I'm sorry that my story has been bland lately. It's because I want to prolong it a bit, but it seems it was a mistake. I'll begin to go to the main point from now on. Hope you continue to support me!

I own nothing.

The morning came to the Fuyuki Hyatt Hotel, the sunshine went through the window woke Sola up. She yawned tiredly and looked at the clock.

6.00am

It's still early in the morning, Kayneth was probably still asleep. Of course, Sola and Kayneth slept in different room. Although being engaged to each other, Sola held no affection towards Kayneth. In fact, she actually hated him for always being high and mighty. The only reason she accepted this engagement was that of her family. Because her parents entrusted their crest to her older brother, she had no choice but married into a renowned magus family, especially with her brother being a failure as a magus.

After Lancer returned to report what happened last night, Kayneth was furious again. He started scolding Lancer for letting Saber escape for the third time, which gave Sola a hard time to defend Lancer, again. He should be grateful that Lancer had stopped Saber's Master before he destroyed their base, together with her and Kayneth.

At least he was satisfied with the fact that Assassin was still alive. This proved Archer and Assassin's Master were working together, as well as the Church. With this, they could pressure the Church to have some advantages, liked gaining another Command Seal for example.

Sola stood up from her bed with a smile. With Lancer's effectiveness in fighting and gaining information, winning the Grail would not be a difficult task.

After finishing her morning ritual, Sola made her way to the kitchen. Despite being a magus, she was still a human that needed to eat to survive after all.

When she arrived at the kitchen, she caught the sight of a strange man, who was… cooking something. Noticing her presence, the man glanced back.

"Oh, Sola-san. Good morning."

The strange man… young man greeted her. Sola thought he was just in his twenties. He had pale skin, short bowl-shaped gray hair with matching gray eyes, handsome face and was quite tall. He wore a black jacket and gray turtleneck shirt along with black pants.

"Who… are you?"

Sola asked as she observed the man warily, ready to call Lancer anytime. A strange man suddenly appeared in their base in this situation was not a good thing. But Sola felt that she knew the man.

"Hmm? Ah yes, it can't be helped that you don't realize me."

The man said while scratching the back of his neck. This voice, Sola knew this voice

"You… you are Lancer."

"Yes, your Servant Lancer here, my lady. You're hungry, right? Just sit there and wait, I'll serve you the most delicious dishes you've ever tried."

He turned around and bowed slightly, then turned back and continued cooking. Sola smiled a little and sat on the chair.

"I don't know that you are this young, given you are the first god of Japan."

"Are you surprised?"

"You can say that. Never thought you are this handsome."

"You flatter me, Sola-san. You're very pretty yourself."

Lancer said a small laughter. Sola could not help but blush at that. He was still as blunt as ever, and she didn't hate it.

"You know how to cook?"

"Yes, and I'm very confident about it. You could say that this is my Noble Phantasm." Lancer said cheerfully. "Can you wake up Master Kayneth, I don't want him to miss my breakfast."

"Don't worry, he'll wake up soon."

And true enough, Kayneth's voice could be heard at the door.

"What's this smell? Did you make something, Sola-Ui?"

It seemed Kayneth had been woken up by the good smell of Lancer's food. So this was what he meant yesterday, to give her something.

"So, what do you think?"

Lancer asked the other two people. He was very eager to hear their feeling about his food.

"It's delicious Lancer. I don't know you're such a good cook."

"Hmm…"

Despite not saying anything, a small smile could be seen on Kayneth's face. Despite having eaten many dishes from many famous chefs, Lancer's dishes were on another level. He wondered what kind of Servant Lancer was.

A sudden voice coming from Kayneth's familiar caught the British magus, as well as Sola and Lancer attention.

"The Holy Grail War is in a grave peril."

This voice belonged to Kotomine Risei, the overseer of the Holy Grail War from the Church. For some reasons, he had called for a meeting between all Masters. But Kayneth refused to come in person as he sent his familiar go instead. Lancer thought the other Masters did the same as well.

"We discovered that Caster's Master is the man who is behind the serial killing and kidnapping cases which happened lately in Fuyuki city. He used his Servant to carry out his crimes, but he ignored the crime scene right after he was done, not concealing his traces. What this act of severe violation of the rule of secrecy would bring - I guess you would understand without my explanation."

Lancer narrowed his eyes at the priest's words. He knew about the serial kidnapping cases that happened in Fuyuki city, and he didn't like it one bit. He wanted to take care of it but with Kayneth by his side, he couldn't act freely. But he never thought that a Servant was behind this crime.

"He and his Servant are no longer your individual enemy, but a general threat to the summoning of the Holy Grail. Therefore, I use authority of supervision I have at such critical times, to change the rules of the Holy Grail War temporarily."

Lancer thought he knew where this was going on.

"All Masters should stop all current hostilities. Everyone needs to destroy Caster with all that he's got. If this mission is accomplished alone, only that person will be awarded; if many cooperated then all will be awarded."

As expected of the overseer and a priest from the Church, with an individual liked Caster running wild out there, eliminating him immediately was the best course of action. And with that reward, Lancer didn't think any Master in their right mind would ignore it.

"Once it is proven that Caster has been exterminated, the Grail War will resume as usual."

The transmission ended at that.

"So, what's our plan, Master?"

Lancer asked. Kayneth had used one Command Seal at the docks, so now he only had two left. This was the best opportunity to gain a Command Seal, Lancer didn't think he would waste this chance.

"All right, we'll attack the Einzbern manor tonight."

Kayneth's replied made Lancer and Sola's eyes widened.

"What do you mean, Kayneth? Isn't fighting between Masters forbidden right now?"

What was this guy thinking, Sola thought silently as she asked that.

"Yes, that's why this is the best opportunity to eliminate Saber and her Master when they focus on Caster."

"But, Master, this -"

"It has been decided." Kayneth stood up, ignored what Lancer was trying to say "We'll launch a surprise attack on the Einzbern manor tonight. That's all, dismiss."

Finished, Kayneth left the kitchen, leaving Lancer alone with Sola.

"Calm down, Lancer. You'll have other chances."

Noticing Lancer's discomfort, Sola tried to console him, which Lancer responded by sighing heavily. Then he also stood up and left. Sola once again wished she was Lancer's Master rather than Kayneth.

The dense atmosphere made Irisviel sigh numerous times.

"– Are you tired, Iri?"

Kiritsugu asked. Irisviel hid her melancholic expression and shook her head with a smile.

"It's nothing, I'm not tired. Keep going."

Irisviel urged Kiritsugu. Kiritsugu continued to talk about all sorts of intelligence concerning Fuyuki city. A map portraying the entire Fuyuki city was spread on the table in front of Kiritsugu.

"– Two locations are the heart of the entire area. One is the residence of the Second Master, Tohsaka. The other goes without saying; that is Mount Enzō. All the leylines in the surrounding area gather at Mount Enzō. The details are just as Head of the Household Acht had said – "

It'd be a lie to say that she's not tired. But Irisviel had at least rested in bed for a little while. Kiritsugu, on the other hand, didn't rest for one minute. It was already near noon when Kiritsugu and his assistant Hisau Maiya arrived at the castle. However, as soon as they arrived at the castle they received the summons from Fuyuki church, controlled familiars, confirmed the notice from the supervisor and such, and Kiritsugu busily dealt with all these hassles without a halt. Last night, after the battle at the warehouses, Kiritsugu and company attacked Lancer's Master Kayneth, but came to halt by the interference of Lancer, and even encountered Kotomine Kirei. Another fierce battle ensued. Yet, Kiritsugu didn't even show a sliver of exhaustion, then there's no reason for Irisviel to complain of tiredness either.

No, there were other, hidden reasons for Irisviel to sigh.

"– A powerful bounded field was established with the Ryūdō temple on top of Mount Enzō as its base. As a result, apart from Servants, all other natural creatures can only enter the bounded field through the mountain path. Saber needs to be careful of this when she's moving."

These words advising caution to Saber could be directly said to Saber face to face. However, Kiritsugu still didn't even once look at the girl dressed in masculine attire and standing behind Irisviel.

"Also, apart from these two locations, there are two more key positions in Shinto where leylines gather. One is the Fuyuki church on top of the southern hill, and the other is the new housing development to the east of the CBD. To conclude, there are four key spiritual grounds in Fuyuki where it is properly equipped to carry out the Holy Grail's descent."

"Then, once the war enters the ending phase and the number of Servants have been narrowed down, we must take control of one of these locations?"

"Correct. Any questions concerning the topography?"

"...Saber, is there anything you are not certain of?"

Irisviel did the tactful thing and tried to arouse her interest. The girl Servant smiled and shook her head.

"Nothing in particular. It was a sufficient explanation."

While the girl in question is probably not aware, from an observer's point of view it was a sarcastic, flippant reply.

With a sigh, Irisviel continued.

"So, as for our policies from now on... It seems all the other Masters will hunt down Caster first, right, Kiritsugu?"

"No doubt about that. But we have the advantage with regards to Caster. He believes Saber to be Jeanne d'Arc, which is to our benefit. We just need to wait for him to come."

"Master, that is not enough."

That was the cold, objecting voice of Saber, who had thus far been secluded from the discussion.

"With Caster's personality, if we do nothing and simply watch over him, then the number of innocent victims will only increase. His misdeeds are unacceptable. We should force him out before the damage spreads. Besides–"

Saber continued.

"His objective is not only me, but also Lancer. What should we do if he doesn't come to us but Lancer?"

"Lancer, huh?"

Kiritsugu's expression became heavier.

"That is to our benefit, too. Lancer is a dangerous, if not the most dangerous opponent in the Grail War. Caster will help us kill him if it comes to that. If Caster can't,… then we don't need to bother with Caster anymore."

Kiritsugu spoke without any emotion. After last night event, Kiritsugu had regarded Lancer as his most dangerous opponent, along with Kotomine Kirei. He only told Irisviel that Lancer interfered with their plan, without revealing his conversation with Lancer.

He still didn't understand Lancer last word. What did he mean by the Grail was not the HOLY Grail? He didn't know what it meant but he was bothered by it. Was there something wrong with this Holy Grail War? Maybe something happened in the past wars…

His musings were cut short by the sudden change in Irisviel's face.

Irisviel's chest suddenly throbbed intensively, and she couldn't help but tense up her entire body. Repeating and intensive vibrations appeared in her magic circuits as soon as she held the forest's bounded field within her own magecraft.

That was the alarm.

"– Here already?"

Kiritsugu muttered beside her ear. Kiritsugu detected that something had happened just by seeing his wife's expression. Irisviel nodded silently and left her husband's embrace. The cruel countenance of that 'magus killer' once again emerged in front of her eyes.

"Irisviel, prepare the crystal ball used to look into the distance."

"Right."

Events were happening much quicker than expected. The whirlwind of battle began to blow in the forest.

"– He's appeared."

All the main players of the Einzbern camp once again gathered in the meeting room – Kiritsugu, Maiya, and Saber. Before the three of them, Irisviel showed the image the bounded field had captured of the invader on the crystal ball.

"Irisviel, the enemy is provoking us."

Saber said resolutely. She needs only a few minutes to arrive at Caster's location just with her speed on foot as a Servant. Saber's thoughts also passed to Irisviel. At that moment, Saber's mood was extremely anxious, and wanted to go out and smash Caster.

But the King of Knights couldn't do whatever she wanted. The group of children gathered behind Caster – was exactly the reason why the King of Knights was feeling unsettled.

"Hostages… right? Definitely so."

Irisviel muttered melancholically. Saber nodded.

At that time, Caster's beast-like eyes suddenly looked up. Could it be that he had already sensed Irisviel's "clairvoyance"?

Caster stared at Irisviel's direction and flatteringly lifted his arms and bowed at Irisviel. It was such a simple thing to do for the magus Heroic Spirit.

"I came here specially to visit you according to last night's promise. I would like an audience with Jeanne, my beautiful Holy Virgin."

Saber stared at Irisviel, urging her to quickly give a command. The girl who was a Servant had already made the preparation to fight. It was only her master who was hesitating.

As if he saw through Irisviel's thoughts, Caster showed an expression of scorn, spat out a laugh as if he was acting in a one-man's-show, and said:

"Feel free to take your time. I have come prepared for a lengthy wait."

Caster clicked his fingers. The children who were obediently following Caster's back all the time opened up their eyes as if waking up from a dream. The children looked about themselves helplessly, as if they couldn't figure out where they were.

"Now, children, it's time to play tag. The rules are simple. Just run away from me. If I catch you –"

Caster's hand stretched out from the sleeve of the cassock with a swish, and caught a child beside him. The sound of a skull shattering. Brain matter sprayed in all directions and eyeballs slid down in the air. Those nightmarish scenes were engraved into everyone's mind. The children let out a harrowing scream and scattered everywhere.

"Hurry up and run. I'm gonna start chasing you after I count to a hundred. So Jeanne, before I catch all the children, how long are you going to prepare?"

Irisviel didn't hesitate anymore when she saw this scene. It was impossible for her to hesitate anymore. She is also a child's mother. That child who was killed and then discarded; his small and pitiful figure was exactly the same size as her own daughter Ilya.

"Saber, defeat Caster for me."

"Yes."

The King of Knight's reply was extremely short. Saber had already disappeared from the meeting room when Irisviel heard her reply. Only the wind that started to blow behind her was full of extraordinary rage.

The stench of blood became heavier. The mud that wrapped about the edge of her armor stopped Saber's steps.

Behind Saber, the ground was clouded with raised dust, and the disturbed dust was soaked through with dampness. That dampness wasn't caused by rain, but crimson blood.

It was a sickening stench. A sea of blood surrounded her. Just what kind of cruel slaughter did Caster go through to create such an unbearable scene? Saber's heart was torn apart with pain when she thought of this.

"You're finally here. Jeanne, I've waited a long time."

Caster greeted the stationary silver-white figure with a hearty smile. Caster's face was full of complacent smiles as if he was very satisfied with the lavish 'banquet' he was holding.

"How do you like this terrible spectacle. It pains you, doesn't it?"

Saber had nothing to say, and she had no intention to listen to Caster's long speech either. She wanted to cleave Caster in half with one sword blow. But a child – the sole surviving hostage stopped her advance.

"Do you hate me so much? Yes, you should hate me. I betrayed the mercy and love of God and you would never forgive me for that. You were truly more devoted to God than anyone else."

"Let that child go, fiend!"

"Jeanne, since you wish to rescue him that badly… Okay, boy. Rejoice. A devout messenger of god has come to save you."

It seemed that the young child also understood that this blonde girl who sprinted here was his saviour, and began to cry loudly at once. At the same time he ran straight towards Saber.

"It's very dangerous here. Get away quickly. Run this way, and then you'll see a big big castle. In there people will help –"

Clack, the child's spine made a sound. His sobs became painful wails.

Saber was shocked beyond words; the little figure in front of her eyes burst apart. What gushed out from within the child was an octopus? Or the tentacles of some strange octopus-like creature? Those tentacles, as thick as Saber's arms, extended in the blink of an eye and wrapped themselves around the silver armor, starting to tightly constrain Saber's arms and legs. Endless tentacles continued to emerge from the remains of the hostages scattered everywhere; a dozen or so monsters surrounded Saber almost immediately.

"I should have told you beforehand, you should make full preparations the next time you see me."

Caster laughed loudly as if celebrating his victory. As he spoke, a thick book appeared in his hands.

"– That's enough. I don't want to compete for the Grail with you anymore."

The swordsman Servant, Saber, said quietly. At the same time, a huge burst of prana erupted from her body destroyed the tentacles that surrounded her body.

"I ask for nothing in this battle, and I don't want to obtain anything either. But now… this sword in my hands is made to eliminate you."

Saber sensed the enemy's intentions after she defeated three monsters.

She didn't yet know the reason. However, the overly fragile tentacle monsters and Caster's unnatural degree of confidence triggered Saber's instinctive alarm.

After defeating ten, Saber finally confirmed the reason for her unsettledness.

The amount of enemies didn't decrease. No matter how many she defeats, new enemies would emerge.

Saber leapt into a slight gap but a tentacle behind her wrapped itself around her head. Although she reflexively stretched out her hand to grab it before it wrapped around her, her left hand, with its thumb completely out of her control, slipped powerlessly across the skin of the tentacle.

"Uuuu…"

And as soon as Saber stopped, all of her field of view was completely covered by the wall of tentacles. She can only use a prana burst to blow them apart. But this many of them…

"Raijinzan."

In the blink of eye, a blue lightning flashed past, and pushed back that alien horde.

In front of Saber, who was gasping after her bondage were taken off, a tall figure in black coat entered her sight.

"Don't worry, because your prince in shining armor has come."

"Lancer, why…"

In contrast to Saber's surprise, Caster laughed as if he knew Lancer would come.

"I have been waiting for you, Lancer. With this, I can free her Maiden's soul."

This was Caster's plan. He believed that Lancer had used some sort of evil spell to bind Saber's, his Jeanne, soul. To sum up, Lancer was like a demon king and Saber was the princess. So if Caster came to save the princess, the demon king would absolutely come to stop him.

Of course, Lancer didn't know about this. He came with his Master to invade the Einzbern castle, and he was ordered to find Saber and kill her. It was only a coincidence that he met with Saber like this. Lancer too wanted to kill Caster, so he decided to save Saber and teamed up to destroy Caster here.

"I don't know what you are talking about, heretic. But you will fall here."

Now that she thought about it, this is the second time that Saber looked at the Lancer's back in this fashion. Last night, as she faced Berserker's furious attacks, Lancer also intervened in this way. Is all this just to finish all of his business with her, who once crossed swords with him?

"Lancer, you…"

"Don't get me wrong, Saber. We just have the same objective."

Saber didn't question him more. She just nodded at Lancer and stood at his right with a smile. Lancer was really someone she could trust her back with.

"By the way, Saber…"

Lancer suddenly patted her shoulder, which startled Saber a bit. Saber attempted to question him but stopped when she felt that her left arm could move normally.

"Why do you–"

"The paralyze effect will fade away soon. I just make it fade sooner."

Lancer turned towards Caster again. They had a more important matter to attend with.

The battlefield of the Heroic Spirits had already turned into a swamp full of filthy mud.

The horde of alien demonic monsters which appeared endlessly regardless of how many were slaughtered; piled into mountains of corpses, the spraying innards and bodily fluids mixed, was kicked and stirred by two pairs of feet, and formed a chaos even more terrifying than Hell itself.

"...To make no progress at all for this long, this is a surprise beyond amazement."

Although Lancer had yet to show signs of tiredness, his muttering was full of bitterness.

"It's that grimoire, Lancer. As long as his Noble Phantasm is here… this situation won't change."

"I see, so that's what it is."

Lancer gave a depressed sigh after he heard Saber's muttered words.

"But, if we want to remove the book from the weakling's hands, we have to break through this wall of minions no matter what."

Even now, facing both Saber and Lancer, Caster continues his battle of attrition. If this is his strategy, it would obviously promise him victory. The amount of prana wielded by Caster and his Noble Phantasm might as well be infinite.

"...Lancer, at this desperate time, do you want to make a gamble?"

"Although it annoys me to appear outlasted, playing with his minions like this will accomplish nothing.

Fine. I accept, Saber."

After Lancer's ready consent, Saber stared at the repulsive wall of flesh which stretched back to Caster, carefully calculating its thickness and density.

This is her greatest secret skill - intuition told her this idea is 'correct', and worth putting all her stakes into.

"I'll open the way. There is only one chance. Lancer, can you run with the wind?"

"Hm? – Hehe, so that's what it is. Simply done. Green Wall."

A green barrier formed in front of Lancer and then disappeared. With this, he had resistance to wind element.

With a loud voice, the King of Knights commanded the noble holy sword.

"Strike Air!"

In the middle of the whirling air, the resplendent brilliance of gold shone through.

The sheath of super-high pressured air that protected the holy sword was released from the bondage of the invisible barrier – bellowing forth like a savage dragon's roar.

Then, the one who sprang into this converging surge without hesitation was the one who was waiting for this one strike – Lancer.

"Come - prepare yourself!"

With one leap Lancer passed through the passage twirling with gales of blood and flesh, like a swallow that tucked in its feathered wings by its side as it chased the wind. When his feet once again touched earth he was barely ten strides away from Caster, with no obstructing barriers between them.

"I have you, Caster!"

"Arrrrrr!"

With a roar, a black shadow flew towards Lancer and pushed him back.

"Berserker?!"

Lancer and Saber both shouted in surprise. Why was Berserker here? And he totally ignored Caster and only looked at Lancer.

"It seems someone shares the same anger towards you, Lancer."

True to his words, Berserker roared again and lunged towards Lancer.

'This is bad.'

Lancer thought silently as he had a hard time to fend off Berserker's continuous attacks.

Caster started summoning his minions again. All of Saber and Lancer's effort had gone without trace.

Despite interrupting his attack on Caster, Lancer didn't think their Masters were working together. Maybe Berserker's Master only took advantage of this situation to kill both Lancer and Saber, two competent opponent in the Grail War. But it seemed Berserker's main target was only Lancer. If that's the case…

"Saber, I'll lure Berserker out. Sorry but you have to deal with Caster alone."

Finished, Lancer jumped further to the forest. Berserker immediately chased after him.

'This is far enough, I guess.'

Lancer thought as he turned back. Berserker was already behind him, but he didn't launch any attacks as he only watching him. Maybe the sudden change in Lancer's action made him wary.

"As everyone said…" Lancer gripped his naginata in one hand, the other covered his mask "Let a mad man deal with a mad man."

A red aura leaked out of Lancer's body. Berserker lowered his stance, even as a mad man, Berserker could feel something bad was coming.

Lancer's appearance didn't change much, excepted his whole body was now dyed in red with red lines running from his neck to his heel. His mask, which was once white, now was red. His black coat was also covered in red. His usual calm and cool character was now full of malice.

The new Lancer spread out his hands and laughed loudly.

"Ha ha. Now let's get the party start."