Author's note: Hey guys guess what, I'm not dead and neither is this story! I would rather save all my excuses for the ending note so if you really want to know why this chapter took so long I guess you'll just have to read the whole thing. I hope you enjoy my story.


The trip back to civilization was a boring, tedious, and mostly silent journey. The morning was spent walking down a spiraling road to the nearest gas station and a whole two hours waiting for a taxi to arrive. By the time they were dropped off outside the Fuyuki church a quiet foggy night had already enveloped the city. Seeing a street alcove nearby the three decided to take a minute to go over their plan of attack.

Rin was the first to speak from her spot on the bench. "Berserker can you estimate how long you'll be able to distract Archer. It'll be best if you can get rid of him all together but I don't want you to exert yourself more than you have to."

A brief shimmer of light and the giant appeared before them. "With the limitations you're setting and what you've told me about him my guess is at least five minutes, twelve if I push it."

Rin's eyes narrowed in frustration at the time limitation. "I understand I'm not as magically strong as Illya but surely your Noble Phantasm can freeze time long enough for a finishing blow."

Shirou turned towards the Servant in excitement as he remembered the man's true ability. "Yeah, that's right. All you would need is to get close, stop time and one good hit can take him out."

Berserker looked down at the two teenagers with a furrowed brow. "Despite how enthused you are about my Stand I won't be able to do anything like that." His expression became more relaxed as he continued. "Now that we're a team there are some drawbacks I need to mention. Every time I stop time it uses up a large chunk of mana as well as putting an immense strain on my body and because of the dumb rules of this war Rin's body as well. Before you ask yes Illya had to go through the same hurtles it's just that she had two months to get use to the effects."

"Well great, as if two Servants wasn't bad enough." Rin mumble as she contemplated the new restriction, only for Shirou to interrupt her train of thought.

"Actually there's three Archer, Caster, and Assassin."

As the bad news kept coming Rin buried her head in her hands to control herself. "Argh, dammit I forgot about him! Why did I ever think this plan would work?"

Before Rin could sink any further into despair Berserker voice caught her attention. "Don't give up so quickly Red, it's not as bad as it looks. From what little I know about this war is that Assassin is a faux Servant and because of that he has his own limitations. One of which is not moving away from his summoning zone so we won't be seeing him tonight. My only concern is how you plan on defeating Caster because your magic can't compete with hers.

Rin glared at her new Servant for his abrupt nickname and his dismissal of her magical talent as she seriously thought over how to confront Caster and win. Minutes moved by in silence as she formulated a plan but before she could come to a conclusion Berserker went and interrupted her again.

"Punch her out."

"What?" Came Rin's startled response.

"I can tell you're the kind of person who know how to defend themselves even without magic and if Caster is as old as you say she is than she's from a time when women didn't learn how to fight. My suggestion is to start the fight with the usual flashy lights while insulting her magic. All you magician types are fallibly proud on that kind of stuff so she'll want to prove you wrong. At some point take a fall and look like it's lost you the fight, Caster will probably come closer to brag about how much better she is and that's when you sucker punch her."

Rin and Shirou stared in astonishment at the unbelievable Servant as the night time noises filled the silence.

"Unless you thought up something else that works better for you."

Awakened out of her stupor Rin shook her hands as she stumbled over her next words. "No, no it's fine I was thinking on what to do after I goaded her but you just stated it so clearly I was taken by surprise. But you're right if I reinforce my body I'll have enough strength to throw her off balance."

"Are you sure you're the Berserker class?" Rin asked as her face hid none of her bewilderment.

"Just because I've got a significantly edge over mostly everyone doesn't mean I don't prepare myself. I've planned out every fight I've ever been in, not doing so is a sure fire way to getting yourself killed."

Shirou stood up from his seat as he entered the conversation. "We should get going, I don't trust Archer not to start bombarding us if we take any longer."

"That true," replied Rin as she jumped off the bench and mentally considered what her new Servant had said, "plus I want to see his smug face once we show him he joined the losing team."

With those small words of encouragement the three set off up the hill to the church gates.


Stepping foot into the grounds the two high schoolers could see the small courtyard was unmarked besides the leafless trees around its perimeter. Unsurprising the lone red Servant was waiting for them at the doors of the building. With harden faces they approached him just closely enough so that they would not have to shout across the courtyard. Archer was the first to speak.

"I knew if I waited long enough you two would come looking for me and low and behold here you are. But for all your naiveté Rin you aren't stupid so tell me what meager plan have you've grasped onto."

Before Rin could answer Berserker's physical form appeared from the astral plane saying more with his iron glare than any words could have.

Taken aback Archer replied with interest laced in his voice. "Berserker? That would mean you struck a deal with the homunculus, so why isn't she standing with you? That is unless…"

The mirth returned to his face as he continued his speech.

"So the two of you managed to kill off the miniature monster, color me impressed. Call me hypocritical but I can't help but think you were a little too quick to go off and make a new deal with a different Servant. You really can be such an indecisive girl, you know that.

Berserker took the pause in Archer's berating to step between the two parties. A look of nonchalance plastered to both the Servant's faces as they stared each other down.

Rin walked up beside Berserker with Shirou following after "I really should have said this earlier but I forgot so… thank you, for doing all this."

"Yeah, yeah. Don't go all soft just yet you have your own job to do and remember what I said."

"Right", and with that short exchange both Masters ran forwards pass Archer into the church.

With their footstep fading away into the dark the courtyard fell quiet. Archer was more than pleased to remedy this as he summoned his favored dual curved swords.

"Well would you look at you, all dressed up and moving down in the world. So tell me who really killed Illya because Rin was no match for her and Shirou's childish ideals stop him from making that possible."

There was a slight pause before Berserker responded, his words heavy with displeasure. "Why are you even here?"

Despite the angry look he was receiving and his initial question being ignored Archer kept his voice lighthearted.

"Oh I thought that was obvious. I believe Rin to be incapable of winning this war as long as she allies herself with useless baggage and despite my warnings she does just that and falls down with him. So I think, who has the best chance, Lancer hates me so that can't work, the late Illya wouldn't…"

"You're really freakin' annoying you know that? I didn't ask for your life story but you just love hearin' yourself talk. I've met some crazy delusional lunatics in my life but you take the cake. So I want to know before I beat you numb, what the hell was so bad in you life that you think going back in time and killing yourself is the better option?"

All enjoyment drained from Archer's face leaving only an irritated scowl in its wake. "So Rin finally figured it out took her long enough. She didn't tell Shirou or else he would be here in a vain attempt to stop me."

Sensing the tension Berserker removed his hands from his pockets. "Rin probably figured it out a while ago but she wasn't the one to tell me, you're just not as subtle as you think. But you're right Shirou didn't figure it out. To be honest he's not the sharpest tool in the shed."

"Oh is that so? Than what exactly gave me away, I'm dying to know?"

"It's the little things like the constipated look you give the boy whenever he's near, your unexplained distaste for some random kid's life, but the thing that sealed the deal was what you did just now. Those swords are the exact same that he uses, there's absolutely no difference between them. Although, the same can't be said for you and the kid because unlike him you don't have the childish demeanor to excuse your stupidity."

The aggressive tension kept climbing as the two went back and forth.

"From the moment I first saw you I knew you would cause me no end of problems I should have just killed you on the spot. It would have been easy back then but now… You're even worse off, Rin isn't the mana fountain that Illya was, is she? The only reason you haven't stopped time and finished me is because you can't you're nothing but a muzzled dog at this point."

"The only reason you haven't made the first move is because you're scared that I can still smear you across the pavement. Besides you still haven't answer my question. I'm actually curious what caused you to have the mother of all temper tantrums."

"I don't have to explain the reason behind my wish to someone like you. You wouldn't understand anyways."

"Someone who can't defend their point doesn't have a stage to stand on."

Berserker's last retort caused a moment of silence between the two before Archer began to chuckle to himself in his own amusement.

"You're stalling me with this half assed argument for more time so Rin can deal with Caster, that's funny, real funny. But I'm done talking so now I'm just going to do what I should have done and kill you before you cause me anymore problems."

The scene after resembled something out of an old western, Archer's fist clenched over his swords and Berserker coiled to attack. Both stood motionless waiting for the other to strike first.

Suddenly a massive boom came from below shaking the ground and causing birds to leap from the surrounding trees into the night sky. The two spiritual entities took this as the starting gun and leaped at each other faster than mortal eyes could see. Archer was surprised when Berserker still refused to summon his Stand even as his sword came upon the mad Servant's blocking forearm. He was even more surprised when instead of cutting clear through the appendage like it was meant to an evenly strong force pushed his strike back. Not pleased in his lack of knowledge on the event Archer followed up the horizontal slash with a straight thrust, keeping a close eye on Berserker's attempt to block. If he was a less attentive man he would have missed it but just before the sword cut into Berserker's wrist a transparent blue outline shimmered into existence around the point of impact deflecting the blow again. Before Archer could think up a way around this Berserker's fist began moving extraordinarily fast towards his face forcing him to sidestep away from what felt like a miniature freight train. This was no exaggeration on Archer's part as it became clear by the wind force brushing by his head that even without his Noble Phantasm Berserker carried devastating strength in his punches. Now that he was at a safer distance the red Servant began his analysis on Berserker's approach.

His stance isn't a trained posture, most likely a street brawler. He's not summoning his complete Stand only the bare minimum to block my strikes so as not to put a strain on Rin's energy. He can't defend with that phantom across his entire body only his forearms at most. He knows he can't beat me with these limitations so he's playing defensive, trying to drag the fight out as long as possible. Will most likely push back hard if I try to go after Rin.

All of these thoughts ran though his head in a second before he continued his assault on Berserker.

For any normal person unlucky enough to be close to such overwhelming danger all they would be able to observe were vague red and white figures meeting at random spots for an instant before splintering off. Only those with enhanced vision could see the lighting fast plows shared between the two magical powerhouses as they danced around the small enclosure leaving destruction in their wake. Faster and faster their strikes blurred towards each other, the air around them became thin as the sheer force brushed it away. This clash of heroic spirits continued for an unbeknownst amount of time, five minutes, twenty minutes, these facts were unimportant to the two locked in combat, during this moment only survival mattered.

Eventually the two stopped their private war and positioned themselves on opposite ends of the church yard. Both were breathing deeply as the result of the skirmish took its toll on them. Berserker was covered in swallow wounds, most were centered on his thighs and gut. Archer in the other corner held his left hand over what he was positive to be a few shattered ribs.

The Servant of the bow was the first to half shout across the battleground. "Just who the hell are you? No one with your kind of strength would go unnoticed from the world and just appear now."

"Back when I was still alive my name was Jotaro Kujo but none of that matters because you're not goin' to live long enough to do anything about it." Came Berserker's response.

Archer's mind franticly tried to connect the name to every story or legend or rumor he ever heard only to come up empty. After internally admitting that Berserker was too dangerous even at his weakest Archer decided holding back was getting him nowhere. His smile returned as his twin swords disappeared back to the either.

"Well congratulations are in order 'Jotaro Kujo' you've pushed my hand and now I must get serious if I ever wish to be rid of you." As he said this Archer repositioned his stance with his right palm pointed up looking as if he held an invisible rod. This was soon to change as a devilishly red spear took shape in his hand.

"Tell me have you encountered Lancer by chance if so than you'll recognize this weapon but if not I'll explain its properties for you. This terrible spear carries a powerful curse within its blade one so powerful it can rewrite the laws of cause and effect itself. You see any thrust made with this Noble Phantasm no matter where I aim will target your heart. In short the cause of 'the lance being thrust' only happens because 'the lance pierced the heart' was the effect. But thrusting is not the only way to use a spear."

In Archer's other hand his preferred black longbow came into existence and he continued the motion of notching the spear as if it was an arrow.

"Goodbye Berserker, this is where you die."

Seeing the awful magic begin to radiant off the weapon Berserker took the only option left to him and charged towards his foe. But both knew he could never make in time.


On the steps leading into the church's extensive basement is where Shirou and Rin took their last breath of tranquility, knowing that right below them lies the lion's den.

"Shirou we really shouldn't be stopping but I need you to promise me no matter what Caster does or how badly I might be doing don't take your eyes off Mr. Kuzuki. That single moment of hesitation will be all he needs to finish you off for good. If that happens than he'll come after me from behind and I'll be dead and you'll be dead and all of this will have been for nothing. So please for once in your life focus on your own safety."

A look of confliction clean on his face Shirou agreed to Rin's plea. "Alright Tohsaka. I promise."

"Good. As of now the two biggest threats are Caster and that blonde pycho but if we take back Saber he shouldn't be a problem. After that Lancer will be all alone and the War will practically be over and then we can both finally relax. It almost sound easy when I put it that way."

Once the two Masters finished their journey down the narrow stairway they entered into a lavishly decorated chamber. With the molding, broken pews and towering stone pillars the room looked more like a prayer hall of an ancient cathedral than a glorified basement. Although the size comparison to the public section was upsettingly disproportionate.

At the far end of this secretive temple stood Caster and Mr. Kuzuki both perfectly spaced apart so that Saber's form could be seen behind them on the ground. Rin grew more annoyed at the theatrical Servant before internally laughing at how stupid they must have looked just standing there waiting for her and Shirou to come down. The mentioned redhead could not spare the time for such personal thoughts as his attention was placed solely on the huddled position Saber was in.

Her Master being the subservient man that he was Caster would be the one to welcome the two intruders.

"I have spared your life once before little girl, if you wanted to return it all you'd need to do was ask"

"The only thing I'd give to someone like you is a lesson in respecting your betters and after I'm through grinding your face into the dirt we're taking back Saber and winning this war."

Both men stood on coiled feet as the women fought a battle of words and insults. Neither of them pausing to think of their next invectives.

"I will admit that stealing Berserker from the Eiznbern girl is impressive but your stupidity in thinking you can challenge me while he drains your mana fighting Archer is even more astounding. Tell me, how is it like coasting through life having stronger men help you because of your looks?"

"Oh, does it upset you that someone can be good looking and have magical talent, unlike yourself? That must be why you constantly hide under that garish robe. I mean like, what sort of clown wears purple nowadays and even worse, decorates their workshop in rotten garbage?"

"Are all modern magus' such ignorant brats? Is it even a surprise Archer deserted someone like you, I would have killed you the moment you summoned me just to get away from your grating voice."

At those words Caster prepared herself for the quickly approaching fight by calling forth her six pink options. Shirou leaned close and whispers a warning to Rin.

"Tohsaka, Kuzuki can see what you're doing but he's not saying anything about it to Caster. I think he's just letting her do whatever she wants."

There was a quick glance to her partner before Rin continued. "I've said all I need to say so why not we just get to the part where I utterly humiliate you."

Below Caster appeared illegible ruins as the Servant floated off the ground. "You seem so sure of yourself little girl but don't worry before the night ends I will show you what a real magus can do."

"Ha! You're nothing but a third rate hack compared to me let's see how your light show holds up against my gems."

Everyone still on the ground shifted their posture to prepare themselves for the coming death match. Shirou quickly called forth his newly acquired twin swords as he mentally prepared himself.

This fight would be impossible to win if we tried charging in recklessly both our opponents outclass us in every way. Mr. Kuzuki was able to outmaneuver Saber in close combat and Caster's spells pack more punch than Rin's gems ever could. The plan calls for us to drag out the fight before pulling our trap, I only hope we can hold on long enough.

With simultaneous leaps Rin and Kuzuki propelled themselves across the chamber passing each other harmlessly before landing in front of their predetermined rivals. Not one to be subtle Rin began the fight with a hazardous orange jewel which rocked the cavern's fortifications as Caster effortlessly deflected it. The shouts and grunts of conflict quickly began to reverberate off the walls as both pairs fought tooth and nail for every edge they could.

At first Shirou thought if he just reinforced his projections hard enough the sharp edges would keep the trained assassin from closing in. He rapidly found himself growing more and more frantic with his swipes as his ex-teacher came closer to killing him. Before long the athletic, inexperienced, teenager stood shaken on his feet as the aging, practiced, school teacher circled him with killing intent in his eyes.

Rin's battle while not as physically tiring was incredibly more dangerous. She could barely get the words out of her mouth before she had to prepare the next one. The miserable truth being that besides the very first strike every single incantation after had been to defend against Caster's devastating barrage. Soon enough Rin's miniature fortune of gems were depleted to but a few small stones. After a particularly bright shield that smelt of air-freshener evaporated Caster halted her volley of destruction and looked down upon the schoolgirl.

"Tell me dear, why are you so carelessly throwing an abundance of jewels at me? Someone with your skill set should be able to block what I've thrown at you with only a single trinket for each."

Rin didn't respond instead she carefully looked behind her to see why the sounds of Shirou's fight had stopped. Thankfully it was only because the two men had taken a pause to stare each other down as they recuperated.

"Oh is he the reason? If so than you're wasting your time, soon my Master will have finished him off and then it'll be just the two of us. Besides, someone as cute as you can do far better than that kicked dog."

Rin's inner thoughts tried to stay calm despite the menacing situation she was in. She's started talking again because she thinks she's got this in the bag. Now all I've got to do is make my final attempt and fall down. These last six gems are all I have left, I just hope they're enough.

With her legs braced on the floor Rin let fly three turquoise charms as she shouted the appropriate spell, "Sechs, en Fluss Ein Halt!" Each one made its own sporadic path towards the Servant before being harmlessly dissolved into smoke. Not yet done Rin followed up by jumping through the cloud of dust and began her next chant as her hand glowed an angry red.

"Funf, drei, vier! Der Riese und brennt das ein End-

Aargh!"

Just before Rin could finish a horrible, unnatural noise filled her conscious that her mind could barely compare to that of an electronic speaker blowing out. Immediately she felt unbearable agony in her torso almost as if some evil force had reached in and sunk its claws into her heart. She tried to clutch her chest and breathe in to better steady herself after such pain but found that she could do neither. With immense difficulty the magus refocused her eyes on her surrounding and became jolted at what she saw.

Wh... what?

The world had lost all of its color, even the ignited rocks in her hand which just a second ago were blinding crimson were reduced to grey specks of light. What she saw in front of her was Caster's motionless figure still floating above, her face still holding that smug expression.

Before she could look further, color came back to the world and Rin found herself tripping backwards as her last shot went wide. Caster made a slight turn of her head to better look at the craters behind her before a thunderous boom shook and fractured the room's infrastructure. Rin tried desperately to shield her eyes from falling dust as she laid on the ground in exhaustion.

Was that… Berserker's ability? How did that little pipsqueak even walk after something like that!?

The magical Servant took a moment to make sure the ceiling was not going to collapse on them before floating gently down to the ground. Standing over her foe, Caster sweet voice fell down upon the injured magus.

"What was that little one? You were putting on an impressive show up until the end. Was it something your newly acquired Servant did? You really should hold a tighter leash on him if this is how he treats you."

As the hooded woman walked closer Rin found the strength to stand for one moment before quickly falling back down to her hands and knees.

"It has been quite some time since I fought a magical duel such as this, even if you never really stood a change it was fun nonetheless. But all is not lost for you girl. You can leave this world with your pride intact knowing that you held your ground with someone like me. This is as good a time as any to end this so farewell, mage Tohsaka."

"Stark, GroB zwei." Came the quiet whisper from the prone teenager.

Immediately following those words a blindingly white light exploded from Rin's right palm. Caster, not expecting the downed Magus to fight back in such a way tried desperately to cover her eyes as she prepared for a magical attack. Blinded as she was the Servant could not possibly see the figure rushing towards her through the light.

With the help of reinforced legs Rin launched off the ground at incredible speeds towards her opponent and delivered a deadly kidney punch to Caster's unprotected stomach. The red clad Master followed up her surprise attack by breaking apart Caster's amateur defense with a quick backhand causing the mystical Servant to stagger back. In a spectacular show of strength and dexterity, with one swift motion Rin crouched down, swept Caster off her feet, stood up, and finished off by spiking the Servant into the ground with an organ popping punch to the gut.

The aftermath of these few seconds of combat left the loser in the center of a small fissured crater and the victor standing above her. After a wet coughing fit the Grecian women struggled through her rapid breathing to talk.

"What self-respecting mage would fight in such a brutish way?"

Rin, who was breathing just as heavily as her rival let a small smile grace her tired face. "I'm sorry did that surprise you? Well just so you know, now-a-days mages are expected to be fit in both mind and body."

"Tohsaka!"

That terrified shout was all the warning the girl would get to prepare herself for the blur racing towards her. Luckily she had just enough time to bring her arms up to block a strike that would have broken bones if she had not reinforced her limbs. Unfortunately all of the force behind such an attack does not simply disappear. Rin was sent flying across the room before she quickly found herself face down on the floor.

Her assailant, Mr. Kuzuki, stood over his Servant in a relaxed manner with the same bored expression he always carried. Rin made a short glance in Shirou's direction only to see him sharing her position on the ground.

"Despite being able to overpower Caster in such a way you are still mediocre when it comes to fighting. Someone with your boons should have killed their opponent in no less than three moves." Said the nihilistic teacher as he helped his Servant off the cold floor.

"Thank you Master… Without your assistance I would have perished in disgrace."

"There is no need to flatter me. What is needed is a conclusion to this fight, it was wrong of us to underestimate them, hurry wake Saber before it's too late."

"You see, that's the problem, it's already too late." Came an unexpected voice from the room's entrance.


Hello everyone as promised I will now try to convince you to keep waiting for the next chapter to come out. The reason this took so long is my new job had stolen all of my free time over the summer and now with school starting again that leaves me with Wednesday as my only free day. I also stumbled across a little series called Worm which I latched onto like a leech but I'm mostly finished with that. I originally had a majority of this part written for the last two months but after some feeling of disinterest, writer's block, and constant rewrites I decided to cut off the ending portion of this chapter and use that for the next one. I honestly don't know when I'll have time to write over the next months but I promise the next one will be interesting because I'll finally write how the new team interact with each other instead of just rushing off to fight. Naturally reviews and criticisms are encouraged.

P.S: I called Caster's pink orb things options because I couldn't find an actual name for them and a SHMUP option is the closest thing I could relate to them

P.S.S: My laptop's fan literary started having problems as I was uploading this chapter so that could cause some delay in the future