donate her prana to reduce the strain on you Emiya." His grin widened. "Of course doing it too much will run the risk of agitating the worms inside her body a bit and consume her reserves, but all in all she will no doubt serve as a suitable secondary source. Wouldn't you agree?"

"You are a sickening existence." Saber growled, holding onto her hidden Excalibur with both hands. "Doing this to your own flesh and blood. For the sake of the world I should end you right now…"

"It's all right Saber." Shirou panted as he felt Avalon heal some of the internal damage that his circuits had done to his body. He had really underestimated how severe the load of supporting two servants was. If anyone was to blame for going through with this insane plan, it was him.

He was after all, the one who suggested it in the first place.

"All we have to do is win the grail and he'll free Sakura." He glared at the eldest one there. "So long as he doesn't give me a reason to believe that he'll double cross me, I'll keep my end of the bargain and fight on his behalf…"

"Humph. Far be it for me to get on the wrong side of the Magus Killer, let alone a ward of Barthomelloi." The eldest one there snorted. "Just be sure to remember who is holding which cards."

"I haven't forgotten Zouken." Shirou glared at the elderly man as he managed to feel his body slowly regain enough energy to not feel completely useless. Even with Rider and Saber holding back a bit on their prana consumption, the teen felt that almost all of what his body generated went straight to the servants. The remaining dregs that were not used went to him which he could store up over time to an extent, but if both servants got into a major fight at the same time those meager reserves would not last long. All in all his combat ability had taken a major hit in the grand scheme of things.

"Our unstable alliance aside…" Saber spoke up darkly, never taking her eyes off of Zouken for an instant. "I assume that the current course of action is for Rider and me to team up against other servants for this war and overwhelm them?"

"No." Shirou coughed out some blood before pretending that it didn't happen. "Rider is going to stay here and protect Sakura for the war. You and I will be the ones that will go out and hunt the other servants one by one. You've seen it yourself, I can't handle supporting both of you at once if you both go all out. Not for long at least. This way, I can at least focus on supporting Saber in combat while Rider is merely on standby and gathers strength from Sakura for when they are attacked. So long as we do this carefully, I believe we can go through the war without impairing either of your abilities. Plus if Rider does get forced into a fight, I'll be able to tell instantly that something's wrong and get Saber to her quickly."

He left unsaid that even though he could most likely kill Zouken right now without much issue with two Servants under his control, it was impossible to do so without sacrificing Sakura in the process. The old demon was sick and twisted, but he knew better than to risk his position in the war, let alone his life, without having some secure way of ensuring that he would leave unscathed.

"It sounds like Sakura is a liability to your overall goals." Rider spoke up in an even tone. "Much of your strategy is based on keeping her safe, and your end goal is to save her. However by going through with this, you have become a liability yourself."

Shirou snorted and smiled dryly at the servant. "Yeah. It does sound like that when you put it that way doesn't it?" He turned to Sakura who was standing by his side and had been quiet since he had recovered. "Sakura? Do you consider yourself helpless if you are attacked by an enemy Master?"

The purple haired girl looked back at her secret lover and smiled faintly. Slowly faint tendrils of unidentified black material began to emerge from the folds of her clothes, her hair, between her arms and legs, virtually anywhere that was generally hidden from the world and extended at least a meter in every direction. The very presence of the new appendages unnerved the Servants there. It was almost as if they were made of something that was the antithesis to their very existences…

"The reason why Shirou-kun is taking my position of Rider's Master is simply because my condition makes it extremely unsafe for me to support prana intensive activities for long periods of time. While I am neither the most impressive magus nor the most powerful, I am capable enough of at least holding off my opponents until help arrives. You do not have to worry about me Rider." Sakura calmly and confidently explained as the black whips of imaginary material faded back into nonexistence.

"Mhmhmhm." Zouken chuckled. "I am almost hoping the boy will not succeed. It would be a shame to lose the most promising heir to the Matou line we've had in centuries, however only time will tell what will happen in the end." He glanced down at Shirou. "I believe that we are done for right now Emiya. Your body is no doubt exhausted from the sudden additional load you now carry and our current location is not the most appropriate place for those outside of the Matou to recover in." He turned to Saber. "No doubt your servant will take appropriate enough care of you to get you in adequate condition by tomorrow night. You should start your hunt for the ones who are preying on the local population then. As you are now you'd only be able to serve as an appetizing distraction. You are in no condition to be fighting right now."

"That's easy for you to say." The Emiya replied in a stronger tone. As much as wanted to deny it, Zouken was right. His body was in rough shape and at best he would only be able to project half a dozen weapons before he ran out of energy again. Still he wasn't going to admit the monster was right instantly. The idea of agreeing with anything the man said at face value was sickening to him. "It's true that so far the attacks have been non lethal, but the longer we wait to deal with them, the more reckless they'll get. I don't want to risk innocents dying simply because of some weak excuse like "I'm tired"."

Surprisingly enough, it was Sakura who spoke up first. "You're wrong. The fact that this group is going after civilians and draining them means that they are unconfident in going up against the other Servants for now. If that's the case, then they most likely will not want to attract any more attention this early in the war. If they progress to killing their targets en masse, then the priest would have to step in and convince the other masters to focus on taking him out. I believe that something similar happened in the previous war. Since their movements so far have left no evidence of magecraft and the culprits are being careful to cover their tracks, we can assume that they are keeping this possibility in mind. At the very least, we would expect them to move after a few of the other teams have been eliminated."

"I couldn't have said it better myself." Zouken nodded. "Keep your eyes on the goal. You have a better chance to stop the enemy master if you are rested boy. If you act now, you most likely won't be able to regain the strength needed to combat the enemy for another week. If you rest for this night only though, you should be recovered enough to do so by tomorrow night. Even if one of those precious weapons of yours is capable of killing any master you come across, keep in mind that the enemy will most likely recognize you on sight and take precautions. Remember, my best chance in getting the grail lies in keeping you alive as well as Sakura."

"As much as I detest agreeing with that… man you are partnered with, I have to side with them too." Saber grimaced. "Going into battle weary is the height of folly. The only time it should be a viable option is when you are left with little other choice."

Shirou remained quiet as he swallowed the fact that Saber was agreeing with Zouken of all people. Slowly he turned his attention to Rider. "Well? Aren't you going to tell me not to go out hunting tonight too?" He asked with a hint of sarcastic humor.

The blindfolded woman did not hesitate or flinch in the slightest. "I will do as my Master commands. What my opinion is on the matter is irrelevant."

Translation: I'll do what you want, but I'm agreeing with them on this.

"Fine." The Faker relented reluctantly. "I'll rest home for the night and start the war tomorrow." He looked at the Matou there. According to the plan, no one save for those in the room… and Kirei, should know about the alliance, and it should stay that way for as long as possible. He had to leave soon while there was still sunlight or else the odds of having that information get discovered would increase drastically. "I can at least go over a few more strategies with Saber while I'm resting."

The worm user grinned. "I'm somewhat disappointed I won't see them in action. No doubt someone with your unique abilities combined with the servant of the sword would yield rather interesting results."

"I assume that I am to continue to act as Sakura's Servant." Rider stated calmly.

Shirou nodded. "Yeah. Please do. Consider your servitude to me a mere formality to help Sakura out if you want."

"And should I manage to defeat the enemy before you arrive to aid?" She questioned,

The Emiya paused before letting out a tired sigh. "I have full confidence in your abilities if that is what you're asking Rider, but keep in mind that for right now your goal is not to defeat the enemy servants, but to ensure Sakura's survival and safety. When the number of enemies drops a bit or if our alliance is discovered we'll change strategies, but until then please play along."

Rider didn't move for several seconds as she contemplated Shirou's orders before nodding slowly. "Very well. I shall follow your commands as you have described Master." With that her body disappeared, rendering her invisible to all but those who she had a direct bond with.

"Huh." Shirou mused as he looked at the purple clad woman hover transparently around Sakura like a ghost. He always did wonder what a servant looked like in spiritual form. On the plus side, he could already feel the pressure of Rider requiring less prana ease up on his circuits, making it easier for him to relax his body. It would be a while before his circuits would cool off, but at least he wasn't on the verge of overheating anymore. "I guess that's it for now. Come on Saber. Let's go home."

"Mmm." The blonde nodded, not taking her eyes off of Zouken. She had remained quiet for most of the conversation, but her mind was frantically working around the new developments that had just occurred and how they could be applied to what she and Shirou knew from Kiritsugu's notes. So much had been changed already and yet so much had still remained the same. She had been so busy learning what Kiritsugu knew that she had yet to take into account what had happened in this timeline… and so far she could not tell if she liked the new series of events or despised it.

She grimaced as she emerged outside behind her master and noted that the sun was close to setting, yet the unnatural quiet that came without the local insects making their usual noise was unsettling. For right now though she just hoped that nothing excessive would happen soon. Shirou needed the rest to get over the shock of undertaking two servants at once…

o. o. o.

Fuyuki City:

"… So I've been meaning to ask you. When will you, you know… show it to me?"

Archer blinked and turned to his master with a look of skepticism. The fact that they were on top of one of the skyscrapers in Fuyuki did not register in the slightest. "You do realize that someone could easily get the wrong impression hearing that question."

Rin's attempt to not blush almost went unnoticed. "I meant your Reality Marble idiot! If I ever wanted to see THAT it I would have gone for my version of you! I'm not into guys twice my age!" Even if they are built in all the right places and are better looking than anyone else in a five hundred kilometer radius, she wisely left unsaid.

The white haired man shook his head and snorted. "Your future plans to molest my younger self aside, I think it's best if I didn't use it unless absolutely needed." He began to scan the city again with his hawk like eyes. "Fully utilizing Unlimited Blade Works taxes my, and in turn your, reserves heavily. Not only that, but it's not exactly a subtle spell to utilize. The second it's used, virtually every servant would be able to tell where I am. While I am good, I don't feel confident in going up against a fully charged servant on low power." He paused for a brief moment before looking back at the girl concerned. "Wait. You know about my Reality Marble?"

The Tohsaka glanced at her Servant somewhat scathingly. "Of course I do. That daughter of Louvre's almost shouted it to the world when you nearly tore her mouth apart. Remember?" She shook her head. "Honestly, I don't know whether to be astounded or pissed at the founders. To actually think ahead and prepare for the possibility of summoning a servant from the future with knowledge of the war they were summoned into…"

Archer frowned before looking down at the crowded city below for possible enemies to snipe from a distance. "They had to be. They did make the system in the first place…"

Honestly, keeping up his charade was more annoying than he originally thought. Between Rin knowing more about his magic and history for virtually half his life, Luvia of all people being a master and asking about his connection with Illya, his other self's surprisingly high competency in thaumaturgy and ranking in the Clocktower, he had fostered the thought of killing his alternate self just for the headaches he somehow caused. That idea was banished shortly afterwards when he came to the conclusion that said alternate self had most likely been dealing with this for years on end and probably deserved a fair share of sympathy by now. Save for his appearance and the way he carried himself, the kid seemed to act just like he did at that age… irony of said statement taken into account.

Pity killing the kid if he was too obsessed with his ideal was still very much on the table though.

Trying to remember all the main differences between this world and the one he originally came from was rather frustrating. True this wasn't the first time he was summoned into an alternate reality, but it was (still) to his knowledge the first time he had been identified right off the bat. So, in order to keep to his role, he had to both play dumb to common knowledge AND try to take in all the changes he could in order to plan his next moves accordingly…

Why the hell couldn't Rin just have left him to die in the school all those years ago when Lancer gouged out his heart?

"Hey…" Rin spoke up, grabbing his attention again. "I know it's probably pointless to ask but, do you remember what happened to us in the future? Or at least your future?"

"Us?" The man questioned skeptically.

"You. Me. Sakura." The brunette clarified without turning to him. "I know we all have a thing going now but… Sakura and I worry about you, you know? Once we all graduate from Highschool and I go to the Clocktower to further my education, we'll all be separate unless something's done. We know you can take care of yourself to some extent but, well, heroes die young. Seeing you summoned as one fills me with mixed feelings. You always did idolize heroes, your father more than anyone else so I'm happy that you became one, I mean you're probably the most recent Heroic Spirit since the ones from the eighteen hundreds, but… if you died looking as you are now…"

"Then it means I probably did something irrational that finally did me in. Right?" The dead man smiled dryly, not bothering to see the girl's body stiffen momentarily.

The air between them was quiet for a while save for the heavy winds that dominated the higher altitudes. Neither Master nor Servant looked at one another as they kept their gazes on the city below, a dark canvas of varying shades of gray and black littered with lights and neon advertisements that did nothing to mar the unique beauty there. The largest human to the smallest rat were both equally insignificant from their height. In a way it was hard to imagine that a massive and ancient ritual could ever take place in such a modernized area.

"Rest assured Rin. My memory isn't accurate right now, but trust me when I say that I did not die for some useless meager cause. At the very least, I went with content and a smile on my face."

It was what happened after that that twisted his soul into what he was now.

The Tohsaka looked at her Servant skeptically to see him confidently looking down below with a smile on his face. She could tell though that something was off. His smile was not the care free relaxed smile that she had personally taken great solace in looking at, but more of a hardened smile that was hiding bitter amusement at some ironic joke. It left her feeling uncomfortable as it indicated that the man was most certainly hiding something from her…

It also left her somewhat relieved in that even after all these years Shirou Emiya could not hide his thoughts from her.

"… I bet you probably died doing something stupid again. Idiot." She muttered under her breath and made a mental note to keep a better eye on her love interest in the years to come.

"Perhaps." The Servant shrugged casually, not insulted by the girl's insults. "… And just a correction, I'm the youngest heroic spirit since the few that managed to get in around World War One and Two, to the best of my knowledge. I know at the very least three men managed to get on the throne from that time period."

"World War One and Two?" The girl blinked in confusion. "But guns and planes were being mass produced by then."

Archer laughed dryly. "Look up the Red Barron of Germany, the Black Devil of the South, and the White Death of Finland when you have enough free time. Modern weapons do make it significantly harder to get on the throne, but not impossible. Being a master marksman with a high kill count wouldn't get you in, but if enough additional factors are added onto your legend it could elevate you onto the throne. One would just have to approach things a bit differently, that's all."

The man shook his head condescendingly. "Most magi just claim that it's impossible to do so if your weapon is a gun or something modern like that out of pride and refusal to admit being wrong, especially if other more subtle skills were significant contributors into the making of the legend. If that you said was true, than any supposed heroic spirit armed with an enchanted sword or spear could be excused from the throne by the logic that the weapon did all the work and anyone armed with it could achieve the same exact miracles as he or she did. Mystical weapons were uncommon throughout history, but they were certainly not unheard of." He shrugged casually. "If you had somehow managed to grab a piece of the planes belonging to the Black Devil or the Red Barron, or if you managed to get the White Death's Sniper Rifle and used one of them as a catalyst, you most certainly would have managed to get one of them as a servant."

The magus looked at her partner skeptically before snorting. "Humph. They sound interesting, but I think I'll stay with my current snobbish and rude Servant that can copy any sword he sees under my thumb. The idea of seeing someone potentially firing off Excalibur as an arrow is just too good of a thing to pass up."

"Such a selfish and silly master I have. Firing off Excalibur of all swords as an arrow. The very thought of that is comical." The Servant snorted and shook his head.

He didn't mention that he had indeed tried that maneuver once when he was alive, but it didn't work out well to say the least. It was hard enough trying to create constructs made by the Fae. Adjusting and contorting them so that he could actually fire them like arrows was just too much for him to pull off.

Rin pouted. "If you can't do something like that say it, though I don't see why you can't."

"Fae magic is different than human magic." He shrugged. "There's no real way for me to explain it. I can copy their weapons to some level, but even that takes some effort. Altering their construction even further is simply beyond my abilities."

"Oh?" The Master raised an eyebrow. "You sound pretty knowledgeable about Excalibur and Fae magic. Don't tell me that you summoned King Arthur of all people to be your servant for the war. I may truly have to kill you for not telling me sooner if that's the case."

Archer smirked. "Who knows? My memories are messed up, remember? Your guess is as good as mine. Regardless, everyone knows that the Sword of Promised Victory was crafted by the Fae, but it wasn't the only weapon out there that was of the same make. It is just as likely that I managed to lay eyes on another one of those tools during my lifetime."

o. o. o.

The Holy Grail War of Fuyuki has many rules that the Masters and Servants participating frequently follow and break. There are as many that are unspoken of and deemed as common sense as there are formal and well documented for future generations to learn from. For example, while the participants can technically fight any time and place they want, it is generally agreed upon to keep things during the night hours and away from crowds to keep the existence of magic a secret.

Many of these unspoken rules are deemed pretty much as common sense geared towards maintaining secrecy and making things easier for the ritual to be conducted… however there are some that take a bit more logic to figure out.

One of these unspoken rules for example can be determined by looking at the locations of the Tohsaka and Matou residences. The houses are in general so close to one another that had it not been for the hill that was in between then, it could be generally guessed that most combat based Servants would be easily capable of jumping from one property to the other without any aid at all. That is of course if neither property had their respective bounded fields set up, both easily capable of diverting, weakening, and overall discouraging most servants summoned in the war from simply just barging in…

Keyword: most.

It was this fact that prompted the silent agreement between the Tohsaka and the Matou that in any war they participated in, so long as they could help it, neither family would EVER summon Caster.

Due to the raw abilities of the magically superior Servant, getting around or even simply destroying the magical defenses of the other's property would be almost as easy as breathing for them. This would, in turn, prompt the other party to retaliate in kind with their most likely vastly more powerful servant should the initial assault by Caster's party fail to kill the enemy Master…

Long story short, at the very least one of the two family's properties would be assured to end up a burning pile of rubble by the end of the fiasco. While both parties were not exactly poor, neither had any desire to go through the arduous effort of rebuilding their homes from the ground up, let alone risk the security of their workshops when it could be easily avoided.

Of course, in addition to that particular piece of information it was also fairly logical to assume that the masters of both houses would attempt to leave their residence for the war each day before night came in order to prevent potential attacks on their homes by the other and give an opening for their local neighbor slash enemy to exploit. Then there was the general assumption that being a third party attacking either of the properties was a dumb idea since it would expose said third party as easy targets for the owners of the second property to get the drop on from the safety of their well defended home.

Then again, due to the close proximity of the properties, it was quite possible for some servants to monitor them at the same time, without being detected of course, and determine if the owners and servants were inside their homes or if they had left to compete in the war.

Many of these unspoken facts were not well known, but they were things that could be reasoned out by those who were observant, logical, and had a fair amount of experience under their belts…

… Such as the two sisters standing a small distance away from the Matou Manor in the local woods.

"I am somewhat hesitant to go through with this Marjatta." Luvia calmly informed her sister. "Today has been very trying to me for a multitude of reasons. Must we do this tonight?"

"We are at war sister. The enemy will not care what condition you are in should the roles be reversed." Marjatta chided. "Better to strike now when the opportunity has presented itself rather than wait for them to learn about us."

Luvia shook her head tiredly. The knowledge that Kiritsugu Emiya had been turned into his son's most frequently used weapons and had encountered whatever it was that tainted the local park before everything went to hell had been plaguing her mind all day long. In fact she had little doubt that it would continue to do so for at least the length of the war or until she learned of the entire story. The more she dwelt on it, the more she was beginning to think that the war itself was among the least of her problems.

Personally, she would have preferred to go after some of the other Masters, or at least Tohsaka first. The Matou girl was neither a threat in her books, nor someone that she didn't get along with. In fact she somewhat enjoyed talking to her when the opportunity came. She was down to earth. A bit darker and more morose than the average human, but she didn't have her head up her ass like a good portion of the nobles back home and would admit that she was wrong if given a solid enough reason.

Unfortunately Marjatta was right. They were at war and as such there was no room for second-guessing yourself.

"Very well." The elder blonde sighed. "I assume that the strategy will be the standard three waves?"

The younger smirked. "Yes, however I wish to suggest a small change…"

A small distance behind the two, the Princess of Colchis began to chant quickly, inadvertently producing a burning red mystic circle underneath her reminiscent of high level formalcraft…

o. o. o.

Emiya Residence:

"You have got to be fucking kidding me!" Shirou swore at the top of his lungs as he woke up with his circuits running hot. Normally he was fairly reserved and could hold his tongue in most situations even when his life was on the line, but after dealing with Zouken and only getting at most a few hours of rest there was little reason for anyone to hold his use of crass language against him.

"Shirou!" Saber shouted as she barged into his room from her guest room next door, something she had been forced upon since Shirou had been adamant against having her in his room when he slept. "What's the matter?!"

The Magus Killer wasted no time as he grit his teeth and jumped to his feet before reaching out for his coat. The fact that the strain on his circuits had diminished slightly indicated that Sakura was already donating some of her prana to help Rider out, which was a mixed blessing as far as he was concerned. "Sakura and Rider are being attacked and are fighting as we speak."

"Already?" The blonde servant blinked in disbelief.

"Why do you think I'm so pissed right now?" The Emiya growled menacingly as the Shroud of Martin wrapped itself around his head. "Unfortunately I don't know which servant is attacking so we're going in blind."

"Correction." Saber frowned. "I'm going in blind. You are still in no condition to fight."

"We can argue about this later." The teen ordered darkly as he ran past her, down the hallway, and to the backyard of his home. "We need to get you to the Matou's as fast as possible regardless of what I do." Uttering a few words as he ran to his workshop, all the doors in the building instantly opened allowing the Master and Servant no interference as they ran towards the opening of the garage doors and stopped in front of the large covered piece of equipment positioned behind it.

"Dad mentioned that you were pretty good on one of these." Shirou grunted as he threw off the covers and exposed his creation to the world. "How fast can you get to Sakura on this?"

Despite the severity of the situation, Saber had a noticeably difficult time holding back a very eager smile. "… I think I can manage."

o. o. o.

Rider was a very quiet individual. She spoke when she felt it was important to bring something up, or when she was talked to by someone she felt was worth conversing with. Otherwise regardless of what was going on in her mind she remained stoically quiet.

Now, for example, despite all the curses and grievances she had in mind due to her current situation, destroying humanoid skeleton warriors with her nail and chain while simultaneously avoiding large blasts of prana, her face remained impassive.

"My my you are a fast one." Caster chuckled pleasantly as she sat on her broom a fair distance away in the air. "I do think that I may have some trouble beating you after all."

Rider ignored the woman's taunting as she whipped her weapon around with expert inhuman dexterity to shatter another dozen or so minor familiars around her before bolting to the side to avoid being blown up by another spell. She didn't bother to pay attention to the five meter wide crater left behind or the minor damage made to the Matou mansion so far. Her only goal for now was to prevent as many of the skeletons from entering as possible while holding off Caster. The ones that did manage to slip past her were of no concern though. Their numbers were few enough that she had little doubt that her Master and Zouken could easily dispatch of them. Once her Master was confirmed safe, Saber arrived, or Caster made a mistake, then she could take the fight back to the bitch and make her regret ever being summoned.

As the long haired woman continued her guerrilla tactics against Caster and her minions, her mind briefly went over the past few minutes. The night had been fairly standard and peaceful after Emiya left. Sakura decided to fuel her with a small bit of prana, ate dinner, did some of her homework, and then went to bed. Zouken, thankfully did not make a reappearance after the meeting and remained inside that pit he calls a workshop.

Everything had been reasonable and quiet until Caster had come suddenly and absolutely shattered every bounded field that had surrounded the property. This was subsequently followed by the swarm of inhuman skeletons and attacks from above. The latter of which Rider recognized were being commanded in the Divine Language meaning that her opponent like her was from the Age of Gods.

Caster was stalling. That much was obvious. Rider could tell that the Servant was not taking the fight seriously and fighting as well as she could be. Still her constant assault from a distance was an annoyance that would have to be addressed soon. As it stood right now, she couldn't get the time she needed to perform the ritual to summon Pegasus so she could finally reach the annoying bitch. Retreating to the house to do the summoning was not an option either since Caster could simply use the opening to go after Sakura or destroy the property on top of her. Her spells were just too fast and damaging to risk it.

So as of right now the situation was a stalemate. Rider was unable to fight anymore than she could right now until Saber came, if she ever, and Caster was playing it safe from a distance until whatever she had planned…

Rider's unconscious deconstruction of the situation was instantly thrown away as the lithe woman bolted away from a massive torrent of flames that came from the main gates of the property, and more importantly from a different position than from where Caster was now.

While she had managed to escape the attack, the skeletons she had been engaged with had not been so lucky and had been eradicated in the blast… as had virtually half of the first floor of the Matou Household.

"She's quite fast isn't she?" The new assailant mused with a remarkably similar voice to Caster's, only without the condescending tone that saturated the latter's.

"Indeed she is." Caster chuckled amusedly, not at all concerned with the loss of a good portion of her familiars. "She's also very strong and has a high level of Magic Resistance. Despite how she moves, I doubt she is Assassin. Perhaps Rider? Or maybe she's a Saber that's still hiding her weapon?"

Rider used the brief reprieve to take in all she could on her new opponent and momentarily faltered. Standing at the entrance of the property were at least a dozen oxen at least three times the size of their non magical brethren, each with eyes that seemed to burn fiercely, horns that seemed to glow a dull red to match the heat inside their bodies, and each breathing out embers that lightly scorched the ground below them. Sitting on the one in front was the offending Servant with pale purple hair and a golden fleece around her shoulders…

"I see." Rider muttered with all four hands on the ground like an animal ready to move in any direction. "So you are both somehow Medea of Colchis. The fire breathing oxen of Lord Helios and the skeleton warriors of your father King Aeetes betray your identities."

The witch chuckled amusedly as she floated slightly closer to her target. "Hoh? Well now you seem quite knowledgeable about us. Most would take a while to connect the dots so quickly…"

Rider allowed a small smile to escape her lips. "I make it a habit to remember those who also suffered great injustices at the hands of the Gods."

Both Casters winced at that statement. "It is unfortunate that we have to encounter one another like this. Perhaps in another cycle we may be able to converse in a more tranquil setting." The summoning Caster admitted with some sorrow as she placed her hand on the back of the bull she was riding, causing its eyes and horns to glow with renewed energy, as did those of the small herd behind her. "However we have our orders and unfortunately you are to be killed…"

Rider did not wait for her foe to finish as she bolted as fast as she could not away or to the side of the new enemy, but straight towards it much to her target's surprise, appearing as nothing more than a few streaks of dark purple and black in the night highlighted by the fire behind her. The speed of her charge was such that only a servant would have been able to react in time to do anything about it before the attacking party arrived at its mark. While the second Caster had indeed complicated things and made the situation much more volatile, her presence itself had also posed a unique opportunity…

"Aeetes!" The second Caster roared, no doubt the name of her Noble Phantasm, and prompted the bulls around her to exhale flames at once at the oncoming Rider to create a virtual tsunami of fire, the likes of which would have blinded any servant or human that was unfortunate enough to look in its direction and thus ensured their instant immolation...

However Rider was fortunate enough to be blindfolded and as such utilized the precious few instants she had left to throw her chain and nail to one of the walls surrounding the property and just out of the reach of the attack. Even though it was not a Noble Phantasm, the weapon had the special property to remain embedded into its target so long as she wished it. She didn't need to guess if her nail was wedged in the concrete the moment it impacted before she acted. The Gorgon pulled as hard as she could and launched herself sideways to just barely avoid getting charred to death.

Remaining undeterred, the wave continued forward until they collided with the front of the Matou household and set the entire front of the building on fire. If Rider wasn't certain that the building would manage to sustain itself under the punishment it had undergone so far, she had no doubts now, not that she cared much about the place. Judging from the additional stream of prana she was receiving though, the servant was certain that Sakura was safe and unharmed in the catacombs. She would most likely escape through some passage that led out of the property. The concept of having hidden passageways out of hidden in underground lairs was overused even when Rider was alive.

She didn't remain still though as the next instant she had continued to run towards the bulls to avoid getting hit by the first Caster's suppressive fire from above. Unfortunately it appeared as if the newcomer's presence had not deterred the original attacker from maintaining her assault. It seemed as if this was the pair's plan: destroy the home field advantage before using their combined abilities to exhaust and overwhelm the target. Considering both members of the team were Caster class servants, it was a surprisingly efficient and threatening combination.

Strong. Yes, the second Caster's Noble Phantasm was indeed powerful. Rider would hazard a guess to rank that most recent attack to be of at least A rank, and one with a surprisingly wide range of effect as well. However the power behind it was most likely from the combined effort of the bulls there. Thankfully, bulls tend to suck at turning sharp corners.

A blast of fire coming from a single member of the herd further supported Rider's suspicions as she dodged the significantly smaller attack. It was still dangerous yes, but only as much as maybe a C rank Noble Phantasm. A direct hit would still hurt greatly, but it would not ensure her demise. The first Caster's offensive spells were more dangerous than the smaller fireballs.

Speak of the devil… Rider almost got hit that time as she launched herself off of the wall she was on and landed behind the herd of bulls, ignoring the section of concrete where she had just been that had imploded. This was getting annoying. The skeleton warriors with air support were annoying enough, but at least then she could destroy the ground forces. The bulls on the other hand were proving to be annoying just to get close to since their master had enough sense to not spread them out and get rid of their concentrated fire…

Barely dodging another fireball and allowing to be slightly singed on her right shoulder, Rider smirked and gripped her nail delicately but firmly in her left hand. Oh well, things may have been a bit difficult up until this point, but at least her time to take the fight back to the enemy was almost upon her.

Right now, Rider was behind the second Caster's herd of oxen, which was right between her and the flaming building. The first Caster was on the other hand was still flying out of Rider's attack range and still giving spontaneous cover fire. The scattered skeleton warriors that remained were not even a factor at this point.

Going on the attack while the herd attempted to redirect itself into her direction, Rider threw her nail at the neck of the first bull and was rewarded with steaming crimson blood and a collapsing body. Despite being large muscular creatures, they still possessed the same exploitable weak points that most other beasts had, and fortunately for her they were rather large targets. An instant later she jumped to the side and yanked back her chain to avoid being hit once more with the first Caster's support fire and swiftly grasped her nail before firing it off like a bullet at another turning bull's neck.

The process was repeated once more before unfortunately the rest of the herd finally managed to reposition itself towards her and contributed to the first Rider's assault with their fire, pointing away from the Matou household and at the local streets…

Weaving between the individual attacks like a wraith, Rider avoided taking as much damage as she could before jumping far enough to the side to force the animals to pause and try to turn to her direction. Still her opponent's efforts did not go unrewarded as slowly burns began to accumulate on the exotic woman's body.

"This is almost disappointing." The Witch chuckled as another glancing blow pushed back their target even further. "I thought that this one would put up as much of a fight as Lancer. Come now! Don't tell that's all you have!? At this rate we'll be done and have killed your master by midnight! cvnhsm!"

The latest blast of pure energy shot forward like a shooting star and collided with the purple haired Servant with relentless indiscriminate force. Had it not been for her B ranked Magic Resistance greatly reducing the damage of the attack, it would have no doubt been a killing blow. Instead the explosion merely kicked up a large amount of debris and forced the outnumbered servant back even more, prompting her to go down onto all fours once more like an animal with her outrageously long hair draped over the front of her head.

"She is quite the stubborn one." The Princess mused as she and her herd walked out forward a bit onto the street. "Still there is only so much punishment one can take. It's time to end this." The eyes of the massive force of spellcasters and monstrous beasts bore down onto their lone target, preparing to unleash their final blows…

And froze as they made eye contact with two gem like eyes with square irises, possessing a paralyzing and unparalleled nature that were legends by themselves. They were Mystic Eyes of such high quality that no amount of studying their nature could ever divulge the true essence of their function or existence.

"Breaker Gorgon." Medusa muttered as she blasted all her opponents at once with her legendary petrifying gaze. While the creatures were monstrous beasts with a significant level of natural protection against magic, even they were not completely immune from the eyes effects, evident as their already sketchy ability to turn instantly slowed down.

"It can't be…" The second Caster whispered in unnerved awe. Even though she was at the back of the herd now that Medusa had changed their positions, the effect of the eyes on here was as clear as day. While her A ranked Mana level prevented her and her counterpart from turning to stone, it did not prevent them from having all their stats decrease by one rank and slow down their movements significantly. Combined with the unexpected exposure, direct eye contact, and revelation of the eyes, there was little surprise that none of the attacking force would be able to move in any significant manner for a dangerous amount of time. "Medusa?"

The now identified Rider however made no sign that she cared about her revealed identity as she once more took off as a black and purple missile in order to avoid getting hit by the first Caster's attacks which were now being fired off frantically in realization that unless something was done quickly the tide would turn against their favor.

Under the current combined assault there was still no chance for her to summon Pegasus… however…

Not slowing down, Rider circled around back the way she came from the Matou property, dodging the stagnated salvo of magic and fire with inhuman agility and control, until she wound up right at the side of the herd of bulls and against all common sense ran right into the middle of it. Not even bothering to attack the ones she passed as it would take away the precious few milliseconds she needed, she whipped out her chains and grabbed the bull she estimated was directly in the middle of the herd by the neck, using her momentum to swing herself into the air and on course to land on its back, her chains rattling all around its head, neck and body…

Chains that were shifting from silver to gold in front of the second Caster's widening eyes. Likewise the ox's horns shifted from red to white and its eyes blazed with an inferno that was unmatched by the rest of its brethren.

Had this fight taken place in a wider environment where the oxen would be constantly moving, this sort of situation would not have been possible. However since the area was enclosed, the herd had been stuck in one place. Caster had focused on their combined might and the small area in an attempt to gain the upper hand.

"BELLERO-!"

"Aeetes!" Caster shouted frantically in an attempt to get the animals behind Rider to take her out before she could finish whatever she was doing, however the attempt was futile as Medusa's eyes had still slowed down their movements to prevent them from interfering.

"-PHON!" Rider roared as she cracked the whips of her Noble Phantasm just as she landed. The following instant was both deafening and blinding as her hijacked mount transformed into a massive red and white comet of burning destruction that shot forward like a cannonball, absolutely annihilating the three oxen that were in front of her while severely injuring another two that were to her side. The mere aftershock of the charge had been enough to buffet the first Caster away and nearly knock the second one off her own bull.

Thankfully there was a moderately large strip of forest on the other side of the street from the now burning Matou home, as Rider's attack had continued forward for a good distance, decimating and immolating anything that even came close to being in the way of the comet's path before it turned around widely and skidded to a halt closer to the town's limits roughly twenty meters away from her opponents.

Thanks to her latest maneuver both sides of the road were up in flames, giving it the appearance that it was a sort of gateway into hell complete with fire breathing monsters, witches, and gorgons.

Not stopping there however, the possessed bull began to instantly fire off significantly stronger than standard balls of flame at both disheveled spellcasting parties, forcing them on the defensive with the first dodging as quickly as she could in the air while the second used what remained of her mounts to cancel the offending attacks, if just barely…

However while the additional suppressing ranged attacks did do a wonderful job of pressuring the other side, it was still apparent that it was not enough after a very short while as the beast eventually risked exhausted itself from attacking so much and prompted Rider to hold back for a short bit, relishing the sight of the more than singed Casters on the other side of the road glaring at her angrily.

Rider took the moment's break to smirk as she looked at the second Caster confidently before reapplying her blindfold and shielding her eyes and gently stroking the neck of the creature she had forced under her command. "I must admit, I am not accustomed to riding oxen, however I do see the benefits in doing so from time to time. They are quite strong, though they do lack somewhat in terms of endurance."

Not as powerful as her Pegasus, not by a long shot, but they were a suitable substitute given the situation. Bellerophon after all was merely a saddle and bridle combination that forced even Divine Beasts to her will. There was nothing that prevented her from using it on something other than her beloved mount, it was just that there were few opportunities to exploit that fact to her benefit. The additional ranged attacks however, were a great help in dealing with the more annoying of the two Casters that had evaded her reach up until now.

The first Caster chuckled amusedly despite the notable singes on her broom and clothing as she floated down beside her equally disheveled counterpart, not bothering to note that at least half of her original attack force had been disposed of by now. "My my. What a surprise indeed. To think that you of all people would be summoned as well Lady Medusa. It is an honor to meet someone of your… infamy. No wonder why we are having so much trouble with you."

"I could say the same." Rider replied. "Combining the abilities of two Witches of Betrayals, each with differing abilities is indeed a fearsome combination."

The second Caster glared at Medusa. "I am not the Witch of Betrayal. I am the Princess of Colchis! I will not be held responsible for what that petty excuse for a goddess Aphrodite forced me to do against my will!"

"fhlo cvnhsm DHLOI!" The flying Caster commanded to the elements of the world the instant her counterpart had predictably snapped from being accused of being what she herself was. The instant was all she needed to ensure that Rider could not escape, as the spell took effect and the air around the servant froze in place.

"Shit…" Rider grimaced as she felt her body become immobilized, preventing her and most likely her new mount from being able to move in the slightest. After all that work dodging and finally getting herself a foothold in the fight, she had made the mistake of not relying on the one strategy that had kept her alive for so long, and it had cost her greatly.

"Hmhmhm. You can thank me later." The Witch consoled the Princess as if talking to a younger and more inexperienced sibling. "Now if you would be kind enough to do the honors before she manages to escape."

Ignoring her counterpart's unsubtle jabs, the Princess glared at Medusa before muttering her own series of divine words. Moments later the beasts that were still with her suddenly bulked up and emitted their own heavy aura, though not to the same degree as the bull that Rider had possessed.

"Aeetes!" Caster shouted, however unlike the previous commands where the bulls breathed out fire, this time they charged forward with blind rage. In less than a second six sets of legs hammered down on the ground in a furious charge that left the asphalt melted in its wake. Each thundering step echoed multiple times with deafening force that prevented anything else from being heard…

Which is why it was not that much of a surprise that Saber managed to arrive completely unnoticed upon her own mount with speed that dwarfed the enhanced bulls, slide in front of the first three in the charge, split their necks in half with Excalibur in one wide strike, and escape unharmed while the assaulted bulls collapsed and effectively halted the ones behind them with their fresh burning bodies in the span of a second and a half. It was only due to quick reflexes that the woman controlling the beasts had managed to remain latched onto her beast's hide as it rammed and stumbled unexpectedly into the bodies of its fallen brethren.

"What the?" The Witch muttered in disbelief as she turned her attention to the blonde newcomer in casual modern clothes skid to a halt on her dark silver and blue colored sports motorcycle with a very pleased look on her face.

"Room for one more?" Saber asked with a very confident and somewhat hungry grin as her mount roared with the ferocity of a lion.

o. o. o.

Servant Stats:

Rider

ID: Medusa

Alias: The Gorgon Queen

Master: Shirou Emiya

Alignment: Chaotic Good

Strength: B

Agility: B

Mana: B

Luck: C

Endurance: D

Noble Phantasm: A+

Class Skills:

Magic Resistance: B

Riding: A+

Independent Action: C

Personal Skills:

Divinity: E-

Monstrous Strength: B

Mystic Eyes: A+

Noble Phantasms:

Bellerophon: A+

Blood Fort Andromeda: B

Breaker Gorgon: C-

o. o. o.

Caster

ID: Medea

Alias: The Princess of Colchis

Master: Luviagelita Edelfelt

Alignment: Neutral Good

Strength: E

Agility: D

Mana: A

Luck: D

Endurance: D

Noble Phantasm: A++

Class Skills:

Territory Creation: A

Item Construction: N/A

At the cost of acquisition of the summoning ability by means of Noble Phantasm, the Item Construction skill is lost.

Riding: B+

Due to her being raised as royalty, her constant exposure to monstrous and phantasmal beasts that she had relations with in her homeland as a child, and her endless traveling throughout the majority of her legend, Medea has the qualifications to possess this ability to a significant level.

At this rank, most vehicles can be handled with above average skill. They cannot ride the likes of the Phantasm Races and above. Monstrous Beasts can be ridden only if said beasts have a connection to the Servant, or if they allow the Servant to ride them in the first place.

Personal Skills:

Divinity: C (B)

The Granddaughter of Helios, the Sun god, and Oceanus, the Water titan, Medea's Divinity is lowered by a rank due to her dislike for the gods for the deeds they pushed her to do in life. Unlike her counterpart though, she has not thrown away her heritage, enabling her to retain this skill.

High Speed Divine Words: B

High-Thaumaturgy- level Magecraft can be cast at the speed of two aria spells. Lesser ranked mysteries can be achieved via single aria or single action spells depending on the complexity of said mystery.

Noble Phantasms:

Aeaea: The Paradise of Repenting: A. Anti-Army.

Not a Reality Marble, but an island owned by her Aunt Cercie, a demigoddess infamous for turning unwary travelers into animals and also banished from Colchis for her own misdeeds. This land became accessible to her due to her visit to her aunt to absolve her of the sins of murdering her brother as she escaped Colchis with Jason, symbolizing the true end of her connection to her home and the end of "the Princess of Colchis".

She has complete access to all the animals that dwell on this island, including wolves and lions that had originally been human, though her ability to bring them out is limited as she requires a ritual to summon each one out individually. Had she been summoned not as a fragment of her original self, this limitation would be reduced greatly.

While she can summon her aunt's wolves and lions as familiars and scouts, her true use for Aeaea is to summon "The Herd of Helios", Fire Breathing Bulls that once belonged to her father, King Aeetes, on Colchis. Each Bull has the ability to breath fire with the power of a C ranked Noble Phantasm, however if at least ten of them focus on a single target, the overall power is increased to A.

The bulls have two different attacks that they can do individually or as a group. The first is when they breathe out a massive torrent of flames (Aeetes: Heavy Breath of the Sun). The second is a charging stampede attack (Aeetes: Rampant burning charge of the Sun). Both are determined by the number of bulls taking part, and both are triggered and unleashed by Caster calling out Aeetes, the name of their original owner.

o. o. o.

Caster

ID: Medea

Alias: The Witch of Betrayal

Master: Marjatta Edelfelt

Alignment: Chaotic Evil

Strength: E

Agility: C

Mana: A

Luck: C

Endurance: D

Noble Phantasm: C

Class Skills:

Territory Creation: B

Item Construction: A

Personal Skills:

High Speed Divine Words: B+

High-Thaumaturgy- level Magecraft can be cast at the speed of single aria spells. Lesser ranked mysteries can be achieved via single action spells.

Noble Phantasms:

Rule Breaker. C

o. o. o.

A/N:

Once again, thanks Maximorph1 for betaing.

This Chapter is dedicated to Uncle (Super) Mario, a very close friend of the family from my grandfather's generation. He's not dead yet, but I doubt he'll make it to the end of the year. If any of you readers has a family member or is close to an elderly person who is so full of energy that they seem like a kid most of the time. Cherish them. They are rare as hell and take the edge off of the fear that getting old sucks. It especially hurts since he's been old since I first met him as a kid so he's never really changed much until the past year or so. To see him like he is now really hits home.

Here's to you Super Mario, you crazy Italian bastard. It took two cases of cancer, (forty of the first even), and eighty years of living to finally take you down. There needs to be more people like you in the world, even if that means that nobody would know what anybody else would be saying half the time.

Ok, back to my standard lighter slash unstable tone of things.

MAY THE GAMES BEGIN!

Oh how I wish I could have added more of the fight into this chapter, but it was getting so big already, that I just had to cut it off right there and leave you guys hanging. Do not fear though, for this was only about a third of what I had planned for this particular battle. Squeeeee!

Yes. Yes I did just have Rider go Grand Theft Auto on Princess Caster's Noble Phantasm. Yes. Shirou did just get the worm book. I LOVE messing with random unused pieces of information in worlds like the Nasuverse this way and whipping them out at the best points. Rest assured I have plenty more to come. Oh so much more.

Personally, I do believe that the heroic spirits from the WW1 and WW2 era that I mentioned do exist. If you look at their legends, some of the things that they are famous for are just too absurd to be merely written off as just, "they were good at sniping/ flying a plane". Granted they would be nothing compared to most of the heroic spirits that can be summoned, but they would still have a spot on the throne. Nasuverse lore junkies will without a doubt come breathing fire about me saying this, but my mind is made up when it comes to those three. I will not argue anymore about the subject so please do not try to correct me on this as I will not respond. You have been warned.

A big Shout Out goes to Hellmourne, or SwordOfTheKingOfHell on Deviantart, for making an actual replica of Kiritsugu out of wood, blade design and colors and all. The guard and pommel aren't exactly accurate and a bit flashy for my tastes, which was technically my fault since I was never specific on them until this chapter, but DAMN IT, the man made a sword replica based off of one that I made up from out of nowhere! That's like, a hundred times cooler than getting a random piece of fanart unless of course said fanart was insanely epic! Give him props because he deserves it!

That's about it for now my faithful readers! The War has begun to pick up and I assure you it will only become more confusing, chaotic, and awesome as time goes on!

So Review! Worship the Log! Pray that Rider does not hijack your prized mount! And Review Again!