FateBleached Apocrypha part 1 Factions

by TransG1fan

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

7. Chapter 7 First Night of War

Fate/Bleached Apocrypha

Part 1 Factions

Wow! I can't believe that I'm going to be writing my first full battle chapter here. I'll do my utmost to not make it boring. Again I thank everyone whose stuck around til now. One tiny change I'm making here is when I do scene changes I won't be timestamping them in this chapter, at least not during the battles. I felt that when one is in a fight the sheer chaos of a battle makes it impossible to keep track of time. When the aftermath is happening though then keeping track of time is far easier. So if anyone notices this just know that it's deliberate and not a mistake on my part.

I also will be using class and True names interchangeably when characters are talking but when it comes to addressing each other, only Siegfried and most of the Red Faction don't know the True names of their comrades or vice versa. And only those of Heracles, Achilles, Vlad III, Iskandar, and Ozymandias are known to more than their own faction members as of right now, discounting Ruler's group for obvious reasons.

Also this chapter is heavily inspired by a similar opening to the Grail War from the story Fate Magnus Bellum but I will be doing my utmost to differentiate my opening battle from it. Highly recommend giving that fic a read if you haven't already.

Okay a shout out to non-guest reviews

omegadramon2: I did try to address your concern in a pm. I hope that this chapter will satisfy you and your curiosity.

I don't own the characters of Bleach or Fate. Please support the official release. Now onto the next chapter.

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

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Chapter 7: First night of War

= Romania – outskirts of Trifas – Emiya's base of operation – master bedroom – sunset

Kiritsugu was methodically loading up the ammunition for his various guns and checking them to ensure that they were working before strapping them to himself and the inside of his coat as well as placing one in a suitcase. Along with a few grenades and land mines. Calico M950 with about 100 rounds of ammunition. M2010 Enhanced Sniper Rifle with 35 rounds of ammunition. One bullet for every other master in this war outside of my family. My Thompson Contender with one origin bullet already loaded in it and I'll be carrying at least two origin rounds as well as half a dozen more .30-.06 rounds on my person. I have 5 regular and smoke grenades a piece as well as 5 flashbang grenades. 2 claymore mines with trip wires and finally my combat knife as a last resort if I have to fight close quarters. That's all I can think of to bring with me that I can carry and still hopefully travel without any of these slowing me down. Kiritsugu thought as he finished the last of his preparations.

"What's the modern phrase that people say when someone is bringing a lot of stuff? Your packing meat?" asked a male voice behind him. Kiritsugu turned around and saw that it was Arash leaning against the doorframe of the bedroom with an easy-going smile.

"Heat. The phrase is packing heat. And given what I'm about to walk into I think that this is what I need in order to just defend myself." Said Kiritsugu as he turned back and closed the suitcase. He then grabbed the handle and turned back around to face Arash.

"You do know that I'll be right beside you the whole time, right? Not to mention that bullets won't do any good against Servants." Arash pointed out.

"It's not the Servants that I'm concerned about." Said Kiritsugu as he walked out of the bedroom. "It's those Hollows. Not to mention the 'Servants' that Ruler brought with her."

"You really think modern weapons will do any good against either of them?" asked Arash as he followed after him no longer smiling.

"Not really. But it's better than showing up with nothing at all. And for the latter I merely want to observe them. I only plan on engaging them if they attack first. And even then my hope is that my weapons will at least distract or slow them down long enough to get away if they prove hostile." Said Kiritsugu. By now they entered the living room where everyone was waiting. Iri, who was sitting on the couch got up from there and came over to her husband and gave him a hug which he returned and then shared a quick chaste kiss.

"Come back to us safe and sound, dear." Said Iri trying to put on a brave face but Kiritsugu could see the worried look in her eyes. Illya and Shirou E. came over and hugged their father and he returned the sentiment.

"Be careful, daddy." Said Illya not even bothering to hide her worry.

"We'll be watching through scrying the whole time you're gone. So we can warn you if there's trouble heading your way." Said Shirou E. trying to suppress his own anxiety. Kiritsugu smiled fondly at all this.

"I appreciate that. Just contact Archer and let him know if you see anything dangerous." He said. He then turned to Makeda. "Well what do your predictions say about tonight?" he asked.

"Your future has only 4 outcomes tonight. Either you will not encounter any of the ones ruler brought with her or Hollows or you will encounter the one called Kisuke Urahara and one other similar individual or just the latter individual which will have two potential outcomes should that happen." Said Makeda.

"Who's the other individual?" asked Kiritsugu.

"No idea. But he has silver hair, wearing a completely white outfit and has a face that reminds me of a fox and is always smiling. Not in a happy way but rather a mischievous way. Like a trickster. But he seems to have a history with Kisuke Urahara." Said Makeda.

"And what will happen if I encounter one or both of them?" asked Kiritsugu.

"If you encounter both of them then a fight will break out and you will have to defend yourself. As the silver hair fox faced individual will attempt to take you hostage in order to get this Urahara individual to stand down. But if it's just the other individual it could go one of two ways. Either he'll fight you and take you as a prisoner unless a Servant interferes, or he'll simply observe the situation and leave you be tonight. Though he might still test you to see what you're capable of." Warned Makeda.

"So my best hope is that I don't encounter anyone tonight." Replied Kiritsugu.

"Then perhaps you should stay here, Kiritsugu. The odds are split on the best and worse case scenarios." Said Iri looking genuinely worried. Kiritsugu shook his head.

"While staying here will prevent me from being taken hostage or prisoner, I want to see who else has been summoned. After all while we can make some educated guesses on a few of the Servants we need to confirm identities and glean what information we can. And with there being a good chance that most of our forces will be engaged with the enemy tonight it falls on me to observe and gather intel on the other Servants and then we can hopefully piece together who's who and how to defeat them. Especially with the Gold Faction Servants. And tonight might be one of our best chances with so many Servants fighting tonight." Reasoned Kiritsugu.

"Very well. Just please be careful." Said Iri.

"Archer. I'm leaving my father's safety in your hands, understood?" asked Illya looking sternly at Arash. Areash merely smiled.

"I'll be by his side the entire night, Master." Said Arash.

"But what if this guy has the same ability as Ruler's Servants or the hollows? Arash couldn't see those hollows during the ceasefire so how will he be able to see this fox faced guy if he's like Ruler's Servants where you have to have experienced death in order to see them? And for that matter how was Makeda able to see what he looks like if she's mom's Servant?" asked Shirou E. confused.

"He might not have that ability and could be a former comrade of Kisuke but they had a falling out sometime ago. But as for if he does and how I can see him in my visions, I'm merely looking into the future so even if I can't see these individuals directly in the present, gazing into the future is the only time I am able to see them due to my being half jinn as I'm drawing on that part of my heritage in order to see the future. At least until my master is able to see these creatures and people herself which the contract will transfer that ability over to me." Explained Makeda.

"Still this does pose an issue, Master. Both of our strongest fighters, Berserker and Rider won't be able to aid you if you encounter this silver haired individual and he does have a similar ability to Ruler's Servants. Perhaps we should rethink our strategy." Suggested Saber. Kiritsugu shook his head.

"No. we're getting worked up on something that might not even happen. Let's keep the strategy the same and I'll let you know if I do require assistance after all, Saber. Then either you or Lancer will break off your fight and come to my aid as both of you and Jackie already proved you could see the hollow so it stands to reason that you'll be able to see this silver haired individual." Reasoned Kiritsugu. Reluctantly everyone agreed with this alteration to the plan. Kiritsugu turned to Makeda. "Thank you for letting us know." He said. Makeda nodded.

"Well, Advisor. Let us all be off then. The first true battle of the Great Holy Grail War awaits us." Said Rider speaking up for the first time tonight. As he raised his hand a wooden golden plated boat appeared and Rider, Kiritsugu, Lancer, Saber, Archer, and Berserker got into the vessel which then lifted up into the sky and then sailed along the clouds as it headed towards Millenium fortress.

=Romania – 30 mi outside of Trifas – Ruler's base – outside of the house – evening

Jeanne, now in her Servant attire and wearing the Shihoin cloak, had just stepped outside of the house. He was followed by her allies. Ichigo and Rukia in the soul reaper forms, Yoruichi and Kisuke in their gigai and civilian clothes, and Noba and Ririn in Ichigo's body and Rukia's gigai respectively. "Alright so does everyone know what the plan is for tonight?" she asked looking back at them.

"Rukia and I will be conducting Hollow patrols." Said Ichigo with a neutral frown.

"And we'll have our Denreishinki with us so you just need to use yours to get in touch with us if anything goes wrong." Said Rukia with a reassuring smile.

"While neither Noba and Ririn know how to utilize reishi platforms they'll be with you to act as your shields so they'll need to be holding onto your person should you be using the cloak flight capabilities." Pointed out Kisuke.

"And what will the two of you be doing?" asked Ichigo.

"Gathering intel. Keep in mind we still need to report back to the soul society about how the fights actually play out tonight. Not to mention that we need to try and see if there are any clues to Aizen's whereabouts." Said Yoruichi.

"Plus this is a once in lifetime opportunity to see legendary heroes from across different eras battle it out to see who comes out on top. I wouldn't miss this for the world if I didn't already have obligations to see to. So I'm going to enjoy tonight for as much as I can." Said Urahara.

"Very well then. I will be conducting myself as mediator tonight." Said Jeanne. Suddenly she turned to her right as something caught her eye.

"What is it?" asked Noba.

"Over there see that floating castle in the sky?" she asked as she pointed to a black fortress in the sky. "That Assassin of Red's noble phantasm: the Hanging gardens of Babylon." She said in awe and worry.

"That's quite imposing and bigger than I expected it to be." Said Kisuke looking at it with wide eyes. Suddenly lightning was seen exploding from one side of the floating fortress that was facing the plains in front of Millenium Fortress.

"Methinks the die is cast." Quoted Ririn.

"I guess this is the official start to the War then." Said Rukia.

"Then let's go, Fly!" ordered Jeanne as Noba and Ririn grabbed onto her and the trio took off to the skies. The 4 soul reapers flashstepped to their destination.

=Romania – forests behind Millenium fortress – clearing

Gin, Archer, Assassin, and Caster of White all arrived a clearing in the woods just a half mile behind the fortress of the Black and Gold factions.

"Alright so how exactly are we suppose to capture a Hollow?" asked Assassin (Robin). Caster (Avicebron) merely held up several rough gemstones and scattered them on the ground. In moments they sunk into the earth and them several blob like figures emerges like they were made out of mud.

"While these golems are no where near my best work, they should suffice in capturing a hollow due to their unique properties." Said Avicebron cryptically.

"What do you mean?" asked Gin quirking an eyebrow and actually frowning at this as he looked at Avicebron facing him fully. With a simple movement of his fingers the golems immediately turned to liquid before slithering onto the ground and entrapping the three of his escorts and bodyguards at the ankles essentially locking them in place.

"As long as my golems are attached to the earth they can draw power from it and act as chains if you will to capture and ensnare these Hollows. I just need to have them on the ground in order to use them successfully. Once ensnared I can immediately use the pendent that Master and I created to teleport both myself and the Hollow back to base before the Hollow breaks free." Said Avicebron pointing to a crystal pendant around his neck.

"And how exactly are the rest of us supposed to get back to base?" Asked Robin suspiciously.

"That's up to you to figure out." Said Avicebron. The other two Servants looked downright annoyed.

"Really? Oh fine. Then what will be mine and Archer's role then?" asked Robin.

"You both will be assisting Archer's Master in luring a Hollow here and then wounding the creature enough to ensnare it." Answered Avicebron

"But won't that leave you vulnerable, Caster?" asked Atalanta.

"No. Your Master will be the one luring a Hollow here and the two of you will remain with me and wait in ambush near my location. Then my golems will do the rest." Avicebron elaborated.

"Not a bad strategy. I suppose I can work with that." Admitted Gin.

"So how are you going to lure a Hollow towards us, Master?" asked Atalanta looking at Gin.

"That depends. How long do you all want to wait out here?" he asked. At their confused looks he elaborated. "Well with so many Servants in the immediate area, it's bound to attract Hollows to here but how many and how strong they'll be is going to be difficult to determine. Not to mention that Ruler and her group will be out and about trying to purify as many as they can get their hands on which means that we run the risk of being spotted and possibly thwarted from achieving our objective. Thus run the risk of going back empty handed. That is if we just sit around and wait for one to come to us." He said.

"What's the alternative?" asked Robin looking curious. Gin simply reached into his robe and pulled out a palm sized white tablet.

"This. It's called Hollow bait. In simple terms it amplifies the area's existing spirit particles or mana as you call it and creates what's known as a spiritual hotspot. These are usually in areas where a lot of people died, or some kind of traumatic event left a mark on the very earth itself. It's areas like these that draws Hollows in like a magnet. But while those hotspots are created naturally, by crushing this tablet it will artificially create one that will probably encompass the whole battlefield and possibly the town nearby. Now this means that we'll get a lot more Hollows that we can hopefully capture, and you can do with what you want, but the townsfolk will have to deal with the effects of this no matter what the outcome of the war is." Said Gin.

"What do you mean?" asked Atalanta giving him a look of suspicion.

"Simple. Once an area becomes a spiritual hotspot it takes time for the effects to wear off and the Hollows to leave the area alone but some never stop being a hotspot thus forever putting the civilian population that live at or around the area at risk of Hollow attacks. Now the question is are you all prepared to deal with the potential consequences should we go down this route?" asked Gin with a sly smirk.

"You mean that the civilian population will most likely be a food source for the hollows when the war ends?" asked Avicebron. Gin nodded. After a moment of thought Avicebron answered. "As I stated before my only concern is completing my noble phantasm so what happens to them or any humans in general is none of my concern." He admitted. Gin turned to the other two. Robin held his hands up in a placating manner.

"Hey I'm not going to take a stance on either of these options. I'll go along with the majority." He declared. Everyone was eyeing the now silent Atalanta as she seemed to be weighing her options. She then looked at Gin.

"This means children will get hurt won't they?" she asked.

"Most likely. But I need to remind you that if this isn't done then we run the risk of going home empty-handed and thus the chances of getting the Grail go down significantly, lowering your chances of getting your wish granted. If you're alright with that then we'll chance it. But if getting your wish granted means doing what needs to be done then we'll move forward with this strategy." Said Gin.

"You're not going to weigh in on this?" asked Avicebron.

"I gain or lose nothing from this whole war so I won't weigh in on the decisions. It's entirely up to you." Said Gin.

"What I plan to do with my wish will benefit all children so in order to make sure it gets granted we need to seize the Grail as soon as possible." Reasoned Atalanta.

"So?" asked Gin still smirking.

"So the only way to do that is to be able to fight the other factions on equal terms and to do that we'll need to see if the Hollows are a viable option." Atalanta continued to reason. "So if this tablet will ensure the speeding up of us obtaining the Grail then we have no choice but to use it." She finally said.

"Alright but then you better be ready to accept the responsibility of the consequences." Said Gin his smirk showing teeth. With that he crushed the tablet in his hand and it's white powder scattered but nothing seemed to happen.

"Now what?" asked Robin.

"Give it a few minutes." Said Gin as he turned towards the fortress folding his arms in the process.

=Romania – plains outside of Millenium Fortress – enroute to front gates– evening

Slash. Spray of blood. Whack. Crunching of bones. Thump. A body and weapon falling to ground already dead. The rhythmic thudding of feet hitting the ground as their owners run at him. He looked up ahead of him as a spear came at him and impacted one of his eyes but instead of gouging it out the blade crunched and shattered causing the silver haired female dressed in some kind of military uniform to look at her not useless weapon in confusion. He would've thought that her expression was almost cute were she not just another homunculus. He then punched the girl right through her chest killing her instantly. He looked up in time to see a whole squad of homunculi jump him with weapons ready to hit him. "BRING IT ON!" he shouted gleefully. He spun a full 360 degrees slashing his would be attackers as he went and suddenly his vision was completely swamped in red as fountains of blood rained down around him. The only proof of his enemies demise.

He looked up from his position as he heard a fierce roar up ahead and saw what he assumed was his team's Berserker as they were charging full on towards the castle. Mowing down anyone or anything in his path. That made him adopt a more subdue smile. Well points for efficiency. He thought chuckling. He looked over to his right side and saw Saber of Red hacking away at what looked like man sized tentacled sea creatures. And Saber was proceeding to get more pissed as they seemed to be congregating on their location. Achilles shrugged and decided to head over and give Saber a hand. He darted over and proceeded to slice up several of the sea monsters while Saber finally finished off the first ones to attack them.

"Hey what gives!?" exclaimed Saber of Red. Achilles looked at her confused once he finished off another sea monster.

"What do you mean?" he asked.

"You think that just because of my gender you think I can't handle myself!?" Saber exclaimed accusingly. Achilles merely huffed.

"Of course not. I thought I'd give you a hand as it will save time. The sooner we both get to the Servants of Black the sooner we can both have some real fun. Besides you don't want to be thought of as weak because you were forced to use your noble phantasm on minions that ganged up on you, right?" he argued. That made Saber pause for a few moments.

"I'll still be thought of as weak because you helped me." Saber pointed out.

"Then prove everyone wrong by taking out one of the Servants of Black, alright?" asked Achilles giving Saber a game smile. Though their helmet covered their face Achilles was pretty sure that Saber was returning the smile as they faced forward and ran after Berserker following him towards the front gates of the fortress. Achilles dropped his smile and allowed himself a few moments of reflection. With so many Servants summoned I hope that there's at least one that has divinity as then at least it will make things interesting. Otherwise if I'm stuck just clearing away waves of small fry, I'll be extremely disappointed. He then proceeded to move after his fellow red Servants at a much more leisurely pace cutting down random homunculi and sea monsters as he went.

Suddenly he stopped as he heard an unearthly howl and proceeded to look around. This cause the sea monsters to pause and the homunculi to stop as they also looked to see where that howl was coming from. Up in the sky he saw a black hole appear and watched as a few others appeared as well. Then out of several of them stepped or crawled out what he realized were Hollows. True to the descriptions while there was variances in their appearance, the three most noticeable features were that they had black bodies and bone white masks and hollow holes on them. But instead of looking worried or concerned Achilles just gave a manic grin. "Alright. Let's see just how tough you Hollows really are." He challenged. Then he proceeded to charge at one that was coming towards him in kind.

=Romania – behind Millenium fortress – edge of forest – same time

Kiritsugu looked through the telescopic lens of his sniper rifle as he saw the trio of Hollows descend from the sky. "Well see anything of interest, Master of Saber?" asked Arash. Kiritsugu lowered the lens and turned to Arash.

"Well, I just saw three of those Hollows appear in the sky and their descending onto the front part of the gate. I think their going after the Servants of Red and Black." He said. This caused all of the Servants of Silver present to look at him in surprise.

"Are you certain of this, Advisor?" asked Ozymandias.

"The creatures have similar traits as the one that attacked my son, Pharaoh." replied Kiritsugu.

"Not to mention that they let out those howls that the last one did." Pointed out Diarmuid.

"Those things howl?" asked Arash looking surprised.

"You mean none of you heard that?" asked Arthur. Ozymandias and Arash shook their heads no.

"The plan remains unchanged, Saber. If I encounter anything, be it a Servant or otherwise, you and Lancer decide amongst yourselves who will break off the fight and come to mine and Archer's aid. Beyond that the rest of the strategy carries on as planned." Said Kiritsugu firmly. Suddenly Arash's head snapped towards the fortress and then looked at it intently. His eyes glowing.

"What is it, Archer?" asked Diarmuid. Arash's eyes returned to normal as he looked over to his comrades.

"It looks like Master of Saber's instincts were right. There's a group of Servants heading towards the back entrance of the fortress. And while it's difficult to tell given that it's night I think it might be the Blue Faction." He reported.

"Alright. Berserker, Lancer, and Saber. Get into position and wait for my signal. Archer prepare a little greeting for our opponents." Ordered Kiritsugu.

"Oh. No orders for me?" asked Ozymandias with a smirk.

"I value my life far too much to think about giving you orders, pharaoh." Said Kiritsugu deadpanned. Ozymandias barked in laughter.

"I see, then I will order you to hold the other three until after I've made my grand entrance after Archer has fired a volley. Then after I've entered the battlefield and chosen my opponents, you may send in the others, Advisor." Ordered Ozymandias.

"Understood. Just let me know which Servants are your opponents so the others will know not to engage with them. Including Archer with his covering fire."

"Very well." Said Ozymandias. With a wave of his hand, he summoned a horse sized, faceless, blue starscaped colored sphinx with a golden Egyptian headdress on its head into existence and then he hopped onto it, using it as a mount. Arash summoned his bow and an arrow and readied it. His eyes glowing once again. Kiritsugu used his telescopic lens for his sniper rifle and flipped on the night vision function as he looked towards where a group of individuals were heading for the fortress.

=Romania – behind Millenia fortress – back entrance – same time

Artoria, Cu Chulainn, Jekyll, and Medusa were making their way to the back entrance of the fortress. "Is this the place?" asked Cu.

"Yes. According to the information provided by the church, this is the back entrance to the fortress. It's meant to be used as either an alternative entrance or as a potential escape route should the fortress have to be abandoned. Though I highly suspect that there are other, more secretive exits if escape becomes an option for the inhabitants." Reasoned Artoria.

"And now with those hollows engaging with the red and Black Factions, now's the perfect time to infiltrate the fortress." Said Jekyll.

"Are you certain that Caster's gems will do their job in both disabling any defenses and initiating the ritual to teleport the grail out of the fortress?" asked Medusa.

"They better because he knows that they'll be consequences if they don't." said Cu testily. The other 3 looked at him with quirked eyebrows but he then said more calmly. "Let's get started with this operation."

"I'm afraid I can't let you do that. Especially since you have an imposter with you." Said a creepy voice. Suddenly a figure appeared in an inky black mist and was revealed to be a person in fancy but strange black robes but his pale skin, greasy black hair and especially his bulging eyes made him a very unpleasant person to look at. In his hands was an open book. What's more he looked quite manic.

"Imposter?" asked Jekyll.

"Oh yes. I will admit while the blonde girl with you looks very similar, her clothes and hairstyle are not the same as my beloved Jeanne. So, you will not fool me in allowing you to pass without a fight." Said the man.

"Wait. You know the arbiter of the War?" asked Cu now confused.

"I suppose it's alright if I reveal my True name to you. Afterall you're all going to die tonight. I'm the Caster of Gold. Gilles de Reis. Jeanne's most loyal of companions. And now I'm your enemy." Said the now named Gilles. The book in his hands started to glow eerily and suddenly several shapes began to emerge from it. Upon further inspection they looked like man-sized sea monsters. "Now take them out." He ordered. Everyone got into a defensive stance.

Suddenly Artoria's and Cu's instincts kicked in and both turned around and brought up their weapons. Both revealing that they deflected several arrows that had been fired at them from behind. But several hit their marks and took out a few of the sea monsters. Then a figure on a sphinx appeared with a joyous laugh.

"Ah good to see you again. Servants of Blue. It appears my Advisor's instincts were correct." He said.

"Ozymandias. Rider of Silver." Said Artoria. She looked towards his compatriots that just then joined him from behind. "And you brought company with you." She noted. Servants of Blue, it looks like the other members of Silver are their Saber, Lancer, and Berserker as well as Rider. Said Artoria over the faction link.

So, what. That's the same as our members that came here. As far as I'm concern just pair up the respective Servant Classes as our opponents and we'll see who wins. Cu argued back over said link.

Respectfully Lancer of Blue. I don't need to be a master strategist to know that I will handily lose against that statue of a brute that seems to be their Berserker. Even if Hyde is factored into the fight. Jekyll pointed out with a slight look of panic on his face as he looked at Heracles.

Then what do you suggest we do? Asked Cu frustrated.

I can see how I fare against Rider of Silver. At the very least I should be able to keep pace with him with my speed. Suggested Medusa.

And I know that their Saber is my male counterpart so I will be able to at least match him as I know all his moves. Artoria pointed out.

Okay. Fine I'll alternate between fighting Lancer of Silver and assisting our Berserker in taking out this one. Not the first time I had to fight multiple opponents in a war. Said Cu reluctantly.

I can't thank you enough, Lancer of Blue. Replied Jekyll. Who then pulled out a potion from his inner coat pocket.

"Be it one faction or more, it doesn't matter. You all will perish before my minions." Said Gilles maniacally. Then his sea monsters immediately launched themselves at everyone present. Now many three-way battles began to shape up as such: Arthur vs Artoria, Medusa vs Ozymandias, Hyde vs Heracles, And Cu Chulainn alternating between helping the now transformed Hyde and fighting Diarmuid. As to how these became three-way fights, that was due to the sea monsters also jumping in as fodder to try and fight both sets of Servants. Some having difficulties with them while others found them to be just a nuisance and easily destroyed those that dared to come near them. Meanwhile Gilles and the Servants of Blue also had to fend off random arrows being shot at them in support of the Silver Faction Servants. Dammit! I have no way to determine where that infernal Archer is located. His shots could be miles away so sending creatures after him would be a waste of time and resources. Gilles thought to himself angrily as he dodged yet another shot coming his way

=Romania – Millenium fortress – front entrance – inside the fortress courtyard – evening

Darnic had by now ventured out into the courtyard in front of the main front entrance. Followed by old man Acht, Angelica, Vlad III, and a few other Servants of Black particularly Siegfried Medea, who was scrying through her crystal ball, and Frankenstein's monster. "I must say that despite all the planning, I'm a bit disappointed that our main forces have been decimated so easily." Said Darnic eying the front gate.

"They were homunculi, Master. While they would certainly prove to be a challenge against a mage, they are little more than cannon fodder to us Servants." Said Vlad as he mounted a golem horse.

"I have news for Assassin of Black, Darnic." Said Angelica. Darnic motioned for her to continue, and she nodded. "The various bodies of Assassin has relayed to me that while Gilles is doing his job and protecting the back entrance of the forest, it would appear that two other Factions of Servants are also engaged in battle with both him and each other." She reported.

"Which ones?" asked old man acht.

"One Servant was Ozymandias from the Silver Faction. So we can confirm that the Silver Faction is currently battling Gilles at the moment. The other Faction we haven't found out anything yet, but given the circumstances it's most likely either the white or Blue Faction. So what should be our course of action?" asked Angelica.

"For the time being just have that Assassin keep their vigil. If it looks like Gilles will indeed be killed in the battle, then let us know and we will act accordingly." Ordered Darnic.

"Anything else you have to report on?" asked old man acht.

"Yes a few things. One is that both Assassin and Archer can confirm that these Hollows that we were warned about have now made their appearance and three of them are currently engaged with the Red Faction members heading this way." Reported Angelica.

"And how are these Hollows faring?" asked Vlad curious.

"It would appear that when you attack anything but the mask of the Hollow, it will instantly regenerate but when one of them hits the Hollows mask they not only break but the Hollows in question also fade into nothingness so the information we were given during the ceasefire was accurate at the very least." admitted Angelica.

"Are they giving the members of the Red Faction trouble?" asked Vlad curious.

"They are proving to at least keep the Red Faction Servants busy though how long is difficult to say." Admitted Angelica.

"In that case it would be in our best interest to pull all but our Servants back behind the walls. This way we'll get to see how these Hollows do and when Ruler's group show up see how well they fare and perhaps gleam more information about them." Said Darnic. He looked towards old man acht who nodded and relayed to a nearby homunculus orders to sound the retreat for their homunculi on the field.

"I just received news from Archer of Black that Rider of Red will be joining the fray. And there's more. He recognizes the Lancer of Red as one of his students. Achilles." Reported Angelica. Darnic looked surprised and Vlad smiled in anticipation.

"Peleus' son has joined the battle!?" exclaimed Medea upon hearing the news.

"Well, this night is certainly shaping up into an interesting one." He said with a challenging grin.

=Romania – outside Millenium Fortress – in the air – evening

Jeanne arrived at the fortress holding onto Noba and Ririn in Ichigo's body and Rukia's gigai respectively. Shortly after that Yoruichi, Kisuke, Rukia, and Ichigo all arrived and quickly assessed the scenes around them. They saw what appeared to be Lancer of Red finishing off a Hollow and the homunculi were retreating back into the fortress. Instead, Saber and Berserker of Black were now coming outside of the walls of the fortress and looked to be ready to engage their enemies.

On the backside of the fortress, they saw what appeared to be the Silver and Blue Faction Servants fighting with the Servant Ided as Gilles de Rais engaging in something of a three way free for all. Suddenly Kisuke's head snapped to the side as his attention seemed to be on the forests behind the back of the fortress.

"What's wrong Kisuke?" asked Yoruichi.

"I can sense Gin Ichimaru's spiritual pressure nearby. He's somewhere in that forest." He answered pointing his cane sword towards said forest.

"Okay so how do we want to go about this?" asked Ichigo genuinely curious.

"You and Rukia will go on Hollow patrol and take out as many of them as possible to make sure that they don't continue to interfere with the combatants. Kisuke and I will go and confront Gin. With any luck we might be able to gleam some information from him." Said Yoruichi.

"And what about you and the mod-souls Ruler? What will you 3 do?" asked Rukia.

"I will continue to observe everything from here, only coming down when it becomes necessary. I'll also be sure to keep in touch with everyone." Jeanne replied.

"And Noba and I will guard her until you all get back." Said Ririn. Noba simply nodded.

"Alright then. Everyone's got their marching orders. So, let's go." Said Kisuke as he drew his blade. Then he and Yoruichi blinked out of existence. Ichigo and Rukia did the same, leaving Jeanne with Noba and Ririn still holding onto her. Please be safe, everyone. She prayed silently. Then she heard the howl of Hollows and saw another two more appearing in the sky before descending towards the battlefield. She couldn't help but give a concerned look.

=Romania – outside Millenium fortress – plains – evening

Achilles landed on the ground as he finished off the last of the three Hollows that had initially descended onto the battlefield. He turned and saw what was happening to them. Well, it looks like that shopkeeper's words were true. Break the mask and they fade away to nothing. He thought tilting his head curiously. "Still if it's that easy to get rid of Hollows then they're only marginally more difficult than those homunculi and sea creatures. Still disappointing." Achilles groaned.

"Then perhaps you won't mind fighting a thinking foe." Said an oily sinister voice from behind him. Achilles immediately turned around and attempted to get into a stance only to be blindsided when something hit him, knocking him off his feet, and sent him flying into the nearby forest.

=Romania – outside Millenium fortress – skies above – evening

Iskandar rode his chariot into battle while his comrades were on the ground. He watched in mild concerned as a few Hollows had already engaged with his comrades but their Lancer made quick work of them. I wouldn't expect anything less from my fellow Greek especially if is indeed my own personal hero, Achilles. If it's proven true, then I must see if he'll at least consider giving me his signature. It would be even better if we could fight side by side conquering the world together. Iskandar thought as he smiled in absolute glee. But that was quickly subdued when he saw two more Hollows descend towards their Saber and Berserker. But then Ichigo and Rukia blinked into existence and the hollows quickly faded into nothingness. "Well at least Ruler's Servants are competent." He said thinking aloud. He then heard the sound of an eagle scream as he saw a truly magnificent beast fly up to him. It looked like a cross between an eagle and a horse and on it was a pink-haired figure riding it with a confident smile. "Well now is it safe to assume that you are my counterpart for the Black Faction?" he asked with a grin.

"Indeed I am, King of Conquerors. And since you gave your True name it seems only fair that I respond in kind. I'm Astolfo. One of the 12 Paladins of Charlemagne." Declared the now identified Rider of Black..

"Is that right? I must say the pink haired braid threw me off a bit. Not a color I'd expect from a non-divine Servant. Well before we begin I would like to extend an invitation to you." Said Iskandar. "Why not join me and my army in conquering the world?" he asked.

"I'm afraid I must decline. Don't get me wrong yours and my goal would actually coincide with each other after all it sounds like a wonderful adventure." Admitted Astolfo with a delighted smile.

"So then why decline?" asked Iskandar a bit confused.

"I'm the type of Servant who will faithfully serve whoever summons me to the end no matter what. So for that reason alone I must decline your offer." Answered Astolfo as he summoned his lance with a giggle.

"Such a shame. Well then I shall take great pleasure in taking your mount as a trophy for when I defeat you, Paladin." Responded Iskandar with a grin as he drew his sword. With that the two flew at each other on their respective mounts.

=Romania – outside Millenium fortress – outside the front gates – evening

Saber and Berserker of Black waited outside the gates as their counterparts came at them at full speeds. The both of them readied their weapons as their foes made their way towards them only halting temporarily when they saw a couple more hollows appear only to be cut down by Ichigo and Rukia as they blinked into existence. That seemed to be all the encouragement their Red counterparts needed before coming at them again. Now closing the distance. Siegfried, who still couldn't see the hollows or Rukia and Ichigo in their soul reaper forms, quirked an eyebrow at the whole thing and shrugged. When he saw the Red Servants come at them again he turned towards Frankenstein's monster and nodded to her.

Then Berserker of Black activated her mace giving a battle cry while doing so. She slammed the mace onto the ground creating a small crater and sent lighting into the air. A few moments later lightning began to strike down on the two Red Servants. Yet while it did halt them both temporarily once again, it also seemed to piss off Saber of Red as she then picked up her speed and headed straight towards Berserker of Black.

Clang! The blade was intercepted by Saber of Black's greatsword as he stepped in and protected his comrade. This forced Mordred to back off for a few moments. By this point Berserker of Red arrived and after a few moments of assessment went after Siegfried.

"Hey! What are you doing!? He's my counterpart!?" yelled Saber of Red. Clang! The axe and great sword were now locked together.

"True but this one will be a more worthy challenger than my counterpart will be for me." Said Berserker speaking clearly. Surprising everyone momentarily. But Saber of Red responded first.

"So you're leaving me to face off against the weaker one!?" asked Saber of Red sounding outraged. By now the two weapons unlocked and both got into a battle stance.

"If I lose, you're more than welcome to avenge me." Suggested Berserker.

"Screw that! I'll just beat this weakling and then take your opponent from you." Declared Saber of Red. By now Berserker of Black activated her lightning again getting Saber of Red's attention.

"Don't . . . underestimate . . . me." Said Berserker of Black haltingly.

"Ha! You think you stand a chance against me? Fine then let's fight and see how strong you are!" Saber of Red yelled as she came at Berserker of Black. Clang!

= Romania – behind the fortress – forests – evening

Robin yawned as he and his fellow white Servants and Gin were sitting around waiting for a Hollow to come near their location. "This is a drag. I thought you said that the Hollows would be showing up by now." Robin complained mildly.

"Unfortunately, most of the hollows have been making their way to the front of the fortress where there's been a lot more death and therefore more souls to devour so it makes sense that they've been congregating over on that side. Not to mention with Ichigo and Rukia taking care of those that appear on that side, it's going to be almost impossible for us to lure them here without there being a confrontation with Ruler's group. Which is a shame as I've sensed now 6 Hollows tonight since I broke the bait." Explained Gin looking bored himself.

"So, you did use Hollow bait." Said a familiar female voice. Everyone turned around and saw Yoruichi standing behind Atalanta looking very serious. Atalanta looked absolutely shocked that she was that close. I didn't even sense her or hear her approach! How did she get so close to me so easily! Atalanta thought in a panic.

"Ah. If it isn't the former commander of the stealth force, Yoruichi Shihoin." Said Gin with a cheeky grin.

"Stealth Force?" asked Robin still shocked.

"It'd take too long to explain now but if we all survive, I'll happily explain what that is. Oh, by the way, Shoot to kill, Shinso." Said Gin a blade sprang out from his back, away from the gathered group. Yoruichi looked up and her expression remained unchanged. Gin frowned at this. "Damn. I missed." He turned around and saw that a familiar green and white striped hat was now impaled on the blade.

"That wasn't very nice." Said a male voice. The figure stepped out of the bushes off to the side and revealed himself to be Kisuke Urahara. "I do believe that you killed my hat, Gin." He said sorrowfully.

"Oh please you really think that I didn't suspect that you weren't going to stab me in the back with a sneak attack?" asked Gin somewhat amused. "That's more my style." For a few moments no one said anything but looked at one another to see if anyone would try anything. After a few minutes Gin spoke again. "So, are you here to apprehend me or to kill me?" he asked.

"Where is Aizen?" demanded Yoruichi.

"So demanding. But wouldn't you like to know." Taunted Gin. "But I've actually got business to attend to and I really can't entertain you now." Said Gin as he then flexed his spiritual pressure. Yoruichi and Urahara responded and flexed theirs. But while the 3 of them were unaffected by the increase in atmospheric pressure, the Servants were another story as the three of them suddenly began to feel a tremendous weight settle onto them and were having trouble breathing. Suddenly a cacophony of unearthly howls filled the air, and everyone looked above to now see about 6 Hollows just in the sky above leering down at the group.

"I see so that was your plan then, Gin?" asked Urahara as he picked up his hat from the ground now that Gin had retracted his blade.

"Figured I'd kill three birds with one stone or at least try to. Bye Bye, now" said Gin as he blinked out of existence. Urahara eyes widened at this.

"Yoruichi, take care of the Hollows. I'll go after Gin." He said as he too blinked out of existence.

"I've got this." She said and then flashstepped up to the group of hollows and stood on a reishi platform getting into a fighting stance while the hollows surrounded her.

=Romania – outside Millenium fortress – forests near the front entrance of the fortress – evening

Achilles found himself locked in combat with a Hollow. The Hollow in question had the shape of what looked to be a lizard but was the size of a horse and had a clubbed tail which had sent him flying earlier. But unlike the previous ones he found himself actually having a difficult time fighting this one. All along his body there were various cuts with blood dripping from them though most were superficial. Normally the fact that someone or something could hurt him would delight him and make him want to continue fighting but right now he was furious.

"What's wrong? Minutes earlier you were groaning about how bored you were fighting weaklings and now that you're actually being injured now, you're upset. What's the issue?" asked the Hollow somewhat curious.

"I'm mad because I can't stand cowards!" he shouted. This caused the Hollow to tilt its head in curiosity. "Ever since the fight started you've been on the defensive never making an attempt to attack me. And yet every time I attacked, I somehow end up injured. That means that somehow, you're either reflecting damage back onto me or you're using some magecraft to make it so I hit myself. I just can't quite figure out which it is or if you're doing both. But regardless you refuse to fight me as a challenger. If you had been fighting me as such and merely using underhanded tricks to fight me I wouldn't be nearly as mad. Hell, I would've even praised you for your practicality even if it's not my preferred style of fighting. But instead, you rely entirely on trickery to fight me. To me that is what makes you a coward." Said Achilles.

"So what are you going to do then?" said Hollow taunted him. His bone mask distorting into a smile full of teeth. After a few seconds of hesitation Achilles threw his spear in the air and then launched himself at the Hollow but he deliberately slowed himself down as he charged. The Hollow brought its tail up in an attempt to blindside him and defend itself. But Achilles surprised it. He not only caught the tail this time but then once he landed on the ground and proceeded to pull the Hollow's tail until it lost its footing and then hammer threw the Hollow into a nearby tree stunning the creature temporarily. Achilles then caught his spear, used his true speed, and then impaled his spear into the mask. Yet while he cracked it significantly it didn't fully destroy the mask.

As if sensing it's near demise the Hollow seemed to understand that it couldn't afford to play games anymore. It grabbed Achilles wrapping one clawed hand around his entire mid-section trapping his arms in the process and then slammed him to the ground. It left a human shaped imprint in said ground with his body knocking the wind out Achilles. Then proceeded to put more weight on Achilles. "Since I can't hurt you directly, let's see if I can kill you through suffocation. After all that soul of yours smells especially delicious." Said the Hollow in a nasty tone. Achilles struggled to get out from under the clawed hand of this Hollow. NO! NO WAY AM I GOING OUT LIKE CEANUS! Achilles thought desperately as he felt it getting harder to breathe.

Then the weight pressing down on him was lifted suddenly and Achilles gasped air as he looked to see that the Hollow was howling in pain. Both hands clutching its chest wound freeing Achilles completely. He then noticed a figure standing between him and the Hollow and saw that he was dressed in black robes and was carrying what Achilles could only describe as an oversized kitchen knife. But the most striking thing about the figure was his bright orange hair. Achilles realized then that this was one of Ruler's Servants. The figure seemed to blink out of existence though Achilles could still track his movements much to his surprise and saw that the man brought his blade up and swung down in a straight line completely bifurcating the face of the Hollow and then watched as it faded into nothingness.

The man turned around with a concerned look on his face. "You okay?" he asked as he made his way over to Achilles and offered him a hand. This seemed to snap Achilles out of his thoughts and without thinking took the offered hand as he was pulled to his feet.

"Yeah. I'm fine. Thanks for the assist." Achilles said trying to sound friendly. However before anything else could be said, Achilles suddenly heard more than saw a projectile, an arrow, heading towards them. Without even thinking he pulled the young man to place him behind and and stood there ready to intercept the hit.

Shnnk. Achilles eyes widened as he looked and saw the arrow imbedded in his shoulder as well as felt the pain blossoming in his shoulder. He'd been wounded by this arrow. The archer who fired it had managed to hurt him. This means- Achilles thought but was quickly caught off guard as three more arrows hit him. Shnnk. Shnnk. Shnnk. Then Achilles found himself being pulled away from his position and then found his back against a tree but not with any real force. He also noted that they were now further into the woods. Though whether that meant they were out of the Archer's range was anyone's guess. He looked and saw the young man he attempted to defend standing in front of him again, his hand grasping his shoulders. He also noted that the younger man was slightly shorter than him by about a few inches. Still his look of anger and disbelief made the slight height difference irrelevant.

"YOU DUMBASS! WHAT WERE YOU THINKING!? WHY DIDN'T YOU USE YOUR SPEAR TO DEFLECT THOSE ARROWS!? WHAT KIND OF IDIOT JUST STANDS THERE AND LET'S HIMSELF GET HIT!? NOT TO MENTION YOU'RE ALREADY INJURED!" the younger man ranted. After a few moments Achilles actually comprehended the words being said and it left him in a state of confusion. Wait he's still actually showing concern for my wellbeing. But . . . why? As a Servant he should only view me as competition at worst or a third party observer at best. So why does he care that I got hit? Achilles dumbfounded expression must have caused the young man to calm down as he spoke in a much calmer tone. "Look I don't know what your deal is but if you have a reason for being summoned, I imagine that dying isn't going to help you get your wish granted." He said.

"Why?" asked Achilles now looking at Ruler's male Servant with a frown while he looked at him in surprise and confusion. "Why should it matter to you if I get hurt. It's less competition for you if I get killed right? So why do you care that I got hurt at least not by Hollows?" Achilles asked. The younger man now frowned matching Achilles.

"I don't have a dog in this particular fight. All I'm concerned about is making sure those Hollows don't hurt anyone including Servants and safeguarding Ruler until the Grail War is over. But I also wouldn't be able to forgive myself if someone tried to help me and then they got killed shortly afterward and I couldn't at least repay them. Besides you could've let me get hit by those arrows and yet you saved me, albeit in a really stupid manner, so why bother?" asked the young man. At this Achilles gave a wry smile and a huff of air.

"You got me on that. But like you I don't like leaving debts unpaid. Since you saved me, I owed you one and now you've done it again and I'm once again indebted to you. As to my confusion, while the Hollow I understand, as I'm assuming you're one of Ruler's Servants, why you saved me. But after that? Well most other Servants wouldn't care if the competition was injured by another Servant unless they're one of the honorable types that want to fight their opponents on equal footing so it's unusual to have another Servant show care for one that isn't related to them in some way or has their eye on a particular Servant they want to fight." Achilles clarified.

"I guess I'm just weird then." Said the young man with a shrug. Achilles gave a good natured chuckle but then his expression quickly morphed into confusion as he saw the young man pull at the cloth from the tang of his oversized kitchen knife and approached him slowly. "Will you let me dress your wounds?" he asked. Achilles eyes widened in surprise again. Taking his silence as a yes the young man quickly went to work removing the arrows and dressing the wounds on Achilles shoulder, hip and thigh. He then attempted to dress the superficial wounds but as soon as he tried he heard a roar off in the distance and grew concerned. "Listen. I have to go so. . ." he trailed off not sure how to finish. Achilles expression had turned curious as he fiddled with the dressing. He turned to the young man once again with a small smile on his face again.

"Go on. Don't let me keep you. These other wounds are just scratches at best. My master can heal them up all up later. But as a token of my appreciation, let me give you my True name as thanks. And if possible may I know the name of the one I'm indebted to?" asked Achilles.

"You don't have to go that far but as for my name. It's Ichigo. Ichigo Kurosaki." The now named Ichigo said.

"Ichigo. First Defender, right?" asked Achilles with a good natured smile. This caused Ichigo to give a small smile of his own.

"You know you're one of only a handful of people who got that right the first time. Most people think that my parents were cruel and named me after a fruit." he said. Achilles laughed at this as he realized that Ichigo also meant strawberry but decided to not say anything on that and instead placed his fist not holding his spear to his heart and looked at Ichigo still smiling.

"I'm indebted to you, Ichigo Kurosaki. As the Lancer of the Red Faction I will repay my debt. And once that happens, on my True name as Achilles son of Peleus, I wish to formally challenge you to a duel between warriors. Will you accept my challenge when my debt is repaid, Ichigo?" asked Achilles. He watched as Ichigo's expression morphed into surprise and then mortification.

"Oh Shit! I called you a dumbass and an idiot." Said Ichigo clearly embarrassed. This caused all formality to leave Achilles and he instead laughed at this.

"Yeah. You did. But given that you had no idea at the time who I was and from what you saw it was somewhat understandable." Reasoned Achilles.

"I gotta go before I die of embarrassment." Said Ichigo trying to leave.

"Wait. Will you accept my challenge?" asked Achilles before he left. Ichigo paused and then glanced back.

"Let me think on it and I'll give you an answer next time we see eachother." Said Ichigo and then he blinked out of existence.

"I look forward to hearing your answer, Ichigo." Said Achilles. He then took one of the arrows out of his spear hand and examined it. It's of Greek design. Not to mention that the arrow looks like any other well-made arrow so it isn't a divine construct. And if it hurt me then that means the one who fired it has some blood connection to the divine. The problem is that Greece had no shortage of demigods or archers but only a few who were both. So the candidates are most likely Heracles, Orion, and perhaps Paris and Odysseus given how both had constant blessings of their respective gods Apollo and Athena respectively. Well maybe I'll gleam a little more information if I engage with this Archer of Black again. Thought Achilles.

But before he could even take a step forward he heard his Master over their link. Lancer. Are you alright? Asked Gray. Achilles sighed. Yeah I'm alright. I've got a few wounds that require healing but most are just scratches so don't worry too much about it. I'll explain later. Anyway what's wrong? He asked. Archer of Red was able to successfully intercept an attack from one of the Assassin Servants though we were unable to identify which one it was and from which Faction it was from. Now he's gone off to finish off the Assassin but now the rest of us are without a guard. Rider, Berserker, and Saber are all engaged in fighting, Archer is off to deal with the unknown Assassin. Our Assassin is keeping the hanging Gardens active, and we've no idea what's become of our Caster so right now that just leaves you as the only Servant to guard us. So if possible we'd like to have you return. Can you do that? Asked Gray. Sure. I've got some info on the Archer of Black to relay to you anyway. I'll be over in a few minutes. Said Achilles ending the link for now.

He then turned his attention to the fortress in the distance. And he began to laugh. "I have to say Archer of Black. This is wonderful. The fact that you can wound me and perhaps even kill me gives me such great joy. It proves that our fight was destined." He shouted out loud knowing the Servant of Black could hear him. An arrow came at him again in response which he easily dodged. "Oh Gods of Olympus. May you grant us glory and honor on this battle." Recited Achilles as he invoked a warrior's prayer. He then placed two fingers in his mouth and whistled. Then a chariot appeared out of a tempest with three horses. Achilles mounted the chariot and had it take off for the skies. "Let us settle this challenge next time. Perhaps then I'll finally be able to see your face." He shouted as he took off.

=Romania – Millenium fortress – topmost turret – evening

Chiron watched as the chariot of his student went off into the distance. His bow relaxed as he had had it drawn for another shot. Isn't this ironic, Achilles? Destiny, it seems, will bear it's fangs even against those who are already dead. Chiron thought to himself sadly. He took a moment to assess the battles going on in the immediate areas.

He looked to the skies first and saw that their Rider and Rider of Red were still engaged in combat. Chiron couldn't help but smile at the two. I recognize Zues' lightning anywhere but clearly this descendant can't direct it with any control otherwise we would've already lost our Rider. Chiron thought as he saw Astolfo come in for close quarter fighting while lightning burst from the chariot. Only to then jump off his mount and land on one of the bulls. But when he attempted to stab Rider of Red with his lance Iskandar successfully fended him off with his short sword. The force behind the clashes were enough to send Astolfo off into the air but he was quickly rescued by his mount.

Chiron gaze shifted over to where he saw Ruler with what looked to be a cloak and was currently holding onto what he understood to be the gigai's of her Servants. His expression shifted to a curious frown. I must say that if that cloak is a mystic code, it's a truly impressive one. As for the other two, those are most likely the gigai's and gikons that we were informed about. To think such creations are in existence now. I can imagine several Servants who would like to live in the current era without needing to rely on a contract who would jump at the prospect such as these creations. Chiron thought. He then heard an unearthly howl and saw a Hollow emerge from a dark portal and attempted to attack the trio. It appeared to be an oversized mosquito. Only for the boy to hold up his hand and a red rimmed portal appeared and the Hollow entered it before it could stop itself. The portal closed soon after. Only to reappear near where Ruler's female Servant, who he recalled was named Rukia Kuchiki, was at and she in turn promptly bifurcated it's mask killing it and having it fade into nothingness. Rukia then blinked out of existence. These people never cease to impress me with their skills. Thought Chiron.

He then shifted his gaze to behind him where he saw the Blue and Silver Faction still fighting it out. He spotted Gil de Rais as he was deflecting yet another arrow with one of his sea monsters. Chiron traced that arrow's trajectory and saw another archer firing arrows at the two fighting Factions.

A roar got his attention, and he zeroed in on it's origin and found to his shock that he recognized the figure. Master! Chiron reached out over the link. Yes Chiron? What is it? Fiore replied over the link, her concern obvious. Did your brother Lord Caules say who was the Berserker of Blue? Chiron asked. No. He didn't. But he gave a description that Grandfather Darnic relayed to me. She quickly relayed said description to Chiron. Why do you ask? Asked Fiore. Because I think I've been able to identify the Berserker of Silver. He's another one of my students. Heracles, Greece's most famous hero. Said Chiron. WHAT!? Are you certain of this, Chiron? Asked Fiore in shock. Yes. And given that Ozymandias has been identified as the Rider of Silver it means that the Silver Faction might be more of a threat to us than even the Red Faction. And that's taking into account that Achilles is the Lancer of the Red Faction. Explained Chiron He then relayed all the information he knew concerning Heracles which got the expected reaction from his Master. We have to kill him 12 TIMES!? Asked Fiore in a panic. Yes, Master. And I'll be straightforward on this. I don't think our faction can pull off such a feat. At best half of our Faction could maybe take half of his lives but then we'd have to disengage and let our allies from the gold faction take over and hope that their abilities could finish him off. And that's if we don't factor in his allies fighting alongside him. Chiron explained. Alright. I've moved to another part of the fortress with Caules and I'll relay this information to Grandfather Darnic via the crystal balls that Caster of Black gave us to communicate with and we'll see what to do from there. But for now don't engage with the battle at the back entrance. If you see an opportunity provide support to our Saber and Berserker in the front gate feel free to do so. I don't think that Berserker will last very long against Saber of Red. Said Fiore. Understood, Master. Said Chiron ending the link.

With that Chiron turned his attention back to the front gate and saw that the 4 combatants. True enough while Saber of Black seemed to be holding his own for the most part, Berserker looked to be struggling against Saber of Red. It seems that my Master's judgement was spot on. Thought Chiron as he readied an arrow and drew his bow to fire.

=Romania – Millenium fortress – front entrance – evening

Clang! Clang! Clang! Mordred's sword kept making contact with Frankenstein's mace and she saw that despite the valiant effort, Fran was beginning to feel herself starting to fade. I . . .won't last much longer. But I can't let this Servant get past me. Fran thought desperately. Berserker! Listen to me. I need you to keep that Saber of Red Servant's attention on you for a while longer. I'll provide support to you and Saber of Black. Can you do that? Asked Chiron over the Faction link. Fran responded by growling and then activated her lightning which Saber of Red used their Instincts to dodge and weave from getting hit from the front or from above. But then Chiron's arrows came flying in. Saber of Red only barely was able to deflect a few of them. Shnnk! Shnnk! Shnnk! But sadly three of them did in fact hit them. Two in one shoulder each and one in the left shin. But this seemed to only piss Saber of Red off further.

Mordred got into a starting sword position. "I'm getting nowhere like this. Time to end this now!" With that she brought up her sword and opened her helmet to expose her face and activated her noble phantasm.

=Romania – various locations – evening

Throughout the battles in the immediate area everyone's attention was temporarily drawn to the red pillar of red light as it reached the heavens, halting the fights for a few minutes. Reactions ranged from intrigue, to concern, to worry.

/

"So that's Mordred's noble phantasm." Said Noba as the trio observed from above.

"Yes. It is." Said Jeanne waiting to see how things would play out. Then a second pillar, this one teal, sprang into existence. "And that is Siegfried's noble phantasm." She stated.

"Wow so we actually get to see both in action." Said Ririn getting a little excited.

"Is there anything that we should do, Jeanne?" asked Rukia looking concern.

"No. This is a battle between Servants. And we must only bear witness to it and see who wins. That is my role as the Arbiter." Said Jeanne thought she did look a bit sad as she said this.

/

Vlad was now heading towards the front gates on his golem steed. Caster of Black using her crystal ball to see what was happening on the other side of the gates as she walked alongside him. "Caster. Let me see the location of our Berserker. I'm going to raise stakes along the front entrance and wall as well as around our Berserker. This will act as a protective wall that if Saber of Black is unable to fully cancel out Saber of Red's noble phantasm, it will absorb the blow." Said Vlad.

"As a matter of curiosity what will you do once the attack has been either cancelled out or finishes?" asked Medea.

"Then I plan on entering the fray myself. As the ruler over these lands, I need to show everyone who is the true King here on this soil." Said Vlad with a confident smile.

"Understood." Complied Medea holding up the crystal ball for Vlad to see. He nodded and raised his left hand outstretching it in front of him towards the gate.

/

Yoruichi finally finished off the first several Hollows that had arrived when she felt a massive amount of spirit energy. In a panic she turned towards the fortress and saw the pillars of light. That's beyond bizarre. Now that I'm focusing on it this feels like a lieutenant level spiritual pressure, but the spectacle reminds me of Bankai. She thought to herself. Yoruichi quickly took a quick look around and saw no other Hollows in her vicinity. With that taken care of she blinked out of existence using flashstep. Leaving the three white faction Servants surprised and puzzled as to what just happened and where she went.

/

In the same skies the two riders were taking in the sight of the two saber's noble phantasms. "Oh wow! Such pretty pillars of light!" said Astolfo.

"You do know that those beams of light are most likely meaning that our comrades are using their noble phantasms, right?" asked Iskandar with a quirked eyebrow.

"Wait. Really?" asked Astolfo. Suddenly a Hollow appeared out of nowhere. This one looking like an oversized ape. The two riders looked on in surprise but readied their weapons only to watch as it's mask was sliced up and the one Astolfo recognized as Ichigo blinked into existence. The Hollow quickly dissipated into the air after this attack.

"Oh. Hey Ichigo. Thanks for the help." Said Astolfo cheerfully. Ichigo turned to him.

"You're welcome." Said Ichigo.

"Ichigo. So that is your name. Well it suits you." Said Iskandar. This caused Ichigo to look at Iskandar confused. But before he could say anything Astolfo then caused his mount to fly down towards where the pillars of light.

"YAHOOOOOO! HERE I COME!" shouted Astolfo.

"What the hell is he doing?" asked Ichigo giving a look of disbelief.

"It would appear that he's going down to aid his compatriot. Well I better not fall behind." Said Iskandar gleefully as he snapped the reigns to cause the bulls to charge after Astolfo, leaving Ichigo completely dumbfounded at what just happened.

/

Squelch! That was the sound of a blood and guts meeting cold steel. Gilgamesh pulled his sword out of the bone mask wearing Assassin and saw them fading out of existence. Then turned his attention to the pillars of light and saw them moving. "So the mongrels decided to unleash their trump cards, eh? Well let's see who will come out victorious from this clash." Said Gilgamesh as he ascended to the skies to see more clearly who the combatants were. As he got into position the two pillars moved towards eachother and what had been a pillar of teal-blue and red lights had merged into a single pillar of purple lighting up the night to where it would look like daylight.

/

Mordred was breathing heavily after unleashing her noble phantasm her eyes on the ground as she tried to center herself. God dammit that hurt! She screamed in her head in obvious pain. Saber. Are you alright? She could hear Kairi over their link. Yeah. I'm alright. Just tired out from using my noble phantasm. Mordred reluctantly admitted. Do you need to retreat and head back to the fortress? Asked Kairi. No. I'll be able to carry on fighting in a few minutes but if I use my noble phantasm again then I might be in trouble. Mordred admitted. In that case let's not have you use it again tonight if it can be avoided. Anyway did the attack take out any of the Servants of Black? Kairi asked.

Mordred looked up in front of her and saw that not only had her opponent survived and was looking only slightly damaged but the entire area of the front gates was now covered in stakes not to mention that Berserker of Black was nowhere to be seen. " You've . . . gotta . . .be kidding me!" she exclaimed raggedly.

/

"Hmph. Disappointing. Still the fact that Lancer of Black had to intervene to protect their Berserker at least indicates that Saber's power for own faction is at least proof that her allegiance to us isn't a complete waste." Reasoned Gilgamesh to himself.

My King, is everything alright? He heard Reines over their link. Do you really think so low of your king that a mere assassin would be able to get the better of me? He asked sounding a bit disappointed. Of course not, my king. But with the release of two noble phantasms I at least was wondering if you might've had something to do with that? Reines reasoned. Sadly no. Gilgamesh replied and he relayed everything he witnessed. I see. So then will you be entering the fray? Asked Reines curiosity apparent in her voice. Not yet. It would appear both ours and their Riders will be joining the battle and from what I can see their Lancer will also be entering the fray soon. I want to see if anyone down there is worth the trouble. Reasoned Gilgamesh. Very well, my king. Lancer of Red returned a while ago and will continue vigilance with us for the time being. If you join the fray, I wish you luck, my King. An excited tone entered Reines voice. Gilgamesh laughed. "The King of Heroes does not require or have need for something as fickle as luck." He answered aloud his eyes fixed on the combatants beneath him.

=Romania – Millenium fortress – forests behind the fortress – evening

"Well. I must say that while we couldn't see most of that display it was certainly quite flashy. Now what to do?" said Gin who then ducked as Kisuke's released blade took a arcing swipe at him. He then quickly turned and brought his blade up for a stab to which Kisuke blocked and redirected slightly away from him. Gin then forced the two apart and then flashstepped towards where the Silver and Blue Faction were doing battle. Kisuke quickly followed.

For a few minutes the two performed a running battle as they ran through the trees, both trying to get a hit on the other but only succeeded in either the recipient successfully dodging or they only clashed their blades together causing sparks to appear where their blades connected before forcing them apart. Meanwhile the sounds of other battles nearby got louder.

Eventually the two crashed into an area where two individuals were situated. Kisuke recognized one as Kiritsugu Emiya and realized that the man with the bow beside him was the Archer of Silver.

"Ohh my. What do we have here?" Said gin as he looked at the same pair with a mischievous yet toothy smile. This caught the attention of Kiritsugu who looked behind him and archer.

/

"What is it?" Asked Archer of silver. He followed Kiritsugu's eye line and saw the man he now knew as Kisuke behind them. But saw no one else. Master of Saber, is it safe to assume that there is more than just this man known as kisuke standing there? Asked Archer over the faction link. Yeah and unfortunately, it looks like Makeda's predictions were indeed accurate. Replied Kiritsugu. But then then before he could let another thought pass between them the Silver haired man that Kiritsugu was seeing alongside Kisuke blinked out of existence only to appear right in front of him. He brought up what looked to be a wakizashi and attempted to take a swipe at him.

"Time Alter Double Accel." Kiritsugu chanted. With that the world around him slowed while he moved. He rolled from his prone position to a standing position and brought up his loaded Thompson contender and aimed it at the silver haired man's outstretched arm as he was slowly retracting it. Without thinking he pulled the trigger. BOOM!

/

Everyone in the immediate area froze. As they took in what just happened. Gin, Kisuke, and Kiritsugu all looked at the scene with wide eyes while Arash was trying to gage where to shoot his arrow as he still was at a loss as to where Gin was. Gin's arm that had the hand holding his zanpakuto hung limply by his side though the hand still clutched the blade. Yet there seemed to be no visible wound. Not even blood dripping from a wound or even a bruise. Hell even his clothes showed no sign of tearing from the bullet. Despite this unexpected turn of events, Gin recovered from his shock, or at least covered it up, rather quickly.

"Well, I must say that was unexpected. I don't know how you did that, but it seems that you not only were able to perform a variation of flashstep albeit a slower version of it but you've succeeded in paralyzing my arm." Gin noted as he looked at his now limp appendage.

"Flashstep?" asked Kiritsugu perplexed by what he was hearing. Suddenly an arrow hit the paralyzed arm and Gin grunted at the feeling of pain despite the limb being unusable.

"I hit something!" Archer of Silver exclaimed as his eyes followed where the arrow was located. Gin snatched up his zanpakuto into the still functioning arm and flashstepped right in front of Archer of Silver.

/

"Archer move to your right!" ordered Kiritsugu. Immediately Arash obeyed and while he couldn't see what he was avoiding, the arrow he shot was still visible giving him a vague idea of where his attacker was. He successfully moved out of his location and stood beside Kiritsugu. Unbeknownst to him but was seen by the other two men, Gin seemed to be taking a moment to observe what was happening below but then the man Kisuke blinked into existence and then was exchanging sword hits with something Archer of Silver still couldn't see.

=Romania – Millenium fortress – front gate – evening

Eric Bloodaxe hefted his axe onto his shoulder as he assessed the situation. "Well then shall we continue where we left off Saber of Black since our Saber is currently indisposed?" asked Eric.

"Not so fast Servant of Red." Said a feminine voice. Eric looked up in time to see a strange creature come down from the skies and while he dodged it successfully, he felt a slight tap on his chest.

"Saber are you alright? Where's Berserker?" Asked Rider of Black. Siegfried turned to look at him.

"We're fine Rider. Lancer was able to raise enough stakes that could absorb Saber of Red's noble phantasm and was able to protect our Berserker. She's somewhere in that forest of stakes right now." Said Siegfried. Him speaking delighted Rider.

"Well, it's good to hear your voice again, Saber, and I'm glad we haven't lost our Berserker yet." Rider commented.

"What makes you think that I'm-AHH!" exclaimed Eric as he fell to the ground. He looked and saw that his legs were now gone. "What is this?" he demanded. By now Rider of Red had joined them.

"It's my noble phantasm's passive ability, Trap of Argalia." Rider declared proudly. Suddenly several stakes pierced Eric's shoulders causing his to grunt in pain. The doors of the front gate opened to reveal Lancer of Black, Vlad III on his golem steed.

"Oh so you've decided to join us, Lancer of Black?" asked Rider of Red.

"Indeed I have." Answered Vlad III.

=Romania – Millenium fortress – forests behind the fortress – evening

FZZT! A shot of electricity arced towards Kiritsugu and Archer but it seemed to hit a wall literally though unseen. "Oh. A silent Bakudo #81 Danku. Scary. You set that up while you had me distracted during our sword clashes." Said Gin sounding slightly impressed. Kisuke simply held up his empty hand and fired a blue fireball at Gin. Which he then dodged. Gin gave a sinister smile. "Bakudo #21 Sekienton." He said as he held up his still functioning arm. Red smoke burst forth from the center of his palm, swiftly engulfing the surrounding area and briefly obscuring his movements. Everyone flinched at the sudden appearance of the red smoke which even Arash could see.

"Shoot to kill, Shinso." Said Gin. Kisuke barely had time to dodge the blade as it slid past him only to hear Gin's mocking tone. "Are you sure you want to dodge this?" he asked. Kisuke's eyes widened as he turned and saw where the blade was heading only to be confused to see that it wasn't heading for Kiritsugu but down the hill. But due to the forest Kisuke couldn't see what he'd been aiming at.

=Romania – millenium fortress – back entrance – evening

Lancer of Blue was getting a bit frustrated. Ever since he'd agree to help Berserker of Blue to fight both of their counterparts it had been proven very quickly how much dead weight he actually was. About the only things he can do any good against are those sea demon things. Lancer thought to himself as he intercepted his counterparts dual spears. And I killed the Berserker guy at least 3 times tonight and wounded him at least half a dozen more and he still isn't going down. The first two were a few different combos of runes and the last one I even revealed my true name and used my noble phantasm and he came back from that. I know it connected and it did kill him. SO WHY IS HE NOT STAYING DEAD?! Lancer screamed internally. A sea demon tried to come up behind him but Berserker of Blue tore it to pieces with either his bare hands or his knife. Yet he too was looking frustrated. Lancer than dodged Berserker of Silver's attack but then got swarmed by sea demons.

Lancer saw that his counterpart was also dealing with his share which gave him a few minutes to see how his fellow Blue servants were doing. The Sabers were seeming to alternate between landing a decisive hit on the other but then protecting each other from the sea demons that tried to assault them. Gilles was now more aggressively summoning his sea demons and having them attack with more ferocity. As Lancer looked up he realized why. The Archer of Silver has stopped firing arrows for a while now. Did something happen? His eyes then landed onto the two rider class Servants. The riders were having a rather unusual fight in that Medusa had already removed her blindfold and was currently engaging with Ozymandias. Her mystic eyes while not turning him to stone seemed to keep him rooted on the spot and was having his sphinxes fight her for him but she would dodge them and they would instead fight the sea demons to protect their master. Guess it's taking all his concentration to keep his magic resistance active so as to not succumb to petrification. Lancer reasoned.

By this point Berserker of Silver had destroyed the most recent batch of sea demons and was charging at Lancer of Blue once again. Lancer of Blue got into a stance ready to engage when suddenly something unexpected happened. A flash of silver pierced through Berserker of Silver's skull taking yet another life. The flash turned out to be a blade but one that seemed to extend quite a distance. Instantly the blade retracted and Berserker fell on his face on the forest floor. This caused everyone to pause at what had just happened and wonder just who or what attacked him. But immediately Berserker of Silver got to his feet and roared in anger before turning around and running up the hill back to who knows where. Then Lancer of Silver also finished off his sea demons and then went to spirit form and left the battle as well. All this left just one question on Lancer of Blue's mind: What was that about?

=Romania – Millenium fortress – Kiritsugu's location – evening

By now Gin had fully retracted his blade back to his sealed state and was now no longer obscured by the red smoke. "Well it seems I get the first Servant kill for the night." Said Gin with a cocky smile.

"Who were you aiming for?" asked Kisuke not sure he was going to like the answer.

"Why the giant down there of course. I'm pretty certain that if I didn't outright kill him then I at least dealt him a mortal wound." Said Gin confidently. Then Berserker of Silver landed with a thud in the presence of the two former soul reaper captains. The two turned and eyed said Berserker. "Huh. It appears I stand corrected." Said Gin actually frowning at this statement. Berserker of Silver looked around until he focused on Kisuke and then he roared in fury. Gin grinned. "But it seems that he can't see me. How wonderful." He said with absolute glee.

"Oh shit." Said Kisuke in a deadpanned tone. As Berserker of Silver took a flying leap at him Kisuke blinked out of existence. Only to appear about 100 yards away. No sooner did Berserker land did he look over to where Kisuke was and took off after him. With that Kisuke took off using a combination of reishi platforms and flashsteps. Berserker of Silver in hot pursuit. Before Kiritsugu could even begin to wonder what was happening he heard Gin speak again and he immediately refocused his attention on the silver haired man, bringing his gun up for another round of fire.

"Well now that he's been successfully chased off guess the only thing left is to see if you're worth taking as a prisoner with your skills or not. But first let's make it so I don't lose another arm, shall we?" said Gin as he silently brought his hand up holding his zanpakuto and pointed his index and middle fingers at Kiritsugu. Then kiritsugu felt his arms lock behind his back against his will. The motions caused him to drop his gun and he realized that he couldn't move them apart no matter how hard he struggled. His eyes widened in panic.

"Master of Saber!" exclaimed Arash as he watched in horror as Kiritsugu's arms were forced behind his back. Arash went to punch the air behind Kiritsugu but didn't feel like his hand connected with anything.

"How cute. But at least this makes it easier." Said Gin with a smile full of teeth. He approached the duo and walked around the pane of reishi. He got about 5 feet from the duo Arash drawing his bow as he looked around desperate to find his opponent, when Gin jumped away due to a gold spear materializing and attempting to stab him. This was followed by the Lancer of Silver materializing along with his dual spears.

"Lancer!" exclaimed Arash in relief.

"Are you and Master of Saber alright, Archer?" asked Diarmuid not taking his eyes off Gin. Gin took in the new arrival and picked up on the sudden silence and noticed the looks being exchanged even though no words were spoken. He quickly realized what was happening.

"So that's that Servant link that exist between Master and Servant and those within the same Faction that I've heard about. Haven't tried it myself yet but it must make communicating very easy." Noted Gin.

"What do you mean by that?" asked Diarmuid asked. Instead of answering him verbally, Gin merely placed the hilt of his zanpakuto in his mouth and then used his still functioning hand to hold up his paralyzed one and reveal the command seals on the back of his paralyzed hand.

"Wait. You're a Master?" asked Diarmuid in shock. Gin dropped his paralyzed hand and took the blade out of his mouth.

"Yes I am but I'm also the same as Urahara. In that I'm a soul reaper." Said Gin still smiling.

=Romania – Millenium fortress – front entrance – evening

The two Factions of Servants squared off as now it was three vs three of mirror match classes including Berserker of Black who Lancer of Black released from her stakes protection. But before anyone started fighting Rider of Red spoke. "I have to ask, are we fighting as individuals or will we be fighting as teams?" he asked.

"Oh? You're not going to try to recruit me to your cause?" asked Lancer of Black.

"I get the feeling that considering we're technically in your homeland you probably won't even consider my offer. This is taking into account who you were in your past." Responded Iskandar.

"Very astute of you. And I presume that the same can be said for all of you? None of you will surrender to us either?" asked Vlad III.

"While I can't speak for our Saber, myself and Rider of Red were Kings as well in our past lives and we both died as such. So surrender is not even an option for us." Said Eric Bloodaxe. Vlad III quirked an eyebrow at this.

"A Berserker capable of coherent speech. What a surprise though considering our own Berserker perhaps it shouldn't be. Well in any case if neither of us is going to surrender, then there's no point in hesitating any longer." Said Vlad with finality. But before anyone could do anything a loud roar was heard that didn't sound like the hollows they were getting accustomed to.

Suddenly Kisuke blinked into existence with a slightly wild look in his eyes and took a deep breath as if to center himself. He quickly took in his surroundings. "Whoops. Don't mind me. I'm just passing through." He said as he immediately scrambled out of the way of the two sides. No sooner did he do so, did Heracles burst out of the forest from the side of the fortress and was making a beeline for Kisuke. But then a red rimmed portal opened up in front of Heracles and he ran right into it before another one opened up in the sky and sent him falling to the ground.

Back with Kisuke, Ruler, Noba, Ririn, Rukia, Ichigo, and Yoruichi had now gathered at his location near where the two factions were getting ready to square off but were now watching the events curious as to this development. "Alright, Hat n' Clogs, what did you do?" asked Ichigo in an accusatory tone.

"Why do you automatically think that I did something?" whined Kisuke pathetically.

"Kisuke, you don't have the best track record when it comes to meddling with things." Yoruichi pointed out. Kisuke sulked for a few seconds at the jab. By now Berserker impacted the ground with a thunderous crash but appeared to be no worse for the wear. Kisuke immediately snapped to attention and turned to Jeanne.

"Ruler, can you use one of your command seals to get this Berserker to calm down or at least stop?" he asked seriously.

"I can only spare one seal but if it fails then we'll have no choice but to take as many lives as necessary before his Master has had enough." Said Jeanne with a look of reluctance.

"Can your connection to the grail tell you how many lives he has left? Asked Rukia. Jeanne nodded.

"He has about 8 lives left." She answered. She then turned towards Berserker who by now located their group and began to make his way towards them. "Heed my command spell! Berserker of Silver, I order you to cease and desist your rampage towards my allies!" ordered Jeanne as she held her hand outstretched towards the charging Berserker. Suddenly he roared in anger as his body became engulfed in red showing the command seal taking hold and he was obviously struggling against it. Everyone watched with bated breath not sure what was going to happen.

=Romania – millenium fortress – forest behind the fortress – evening

"What do you mean a soul reaper? What's that?" asked Diarmuid still poised for an attack. Gin looked mildly disappointed even going as far as pouting at the lack of recognition.

"I suppose that it doesn't matter. Just know that I'm your enemy." Said Gin as he flashstepped to where he was at point blank range for Diarmuid. Diarmuid barely had time to react when he felt pressure on his chest plate. He looked and saw Gin press two fingers there and said quietly. "Hado 33 Sokatsui." But thankfully his magic resistance kicked in and dispelled whatever Gin had planned.

Diarmuid took advantage of Gin's obvious surprise and was surprised himself to see ice blue eyes peeking out from the squinting slits and immediately came at Gin with a flurry of arcing strikes with his dual spears. Gin either backed away from range or managed to fend off his attacks. He's only favoring one arm so either that gunshot we heard earlier was the cause or something else happened to make it so he can't use that arm. But the fact that he's a Master and keeping up with me, even handicapped, he must be a truly skilled combatant. Diarmuid thought with some modicum of respect. Suddenly Gin put some distance and looked at his paralyzed arm now scoring several albeit light wounds. "It seems that I'll have to cut this off. Shame really. I was curious to see what your noble phantasm was since I've not had a chance to witness any up close yet. But perhaps I can leave you with a parting gift. Shoot to kill, Shinso." Said Gin.

The blade then extended from it's position and Diarmuid instinctively dodged. "Are you sure you want to do that?" asked Gin mockingly. Diarmuid's eyes widened as he looked and saw the blade heading towards the still prone Kiritsugu whose eyes widened in horror as he saw the blade coming for his face. Suddenly another form appeared in front of kiritsugu and it was revealed to be none other than Arash who had rolled in front of Kiritsugu and took the blow but suffered getting hit in the shoulder. He yelled out in pain. Gin meanwhile retracted the blade while frowning. "Huh. Not what I expected to happen. Hm?" said Gin as he looked over to the side looking a bit puzzled. Then he smirked and looked back at his opponents. "It seems that I need to take my leave. But this has been fun. Bye Bye now." Said Gin as he blinked out of existence. Diarmuid sighed in relief as he relaxed his stance before he turned his attention back to his compatriots.

=Romania – Millenium fortress – front gate – plains – evening

Berserker of Silver continued to struggle against the command seal. "How long before it wears off?" asked Ichigo.

"Only another 30 seconds but the fact that he's still struggling tells me that he'll still continue his assault unless another command seal is expended. And I can't afford to lose the remaining one for him that I have on the first night of the official start of the war." Reasoned Jeanne.

"Then we force the Master to use theirs on him." Suggested Yoruichi.

"The only way that'll happen is if we kill him a number of times that his Master isn't comfortable with him losing on the first night." Warned Jeanne.

"Well, we already can say for certain that he lost 4 lives, so how about Ichigo, Rukia, take one while I take two with Yoruichi's assistance since she's a strictly hand to hand fighter we don't want her out of commission so soon after the start of the war. Plus this will give you both the opportunity to show everyone what you two can do. Just don't go overboard. Remember he'll gain immunity to your attacks after he's killed by them so best to go with the weakest variation that still successfully kills him so that, if it becomes necessary, you can use stronger variations of your attacks at later dates if it becomes necessary." Said Urahara. Everyone agreed to this plan. Finally the command seal wore off of Berserker of Silver.

"And that's our cue. Noba, Ririn continue guarding Ruler. Ichigo, we'll let you and Rukia know when to step in and take your turn." Said Yoruichi as she and Kisuke took off running at Heracles.

"Right." Answered Rukia and Ichigo.

=Romania – various locations – evening

Everyone that was able to, both Masters and Servants alike, watched as the battle between Ruler's bodyguards and allies against Heracles unfolded. Some with eager anticipation, some with mild interest, some with curiosity at this turn of events.

=Romania – Millenium fortress – plains outside of the main gate – evening

Berserker saw Yoruichi and Kisuke running at him. He responded by brandishing his sword and doing the same. In minutes the two sides were on top of eachother and Berserker brought his stone sword club to bear only for Urahara to dance out of the way and for Yoruichi to slide underneath between his legs and end up behind him.

"Let's kick things off properly shall we?" said Yoruichi as she got to her feet with a game smirk. She then thrust her hands outward, chanting "Hadō #57. Daichi Ten'yō!" This caused chunks of the ground around the trio to levitate including the piece that Berserker of Silver was one and Yoruichi threw the chunks of earth towards the forest off to the side of the fortress. Kisuke then flashstepped and darted from one chunk to another.

Berserker responded by taking swiping arcs with his weapon sending shockwaves at Kisuke who effortlessly dodged them. Though it did dice up the other chunks of earth into smaller fragments in the process. "Carriage of thunder, bridge of a spinning wheel. With light, divide this into six. Bakudō #61. Rikujōkōrō." He chanted. Pointing his index finger of his empty hand at Heracles, Kisuke generated a spark of yellow energy, which summoned six thin, wide beams of light that slammed into Heracles' midsection and held him in place. This was followed up by another chant from Kisuke "Bakudō #62. Hyapporankan." He generated rods of blue energy around his body and propelled them at Heracles with a simple hand gesture. This further pinned him down. Then raising his hand with the palm facing Heracles, Kisuke chanted again "Bakudō #63. Sajō Sabaku." then he closed his hand into a fist and yellow energy, taking a form of very thick rope manifested, which Kisuke directed to tie one end of itself around a good portion of Heracles' hair and yank it forward embedding the other end into the ground. As a result this caused Heracles' head and neck to be exposed and looking down into the ground. Finally Kisuke flashstepped onto the bottom of another chunk of earth above the now fully pinned Heracles. Kisuke clasped his hands together chanting, "Walls of iron sand, a priestly pagoda, glowing ironclad fireflies. Standing upright, silent to the end." Then five small yellow orbs with skinny tails emerged from between his clasped hands and began to move above his head. However Kisuke stopped them by grabbing onto the tails after unclasping his hands. He then launched himself off the chunk of earth and righted himself midair so he would land feet first on the ground. By now the orbs had taken on a red coloration which Kisuke let go of them and clasped his hands once again. The five now red orbs formed a circle of five above his head. Raising his clasped hands above his head he finished chanting, "Bakudō #75. Gochūtekkan." Then he slammed his clasped hands downward, sending the orbs below. A bright light generated in the sky above Heracles, five tall and thick pillars, which were connected to each other by chains and were now sporting spiked ends where they would hit the target, they fell at terminal velocity and impaled their target on his arms and legs with the final one going through his head successfully decapitating Heracles. This was followed by the last chunks of earth impacting the ground burying the currently dead Berserker. Kisuke landed far more gracefully next to the still smirking Yoruichi.

"Not bad, Kisuke." She complimented him with a smile.

"Yeah too bad that only took one of his lives in the process. Now how long before he recovers?" asked Kisuke.

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

While watching a screen with real time video playing provided through one of Caster's familiars through magecraft, Sakura was cheering at the display that had played out before her and Kariya just had a relieved smile on his face. The rest of those watching ranged from flabbergasted to stupefied. Tokiomi especially felt like his mind was going a mile a minute. If what Sakura and Kariya alluded to is anything to go by, that was 4 mid to high level restraining spells that could easily rival high level magecraft and that's not factoring in the spell that launch those chunks of earth in the first place that his wife provided. And judging from the way both are behaving they don't look even the slightest bit tired. Tokiomi noticed Kirei approach him from his spot he'd been watching. The two went off to the side while the rest were completely tuned in to what was on screen though Aoi and Kariya couldn't help but eye the two with concern but said nothing and refocused their attention back on the screen along with the girls.

"What is it?" asked Tokiomi a bit annoyed but keeping his voice down.

"I just wanted to let you know that with Ruler now on the ground now would be an ideal time to have Assassin and Archer fulfill their part of the plan as Assassin just informed me that they're in position now." Reported Kirei. Tokiomi sighed in relief.

"Well that's one bit of good news. Have them proceed immediately." Ordered Tokiomi. Kirei nodded but then both were surprised to hear a roar onscreen. The two returned to the group. "Has Berserker of Silver already recovered?" asked Tokiomi.

"No, Master. The Berserker that's attacking now is . . ." said Paracelsus in surprise.

=Romania – Millenium fortress – plains in front of the front gate – evening

Eric Blood axe roared as he charged at Ichigo who, while startled, quickly brought up his blade to block the oncoming attack. This caught everyone off guard and the most obvious question was on everyone's mind. 'What the hell was going on?'

Suddenly Rukia appeared behind Eric and placed a hand on the middle of his back. "Ichigo get back!" she ordered. Ichigo nodded and took a few steps back dislodging their weapons from each other. "Hadō #11. Tsuzuri Raiden." Rukia chanted as an electric current was generated from her hand and went through Eric causing him pain. By this point Heracles burst from his makeshift burial and was pissed.

"Rukia. Your turn. Remember the plan." Said Yoruichi.

"Right." Said Rukia as she flashstepped towards Heracles, drawing her blade. "Dance, Sode no Shirayuki." She ordered, her sword going into it's shikai white state. When she got behind him but stayed just out of reach of his fists, she chanted again. "Some no mai, Tsukishiro." (First Dance, Moon White) She held her Zanpakutō upside down. The blade glowed, and she made a slashing motion. When this was done, she drew a circle with the tip of Sode no Shirayuki. Then space within that circle and everything inside froze including Heracles. But that wasn't all. To the Servant and Masters watching, the circle not only froze the ground, but everything within the circle's influence, including anything above it in the air, creating an extending pillar of light which froze all within the circle. Shortly after being frozen, Heracles' body shattered along with all the ice. Which then fell onto the ground like snow.

Rukia looked over and saw Ichigo was still engaged in combat with Eric Bloodaxe though Ichigo seemed to be only doing so halfheartedly. She then heard slithering on the ground and saw that the blood and body matter that was now free from it's icy imprisonment was gathering and reshaping itself and Rukia realized what was happening: Heracles was reviving himself. She quickly darted back to the group.

/

Jeanne had watched as Rukia went to work on Heracles and still felt chilled even though she wasn't the target this time of said attack. She then gasped as she was gripped by a vision.

Vision . . .

She saw three members of the white Faction as they were wounding a hollow and a man with silver hair had successfully trapped it. The creature was screaming in fury about being captured.

Reality . . .

"Oh no." said Jeanne now horrified by what she had witnessed.

"What's wrong?" asked Ririn still in Rukia's gigai. Instead of answering Jeanne turned to Urahara.

"Mr. Urahara. I've got news for you." She said waving him over to her side. She quickly relayed her vision to him and he nodded in understanding. By now Rukia had rejoined them.

"Alright. New plan. I'll take Ririn as her illusions will be more useful to me than they will be here. Yoruichi. I want you to take on that Berserker of Red while Ichigo uses his chance to use his signature move against Berserker of Silver. The former I have complete confidence you'll more than be able to handle, dear. Rukia and Noba will carry on guarding Ruler. Any additions or objections?" asked Urahara. When no one said anything, he held out his hand which Ririn took and the two blinked out of existence.

/

Yoruichi then flashstepped over to where Ichigo was with Eric still fighting him rather lazily and kicked Eric away from Ichigo. Heracles by now had fully recovered. "Ichigo go and see if you can take at least one more of Berserker of Silver's lives but don't overdo it." Yoruichi ordered.

"Right." Said Ichigo as he headed over to Heracles' location. She refocused her attention on Berserker of Red.

"I'd suggest you back off now and go back over towards your comrades. As an ally to Ruler, I have no reason to fight you save for defending my self and our group." Said Yoruichi.

"Believe me, ally to Ruler, the feeling is mutual but I'm afraid I have orders that must be followed so sadly we're at an impasse." Said Eric. His coherent speech surprised Yoruichi but not enough that she was caught off guard for his next attack.

/

Back with Ichigo and Heracles, the latter charged at the former at top speed and brought his stone sword to bear. Ichigo himself was now sporting a neutral almost bored scowl. He pulled out Zangetsu, standing almost nonchalant with his zanpakuto hefted over his shoulder. For those that could see him this earned him a lot of curious looks. As the stone sword was coming into contact with him Ichigo simply sidestepped at the last second. His eyes never breaking contact with Heracles. Yet the impact on the ground and the shockwave did end up catching him off guard and he had to flashstep out of the way to avoid the follow-up strike. As Heracles continued to try and land a strike on him Ichigo seemed to simply use flashstep to dance around him.

OI King! What are you doing? Just stop dancing around him. We've tanked hits from Yammy when he was the size of buildings if not larger. Why are we playing hit and run? Don't tell me you're scared! Said his inner Hollow almost in disbelief. I'm not but in case you forgot dumbass we have an audience that we don't want to tip off just yet! Ichigo responded internally as he dodged another strike. He's right. We can't get too carried away with showing off our abilities as that will garner more attention than we want. Not to mention that considering this Heracles is an actual demigod whereas Yammy was merely an overpowered corrupted human soul, how do we know that if he hits us it won't injure Ichigo? Old man Zangetsu pointed out adding his two cents to this conversation as Ichigo dodged yet another strike.

Still we gotta do more than simply play keep away. His hollow bemoaned. "Fine how about this?" asked Ichigo aloud as he brought zangetsu in an arcing swipe and the two weapons clashed. This caused a shockwave throughout the area and kicked up quite a bit of dust. By the time it cleared it showed that Ichigo was still locking blades with Heracles but keen observers saw that his hands were bleeding which quirked many eyebrows.

It would appear that our concerns about his divinity playing a role wasn't unwarranted. Said old man Zangetsu as Ichigo flashstepped away to put some distance between them. Alright fine. But I can still heal King's wounds and we just need to decapitate this lumbering oaf. So while we can't match him blow for blow without it biting us back we can still take him out. Argued Ichigo's inner hollow. Ichigo felt his hands were healing up from the injury as he gripped his sword a little tighter. Right. I almost forgot that my zanpakuto is in its constantly released state so it's in Shikai which we said is roughly B-rank and he has to be hit with a B-rank attack or weapon for it to damage him enough to kill him. So a simple decapitation should be all it takes to take one more life. Ichigo strategized. Then stop dillydallying and just do it, dumbass! Shouted his inner hollow in his head.

This spurred Ichigo to action as he flashstepped again and then appeared alongside Heracles and swung his blade at Heracles with intention to decapitate him. But then Heracles did something no one expected. He not only nimbly backflipped to avoid missing Ichigo's blade but also came back and punched Ichigo who had enough presence of mind to bring his blade up to defend himself but the impact reverberated through Ichigo's blade and body and did send him back several feet. This caused him to cough and spit up blood.

/

"ICHIGO!" shouted Jeanne and Rukia together. But suddenly Noba moved in behind the girls catching their attention. They watched as he activated a portal and something went in only to open another one that redirected it back at the forest. They then heard a yelp of surprise and a figure fell to the ground groaning in pain. She recognized him as King David Archer of Blue. However before she could fully process what just happened, she saw another figure leap towards Rukia. Jeanne instantly recognized the figure as Assassin of Blue.

"Rukia, get away from her." Ordered Jeanne. Rukia flashstepped a few steps back as Hassan of Serenity landed in the spot she had been. Serenity readied her blade and charged when Yoruichi jumped in the was and held out her hand where Serenity's was still holding her blade.

"Stop." Yoruichi ordered. A golden light emitted from her palm and Serenity felt her body stop moving altogether. But Yoruichi wasn't done. Using her free hand. She pointed at Serenity with her index finger, and a small amount of energy was dispelled from the tip of it with enough force to thrust a considerable amount of kinetic force at Serenity, which pushed her back a few feet. And this time she didn't say any incantations. For either her Hanki or sho spell.

Serenity did manage to right herself and land on her feet. She readied her kunai and attempted to throw them at Yoruichi only to have them be intercepted mid-air and knocked away by dirks and other small knives. This caught everyone off guard making them wonder who had stopped Serenity's attack. The answer came from a rather unexpected place.

Serenity found her foot impaled by a large knife, causing her to choke back a cry of pain. "If you had pointed that blade at anyone else, I would've care less if they'd died tonight. But when you dare to point your blade at the head of the sacred house of Shihoin, then I can't stand by idly and let you continue without suffering punishment." Said a gravelly voice. Then off to the side a figure emerged from the shadows. It was Assassin of Black.

"Oh are you saying that your loyalty to the Shihoins trumps even that of your master or to our faction, Assassin of Black?" asked Vlad looking a bit intrigued.

"Only if her life is at risk, Lancer of Black. Why do you think I waited til now to interfere? She had been more than holding her own against all other combatants to the point that she even rendered Berserker of Red unconscious with her skills." Assassin of Black praised.

"If we're going to get technical all I did was use Bakudo #83 Tanma Otoshi. It's a restraining spell that knocks the opponent out for an unspecified amount of time." Said Yoruichi. But no sooner had she said that did Eric Bloodaxe spring to life and all saw that he was now sporting horns.

"Oh no he's activated his noble phantasm." Said Jeanne worried. Then Eric charged but it wasn't at any of the girls or Noba or even at the other Factions. He was making a beeline for where Ichigo and Berserker of Silver were. With the former once again using flashsteps to get around Heracles.

"ICHIGO! Behind You!" shouted Rukia.

/

Ichigo was again playing keep away with Heracles when he heard Rukia's shout of warning. He looked behind and saw that one of the other Servants, and judging from the incoherent screaming from them, it was most likely another Berserker was heading his way. He faced forward and saw Heracles coming at him as well. It was then Ichigo gave a smirk. He waited until both were nearly on top of him and both were swinging their weapons when he used flashstep once again and got out of the way. He got a good distance away and watched the impact occur.

Hahaha. Not bad King. Now with any luck this will either kill one of them or at least keep their attention on each other rather than us. Said his inner Hollow with glee. Sadly though it wasn't meant to be. After scoring a critical hit on each other, Eric's attention was directed at Ichigo and he charged. Heracles seemed to eye his location first for a second then also charged. For Ichigo he just realized something. Wait. Was Heracles unable to see me the whole time? How the hell was he scoring so many strikes near me then? Ichigo thought astonished. Ichigo I'm afraid we'll have to worry about that later. Right now we need to focus on taking one more of Heracles' lives and at least wound the other Berserker enough to stop attacking. Said old man Zangetsu. But I can't run the risk painting a target on my back if I go full power. Ichigo argued back internally.

Then just use a half powered Getsuga Tensho. That should look flashy enough to make everyone think that's your noble phantasm and hopefully it will be enough you don't have to fire it off again tonight in front of an audience. Reasoned his inner Hollow, which Ichigo couldn't help but notice the oxymoron of that thought. Still the idea had merit. "Fine. I'll do it. Let's end this." He said aloud.

His body then erupted in a raw display of spiritual pressure that started to form blue flames around him. His expression hardened into a determined frown.

Throughout the battlefield and even within a 2 mile radius of Ichigo's immediate location, Servants and Masters alike suddenly felt like the atmosphere itself had grown heavier like a physical weight had been put on their shoulders. As for the Berserkers that were charging at him, while Eric slowed slightly Heracles seemed to speed up and was almost on Ichigo. Ichigo, with a bit of effort due to some internal injuries he knew that Yoruichi would need to look at, hefted his blade overhead like an executioner with blue flames engulfing the blade and, to those who were close enough to hear it, a low howling seemed to come from the blade as if it was calling out for it's enemies blood. Ichigo smirked and then unleashed hell.

"GETSUGA TENSHO!" Ichigo shouted as he brought his blade down.

The world exploded into daylight as a crescent blade of energy left the actual blade in a roar of destruction. It immediately slammed into the two Berserkers engulfing them and ground everything into nothingness in it's immediate path. This caused Jeanne to grab Noba and take to the skies and Rukia and Yoruichi to flashstep out of harms way. The Servants of Blue and Assassin of Black also got to safety. Thankfully the path of destruction seemed to halt shortly after it hit the forests near the fortress' right front side away from the town of Trifas. By that point the light died down and everyone who could saw the state of the 2 Berserkers post what they assumed was Ichigo's noble phantasm. What the result turned out to be shocked everyone.

Both Berserkers had been forced to go onto the defensive. Berserker of Red had used his axe as a makeshift shield and so it took the full force of the blow but that didn't mean Eric himself wasn't unscathed. His hair was singed and had smoke tendrils coming off the ends. The parts of his bare upper half that hadn't been protected by his axe was now blackened and seemed to be of the 3rd degree burn category. His horns had been cut off leaving stumps behind. His armor while already black was also steaming, cracked, and looked to be falling apart. Any cloth he had on him was also charred and seemed to be steaming. His axe was in the worst state as it was cracked, charred, and looked like it might fall apart any moment. But when he revealed his face which looked fine, his red eyes were furious. Though about what was anyone's guess.

As for Berserker of Silver, for those that did know him as Heracles they were especially shocked at his state. He put his arms up to defend himself and said arms looked slashed and burned to the bone. Chiron was especially surprised by this. Seeing one of his most outstanding students be forced to defend himself. That was a feat that very few could pull off. Heracles' stone sword also looked slightly scuffed. But what got everyone's attention was the red line of cooked meat that ran along the length of Heracles' body while the rest of him appeared to be burned and sizzled. All evidence showing that he took the brunt of the attack while Berserker of Red only got hit partially. But what really surprised everyone was the 4 trenches where the 2 Berserkers feet were showing that in addition to the damage, the attack also forced them two back by at least 50 feet. At this point Ichigo coughed up spittle and blood and had to spit it out before wiping his mouth of said blood.

But this temporary breather was quickly over as Heracles then recovered and roared ready for another round. "Come on. Call him off already." Said Ichigo in frustration as a cold look came to his eyes. When suddenly a simple arrow pierced Heracles' skull catching him and everyone else off guard. "What?" asked Ichigo incredulously.

=Romania – millenium fortress – back entrance – forest beyond the fortress – evening

Despite their best efforts neither Archer nor Lancer could dispel whatever it was that was holding Kiritsugu's arms in place. "Forget it. We might have to call back the rest of the Servants of Silver and head back to base." Said Kiritsugu sighing in defeat. Lancer gently picked him up and put him in a fireman's carry.

"By the way Master of Saber, I just got word from my Master that she's decided that she thinks Berserker has had enough for tonight and wants to call him off?" said Arash as he was cradling his injured arm. Kiritsugu quirked an eyebrow.

"How many lives did he lose? Illya can be pretty stubborn so for her to decide to have Berserker retreat either he's facing something even he knows he can't win against or he's lost enough lives that she thinks he won't survive the rest of the night. So which is it?" asked Kiritsugu curious.

"A little of both really. Apparently he lost 3 lives to the Lancer of Blue, 1 to Kisuke, one by being frozen and shattered by an unknown assailant, one by lethal blast of energy by another unknown assailant that he could see a distortion of but not an actual person, and finally by an arrow to the head by the Archer of Black." Arash rattled off.

"That's 7 lives lost in a single night. We'll be lucky if he recovers 2-3 lives by tomorrow evening and hopefully bring that count of 5 lives left to 7 or 8 at most." Said Kiritsugu with a groan both from frustration and from the discomfort he was feeling from the awkwardness of his position. "So what's the scenario that Illya believes Berserker can't win?" asked Kiritsugu.

"Well. . ." Arash started.

=Romania – Millenium fortress – front entrance – plains in front of the fortress – evening

"Heracles. I would recommend that you cease your pointless attacks against Ruler and her group. Otherwise, you will have me as your opponent." Chiron warned. By now he had made his way over to stand in front of Ichigo, his bow drawn and ready to fire an arrow.

Heracles, on the other hand, seemed to barely react but the fact that he seemed to revert to a stone statue almost, caught everyone's attention. Ichigo though noticed how Heracles still functioning yellow eye was fixated on Archer of Black. And upon seeing the horse tail Ichigo realized why.

This is his teacher and the person he accidentally killed in a skirmish. This must be both a joyous reunion, but he probably still feels remorse for ending his teacher's life that day. I can't blame him. If I was in his position I would feel the same way. Thought Ichigo sympathetically. For a few moments there was a tense standoff. But then Heracles disappeared from nearly everyone's sight, save for the soul reapers and mod soul, in a shower of blue particles. Finally Chiron relaxed his bow. At least until Berserker of Red started to charge.

"Kazıklı Bey." Said Vlad III as he stabbed the ground with his spear. Iskandar grabbed Saber of Red who squawked in protest as he drove his chariot away from the battlefield. The spikes continued to appear throughout the plains piercing through Berserker of Red in his legs and arms yet they left Chiron and Ichigo be. By now Assassin and Archer of Blue had decided to retreat as the stakes were heading in their direction. They lost the element of surprise and their target was now out of reach. Not to mention that the black Faction was willing to engage with them should they try anything. Lancer grabbed his spear and rode his golem horse up to where Ichigo and Archer of Black were located stopping in front of the pair. Rider came up behind them on his Hippogriff. "Archer, would you and Rider of Black head after the other Servants of Red and try to finish one of them off? Now that neither of your pupils are present, it should make fighting easier tonight. Also the Red Faction seems to not have their Archer with them tonight so now would be ideal to try and eliminate at least one Servant of Red." Lancer pointed out.

"Very well." Said Archer as Rider of Black approached with his Hippogriff. Archer easily got on and the two flew off after the chariot. By now Jeanne, Rukia, Yoruichi, and Noba had once again landed near Ichigo.

"You have my sincerest thanks for saving my bodyguard Lancer of Black." Said Jeanne as she approached.

"Not at all, Ruler. Your allies have greatly helped the Black Faction whether you realize it or not. Should the Silver Faction decide to have a confrontation with us you've helped us uncover the identities of their Berserker and have taken quite a number of his lives. Meaning that either you've now delayed that confrontation until Heracles is at full strength or they might now have to become more cautious with how and when to use him. Not to mention you unwittingly helped us in weakening the Red Faction. Assisting you is the least we can do in gratitude. Besides your Saber looks like he could use some healing anyway." Lancer pointed out.

"Unfortunately one of kaido's few downsides is that it can't heal from a distance like healing magecraft. I have to be in close proximity to get him properly healed but I won't know the extent of his wounds until I can get somewhere to properly examine his injuries. And a battlefield is no such place." Said Yoruichi.

"Then get him back to the safe house. I think he's had enough for tonight anyway, Yoruichi." Said Jeanne. Yoruichi nodded.

"Rukia will you and Noba be alright?" asked Ichigo slightly concerned and with heavy breathes.

"We'll be fine. You just focus on getting better." Rukia reassured him. By that point Berserker of Red had successfully broken out of his prison of stakes and attempted to charge at them. This caused most of Ruler's group to look at him in surprise but he was quickly intercepted by Saber and Berserker of Black.

"Well as you can see we have the situation well in hand. I suggest you leave now." Said Lancer as he turned back towards his comrades fighting Berserker of Red.

"We'll see you back at the safehouse." Said Yoruichi looking at Jeanne, Rukia and Noba who nodded in turn. With that she and Ichigo blinked out of existence.

"I'll let Kisuke know about this." Said Rukia as she pulled out her Denreishinki and began to call Urahara. But Jeanne Noba and herself also took to the skies as a way to observe any and all battles still happening in the immediate area.

=Romania – forests outside of Trifas – Tohsaka's base of operation – Tokiomi's study – evening

Tokiomi Tohsaka was furious as he slammed his fist onto his table with a map of the area on it. Kirei stood silently by the door and watched him with an impassive look on his face. Tokiomi began pacing as he went over the last few hours events in his head to figure out what was to be done. Nothing had been going according to plan tonight. He'd just been informed by Kirei of Yoruichi Shihoin and her family's connection to the Hassan-i-Sabbah through Serenity. Upon realizing this, according to Kirei, Assassin of Blue refused to bring any harm to Yoruichi barring a command seal. Tokiomi was also informed that Assassin of Black, another Hassan-i-Sabbah, also promised to fight theirs should Serenity be forced into attacking at least as far as the head of the Shihoin clan was concerned.

This wouldn't be nearly as bad if that had been the only issue for the night But it was merely the cherry on top of a terrible night. Through their own Caster he learned that the gold Faction had sent out their own Caster whose specialty was summoning a seemingly endless stream of monstrosities in which they learned truly just how much dead weight their own Berserker really was. Sure he could take out those creatures with no real issues but any of the other Servants he would be a support role at best. As a result their Lancer had to pick up the slack and take on the Berserker of Silver but after 3 tries he didn't go down. Then a blade impaled him in the back and he promptly left the battlefield.

At first this seemed like a golden opportunity. As it freed up both their Lancer and Berserker. Except Sakura had informed them that Rider was now starting to tire as her hit and run tactics were wounding Ozymandias and her mystic eyes kept him in place but his own constant summoning of his sphinxes meant that she was never able to follow up on any attacks which meant at best she was only lightly wounding him and could never utilize her monstrous strength on him. Only his sphinxes who also kept Caster of Gold's monsters at bay so Rider of Blue didn't have to contend with them. So instead Berserker stuck to his role of eliminating the monsters, Rider was now catching her breath while using her mystic eyes to continue keeping Ozymandias in place, and finally Lancer was now their main fighter against him and seemed to be doing better even when also dealing with the sphinxes. Meanwhile both Saber were still fighting each other pretty evenly.

Just when it looked like things might be turning in the Blue Faction's favor, then all of a sudden the Lancer of Silver showed up and resumed battle with their Lancer and now all but Berserker of Blue were now engaged in mirror matches with their counterparts from the Silver Faction while Berserker was keeping the monstrosities at bay but was making no further headway.

Tokiomi finally stopped pacing and took a deep breath. "Well what do you want to do, Teacher?" asked Kirei. "We can either continue as is but add Archer and Assassin to the fight and hope that we don't lose any of our Servants tonight or we call it a night and have them return to us." He added. Tokiomi glared at Kirei but said nothing for a moment then closed his eyes and sighed.

"Have all of the Servants of Blue retreat as we need to rethink our plan. Too many variables have occurred tonight and we need to regroup and come up with a counterattack. Hopefully by tomorrow night we'll have something." Ordered Tokiomi. Kirei nodded and left the room.

=Romania – Millenium fortress – back entrance – evening

For a few minutes the battles slowly began to wind down. And the Blue Servants paused, which others noted. "What's wrong?" asked Ozymandias speaking since the fight began looking curious. Medusa then put her blindfold back on.

"It would appear that our Masters have decided to call it a night." Said Medusa. With that Berserker, Lancer, and Rider of Blue disappeared in a shower of blue particles showing they went to spirit form and left. Artoria on the other hand pulled out a necklace with a single crystal on it and crushed it and soon she was teleported out of the immediate area.

"So does this mean that you all are my enemies now?" asked Gilles.

Master what do you want us to do? Asked Arthur over the Master/Servant link. He filled his Master in on everything that had transpired since Heracles' departure. Kiritsugu finally answered. Our goal was simply to keep other Factions from getting into the fortress tonight and we succeeded in that. So just retreat for now and let us all get back to base. Archer and I are in need of assistance anyway getting home. Relayed Kiritsugu. Understood Master. Said Arthur in response.

"It would appear that our job is done for the night so we we'll simply take our leave." Said Arthur.

"Very well. Then depart before my Master orders me to change my mind and take all of you out. Considerate this my way of thanks for your unexpected assistance tonight." Said Gilles with a deep bow. With that the Servants of Silver retreated up the mountain. One of the clones from Assassin of Black then jumped down to join him. "Oh are you here to assist me, Assassin?" asked Gilles with a smile meant to be pleasant but instead came off as creepy. Thanks to the mask Assassin's expression remained unknown.

"Not really. I merely was checking in on you to see how you were faring and to inform you that you are to continue your vigil until further notice." Reported Assassin of Black.

"Very well. I shall keep to my post until morning if I must. Perhaps I'll be lucky and see my beloved Jeanne before the night is spent." He said starting to get excited. No sooner did he look back at Assassin's location did he realize that they were gone leaving him puzzled.

=Romania – Millenium fortress – grail chamber – evening

Gawain, Bedivere, Kay, and Galahad stood at attention in a diamond formation. But they too had their eyes glued to magecraft scrying screens as they had been watching the various battles unfold throughout the night. Suddenly Kay deflected a dirk that came flying at him and sent the knife skittering away on the floor. "Was that really necessary, Assassin of Black?" asked Kay sounding a bit annoyed. Sure enough, another body clone of Hundred Face Hassan appeared from the shadows.

"The fact that you all had your attention directed elsewhere, made me believe that perhaps you'd be easily defeated by a simple surprise attack." Said Assassin with a bit of gravel to their voice.

"As you can see, your concerns are unfounded." Said Kay rather sardonically.

"Are they?" Assassin of Black challenged. "You all were invested in what you were watching that had I been an enemy, I could've easily gutted you before you could retaliate." He added.

"Respectfully Assassin, we were watching from which direction and just what enemies we might expect should they successfully make it into the fortress. This way we would have ample time to prepare ourselves against any threat that dares to enter this chamber." Gawain pointed out. "As you can see there is no one here save for us and you. Now if you have nothing else to report then go about your business." He ordered. With their skull mask it was difficult to tell that expression Assassin was making but they disappeared in a flurry of blue sparks shortly after.

"Did you have to upset Assassin like that, Sir Kay?" asked Bedivere looking exasperated.

"I don't appreciate people thinking me incapable of doing a task, be it as a knight or as a man. Especially when it's criticism coming from one like Assassin. While I'll not fault them in using underhanded tactics to get the job done, the fact that we've yet to see them do anything besides monitor the battles and that they are suffering from an identity crisis gives them no room to mock me in how I do the job as long as I do it." Said Kay clearly annoyed.

"Let's not quibble about such small matters. We have other, more important tasks to prepare for." Galahad pointed out.

"You're referring to more than just our task of guarding the Grail." Stated Gawain. Galahad nodded.

"Sooner or later this alliance will come to an end and we need to decide who will we give our allegiance to. Our Masters or our King. That should be something we need to consider. Even more so now that Gilles believes that Sir Mordred is his beloved Jeanne and our King is an imposter." Galahad added. That caused all the knight to grow thoughtful as they resumed their positions around the Holy Grail.

= Romania – in the skies – a few miles away from Millenium fortress – evening

Clang! Clang! Clang! Mordred deflected yet another arrow as she stood behind Iskandar as he drove his chariot across the skies. A fair bit of distance away Rider and Archer of Black were trailing them on his Hippogriff with Archer standing perfectly balanced firing arrows at them. "Okay please tell me you have some kind of plan besides me watching your back so we don't fall out of the sky." Said Mordred clearly getting annoyed at the repetitiveness of their actions so far.

"Actually we've cleared the area where Lancer marked as his territory so we now don't have to worry about being attacked from below and can now get a proper counter attack going." Pointed out Iskandar.

"Oh right I almost forgot about that 1 kilometer territory thing with his stakes." Said Mordred as a look of realization crossed her face. Iskandar grinned at this.

"Ah so you did study up on our enemies even with such fragmented information on them." Said Iskandar.

"Of course I did. As a king I must learn all that I can about my enemies that way I can properly fight them and win." Retorted Mordred. Clang! As she deflected yet another arrow.

"Good to know that we are on the same page then. Hold on and get ready to jump." Said Iskandar as he turned his chariot around rapidly. Mordred barely had time to clasp onto his cape and hold on. But any complaint she had died as she realized quickly what her fellow Red Servant's plan was. She then gave a game smile.

/

Archer ceased firing his arrows but remained standing on the hippogriff. "Rider, just keep in mind that we've left the safety of Lancer of Black's territory. We won't get any support from him now." Archer informed him.

"So we're on our own." Said Astolfo who sighed but immediately grinned. "Oh well. We'll just have to beat them here in the skies then." He said.

"You will but I don't think that will be my lot. Just remember, while ideally we would like to eliminate more of the Red Servants, at worst we need to keep Rider and Saber of Red busy while Saber, Lancer, and Berserker of Black finish off Berserker of Red." Said Archer with a small smile.

"That shouldn't be too difficult considering how much Ichigo softened him up for us." Said Astolfo cheerfully.

"Let us hope so. But right now it looks like the Servants of Red have decided to go on the offensive." Said Chiron due to the chariot turning around and looked to be coming at them. But then it passed over them. Astolfo was about to make a comment when Mordred jumped off the chariot with her sword drawn. However Archer gave a serene smile and simply shifted his weight slightly on the hippogriff and by doing so Mordred flew past them with a look of surprise morph onto her face. But Chiron then jumped off the Hippogriff and grabbed Mordred from behind. From there the two struggled as to who would land on the bottom cushioning the fall of the other.

"Hang on Archer, I'm coming!" shouted Astolfo as he guided his Hippogriff to follow.

"I'm afraid that I can't allow that, my fellow Rider." Said Iskandar as he pulled up with his chariot cutting off Rider of Black from his comrade. "You see we still have our own bout that must be resolved." He reminded.

After a quick glance down at the still falling pair, Astolfo nodded. "Very well. I have complete confidence in my comrade. So where were we, Rider of Red?" asked Astolfo with a grin which Iskandar mirrored.

"That's the spirit." Iskandar replied jovially.

=Romania – plains below the fighting Riders – evening

"Gah!" growled Saber of Red as she struggled against Archer of Black. The two kept switching back and forth in midair hoping to keep the other on the bottom long enough to hit the ground but as they neared it Mordred realized that either due to dumb luck or skill, Archer of Black would be the one to come out without being stunned.

BOOM! Within moments they impacted and Archer of Black lept away to the relative safety of the flat plains. He called up his bow and turned around ready to fire an arrow at Saber. By now the dust and dirt that got kicked up on impact finally cleared and he could hear Saber of Red's ragged breathing as she slowly climbed her way out of the sizable crater that was created from their midair scuffle. She finally got onto the flat plains and looked both tired and pissed. "Do you wish to continue?" asked Chiron though his face was serious. While his tone wasn't mocking, it didn't seem to matter as Saber of Red called up her sword.

"I'll send you straight to hell!" she bellowed as she charged at him using mana burst to boost her speed. Chiron's eyes flashed gold. I pray that you'll forgive me, Master. But I don't think that I'll be able to leave this confrontation unscathed unless I start tapping into other divine skills that I have. And I haven't yet been able to find a weak point on Saber of Red's armor that will guarantee a win for me with my noble phantasm. Thought Chiron sadly to himself. Using his control over time, Chiron nimbly moved to the other side and got to the other side of the crater where he once again had the range for his bow. Mordred's eyes widened comically as she found herself heading straight into a tree face first. Chiron couldn't help but give an amused smile at this. I just need to last until either Berserker of Red is defeated or until both our masters call us away. Chiron thought as he fired another arrow hoping to hit Saber before she could recover.

=Romania – Millenium fortress – plains outside the front entrance – evening

"RAAAAAAAAAAAHHHHH!" screamed Berserker of Red completely under the influence of his noble phantasm and madness enhancement. Despite this obvious insanity he was actually doing fairly well in holding his own in a two on one fight with a third combatant acting as support. In this case, he was fighting against Berserker and Saber of Black primarily with Lancer of Black making stakes occasionally try and hit him but otherwise seemed keen to let his fellow Servants of Black do most of the fighting. All the while Eric was fighting with his injuries from his confrontation with Ichigo still not healed and his axe badly damaged. Then he became engulfed in red light as he heard it, the voice of his Master using a command seal. With a command seal I order you Berserker of Red, use your strongest noble phantasm Bloodbath Crown and defeat the Servants of Black. He heard Shirou Kotomine voice echoing through their link.

Eric roared once again and had his horn sprout from his head as he charged at the first Servant of Black he saw: his own counterpart. He charged at her with his axe at the ready. She in turn charged herself up with electricity and it seemed like she was throwing around way more lighting than when the fight between factions started but Eric simply charged ahead ready to take her head. She hit him square in the chest with her mace and discharged a powerful electric attack but he pushed through the pain and brought his axe above his head. With one hand he grabbed her weapon, not allowing her to escape and brought his axe down as he saw a look of panic enter her face realizing that this might be the end for her tonight.

WHOOSH! SPLASH! An arm and a weapon fell to the ground, but it wasn't Berserker of Black's, it was Eric Bloodaxe's. Shocked, Eric looked off to the side and saw Siegfried his blade covered in Eric's blood showing that he'd been the one to save Berserker of Black. His eyes and expression hardened with determination. Then Eric became encased and impaled with stakes from all sides. Many of them piercing deep into his body guaranteeing that if the stakes alone didn't kill him then the blood loss would. Now Eric was roaring in both anger and agony.

"You fought well, Berserker of Red. And while you act like a barbarian, had I soldiers in life with even half of your tenacity perhaps I wouldn't have lost my throne in the first place. Consider this my way of paying my respects to you, Mad Warrior." Said Vlad III. As he held out his hand and clenched it into a fist.

SHNNK! SHNNK!

Eric gurgled as he felt blood well up from his lips as he was stabbed twice through the spirit core. So, this is how it ends. Well, I was at least slain by one of the same rank as me. A king instead of an upstart lord. And I died on my feet this time. Something that many warriors dream of for their deaths. Yeah, not a bad way to go out. Wouldn't you agree, sweet Gunnhild? Eric thought as he smiled, and his vision faded to black

=Romania – in the sky – a few miles from Millenium fortress – hanging gardens of Babylon – observation deck – evening

The red Masters, who had been watching the front entrance confrontation from the beginning of the evening, now watched as Berserker of Red fell and many turned to Shirou Kotomine as he looked at his command seals. The three for Berserker showed two marks now just faded scars and now the last one went from bright red to black indicating Berserker of Red's demise.

"Well that just seems like a waste." Commented Kairi.

"The loss of the Servant in general or the loss of two of his three command seals for said Servant?" asked Reines haughtily.

"To be fair the first seal was needed to wake him up as whatever Ruler's group did to him was pretty potent." Argued Shirou K.

"But couldn't you have used your second seal to simply have Berserker of Red return to us? It would've at least ensured we didn't lose a Servant tonight." Gray pointed out.

"Do any of you have skills in healing magecraft?" asked Semiramis snidely.

"Actually I do. So does my master as she was able to heal most of my wounds. And if you had called him back, I could've easily taken him to that lake I saw somewhere here in the gardens and could use the water to heal him. Though how much of it would help him is difficult for me to say since it was hard to assess his injuries through the eyes of a familiar." Argued Achilles.

"There are still some wounds that are beyond my skill to heal." Gray pointed out looking down at the floor in disappointment. Achilles gave her a pat on the back and smiled at her when she looked at him.

"I see. Well I don't think even you could repair a damaged noble phantasm, could you?" asked Shirou K. looking at him curious.

"Wait what?" asked Achilles in surprise.

"Even though Ichigo was mainly battling Berserker of Silver, who you identified as Heracles, Eric was still caught up in the crossfire and the attack that Ichigo unleashed was powerful enough that while the Axe wasn't destroyed, it was heavily damaged." Shirou K. pointed out.

"So then why have him make a last stand even with a damaged noble phantasm? Would it not be more prudent to simply send him out the next night even if we lose him early on in the next confrontation?" asked Waver.

"What I want to know is, why you are all bring so critical of my Master's decisions concerning Berserker of Red and yet not a single complaint has been raised about Archer of Red's lack of participation in this evening's battles. All he's done since leaving the gardens is float up in the skies and watch." Semiramis criticized.

"Correction, Assassin of Red, Archer pursued and killed Assassin of Black, if that was actually the Assassin of that Faction at least, after that one's attempt on our lives. So, if nothing else, he's actually secured us a victory tonight. Which is more than can be said for the rest of the Faction who've either had to retreat, are in a stalemate, have been killed, or have been completely absent from the fighting." Reines pointed out haughtily.

"You dare-" started Semiramis getting angry.

"I was actually referring to Caster of Red. He disappeared since we left the church at dusk and, while I can't speak for everyone, I haven't seen him all night." Reines stated. This seemed to calm Semiramis down somewhat as she said nothing else to counter.

"Where is Caster, anyway?" asked Kairi.

"He's currently in the throne room watching the various battles unfold and is taking notes so that way he can put together his new play." Answered Shirou K. Then an unearthly howl was heard by all but Reines who frowned at everyone's reactions.

"Let me guess, these so called Hollows are here, again." She stated.

"You still can't see them?" asked Gray curiously. Reines shook her head.

"The worst part is that Archer even told me that now he can see distortions here and there but no definitive shapes and he now hears a slight buzz in his ears whenever he sees the distortions but that's it. Me on the other hand I still can't hear or see anything out of the ordinary that isn't magecraft." Sighed Reines in frustration.

"Didn't that Kisuke guy say that you have to experience a near death experience or witness death to see them?" asked Kairi.

"Or you need to be constantly exposed to areas that have high concentrations of mana for a prolonged period of time. Given that energy blast we witnessed from this distance and Archer's close proximity to it perhaps that's why he's starting to see Hollows while Reines isn't. Keep in mind that Reines didn't realize what was happening when Assassin of Black tried to kill one of us until Gray prevented it. So she didn't witness a near death experience nor did she actually experience it due to her not understanding what was going on til after it was over." Reasoned Waver.

By this point the 2-3 Hollows that were arriving were being dealt with pretty handily by Rukia who was easily destroying their masks and a few minutes of this they stopped arriving once again.

"Do you think we should call it a night and have the others rejoin us?" asked Achilles.

"May as well. Saber is currently engaged with Archer of Black but hasn't made any headway with him." Said Kairi.

"And I'll call back Rider as his counterpart is being more of a nuisance than expected." Said Waver.

=Romania – plains – a few miles from Millenium fortress – evening

Mordred was now sporting a few more wounds though nearly all were superficial despite bleeding profusely. By contrast Chiron was perfectly fine save for a slash on his arm that was again also bleeding but also superficial. Every time I get the advantage of a tree Saber immediately cuts it down unless I land on the ground and then only engages with me in her swordplay. It's only thanks to both my time manipulation and my skill in Pankration that I've not been injured too much throughout this bout. But if this keeps up things could go very badly for me as I don't want to run the risk of depleting Fiore. Chiron thought to himself.

Chiron. I have good news. Berserker of Red is dead. There have been no signs of any other Red Faction Servants and the ones fighting at the back entrance have also retreated for tonight. How are things on your end? Asked Fiore over their link. Chiron watched as Mordred then charged at him again, forcing Chiron to grab her sword arm to prevent her from hitting him and grabbed her chest plate where it met her hips, picked her up and then slammed her to the ground. Not sticking around to wait for her to recover, Chiron made a dash and leap for the nearby trees called up his bow ready to fire another arrow as he spun around to face Mordred as she was getting to her feet. Unfortunately, both Rider of Black and I are both currently engaged with Rider and Saber of Red respectively and unless their Masters call them off, I'm not sure they'll allow us to leave these confrontations. Did we lose anyone from either of our allied Factions? He asked as he fired two more arrows at Mordred as she came running at the tree he was standing on. She sliced or dodged the arrows and then brought her sword up to slice the tree at the base forcing Chiron to jump off it and land on another. But again, Mordred came to that one as well. We only lost one of Assassin of Black's clones so they'll either think that we've scored a stalemate victory or they'll think they killed an Assassin from another Faction. Reasoned Fiore.

/

Mordred sliced through yet another tree only to look up and see that Chiron had lept to the next tree. "COWARD!" she roared in frustration. But before she could take a step to chase after him, she was stopped by her Master's voice. Saber! You need to retreat now. We've just lost Berserker of Red and we need all other Servants of Red to return to the gardens and regroup. Said Kairi over the link. But Archer of Black is right here! I can take him out so at least the Black Faction will also suffer a loss tonight. Mordred replied. She then caught an arrow with her gauntlet as she glared up at Archer. An assassin Servant attempted to take out at least one red Faction Master. Archer of Red gave chase and has already dispatched that one. So either we got a pyrrhic victory from this or we killed a Servant from another faction. Either way at least two Servants are out of the war tonight. So let's not worry too much about getting Archer tonight. Said Kairi trying to be reassuring. Alright fine. Mordred agreed reluctantly.

"Hey Archer of Black. It seems you get a longer lease on life. My Master has decided that we'll let you live this night. But the next time we see each other I'm settling this battle, my way." She said threateningly. With that she disappeared in a shower of blue sparks.

/

Chiron sighed in relief and looked up to see the two aerial combatants break off from each other and went their separate directions. Rider of Red headed towards Trifas while Rider of Black was heading for his location. Chiron jumped down and got into the open plains waving for Astolfo to see him. "There you are Chiron." Said Astolfo happily as he landed Hippogriff. "Come on. We got to head back. We've got a celebration to attend." He added with a cheer. Chiron couldn't help but smile especially seeing that the young paladin seemed mostly unhurt save for a few superficial cuts. He quickly got on and the Hippogriff took off heading back to the fortress with its two passengers.

=Romania – Millenium fortress – in the skies – evening

Rukia had returned to Jeanne's side in the air by this point having dispatched 3 recently arrived Hollows and witnessed Eric Bloodaxe's demise. "I have a question, Jeanne. I notice that when Servants appear and disappear they do so quickly and in a shower of Blue sparks. But I was watching Berserker of Red just now and saw that he was slowly disappearing in a shower of gold. What does that mean?" asked Rukia.

"It means that the first casualty of the war has occurred and Berserker of Red had died." Replied Jeanne solemnly.

"Oh and what of the Assassin I killed earlier, mongrel? You dare to ignore the deeds of the King of the World?" asked a haughty voice. The trio gasped and saw Archer of Red as he appeared in a shower of blue sparks. He looked with a neutral frown.

"Archer of Red. Did you say you also dispatched a Servant?" asked Jeanne in surprise.

"Are you deaf, mongrel? Yes I dispatched an Assassin so there are in fact two casualties from this war tonight." Said Gilgamesh with a smirk.

"Do you have to witness each Servant's demise to say if they're out of the war, Ruler?" asked Noba genuinely curious. Jeanne shook her head.

"No. Whenever a Servant dies, if I haven't given their seals away as bargaining chips or used them myself, then when the seals disappear from me, it means the Servant connected to them have returned to the throne. As for the Assassins in the war all their seals are intact so none of them have died save for Berserker of Red." Said Jeanne looking at Noba. Instead of being angry Gilgamesh's eyes glowed gold briefly before returning to their red color.

"I see. So it was one of the many bodies of the hundred face Hassan that I dispatched. How annoying." Said Gilgamesh sounding rather put out.

Suddenly Rukia's eyes widened and her head snapped to the side as she looked beyond the fortress to the forests behind it. Jeanne then heard the howls of Hollows coming from that same direction. "Kisuke is in danger. I can sense the spiritual pressure of Gin Ichimaru. The two of them must be fighting." Concluded Rukia.

"Ririn's spiritual pressure is in the same direction. She's probably fighting the Hollows while Kisuke is fighting Gin." Said Noba focusing on Ririn's spiritual pressure.

"Oh is this Gin an accomplice to the one known as Aizen?" asked Gilgamesh actually looking intrigued and startling the trio out of their conversation.

"Forgive me, Archer of Red. But my companions and I must depart immediately." Said Jeanne, bowing as best as she could in her current state.

"Since when did I give you permission to leave my presence, mongrel?" asked Gilgamesh starting to look a bit annoyed.

"But my duties-" Jeanne started looking worried.

"I'm not keeping you from your duties, simply that you are not to leave my presence until I give you permission." Said Gilgamesh. This statement confused the trio until Noba spoke up.

"You want to accompany us?" he asked.

"Make no mistake, I'm not coming along just because I wish to not be in the presence of a certain Assassin of Red who reminds me of a certain useless goddess. Now let us depart and see what has occurred to warrant your concern for Kisuke Urahara's wellbeing." Said Gilgamesh as he brushed past the girls. This seemed to be enough to snap the trio out of their stupor.

"Wait, your majesty, if you're going to accompany us, let us lead the way." Said Jeanne and nodded to Noba who activated a portal and the now quartet went inside.

=Romania – cave of King's mountain – White Faction's home base – living quarters – evening

"Well it seems that the fighting is drawing to an end, Master." Said Perseus as he observed along with Manaka, Lancer and a still trapped Berserker, the scrying mirror that held their attention.

"Yes it would appear to be so. Well considering that a Servant has finally died it makes sense that many are going to need time to regroup and figure out what their next move will be for tomorrow night." Manaka pointed out as she was eating some cooked steak.

"I'm a little surprised that you actually focused on more that just Saber of Silver tonight, lady Manaka." Said Karna. Manaka looked disappointed as she chewed her meat thoughtfully.

"Well I had to as that would've provoked our Berserker and I don't need him wreaking havoc all over the base and worse escaping." Replied Manaka. "What are your thoughts on tonight's events?" she asked.

"If I were being honest tonight was a bit of a mixed bag. While the clash between both Black and Red was interesting, neither was fighting at their full strength. Then there are the Blue and Silver Faction who fought each other and I will say that both were a bit more evenly matched but it did make me wonder why Ruler was targeted as she's a neutral party and which Faction target her. And then of course there's the gold Faction who only had one Servant do any fighting which makes me wonder why. Why were they not even deployed save for one Caster." Perseus rattled off. Manaka hummed in agreement.

"I agree with all of your observations, Rider. Karna, anything you wish to add?" asked Manaka.

"Only that it seems the truly surprising ones tonight were Ruler and her allies. And of course, Gin himself. Gin and Kisuke both managed to kill Berserker of Silver at least once followed by both of Ruler's 'Servants' getting a kill each. Though I will admit I didn't expect them all to be so flashy." Assessed Karna.

"Again, I agree. I will say overall this war has proven to be far more grandiose than the one I participated in back in my world." Said Manaka. Master! Said a voice in her head that she recognized as Avicebron. She gave a concerned look which caught the interests of the other Servants of White. Caster, what is it? She asked over the link. We've been able to successfully down a Hollow but we're having a bit of a problem capturing it. Check your scrying mirror and see for yourself. Suggested Avicebron. Manaka did just that and saw what was unfolding at the location of the remaining white faction Servants.

=Romania – forests behind the Millenium fortress – evening

Clang! Clang! Swoosh! Gin's vision became obscured by an illusion cast by Ririn in Rukia's gigai after clashing with Kisuke once again. And now he found himself surrounded by more trees than he knew were there. Undeterred, Gin flashstepped to where he heard a hollow howling in distress only to find his blade crossing with Kisuke's again. "You know that this is getting to be a nuisance, right?" asked Gin casually.

"Perhaps. But with one of your arms paralyzed from that gun you've been fighting defensively. You haven't even activated your Shikai since we met up again, Gin." Kisuke pointed out. Finally, they separated and put some distance between them. Ririn came over to Kisuke's side by this point.

"And you've been relying mostly on swordplay and your little mod-soul here. You want to know what I think? I think that one of two things are happening right now. Either you expended way more energy than you expected from your confrontation with that Berserker Servant or you're keeping me busy until back up can arrive. So how far off the mark am I?" asked Gin. Kisuke then fired a silent Hado #31 Shakkaho. Which Gin easily dodged and finally silently activated his Shikai which Kisuke easily blocked. Though the sheer force of the blades meeting did push Kisuke back a few feet.

"Same could be said of you. Don't think I haven't been wondering how you got your hands on Hollow bait considering that's supposed to be something that the Quincies created. So how did you come into possession of one?" asked Kisuke.

"You have that dear Ishida family to thank for that. After discovering the existence of surviving Quincies, Aizen snuck in and found a whole plethora of different tools housed in the Ishida family's possession, including hollow bait tablets. Aizen merely nicked two off of them and then, after breaking it down and studying it, reversed engineered it to recreate it and then made dozens of them to stage Hollow attacks whenever it suited him. How do you think we pulled off simultaneous hollow attacks to thin out the soul reaper ranks over the last 20 years?" asked Gin with a sinister smile. Kisuke's eyes and Ririn's widen at this.

/

Archer and Assassin of White were firing arrows at a substantial rate at a Hollow but since the goal had been to simply incapacitate it, it was proving to be quite a challenge. Caster had his Golem attempt to capture it but the Hollow strength proved to be more than sufficient to overwhelm them. "Geez. This thing is so annoying to pin down. Hey, Archer! Where's that Master of yours? That Kido stuff we heard about sounds like it would be pretty useful right now." Robin pointed out.

"He's currently keeping the rest of Ruler's allies occupied. So, he can't help us." Said Atalanta calmly as she fired another arrow missing the mask. The creature roared in pain.

"I also received word from our collective Master and was told that any other help is not possible as the other three fellow Servants would unfortunately kill the Hollow before we could capture it. So, we'll just have to figure things out on our own. Though if what I'm seeing is correct, it looks like the Hollow is slow in its movements." Said Caster. The three watched the Hollow's movements and sure enough, with its body riddled with so many arrows and bleeding profusely, it slowed down and was tiring like any wounded animal.

"Now might be our best chance. Caster." Said Robin.

"I'm already working on it." He said calmly as he raised one hand. Several golems in their mud forms slithered up and began to restrict the Hollow. Once again the creature struggled but it's more sluggish movements showed that this time it couldn't shake off the mud restraints and screamed once again.

/

Kisuke and Ririn's heads snapped in the direction of the scream and attempted to move but Gin once again flashstepped to the direction they were facing and their swords clashed. "Sorry but I can't let you interfere with this." Said Gin.

"Tsugi no mai, Hakuren." Said Rukia. A powerful avalanche of cold air hit Gin then He suddenly found himself flash frozen and encased in ice. A surprised expression etched on his face.

"Nicely done. Rukia. Your timing couldn't be more perfect." Said Kisuke.

"We got here as soon as we could." Said Ruler as she landed. "What's going on?" she asked.

"A hollow is still lingering around in the area, and we sense it in that direction." Said Ririn pointing deeper into the forest. "But when we came to get rid of it, Gin here kept blocking our path. But we don't know why." She explained.

"Then let's find out before he breaks out of my ice and before the Hollow gets away." Suggested Rukia. On this the quartet agreed, and all headed in the direction of where they sensed the Hollow. Yet up in the trees was Gilgamesh who seemed to now be content to be a spectator. Still, he followed after the group he could see though he did quirk an eyebrow at the pillar of ice that was now in the middle of the forest.

/

The hollow continued its now obvious futile attempts to escape as the golems now formed more sturdy mud ropes. Avicebron now felt it safe enough to approach it. "Try not to struggle. It's going to make it more difficult to study you if you continue to resist." Said Avicebron calmly.

As if. Like I trust Quincies like you to not hurt me. I'll admit that it's unusual for your kind to capture live Hollows as you usually just eliminate us out of existence. But just because you're using a different approach doesn't mean I'm going to die by your hands willingly. Ranted the Hollow in a gravelly voice. This caught the three Servants off guard.

"Interesting. So you still retain your human intelligence and are capable of thought and speech despite your corrupted state." Said Avicebron sounding intrigued.

"What are Quincies?" asked Atalanta as she too was coming out of her surprise.

Don't play dumb with me. The fact that you use bows and arrows is proof that you're Quincies. Snapped the Hollow attempting to lunge at them despite the mud restraints.

"Well worry about that later. Let's get this one back to my workshop for study." Said Avicebron as he stood next to the hollow.

"Sorry but we can't allow you to do that." Said a voice getting the quartet's attention. They looked up to see Ruler, Kisuke, Rukia and Ririn in Rukia's gigai all in the trees nearby.

"Archer, Assassin. Keep them busy." Said Avicebron. With that the duo started firing arrows at the quartet causing them to scatter. Robin ended up shooting mostly at Ruler and Rukia though the latter kept freezing his arrows from reaching her. Atalanta was more precise with her arrows. Every time Kisuke tried to get near Avicebron and the captured Hollow, Atalanta would shoot at him. When Ririn tried to use her illusions, Atalanta would use her sense of hearing and smell to tell where anyone was and shoot where her other senses pinpointed them.

"Shalom." Said Avicebron as he pulled out the crystal he was wearing on his neck. It quickly glowed and he and the Hollow vanished.

"Shit." Said Kisuke as he watched the pair disappear. But his attention was drawn elsewhere when he heard chanting.

"With my bow and arrows, I pray for the protection of the God Apollo and Goddess Artemis.

I offer thee this Calamity. Phoebus Catastrophe!" chanted Atalanta as she drew her bow with two arrows into the sky. After an explosion in the sky suddenly a rain of arrows of light came down on their location.

"Scream, Benihime! Chikasumi no Tate!" shouted Kisuke. With a swipe of his sword, red energy poured out and hardened into a shield above himself. By this point Ruler, Ririn, and Rukia gathered under the shield. The arrows concentrated on the red shield yet despite the sheer volume of arrows they hit and dispersed on the surface of the shield. It looks like a variation of the Quincy technique Licht Regen. Except that the Servant isn't firing them from her own bow. They're coming directly from the sky after she fired two arrows into the sky first. Was that mention of the gods firing the arrows really true after all? But then how come the Soul society has never detected this kind of energy before? These and other questions were circling in Kisuke's mind that he and the others didn't notice that Robin had gotten into position directly in their blind spots as all were focused on the arrows raining down on them that all of them had their backs to his current location.

"Tree of mourning, bare thy fangs. Yew Bow." Chanted Robin in a whispered tone. He brought his crossbow up and fired a single arrow bolt at the group though he was aiming for Kisuke. Ruler's eyes widened and she turned around in time to see the projectile coming and got her flag into a defensive hold ready to deflect it. But just before she could do anything, a sword came zooming out of nowhere and both intercepted and destroyed the bolt. By this time the rain of arrows ceased, and everyone turned and saw the bolt imbedded in the ground thanks to the sword. Everyone looked in surprise at this.

"I don't recall giving you permission to off those that interest me, mongrel." Said Gilgamesh in his usual haughty tone. Everyone looked to him hovering in the sky with a serious expression on his face. "Attempt to do so again and you'd both better be ready to pay with your lives." He added. A ring of golden portals opened up around him with weapons poking out, ready to fire.

The Archer and Assassin of White paused as they were deliberating in their heads on what their next move would be and after a few minutes of tense silence the two Servants of White disappeared in a shower of Blue sparks. At this everyone gave sighs of relief and Kisuke dropped his shield and Gilgamesh closed his portals. "Not that I'm not grateful, your majesty, but I have to ask why the protection?" asked Kisuke. Gilgamesh simply gave a confident smirk as he descended to the ground.

"It's as I said, Kisuke Urahara. You've caught my interest. While I couldn't see anything but distortions to the ones who froze that Berserker and then sent that impressive energy blast at him, I'm assuming that girl in commoner's clothes is what she looks like in her Servant form but different clothes, I was able to witness you and another woman, whom I'm assuming is your wife you mentioned, and your performance with that Kido you mentioned earlier today to us. And overall I'm actually quite impressed with the performance." Said Gilgamesh.

"Well thank you, your majesty, I'm flattered." Said Kisuke as he brought out his signature fan to hide his face.

"As you should be for the king's praise is not given to just anyone. As such I forbid anyone from killing you just yet. The same goes for those of Ruler's Servants. I want to see the full extent of your abilities. I'm certain that what we all witnessed tonight was merely a taste of what's to come and I eagerly await to see what will come next." Declared Gilgamesh, his smirk became an excited almost manic grin.

"Oh and why are you so eager to find out?" asked Ririn.

"Simple I want to know if there is any among your group who is a worthy opponent to me, mongrel. And that won't be answered if you all were to die before I get my answer." Said Gilgamesh immediately.

"I beg your pardon, your majesty, but I do have some information that I want to relay to your Faction." Said Jeanne cautiously.

"Did you not already do so earlier today, mongrel?" asked Gilgamesh his smile gone and now he sounded more annoyed than anything else.

"This is information that I only recently learned about after we left from speaking to your faction. And it pertains to your faction or at least will affect the Red Faction the most out of everyone." Said Jeanne. Despite his clear annoyance, Gilgamesh motioned for her to proceed. She relayed to him how thanks to both the Grail and her own investigations, she found out about Shirou K. and his true identity as a Servant though she kept his True name a secret for the time being.

"You are aware that the Grail is in possession of the Black Faction. Which means that it's likely that the information that was given to you might've been tainted to sway you to the Black Faction's side. So how can I trust anything that has been said, and furthermore you are aware that this could affect your supposed neutrality, right?" asked Gilgamesh with a sly grin. Ruler and Kisuke proceeded to show Gilgamesh her method of identifying Servants with an iPhone and the unexpected discovery that was made using it.

"By any chance does the grail-" Kisuke started to ask.

"Yes. It has informed me of what an iPhone is. Rather useful little device. So by taking pictures of Servants it allows Ruler a workaround for her direct contact condition for her True name discernment skill to kick in. I must say I'm glad that you all understand the concept of an opportunity. But is this all you have to show from your investigations?" asked Gilgamesh.

"Is this really not proof enough that we are not being influenced by any faction?" asked Ririn tiredly.

"Make no mistake, mongrel you actually have made a compelling case, but most mages are dismissive of technology and will want some other proof of your findings." Gilgamesh pointed out with a more neutral expression.

"Would documents of Shirou Kotomine records in the church be enough to convince them to at least look at what we have for evidence?" asked Kisuke with a serious expression.

"Oh. And how pray tell did you acquire such documents?" asked Gilgamesh.

"A few contacts of mine in the Soul Society managed to get in contact with their sources, some of whom were involved with the Catholic Church, and acquired the file with Shirou Kotomine. I can have the documents waiting for you and the rest of the Red Faction, minus Shirou Kotomine of course, back at the safe house and you all can look at them yourself and draw your own conclusions." Said Kisuke.

"Hm. I must say that it pleases me that you haven't just trusted one source blindly and have truly looked for information through other avenues. Still even if this Shirou Kotomine is in fact a Servant, there is no way that he could possibly compare or be able to match me in power or ability. Very well I will personally keep an eye on Shirou Kotomine but only if you forfeit the command seals that give you dominion over me. I will not allow someone lesser than me holding me on a leash." Said Gilgamesh with a serious expression.

"If I may, your majesty. That might not be a good idea." Argued Kisuke. At Gilgamesh's confused expression he continued. "You recall what I told you about Aizen and his misdeeds and his abilities concerning illusions, correct?" asked Kisuke.

"Of course I do, Kisuke Urahara. I assure you a mere illusionist couldn't possibly affect me, the one true king of this world." Said Gilgamesh haughtily.

"Maybe not but your Master has no guarantee on that, and I can tell you Aizen has no scruples if it gets him what he wants." Kisuke pointed out. The fact that Gilgamesh's expression was that of a glaring frown, but no snappy comeback at least showed Kisuke that he at least recognized this potential problem. So, he carried on. "I'm certain that your Master is very talented, but she is still only human at the end of the day and therefore completely vulnerable to Aizen's zanpakuto of Kyoka Suigetsu. Especially since sight is a requirement to be put under its influence." Continued Kisuke.

"You've already explained this sword's known weaknesses before. So what does that have to do with my retainer?" asked Gilgamesh.

"I'm only suggesting that Aizen could use his illusions to approach your master as either you or someone she trusts and convince her to either use up or hand over her seals. Even if he can't make or take a contract with a Servant at the very least it could take you out of the War as you are most certainly the most powerful Servant here. By contrast, Ruler here has EX rank magic resistance making her immune to pretty much any and all magic and even Kido. I honestly feel that Aizen's illusions will be made moot to her or at least she'll be able to more easily discern what's real and what's an illusion. So should you lose your contract with your original master, would it not be better to have a back up master who you know won't be easily fooled by, as you put it, a mere illusionist?" asked Kisuke. After a moment of silence Gilgamesh began to laugh.

"As usual my judgement has been right. Kisuke Urahara perhaps the moniker of the Silver Tongue should be appended to you. HAHAHAHAHAHA. You truly are a most interesting individual. Very well I shall allow 'Ruler' to keep the command seals she has for me as an emergency anchor to this world." Said Gilgamesh sounding delighted only for his tone to become serious. "However, in exchange for this allowance I will make no promises concerning Shirou Kotomine. Including sharing this information with the rest of my faction." He said.

"That's probably the best we could've hoped for. Well in any case we'll inform the next member of the Red Faction that we see then. We thank you for your time in listening to us your majesty." Said Ruler humbly and bowed politely for good measure. This action seemed to please Gilgamesh as he turned around.

"Despite losing a member of our faction, tonight has certainly proven to be entertaining and has left me sated for now. So, enjoy my generosity for tonight. But be warned, should you prove disappointing you'll find yourself face to face with the killing edge of my blade." Said Gilgamesh and with that he disappeared in a shower of blue sparks.

"Whoo. I was really concerned that he might decide to fight us." Said Rukia. Speaking for the first time in the entire conversation.

"I'm surprised you didn't say anything, Rukia." Said Ririn looking at her in surprise.

"I was worried that since he can't yet see me, if I did say anything and you responded he might feel left out of a conversation and decide to attack to avenge the supposed insult." Said Rukia.

"Well thankfully we don't have to worry about it now." Said Kisuke as he turned to Jeanne. "So what should we do now? Head back to base and check up on Yoruichi and Ichigo?" he asked. Jeanne shook her head.

"Not yet. I want to do one last sweep of the area and check for any more Hollows as well as evidence of the War. Once that's done then we can head home." Said Jeanne with a small smile. With nods from the rest they began their final sweep of the night.

=Romania – Millenium fortress – throne room – evening

Wine was served to all the Servants and Masters of the Black and Gold Faction, even the knights who were guarding the Grail chamber and Gilles were both present and accepted the wine though Hassan of the Hundred Faces politely declined. The mood was celebratory and light. "Comrades. Tonight, we have made our first step towards winning this war. Berserker of Red is dead and while we did lose at least one of Assassin's bodies, the rest have returned safely. Gilles de Reis led a successful defense against the Blue and Silver Factions that tried to attack us from behind and eventually drove them off. And finally the Silver Faction's greatest asset Heracles has lost a substantial number of lives tonight. Meaning that either the Silver Faction will have a Berserker that will be considerably weaker than he was tonight should the next time they engage with us be tomorrow night or it will be quite some time before they engage with us once again. Either way this event has potentially put the Silver Faction on the back foot." Darnic summarized. "Make no mistake, tonight is a night to celebrate. To our first step to victory in this Great Holy Grail War." He finished as he raised his glass in a toast. Everyone responded in kind and raised their glasses as well and then all drank it.

However not everyone was exactly in a celebratory mood. Caules was mulling over things that weren't being said about tonight. He didn't bring up the fact that the White Faction never made an appearance on the battlefield the entire evening, Heracles had a good portion of his lives taken by Ruler and her allies and Servants and that Berserker of Red had been badly injured thanks to engaging with Ruler's Saber Ichigo first and we just finished him off. Not to mention that according to Assassin of Black the Blue and Silver Faction were fighting amongst themselves with Gilles monsters thrown in for good measure. Then there's the fact that Ozymandias is also part of the Silver Faction so they at least have one powerful Servant they can still use freely even with a weakened Heracles. By this point Caules looked around and saw several Masters and Servants of the Black and Gold Factions conversing with each other.

Nobody is admitting to the fact that we just took advantage of others doing most of the fighting. Or the fact that the Red Faction didn't even send out their entire Faction against us. Does this mean that they were confident in defeating us with only half their forces or was this the best they had? Not to mention the bad blood between the Silver and Gold Factions. With how skilled the Magus killer is I can definitely see him potentially wiping out the Masters of Gold and without an anchor we lose our best assets of the Gold Faction Servants. Caules pinched the bridge of his nose to stave off a headache. A motion that didn't go unnoticed by his sister.

"Caules are you alright?" she asked with a worried expression.

"Oh yeah. I just drank my wine a little too fast and it gave me a headache." Caules lied trying to wave off her concern. "You know that I don't drink wine very often." He added.

"I suppose so." Fiore conceded. "Still tonight's events couldn't have been better I think." She added with a genuine smile.

"By the way sister, are you sure you're alright? You were starting t look a little ill near the end of the battle." asked Caules curiously.

"That was my fault, lord Caules. Near the end I was drawing more energy from my master than I had intended but now that the fighting is over she should recover from it quite quickly." Reassured Chiron. By now conversations were starting to taper off when the sound of a clock chiming got everyone's attention. It read 1 am.

"I think that it would be for the best that we retire for the night. We can strategize and prepare ourselves later after the sun rises. For now everyone is dismissed." Said Darnic. No sooner had he said this did everyone finish off their glasses of wine which the homunculi maids took and left the room heading off to their private chambers.

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

Kiritsugu's arms finally were able to be pulled apart which caused him to sigh in relief. "You have my sincerest thanks, pharaoh. This awkward position was getting rather uncomfortable." Said Kiritsugu as he straightened up and turned to face Ozymandias.

"Twas nothing advisor. I found the dispelling of this foreign magecraft fascinating." Said Ozy sounding rather pleased.

"What sort of magecraft was it?" asked Iri as she and all the rest of the faction looked on in curiosity. After a few moments of contemplation Ozy spoke.

"One the surface this appears like a binding spell and a fairly simple one at that but it's half mana and half prana based. The mana portion does the act of latching onto a target while the prana portion gives the command to bind. But usually this requires mystic codes or rituals set up in advance to work like this. The fact that the man who did this did so without incantation and with only a hand gesture tells me at least that he's exceptionally skilled for a mage. In fact had I not been summoned as a Servant you might've been stuck like that for some time. As only my divine authority overrode the bind command given by the caster. The only other ways would be to overload the binding spell with an excessive amount of mana that surpassed the amount of prana used or get the original Caster to cancel out the binding command." Theorized Ozy.

"Except what if the one who cast it wasn't a mage at all?" asked Diarmuid. At everyone's curious looks he continued. "He called himself and this Kisuke Urahara a soul reaper." Said Diarmuid.

"A reaper of souls you say. How unexpected." Said Ozy looking troubled. By this point Illya had yawned and Shirou E., while trying to stay focused on listening to the adults, looked to also be ready to fall asleep. "Perhaps it would be best to have everyone retire for the evening as the little ones seemed to be ready to nod off." Said Ozy in a fonder tone. "We shall discuss this further when everyone's been able to regain their strength. On this Iri and Kiritsugu took the children and put them to bed while the Servant all vanished in a shower of blue particles, save for Ozy as he sat down on the couch and appeared to be deep in thought. "Could Osiris himself be observing this war or are these individuals his or Anubis' followers somehow?" he asked aloud to no one in particular.

=Romania – outside city limits of Bucharest – hanging Gardens of Babylon – Shirou K.'s private quarters – same time

Semiramis approached her master's chambers to see how he was doing. They had brought the hanging Gardens back to it's original location and the rest of their Faction insisted on returning to their hotel room base. Despite trying to persuade them otherwise, the other Masters wouldn't be convinced to stay. To keep the peace, Shirou K. caved, and the other Masters departed shortly after they set the Gardens down. Now that the barriers were in place to keep anyone not on the Red Faction away and from noticing the Gardens presence, she decided to pay her master a visit. She knocked on the door and heard a calm 'enter' command which she then pushed the doors opened.

Once inside the lavish and plush chamber, she spotted the figure that was her Master as he was pacing his face fraught with worry. "What troubles you, my Master?" she asked teasingly. If Shirou K. was supposed to react a certain way to her question it was certainly not with the serious tone he gave his answer.

"It's Ruler and her Servants and allies. While the sheer abundance of Servants initially caught me off guard, I can say now with certainty that Ruler's group are going to be the biggest obstacle to our plan. Especially if they bring in a completely unknown group to either observe or worse participate in the war. Thanks to your dove familiars we were able to watch Kisuke Urahara's match with Heracles. The fact he was skilled enough with only a little help from the person whom I was told was his wife, he was able to take one of Heracles' lives. And given that Kido has at least 200 known spells to choose from, he's proven to be creative enough to use them to achieve what he wants." Said Shirou K. as he started to sound frantic. Semiramis quickly took hold of him and kissed him full on the mouth to ground him.

"Master, you are clearly working yourself into frenzy. Calm yourself. Where is that coolheaded young man that was ready to do whatever it took to save all of humanity?" she asked as she ran her hands though his hair as means to soothe him. It worked as Shirou K. took a deep breath and seemed to calm himself down.

"Right. I apologize, Queen of Assyria. It's just that I feel that what we witnessed tonight while we have a decent understanding of the Black faction's strength, for almost everyone else outside of our own however, we only got just the barest glimpse of anyone one else. I think this is even more so for Ruler and her Servants and allies." Said Shirou K.

"You think that Ruler's Servants were holding back their true potential?" asked Semiramis. Shirou K. nodded. "Well then the most obvious strategy moving forward is either we need to focus on getting rid of Ruler's group or focus on thinning out the other Servants enough for us to grab the grail and activate it." She suggested. This seemed to cause Shirou K. to contemplate this advice. "Listen Master, why don't we take the moment to relax. It will clear your head." She said as she tried to loosen his collar. Shirou K. seemed to realize what she was doing he quickly grabbed her hands and held them gently as she looked at him with a teasing smile.

"I'll take your advice, O Queen but I think a shower will be more appropriate for helping me relax." He said with a small smile. Semiramis simply pouted as he headed into the adjoining bathroom.

=Romania – cave of King's Mountain – White Faction's home base – Caster of White's workshop – 1:20 am

Manaka examined the captured and now more fully restrained Hollow with curious eyes. "So, this is what a Hollow looks like. Well on cursory examination, do you still intend to go along with your initial plan?" asked Manaka looking over to Avicebron.

"As of right now I still need to examine it thoroughly but the hope is that it can act as a core for my golems as even in their corrupted state they still possess souls. Then that means that all we need to secure are the materials to make the golems physical bodies. If this is possible then we can have them act as our own little army but the idea would be to go for quality over quantity considering how much of an issue it was just to capture one Hollow." Explained Avicebron. After a moment of contemplation Manaka nodded.

"Very well. You have my permission to proceed, but be sure to keep me updated on your progress and results." Said Manaka as she turned around and exited the lab.

"Understood, Master." Said Avicebron as he bowed to her.

"Oh and Caster, if I for any reason detect any deception from you over this project, I will start using your seals and you might not like what I make you do, are we clear?" asked Manaka in a saccharine tone looking back over her shoulder.

"Yes Master." Answered Caster. With that she departed.

=Romania – cave of King's Mountain – White Faction's home base – living quarters – 1:30 am

Manaka entered the living quarters and saw Gin enter the cave with ice clinging to his outfit and his arm hanging uselessly. Atalanta and Robin hood materialized behind him. Though they looked far better than Gin. "Oh look who decided to grace us with their presence." Said Manaka in a mocking almost passive aggressive tone eyeing Gin specifically.

"Hmph. No thanks to you pipsqueak." Said Gin with a pouting frown on his face. "And after I went through all that effort to keep others away so you could get your little side project safely back to base." He pointed out in a fake hurt tone.

"Oh. You don't think that my Servants could handle the two soul reapers not posing as Servants?" asked Manaka. She expected Gin to back down and so was caught off guard when he answered.

"Not the ones you sent with me." Gin answered immediately. He gave a brief overview of Kisuke and Yoruichi's pasts and what some of their abilities were. "So, you see you sent with me 3 specialists that had very little flexibility or compatibility to each other. Their only real commonality was their willingness to fight unconventionally. But compare to what that duo brings to the table, well let's just say that if I hadn't been there to keep them occupied then the Hollow you currently possess wouldn't even be here right now." Gin finished. This caused Manaka to look shocked.

"You think that perhaps it would've been better if all of us left to help in capturing a single Hollow. But that would have left Mistress Manaka alone and potentially in danger." Pointed out Perseus.

"Are you saying that you have no faith in her abilities to put up protective barriers to safeguard herself?" sneered Gin. This caused Perseus' eyes to widen in realization to his unintended insult.

"Regardless, if Berserker had been allowed to accompany you, no doubt Ruler at least has an idea as to his identity and Berserker could've been lured into an area where Arthur was in and then just attack him. And that is something I can't allow to happen to my prince." Said Manaka.

"Oh do you think you could keep him on a tight leash?" asked Gin with a mocking grin.

"You doubt my skills?" asked Manaka returning the jibe with his original question.

"Master. I can't help but notice that one of your arms looks limp. What happened to it?" asked Atalanta decided to break up whatever this verbal spar that the two were engaging in again. This seemed to snap the two out of their jibes and Gin admitted as to what happened to him.

"Can you not heal yourself?" asked Manaka genuinely curious.

"I'm not even sure what exactly happened. As this was caused by a mage not a Hollow, soul reaper, or any known supernatural race that we're taught about at Soul reaper academy." Gin said offhandedly as he examined his still limp arm.

"Huh. I recall Yoruichi saying that you have your own equivalent to the Clock Tower for your Soul Society." Admitted Manaka. "Well I suppose I could look at your arm and see what's wrong and see if I can heal it." Manaka conceded as she took his limp arm and began to examine it.

"How very kind of you." Said Gin though his tone seemed more neutral now than it was before. Manaka eyed him with suspicion but pulled him over to the table and continued her examination.

=Romania – Bucharest – hotel room (rest of Red faction's base) – living room area – 1:45 am

"Berserker's loss aside, did we learn anything useful about the Black Faction besides what we already knew?" asked Kairi. He along with the Masters of Archer, Rider, and Lancer and all but Archer were present as they sat around a table.

"Actually thanks to watching the battle through the familiars I can say that Archer of Black is Chiron." Pointed out Achilles.

"How do you figure that?" asked Mordred.

"I think I would be able to recognize my own teacher especially since he was the one who raised me for the first 9 years of my life." Said Achilles with a bit of snark. Mordred glared at him.

"Aha. So my intuition was right. You are indeed my childhood hero. Achilles, the hero of Troy. So now that I know you're identity will you consider joining my army? It would be an honor to fight alongside you as we conquer the world together." Asked Iskandar eagerly. Achilles scratched the back of his head though whether from embarrassment or nervousness was hard to say.

"Well, like I said before, my loyalty is to my master first and foremost. But if we both survive to the end of the war and my Master has no qualms with it, I wouldn't be opposed to such an arrangement." Said Achilles in a placating manner.

"HaHaHa. Wonderful. Then I suppose that we'll just have to make sure to be the last Servants standing. Oh I almost forgot, we also know the True Name of Rider of Black, Astolfo. He's one of the 12 paladins of Charlemagne." Added Iskandar.

"And don't forget, Saber of Black had to use his noble phantasm to try and cancel out mine. He called it Balmung." Pointed out Mordred.

"Balmung!? Then that means that they have Sigfried as their Saber. The hero of the Nibelungs. But then guessing by your noble phantasm, Saber of Red, then that means you're-" Said Waver with a shocked expression on his face before getting cut off by Mordred.

"I didn't give permission for anyone else to use my name here aside from my master and even then it would only be in private." Said Mordred getting testy.

"Oh come now. We all saw you use you noble phantasm so there's no need to-" Iskandar said before he was cut off by Reines.

"Look if Saber doesn't want their True name said out loud without their permission then I see no problem as long as we can continue to cooperate both on and off the battlefield. Does anyone object to this?" Reines asked. When no one did, Gray continued the previous line of conversation.

"So we know the Lancer, Saber, Archer and Rider of Black. But they now know who our Rider and Saber are. And if Achilles recognized his teacher then the same could be said in kind for the black faction. Meaning they most likely know who our lancer is as well." Gray pointed out.

"Still they must be considerably weaker than our faction based on what we saw." Said Reines as she opened her briefcase and Trimmau once again appeared by her side in her maid form. "Trimmau, please go and prepare my room as I will be retiring soon." She ordered.

"Very well, mistress." Replied the mercury mystic code in a monotone. As she then returned to her liquid state and headed for her room.

"What made you come to such a conclusion, Reines?" asked Waver curiously.

"Brother, think about it. We both had the exact same number of Servants and exact same classes of Servants out in the battlefield and yet, it took the combined efforts of 3 of their Servants to kill our Berserker. Keep in mind that was when one was being boosted by being in their territory and our Berserker had already suffered severe damage after dealing with that giant energy blast that according to all of you came from Ruler's Saber. If nothing else that shows that while Saber is certainly powerful in their own right, Lancer as well while in his territory, the rest of the Faction is either pretty weak like their Berserker or is an unknown quantity like their Caster and Archer." Reines stated rationally.

"I don't know. When I faced off against Archer of Black, he was staying on the defensive and only occasionally took the offensive with me so I would say he's average at best." Said Mordred as she relayed how the fight went down between them.

"Actually, Teacher is stronger than you're giving him credit for. If anything, this proves how strong you are, Saber. I'm pretty confident that I can beat my teacher as I am currently, but it would be a pretty hard-won victory. So, the fact that you could keep him on the defensive is actually more a credit to you and your strength rather than my Teacher lacking as a Servant." Said Achilles. Mordred was surprised and blushed slightly at the compliment Achilles gave her though she immediately looked away in embarrassment.

"So the three knight classes seemed to be pretty strong while the rest of the faction is either pretty weak or unknown." Concluded Waver.

"Reines, I wanted to ask, concerning Ruler's Servants, can you still not see them?" asked Gray. Reines shook her head in frustration.

"Archer says he can now see distortions where her Servants are standing but that's it. I on the other hand can't see them at all." Admitted Reines looking a bit sullen.

"Getting back to the faction's strength, didn't we encounter Assassin of Black when they attempted to kill one of us?" asked Kairi.

"Sadly mongrel that is not the case." Gilgamesh's voice sounded as he materialized in the room. He then quickly donned his civilian clothes of an orange shirt, and black coat, pants and dress shoes. He immediately sat down next to Reines on one of the couches in the living quarters. At Reines' careful questioning, Gilgamesh relayed all the information he found out about the said Assassin.

"Hm. So it was Hundred faced Hassan who attacked us but we just don't know if they're with the Black faction or not. And as a result this means that we're the only ones that lost a Servant today according to Archer." Said Waver.

"You know this particular Assassin, teacher?" asked Gray. Waver nodded and relayed how during the War that he and Kayneth participated in this was the Assassin of that particular war.

"By the way my king, did you successfully take Ruler's command seals that were attached to you? I know you said that you were going to try and do so." asked Reines.

"No. I was convinced by Kisuke Urahara to allow her to keep them as an emergency." Relayed Gilgamesh. He then told the others Kisuke reasoning.

"Have to say that those are valid reasons. Though he sounds pretty paranoid about this Aizen guy." Noted Achilles.

"Considering what we've been told about him, the paranoia seems at least understandable." Argued Iskandar. On this everyone seemed to agree.

"Okay is there any other information that needs to be discussed?" asked Mordred.

"Well we did see Berserker of Silver and I recognize him as Heracles. Well that and Teacher also addressed him by name." Said Achilles. That caught the Master's attention.

"Didn't a couple of Servants attempt to attack Ruler?" asked Mordred.

"Yes, but we only know that one of them was an assassin class Servant. The other one we have no idea, and we have no idea which Faction they came from." Iskandar pointed out.

"You know come to think of it. Aside from those three we didn't see any other Servants other than the Black Faction. Wonder where the White, Blue, Silver and Gold Factions were tonight?" wondered Kairi.

"Actually mongrel the Blue and Silver Factions were fighting each other behind the fortress with one gold Faction member defending the fortress. And I found out through tailing Ruler's group after the fighting died down that the White Faction was busy capturing a Hollow though for what, I have no idea." Admitted Gilgamesh. This caused many of the Masters to ponder what all this information could mean when Reines then yawned.

"Apologies but I think I'm going to have to bid you all goodnight as I can't really stay awake any longer." Said Reines as she got up from the couch.

"As will I." Gray chimed in as she too stood up and both girls headed for their respective rooms.

"Well. Now might be the best time to stop and come back to all this sometime tomorrow." Said Waver.

"Well in the meantime, did we pick up any alcohol when we went shopping after our first meet up? I could really use a drink right now." Suggested Kairi as he got up and headed to the fridge.

"Ah. Excellent. Even in failure drinking with comrades takes the sting out of the failure." Reasoned Iskandar.

"I'm in." chimed in Achilles.

"Archer, you want anything?" asked Kairi out of courtesy.

"I have no intention of consuming that swill you have the nerve to call a drink." Said Gilgamesh as he pulled out a cup and pitcher from his treasury's gold portals.

"Oh. So you're saying that your drinks are better?" asked Iskandar.

"Of course, mongrel. Only the finest of anything is in my treasury and that includes items like drinks and food. Try it for yourself." Said Gilgamesh as he bought out three other cups and two wooden tankards. He filled the first three with his wine while the tankards appeared directly in front of Waver and Kairi. The latter returned to the couches. After the Servants took their first sips, they were all surprised by the taste.

"Wow. This has got to be the purest wine I've ever tasted." Said Achilles as he began to drink more greedily. The other two followed his example sharing his sentiments.

"Is this beer?" asked Kairi as he looked in his tankard.

"Indeed, it is, mongrel." Said Gilgamesh as he took a more leisurely gulp from his cup. Waver and Kairi sipped their beer and looked at it in confusion.

"Huh. I was expecting there to be more alcohol in this." Noted Waver.

"Perhaps that is because beer is considered a luxury item now but to my people it was a necessity. Everyone drank it from the elderly down to children weaned off their mothers." Said Gilgamesh offhandedly.

"Which would explain the low alcohol content. This was actually probably healthier to drink than it is now since it had to be safe for even children to consume." Reasoned Kairi. Gilgamesh simply nodded.

"So this is probably closer to an energy drink than it is beer as we know it." Added Waver. By now Iskandar and the others were finished with their first cups.

"Hey Goldie. Mind if we have some more?" asked Iskandar his cheeks getting pink.

"I only allowed for you to try it. Why would I allow you anymore than a sample?" asked Gilgamesh with a smug tone.

"Oh. You don't think we can handle more?" asked Achilles double teaming with Iskandar. This caused Gilgamesh to quirk an amused eyebrow.

"You wish to prove me wrong? Fine. Let us see which of us can 'hold their liquor'." said Gilgamesh in a challenging grin.

"You're on." Said the two Greeks. Mordred huffed and set her empty cup down and headed for her room.

"I'm out. Good night." She said.

"Well we may as well see how this turns out." Said Kairi as he and Waver continued to nurse their drinks. And watching this contest unfold.

=Romania – 30 miles outside of Trifas – Ruler's base of operations – outside the house – 2am

By now Kisuke, Jeanne, Rukia and the two mod souls finally returned to the safe house. Jeanne reverted back to her civilian clothing and the group entered the house. Everyone was pretty exhausted when they arrived so no words were spoken as they entered.

Inside the safe house . . .

Yoruichi and Ichigo were up and waiting with some light snacks. "Ichigo. You're alright." Said Rukia looking relieved. Jeanne was also relieved at this.

"Yeah. Yoruichi was able to heal me up." Ichigo reassured them.

"It was nothing. Compared to the injuries you obtained from fighting Captain Zaraki that first time, these were almost child's play to treat." Said Yoruichi confidently. By now both Rukia and Ichigo swapped back with Noba and Ririn and the latter two got put back in their plushies.

"Well let's get a quick bite to eat then and turn in. We had quite a night." Suggested Urahara as he and Yoruichi started to heat up leftovers.

= Soul Society – Seireitei – Captain Hitsuguya's office – same time (9am Tokyo time, 2am Romanian time)

Toshiro had just finished organizing the paperwork for squad 10 that morning and he looked over to another set. He sighed as he knew that this was all the information gathered by him lieutenant Abarai, and Captain's Ukitake and Kuchiki concerning what was happening in Romania. After their call ended knowing that there wasn't much else for them to gather in terms of information the quartet spent the next hour pouring over the information and putting together a presentation for the head Captain and decided that mid-morning would be the best time to talk to Head Captain Yamamoto. This would give everyone involved time to get their affairs sorted out for the day in case they might be with the head captain for a prolong period of time. He heard his clock chime. And he saw that it was 9 am. "Well may as well head over there now." He said to himself as he grabbed the stack of papers and headed to the door.

Outside the office . . .

Toshiro was about to lock the door when he heard a voice he recognized instantly. "Captain!" she shouted. He turned and saw his lieutenant Rangiku Matsumoto being her bubbly self as she ran up to him.

"Rangiku. So you finally decided to show up." He said somewhat annoyed.

"I just woke up and rushed right over here, Captain. And why were you going to lock me out of the office?" she whined.

"If you had shown up on time I would've informed you that I have a meeting with the head captain now and needed to leave the squad to you. But since you never showed up, I had to lock the door." Toshiro scolded her. But no sooner did he finish did he notice that Rangiku's personality did a 180 and suddenly she was serious.

"Wait. Does this have to do with lieutenant Kuchiki being in our jurisdiction?" she asked. Toshiro nodded. "I see. Then let me come with you." She suggested.

"You don't know what's being talked about, Rangiku. At best you'd be asked to sit outside for who knows how long. And right now I need you to look after the squad for me. Can you please do that?" asked Toshiro sincerely.

"Very well, Captain." Said Rangiku as she bowed her head respectfully.

"Thank you, Rangiku." Said Toshiro relief evident in his tone. Rangiku proceeded to head inside the office when Toshiro's voice called again. "Oh one other thing. The paperwork that I haven't already done better be taken care of and I better not find you drinking sake in the office when I get back." Said Toshiro indignantly as he flashstepped away.

"But Captain." Whined Rangiku as she pouted upon his departure.

=Soul society – Seireitei – first division barracks – outside the head captain's office – 9:05 am Tokyo time.

Byakuya and Renji found themselves outside of the head Captain's office. They had been the first to arrive. Byakuya had tucked under his arm a stack of papers as well standing like a serene statue. Renji by contrast was fidgeting with nervousness. "Renji." Said Byakuya in his usual stoic tone. Renji immediately stood at attention.

"Yes, Captain?" he asked.

"Have you made any progress on finding out the truth about those nightmares?" asked Byakuya. Renji did relax slightly and answered albeit with some frustration bleeding into his tone.

"Yes, Captain. I did. I was able to piece together that the nightmares are in fact long buried memories. Memories from when I was alive and how I died. And I know that this Darnic guy was in charge of whatever they were doing to me when I was killed." Renji admitted.

"I see." Said Byakuya as he paused then continued. "Renji if I permit you to go to Romania, I need you to swear that you'll uphold your duty as a lieutenant of squad six and put that duty above any personal vendetta. Otherwise after this meeting this will end your involvement in this affair. Do I make myself clear?" asked Byakuya his tone becoming hard near the end.

"Yes, captain. But if somehow he dies on his own and becomes a Hollow as we both know that's what will happen considering that he consumed human souls while he was alive-" Renji hedged but was cut off by Byakuya.

"Then and only then do you have permission to exact your revenge as you would also be performing your duties as a soul reaper. But make no mistake. If I find out that you killed him as a human, then you had better be ready to hand over that lieutenant's badge and you'll most likely be placed in the maggot's nest as punishment. Is that understood, lieutenant Abarai?" asked Byakuya his tone cold and steely as a blade.

"Yes, Captain Kuchki." Renji said addressing his captain formally. By this time Toshiro had arrived.

"So then it seems that we're just missing-" Toshiro began when a voice interrupted his thoughts.

"Sorry for keeping everyone waiting." Everyone turned and saw Captain Ukitake followed by Captain Kyoraku and Captain Unohana. It was the former who had spoken.

"It seems that you decided to make good on your promise to lend your support to us Captain Kyoraku, but why are you present as well, Captain Unohana?" asked Byakuya.

"I insisted on coming due to the fact that you've already requested a member from my division to be sent to Romania and it was one of my subordinates that started all of this. So in order to make my decision on who to send I want the full breadth and context of what is going on there." Reasoned Captain Unohana. Everyone nodded at this.

"Well since we're all here we may as well get this over with." Said Toshiro as he knocked on the door that led to the Head Captain. They were greeted by a man with yellow eyes, had short silver-gray hair and a small black handlebar mustache with lightly tanned skin. He wore a white jinbaori over a standard Shinigami shihakushō with long white arm guards. He also wore a white turtleneck under his uniform and had his lieutenant armband on his left arm. This was Chojiro Sasakibe, the lieutenant of squad 1.

"Ah good morning Captains and lieutenant. It's unusual to see so many of you here outside of a captain's meeting." Stated the first lieutenant after he bowed politely to all of them. The most obvious yet unasked question 'why are you all here?' being heavily implied.

"Our deepest apologies Lieutenant, but we have in our possession information that is extremely sensitive in nature and as such we request a private audience with the Head Captain as soon as possible." Captain Ukitake said formally with a serious look on his face. The first lieutenant's frown matched his.

"Please wait a moment." Said the lieutenant as he closed the door. The group waited in silence as the minutes ticked by. Then the door opened again and said lieutenant ushered the group inside. Within minutes they were standing at the desk of the head Captain himself.

He was a fair-skinned man of average height. As the oldest captain in the 13 Court guard squads, he had aged into an elderly man with a bald head, deep wrinkles, hooked nose, and pronounced cheekbones. His eyes appeared to be closed or at least slits making it difficult to discern their color. He also had long eyebrows, long mustache, and a hip-length white beard secured by a purple band crossing down it. He had many scars on his body, with the two most prominent being a pair of long scars crossing above his right eye as well as the fact that he was missing his left arm. In addition to the standard black shihakushō, he wore a captain's long-sleeved haori draped over his back instead of actually wearing it, with its size being greatly exaggerated. Despite his old and frail demeanor, often standing in a slouch, all present knew that he was one of the most powerful soul reapers alive currently. This was Genryūsai Shigekuni Yamamoto Captain of Squad 1 and Head Captain of the entire 13 Court Guard Squads. As of the moment he was currently writing on some document on his desk.

Captain Unohana then quietly requested chairs for everyone as they would be in the office for a while. Lieutenant Sasakibe saw to the request and soon everyone was seated. By the time that was completed, the Head Captain was finished and had handed the document over to Sasakibe who withdrew. Yamamoto then placed his brush down and looked at the group sitting before him. "I was informed that you all have information for me." Said the head captain, his tone meaning business. Byakuya was the first to rise from his chair.

"Before any of us speak further Head Captain, I request that a Kido barrier be put in place as the information we have requires such privacy." Said Byakuya. That got the Head Captain sitting up and alert. After a few moments of consideration Yamamoto performed a few silent hand gestures and a Hako barrier was once again put in place around the room.

"Now then, report." Ordered the Head Captain sternly his eyes opened to show that they were red.

End of Chapter 7

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Author's notes: Well, I didn't expect this chapter to be shorter than the previous ones but I guess action scenes don't require as much dialogue to get through. So for those who wanted a shorter chapter here it is. Also not a lot of notes this time either. But I will be labeling the names of servants that are eliminated as deceased on the list below and removing their power level as since they're dead no point in knowing how strong they are.

Faction and Servants with their power levels with boosts for the current war in mind (bold and Italics means soul reapers now know their identities): Blue: Saber – Artoria Pendragon – Captain, Archer – David – lieutenant (his divinity skill can boost this temporarily to almost a Captain level if he chooses to do so), Lancer – Cú Chulainn – lieutenant, Rider – Medusa – lieutenant, Caster – Paracelsus von Hohenheim – lieutenant almost a Captain, Assassin – Hassan of Serenity – 11th seated officer, Berserker – Jekyll & Hyde – 15th seated officer Jekyll and 4th seated officer Hyde

Black: Saber – Siegfried – 10th seated officer, Archer – Chiron – lieutenant, Lancer – Vlad III – lieutenant (while in his territory) – 5th or 6th seat (outside his territory), Rider – Astolfo – 14th seated officer, Caster – Medea – 5th seated officer, Assassin – Hassan of the Hundred Faces – 15th seated officer, Berserker – Frankenstein's monster – 4th seated officer

Silver: Saber – Arthur Pendragon – Captain, Archer – Arash – 11th seated officer, Lancer – Diarmuid Ua Duibhne – 3rd seated officer, Rider – Ozymandias (Rameses II) – lieutenant almost a captain level, Caster – Queen of Sheba – lieutenant, Assassin – Jack the Ripper – 6th seated officer, Berserker – Heracles – Captain

Gold: 3 Saber – Gawain – Captain, Bedivere – lieutenant almost a Captain level, Kay – lieutenant almost a Captain level, and 3 Casters - Gilles de Rais – unseated almost a 20th seat, Guinevere – 11th seated officer, Merlin (alive but hiding true stats) – mid-level lieutenant, and Shielder – Galahad – Captain.

White: Saber – not summoned, Archer – Atalanta – 6th seated officer, Lancer – Karna – 5th seated officer, Rider – Perseus – lieutenant, Caster – Avicebron – 15th seated officer, Assassin – Robin Hood – 3rd seat, Berserker – Lancelot du Lac – Captain

Red: Saber – Mordred – lieutenant, Archer – Gilgamesh – 6th seated officer, Lancer – Achilles – lieutenant almost a Captain level, Rider – Iskandar (alexander the great) – 6th seated officer, Caster – William Shakespeare – 10th seated officer, Assassin – Semiramis – 14th seated officer, Berserker – Eric Bloodaxe (deceased)

Ruler – Jeanne D'Arc – lieutenant almost a Captain level

Ruler – Amakusa Shirou Tokisada – 10th seated officer

Quick reference: EX and A rank nps are equivalent to high and low powered Bankais respectively, B rank is equivalent to Shikai, C rank is equivalent to sealed zanpakutos. D and E ranks are weaker than sealed zanpakutos and would be destroyed by them easily.

For kido: Ex- negates all Bakudo kido but #99-#90 Hado kido spells do effect Servants, A- #99-#80 for Bakudo Kido and #89-#80 for Hado Kido, B- #79-#60 Kido, C- #59-#40 Kido, D- #39-#20 Kido, and finally E- #19-#1 Kido.

For power levels: Ex- captain level, A- lieutenant level, B- high seated officer level (3rd- 10th seat), C- low seated officer level (11th-20th seat) D- unseated officer level, and E- non-Soul reapers

Thank you all for reading this so far and I hope I did a decent job. Let me know your feedback as I would greatly appreciate it.

Enjoy and Bye!