After a long night's rest, the allied group of Magi, servants, and shinigami prepared themselves to meet with Kieri.

Rukia, Renji, Ichigo, Orhime Sado, and Byakuya accompanied Shirou, Rin, Saber and Berserker, and Illsyveil to the church, while Archer and Uryu stood on the outskirts of the group to keep watch for any upcoming enemies. In contrast, the rest of the captains stood on standby as support.

Though not before being made known of some unusual discoveries.

Renji, Rukia, and Orhime continued to stare wide open at what he just heard while Saber gave him a passive look. While walking in the empty streets

"Wait a minute…" Renji stuttered. "You telling me that you are Artoria Pendragon as in…king Arthur who leads the knights of the round table!?"

Saber then nodded. "The same… though I am surprised that the Shinigami would know about me so well"

Rukia then raised both of her fists. "Are you kidding me!" she shouted out. "Even in the soul society your exploits are infamous!" she held up her chin. "But for the legendary king to be a woman all this time..."

Artoria then let out a tired sigh. "As I have said to Ichigo, I have surrendered my identity as a woman long ago to serve my kingdom." Her expression then turned grim as she closed her eyes. "And unfortunately…I have failed in that duty…"

Orhime then looked at Saber with sympathy. "You… still blame yourself for the fall of your kingdom?"

Saber let out a deep breath. "I do…and I thought that by acquiring the grail I could make a wish so that someone else would be chosen as king instead of me…but it seems that was never a possibility to begin with"

Everyone else looked surprised. Practically Shirou.

"You wanted to erase your rule as king…in hopes someone better would come along?" He asked and his Servant looked away.

"Hopefully one that wouldn't lead my kingdom to its destruction," Artoria explained solemnly, and Ichigo sighed.

"Or…" The teen offered. "Said person would probably just make things worse," He pointed out, which made Artoria and Rukia look at him in offense.

"Ichigo, have some tact!" Rukia shouted at him, but Kurosaki shook his head.

"Look, I am not exactly someone who runs a kingdom or anything…" He then narrowed his eyes at Saber. "But hoping someone else will undo your mistakes isn't guaranteed to make things better, Artoria, let alone save your kingdom," His gaze then lowered. "And if anything, it would be best to move on"

Saber then frowned at Ichigo. "How can you say that so easily?" She spat bitterly. "Shouldn't I as a king do everything in my power to save my country from ruin!?"

Ichigo shook his head. "Not if the person who becomes the king instead of you makes the same or even worse mistakes," He responded evenly. "Plus…you're not the only one with regrets"

"Indeed…" Byakuya spoke up. "I as the head of the Kuchiki family also made mistakes, such as blindly following the law of the soul society to the letter to honor my family's wishes…even when it tore my heart asunder"

Artoria's expression then softened and Rukia and Renji looked on at Byakuya in sympathy.

"And in the end, because of that blind devotion, not only have I nearly forsaken my pride," He glances over Rukia, who looks away in shy embarrassment. "But also became an unknowing fool in a traitor's plot," he explained as he looked over to the horizon. "Many a time had I thought of undoing the past to avoid such humiliation and the near loss of those that I cherished," he glanced over to Saber. "However…I would never settle that burden to anyone else…for that fault is mine alone to bear"

Saber then stood and thought about Byakuya's words. "So you are saying…that as a king I should continue holding on to that burden…even if there was a chance to save my kingdom?"

Byakuya then turned around. "That is for you to decide on your own, Artoria Pendragon," He answered bluntly. "However…as a fellow leader who also holds their responsibilities…I would not forsake such a position to another unless I have absolute faith that they can handle such responsibilities..." He then glances back to the king of knights. "Lest I burden myself with another regret"

Artoria then took Byakuya's words to heart and gripped her chest while Shirou placed his left hand on her shoulder to comfort her, which made her feel more reassured. While Rin looked on in concern and Illyasveil looked at her with sympathy and concern

Eventually, the group arrived at the church, and upon entering the building, Keiri Kotomeni stood in front of the altar with his arms and hands closed behind his back while sporting a faint image of a sly knowing smile.

As if he were expecting them.

"Well isn't this an unusual party…" The priest spoke in a dry yet humorous tone. "May I ask why the magi and Shinigami have greeted me here?"

Rin then glared sternly stepped and stepped forward. "You can cut the act Kirei!" she snapped which made the priest raise his left brow. While Shirou stepped beside her and spoke up.

"We know that you used The Holy Grail to cause the great fire ten years ago and seek to use it again to bring destruction to the world as a whole!" He accused.

"And we also know that you have two servants, Lancer and Gilgamesh, at your beck and call, and have been orchestrating events to complete The Holy Grail" Rin added.

Kirei then let out an amused huff. "That is quite a list of accusations Rin and Shirou" He commented with a hint of amusement in his tone. "However, what evidence do you have to even suspect me of such crimes?"

"How about the orphan corpses that you hide away in your basement?" The voice of Yorouchi called from behind the priest. "Who held a grim and disgusted look, while Archer stood beside her and glared at him.

"Because I find it rather suspicious that a priest would hide away the dried-up bodies of children beneath his church," she spoke in a cold, sarcastic tone, and Kirei then flashed a wicked grin.

"So it would seem..." Kotomine responded evenly, hardly even phased that he had been caught red-handed.

"Kirei..." Rin spoke out. "I am demanding as the head of the Tohsaka family for you to stand down and face judgment for your crimes...and maybe mercy can be given" She ordered sternly. "Otherwise you will face the force of not only me, Shirou, Illyasveil, and our Servants...but the rest of the Shinigami too"

Kotomine then let out a low chuckle. "So you believe that just because you outnumber me and my compatriots I will surrender?"

Toshiro then frowned and bared her teeth. "You don't seriously believe that you and your allies can stand against all of us, do you?" he questioned skeptically, but the crooked priest just chuckled at the young Shinigami.

"All that tells me, Captain…"

Toshiro and the others then sense something coming.

"Is that you don't know my allies..."

Then without warning, a storm of blades tore through the ceiling of the church and toward the group, much to their shock!

Forcing Orhime to stand in front of her group and shield them with the orange shield of her fullbring. While Archer summoned Rio Arise to defend both Toshiro, him, and Yorouchi from the assault.

After a few seconds passed, half of the church was reduced to rubble, and when the smoke cleared, it revealed that everyone was successfully protected.

While Ichigo and Saber looked on in dread anticipation of their attacker.

"Gilgamesh..." Artoria spoke out lowly while the king of heroes grinned wickedly in response.

The golden king then grinned. "I must admit..." he prattled. "That I didn't think that you or those mongrels would uncover our ruse in this war. "He then looked over to Archer. "But then I suppose you did have unconventional help"

Ichigo then stepped forward and looked over to Giligmesh. "So you are serving this scumbage to destroy the world!?" he shouted out. "Why, aren't you supposed to be a king who enjoys ruling over people!?"

Gilgamesh then snorted dismissively. " I do not serve him but rather he is my closest and dearest associate and of this world...it is far from worth ruling boy"

Ichigo then wound his eyes in surprise. "What!?"

In the days I have ruled over Urk. Many of my people were strong and virtuous even among the poorest of them...Yet in the current world, such strength and virtue have been stripped from the masses. Allowing the weak to flourish and in the face of such travesty, only a thought cleansing of my garden is needed to clean such filth. So only those with true strength can rise and be made worthy to serve me"

Ichigo then tightened the grip on his zanpakuto. "So you're willing to kill billions of people...just so you can rule over the few that are left!?" He then glared at Giligmesh murderously. "You have no ounce of shame do you!?"

Gilgamesh then furrowed his brow in cold indifference. "As the one rightful King of this world, the people should be grateful I giving them a chance to prove their worth"

Ichigo then growled. "Bastard..."

Byakuya then glared at the arrogant king.

"And you intend to fight us all on your lonesome?" The Nobleman questions while Gilgamesh frowns at the threat.

"Whenever there are one or many matters not, for I alone am enough to crush all of you..." he answered in a haughty and vicious tone.

Until a smirk crept up on his face.

"But why soil my hands when I have subjects to do so in my stead?"

Then as soon as he said that. Everyone in the group felt several powerful figures surrounding them.

Which was composed of Lancer, a black rope man with a gray mask that consisted of black upper narrowed eyes and fronted teeth, and to Rin's and Shirou's surprise. Their friends and classmates, such as Shin, who wore his shirtless vest showing off his newly gained muscle, and Sakura in a black and red striped dress. Her violet hair turned white and her eyes were of a shining crimson red. Standing in front of the golden king.

"Sakura, Shinji...' Shirou stuttered. "Just what happened to the two of you and... why are you helping these people!?"

Sakura then let out a somber smile at Shirou's outburst. "Isn't Obvious?" she responded quietly. "We are here to fight for our right to the grail of course..." she then stared down at Rin. "Even if it means going against you, the magi, the Servants, and the rest of the Shinigami..."

Rin then gasped in disbelief. "Sakura you...you can't be serious!" she screeched out. "Don't you realize that if you don't back out now you will be raging war against all of soul society and not just a couple of captains but against their entire military force!" she then turns towards Sakura's brother. "And Shinji…you of all people should realize how insane this all is!"

Shinji then snickered. "Yeah, it is pretty insane..." His tone then deepened. "If one wages war against a nation without an army"

Then, as if on cue, Sakura summons dozens of huge, giant ones made up of her own shadow, each with five glowing white eyes and a eerily thin bodies like a moving silhouette before they immediately attack the group. Forcing Byakuya to defend himself and others by using the petal blades of Senbonzakura to deal with the new enemies before him. Yet the countless blades could barely cut through the monsters' bodies, much to his surprise.

While Sakura then smirked at the captain's feeble attempt. "And not formidable soldiers…"

Byakuya then shifted his stance while Saber and Ichigo stood by his side.

Hitsugya then stared nervously at the shadow giants conjured by Sakura.

"Each of their levels of mana...are practically on the level of a Noble phantasm!' He realized this with dread and attempted to help out the trio by trying to cut down one of the shadows with his zanpakuto.

Only for his attack to be stopped when Lancer clashed his spear against the captain's blade and to the former's surprise, the Servant hit him with enough force to send him flying out of the ruins of the church and a few seconds later engaged Hitsugya in a rapid melee duel with the young prodigy barely being able to defend himself against the Servants swift and vicious blows while also noticing that Gae Borg has been enchanted with ruins.

Eventually, the Spear-man managed to use his superior skill, speed, and strength to deflect the captain's zanpakuto so far to the left side that it left Toshiro completely vulnerable to an incoming stab from Lancer's Spear.

Yet just when the young prodigy thought he would receive a fatal stab wound to the heart. A cloud of ash surrounded Lancer and prevented him from launching the winning strike, and while he growled in annoyance at the user of the ash. Hitsugaya smiled in relief to see Rangekou backing him up.

On the other side of the field, Shinji appeared right next to Shirou with the latter just barely noticing him and when he tried to strike him with his duel blades he noticed that the bottom of Shinji's left foot flashed a green light below before disappearing from his sight again.

"He has high-speed technique too!?' Shirou thought in surprise until he realized that Shinji tried to drop-kick him with his left foot, which Shirou swiftly blocked with his dual blades. 'Just how has he gotten this powerful!?'

But a few moments later, Shirou then noticed that he was becoming woozy. "W-what!?' he stuttered, while Shinji then tried to attack him again with his right fist.

"Shirou!" Illyasviel cried out in concern, to which Emyia in turn responded by raising the blunt side of both Sakura and Kanshou in a cross to block Shinji's fist.

But when he did, Shirou nearly lost his stance upon feeling the force behind the blow to the point that it unleashed a shockwave that blew away the ruins and dirt around the crumbled church, much to his shock. Before noticing his mana was being absorbed from his body into Shinji. Now realizing where the teen's newfound strength came from.

"What is the matter, Emyia!?' Shinji taunted Shirou. "Don't like when I can use your magical energy against you!?"

Shirou then bared his teeth but before he could make a counter Shinji was then swatted away by Berserker and sent crashing into a nearby building, Much to his surprise.

"Shirou, are you okay?" Illyasviel called out and he nodded.

"Yeah, I'm fine" he responded while rubbing his wrist. "I was just caught off guard when he sucked my mana"

Illyasviel then sighs. "Well, he shouldn't be much of a problem now that Berserker managed to land a hit on him"

"Oh...is that what you think!?'

Shirou and Illyasveil gasped when they saw Shinji standing up from the crash site of the building with a broken neck and twisted limbs and fingers.

"Because I am just waiting to receive seconds!" He boasted with a wicked grin as he then flexed his limbs and fingers back into the black in place before doing the same thing to his neck with a sickening crunch.

"That..." The Einzbern head stuttered. "It's impossible!" she shouted out in fear. "No human can survive a direct blow from Berserker!"

Shinji then chuckled at that statement. "Yeah well...' He stated as he then with another spark of green light from beneath his left foot suddenly appeared below Berserker.

"I wouldn't call myself human anymore" he spoke almost solemnly and then launched a kick at Berserker's stomach with the giant immediately countering by blocking the strike with his stone axe.

"Oh!?' Shinji laughed amusingly smugly. "You're blocking my blows instead of just tanking them like a champ!?' He taunted. "Don't tell I absorbed that much energy already?"

Illysaviel then snarled. "Go and crush him Berserker!' she ordered, and the behemoth of a Servant then rushes at Shinji, who then proceeds to dodge all of the Servant's attacks. While Shirou looked for a strategy to deal with Shinji's ability.

Meanwhile, on the outskirts of the Church, Renji was busy fighting against the new black robe Servan.t

Who managed to easily dodge all of his strikes from Zabimaru while throwing several black dirks at the vice-captain. Each aimed at a vital area, yet Renji just barely managed to evade and block the projectiles.

"Slippery bastard..." He spat in annoyance. He then saw the Servent leap up into the air and launch dozens of Dirks at Renji from different angles to prevent the vice-captain from dodging or blocking them all.

"Don't underestimate me!" Renji roared out and then channeled his spiritual pressure through his zanpakuto and swung it. He unleashed a massive gust of wind that pushed away the Dirks.

But to Renji's surprise, it did not affect the Black rope Servant.

Seeing his opportunity, the Servent then charges down at the vice-captain, and delivers a decisive blow to strike with the former's guard open.

However, the black servant was blasted away before he could deliver it. Making the heroic spirit grunt in pain as he rolled carelessly on the ground. While Renji smirked in relief"

"Thanks for the save, Sad," the vice-captain thanked

And the fullbringer nodded. "No problem"

Renji then let out a short chuckle. "Right…" he responded evenly and then the two proceeded to engage the black servant in combat.

On the other side of the battlefield, Archer then confronts Kirei who looks over at the heroic spirit with an intrigued expression.

"I must admit, it is rather peculiar that someone, even a servant, managed to find those orphan bodies in the church," Kiri mused as he walked around Archer. "Makes me wonder...on whom exactly are you?"

Archer then let out a sly huff. "I'm supposed to tell you who I am...priest," he then moved faster than the eye could see and had both of his dual blades already right in front of Kirei.

"But I would much rather see you dead," he bluntly responded and slashed both of his dual blades at Kotoomine, fully intending to cut his chest and heart to shreds.

Yet a command seal on Kiri's right arm then begins to glow increasing his physical capabilities to the point he was able to dodge Archer's strike by doing a back flip and from his left sleeve he pulled out and threw four rapper-like swords with a black handle at the Servent. Which the former easily deflected with his dual blades.

'So...' Archer analyzed. 'He is capable of using black keys.. physically holy scriptures from the bible to slay Dead Apostles' He then looked over the glowing symbol on Kirei's right arm. 'And command seals to boast his physicals on the level of a servant...relativity speaking' He then dismissed his dual blades and projected his bow to his left, being relevant isn't enough.

Archer then unleashed a hail of arrows at Kirei in an attempt to overwhelm the vile priest with their sheer speed, power, and numbers.

However, Kotomine gave theServantt a knowing smirk and then right before the arrows could strike them. The priest then pulled out two more black keys into both of his hands and managed to deflect all of them with ease.

Mucto Archer's surprise.

"What is the matter, Servent?"Kirii asked sarcastically. "Are you in disbelief that you couldn't kill me as easily as you thought?"

Archer then focused his eyes on the priest and noticed something familiar flowing out of his body and into the black keys.

"So..." The servant mused. "The Kirei of this timeline must have somehow honed his spiritual power to better fight against Servants...and it is as just as dark and sinister as I expected it to be." He then let out a dry sigh.

'Which I guess this means I have to put a bit more effort to put down this monster for good…'

Meanwhile, on the other side of the battlefield, Saber, Ichigo, and Byakuya were busy fighting off the Shadow giants.

With Saber cutting them down by using her sword skills and mana burst, Bakuya unleashed his Bankai and tore them to shreds, and Ichigo unleashed his Getsuga Tenshou to split and vaporize several of them in half...only for dozens more to arise up from the shadows without pause.

Meanwhile, Rin and Orhime fought against Sakura with the latter holding them off by attacking them with black tentacles with crimson outlines. Rin countered them by unleashing waves of magical energy with her dagger and Orhime defended them both with her orange energy shield.

"Sakura, I'm pleading with you to stop this!" Rin called out. "Otherwise I will be forced to"

"To What!?" Sakura snapped stunning Tousaka. "Kill me?" she responded coldly and Rin slowly stepped back. "In case you have forgotten, the holy grail has also been an object created and sought after by our families since the very beginning," her face then hardened. "And it's corruption changes nothing"

Rin then gruntedinn frustration. "Changes nothing!?" She raged out. " You are willing to aid people who seek the destruction of the world to rule over its remains and out of their sick pleasure!" She argued. "How can that possibly aid you or your family!?"

Sakura then lowered her gaze. "It is not what I want...it is what my grandfather wants, and as of now, I and my brother side with Gilgamesh and Ki, not because we agree with their desires. But rather because you and Illyasveil have forsaken your rights to the grail and seek to destroy it"

Rin then stuttered in bafflement.

"You...you can't be serious!?" She spat in disbelief. "You can't possibly be willing to sacrifice the whole world just because your grandfather told you so!"

Sakura then paused for a moment and let out a deep breath. "It was what I was raised to be Rin..." she evenly responded. "To become a powerful magus to serve a family in desperate need of an heir...as our father intended" Her expression and voice then suddenly became icy cold. "And while I am willing to follow my adopted family's wishes despite my sentimentality, " she glared directly into Rin's eyes. "You abandon our family's wishes because of it"

Rin gave her sister a hurtful look, and Sakura glared with contempt. "And for the sake of my family...I am willing to cross any line to grant their wish"

Then before Toksuka's eyes, several dark rips tear themselves open from the air, and out of them pour hundreds of Hollows that all swarm around the ruins of the church.

And from the rip that was the closer to the church.

Yet the power radiating from it was far greater than any of the corrupt spirits and even surpassed that of many of the servants and captains.

While Saber gasped and her eyes dilated in fear upon sensing the presence. For it was something that she hadn't felt in a long time.

"It can't be..." she spoke out in a slow whisper. As the humanoid gradually stepped out of the rift.