It was late into the night when the Yggdmillenia's strategy meeting ended and Astolfo was finally able to leave and have some time to himself.

"Just who does she think I am?" The paladin was walking down the castle's halls irritated at his master's behavior with him.

"Mou, with everyone else she acts so aloof and cold but when it's with me she decides that she has to know my every move and thought!" Throughout the strategy meeting Celenike was always looking at him with this strange look. It unnerved him and it might've shown when Vlad had asked him what was wrong.

"I'm just thankful that our Lancer is so understanding of his fellow servants' plights." He breathed out, closing his eyes with a smile on his face. Seeing that he was rather uncomfortable he ordered him to take a walk and clear his mind from whatever was bothering him.

Before his master could even refute, he already had a foot out the door with a smile on his face as he bid everyone else farewell.

"Still why did my master have to act so weird back there." Rider of Black reopened his eyes in barely veiled annoyance.

"I mean can't she figure out there's a time for 'playtime' and a time to being serious." The pink-haired Rider turned a corner, passing by a homunculus patrol. The mass-produced soldiers bowed in greeting to which the servant responded in kind.

As the patrol left her to her own devices, he couldn't help but feel saddened at seeing the mass-produced homunculi.

They reminded him of Frankenstein, who was still currently in her comatose state.

Even if they had never spent a lot of time together, he still regarded the Berserker as a friend. Compared to the rest of the servants, okay minus Siegfried and Chiron because they were also tolerable, she was the closest thing he could consider as a normal servant.

"Welp I think it's time to go back now, spent a bit too much time wandering and I don't think master is going to like that." After walking for a few more minutes aimlessly, Astolfo decided it was time to go back.

But it seems that he would not be attending the meeting anytime soon.

There collapsed on the floor just a few feet away from him was a homunculus boy, struggling to pick himself up. Astolfo didn't even question why there was a half-naked homunculus boy on the ground as his body was already moving closer to help.

"What are you doing?" The collapsed boy looked up from the floor to see someone standing before him, concerned about his state.

"You'll catch a cold like that." Through the boy's blurry vision, he could barely make out the person standing before him.

"Help...me..." He pleaded at the stranger standing before him.

And just before he let himself be embraced by his tiredness; his vision cleared for a split second to see the person standing before him with blinding clearness.

"Sure thing!" Astolfo's face brightening up before smiling at him was the last thing he saw before succumbing to the void of fatigue.

The Paladin of Charlemagne effortlessly picked up the comatose boy over his shoulders and begun carrying him to safety.

If Astolfo had taken a single step forward and peered into the hallway that the boy had probably come from then he would've seen his savior observing his rescue.

Kirk had his arms crossed as he leaned back on a wall listening to Astolfo whistling a tune as he carried the unconscious homunculus to wherever the Rider had deemed safe. After hearing the servant's whistling disappear, the Knight of Thorns left his spot before materializing away into spirit form.

The sun begun to rise over Romania's horizon and by the time a patrol had made their rounds to where the incident had occurred, the only thing that may have been evidence of anyone being there was a barely noticeable set of thorn marks where Kirk had been leaning on.

As the sun rose over Romania, so too did it rise in the pseudo Painted World of Ariandel. The sun rays glistened the painted world's snowy plains as its residents woke up and resumed their defense of their home.

Overlooking the snowy hills from a tower, Gough was sharpening a new quiver of arrows. The gentle giant was busy replenishing his quiver that he had spent when he and the Archer of Black were exchanging arrows.

The giant may have been blind but his senses were still as sharp as his first day of fighting in the Great Dragon War so he did not flinch from his duty when he was visited by a fellow servant.

"Finished with your scouting have we Kirk?" The mentioned servant materialized out of his spirit form and onto the tower's battlements to join the giant archer.

"Not quite yet Gough, still got some things to scout out in the Yggdmillenia Castle and where the Assassin of Red has set up her Noble Phantasm." The darkwraith reported as he took a seat right next to the busy Archer.

The two settled into comfortable silence as they chose not to say anything to each other with Gough busy sharpening his stone arrow tips while Kirk simply stared at the rising sun.

A few more minutes passed by until Gough finally decided to break the ice between them. "What brings thee up here into my little perch?"

"...Just really confused about something I encountered back at the Yggmillenia Castle." Confessed Kirk as he still gazed at the sun.

"Oh? Something related to your objectives? If so, why has thou not consulted with Saber?" The giant finished his final carving of stone arrowheads. Setting the last arrowhead down he begun to tie them to shafts with tree bark.

"Eh no offense but this is more of a 'divine' question that I think you'll only be able to answer." Kirk tore his gaze from the sun and looked at the archer servant.

"Hmm then by all means," Gough stopped assembling an arrow before placing it on the ground and turning his giant body to look at the prickly servant. "Tell me what happened."

"Well it all begins when I was investigating the mana battery supply that the Faction of Black is using to power their servants." Kirk began telling his experience within the castle with his fellow servant.

Kirk was having a staring match with the tube trapped boy that he unexpectedly encountered within the Yggdmillenia Castle's depths. The barely awake boy could only look as the knight begun pacing in front of him, going back and forth while talking.

"You must have some extraordinary magical circuits to be able to have withstand this green liquid that you are currently being submerged in." He stopped his pacing to look as the boy, looking if he would react in any way. Seeing how the boy could not speak and probably could not move his body well, Kirk continued speaking.

"Circuits that could serve quite nicely as the core of Caster's massive golem that's currently sitting at the bottom of the lake right now." He revealed as he stopped right in front of the boy and looked at him directly. He could see panic beginning to build up in the boy's eyes but chose not to address it.

"Even we servants of ash would be hard pressed to fight that thing if it ever got completed." He honestly admitted. That thing, in the right conditions, would probably be the biggest threat in the two other factions. Though he did feel that Rider would've been right in his playing field when it came to dealing with foes three to five times bigger than he was.

"So theoretically I should nip the problem in the bud before it blossoms into something more problematic." Assassin of Ash manifested his barbed sword onto his hand as it seemed that he was going to be dealing the killing blow.

And all the homunculus boy could do was close his eyes in fear for his inevitable death.

But the blow never came.

"...But if I did that then the Yggdmillenia clan would be aware that I was here and derail the whole reason I was here in the first place." Admitted the assassin as his victim slowly opened his eyes back open to stare down at the pondering Knight of Thorns.

"Still..." He looked back up at the submerged boy with curiosity . "Regardless someone is going to notice you so here's what we're going to do."

Kirk pointed his barbed sword at the submerged boy. "I'm going to leave you with a choice on how you want to live your very short life." With a single swipe, Kirk scratched the glass tank with his sword.

"You can choose to say here in this tank and wait for the Caster of Black to eventually discover you to which you will undoubtedly be remade into his golem's core, or..." He turned his back and motioned to a set of stairs that led out of the laboratory .

"You can utilize your rare number of magical circuits and bust yourself free, and if you'll see the light of tomorrow?" Kirk shrugged his shoulders. "We'll just have to see for ourselves, but this slash will either help you get noticed or break you free."

"Whatever path you want to go on, is up to you." The Assassin of Ash bowed before he began to walk out of sight.

Looking at the slice on his tank, the homunculus boy knew what path he wanted to go on.

His body's magical circuit's glowed green as he acted. " Strasse Gehen ." He muttered as the spell shattered his glass prison , the green fluid dumping him on the ground.

With a hazy vision, the boy picked himself up and started to limp his way to the stairs, not caring if whatever lied past the door was all a big unknown.

Behind another tank, Kirk gave a smirk.

" So, you choose freedom huh? I have some time to spare." The darkwraith slowly followed the limping homunculus from the shadows.

" Let's see where you end up."

"And very soon their Rider came and picked the boy up and whisked him away to who knows where." He finished.

"And do you believe that he was taken away to their Caster?" Gough turned away from him and picked up his unfinished arrow to resume completing it.

"...I highly doubt that Rider of Black gave him away."

"And why is that Kirk?"

"Just call it a gut feeling, that pink haired paladin is the typical chivalrous servant that would rather suffer than intentionally allow an innocent to suffer." He could see it in how the pink haired Rider carried himself.

His reconnaissance had helped shed some light on both the Factions of Black and Red's servants and thus he could judge them by their legends. He could see how Astolfo wore his heart on his sleeve and seeing how he threw himself at Ornstein at of all people, that took a lot of courage.

"And do you think if Caster of Black was to ever activate his Noble Phantasm, do you think we would have trouble fighting it?" Gough curiously asked as he finished one of his arrows.

Kirk begun to contemplate if Caster of Black's golem would've been trouble for them. Avicebron, or rather Solomon ibn Gabirol, the one who tried and failed to recreate God's orignal human, Adam. His quest for humanity to be guided back into the Garden of Eden once more was admirable, but ultimately futile for one human to achieve on his own.

"That's hard to answer, sensing the thing sitting at the bottom of the lake was confusing. I'm pretty sure I could kill that thing by myself if it came down to it." Honestly that thing was disappointing considering that it was meant to be original man. He expected to be suffocated by heavy magical energy but it was the complete opposite.

"The senses can be deceiving Kirk." Gough warned. "Who is to say that it will not undergo any significant changes once the core is made. After all God, in all his power, did not make the world in one day."

"Huh I suppose so, but I do think we would come out on top. After all we have a literal God of War on our side." Kirk motioned downward to the courtyard.

There the Nameless King was busy attending to his trusted partner and steed. The massive stormdrake let loose a fearsome roar before lowering its head down so that the servant could reach up and pet the dragon. It purred almost like a kitten as it received its treatment as the two were lost in their own world.

"Never would've thought that he, who was is father's instrument of destruction against the everlasting dragon, would befriend one on the end."

"...Tell me Kirk do you know the difference between you and him?" Gough suddenly asked.

Kirk looked back at him in confusion. What had brought this up all of a sudden? Looking straight back at the rising sun, Kirk brought his hand up to his chin as he pondered on the question.

After a few minutes of thinking he just guessed an answer. "I guess it would have to be that he's a god and I'm just a lowly human that worked for the darkwraiths." Conceded Kirk as he had no idea what the giant was looking for.

He waited for the giant to answer him but he was greeted by deafening silence. Looking back at the archer, he was surprised to see him diligently finishing his arrows. Like as if the question was never asked.

Kirk decided to bring it up. "Hey I answered your-." However, he was cut off when the battlement's exit door opened up to reveal Friede as she walked towards them.

"Assassin, Saber would like to have your report now." She commanded.

Seeing that he was being called by their leader, the Knight of Thorns spared one last glance at the busy giant before throwing his arms up in the air in defeat. "Alright, alright I'm going." He pushed himself off the ground and begun to follow Friede back into the castle.

Gough waited until he could hear the faint sounds of footsteps disappear into the castle before he began speaking out loud to himself.

"You are but a young sparrow that still blinds yourself to the world my fellow servant, I hope that this was the reason that our lord brought you as our assassin. To learn and mature as a person."

Frankenstein didn't know how long she was floating in her void prison since the last memory that she saw. She had her senses active so that she would be given some kind of heads up for the sudden change of scenery.

However, unlike the last encounter where she had to follow the sounds of voices to find herself in a castle.

This time she was suddenly dropped into a desolate world.

Grey, that was all she could see. Observing her surroundings that was all that the bleak world offered to her. From the endless landscape to the spiraling tree husks whose reach seemed to be as high up as the heavens. There was no warmth here to be found, no emotion that the place seemed to invoke within the creation's heart.

Then within an instant, the desolate wasteland became bathed in fire.

Frankenstein could not react fast enough to the rapid changes occurring around her. Looking up she saw that the massive archtree that she was standing under was rapidly burning down. A chunk of the ancient bark chipped off and she dived out of the way as the chunk flattened the area she was just standing on.

She was given no reprieve however as a dragon's piercing roar could be heard within the chaos. The Berserker of Black whipped her back up at the burning archtree to make out some kind of shape within it.

Her heterochromatic eyes widened in shock as a massive dragon came soaring over her head. It might've once been a majestic creature to have been seen but it was anything but that. With one of its majestic horns broken off and many off its stony scales having been blown off, all the mighty being could do was accept its fate.

The crippled dragon collided into the ground, shaking the earth in its wake. Frankenstein brought a hand up to shield her eyes from the ensuing smoke that billowed from the crash. From its crash the everlasting dragon gave off one last roar before succumbing to its wounds.

"I was born not of love but created to combat the everlasting dragons, to bring about my 'father's' Age of Fire. I was to be his God of War, his wrathful lighting that he would let loose on all those he wished to destroy." The voice that she had heard at the end of her last encounter begun speaking once more.

Emerging from the smoking corpse was a single warrior, a swordspear crackling with thunder in his hand. It was if the man's face had been sculpted from the finest of marble, even if his face was covered from the results of harsh battling. Even his armor depicted him as some sort of royal figure.

Raising his spear in hand, he let loose a war cry before jumping off the dragon's corpse and begun running off in search of other dragons to slay.

A second later, swarms of knights in silver filled the area as they followed behind their lord, willing to follow him into the depths of hell if needed.

"There was no greater honor to me than to bring glory to my 'father's' name. With each dragon felled was a new praise that came from his mouth."

The scene shifted as Frankenstein suddenly found herself floating in a grand cathedral. The lavishly decorated cathedral hosted a ceremony in which a singular blood red carpet was flanked by silver knights from both sides.

At the head of the carpet was an imposing figure whose mere presence seemed to illuminate the room as if he was the very sun itself.

Off to the side three other figures seemed to resonate the same aura that the imposing man held.

One seemed to hold the warmth of the sun. As if your troubles would just all melt away if you gazed into her eyes.

One did not hold the same warmth as his sister but his gaze, even if it was hidden away by a mask, held the same intelligence that his father had when he waged war on the everlasting dragons.

And the last was neither the soothing warmth of her sister or held the intelligence that her brother possessed. What she did possess was a blinding faith to her father that trumped everyone's else's, so strong in fact that it could even mess with the fabrics of time itself.

And the last of the lord's siblings, his firstborn, walked through the opening of the grand doors of the cathedral. No longer having his armor and features marred by the battlefield, the firstborn's presence commanded an authority so high that it could only be matched by his father.

Gwyn's God of War marched up to his father, his face stoic as he each step got him closer and closer with his father.

"My father I have come per your command." He greeted as he kneeled before his father.

"Do you know why I have called you my son?" The man's gruff voice rang throughout the cathedral. Each word that came out of his mouth demanded respect from all that heard.

"No father, why have I been summoned away from the battlefield?"

"The time has come my son, the time for our war with the everlasting dragons to end." Gwyn, Lord of Sunlight, gestured for his son to rise. "And you shall be the one to lead our armies into the remaining stronghold of the dragons and usher our Age of Fire."

Rising, Gwyn's firstborn slammed his fist on his chest. "It shall be done father."

At his command the silver knights that were flanking the red carpet raised their polearms into the air. "Yes, your majesty!" They cried out in unison.

"The final battle in our war against the everlasting dragons was that worthy of legend." Frankenstein felt herself pulled from the cathedral and back on the battlefield that was filled with the corpses of both dragons and knights.

"It was a battle for the right to the beginning and the end, the alliances that had been forged by the ancient war had come to unite for one last fight, one last push against the dragons."

She looked up to see the one last stand of the everlasting dragons, how they filled every inch of the massive nest as they waited for their enemies to arrive so they could descend upon them with wrathful flames.

The scene shifted in front of her eyes as she teleported to the staging ground that all the kingdoms were using to prepare for their final attack.

Gods, knights, humans, beings of all kind rallied together for the right to a new Age. Putting aside their differences for one single goal.

Nito, Lord of the Dead. A being who found the Lord Shard of Death that turned him to the manifestation of illness and death.

Izalith, Queen of Chaos. She found the Lord Shard of Chaos and with it, she gave fragments of it to her Daughters of Chaos and they used it to create the art of pyromancy.

Even Havel was present in this diverse army, the man of stone leading a brigade of similarly dressed warriors. Judging from the man's gesturing it was obvious that he was psyching his group up

And at the head of the army was Gwyn himself. The Lord of Sunlight stood above his army of silver knights before turning to his firstborn, placing a hand on his son's shoulder.

"I was to be the vanguard, leading my elite warriors into the heart of the dragon's stronghold to slay the dragon elders while the armies clashed with each other on the bleak landscape.

The scene then shifted as the Berserker of Black was planted in the middle of the bleak battlefield. To her right was the massive nest that the dragons were holed up in. And on her left...

A war cry filled the battlefield as Frankenstein turned her head to see who had yelled it.

A battalion of silver knights were charging at the enemy stronghold riding horses, the horses also adorned in silver armor as the group were traversing the field.

And at the front of the calvary, leading the charge, was Gwyn's firstborn; riding on a steed that was covered in plates of gold.

"I am Lord Gwyn's Firstborn and I have come to herald your end everlasting dragons! Come and meet your end by my hand!" He yelled out fearlessly while brandishing his swordspear, his silver knights mirrored as they too brought up their weapons and let loose their war cries.

A second later the nest rumbled with activity as the whole thunder of dragons emerged from their nest and soon covered the sky with their massive bodies.

Which was answered by a seemingly endless volley of lightning spears. Any poor dragon that happened to be part of the frontline

There on a ledge overlooking the entire battlefield, The Lord of Sunlight illuminated the battlefield with his presence.

"Let us end this, your time of reckoning has come!" With his proclamation, the rest of the alliance forces revealed themselves as the two armies soon crashed into each other. Miasmas of death, spells of fire, and storms of arrows rained down on the dragons as the vanguards from both sides clashed with each other.

Scores of silver knights were ripped to shreds by the imposing claws of the dragons as their armor was tissue to the dragon's attack. A dragon roared as had one of its great horns blown off by a lightning spear that was thrown by a very familiar golden clad knight.

And as the fighting escalated Gwyn's Firstborn and his forces slipped into the stronghold uhindered, using the fighting between armies as their cover.

"You must be wondering why I, his firstborn, would even consider betraying my father's trust in me if all I lived for was his glory alone. Let me ask you." The battle playing out before her vanished as Frankenstein found herself back in the empty void of space.

"What is a God of War without any wars left to fight in?"

Jeanne found herself in Sigishoara once news spread of the sudden damage that the town had suffered. Panic spread when residents walked out of their houses to see their streets torn up and their houses damaged from fighting. The mayor issued a statement that this was due to some gang war that occurred during the night and promised the people that he would get to the bottom of this.

As she walked through one of the many damaged streets she wondered what had occurred here in the first place. What kind of battle occurred here that such damage would take place? Were they trying to let the whole world know that magecraft existed!?

Out of nowhere the Maiden of Orleans clucthed her head in pain as her magenta eyes glowed brightly.

"A Revelation?" She thought. No this was different from the rest. No vision had invoked such a response yet.

Images of random scenes played out in her mind with no correlation to be found between them.

Of a tanned man with white hair and wearing red that had been the vocal point of her recent Revelations in the middle of a forest.

Usually that would've been the end of a revelation with the target being at the center of attention for all the visions but she received one where the tanned man was not in it.

But rather of a dark room where a single painting resided in. It looked very old as a girl was painting on it with a very dark substance that seemed to writhe whenever she touched it, like it was alive.

Tucking that vision somewhere in the back of her mind for later, Ruler focused on the revelation of the man she needed to meet at all cost.

"The forest!" She realized as her senses picked up some sort of magical signature in a forest that was near the town. He must be there right now!

Quickly moving out of the public eye, Jeanne replaced her civilian clothing with her combat clothes before bolting out of the city and into the nearby forest in hopes of meeting the mystery man before he could leave.

"Please let me make it there in time!" She thought as she begun nearing the forest.

Jeanne stopped her running when she got deep enough into the forest. Looking around she noticed that the surroundings matched what she saw in her vision but there was the fact that the man she had been looking for was nowhere to be found.

"Sorry Ruler, I needed to bring you out to somewhere away from all the prying eyes." A voice apologized as a shadow loomed over the Ruler servant.

Manifesting her flag, she jumped away from whatever had landed on the spot that she was just standing on.

"Wait you are!" After orientating herself she got a good look on who her visitor was and immediately knew who he was.

"Forgive me for being too forward in our greeting." The Nameless King bowed from his perch atop his trusty stormdrake. His steed let out a puff of smoke before growling at the servant in front of it, daring her to see what would happen if she dares to try and do something stupid.

"But I come bearing news from our Saber that would prove beneficial in your hunt for the illusive man from your revelations."

Sorry it took me so long to get this out. I've been busy getting ready for college and stuff. Note that this means that updates will be slower than normal so please don't worry that I discontinued this story if it doesn't update in awhile.

Well some things are happening here, nothing to significant yet. I wanna build it up so we'll get there soon enough.

Hope you guys are staying safe and wearing your mask when you go out.

Love all the support this story is getting and if you enjoyed it, follow/favorite the story. Really supports me.

That's all for now.

PRAISE THE SUN!