My blood had dried. It glued my shirt on my skin and my coat on my shirt. A red dark stain was visible from my chest to my hip and from my shoulder blade to my lower back.

The people ducked their heads low as I passed them by. Some would only send glances my way, some would spare longer than a glance, and most pretended not to notice.

My walk had me come across a clothing store. I went in, selected a windbreaker and a dress shirt and a bag, the cashier gave me concerned and pitiful looks as she scanned each item and accepted my cash into the register and gave me the receipt.

"May I use the changing room?" I said.

"Huh? O-oh, sure," she said.

I went inside the changing room with no hurry. Then I ripped the price tags on all my purchases and pocketed them in my trouser pocket and unzipped the bag then placed inside it my two pistols and my knife and Kayneth's revolver and zipped it. I took off my coat and shirt, washed the blood off my chest with a conjured melting ice cube and put on the fresh shirt and the windbreaker and rolled the two bloodstained and torn up items together and clamped them beneath my armpit and went out the changing room with bag in hand and nodded my thanks to the cashier and went out of the store.

When I arrived at our place, I had gotten rid of the clothing bundle and the price tags in a trash bin. I shared greetings with my colleagues, four of them had set a table and were playing Mahjong, while others were watching and fumigating their mind with cigarettes, I made my way to one of the guess rooms and slid open the wooden window and placed the bag at the foot of the futon as I lay down on it.

Pixie half-manifested, her form was translucent, like an illusive ghost. She made her way out through the window and began patrolling the area around. I closed my eyes and put my mind to rest, feeding it a constant stream of what Pixie was seeing.

Currently, she was flying around the area searching for any anomalous rodents. Since she was working on half of her full potential, she must fly closer to the house than she would normally to spot any such creatures. With the complex cleared, she patrolled the area around it as well.

One block away, on a power line, there were feral pigeons. Pixie was behind them, scrutinizing each one and stayed far away enough to alert none of them but close enough for her senses to be able to pick up any strange emissions of magical energy from them. Sure enough, there was one. Pixie flew straight to it and had her hands hugged tightly around its neck. The pigeon was flapping its wings frantically, trying to get Pixie away and the other pigeons had gone and flown away from the little commotion.

Pixie cast Charmdi, the spell spread out from her palm and made its way to the pigeon's mind. Nothing changed. The pigeon still gave the same readings as before. Well, that was all of our nonlethal methods.

Pixie.

Do I have to?

Do you want it blind instead?

Fine...

She wrapped her left arm around the pigeon's neck and had the edge of its bone on the bird's throat and was pulling that arm back while the heel of her right hand was on the base of the pigeon's skull, pushing it forward. Then, with a surge of fae-strength, the pigeon's neck was snapped in a muffled crunch. While holding its head, Pixie turned the pigeon over so that she could see its front and her eyes fixed upon a miniature C.C.D. camera taped upon its stomach. She ripped the camera off the pigeon's stomach and released the familiar.

The pigeon fell hard on the gray concrete below and it was still flapping its wings uselessly as it did so. Some of its feathers were lying about, and its neck was lolling grotesquely.

Pixie stood on the power pole's cross-arm and inspected the little camera. From where she stood, she could see clearly the front entrance of our family's house.

Whose familiar do you think that bird is?

Not Tohsaka, he has Assassin to spy on us. Either Rider's Master or the Magus Killer. I'm leaning on the Magus Killer.

Why?

He just shot us.

When do you think he knew where the family's house was?

Possibly after the banquet, Irisviel von Einzbern might've told him of a man in black suits wielding pistols - a stereotypical yakuza.

And the press conference the Old Man held. Yeah! It wouldn't be difficult to track us down once he knew where to look.

Bring that back to me.

Will do.

Pixie returned, handed me the camera and came back to the Sea of Souls. I pocketed the camera and got out of the guess room with bag in hand and went upstairs to get myself two shortswords stashed in two separate rooms' closets. The swords were without their guards, their grips were white and they were sheathed inside white scabbards. I placed both swords inside the bag and searched inside a folded blanket in the closet where I got the second sword and fished out a wooden stock.

I took the stock and opened the rear plate and took the pistol out. It was a Mauser. I placed the stock down and had my fore and middle finger on the charging handle and racked the bolt to the rear and released it and it stop opened. I put my hand inside the blanket and searched about by touch and drew my hand back with only two ten-round clips. I pocketed one and fixed the other on top of the loading port of the Mauser and pushed all ten rounds down the magazine and took that thin piece of metal away and the bolt snapped shut with a piercing impact of metal on metal. I stashed Kayneth's revolver inside the blanket and placed the Mauser inside its stock with safety on and closed the rear plate and placed the stock inside my bag and zipped it and head down stairs and exchanged goodbyes with my colleagues and left.

At an electronics store, I requested the owner to have a look at the little camera I had with me. Most of what he said was things I already knew and when he said things that I didn't know, it wasn't much help at all. I thanked him for his time and went out and melted the device and cooled it and disposed of it in a waste bin.

My trip to Miyama would be long and I wasn't intending to stop at any particular places to order and wait for lunch. So I went and bought a bottle of water and a plastic box set of three tonkatsu sandwiches and ate and drank as I went to Miyama.

There was one-half of a sandwich left when I was in the foreign district of Miyama, and the water was one-third of its content. I finished my sandwich and drank all the water in the bottle and disposed of it in the recycling bin. Tohsaka had told me the address of the house Rider and his Master – Waver Velvet – was staying in, and I had that in mind as I made my way around the streets of the district. He had also told me that the house was on a hill so that narrowed the search down quite a bit.

I wiped the sweat off one side of my face on my shoulder then did the same with the other. Found the house at last and approached the door and knocked on it with a knuckle. Footsteps, a turn of the doorknob, then the hinges creaked as the door opened wide and an elderly foreigner greeted me.

He was Glen Mackenzie that much I already knew from Tohsaka's briefing. He was a Canadian from Toronto who emigrated to Japan, Fuyuki City, Miyama Town, with his wife Martha Mackenzie. The old couple has a son and a grandson, both of whom were in Canada; they live quietly and mostly keep to themselves in this part of the town, making their place of residency ideal for a magus looking to keep a low profile.

"Oh, what can I help you with?" he said.

"I'm looking for Waver, is he in here?" I said.

"Waver? Now what business do you have with him?"

"Just a friend of his coming to see him. He said I can find him here."

"Oh, is that so? Well, unfortunately he's not here right now, but you can stay for a while if you want. My wife and I would gladly take in a friend of our grandson."

"Sure."

They were kind people, the Mackenzie, amiable and pleasant to be around. The old man had led me to the living room and asked me to let him take charge of my bag and windbreaker, both of which I refused in kind. He sat me down at the dinner table and went to get a bottle of beer and three mugs. The old lady Martha Mackenzie then came to greet me and introduced herself to me and me to her; she then went to prepare small snacks for us and complained that Waver again didn't inform her that any guess was arriving so she couldn't prepare anything more than just plain rice crackers. She was then joined by her husband's side as we drank and ate and swapped stories and questions. Most of mine were lies, half-truths and any variants of them. I lied more at this couple's dinner table than I did anywhere else.

Finally, the booming announcing voice of Rider: "We're home!" in a hearty tone as he slammed the door open. His Master was beside him, complaining about his antics.

Then they stopped in their stride as they noticed the laughs of the old couple and that I was joining them in their conversation. By now, the two had gone mad drunk.

"Ah, Alexei, Waver!" shouted Glen Mackenzie. "Come here come here! Join us for a drink why don't you, eh?" then he laughed foolishly and slumped upon the dinner table.

"Oh, dear," Martha said. "It seems he had too much to drink. Alexei, can you please help carry him to the bedroom?"

"Ah?" Rider went. "Oh, sure!"

Then he went to carry Glen on his shoulder.

"We'll talk upstairs?" he said to me.

"You two go first."

And the Master and Servant pair went up the stairs.

I drained the beer in my mug and did the same for what little there were in Glen and Martha's and helped her clean up the glasses and table and plates and bowls and excused myself as I went to Waver's room.

Inside, the young magus was wary of me. He crossed his arms and stood on the far corner, while Rider looked me over with scrutinizing eyes, then greeted me as if we were friends.

"Yo!" he said, amicably. "What brought you here?"

"That should be obvious."

"I know, I know. It was just a conversation starter. So how did you find us?"

"Saw something flying above Miyama last night, so I came here. Asked around for a two meters tall foreigner, and so that led me here."

"See!?" Waver scolded. "That's why you should be in your spirit form! Now just because you want to experience the land with your own body, we got found out!"

Rider looked away from his Master and waved off those words. "That's bound to happen anyway. More importantly, you saw something flying above Miyama? Where'd you get such a vantage point?"

"The Centre Building," I said.

"Ho-o-o-o~" he nodded thrice. "What were you doing up there?"

"Fighting Lancer."

"Oh?" he was especially cheerful now. "How did it go? Did he give you much trouble?"

"No trouble, kid's stuff."

And Rider gave a hearty laugh. "Who was it that dealt the finishing blow, you or Siegfried?"

"A bit of both," I lied.

"Eh?" Rider and his Master went.

"W-what do you mean?" Waver said. "You mean to tell me that you stood toe to toe with a Servant?"

"Well... Lancer dealt more damages to me than I did him. Ultimately, it was a well-timed interruption that dealt him in."

"Interruption?"

"He was occupied with blocking a strike, leaving him open."

"So Siegfried struck him with his sword and you dished out the finishing blow?" Rider said.

"What do you think?" I let him interpret whatever he wanted out of a grin.

"I think I would be a better opponent for you and your familiar. By the sound of it, you two fought together it seems?"

"Of course, he's my friend, can't let him do everything by himself."

"All right then! We'll wait until the Sun sets and set off to the forest to conduct our bout!" Rider then looked outside the window. "Hmm, that should give us two hours of remaining sunlight," then he picked up a magazine. "I'll be sitting here reading, if the time comes, then let me know!" and he sat with a heavy thud on the futon, leaning against the wall.

"Rider!" his Master shouted. "Aren't you being too carefree with an enemy in our midst?"

"Huh? He doesn't seem to be doing anything dangerous is he?"

"Well he isn't doing anythingnow, but he can definitely try for something sneaky later!"

"You overestimate me, kid," I said. "I'm not that crafty."

"So you say..." his face scrunched up in suspicion, directed at me. I stared right into his eyes as he did so, unblinking. He had enough of that and shot that look toward the bag in my hand. "What's in that?"

I raised an eyebrow.

"Your bag, what's in it?"

"Ho-o-o-o?" Rider peaked out from the magazine.

"Don't tell me that you just noticed it!?"

"Nah, Nah, nothing of the sort," he waved away his Master's shout. "I'm just playing. I know what's in the bag. Weapons, right?"

"You idiot, if you knew already then why don't you say anything sooner? Furthermore, why don't you take it from him?"

Rider sighed exasperatedly and scratched his head. "Why does any of that matter, huh? He's just a human; if he tries to do anything then I'd beat him to the punch. He's not fast enough to kill the both of us."

"Speak for yourself. He has a gun the last we saw him, he can easily shoot me right now!"

"Well, he'll have to unzip the bag first and then take the thing out and take aim, won't he? How long would that take? Before he'd even aim the thing, I'd have restrained him. Don't worry about it and just relax."

"Easy for you to say," Waver crossed his arms and looked away.

I placed the bag on top of the desk in the middle of the room and made my way to Waver. The young magus saw my approach and failed to contain his widening fearful eyes.

"WH-what do you want?"

"Take it easy, we have plenty of time before battle," I leaned against the wall next to him and crossed my arms as well.

I outstretched my hand and introduced myself: "Yuki Makoto."

"U-uh, yeah, you already told us your name. W-waver Velvet," he reluctantly accepted my offer for a handshake.

"So what brought you to Fuyuki?"

"Huh? Um, well... it's uh... Why do you want to know anyway?"

"You look the most inexperienced out of the whole bunch of Masters I've encountered. So I was just wondering."

"Just wondering, huh?" his eyes narrowed in suspicion. I didn't take it very seriously. "You're trying to get to know me better so you can get in my head, is that it?"

Rider chuckled to himself. Waver and I turned to him, only to see that he was turning a page on his magazine, unbothered.

"Like I said. I'm not that crafty. If I was, I wouldn't be here with an open challenge."

"That so, huh?"

"It is so. Anyway, whyareyou here?"

"Hrmm," he grumbled. "Why do you care?"

"All right," I said. "You can ask me questions then, any question. Afterward, you answer mine. Deal?"

He thought it over in his head, then: "All right."

"Ask then."

"Umm... So... about Siegfried... did you use the Third Magic to summon him? I mean, I know that sounds crazy because the Third Magic is lost and all that but... to call Siegfried your familiar would imply that you're strong enough to have him under your will, so... are you a… sorcerer?"

None of his words meant anything to me. So I said "No".

"You'renota sorcerer," he said, which was more like he had breathed out heavily, "and it wasnotthe Third Magic that you used to summon Siegfried?"

"Well, what is the Third Magic?" I asked in a way that seemed like I was leading him to an answer to his wonderings, but it was actually a genuine question.

"Ah, well... to put it short, it's the materialization of the soul, right?"

"Right," I nodded as if I already knew that.

"So?"

"No."

"No?"

"No."

"Really?"

"Really."

"So what is it that you do to summon someone who has about as much power as a Servant? 'Cause I don't see how any way other than the Third Magic and the Holy Grail is possible."

"That's a secret," I said. I actually just wanted to move on from this.

Waver opened his mouth and his brows wrinkled together, then his face relaxed and he sighed. "Okay, I suppose secrets are vital to a magus. But it'sreallynot the Third Magic?"

"I'm not capable of materializing any souls."

"All right, so… what's with the pointing-finger-at-temple thing you did that night?"

"I just felt like it."

Waver's eyes narrowed suspiciously. "Is it actually a way for you to summon Siegfried?"

"I'll let you have that one."

"How does it even work?"

I thought of something funny. I went to the table and unzipped my bag. Rider side-eyed a look my way, Waver was stammering something. I took my Browning Hi-power out from the bag and unloaded it and racked it and load in the magazine and fired it at Waver.

"Rider!" he shot both arms up to conceal his face and turned away and screamed, "Save me!"

Then, he realized that the pistol didn't go off and that he wasn't shot. He slowly put his arms down, Rider and I was looking at him. The Servant was the first to laugh, I followed with a chuckle.

"T-that's not funny! What if you had actually shot me?"

"That's physically impossible."

"Boy," Rider called out, "didn't you see him work that thing? There's no bullet in the chamber for him to be shooting."

"Shut up! How am I supposed to know that?" Waver said.

"How indeed," Rider returned to his military magazine.

I cocked the Hi-power and put it on safe and placed it in the bag and zipped the bag up.

"S-so what does that have anything to do with my question?" Waver said.

"Were you scared?" I said.

"Of course I'd be scared! You pointed a gun at me!"

"Good."

"Good!? How is that good!?"

"Never mind all of that, I just wanted to play a joke on you."

"So what about my question?"

"You asked me enough. So what's it about you that makes you want to join in a war for a magical artifact?"

"Oh!" Rider said, "I can answer this question!"

"You shut it!" Waver yelled.

Rider laughed to himself as he went back to the magazine.

Waver grumbled as he adjusted his tie. He looked at me with contempt. I suppose I deserve that. He looked away, gathered his thoughts and came to an answer:

"Fine. But don't you dare make fun of me when you hear it."

"That'll depend on how silly it is."

"Just don't say anything if you think it's funny all right?"

"Yeah, sure, okay."

"So the reason is that I… I just wanted to be acknowledged."

"By whom?"

"The Mage's Association, and more specifically, my lecturer – Kayneth El-Melloi Archibald, I want them to recognize my genius."

"Would that help you in any way?"

"Huh? Yeah! Of course it would! If I can make them acknowledge me, then I'd be taken a lot more seriously and I can gain access to a lot more resources for me to divulge into my magecraft researches. It means a lot!"

"You're willing to kill for all of that then?"

"I- yeah! Of course I'd be willing!"

"How about dying for it?"

Waver suddenly took a step back. He looked into my eyes and expression to gauge whatever intention I might've had from speaking those words.

"Relax, here's a bad spot."

"Wh-what do you mean by that?"

"I mean I'm not going to kill youhere of all places and I'd like for you to answer my question: are you willing to die for fame?"

"I…"

"Hyup!" Rider closed his magazine with a booming slap. "That was an interesting read!" then he walked to the window. "Oh, it looks like we have about thirty minutes, we best get going eh?" he laughed.

Then he stopped laughing with a sigh, "Boy," to Waver, "were you about to say yes?"

"Huh? Of course I was going to say that!"

"Then why did you hesitate?"

Waver looked away.

Rider sighed as a father would while explaining to his child. "Good grief, were you really willing to die just to be taken seriously? Now, now, no Master of a King of Conquerors such as I should dream so low. What does it matter anyway whether you'd be taken seriously or no? Dream big, win big, boy! Take your ambition higher! No one's going to take a man who fights to be validated by other people seriously."

"Shut up. You don't understand anything."

"You may be fighting this war with their validation in mind, but they don't even care about you. Why even bother? Listen to me boy," Rider leaned in, and patted both hands on Waver's shoulders. "You can't achieve greatness if you let those who never cared for you drag you down. Instead, rely on me! And get a better wish inside your head! I'll take us to great heights, you'll see."

"Yeah," Waver then laughed weakly. "Speaking of that," Waver cocked his head at me.

"Oh, right! Let us go then!"

The orange sun was descending to the western horizon. The sky was yet night, few stars dotted over it, and the clouds were yet black. Below was Miyama. The wind blew past us as we made for the forest. Rider and Waver were at the front of the chariot, I stood to the right, at the rear.

"Hey," I called out, "did you two ever fly above this place last night?"

"Yeah? Why?" Waver said over the wind.

"Just curious. What for?"

"The Einzberns!" Rider said. "Unfortunately, they weren't there."

"They were broken into twice," I said. "Of course they wouldn't be there."

"Couldn't hurt to check!" Rider laughed.

"Um…" Waver scratched his temple. "We were caught up in the moment back then, so I forgot to ask, uh… what happened to Professor Kayneth?"

"He lost his magic circuits; I did what I could to help. He's in London now."

"Ah... I see," it was neither relief nor glee that was in his voice. It was guilt.

The night sky was upon us and the stars were bright and the clouds were nowhere in sight. The moon illuminated the forest, our only source of light. But for the eyes of a Servant, the night was as bright as day. Rider found a clearing and the wheels of the chariot tore through the ground as we landed and came to a steady halt.

I slung my bag on my left shoulder and got off the chariot.

I walked thirty steps away from them, unzipped my back, took the two short swords out of their scabbards and stuck the grips out of the bag and took the stock. I opened the rear plate and took out the Mauser. I set its safety down and closed the plate and attached the pistol to the stock and took my Browning Hi-power and holstered it in my waistband at the hip.

"All right," Rider's voice rang out mightily. "How would you like to do this?"

"Why are you even asking?" I replied.

"Ho-ho! I just don't want to end this bout too quickly by crushing you beneath my might!"

"Shouldn't fight like that. You should be aiming to kill me with your all."

"Hmm, really? I'm a Servant you know?"

"Lancer said the same."

"You took much damage you know? You said so yourself."

"I wouldn't want to handicap the great King of Conquerors. Come at me with your all."

"If you can summon familiars near as powerful as us Servants, do they have powers that can rival Noble Phantasms of their own?"

"They have enough."

"Humph,enough, huh? All right then!"

A blast of wind knocked the grass, the leaves and the tree branches back like an explosion and raged on. That tornado was all I heard as a blinding light from Rider's position spread out to envelope the areas around it. I took the Hi-power and then thumbed the safety down.

The sky was blue and the sun was white hot. The dunes were as far-reaching as the eyes can see. Far away, sands were kicked up to the high heavens, blotting the horizon and the sky and the sun. They came bearing pikes and red standards and other various arms and clad in armor, numbered in the tens of thousands. Leading them was a horseman, his sword glinting under the sun as he raised it high and roused the men with a mighty war cry.

"Behold! Feast your eyes upon our might and tremble! These here dunes are where my heroes have shared their joy and sorrow which will never fade in their hearts. The heroes here, though their bodies have been destroyed and swallowed by the earth and their souls may have been offered to the world as Heroic Spirits, their loyalty remains! This bond we share is my greatest treasure! My Noble Phantasm: Ionian Hetairoi!"

The heroes' cheers reached the heavenly dream above and rang out across the hot desert plains.

Rider thrust his sword in my direction. "Show me your strength, magus! Or are your words just bragging?"

"Charge your army," I shouted. "We'll feed them to vultures!"

"Very well!"

The sandstorm was kicked up again. In it were the shining armor and weapons of Rider's men. They shouted their war cry to the top of their lungs as they ran, charging forward to my position. I was a little flattered.

I knelt in the sand and lay the Mauser across my lap.

Javelins and arrows whistled in the air and kicked up the sands near me.

I pressed the Browning Hi-power beneath my jaw and closed my eyes.

The Earth was quiet. It was Siegfried, Ares and I. My Personas channeled their energy from the Sea of Souls and I was the conduit that would let it out upon the world. I pulled the trigger, and a sharp metallic click tore through the silence.

Siegfried and Ares' magical energy was let out, they glowed brightly as small orbs when they were coiling around me and became one in my heart and burst out of me in burning bright white-hot lights. And with this act, I had performed the spell: Scarlet Havoc.

Six gigantic industrial saw blades fit to tear through freighters manifested in front of me a good distance away. They took no time at all before tearing through the sands like devouring serpents of the desert and beset themselves upon the army of Rider.

Those men bravely charged the might of Siegfried and Ares combined; their heroic war cries went deaf compared to the roaring industrial saw blades. They worked upon them quickly and easily, tearing their body into many pieces and throwing them up to the high heavens. Their hearts were still beating as their bodies were flung to the sky, pumping blood out in a frenzy, spraying like rain from severed limbs and heads upon the sands and the ranks of men below.

Javelins and arrows were still coming my way, but they were too busy to deal with the saw blades to be any accurate with their shots.

A cloud of red sand swallowed the horizon. The war cries never stopped. The saw blades continued to grind. As his men were made feasts for the vultures and trophies for dogs, Rider was still rushing forward in the saddle of his horse with Waver sat in front of him, charging at me by his lonesome.

Rider raised his sword and the sun of this realm was reflected in it as I pressed the pistol's muzzle beneath my jaw, waiting for him to come closer.

Then, he was within longsword range. The saw blades ceased. I squeezed the trigger. My head whipped back as Siegfried manifested. For my miscalculation of the speed of that horse, Siegfried didn't get the first strike in. Instead, the two warriors made their attack simultaneously. Balmung was coming downward from the left and Rider was within range and closer still. When the strikes came together, Rider's short sword had impacted Balmung's short edge. Realizing this, Rider quickly diverted his attack from a downward swing into a horizontal swing so as not to give more energy to Siegfried's sword strike that was coming down on his torso. Balmung was then redirected into the horse's neck instead, decapitating it.

I ducked down into the sand and covered the back of my head. The horse jumped over me with the last of its instinct, headless and pouring blood out of the hole where its head used to be.

The dreamland faded. The blue sky darkened to night, the sun dimmed into the moon, and the scorching heat cooled into the cold winter. I stood up and turned around with Siegfried by my side. Rider was on the ground beneath a tree with Waver in his arms. The horse's headless body was just in front of me, and the head was to my right.

Rider got up and released Waver from his protective arms. Then he laughed. His Master looked at him confused and worried.

"Boy, what was that?" he shouted. "Those blade things, whose Noble Phantasm is it?"

I cocked my head at Siegfried.

"You're kidding. Good grief…" he sighed. "This will be tough." He rubbed the bridge of his nose with his thumb and forefinger and flourished his sword. "Now, let's see you honor your invitation from two nights ago, Siegfried."

"R-Rider!" Waver said.

"Hmm? What is it?"

"You should summon your chariot. Siegfried is said to have skins as tough as irons," it was less of an advice and more of a plea. "That way, you'd-"

Rider patted and rubbed Waver's head and laughed. "I know you're worried, but that wouldn't do much help either. If he can tear through my army, then what good is a chariot?"

"B-but…"

"It's okay," he patted Waver's shoulder and nearly sent him falling. "I've suspected that it would come to this anyway. So watch me, boy, as one of my dear comrades, and tell the tales of my victory over the mighty Siegfried or my defeat under his sword, whichever may the gods decide upon this night."

"But… Rider…"

"Hmm? Are you still worried? Don't be! Though I may lie cold and dead here this night, I have you to see my dream through to the end, don't I? But defeat is long coming and not yet decided. So don't worry about what has yet to come."

Waver shook his head, "No. It's just," he shot a look at Siegfried and then back to his Servant. "Rider, fight with your all. No," he then raised his right arm and the Command Seals glowed red. "By the power of my Command Seal, I, Waver Velvet, command you, Rider, to fight with all of your might."

Then the Command Seals' glow died out. "There," Waver said. "That should at the very least help you a little."

Rider smiled as he shook his head. "You shouldn't be wasting Command Seals by giving orders like that, boy. But since you've used it, why don't you see the battle to the end?"

Waver nodded reluctantly.

Rider came to us, short sword rested at his shoulder. "Well, it seems that it has come to this."

Siegfried smiled, "It's unfortunate, but it must be done."

"Unfortunate? Bah, don't tell me you're having second thoughts on this."

"No, not at all, I'd be very willing to enter a bout with you in fact."

"That's more like it," Rider got in his fighting stance. He held his sword at his hip, while his offhand was beneath his chin, the arm pressed on his chest, right foot to the rear.

"Don't you want a shield with that thing? I can lend you mine."

"I have no interest in borrowing my opponent's weapon." He said proudly.

"All right," Siegfried raised Balmung with both hands on the grip high above his head and stepped his left foot forward.

I backed away from the two.

Rider was inching his feet forward, sneakily getting Siegfried into the range of his short sword. While Siegfried stood still and rigid, observing their distance from each other. The moment Rider was within striking distance, Siegfried swung Balmung sidewise, aiming for the head. Rider stepped his leading foot to the rear and leaned his body back and away and shot his sword hand forward to parry the strike.

The two swords collided with a clang. Then, Rider stepped forward with his rear foot and swung his sword crosswise. Siegfried stepped back and while in the Ox guard, he presented Rider the flat of his sword as he leaned away, putting his mass on his rear knee.

As Rider's sword glided down the blade of Balmung, Siegfried leaned forward into a sword thrust for Rider's head. The King of Conquerors saw this and leaned a little to the right and stepped back and used his offhand to redirect the thrust upward, his hand was bleeding as he grabbed the blade and pulled Siegfried to himself and thrust his sword at the Dragon Slayer's head.

Siegfried leaned to the right to dodge the coming thrust just by a hair's breadth. Then he pulled his longsword out of Rider's grasp, cutting it as he did, and stepped two steps away.

"What's the matter?" Rider said. "Is this all you got?"

"Not even close." Siegfried smiled.

Rider's offhand was healed and at his hip, while he held his sword in front of him with his left foot to the rear and squared with his right foot.

Siegfried held his sword at his waist, sword tip pointing outward to the back, short edge forward.

They inched themselves toward each other. And when Rider was just a little away from having Siegfried within his sword range, he lunged forward and arced his sword to the rear and upward, the sword gathered lightning into itself and descended into a crosswise cut for Siegfried's left shoulder. In response, Siegfried swung his sword up to meet Rider's. Siegfried pushed away Rider's strike with the false edge of his sword and it was up pointing to the night, then he had his sword come counter-clockwise and then down for him to cut Rider's waist. In the hope of cutting Rider into two, I Power Charged Siegfried, but Rider had thought it was wise to jump away from the cut, and Siegfried had only torn through just below the breast of Rider's cuirass.

Siegfried gripped Balmung's blade with his offhand and ran forward, rapidly closing his distance with Rider. At the sudden aggression, Rider was without time to dodge, so he raised his sword high in a reversed grip and welcomed the coming charge. Then, blink and you miss it, Siegfried half-sworded Balmung into the gap in Rider's armor and Rider had plunged his sword in the spot between Siegfried's shoulder blades through to the middle of the chests. Their attack was nearly simultaneous. They both had only grunted to express their pain.

They stood there, wounded and bleeding. Then they separated and just took a moment to regard each other.

The two warriors shared a smile. They knew of the outcome. Rider turned to his Master and collapsed on his back, the ground shook as he did so. Waver and I approached the fallen giant. His expression was somber, a smile on his lips. He disappeared into a blue fire that left no traces of itself on the earth.

Waver wiped his eyes across his sleeves and sniffled.

I healed the wound on Siegfried and approached Waver. "Where do you want to go?"

"Huh? Oh… probably just… just take me back home."

"All right," I nodded.

Siegfried began to dematerialize as I pressed the muzzle of my Hi-power against my temple. Something whistled in the night. Then a burning, throbbing pain flared up in that hand. I felt blood run down my arm. I looked at it, and the blade of the throwing knife was protruding out of the grip of the Hi-power and its handle was out the back of my hand. I couldn't move any of those fingers.

Another whistle, on high alert I snapped to it and saw a glint under the moonlight and raised the Mauser and fired twice from the hip at what I believed to be a throwing knife. Whether it was the first or the second shot that had sparked with the knife, I didn't know.

Siegfried stopped his dematerialization process and had come into full form and I ordered Waver to take cover behind him. Waver crouched down behind Siegfried, and Siegfried gave him his shield. Waver clutched onto the shield and hid behind it.

A white mask emerged from the darkness of the forest. There was one, and then two, and then three, and so on and so forth. Eventually, we were surrounded.

Author's note: Okay, so about whether Kiritsugu saw Makoto get up or not. Well, I don't think that Kiritsugu should be staying around the area where he had just let off a .300 Winchester Magnum sniper rifle, so no he didn't. But maybe there's some magecraft that Kiritsugu can do to mask his shot, I don't know for sure. I'd rather just leave this to your imagination.

About Makoto fixing Kayneth's magic circuits, yeah, I agree it's almost a miracle, but Makoto had only brought back a very minuscule amount of them, Kayneth isn't going to be able to do any more of his powerful magecrafts before running out of energy very quickly. This is to say that Makoto did fix some of Kayneth's circuits, but it was negligible at best. So I don't know if you can call that a miracle. It's still worth taking him in to question him about his powers, I agree, and maybe even marking him as Sealing Designate. But I think that Kayneth and Sola-Ui are not in any interest to know more of Makoto's power at the time, they'd be thinking about themselves and how to live for another day instead of worrying about another magus' power. I'm not an expert on this stuff though, so if you disagree, just tell me. I'll see what I can do.

And about this chapter, well, I hope that the fight with Rider wasn't boring to read. I'm not a very good writer, see? I had thought of extending it beyond what you've read here, but it has gotten long enough I'd say. If you have suggestions then feel free to tell me.

Some of you may see Assassin's betrayal here as stupid, and yeah I'm not so sure about it myself. The idea is that Tokiomi would want Makoto to stay away from the ritual site after he'd done with Rider so that Makoto would not destroy the Holy Grail out of nowhere. That may be stupid of Tokiomi, but I think it's stupider that he'd let an outsider with immense power who wants to destroy the Grail come near it.

Can't say which way is the best to take the story, both are fine by me. If enough people think that I should change it, then I will.