Ha! Actually managed to upload this chapter still in this year! Happy Holidays, everyone!

Not dead, never dead, I'll finish this! Though I must admit that Fates of Ice and Fire simply flowed more easily than this one, so I tend to focus more on it. And I must admit that I am thoroughly oversaturated when it comes to the Fate-franchise. My crossover at least has the ASoIaF characters carrying it, but here I set out to fix all the things I dislike about it, but still have to build on existing canon. Oh well, I still do love my OCs, so I simply can't leave them hanging.

Therefore without further ado, the next step on this already quite long adventure:

Chapter 20 - Kai

Kai found himself in a strange clash of reality and fantasy. On one hand the last couple of days had been a trip into insanity like he had never experienced before. Ramesses the Great himself barged into his life, forcing him to participate in a life and death struggle for the Holy Grail. His nights were filled with dreams of ancient times and he learned so much from them and his conversations with the old pharaoh. Like a sponge he sucked up every piece of knowledge about the bronze age, about the exploits of Ramesses and his peers. The past became so vivid in front of his eyes, especially now that they had been fighting alongside Richard the Lionheart and that girl soldier of one of the World Wars against Attila the Hun. Insane was the only description in his mind.

And yet... and yet he found reality steadily keeping up with him. He saw how his nightly exploits bothered his parents and harmed his relationship with them. School suffered from the fallout of his and Sabrina's headless battle and finally there was the police, or more specifically Kommissar Reinbrecht, in whose custody he found himself now for the second time.

More fallout of our battles...

He looked out of the car windows glumly, reflecting on the charges brought against him as he watched the familiar scenery of Einzbern rush past him. Reinhard had explained that new footage from the first highway battle had turned up and that to him it was obvious that the young boy shown standing in the chariot was him, so Kai was ordered to come with Reinhard for further questioning.

"I'm sorry, but you are wasting your time, sir", Kai was feebly attempting to defend himself. "I don't know anything."

"Oh, don't play dumb on me, boy! Not again, not after you showing up on two seperate scenes of severe vandalism. You are involved. And I want to know how!"

And that's how he ended up on the passenger seat of the policeman's car, with the invisible Archer hovering behind him.

I guess without his presence I wouldn't be half as stubbornly resistant in this situation...

It was then that he noticed something odd in the kind of scenery that was passing his view. While he wasn't familiar with all parts of Einzbern, he did knew this part and he did knew the one in which the police station was, given that he used to pass it every day on his way to primary school back in the days.

"The police station isn't anywhere near this route...", he realized aghast.

The officer seemed slightly uncomfortable at that question.

"It is not our destination...", he admitted sheepishly.

Kai blinked. There was only so much oddness he could take for a day.

"Are you kidnapping me?", Kai was surprised about how calmly he processed that possibility, though he suspected the presence of the towering invincible pharaoh protecting him caused him to accept it with good humor.

Reinbrecht shifted uncomfortably in his seat.

"You came voluntarily...", he mumbled.

"Because you made it sound like you are taking me in...", Kai protested.

The detective gave a sigh before changing into a parking lane and stopping the motor with a twist of the key. It was a quiet and old housing area at the edge of an abandoned train station that must have been from the pre-war era. Nobody was outside at this early hour and barely any car drove along the road. Instinctively Kai checked the door next to him, it still locked much to his chargrin.

"To be frank, I cannot bring you to the police station...", Reinbrecht scratched the back of his head. "Not while... everyone acts like they are possessed by something."

Kai didn't like his dark tone at all. And his wording made it seem like... magic was involved.

"What do you mean?", he asked carefully.

"I am just saying that the whole town has turned crazy over the last few days. First these Vipers you pretend you just accidentally ran into, undergoing a complete makeover, call themselves True Amazons and start rampaging the streets, then this insane road battle demolishing the autobahn...", he shot him an accusing look. "I've seen the footage, you know! You can't wiggle yourself out of this one! You were there! Again! Whenever something awful happens, you show up! So I have to ask you, what do you know about that pharaoh dude you were riding with?"

Kai gulped. Reinbrecht was serious. They had definitive proof that he was there. Or at least... that is what he was claiming. For some reason he suspected that the footage of him was not quite as sharp in quality as Kommissar Reinbrecht made it look like. Kai clung to the hope that the man was just bluffing.

"If you have proof that I was there, why don't you bring me to the police station then?", he asked once again.

"Because... that proof disappeared shortly after I've watched it", he admitted with barely contained anger.

"What? How?"

"Because as I said, every single one of my collegues who worked on the case is acting strangely. They swallowed this ridiculous 'indie movie' explanation wholeheartedly and everyone who doubts it got called up to the marshal and afterwards they are singing the same damn song and are pretending never to have had any doubts whatsoever."

"Except you...", Kai guessed.

"Bloody right! Before I get brainwashed as well, I thought I better take my luck by seeking out the boy who is the obvious connection between both happenings."

Kai couldn't help but just grunt in acknowledgement. The panic and worry in the voice of the detective made him uneasy. It also made him fear what this dubious enemy the two of them were facing was capable of.

Is this the work of the magus who trapped us in this battle royale?

Reinbrecht kept drumming impatiently with his fingers on the steering wheel.

"Just keep silent. I have time...", he threatened.

Kai got once again aware of the suffocating smell of sweat, garlic and cigarettes in the car. He wondered whether he kept it this way on purpose to torture suspects.

"Fine... if you won't tell me anything about the costumed idiot, then at least tell me what's up with those priests."

"Priests?", Kai asked back inadvertently, now that came utterly out of nowhere.

"I suspect a group of priests was behind the brainwashing of the marshal. They had no business with any of this, but came regardless, had a meeting in his office and then everything and everyone went crazy."

"I... I am sorry, I only ran into these bikers, I don't know anything about priests", he admitted with sincere confusion.

The officer's frown deepened.

"Mmh... I suppose you don't. You are too bad with lies to look this shocked on purpose."

Kai shrugged, unsure how to respond to that. He didn't feel like being sarcastic while in a cross-examination.

I should better let him think whatever he wants...

"Nab Kai. Be careful!", the voice of the pharaoh suddenly sounded into his ears. "A bounded field was just erected in this place."

"What?", his mouth was faster than his caution.

"Just joking of course", the detective went on, oblivious to the threatening words just spoken.

Was one of the magic circles just triggered?

"This kind of boundary field feels different to the king, it is hard to say for him."

It was then when the expression of Kommissar Reinbrecht darkened. A black van had changed lanes to park right in front of them, its right side sliding open to reveal three men in loose black suits wearing crosses who stepped onto the sidewalk, one elder man with grey hair and two young men so muscled you'd expected them more as bouncers in a club than in a church. Each of them was looking even more grim than the last one. They looked at the car with hard and uncaring eyes as they approached it.

"The king senses a hostility he knows well from the battlefield", Archer said, apparently reading Kai's thoughts again. "These men come to kill."

"When you speak of the devil", Reinbrecht cursed and reached for the car key.

He turned it, but the motor didn't react act all, there was not even the sound of a failed ignition to hear.

"Futile", Archer commented darkly.

"This is just too cliché...", Reinbrecht cursed once again, he thought hard for a second and then turned back to Kai. "You stay put! I'll handle them!"

Reinbrecht's hand moved past the boy, unlocking the glove compartment and Kai found himself gulping and shrinking back when he took a holster out of it. The weapon was remarkably small, but it was still a deadly weapon right in front of his eyes.

He seems to expect the worst as well.

The weird priests were not coming any closer, they were waiting just slightly in front of the car. Apparently they were already confident that there was no escape for them anyway. Kai watched Reinbrecht attach the holster to his belt and leave the car with a sense of dread and helplessness.

"They are going to kill him", Kai whispered.

"It seems to be a likely outcome."

"Do something!", he hissed. "Protect him!"

"The king will obey."

Kai undid his seatbelt and awkwardly crawled to the driver seat to get a better view on what was happening outside. It looked a bit like a showdown scene in an old Italian western, with Reinbrecht standing next to the car, being faced down by the grim priests.

"Fancy meeting you guys out here. This town truly is small, huh?", the detective attempted to treat them casually, but there seemed to be no mistake of a misunderstanding.

"We have come because we are worried about your state of mind, Kommissar Reinbrecht", their old leader said with a voice so thin Kai had trouble listening to it through the car door. "It seemed obvious to us that you are obsessed with a delusional fantasy and we want to help you see reason."

"How kind of you, but how I investigate a case is frankly none of your business", Reinbrecht was still acting amiable, but Kai could see how tense he was.

The leader of the priests then looked into the detective's car and his eyes made contact with Kai's shortly. His hostile expression sent a shiver down his spine.

"And we are taking the boy with us", the grey-haired man added.

Reinbrecht whistled upon that mockingly.

"Talk about things being cliché... that is not going to happen!"

The grey-haired man nodded in understanding.

"I see", he said darkly. "I had just hoped to solve this issue without it getting ugly."

The two young priests now stepped forward, in their hands appeared sets of long and slender blades as if out of nowhere. Reinbrecht took a careful step backwards, his hand reaching for his holster, though he was still just highlighting his weapon to the would-be attackers.

"Whoa, I don't know where you've got the fancy knives, but I assure you, you don't want to go down this path!", the detective declared threateningly.

... and the priests... chuckled. And drew even closer. Reinbrecht seemed just as irritated by their reaction than Kai was. By now he must have realized that he should have drawn his weapon while he still had time to do it, since he was grimacing visibly.

"Last warning, drop the tableware and back off!"

Another step backwards, but the priests had no need to follow up. Their weapons were raised into the air. Reinbrecht's reaction of drawing his pistol happened as if in slow motion. If they had just charged him, he may have succeeded, but these priests didn't need to do that, they swords turned out to be thrown and were already in the air by the time Reinbrecht had his gun raised and taken aim. A violent gunshot rang through the open street regardless of whether would have been skewered afterwards or not... and he wasn't.

The throwing swords were plucked out of the air shortly before they had reached him. Sliced apart by a bronze kopesh when a certain Egyptian pharaoh manifested right in front of the police detective. The gunshot happened simultaneously and Reinbrecht lowered his gun with an incredulous face as he realized that the man whose back he just accidentally shot, didn't even receive a scratch from it.

"Bloody hell...", he just said.

The priests however jumped back and dispersed, even the old man much to Kai's surprise.

"Begone!", Archer thundered. "Further hostility will not be tolerated!"

They must have realized by now that they were vastly outclassed, but they still made not effort to lower their weapons. Instead they shot a few hostile glances towards the car and Kai within it. For some reason Kai felt restricted and trapped within the hexed vehicle. He knew that Archer could easily intercept every attack towards him, but the possibility itself made him waver. For that reason he pused open the door and stepped onto the sidewalk, moving in behind the pharaoh and next to the still awestruck police detective.

If the worst comes to pass, don't hurt them too much..., he thought glumly.

"Are you happy now, boy?", the elder priest now addressed him. "It is exactly this kind of recklessness that made our presence necessary, Magus!"

"Be assured, Nab Kai is no treacherous mage and is not bound by any of their inhuman orders", Ramesses explained darkly.

"Even worse... a heretic then, bound to become a threat to society", the priest scoffed.

Meanwhile Reinbrecht glanced unsteadily towards Kai.

"What the hell is going on?", he whispered.

Kai shrugged, making a helpless motion with his arms.

"I am just as confused as you are, trust me", Kai whispered back. "Though it seems they do blame me for that autobahn incident just like you do."

"I wonder why...", the detective sneered.

Kai turned back towards the priests. They were still eying Archer warily in a stand-off they could only loose. Kai realized that he simply had to talk with them, to prevent them from doing something reckless. Overcoming his confusion and intimidation, he faced them head on:

"I don't know who you are, but I can assure you that I never had any attention to fight in broad daylight and don't have it now either. My hands were forced by that Rider, who was wantonly killing people. Now that he is dealt with, I can assure you that we will try to keep a low profile."

"And we are supposed to just believe you and walk away?", the old priest said threatening.

"I don't see that you have much of a choice", Kai glanced towards Archer, who was still glaring at them with his sword drawn.

The stand-off continued. It was strange. They were waiting there with their weird Wolverine claws drawn, keeping them cornered near the car even though they must have had no way to enforce any of their threats.

Could it be... they are waiting for something? Or... someone!

Kai glanced over his shoulder and saw two more black cloaked priests approaching from the sidewalk there, they too were armed and ready to kill. The first thought passing through his mind was that he had to alert Archer, but the moment he turned back to him, the assault had already started. He was fending off another wave of throwing swords, sending sparks and slashed blades flying into the air, before he himself disappeared with a 'whoosh' and a rough gust of wind that Kai had to shield his eyes from. He was barely able to turn around to see that Archer had just jumped to his back and was cleaving through the attack of those who were sneaking up to them. Out of the periphery of his vision he then saw another volley of pointy projectiles rushing towards them from the front, but Archer had already jumped back, where he was just waiting to intercept them in their flight.

Even though the attack was perfectly timed and Archer was still weakened from the usage of his Noble Phantasm the day before, the Heroic Spirit seemed completely unfazed about being surrounded and Kai saw little room for the attackers to possibly overwhelm him.

... at least this was his thought before the sound of three explosive bangs made him wince. The sound was similar to gunshot of Reinbrecht's pistol, but it came from somewhere to their left. Kai barely recognized what was happening, it came about far too fast, but he noticed that the throwing swords were destroyed shortly before they reached the pharaoh and his kopesh and that both the priestly attackers and Archer turned towards the source of the attack, with Archer even discarding his sword and summoning his bow. Kai looked astonished towards Reinbrecht, but the detective seemed just as suprised as he was, scanning the sidewalk to their left with tensed shoulders, but with his gun still lowered.

"I don't know whether you are suicidal or just plain stupid, but this attack ends now!", a female voice shouted in heavily accented English.

Out of a small side alley they came. Kai noted it were two people, with the young Asian woman who had raised her voice taking the lead. She had long shoulder-long hair and was wearing a red summer dress that made her stand out quite a lot, even without her fierce scowl. The man behind her was less spectacular, if not for his unusually long hair that stood in contrast to his business-like suit and pair of glasses on his brow. With both hands buried in his pockets, he showed none of the aggressiveness that everyone else at this weird battlefield displayed. And yet both of them were the ones who drew all the attention towards them. Not only the intercepted priests were opening up their formation, eyes darting warily between the newcomers and Archer, but Archer himself completely dropped his focus on the priests and stepped between Kai and those two. He dismissed his swords and re-summoned his bow, holding it low but still ready for a fight.

"Magi...", he growled, with a gaze so dark and hateful, Kai never had seen him like this.

"This is not your fight, why did you intervene, girl?", the priest in chief asked defiantly, in English just like the young woman did.

"Be thankful. My pupil was just preventing further embarrassment on your part", the man was the one answering with a bored expression, Kai noticed a thick English accent. "I am Lord Archibald El-Melloi II and in the name of the Mage's Association, we will now take care of the concealment of this Grail War."

The head priest sneered.

"Concealment? Bah, there is already footage on the internet! Whatever concealment you speak of, it is already too late! You Magi have failed in containing this ritual and now we all have to deal with the consequences!"

"Like you say, we all have to deal with it... The Mage's Association regrets that its overseeers were not present when Jubstacheit von Einzbern overstepped his bounds with this ritual, but now we are here to set things right. And I hope to do this together with your Holy Church. It would be most regretful to to set the spark of conflict between our organizations again for such a pointless reason."

The priest didn't reply, but just glared at the newcomers with unabashed hostility, his expression not giving away any hint of what he thought about these words.

"You must see that you have no chance at restraining a Heroic Spirit or containing his Master", the woman added. "You are just throwing your lives away here and you know it."

More silence followed. But then, after careful consideration, the old priest shrugged.

"Then may this be as it is, Lord El-Melloi... but be assured, we will still be here and watching. Any further outrage will not be tolerated and you will be held personally responsible", he gestured towards the men on the side of Kai and when he looked over his shoulder, he watched them disperse with unnatural speed and stealth.

The other priests returned to their van and just like that, they jumped into it and drove away as if the driver was just waiting for them to do so. Kai was still unsure whether this was a good thing or not. He looked towards Reinbrecht and what he saw in the man's expression let his heart plummet back into his bowels. He was clenching his teeth, his eyes darting around frantically, but his entire body was unnaturally still to the point of looking frozen in time. Kai's first association was for some reason with what he witnessed in Archer's Reality Marble where Rider's warriors were similarly put into a magic chokehold before he struck them down.

When did they...

He looked back towards the newcomers. Now that the priests have disappeared, the woman allowed herself to relax and took a step towards them, but the moment she moved her foot, Archer's bow was raised into the air, a bright arrow of light already prepared. The two Magi backed down at his hostility and their slight confusion was immediately confirmed by the pharaoh's threat:

"Your assistance is not welcome. Leave now and the king will be merciful this time!"

"We just want to talk to your Master...", the woman replied awestruck, even though she was still backing down.

"The king will not repeat himself! He will not allow his Master to fall under the spells of your double-tongued lies!"

Kai remembered how he talked about Magi before and how he always thought it odd how Archer expressed his relieve that he was not a true mage by any stretch of imagination. Now he could see why. This was not just distrust due to how they took Reinbrecht stealthily out of the picture. This was sheer hatred.

What the hell did Magi do to him...

Before being able to ask any questions, Archer's expression changed from defiance to surprise. With one absurdly swift motion he changed his target to the left and let go of a whole series of golden arrow-beams. Kai shivered as explosions echoed through the street and the entire area in front of them was soon covered by a thick wall of smoke.

"Archer! Hem Nyu! Stop it! What are you thinking! Stop it!", he gave a panicked cry, only to be utterly ignored by his companion.

Unsure what else to do to stop this mad onslaught, Kai jumped forward. Not quite in front of his bow, he wasn't that suicidal, but to his side so that the pharaoh would find himself unable to ignore him. He didn't ignore him then... but his reaction was not quite what Kai had expected. The moment he passed the bowman, Archer suddenly appeared in front of him, with his arm lunging out to shove him aside so roughly that Kai stumbled and fell onto his butt. Looking up grimacing and silently cursing, he realized that this at least stopped his needless attack on those who had tried to help him. And then he saw that the smoke was already clearing...

... and the first thing coming into his view was a priceless looking sword, glowing faintly with a golden light that was strangely familiar to him. For one mad moment he thought that Saber had jumped in between them, but this sword was a tad larger and the person holding it was not a red mountain of steel and muscles. This holy blade was held by a young girl with blonde hair, wearing a simple white T-shirt and casual jeans, even though both were now slightly scorched in some places. She was breathing heavily, but it was obvious that she had been Archer's target and that she had been able to deflect all of his arrows as she had run down the street. Now she was just standing there between them and the Magi as she was staring down Archer with defiant green eyes.

"Daijōbu, Saber?", the woman behind her called out.

Kai couldn't believe his ears.

Did she just say Saber?

Einzbern, several hours earlier

Waiting was always the worst. Especially when you were waiting for some idiot who ran off to do something stupid and futile. Not that that was something you'd say your tutor into his face, even though she had a hunch that this certain tutor wouldn't be all that bothered by her inevitable lecture.

Rin Tohsaka was sitting on one of the two beds in their hotel room, fidgeting with her fingers and wondering where the girl who sat on a chair opposing her managed to get all this patience with which she was meditating. But this regal aura seemed contagious. Just by watching her, Rin found herself suddenly a bit calmer.

"You haven't happen have been a buddhist in your last life, do you?", she joked.

Saber opened her eyes, regarding her Master with raised eyebrows.

"Not to my knowledge, no", she replied easily. "Is something wrong, Rin?"

"Ah... nothing... it's just... even in this unfamiliar city, I am just getting nervous that all of this has started again. Another Grail War, we fighting together to bring an end to it. Though it makes me wonder... there is still a chance that the Einzbern's haven't messed up and that they have truly created another Grail invoking the Third Magic in this short timespan."

Rin had read through the readings of the ley lines while still in London. The Einzbern lines were starting to get drained only shortly after the Fifth Grail War. Two years. Far too short a time to accumulate enough energy for a miracle when the Fuyuki Grail needed 60 years of charging under the best of conditions. Rin could only guess what the Einzberns did to fire up this Grail right away, the first thing coming to her mind spelled certain doom for this town, but there was still a slight chance that something else was happening.

"What are you trying to say, Rin?"

"I am just asking how you see things... You had always regarded your stay in this age as... something of a short break in between two steps of your quest. And yet here we are. In our reach is another Grail, one that might not be tainted but actually able to grant your wish. Aren't you eager to claim it if that is the case?"

Saber lowered her gaze and took a deep breath before replying.

"You are right... it certainly is tempting...", she said, slightly lost in thoughts.

"... but you sound like something has changed...", Rin observed.

A small smile crept up onto her lips.

"I've got time to think, I guess. About the things I've achieved, not just focusing on my failures. In that regard, my stay in your age proved fruitful."

"Don't tell me you have grown content and don't want to go back into your time...", Rin said mockingly.

Saber frowned, but by now she had grown accostumed to the humor of her Master, so she led it slide.

"Much the opposite, Rin. I may have come to the conclusion that my initial idea to undo the choice of the sword was a tad rash, but it doesn't change the fact that I still have a kingdom to save."

"Another go, then?"

The girl nodded, a simple gesture and yet her expression was one of determination.

"I see...", was all that Rin could say.

She felt rather humbled by such a strong sense of duty. A duty that was steadfast enough to overcome 1500 years. Rin wondered how much Saber's subjects would be able to appreciate so much self-sacrifice. They certainly would never get to know the lengths their monarch was willing to go for their sake.

"And what about you, Rin?"

"Me?", she blinked in confusion about the sudden question.

"Is it so strange to ask one's Master whether she is willing to join the fight once again?", the way she said it it sounded more like a statement.

"No, not at all", Rin admitted. "Uh... it is just a difficult question to answer. After all, even two years ago when I set out with Archer, I didn't do it for any particular wish I wanted to get granted. In a sense, the same way you feel duty-bound to your country, I felt duty-bound to the legacy of my father. I just joined it for the sake of joining it."

"And now?"

Rin grimaced.

"Given what I have seen, I would be already content if nothing too bad happens..."

Too many smiles have already been shattered for the sake of this cursed cup...

At least now, things were mostly fine. They had their sacrifices and they lost friends on the way, but Fuyuki was safe for the moment. She had talked with Sakura on the phone shortly before leaving for the airport. She was keeping an eye on things at home while her sister was abroad and even though she was not very eager to become the temporary supervisor, she did her job dutifully. Of course they also talked about the nightmares she still had, about the scars that would never heal. Rin cursed how blind she was, how she willfully denied the reality of what had happened to her sister. At least Zouken and Shinji were gone and the Matou were no more, so there was one ray of hope they fought long and hard to reach. Endangering their achievement through the use of just another Grail seemed wrong to her, even if that may have only been the arrogance of a person who was only focused on the one path in front of her.

Thankfully, before too vivid pictures started to flash up in front of Rin's eyes, the door opened and her Clock Tower tutor, Lord El-Melloi II, entered. His eyes were downcast as he put away a small casket into his travel bag. Rin knew she should do some snide remark, but unlike herself, she started with a questioning "And?"

The man shook his head, seating himself next to Saber before giving a disappointed sigh.

"It seems all seven were already summoned. Nothing happened."

Rin's eyes involuntarily fell upon the command spells that had appeared on El-Melloi's right hand the moment they had entered Einzbern. She had never seen him as nervous as he was in those hours afterwards, frantically preparing everything for a summoning ritual. He even had taken a strong catalyst to Einzbern as if counting on such an opportunity. Rin was only able to catch a glimpse upon it before he dashed off, but it seemed to have been a piece of fading red cloth.

And yet now has come the time to complain. Rin gave a frustrated sigh in contrast to his disappointment.

"You are lucky that this is the only thing that has happened! Gah, I can't imagine what would have happened if you've summoned Berserker!"

"With that catalyst?", El-Melloi tried to sound doubtful, but his expression suddenly grew a lot darker as if remembering some tidbit of history he had pushed aside up until then. "Well... maybe... if that had happened, it would have been most unfortunate..."

"Unfortunate?", Rin had trouble keeping her voice low. "We have trouble enough sustaining Saber, even after you've modified a special contract your predecessor thought up to share my burden. Now add to that a Berserker unable to suppress his mana connection sucking you dry. You've been dragging us into this conflict, I don't let yourself get away by killing yourself!"

El-Melloi's face was in a perpetual state somewhere in between acknowledgement and annoyance as he waited for the wave of complaints to wash over him. When Rin was finished, he leaned back and returned to business as usual.

"That still leaves the question open why I have been chosen by the Grail. The way I have read it, the Fuyuki one only very rarely chose more than the usual seven and most of these exceptions were brought upon by Magi tinkering with the rules", he was barely able to hide his disappointment as he leaned back in his contemplation.

"I think I've got an answer to that", Rin sneered. "Unlike a certain someone chasing ghosts, I have phoned several local hospitals and doctors to confirm a hunch. A Magus instantly getting Command Spells the moment he enters the city grounds just seemed too suspicious to me, especially since the Fuyuki Grail never had a problem reaching eager Masters at every edge of the world."

The lecturer raised his eyebrows and motioned her to go on.

"You see... a couple of innocent lies and a tidbit of suggestion later I've found out that there are several cases of people having localized rashes having appeared all over town during the last week or so. These doctors are utterly stumped about it since no ointment seems to work, obviously."

El-Melloi looked as aghast as he could possibly be as he took in that information.

"Just... how many?", he asked carefully.

"I have heard of a dozen cases, it likely is even more."

"So many... Masters?"

"Unlikely, if they were Masters, they surely wouldn't have felt it necessary to see a doctor, even at utter confusion about their Master rights, they would have been briefed by their Servants."

"So... it just randomly hands out Command Spells..."

"They give them away like candy!", Rin emphasized the absurdity of it. "You know what this means?"

"This Grail doesn't care about people joining willingly, it is a trap for anyone with a couple of dormant magic circuits."

"I thought that was already obvious, given the evidence we already had. I'm talking more about the properties of the Grail."

El-Melloi nodded, a grave expression on his face. Each Command Spell was a miracle on its own, a crystallized magic powerful enough to bind even the strongest Heroic Spirits to your word. Three of them were a power beyond the imagination of most ordinary mages. But dozens, maybe even hundreds of them...

This Grail has an insane power supply. And even worse, the number of possible sources for so much energy decreases with every new revelation.

"So... shall we head out, then?", Rin wasn't sure whether it needed to be said, since this had been their actual plan in the first place, but she just had to ask after seeing his lapse in judgement. "If it is as bad as I think it is, we don't have any more time to idle around."

His mouth was twitching, but once again El-Melloi nodded. Saber was already up at her feet by the time Rin raised from the bed, but this kind of professional attitude was par of course. She was also the one taking the lead once they stepped onto the streets of Einzbern, walking among the morning crowd as casually as possible.

"Any sign of the Servants?", Rin asked after they made their first silent sweep around the hotel without her showing any sign to head for a specific direction.

"I am afraid not, they are not in this part of town", Saber replied with stone-faced expression.

"Well... we have plenty of districts to check. Let's move on to the main road and go on from there", Rin declared.

This was about the clearest part of their haphazardly put together plan. Since Saber was only sustained by Rin and what little magical energy a third-rate like El-Melloi was able to spare, she was in no condition to fight another Servant head-on. Prowling around at night as if they were part of the battle seemed like suicide, therefore they did the opposite of what a true Master would do and patrolled in the light of day, hoping that if they run into another Master, they would have a chance to talk this way. Of course, the only question remaining was whether the other Masters knew that battle during the day was stupid and the footage that had brought them here wasn't very encouraging when it comes to that possibility.

At least Saber's severely weakened state one major advantage: With so little magical energy it should be very difficult for other Servants to perceive her from afar, but it didn't hinder her senses the other way around. Therefore she was able to sneak around nearly as untracable as Assassin while still being able to lead them to the others as if she were a human-sized dowsing rod.

"Anything here?", as soon as they arrived at the major road leading through the entire width of Einzbern, Rin noticed that Saber was looking around with wide eyes.

"No... Sorry if my reaction has confused you, Rin. It is just...", she looked around once more, taking in the impression of shops and little cafés despite the noise of the cars. "... I was just thinking that while it looks different in some ways, not all that much has changed."

Rin was taken aback by that.

"You were here before?", she asked incredulously.

"Only in passing, driving from the castle to the airport, but I can still recognize some parts of this place", Saber replied matter-of-factly. "For me it was barely more than 2 years ago, so it should be 12 from your perspective."

Realization clicked in place in Rin's brain. She knew from looking over his shoulder when Shirou was reading the Clocktower documents of his father that the man had been cunning, so this new fact shouldn't have been as surprising as it was.

"You were summoned in Germany, huh?", Rin mused, barely registering the nod Saber gave. "Pray tell, just how powerful were you in Europe? You unlocked an additional Noble Phantasm while we were in Britain, but of course it was sealed because you lacked the mana. I'm just wondering, hypothetically, were you able to use it back then when you were still connected to a Greater Grail?"

Saber looked back, a troubled expression on her face.

"I cannot say... My name certainly carries more weight in Europe than in the far east, but still... I am at the fringes of my point of origin. Maybe I could give a clearer answer in France, where many writers expanded my life with fiction, but here I am just as unsure as you are."

Rin sighed. Of course it wouldn't be that easy. It was not like it mattered for the moment anyway. Without a Greater Grail, Saber wasn't even able to manifest her armor or use Invisible Wind to conceal her sword without endangering her fragile life. She was more or less just a shadow of a Heroic Spirit, nothing more. Given that situation, it was of upmost importance to go and find local Masters and ally with them, for without the help of other Heroic Spirits, they wouldn't be able to influence things at all.

"Still... thanks for giving your best", Rin forced an encouraging smile onto her lips, but her frustration about having to rely on others so much betrayed her true feelings. "Let's get going. The day doesn't get any younger."

El-Melloi gave a sneer behind her. He had listened to their conversation silently, but he did raise his voice upon hearing the intended slight.

"I apologize for my outburst of childishness, Miss Tohsaka, even though I assumed that you of all people would understand."

Rin frowned at that. Since Saber was leading the way in her own pace anyway, she slowed down and fell in besides the lecturer.

"How so?", she implored.

El-Melloi rubbed his temples, obviously uncomfortable with the subject.

"You told me before that Saber wasn't the one you started out with", he started carefully.

"No, Shirou was the one summoning her. What of it?"

"So you know the pain of loosing a companion... and the temptation of a possible reunion."

"Ah", Rin gave a dark chuckle as she realized what he was getting at. "I'm sorry, but I am unable to understand. If that guy ever dares to show himself again, I would have to kick his face in."

She watched his irritated reaction at that with a certain sense of satisfaction.

"I am... I am sorry to hear that you didn't have the best relationship", he stuttered grimly.

"Hey, you should know me by now. I am a strong advocat of equivalent exchange and there are things that warrant swift payback", Rin explained.

"He indeed was a troublesome man", Saber added casually from in front of them, certain that those words coming from her were enough to get the message across.

As she was turning towards Saber, Rin could barely hear El-Melloi mumbling something under his breath. Expecting something targeting her, Rin donned her sharpest smile:

"Something you want to say?"

"Nothing...", he muttered uneasily.

El-Melloi kept quiet from then on and walked with a surly expression, an expression shared by Rin now that she had been reminded of unpleasant things. At least the uncomfortable silence was interrupted by Saber suddenly whirling around, scanning the street behind them with her eagle eyes. Maybe a bit too suddenly, several other people were shooting her irritated looks.

"A Servant?", Rin whispered.

Saber nodded:

"A strong presence, closing in fast..."

"Why the hurry?", Rin asked back.

"Has he spotted us?", El-Melloi guessed.

Saber's mouth was twitching.

"I trust my instincts and usually they would warn me of hostile intent."

"I see. What the-", he couldn't even finish his sentence as Saber's eyes followed a car rushing past them.

"He is in there!", Saber called out before breaking into a fast jog.

Rin heard Lord El-Melloi cursing next to her as she was busy peeking into it. She recognized a male drive and a young boy on the co-driver seat, the back seemed empty. Unsure what else to do, she broke into a run to at least attempt to catch up with Saber, who at least had the decency to not charge through the street like a super-human.

"Stop, Saber! Could you make out anything more about him?"

"I'm afraid not", she had to shout back since there was already some distance between them.

"Fine then, don't let them out of your eyes, we catch up as soon as we can!"

Much to Rin's dismay, the traffic was far from dense and the traffic lights seemed to work in favour of their prey, since the car smoothly disappeared at the next crossing, following the street to one of the more outlying districts. Saber followed shortly afterwards, only Rin and El-Melloi were soon left behind, though that might have had also something to do with a sudden coughing fit of the lecturer.

"That's... really... not... how I... imagined this plan...", he complained in between his breaths.

"Don't blame me, blame your smoking habit and your ruined lungs...", Rin shot back, annoyed to have been slowed down to a crawl.

They lost precious minutes as they were jogging down ever more rural looking streets. Saber and the car were long gone, but through their connection Rin was at least always sure where exactly they went to. Following this mental trace of breadcrumps they arrived in a fairly spacious district made up of rows of tiny housing blocks. In between two of them, Saber motioned them to come closer. Rin was barely warmed up, it seemed absurd to her that El-Melloi next to her was cleaning his face with a paper tissue.

"With all due respect, you should go exercize more often...", she sneered.

"As if I... ever had the time... to run around for no reason like an idiot...", he shot back.

"Well you see, sometimes you do have a reason and then you see what happens."

Rin turned back to Saber, who stood there impatiently with crossed arms. Knowing that she was slightly upset about their tardiness, Rin motioned her to explain what she had seen.

"They had stopped several minutes ago. The boy is the Master and the driver is a law enforcement officer trying to arrest him. At first they were just talking, but now there is trouble."

"Trouble?"

As if to answer her question, an explosive gunshot startled all three of them, followed by a series of barely audible slicing sounds. Rin looked out towards the street where it came from, but saw nothing out of the ordinary. The oddness of the picture set her off immediately.

"Bounded field!", she realized.

"It was erected shortly before you arrived", Saber continued. "Oddly enough, I don't sense any other presence aside the one from before."

"Maybe... Assassin?"

"What kind of Assassin would announce his presence like this?", El-Melloi interjected.

"Fair enough...", Rin nodded. "This is your mission, so what shall we do?"

"I think we should go in... though I'd advise Saber to keep her distance. I don't want to cause any misunderstandings."

"A sensible decision. I will intervene only when danger seems apparent", Saber declared.

Rin shrugged.

"If you are fine with this plan, I am as well. Let's go!"

With that they made the few steps into the boundary field and what had appeared to be a peaceful sidewalk immediately turned into a battlefield. Even though there had been undoubtedly only two people in that car shortly before, now it were three of them standing next to it, one of them so out of place that it had to be a Servant. It was a towering middle-aged man draped in armor that looked like he was embraced by a giant bird's wings with feathers made of gold and lapislazuli, his features were lined and strict as he was staring down their attackers. The people behind him were more mundane. There was an unshaven guy in a trenchcoat and of course the boy she had seen before, though Rin was unsure about his age since he looked very young to her. And much to her dismay, the lack of command spells on the adult man's hands made it almost certain that he was the Master of that Egyptian.

But the men this particular Servant held at distance with his curved bronze sword were wearing familiar outfits. Those black robes and the crosses were pretty obvious give-aways, especially from a secret organization that prides itself in being, well, secret.

Executors...

Rin cursed silently and El-Melloi next to her did the same. By now they must have already realized that they had breached this sacramental bounded field, but they were to focused on their assault to bother right now.

"It seems we need to introduce ourselves fast", Rin whispered as they crept closer in the shadow of one of the buildings.

"It seems like it", the lecturer's response was matter-of-factly as he motioned towards the battlefield."Ladies first..."

Rin cocked a grin as she fired up her magic crest. As her arm was overwhelmed by the familiar feeling of the unnatural tissue grafted onto her, she felt the knowledge of her ancestors creeping into her mind. Equipped with that she stepped out into the open just as a second clash was starting up and the Executors unleashed another volley of Black Keys.

"Gandr!", she ordered, intent to set an end to this madness...

Kai

It was absurd. Kai was still looking into those fierce green eyes, trying to make sense of it.

No way this is Saber, Saber is a burly bearded dude for crying out loud!

His thoughts were a mess. In his misadventures with Ramesses he had trained himself to always look for hints about whom they were facing in an attempt to help his companion with this knowledge, so this was his first instinct here as well. She was either a Heroic Spirit or at least a person capable of standing up to one. The only ones of the former they hadn't met yet were Caster and Berserker, but both classes didn't seem right. In a way, she reminded him in a lot of ways of Assassin, so she must have been some kind of soldier, but he had a hard time coming up with any sword-wielding teenage girls in history. The name Jeanne d'Arc floated around in his head, but he also had the faint memory of having read somewhere that this Jeanne was just carrying the French standard into the battle, not a glowing sword.

Then again, the Lionheart never carried Excalibur...

In any case, even though Archer was weakened, the girl still seemed horribly outmatched. Kai jumped up to his feet, his ass still aching from cushioning his fall shortly before, but he needed to put a stop to this before things got even more out of hand.

"Hey! I am your Nab, right? And I ordered you to cease this nonsense!", he called out, unsure how to convince him.

"The king acted in defense of his Nab", Archer shot back icily, not leaving his eyes for a second from his target. "Be assured, this is no mistake."

"They helped us!", Kai pleaded. "They helped you!"

"A pointless gesture, the king and his Nab were at no point in serious danger. They did it to deceive you", Kai watched his eyes narrowing as he added in a low voice: "You who have no experience with their kind..."

It was now the Asian woman who stepped forward, even though the girl with the glowing sword adjusted her stance to keep covering her.

"I don't know what kind of hero you are and why you are so suspicious of our intentions, but I'd like to inform you that those Black Keys targeting you had sacramental binding spells woven into them. You are right that they couldn't possibly harm you, but if they had successfully restricted your movement, the same couldn't be said of your Master!"

Archer gave a sneer.

"Highly unlikely. Even if they had managed to land a hit, the king is not one who needs to move to strike down his foes..."

"So an Archer who takes pride in his archery for a change?", the young woman observed. "Even though you still waste a lot of magical energy to create that spiritual sword you had there."

The pharaoh didn't reply, just continued his hostile glare with his bow still pointed at the girl with the sword. The girl... that just had to be a Heroic Spirit, as Kai realized.

"You are calling him Archer!", Kai scraped together his best school English. "And you call her Saber. This means you fight for the Grail!"

The woman frowned at that, seemingly dissatisfied with what she was hearing.

If they do fight for the Grail and are proper wizards, Archer may be right after all...

"I assure you, this is not the case", the British man was the one replying. "What we told the Church Executors is the truth: We are... observers... of the Mage's Association... of which I am sure you have never heard of before, didn't you?"

"Not really, no..."

"As expected...", he sighed. "Please understand, we are here to investigate how ordinary people like you have become Masters and put an end to it, but we need your help to do it."

"No further word!", Archer thundered. "The lies end right here! You retreat now or the king will end you himself! This woman you Magi use as your shield will not withstand him!"

The girl tightened her grip around her sword.

"We will see...", she said with icy voice.

"Archer!", Kai screamed out. "I have never seen you act like this, come on! I want to at least listen to what they have to say."

He balled his right fist and glanced unsteadily to the red markings on its back.

"Please, don't make me force you!"

A dark frown went over his face and for the first time since this madness started, Kai felt intimidated by him.

"You would go so far for this folly?"

"We need allies! That's all what I'm thinking about", Kai nearly cried as he was letting go of his anger and helplessness. "Come on... we are going to challenge a castle full of wizards... Don't you think that thought scares me? This whole thing just freaks me out! If we charge in like this, we might as well have some of them on our side!"

The next seconds a maddening silence set in. The only thing Kai could hear was the frantic beating of his heart as he watched for any sign of a decision on Archer's face. But then he finally lowered his bow, even if there was still no trace of real relaxation.

"Make no mistake, Nab Kai. As soon as the king senses them bewitching you, he will intervene and his justice will be swift and merciless."

"How comforting...", the Asian woman exclaimed, even though the girl spirit kept both her guard and her freezing glare.

Kai gave a deep sigh. It was a compromise, if nothing else. He turned back towards the strangers.

"This is about as much as I can promise for the moment. So... please tell your business."

"I would like to", the British man replied. "But I am afraid that even though our friends from the Church were so kind to hand over ownership of this Bounded Field, it is not one to block out sound. After this much ruckus, I would prefer to move to somewhere quieter where we can talk without the risk of someone walking in. And then...", he looked past Kai and Archer, towards Kommissar Reinbrecht who was still frozen in place. "There is also need to take care of those who have no business in these matters at all."

Not liking the dismissive tone with which he spoke, Kai couldn't help but take a step backwards. Archer immediately sensed his defensiveness and raised his bow once again, swiftly followed by the girl readying her sword as well. In a matter of seconds, things seemed to have snapped back into the stand-off from before. The black-haired woman groaned in irritation about that, but this time Kai awaited an explanation. One the British man was eager to deliver, giving his surrendering raised hands.

"Do not worry, we have no intention to harm him. We just have to ensure that nothing said or seen will leave this place", he assured.

"With which his lordship means that we are erasing his memories of this and putting him to sleep... temporarily!", she added the last one with a glance at the distrustful Archer.

"So... you are going to flashy-thing him, huh?", Kai asked, still not quite certain what to make of that.

The young woman frowned, unsure how to reply, it was the man who nodded casually:

"Yes, pretty much."

Kai looked back at the frozen Reinbrecht, whose sweat was dripping down his cheeks as he seemed to push desperately against the invisible shackles that had him in their tight grip. He pitied the man, but given the trouble he had caused him, he couldn't help but feel relieved that he would be taken out of the picture for the moment.

"Fine... do it, we are going to watch you..."

Kai stepped aside from the car, partly to give them room to approach Reinbrecht, but mostly to give Archer room to withdraw to his side and he actually did so with just slight hesitation. As soon as that room was given, the man stepped forward, rolling up his sleeves.

"Shouldn't I better do that?", the woman asked immediately, causing him to stumble.

"Excuse me?", he asked back, plainly indignified as if intending to break the tension. "What makes you think I'd mess up a simple suggestion spell like this?"

The young woman blinked in confusion.

"I... I actually just thought since you have taken more of a share of burden right now to allow me to fight, it would be sensible for me to use my freed up magical energy."

"Oh... yes, that makes sense, sure... Go ahead!", the man cleared his throat upon that and straightened his back.

The woman shot him a suspicious glare, but went on. Kai watched with a sinking feeling in his stomach how she went to Reinbrecht and put her hand upon his forehead, whispering some words, while the man stepped behind the police officer. Only her last command was faintly audible to Kai:

"Und nun schlafe!", much to his surprise, he recognized the words as German, even in spite of the heavy accent that made him unable to catch what little snippets were audible to him.

As soon as she said those words, it was like the strings holding Reibrecht were cut and he just slumped down into the arms of the British man, who was already waiting there to catch him. He then dragged the unconscious police officer back into his car, where he was quickly and neatly placed in the driver's seat. While he was busy doing that, he glanced over at the girl spirit, who had by now somewhat relaxed, but still kept an eye on Archer. Even though he was still trying to make sense out of her, he couldn't help but notice a faint trace of smoke coming up from behind her right upper arm.

"Uh... sorry, but you are on fire there", Kai pointed carefully to his own arm to signal the place.

The girl blinked and then proceeded to put it out by slapping the spot with her bare left hand.

"You have my thanks", she replied casually.

Kai was unable to give back more than an unsure grunt. It was actually kind of relieving that she wasn't holding Archer's hostility against him, but he was not sure how to put that into words.

"That's about it", the Asien woman explained as she walked towards the girl swordswoman. "He will wake up in a few hours, hungover and believing that he has spent the night like this after too much drinking."

"Will that truly convince him?", Kai doubted that Reinbrecht was one to drink himself into a stupor after work, regardless of whether he looked like it or not.

"It will be the only memory he has, so it kind of has to", the woman shrugged.

"In any case, we need to talk privately", the man returned from the car after also having put the officer's gun back into its holster. "Is there any place nearby where we could?"

Kai looked around, ignoring Archer's dark glare. He knew this district, but mostly from passing. Under ordinary circumstances he would have proposed to sit down at home, but due to the shaky circumstances of their meeting he could not risk it... and he could not expect them to follow him to the next bus station now that they were so far away from home anyway. Therefore there was just one place being on his mind, the place that was the reason why this part of town was so familiar to him. And despite himself and the situation, an evil smile came across his face as he looked over to Archer.

Don't worry, you'll like the place I'm going to lead them to!

A tiny frown formed on the pharaoh's brow, but Kai turned back to the mages before he could ask any questions.

"Just follow me, it is not far at all!"

He walked onwards with a steady pace, Archer turned into Spirit Form to watch of the strangers, while they themselves followed in some distance. Two crossings later they arrived at their destination. Amidst a number of detached family houses, among carefully tended gardens and hedges, there was one black spot ruining the entire picture. The building appeared like it used to look just like any other house in this quiet and idyllic part of Einzbern, but the garden was overgrown, the grey rough rendering charred and the blackened tiles on the roof were opening up a huge hole. It was an empty ruin, barely a skeleton of the house that it once used to be.

"You can't be serious", the young woman complained.

"We don't have many optiones in this part of Einzbern, sorry", Kai replied with a shrug. "Don't worry, it looks grim, but it is safe. I used to play here all the time when I was smaller."

Whether Archer appreciated the mages being intimidated by that place or not, Kai couldn't tell. He just jumped over the broken remnants of the garden gate and went with steady steps through the hole that used contain the front door. The inside was dark and empty, but after all these years it just smelled after damp wood and nothing worse. It looked like they had removed all the interior left intact and piled up only those things burned beyond recognition in several places. Kai the place that likely had been the living room and seated himself there on a particularly sturdy pile of rubble, motioning the strangers to do the same. Since they were directly beneath the place where the holes in the roof and the upper floor coincided, a ray of sunlight shone directly in between them, giving the conversation just the kind of spooky atmosphere Kai had expected.

"Everyone regards this house as haunted and for some reason nobody bothers to tear it down. There is no way anyone will bother us here", he said easily.

"If the neighborhood shuns it, why do you know it so well?", the man asked with a deep frown.

Kai could not help himself, his grin continued.

"I have my mysteries as much as you certainly have yours. This is my place, nothing more, nothing less! That reminds me: We haven't formally introduced ourselves yet, haven't we? I am Kai Reymeyer and, as you have seen, I have contracted with Hem... nh... Archer."

"Pleased to meet you", the British guy replied politely. "And I am glad we have met first, since we wanted to meet you anyway. I am called Lord El-Melloi II., I am a lecturer at the Clocktower university and my assistant here is Miss Tohsaka, a remarkable young student under my tutorship."

He must have noticed Kai's lost expression when he talked about that university, as he immediately went on to explain:

"This place is the heart of the Mage's Association, a prestigious school in London where practicioners of western magic flock to hone their craft. Imagine Hogwarts, just with everyone being a Slytherin."

Kai nodded, awed at the implication, but Ms. Tohsaka seemed rather upset.

"Hey!", she protested.

El-Melloi shrugged:

"To be fair, that comparison makes me Snape!"

That made her reel back a little, as she was struggling for words. In the end however, she spoke rather sheepishly.

"Truth be told: I have absolutely no idea what you are talking about..."

The professor seemed incredulous:

"You are born into a prestigous family of Magi and you have never heard of- wait, you are right, you are born into a world that doesn't care about the media ordinary people consume. Of course you have no idea what I am talking about", he sighed. "Why the protest then?"

"Because... it didn't sound very nice..."

El-Melloi cocked his head as he thought about that. He then nodded with a dismissive hand gesture.

"You know what: Fair enough!"

Having been sidetracked up until then, the two of them now turned their attention back to Kai.

"You understand the implications of what I am saying?", E-Melloi asked now with a serious expression.

"Yeah, don't worry, I believe that you two are wizards or something."

"Magi...", he corrected with slight annoyance.

"In any case, Archer gave me the ghist of it and after all I saw, there is no reason to doubt anything about it. What does however irritate me, is who Jeanne d'Arc over there is. Don't tell me there are two Sabers running around all of a sudden!", Kai nodded towards the corner from which the girl kept watch over Archer, who was still remaining in spirit form.

She frowned at that, but left it to the Magi to explain her being there.

"You are right, actually...", Tohsaka started. "She is a complicated case. She is Saber. But she is obviously not your Saber. She wasn't summoned into your Grail War, but... in the last one. You may or may not be aware of it, but this kind of conflict over the Grail happened five times already in Japan alone. This last one was just two years ago."

"So you've won?", Kai asked in confusion.

"In a way...", Tohsaka shrugged. "But I got no wish granted if that is what you ask. The Fuyuki Grail was... defective, in a way."

Kai was taken aback. Archer had told him that the magical energy supplying the Grail War would last for a few weeks at most. He had accepted the thought of him dying and disappearing for exactly this reason.

"Wait, but your Saber is still here... how... how is this even possible?", he asked in astonishment.

"Only if you are a prodigy like my student here", El-Melloi muttered. "And I am afraid that you are not."

"Guessed as much...", Kai admitted.

His disappointment was surprisingly subdued, mostly because he had no intention to become a 'magus' at all. Especially if that meant... He could not end these thoughts because pictures of what he had seen in Sabrina's house flashed up in his mind all of a sudden. And suddenly, remembering the words of Saber that this was the work of Magi, he found himself frowning at these two people in front of him. They appeared powerful, to be sure, if a little eccentric. But certainly they didn't look like monsters who would do things like... well, that.

"Is something amiss?", Tohsaka must have been able to see his thoughtful expression.

Kai didn't know how to phrase it. He couldn't straight up ask them if they were evil, but he also couldn't say anything about what he had seen in Sabrina's home. It was just a vague hunch, but he was afraid that it would have severe consequences, if not for him then for Sabrina herself. Therefore he just shook his head dumbfounded. Upon that, the young woman just smiled cockily.

"Als Problem sprechen in Englische Sprech, uns kann ändern auf Deutsche."

Kai blinked in confusion. El-Melloi did the same.

"What did she say?", he asked with raised eyebrows.

"I'm not quite sure", Kai replied warily.

Miss Tohsaka then crossed her arms in annoyance.

"I just offered to switch to German..."

"No need, thanks...", Kai raised his hands in surrender.

His school English may have been terribly accented due to lack of practice, but at least he was able to somewhat understand both of them. What she had just said contained German words, that much was right, but he was not quite sure whether his ears could survive such a conversation.

"You must know that Tohsaka's ancestors are Japanese Christians who were taught in Western Magic by a German magus visiting the country after it opening up to the west", El-Melloi explained easily. "Fortunately magic works with the meaning you connect with the words, not with the meaning they commonly have."

The young woman glared at the professor, but Kai was rather glad about the change of subject that eased the tension even more.

"In any case, you said you have come to observe and intervene..."

"And you are in part responsible to it, Kai Reymeyer", El-Melloi began. "I hope I don't need to explain to you that fighting in the middle of the day is not a good idea. You have seen those Church Executors tasked with keeping magic a secret. They have become only so desperate as to attack you because you have caused them to work overtime."

Kai recalled their words and that they were obviously upset about that whole highway battle thing. At first he was embarrassed, he knew that they had messed up the first time, but studying the faces of these two mages, he got an idea.

"It was necessary!", he explaimed. "This Rider guy was eating people for fun! Don't you think I shouldn't have intervened?"

"Eating people?", the two exchanged glances and Kai noticed that even their Saber raised a chin as she was listening in. "You mean... he fed on their souls?"

"Exactly!"

El-Melloi nodded and Tohsaka looked grim.

"You had no other choice but to fight him at day?", the former asked carefully.

"Indeed. That was when he was hunting", he replied immediately.

"I see... then there was no other way. It was certainly reckless, but we can't have anyone kill indiscriminately here."

It was not quite the overwhelming agreement Kai had hoped for, but it was good enough as he took his words in.

"Don't worry. He will not show up again."

Miss Tohsaka raised her eyebrows upon that, El-Melloi took the information in without another word.

"Okay... so what exactly is your plan then? You haven't just come the whole way to complain about how we handle things, aren't you? Let me hear it and then Archer and I can decide whether it sounds worth our time", Kai was fairly certain that Archer would have his objections, but he needed to ask regardless.

El-Melloi gave a deep sigh before he began.

"Well... truth be told, our plan doesn't seem much different to your own. Have I correctly interpreted your words from before that you are going to challenge the Einzbern Master at their castle?"

Kai was taken aback. He remembered that he used an argument like that to convince Archer.

Those guys are perceptive.

"So that means our guess is right: The Einzberns are still in their castle? We just intended to find out..."

"We?", Tohsaka asked.

Kai frowned.

"Archer and I", he said carefully, not intending to disclose any of their allies. "He told me that the Einzberns are part of the founders of this crazy battle ritual. It is said that the castle is ruined and the Einzberns long gone, but it seemed too much of a coincidence to me."

"Good thinking then", the young woman replied. "Because you are likely correct. According to our Saber, the castle is perfectly fine and inhabited, but hidden and protected by a very strong Bounded Field. Penetrating it will be quite the challenge. You are also very likely right that their family head, Jubstacheit von Einzbern, is keeping his own Master hidden there to wait for you rookies to exhaust themselves."

"Let me guess: Only you can open up that field?"

She grinned.

"Thanks for the flattery, but I am fairly certain that any sufficiently strong Servant should be capable of cleaving a hole into it. Your Archer included."

"Good to know..."

"But you are right in saying that it will be difficult. You are challenging a Magus in their own workshop. This is the place where they are at their strongest. It would be foolish to acompany Archer to this place, given how difficult it will be for him to protect you. Those idiotic Church Executors are nothing compared to what will await you there."

Kai couldn't see Archer, but he could feel his hostile glare. Even he himself thought that if they wanted to betray him, letting him part with Archer would be the easiest way to do this. Luckily, even if he wanted to heed their advice, there was no way for him to do it.

"I can't leave his side, I'm afraid...", he replied truthfully.

He then explained to them briefly the situation all of the Masters at Einzbern found themselves in. How there are automatically triggering magic circles and bounded fields hidden all over town and how they get attacked by magic beasts the moment their spirit companion leaves their side. Of course he omitted the part that those things were mostly found out by Simon and Sabrina respectively.

The magi listened silently, but didn't seem surprised at all.

"This confirms our suspicions... this Grail War is a trap. For Jubstacheit, this must seem like the safest way to ensure victory since none of you can support your Servant at all", El-Melloi explained upon seeing his confusion. "Don't worry. We will accompany you to the castle once you decide that this will be your path. We need to put a stop to this as soon as possible. For your sake as much as for the sake of keeping the destruction of this Grail War limited."

"So that's all you can offer?", Kai asked warily, even though they were wizards, they seemed nowhere nearly as powerful as a Heroic Spirit and even their Saber seemed surprisingly outmatched against Archer.

"We don't have much room to act, I'm afraid", Tohsaka said. "The Einzberns in general and specifically Jubstacheit are obsessed with filling the Grail and restore the Third Magic. No words of the Church or the Mage's Association will make them stand down. If we have to put a stop to it, a full-out assault seems to be our only option. Though I am afraid only Archer will not be enough. We should try to talk with the other Masters before setting out."

Kai had some trouble to keep in his amusement about that notion.

"I can try to talk to them", he promised vaguely. "Is there any way I can contact you when I've done that? Do you have an address, a magic spirit connection or an owl?"

Tohsaka frowned, El-Melloi just gave a soft chuckle as he fetched a mobile phone out of his pocket.

"To be frank, we are indeed somewhat unusual magi, so your question was actually more warranted than you think", he mused as he showed Kai his number and let him add him to his contacts (a Grail War folder was still not drawn up as of yet).

Kai then rose from the rubble on which he had been seated. He didn't know what else to talk about right then, from now on he would let Simon and Sabrina decide. Though he was still reluctant to confront Sabrina with them right now. Given how her homefront situation had turned out to be, Kai thought it entirely understandable if she immediately sided with Archer.

"Well then... nice to meet you, Mr. Snape, Miss Granger... I will call back once we've made our decision, is that alright?"

"Don't worry, we are not going anywhere", El-Melloi gave back.

Not knowing what else to do, Kai went for an awkward bow.

"Goodbye then, and... enjoy your stay in Germany, I guess..."

When he turned around, it was Tohsaka who raised her voice:

"There is just one last question I have..."

Kai turned back to the two, but the woman was looking at the air where Archer stood.

"The Atlas Academy in Egypt traces their origins back to the court mages of the earliest pharaohs. Magic is deeply intervoven with almost every royal dynasty there. So why exactly do you mistrust us so much?"

Archer took on material form again before he answered, standing in the shadow with his arms crossed as he looked down at the young woman.

"This king cannot speak for those coming before and after him. He will just say this: He has seen the treachery and vileness of your like when you are unshackled from the laws and regulations of the Kemetite priesthood. You are certainly no priests in service of the welfare of the people and that itself makes you dangerous."

El-Melloi looked like he had some objections, but reconsidered and closed his mouth before speaking them up. Archer then vanished just as fast as he had appeared and Kai this as his cue to leave.

Kai took a deep breath and sighed once he was out in the streets again, with the warm sun shining on his face.

"Do you still think they are that dangerous?", he asked the seemingly empty air.

"They are, that is in their nature. But... the king must say that Nab Kai has handled them surprisingly well."

Kai grimaced.

"I'm not sure whether I should appreciate the compliment or be worried about what you think of me."

Archer didn't seem to want to give a definitive answer as he changed back to his original subject:

"Don't mistake the king's caution for simple prejudice. Even he knows that practitioners of magecraft have their use, if turned against the proper targets."

"So you agree with me including them in our plan?"

"For now..."

And again, Kai thought that this had to be good enough. A second sigh went through him. Not much of what had troubled him had changed, it even got more complicated with Church and Hogwarts teachers entering the scene, but at least he got rid of Reinbrecht and had the remaining day time to think about how to salvage things with his parents.

Maybe I'll let this El-Melloi guy write me a letter of recommendation or something...

With a dry chuckle on his lips he went on his way to the next bus stop.

Author's Notes: Well, this was it, the chapter you all have waited for ever since I started baiting people with Rin and Waver. Now you can see for yourself that they are essentially forced into a support role. You can also see from Rin's musings that I'm not necessarily sticking to the letter of the UBW Good End. Certainly the events prior to the Einzbern Grail War have been similar, but I went for some kind of 'best of' in which all of the characters got as much closure as they possibly can get. When it comes to specific events however, I'm going to leave that to your imagination.

Also my apologies that this has turned out to be the kind of info-dump sequence I myself hate so much when it comes up in Nasu's works. But at least I won't bother you by repeating the same explanations over and over and over again.