(AN) The last time I updated, I commentated that Extra Encore was about to start. Now it's at episode 10 xD. Sorry for the late update, but you guys know that life is a bish, and exams were breathing fire down my neck. I appreciate all the reviews I received for the last chapter.

I would like to thank lioncousin for Beta'ing this chapter and also Tsunashi777 for suggesting and helping me with a few points in this chapter. I hope you guys enjoy this chapter, and hope I don't receive too much stick.

(((Finding oneself)))

The wooden floor creaked under his feet, as the last Uchiha took careful steps into his burnt apartment. He ignored the broken splinters that crunched under his path and the way everything smelled like ash. He promptly made his way to the one thing he had come to acquire which coincidentally was the same thing he dreaded using again.

After having picked up the broom stick that was lying by the door, he slightly tapped the tatami roof above the grandees' burnt carpet, and pushed to the side. An object fell through the crevice onto the floor soon after with a soft 'thud' beside him.

The object was heavily covered in some old torn cloth, and one could just tell how long it had been since the last time it was used just by looking at the cobwebs that seemed to try adding a design to the dull covered cloth.

He grabbed hold of the object by one of its end, and shook it fiercely to rid it of the webs which covered it, before uncovering the blade that was stored in. He impatiently tore the old cloth away, as he sat on one knee.

The sword that was his from another world separated by space and time… the Sword of Kusanagi that has been forgotten by its wielder.

It had a black scabbard and matching hilt and was a little longer than a regular chokuto blade. His expression turned solemn as he stared at the blade in his arms.

"I think you shouldn't be so quick to give up on your past…"

Somebody had told him this once, when he was still getting adjusted to his 'surroundings' ever since he was discharged from the hospital. But, the things that happened while he held this sword and things that were imprinted in his mind when he was with them… things that he shouldn't be forgetting anytime soon.

He never thought he would see the day where he would find the need to use this blade again but, he supposed he would have to considering how dangerous the secret war he found himself participating in was. Especially since one of his enemies had gone after him directly earlier in the day. The last Uchiha knew he would need some sort of edge to fight his battles in case he once again came in contact with direct combat.

Well, it didn't matter as long as he used this blade to achieve his wish as well as the wishes of that person. The person to whom he owed everything to. For having prevented him from taking the wrong path. He admonished himself lightly for even trying to forget and bury what happened back then deep into the wretches of his mind.

He slowly unsheathed the blade from the scabbard to see that it still hadn't rusted over the six months since he last held it. He let out a bitter chuckle as he continued staring at the blade. Despite handling the blade recklessly and without any care or maintenance, the blade still looked as new as when he first used it.

The blade was truly rare and one of a kind in this world. The blood it had spilt, and the battles in which it stood beside him in would forever be a reminder of who he was. Even if he doesn't remember much about his past.

Particles shifted around him, as the golden Lancer materialized beside him with his lethargic gaze, arms folded.

"Did you acquire the object you were looking for, master?"

Sasuke closed his eyes and sheathed the sword. He pushed himself up, and looked at the son of Surya. "Yeah. I found out what I was looking for."

Lancer noted the slight change in the demeanor of his master when he got the sword but didn't ask or point anything out. He simply nodded in response. "Very well, then. We must now move to intercept this servant that the priest informed us about."

Lancer held his concern and doubts regarding trusting the priest since the enemy servant was supposedly considered a completely different class from what you see in regular Holy Grail Wars and a moderator in a Holy Grail War wasn't supposed to do that. It would have been evident regarding the authenticity of the files his master was handed had he been present during the transaction.

He was sure his master knew that as well, and could only hope they weren't making the wrong move here. But, considering the expression his master put on and given their position, it looks like they had no choice but to move forward with it.

"Hn. Let's go."

For now that is.

(((Finding oneself)))

Miyama Town, the suburban town of the Fuyuki City was split into two main parts – the ones with traditional Japanese districts, and the foreigners' on the other side. Emiya residence was located in the northern side along with other Japanese style houses while Sasuke's was an apartment located on the Far East.

The Matou and Tohsaka residence is located in the south side of the Miyama town. Or, at least the Tohsaka residence was located there.

Multiple green flashes coming from within the mansion could be seen, before a pillar of light shot towards the dark sky for a brief moment. A few silent seconds later, as if a tiny spark was enough to break the temporary tranquility, the mansion completely exploded in a huge blast.

Rin, who was protected in Archer's arms as he just leaped away in time could only stare at the flames enveloping her home with anguish and sadness. People may have called it haunted and there may have not been many visitors in the past, but it was still home that contained memories of her younger days when her family was together.

Memories that may be considered normal, or regular for others but to her they were precious. Memories of when she still had her family together – her father, mother and her sister before Sakura was given away, her father dying in the grail war and her mother shortly after.

Blinking away the tears, she steeled herself as Archer stopped on top of a roof, far from her destroyed house and set her down.

"Rin, are you okay?"

The servant clad in red asked, peering at her through his left eye as the right eye was already slashed and done for, with blood from his forehead completely staining half of his face.

Rider was truly a monster. While Archer had his suspicions about the identity of the enemy servant, the recent ineffectiveness of his attacks against Rider proved his case. With a glance at his opponents weapon he had managed decipher the puzzle behind Rider's invincibility and how it was tied to Rider's legend. Yet it still did him little good.

"I am fine, Archer." Rin shook her head and tried to offer a weak smile, but wasn't able to. "These sort of things can happen when you fight in the Holy Grail war. It's just that I was careless and didn't prepare enough for this sort of a frontal attack. It isn't your fault."

Archer stayed silent and decided against offering words of comfort and solace for even he was to blame for being unable to take care of the enemy servant. While he stood here, battered and exhausted, Rider was still probably not out of breath and worse, unharmed.

If anyone in this war could be considered as a hard counter for a fake as him, it was truly Rider. Rider was a true and proud heroic spirit with his skill and prowess equal to Hercules, another renowned Greek hero known to have learnt the sacred arts under the same master Chiron, the son of the Titan Kronos. Not something a mere faker like him could do much against.

...!

And, speak of the devil.

His thirst for blood saturated the air. Archer stood bravely armed with his favored dual swords—Kanshou and Bakuya—despite his condition. Any other normal human would have had their hearts crushed by now, but his master was an exception. She was an exception in many cases and probably her pure rage and anger she held for Rider might have helped her in this case.

Three—and so the countdown began.

The empty and open roofs should give him enough range to fire his arrows. He let the swords dematerialize as his bow materialized in his right hand.

Two—and the air froze in an all-too-familiar way.

He employed the same attack he used against Berserker a night ago, a broken phantasm. The sheer amount of mana would have made sane heroes cautious, but he doubted Rider would feel the need to, for he very much doubted himself in how effective the attack would be. Rider's invulnerability to his attacks didn't seem to be dependent on the power it held.

Then there was the overall position which they resided. In this place, the spear was superior to any other weapon in one aspect: the thrust. With his hero-slaying spear, able to pierce hearts and penetrate skulls with every strike, Rider must probably feel no disadvantage at all.

Nonetheless, Archer dragged the string of his bow back and let it touch the tip of his nose.

One—and time itself seemed to stop before the eruption.

The servant of Bow took careful aim at the flames in the distance, the arrow ready to strike its opponent as soon as he emerged from the flames.

Zero.

All things crude and impure were blown away, swept aside, as a green light dashed with a mock smile from the flames right towards its target as Archer released the knock of his bow with a silent exhale.

The explosion that occurred with the collision could be seen from the complete Miyama district, and the sound would have been heard throughout the complete city.

(((Finding oneself)))

The ground rumbled, as fireworks set off in air. The light set the night city so bright that the only way you could miss it was if you were asleep or were locked away in your home.

She was no exception to this. Ruler, who had dozed off with the Math textbook in her lap had woken up when she sensed two servants clashing in the city, when they were still a good few kilometers away and were yet to reach the city.

She looked towards her side to see the kind doctor—who had offered her a ride—visibly pale peering through the windows as the car moved on the highway. And rightfully so. It was truly rare to see the busy night skies of the city to be suddenly brightened so, or it may be the fact that he realized that it was all due to an explosion and something was wrong.

She may have to use hypnosis on him depending on the situation, and it looked like her judgement was really becoming necessary in this war. The servants were fighting without restraint and innocents may be getting dragged into it.

There may not have been many casualties yet, but there were going to be if this were to continue as it has been going on till now.

She was pondering on her choices and courses when an alarm went off in her mind.

"Stop the car here!"

The car was screeched to a sudden halt by the driver as the doctor looked perplexed.

"I-Is something wrong?"

She met the unsure and muddled expression of the doctor as she shook her head.

"Please wait until morning before driving again. I saw a motel a few miles back." She got off in haste as the frowning old man got after her. "I know it doesn't suit your standards…" Motioning to the black limousine with her hands before resting them in front of her.

"What are you…?!"

She bowed her head down. "The night is dangerous as of now and will only get more dangerous in the city. Please!"

The doctor stared hard at her for a few seconds before sighing, "What about you then?"

"It's alright. I'll walk from here."

The old man stared at her for a few more moments before resigning himself, "Can I persuade you to come with me in anyway?"

"I am afraid it is not possible."

Ruler could only offer an apologetic smile in return.

"Fine then. Driver, hand over her luggage." He ordered as the driver promptly nodded and did as told. "I won't pry, but it looks like it is important to you and you must have a strong reason to go alone now. Be careful out there."

Ruler offered another smile and an apology as she waved them off, as the car set off in the direction they came. Taking a deep breath, she ran ahead with full speed with the luggage in her hand. Perhaps a boundary field had already been set up as she couldn't any other presence of cars on the highway.

After advancing few kilometers ahead, she put her bag down, immediately transforming into her battle-dress proper armor woven from her prana. She sensed a few familiars in the area, stationed at different locations.

What was surprising was that they belonged to the same user. Perhaps, they wished to see the oncoming battle from their location.

The situation was more dire than she first assumed…

"There's no use in trying to conceal your presence." Ruler shouted, looking up ahead at the empty highway. "Come on out!"

"Ho, I guess you aren't a Ruler for nothing."

She heard a voice, as golden particles shook and a lean figure materialized in a seated position, kneeling on one knee atop a giant motorway sign. She looked up to see a white haired man staring at her with a bored expression. His gaze was as sharp as a steel blade, and the red stone buried in his exposed chest similarly projected an enthralling lustrousness.

'He is dangerous! This servant is dangerous beyond compare!'

His entire body consisted of a set of golden armor that gave off divine radiance. Judging by the way his eyes glanced at the nearest familiar on the top of a lamp post beside them, it looked like the familiars did not belong to his master.

Hmm, now it made her curious.

His eyes then turned back towards her, as Ruler watched him without lowering her guard in the slightest.

"You are Lancer summoned in this war… son of Surya, Karna correct?"

"Oh? Sounds like the priest wasn't bluffing after all."

The man raised his eyebrows at that and sounded intrigued.

But the words he spoke of… he said a priest. He must be speaking of the overseer assigned from the church that usually oversees the Holy Grail war and would have still had she not been summoned.

Could it be that the priest was upset, and sent Lancer after her by somehow persuading his master? It was a definite possibility but nothing could be said as of now.

"Lancer, what are you doing here?"

The question was enough to make the young man stand up. "I should be asking that, Ruler. Or, would you prefer to be called by your true name—Holy Maiden of Orleans."

Now that surprised her. This confirmed it. The church was clearly behind this, and it looked like they arranged for a Servant to take her out. But why? What could be their reason to even want to get rid of her?

"No, it is you and your Master who are unwise. What can come of killing me at this stage?"

"I do not know."

Lancer's brief reply utterly rejected all attempts at communication. He continued.

"But it has been suggested to my master that you are an oddity that Caster's master summoned in his final breath, giving his life in exchange for summoning you as a demi-servant. And, thus it is commanded of me that you die here. That is all—I act simply according to the contract."

His Noble Phantasm appeared in his hands, as golden light pierced through the still air near his right wrist. Ruler instantly recognized the weapon as Lancer's Noble Phantasm and what could only be described as a weapon granted by the gods.

"Here I come, Ruler."

The lance that he held was instantly covered in blazing flames, almost white in color.

"While I would have liked to have a duel in a more honorable fashion, it seems that I am at least lucky that we get to exchange our names. I'll be taking your head, Oh Maiden of Orleans!"

While clad in flames, Lancer immediately plunged forward and it took all Ruler had to evade that first attack.

While she was able to save herself by the scruff of her neck, it looked like she wasn't able to save her luggage as it was completely blown out of proportions as Lancer came to a halt with the dust and clamps flying in the air around him.

"Hmph, you managed to evade my blow. Let's see if you're skilled or lucky enough to continue to do so."

Lancer spoke in an unamused fashion, as he turned and immediately charged at her and pushed her back with his multiple thrusts justifying his class's reputation. He thrust his golden pole in a swift motion at her, making ten strikes within a couple of seconds giving her no break, with four of his attacks managing to scratch her as she parried his blows. She used the flag to deflect the last attack directly aimed for her head with great difficulty and jumped back putting some distance between them.

She panted, as she held her weapon in her right arm, observing as Lancer just stared at her with a monotone expression. Her flag that fluttered in the wind was a first‐rate holy weapon that could smash any kind of darkness but in the end it couldn't compare with Lancer's own divine spear.

Lancer was strong. She knew of his legend, If he had used his true Noble Phantasm right at the start, the battle would have been over already. The fact he didn't meant that, it was either too taxing to use or he just didn't believe she was worthy of his most powerful attack.

Jeanne couldn't help but worry as she kept her eyes on the golden lancer. She knew this wasn't an enemy that she could defeat under these conditions.

'But, it seems like he doesn't know about my privileges, or he might be waiting for me to exercise them. In any case…'

"It's a pity." Lancer straightened, flames enveloped his form again but this gave her enough chance to exercise her privileges.

The greatest privilege of the Ruler class; Command Spells. This was the greatest reason that Ruler could act as a mediator. Ruler possessed two Command Spells for every servant. It was only natural that masters would want to try to get her on their side, or have her eliminated since she was too great a force and would tip the balance heavily if she were to ally herself with anyone.

Lancer was quick, but Ruler was quicker and efficient in this particular instance with her quick wording.

"In the name of Ruler—I Jeanne d'Arc. By my Command Spell order Lancer, to cease using his divine spear at once!"

The Command Spells engraved onto her back burned releasing an intense light as she noted Lancer's weapon vanish from his hands against his will as he screeched to a halt a few meters away from her. A chain of commandments coiled around his neck.

"Give it up, Lancer. You cannot use your weapon against me. Return to your master, son of Surya. I don't know why you and your master have chosen to attack me, but know that I am merely here to maintain order during this Holy Grail War."

Lancer merely stared at his empty hands in mild amusement and muttered,

"So, this is the privileges held by the Ruler class. It seems that I really cannot underestimate you." The look that Lancer gave to Ruler held no worries, and that put her on edge. The grip she held around her banner tightened in preparation for any sudden movements.

"It doesn't matter what you're role in this Grail War is, but as long as my master's orders remain unchanged then I shall fight."

Alarms blared in Ruler's body as a surge of prana gathered around the weaponless Lancer. She could feel that her command spell was still in effect, and that Lancer's Master hasn't used a Command spell to cancel her own.

That meant…

"Many heroes may be restricted to their weapons." The sun demigod covered his right eye as his gaze turned towards the ground, the surge of prana began to focus on one specific point. "Not I. A true hero kills with his eyes."

"Lancer!"

Ruler knew of Karna's legend, and having sealed his ability to use his spear should have prevented him from using his strongest Noble Phantasm, but he's not worried in the slightest. She was unaware as to what the demigod may be planning but she couldn't take any chances against a hero of his caliber.

Bracing herself, she planted her flag into the road, letting it bellow in the wind. The banner began to hum with a soft golden glow as prana also began to swell up near her. She tightly grasped her flag with both hands and called forth its true name.

"Oh my banner, defend my brethren… "

"O Brahma, Cover the Earth… "

"Luminosité Eternelle!"

"Brahmastra!"

(((Finding oneself)))

The man was a tempest. He was invincible.

He was all but laughing as he fought Archer on the rooftop. He still looked completely untouched, but the same couldn't be said about his clothes and armor courtesy of Archer's relentless attacks.

Archer's style of fighting was made for combatting opponents such as Rider. Where his opponents were, faster, and stronger than he was. However, all it managed to do was keep him alive. The married blades he wielded attacked his opponent from two sides.

Yet Rider paid it no mind and charged in, meeting it head on as he curled his body and leapt, using his lance to deflect the blades splendidly.

"Weak!"

At nearly the same time, he launched a kick. He fought not with the formality of a knight, but martial skill honed utterly on the field of battle. The efficiency of a killer.

A couple of red pellets were blasted at him, which he dodged by merely tilting his head and did not even bother looking at the attacker. Rin clicked her tongue in displeasure.

Rider did not seem to pay her much attention as he clashed with Archer once again.

Archer had a look of displeasure plastered on his own face for quite some time now. There was not a single wound on Rider, and his attacks were being nullified, but at least he has managed to keep himself from suffering any major wounds of his own. For how long could he keep this up?

He quickly bent low at the thrust from Rider before trying to slash Kanshou at Rider's left heel only for him to be launched away with a swift kick to his center. With a grunt of pain, Archer rubbed his chest area as he scowled at Rider.

"Woah, careful there. It looks like you have already determined my true name." Rider put on a face, but Archer could clearly see that Achilles was in fact happy that he was found out.

"With the way you are targeting my heel, you must be quite the shrew to find me out so quickly. I'm honestly curious how you managed it so fast."

"You flatter me too much, Rider. Your history is famous throughout the world and there are very few individuals that could match your speed and agility in a battle."

"Heh, that sounds like music to my ears. And, you're no exception." Rider relaxed his hold on the spear a bit. "What kind of a heroic spirit are you? I have never met any Heroic Spirit that could wield both a bow and dual blades in such a unique fashion. Not to mention that you seem to have a lot of those pesky things. I've started losing track of the amount of times I disarmed you."

"It doesn't matter. You on the other hand are easily identifiable, the invincible hero from the Trojan War."

"You got me, then I guess you wouldn't mind if I started to take you more seriously then, Archer?"

The grip that Rider held on the spear tightened as Archer looked with a calm expression despite the injuries he suffered till now.

"I won't stop you. You are an enemy I must eventually overcome in this war."

Archer declared calmly, bearing the two swords in front of him.

'This is bad…!' Rin furrowed her eyebrows. She knew they couldn't defeat Rider as they are now, not without any strategy and planning. She knew if the battle dragged on any longer, then Archer would surely be defeated as much as she hated to admit.

Just as Rider was about to pounce on them like a predator about to finish its prey, a bright wall of flame completely brightened the unforgiving night, causing them to momentarily stop their battle. They looked towards the west to see bright wall of flames that held the appearance of a beam getting diffracted around a point. Both heroes were able to discern the power behind that attack

Thankfully, the other battle looked like it was happening outside the city and the direction in which the attack went was away from the city.

As the bright wall of flames died down after awhile, a low whistle was heard from the Greek hero.

They turned towards Rider to see that he had withdrawn from his attacking stance to a more relaxed one.

"Whoever managed that attack may be an adversary worth fighting. This war just got a whole lot more interesting." He stated looking as the remnants of the blast disappeared into the night sky, before returning his attention back to Archer and his Master. "Well, I guess that is my cue to leave. My bummer of a master caught whiff of my absence and is ordering me back."

"So, you are running away, Rider?"

Rider only laughed at Archer's question. "Not running away. Letting you guys live for another day." He turned completely and walked to the edge of the roof, before turning one last time at them. "And, pray hope that you do not face me again. I'll be taking my leave then, Oujo-sama."

He bowed his head at Rin as he got onto the ledge before jumping off the roof. Tohsaka ran and hurried to the edge of the roof. She bent her head over the ledge, and looked down to observe that Rider had already dematerialized and there was no trace of him left.

"I guess it would have been too much to hope to witness him falling to his death." Rin lightly joked, looking back as Archer slumped down with a heavy sigh.

"Rin, put off fighting Servants for a couple of days." Archer said weakly, letting the blades dematerialize as Rin got near him and wordlessly began the healing magic. "My body won't take another fight as of now."

Rin could only offer a smile and nodded at her Servant. "I understand, Archer. You did great."

Archer only groaned tiredly at that and looked away.

(((Finding oneself)))

Brahmastra was the noble phantasm granted to Karna by his master 'Parashurama' of the Brahmins. This Noble Phantasm was strong, and was called upon by the name of 'Brahma' and, it would surely pursue the enemy and attack with a wide-effective range.

Avoiding that attack was impossible. But—the one receiving that attack was the absolute mediator of the Holy Grail War, Ruler. The attack's direction may have been away from the city, but it had a wide blast range. There was a chance that the doctor and his driver could get caught in the blast, and plus the beam from his eye was like a guided missile.

Her only option was to fight the laser beam from Lancer head-on by activating her flag.

The flag that the saint Jeanne d'Arc had kept in place of a sword. That flag, which inspired and uplifted the soldiers who followed her believing that a saint walked amongst them, was said to have continued to protect this female saint who always ran ahead as the vanguard.

And when this holy banner was activated as a Noble Phantasm, it converted Jeanne's EX rank Magic resistance into a protection against all physical and spiritual harm.

She put strength into both her hands. Stifling her anguish and simply looked forward unyielding—Ruler simply endured the explosive maelstrom of burning fire. For anyone observing from far, it would look like someone who opposed the heavens, refusing to be burnt by those sacred flames.

Minor burns started forming on her pale skin, the damage she was taking was being transferred to her flag, causing it to tear from within. And, to think that all she was doing was trying to withstand this, which was nothing but a weaker version of Brahmastra.

Had Lancer been allowed to use his other Noble Phantasm, his hidden trump card which was a more powerful version of Brahmastra or even worse the weapon he was given by Indra, she was sure that even her primary noble phantasm couldn't do much to save her. Even this would have incurred a lot of damage to her had she not chosen to deflect it at the last moment.

When the potent light had finally died down, Ruler sighed tiredly and in relief. But, it seemed like fate had other plans as no sooner she began to breathe a little and relaxed herself, her ears picked up distinctive chirping sound behind her back.

She turned back in time to see a raven haired teen thrusting a blade coated in blue lightning at her. She flicked her right arm, just getting back her flag in time to deflect it, but the teen snuck past her defenses as if he had somehow predicted this.

Amethyst eyes were completely drowned by red ones the moment she had drawn her flag to defend, as she felt a powerful tug at her conscious despite the magic resistance of a Ruler class. She somehow tried to fight it, only for the teen to swiftly deal a blow to her neck with precision and force above that of an average magus.

Her battered body went limp, as the teen caught her from falling forward, not before listening to his silent yet cold voice.

"Lancer, take care of our surroundings."

No sooner than she heard these words, a bright hot light seemed to lift off above their heads like a miniature sun had been spawned by the teens command.

"So... you are the master of Lancer...?" Her voice was enervated, but she was sure he heard it. Her brain froze as realization slowly dawned on how he managed to get a jump on her. And, why she wasn't able to sense him approach until it was too late.

"Y-You were betting on your enemy to block Lancer's attack right from the start...!"

The teen had an impassive look as he bent his head down to look at her, the scarlet fire consuming everything in the background, but not harming a single strand of his hair and hers now that she was being held in his arms. The only spot that seemed safe in the area was the place that the raven haired teen crouched by.

The three tomoe in his eyes spun, bearing into her own as his lips parted, voice barely audible and as silent as a whisper.

"Sleep."

Those were the last words she heard as she saw the teens lips quirked slightly upwards, as her vision blackened.

..

The only area that remained untouched was a foot distance to the either side of the last Uchiha. The whole area within the radius of up to a couple hundreds meters was burnt away to nothing. Normally this would have been too taxing on his master if he had used prana burst of this magnitude right after activating his Noble Phantasm. But, it didn't seem to negatively impact his young master as much as he thought it would have.

The cement road, the highway posts, the road signs and street lamps were all reduced to cinders. The scene looked as if the flame god Agni had descended upon the earth. A stream of fire had formed around the area as Lancer landed upon the bare ground with the grace of the divine.

"Are all the familiars in the area accounted for?"

Lancer looked at his master and gave a wordless nod, who was now busy holding the unconscious body of the Ruler with some exhaustion to show. So his master was just hiding his exhaustion? Still, he was holding up a lot better than what was expected, which put Karna at ease.

While he had his suspicions that Ruler was actually summoned with no master of her own and that the file was feeding them with half lies, she was too dangerous an existence if she decided to side with any of the masters. His master understood that, and it seemed the church was aware of this too. Perhaps they came up with this scheme for fairness and equality among the masters. Or, it could be for some other purpose.

His master had other ideas though. He did not know what the dark haired teen planned for the Ruler, but instead of having her killed here, it seems his master decided to use her in some other way. Well, he supposed that was also one form of a tactic employed in warfare.

But, still Karna had to applaud his master here for even coming up with such a plan. It surprised Karna a bit on how tactful his master turned out to be and was honestly impressed with the planning he came up with what limited information they had. Once again his master has impressed him.

They stood in silence for a few moments when their peace was disturbed with a honk which most likely belonged to a car. The last Uchiha exhaled a huff of annoyance before looking at his servant.

"Why would someone even wish to head in this direction and jump into this mess?"

Which was true considering the whole light show that just happened. Anyone sane would probably keep their distance from this area for at least a week. The car honked again, as he began observing headlights in distance, the car showing no signs of slowing down.

"Well, all this is supposed to be kept a secret from public after all. I guess it can't be helped." He sighed, running his hands through his hair before looking at the Lancer with a reserved sigh. "Karna, finish them. We can't leave any witnesses behind after all."

"Understood."

Immediately when those words left the Lancer's mouth, he held his spear out to finish the one and only witness related to this incident.

"No, wait Karna! Hold on for a second."

As Karna got into position to attack, he abruptly stopped his preparations due to his master's sudden outburst. Sasuke got up, setting Ruler gently down near Karna something that wasn't missed by the demi-god, and took a few steps forward.

Sasuke furrowed his eyebrows and narrowed his eyes trying to figure out the vehicle which felt oddly familiar to him with his gifted vision. His eyes widened slightly a second later, before closing them in exasperation with his eyes turning back to normal.

The car honked again as it skidded to a halt a few meters ahead of them.

"Well, I did not expect this," the last Uchiha deadpanned when he noticed the black limousine. There was only one person in the city currently who could afford such an expensive car and dash right into this mess without a single care.

Two figures rushed out of the car with worn-out expressions. When one of them considered the Sasuke's presence, their expression changed to a mix of shock and worry. "S-Sasuke-kun? What are you doing here? And, what is going on?"

Karna only merely stood afar from the scene before him, doubts lingering in his mind as to who the old man was when he saw his master slowly walk towards the old man.

"Only you would actively head towards a war zone."

The raven haired teen sighed as he concentrated his gaze at the man who so foolishly arrived.

"It's been awhile, doc."

(AN) So, apparently Ruler can still fall for illusionary techniques like she did with Jack, and what plans does our favorite avenger have in his mind for kidnapping her? Perhaps something kinky... Few points were left unexplained in this chapter on purpose, and I hope to cover them in the future updates. Hopefully, I can get the next update a lot faster.