Chapter 273 - 2-5

Chapter 2: Starting the War

Uryuu Ryuunosuke was working on his newest experiment. When he found that old book on the occult in the old storehouse he couldn't believe his eyes. With all the murders he did, it did got dull after a while, so a book on demon summoning was exactly what he needed! Although there had never been a demon to appear, the ritual itself was, what gave him a new drive. Now he had broken into a household of four people and killed everyone except the grade school boy and used their blood to draw the symbol on the floor. Then he started his chant:

"Fill, fill, fill, fill. With each repetition, four times― eh, five times? Err, only when it's full, break it up... Is it? Yeah." He stopped for a moment.

"Fill, fill, fill, fill, fill, there. That's five times alright. Okay?" He turned around towards the shivering kid he tied up and gagged.

"Say― boy, do you believe in demons? You know, newspapers and magazines keep calling me a demon. But ain't it weird? A single stick of dynamite would do more victims at once than me. Nah, it's fine. I'm kind of a demon. But if there were real demons beside me, I'd like to try to talk a little with them. Now that'd be nice. Anyway. If by any chance, a demon really comes out, wouldn't it be stupid to not have anything to drink and chat? So, boy... If Mr. Demon here does pay me a visit, how about you let him kill yourself?!" The kid struggled even more intense and Ryuunosuke started laughing.

"I wonder how it is to be killed by a demon. Will it go zip or splash, that gotta be some fun to watch. Not something you see everyday― ah ouch!" An unexpected sting made itself known at his right hand, stopping him in his tracks. Somehow a pattern like a tattoo appeared, looking like three intertwined snakes. Suddenly the pattern he painted on the ground with the blood of his victims started to glow and lightning covered the ground. Then with a great wind a person appeared in the middle of it. It was a woman of a fairly large build, with black, dotted snake tattoos winding down either arms. She had eyes with yellow irises and black pupils, and yellow hair she with two strands she braided together in front of her chest. She wore a black body-length suit extending down to her knees with a hood with two big white eyes painted on them. She studied Ryuunosuke from head to toe.

"So, you are supposed to be my Master? What a letdown!" Ryuunosuke didn't know what to say, so he tried it with a simple introduction.

"Uh, name's Uryuu Ryuunosuke. I am currently self-employed. I like murder in general. Especially kids." Actually he liked killing woman nearly as much, but it did appear him to be a little bit tactless to mention that in front of her. For a moment she looked at him stunned, then she started to chuckle lightly.

"Oh, you are an interesting fellow", she admitted. Then her gaze fell upon the child on the floor.

"And what's that?", she asked him.

"Right", Ryuunosuke regained his bearings, "let's talk over a drink. Are you going to eat that?" The woman looked at the child. Her expression turned sinister.

"Oh, even though you aren't that competent as a Master, you at last provided me with the means to regain my power. Very well, I accept."

She bent down towards the frightened child and took away the gag. Before the boy could even make on sound she transformed into a black snake with yellow arrows and made her way down the boy's throat. Ryuunosuke was frozen by the display as black arrows streamed out of the kids body destroying the ropes. When the kid stood up, it had changed its appearance into something, you could only call a chibi-version of the women.

"That is going to suffice for now", the child said, with the voice of the woman. Suddenly Ryuunosuke couldn't help himself. He got down on his knees and grabbed the hand of the women-turned-child.

"Coooool! That's wicked! Man, that was super cool!", he exclaimed with great joy. "I don't know exactly what is going on, but I'll follow you! Just show me more of your cool killings!"

Since she was now so small she had to look up towards him.

"Well, that can be arranged. I need to devour a lot, so I can finally use my powers wholly again."

"Ah―, right, I didn't get to hear your name."

Remembering about the important parts, Ryuunosuke started acting more familiarly.

"My name? Well, for the duration of this Heaven's Feel you should call me Caster."

"It is time!", Kotomine Kirei told Assassin. "The last Servant was summoned. Now go and kill Tohsaka Tokiomi."

"What about Archer?", the Servant asked.

"They have Independent Action. So if you notice an opportunity, kill him, too."

"Understood!", he said, making his way towards the Tohsaka compound. Silently he maneuvered past the magical defenses, when suddenly:

"What a drag, can't I just get some sleep?"

In front of him stood Archer. With his crutch. Not exactly the most intimidating sight, although Assassin knew not to underestimate his opponent.

"Why the hell do I have to keep up with that?! Oi, you, how about you disappear and we forget the whole thing?"

Instead of answering Assassin threw some funny shaped daggers at him, which he casually side-stepped. But his moment of unwariness Assassin used to close in on him and deliver a swipe with a dagger at his neck. But instead of opening the skin and drawing blood, it broke in half and Assassin's arm snapped back in an unnatural manner. Before Assassin could register what happened, Archer took a swing with his left hand, took Assassin's head and pressed it against the ground.

Suddenly a shockwave beginning by Archer passes through the ground of the whole garden ripping apart the surface, destroying hedges, flower beds and fountains. Together with the body of Assassin.

With that Archer straightened himself and walked back towards the house.

"Now, let's hope that was the last of them in a long time."

Tokiomi was utterly shocked and Kirei completely surprised by the display of his abilities. Both had only one thought:

'And that guy's an Archer?!'

"Assassin― has been killed?" Waver Velvet opened his eyes. He had used rat familiars to scout out the Matou and Tohsaka mansions since they were the only locations of Master known. Except the Einzbern, but their Master didn't made an appearance, yet. But he didn't thought someone would actually made a move. Yet Assassin did and was eliminated. In the blink of an eye. By a Servant with a crutch.

Just which class was that Servant?! He didn't used a weapon like the knight classes and he was way too sane for a Berserker. Since Assassin was out of the picture and since he had Rider that guy had to be Caster. A Caster, capable of destroying his opponents with a single blow, literally. The only magi he heard of capable of doing just that to a Heroic Spirit were the sorcerers Zelretch and The Blue, capable of using True Magic.

He decided to gather more information before he would make any actions towards the Tohsaka Master. He turned towards his Servant who was sitting on a futon beside his bed and was silently watching TV. Just as he had told Rider the house they lived in right now didn't belong to him, but to the old couple called Glen and Martha MacKenzie. But as he saw her on that futon he was forced to recall the recent events. He still felt embarrassed when he remembered back to what happened when he brought her to his current residence.

/*flashback*/

"Ah, so that's how it is", Martha acknowledged the story Waver had told her while Rider sat in her wheelchair beside him. "Of course we won't refuse to take care of her."

Waver let out a breath he didn't knew he was holding. In hindsight he should have known that they would not care about the mysterious appearance of a girl. He didn't even had to use hypnosis for that.

"But your friends sure are irresponsibly", Glen deemed. "To always leave you with their responsibilities."

"Actually I am the one who owns them a favor", Waver "corrected", "I am the one who has to pay back his debts."

"So, that's how it is. Well then, let's get a futon for Kagari ready. I hope you have no problems sleeping in our room…"

Faster than anybody could react, Rider reached over to Waver, grabbed his arm, pulled it towards her and clanged to it, as if to never let go. For a moment everybody stared silently at her, when suddenly Waver's face reddened as he finally understood the hint.

"No!", he stated firmly. "Absolutely not! It's improper for a man and a girl who aren't related to share the same bedroom! There is no way…"

He stopped in his tracks when he met her eyes. She looked at him with a cold gaze that seamed to pierce right into his soul. It was easy to forget, but this girl was actually a Heroic Spirit. A person who had done so incredible feats in his life that he ascended to a realm above normal humans.

"Waver is right, Kagari", Martha agreed, "you can't sleep with him. What would your brother say, if he heard of this?"

Rider didn't react at all and still continued to stare at her Master. Waver sighed and looked away. Then he turned towards his "grandparents".

"She just isn't accustomed yet to not have always someone at her side that she knows. Please, I promise I won't do anything improper."

"Well, I guess, we can allow it for now", Glen admitted and Waver felt relief. This time he actually had used a little bit of hypnosis. But seriously, he was supposed to be the Master in this relationship!

/*flashback end*/

When he had later looked at his Servant's skills he had found a reason for her strange behavior. She had Rank D in Mental Pollution, which gave her a slight defense against mental attacks, additional to her high Magic Resistance, but at the same time resulted in a slightly distorted mentality.

"Rider", he spoke to move her attention from the television towards him, "just now the first casualty happened. Assassin has been defeated."

Rider expectant waited for him to go on.

"Right. The Servant who defeated him was a white-haired teenage boy with a crutch. He had some ability which produced shockwaves with his punch, effectively destroying Assassin and the whole garden. I think he might be Caster."

Rider looked skeptically.

"Well, who do you think it would be?!" She made a move as though she was drawing a sword.

"Saber?! But he didn't even used a sword! Or do you think his crutch is his sword?!"

Now that he thought about it, that wasn't too farfetched, since Rider's Wheels were hidden as a wheelchair. She nodded and then flexed her arm muscles, which he had to admit, looked actually kind of cute since she was a petite girl and didn't have that big muscles to visibly flex them.

"So, you mean, he did that just with his Strength?! But he had to have A+ for that!"

She just looked at him blankly. He sighed.

"Alright, alright. I won't dismiss it just yet."

Now she beamed at him. Waver sighed again.

Being a Master was really more complicated then he would have thought. He finally understood what the Command Seals were for. He had thought that a Servant would comply with the wishes of his Master because that was the only way for him to receive the Holy Grail. But that wasn't necessarily true. Even though Heroic Spirit transcended to a level above normal humans but were themselves still human at the core. Together with all the quirks and character flaws. At last he got a quiet one. He could have gotten a bold and load Servant, chanting his name loudly around, whenever he got the chance. A tugging on his sleeve brought him out of his musings.

"What is it?", he asked Rider.

She pointed towards the door.

"What? You want to go out? And what then? Find some Servants and fight?!"

She nodded enthusiastically.

"But we don't have enough information about our opponents yet."

Now she sulked. At last she didn't use her special gaze this time. He speculated a little.

"Tell you what, why don't we go around tomorrow to familiarize ourselves with the terrain?"

That shook her out of her depression and she quickly nodded. That meant their plans for tomorrow were set. He just hoped they wouldn't get ambushed. But since Assassin was out of commission, they would at last know when there was an opponent around. And even if they ran into another Servant they probably wouldn't fight to preserve the concealment of magecraft as long as it was daytime.

Some miles away, the expected visitor appeared at the Fuyuki Church on the hill of the Shinto suburb.

"Following the Heaven's Feel agreement, I, Kotomine Kirei, request the protection from the Holy Church."

"I accept. Conforming to my duty as a supervisor, I, Kotomine Risei, will guarantee your security. Come inside." To the two men who had arranged everything, this was a laughable farce, but they couldn't know if there wasn't still someone spying at the gate. Kotomine Risei feigned strictly his role of supervisor with a grave face, and invited his son, weakened by his defeat as a Master, inside the Fuyuki Church.

"I am glad it worked out", Risei said to his son.

"Father", the one in question interrupted, "there isn't anyone watching over the church?"

"No, the church is neutral ground. On top of that, the defeated ones are of no interest."

"Nevertheless we shouldn't let our guard down. Why? Because there might be Master who don't care about the rules the Church has set for this war." The one who spoke these words was the one who had been defeated and killed earlier that day. Assassin. Yet none raised an eyebrow at the appearance of the Servant who shouldn't be there.

"Has anybody watched the scene?", Risei asked.

"I believe that at last four Master have witnessed the scene. Why? Because there were four different types of familiars at the scene."

"Four?", Kirei repeated, "we are missing one. The 'spirit board' definitely indicated the arrival of seven Servants, didn't it, father?"

"Yes, without a doubt. The last one, 'Caster', arrived two days ago. As usual, the names of the Masters weren't given, but all the Servants of this Grail War must be present."

"I see."

"That can have a bunch of reasons", Assassin exclaimed. "Firstly, he just didn't supervised the Tohsaka mansion. Either because he didn't had the time and resources for that, yet, or he doesn't knew that the Tohsaka are Master. Second he is strong enough to mask his familiar even before me and my kikaichu. Thirdly he could have teamed up with another Master and so didn't had the need to send his own familiar towards the Tohsaka mansion. The last two would be, to quote a friend of mine, 'troublesome'. Why? Because one means the Master and Servant are quite skilled and the other means we have to defeat two Servants at the same time and I am most likely not able to beat them in a straight battle."

"That would be indeed bothersome", Kirei admitted. "With the King of Uruk on our side we wouldn't had to worry, even if two Servants attacked us at the same time. But with the current Archer I can't clearly estimate our chances of victory if that were to happen."

"Speaking of Archer", Assassin said, "when he destroyed my bunshin I couldn't feel him using any chakra or mana and his physical build shouldn't allow him to use such strong attacks. The only explanation I have for that is a Noble Phantasm that allows him to enhance his Strength way above human level. It would explain why he wanted me to come close to him. At the same time his skin is strong enough to break normal weapons upon contact."

"Thank you", Kirei said. "Please now follow with the supervision of the other Master and don't let yourself be exposed."

"Of course, Master", he said and then vanished.

Emiya Kiritsugu watched the reports of the battle at the Tohsaka mansion his assistant Hisau Maiya, a slender woman with short black hair and brown eyes, brought him. Opposite to the other magi, who would think using technology to aid you was heresy, he combined magecraft with technology, familiars with surveillance cameras. Even his mystic code, a weapon you create with magecraft, was a gun. Since he was the only one using them, most magi tended forgot to protect their home against electronics. Now he watched on a monitor how the Servant Assassin got killed by the other one.

"What do you make of it?", he asked her after he was finished.

"I think it is going too well", Maiya replied immediately to Kiritsugu's question, "The time lag between Assassin's materialization and the appearance of Tohsaka's Servant is too short. He was waiting for him. I could accept he might have detected an intruder in spirit form, but his opponent is an Assassin with the Presence Concealment ability. ... I wonder if Tohsaka wasn't aware of the invasion prior to it." Kiritsugu nodded. Having been trained by him, Maiya's conclusion was the same as Kiritsugu's. If he had wanted to deal with an intruder he could have just attacked him, where no one would have been able to see it.

"Maiya, what happened to the Master of Assassin?"

"He went to the church last night and has requested the supervisor's protection. It is the man called Kotomine Kirei." Kotomine Kirei. The Master Kiritsugu was the most wary of. He had started a lot of different educations in the church as well as under Tohsaka Tokiomi, yet on the verge of mastering them he abandoned them and started a new one. Kiritsugu couldn't understand it. And that made him wary.

"Maiya, send a familiar to the Fuyuki Church. One will be fine for now."

"... Is it alright? The church is an area where aggressions between Masters are prohibited."

"Unless the priest supervisor doesn't find out. Stay at a reasonable distance. Don't overdo it. He doesn't have to know." Maiya frowned at Kiritsugu's incomprehensible instructions.

"Must I observe the church?"

"You can just make it a 'regular patrolling'. What you concentrate on must be absolutely not-discovered."

"... Yes, understood."

Chapter 3: Red or White

Akaji Akage walked through the Fuyuki Park. He was a seven-year old boy with auburn hair and brown eyes. He talked with his older sister who walked beside him on his left. She had long black hair and blue eyes, just like her mother who was walking some steps behind them, together with his father, who looked like an older version of him. When his parents noticed him looking at them, they friendly waved towards him and he happily waved back before turning back towards his sister. But she wasn't there anymore. Terrified he looked around but now even his parents had vanished. The trees around him lost all their leaves and turned bleak.

"Mother! Father! Hana!", he cried out loud, but they didn't reappear.

Frightened he ran forward, but everywhere he went awaited him the same nightmarish scenery.

"Not a nice picture, right?" He turned around, startled by the sudden voice and in front of him…stood another him.

"Did you do that?! What do you want?!", he asked scared. His other self showed no emotion.

"Yes, I did that and I want you to do something for me. You see, right now you are dreaming. Big surprise there. But when you wake up, go upstairs into the garret. Ignore everything in the room except the old chest at the very end. Your parents weren't able to open it, but you will manage it without fail. There is an old book inside. Hide it. After the school has ended, go to the place described in the book and then follow all the other instructions."

"What are that instructions going to be?", Akage asked suspicious.

"Just a little magic ritual. Don't worry about it too much. It will all be explained in the book."

"Magic! Really?!", the boy asked enthusiastically, but then tuned down again and eyed the newcomer suspicious. "And how do I know that this magic isn't something bad?"

"Magic isn't good or bad. It's only the one using it. You can disregard this as just a weird dream, but you can trust me, you don't want, what's going to happen if you don't follow those instructions."

"Well, then what is going to happen? Have you looked into the future or what?"

Instead of an answer the scenery changed again. And what he saw was…Fire. Burning buildings and people wherever he looked. Akage shut his eyes and covered his ears, but the heat and the screams of the damned never vanished. Then suddenly it was all over and he stood again in the park.

"That is, what is going to happen", his other self said. "An all-consuming fire killing every human it gets its hold on. Now decide carefully. What are you going to do?"

The young boy was still shocked from what he had seen. It was only for a moment, but he had felt as if he had been in hell.

"Who are you?", he asked his duplication. For the first time his visitor smiled and it wasn't a menacing but a gentle one.

"I am a sword born out of flames, just like you." With that Akage woke up.

When he did go to school the next day, he was rather tense. Just as his visitor had told him, he had found the book in that old chest. Now he knew, it hadn't just been a simple dream, but he still couldn't decide, if he should follow the instructions depicted there. After all, one of them had been to draw a symbol made out of blood. Even though it didn't had to be human blood, it still meant he had to kill some living things. That just screamed "Black Magic"! But at the same time, he couldn't forget what the visitor had prophesized him. The burning fire didn't left his memory and even though it was so short, he couldn't forget what he had felt at that moment.

"Hey, what are you spacing out for?", a high voice interrupted his musing. It belonged to Imono Kurou, his friend. She had blond hair and used two ribbons to tie it into two braids. She wore their school uniform for girls, a white blouse and a blue skirt.

"Sorry, I have just a lot on my mind at the moment."

"I can tell that", his other friend, Yukimi Kotarou said. He had black spiky hair and dark brown eyes and he wore a school uniform, too. His was a white shirt and blue trousers, just like Akage. "So, what is it that keeps you so busy thinking?!"

"Sorry, I can't tell, it is a really private matter!"

"What?!", Kotarou said in mock-anger. "You won't even tell your best friend?!"

"Sorry, I really can't", he apologized. "It is really private."

"I know, I know. Don't sweat it! I was just making fun. But you know, you can talk to us if you have problems, right?"

"Thanks, I will remember that."

"Attention, please", the teacher called out and everybody made their way to their desks. "Because of the recent murder cases all afternoon activities have been cancelled. Please be sure to go right home after school."

Murder cases. He already had heard there had been a lot of them recently, but now that he thought about it, what if the murder cases and his dream where somehow connected? What if he could do something to stop it? Now he had decided! He would read the book completely and if it could help, he would even do that magic ritual.

Right after school he did go to the place that was hinted at within the book. It was an abandoned warehouse. Quickly he chose a fitting room, made place for the circle depicted in the book and prepared to draw it. It was interesting to note that he didn't had to kill some animals himself. There had been enough blood for the whole circle in the fridge. That it was rather odd that the fridge in an abandoned warehouse was working, escaped his seven-year old mind. He was just glad, he didn't had to kill anything.

When he finally finished drawing the circle he took a deep breath and then looked at the paper in his hand. Apparently this ritual was supposed to bring heroes from the past back to life and those words were the key to it. Since he couldn't stand there the whole time with the – for him – rather heavy book in his hand, he had copied the verses onto a smaller paper. He concentrated a last time and then spoke:

"It's made out of silver and iron.

A foundation of stone and the Master of contracts,

Under the supervision of Clavis.

A wall blocking the impure wind.

Close the gates of all four directions.

From the throne, come forth and follow the forked road to the kingdom.

Fill, fill, fill, fill, fill!

Fill five times,

And destroy each when filled.

I announce!

My will shall create your body, and your sword shall create my fate.

As this is a summon of the Grail, if you accept my will and reason, answer me!

I hereby swear!

I know what is all good in the eternal world.

I fight what is true evil in the eternal world.

Bowing under the trinity in heaven,

Come forth from the circle of restraint, Guardian of Balance!"

From the first syllable on it was, as if he couldn't stop himself anymore. Not once he stopped to read a word twice, not once did he stutter or spoke unclear. An odd power surged through his body, accumulating more and more. He felt it rise in his chest, urging itself to be released. Louder and louder became his words until he screamed the last one out into the world!

Pain twitched on his left hand and some kind of red tattoo appeared. It looked like a sword with two tree branches right and left on it. The branches did go around up to the palm of his hand, but they didn't connected there. Then the circle on the ground glowed in a blinding white light, forcing Akage to close his eyes so he didn't got blind.

"Well, well, looks like I've been summoned to the Grail War. I am Servant Sa…ver?! Holy shit! I've been summoned as SAVER! How did that happen?!"

Akage slowly opened his eyes. Inside the drawn circle stood now a tall young man. He had dark tanned skin, white hair and gold-brown eyes. He wore a black clergy suit with a red mantle.

"Are you okay, Mister?!", Akage asked carefully. Was this a hero from the past? He sure didn't behave like that. But right now he was more interested in this "Saver". What did that mean?

The moment Akage spoke the summoned person looked first left and right and then down towards him. He looked at him with shock, his mouth wide open. Then, when he finally regained his bearings, the first thing he said was:

"Shirou?!"

"What is the problem, father?", Kirei asked Risei, who just asked to talk to him on short notice.

"We have a situation", the elderly priest answered. "The spirit board showed another summoning. Now there are eight Servants participating in this Holy Grail War."

"Eight Servants? I thought that was impossible. What class is it?"

He thought the Heaven's Feel would only allow seven Heroic Spirits to be summoned. One of each classes. If you waited too long to summon your Servant it could happen that another one summoned the class you wanted first and no matter what catalyst you had, you wouldn't get your desired class but would summon another aspect of that Heroic Spirit that fit to another class. Even if all Master used the added two lines for the Berserker-class, there would only be one Berserker summoned.

So, even if someone somehow managed to work around the limited number of participants, he also had to find a way to allow two of the same class. But then he remembered: In the Third Holy Grail War, the Einzbern managed to create a new class container.

"It couldn't be…Avenger?!"

"No, it isn't. The class name is Saver."

Saver. A new class he never had heard of before.

"So, someone managed to create a new class container. Do you think it was the Einzbern?!"

"No, from the information I have gathered the Avenger-class was too weak to be of any use. The Einzbern wouldn't gamble with that again. Also they would know that I, the supervisor would be noticed of this and would have to take actions against the responsible Master. They wouldn't want that to happen. Since Tohsaka Tokiomi summoned Archer, out of the three families that would leave the Matou. But they are dying out and Matou Kariya only took actions to participate in the war since one year ago. That shouldn't be enough time to create a new class container. That leaves someone from the outside, which should be even more unlikely, since no one else has enough information on the Heaven's Feel."

"Could it be connected to the fact that Gilgamesh didn't got summoned even though we had prepared a catalyst beforehand? To think about it, Assassin also differs from the usual Hassan."

"As it may be, we first have to contact Tokiomi and let him know about this. Then we have to keep our eyes open and especially take a good look, what kind of Servant this Saveris."

"Indeed, I wonder what kind of Heroic Spirit could be summoned as Saver."

In an alternate universe next to the core of the moon a specific Servant sitting cross-legged on some kind of throne sneezed.

"Bless you", his Master a man in his late twenties with black hair, glasses and a doctor uniform said to him, while waiting for someone to reach the place where he was and make his wish.

"How am I going to tell that my parents?", Akage muttered while he made his way home together with his "Servant". Now he realized he didn't actually thought this whole thing through. Not only didn't he went home right away after school, but he also brought a stranger to his house. Even if that stranger was supposed to be a hero from the past.

"Well", Saver said, "before you do anything else, you have to decide between two options." With that he took out a sheet of paper and read the content out loud, while at the same showing it to him:

You–––––

1. …Revoke your right as Master and search sanctuary at the church.

2. …Fight as a participant in the Holy Grail War.

Right, Saver told him about this so called "Holy Grail War". A battle were (usually) seven magi summoned heroes from the past and fought against each other until there was only one last one standing. It would have been good, if that had been written in the book, too.

"If I am going to fight, do I have to kill?", he wanted to know. After all, what else could "last one standing" mean? But his Servant surprised him.

"Actually, no", he answered. "You only have to defeat all other Servants. And since these guys are summoned from the dead that doesn't exactly count as killing, right? But except a few special circumstances, the Masters die much more easier than their Servants. Furthermore, a Servant who has lost its Master can form a new contract with another Master. Even if his Servant has been defeated, too."

"I see." He didn't wanted to kill people. Even if they wanted to kill him. But…

"These recent murders. Do they have to do something with this Holy Grail War?"

"Possible. If your Servant is weak you could order him to feed on humans. Nothing against a little midnight-snack for a Level Up. Although that probably wouldn't work that great with me because of my… special circumstances."

"Yeah, I remember. That usually Servants can go into something like a ghost form and that you can't. Something else I should know?"

"Yeah, in exchange for not being able to go spirit form, I got my own personally prana supply. Even though yours is helping a little, I don't exactly need a Master to continue to exist in this world. But don't worry, even though I don't need no Master to exist, I would need one to get the Holy Grail. So, no killing off the little Master." Akage ignored his particular sense of humor and concentrated on the important things.

"Right. The Holy Grail. It can really fulfill any wish?"

"That's the theory. The praxis…well, no one had yet managed to get him, so…" Saver didn't continue, but knowing what he meant, he asked the next question:

"So, it doesn't care, what kind of person gets it? What if someone, let's say wished for world destruction, it would destroy the world?"

"Yes. Theoretically of course." Akage sighed.

"Well, I can't exactly turn a blind eye on this." The fire flashed inside his mind. "I am going to fight."

"Huh, you sure about that?! You ain't the biggest Master around and this ain't no magical girls show."

"I know. But I won't exactly be the one fighting, right?! That will be you!"

"Sure, Master. So, what you gonna tell your parents?" Akage froze.

"Oh no! I still don't know!" Saver smiled and took out a new sheet of paper.

"You have now three options:

You can––––––

1. …Tell the truth. (Not recommended 'cause the Mage's Association would kill them if they found out about that.)

2. …Hypnotize them.

3. …Lie your ass out of the fire." Akage just looked at his Servant dumbfounded.

"Did you prepare these beforehand?", he wanted to know. Saver laughed.

"Nope, I've got High-Speed Writing A+. So, Master, what's it gonna be?"

"Would it really be that bad, if we tell them the truth?"

"Well, what do you know about evil secret organizations?"

"I guess you have a point. And since I don't want to manipulate them that leaves…"

"…the third option. Don't worry, Master. I've got you covered. Just let me do the talking!"

With that his clothes changed into the suit of a government official completely with tie.

"Wow! Is that magic?!"

"Really?! What gave it away?! Now shut up and bring me to the house of your parents. And look nervous when we are there."

Akage didn't have to act nervous when they finally reached the door towards his home. He was nervous. As soon as Saver ringed the bell, they could hear heavy footsteps and soon enough the door opened.

"Akage, where were you, do you know how much you worried us…"

Akage's mother trailed off, when she noticed Saver.

"Good evening", the Servant in question said, taking out an identification card. "Miss Akaji, I presume? I am Kotomine Amakusa. I work for the government. Can I have a word with you. It concerns your son. But we should talk inside about that."

She eyed him warily, but indicated for him, to come inside. Meanwhile Akage's father had made his way towards the door, too. Saver greeted him and he greeted back.

"Hana, Akage, please stay in your room", he told his children.

'Don't tell her anything', Akage suddenly heard Saver's voice inside his head. 'I am going to keep this mental link open, so that you hear, what we are going to discuss!'

Obedient Akage did what he was told, while Saver was asked to sit down at the living room table.

"Can I offer you anything, Mister Kotomine?", Miss Akaji asked politely.

"That is really forthcoming but I have to decline. Job conditions, you understand?"

She nodded and sat down on the opposite side, right next to her husband.

"So", Mister Akaji began, "what can I do for the government? Or to be precise, what has my son to do with it?"

He spoke calmly but the irritation was clearly visible. Saver cleared his throat.

"I won't cover it up by talking flowery, so I will come straight to the point. Your son has been marked. Literally."

"What?!" The couple couldn't believe her ears. What did he meant with 'marked'? Saver took out an envelope and took out a bunch of snapshots, showing body parts with strange red symbols. One of them, was Akage's left hand, clearly showing off the Command Seals.

"On his way home your son aroused the interest of a certain man belonging to a certain group of religious fanatics. Even though I've…dealt with the guy in question and managed to retrieve your son, this organization has still more members, who won't stop at anything until they have him and complete their sick rituals."

Mister Akaji looked horrified and Miss Akaji was white as a sheet.

"What can we do?", he wanted to know.

"You? Frankly nothing. The question is, what can we do! We were going to offer protection for your son. Though you won't be able to see him a long time."

"You want to take our son away?!", Miss Akaji repeated since she couldn't believe the words, he had spoken.

Saver just looked at her calmly.

"I think we all can agree, that it is better than the alternative."

Now it was Mister Akaji's turn again.

"Why don't you just take us all in for protection?!"

"Because you aren't targets. We don't have the resources to look after people, who didn't got their attention."

"Then how long do you expect yourself to take care of him?! Until you have taken care of the whole organization?!"

"Actually no. Or rather, it depends on what comes first. We have information on victims who were declared taboo by the organization after seven months after their marking has passed. It seems that someone who escaped them for that period of time would be off-limits. So, to be sure, we would take care of him for eight months and after that we would bring him back to you. But of course, the final decision lies with his guardians."

With that he looked expectant at the parents, which child he was about to take away.

"Can we talk to our son about that?", she asked.

Eight months. Could they really bear not to see her son for eight months?!

"Of course. Take your time. This isn't a decision to make lightly."

"Do you really have to go, Akage?", his sister asked him on the verge of tears.

"I'm sorry, Hana, but it is really for the best." After some family talk they had decided to let Akage go with Saver. Even though he felt uncomfortable to lie to his family like that, it was really for their best.

"So, do you have everything?", Saver asked, still as Kotomine Amakusa.

"Yes", Akage answered, pulling a trunk after him.

"Good", he said and took his belongings out of his hand. "I'll be waiting outside. Goodbye, Mister and Miss Akaji."

"Please, look after our son", Akage's mother pleaded.

"Of course. I am a professional." With that he walked through the door, waiting for Akage to see off his parents. One last final goodbye, and they were off. Akage sighed, as his home got smaller and smaller.

"You know, it's the only option", his Servant said and Akage sighed again.

"I know, but it doesn't make it easier."

"Well, all you have to do is win the Heaven's Feel as quickly as possible and tata…you can go back to your mommy!"

"By the way, why seven month?"

"Because seven years would probably be too long for your parents to accept and seven weeks were too short, so they might get suspicious. Now we have eight months to finish the Heaven's Feel." Suddenly Saver stopped. "Wait for a moment, will ya? I'm getting a call."

Akage wondered what happened now, but decided to be quiet for a moment.

'So, what do you want?', Saver thought inside his mind. 'You usually keep to yourself, so what happened now?!'

'You know he is going to die?', another voice piped up within his mind space. Saver frowned.

'What do you mean?!'

'Exactly what I said. He is way too young, knows nothing about magecraft and doesn't even have the right mind-set for a Master of the Holy Grail War. Even with you here, he won't survive long enough for your book to finally take effect, even if it works, which isn't that likely either.'

'And what do you want to do against that? Teach him?!'

The silence was answer enough.

'Hmm… that might actually work… oj, you recon you can teach him that while he has the element "Sword"?'

'Why would you chose Sword? I know that Fire is called "normal" but why would you decide to give him Sword when you could make him an Average One?'

'Because Sword is too special to be compatible with any other element. And I know what someone with the combined element and origin of Sword can accomplish. Besides, there is already one magus with all five elements in Fuyuki City."

'So, you plan on changing his Origin, too? Curious. Hmm… I won't be able to teach him everything, but enough to make him survive this Heaven's Feel. Though I would have preferred to give him a Void Alignment.'

"Oj, Shirou", Saver turned towards his Master. The person in question pouted.

"I am not Shirou! I've told you my name is Akage!"

"Yeah, whatever. So, what do you say about learning a little magic?!"

Chapter 4: Volquart Weissbach

Three Days Earlier:

Chadwick Dashwood was a tall young man with brown hair. Like most other magi in England he was living at the Clock Tower. But he was on of the few of the only group of students had who witnessed, how Kayneth El-Melloi Archibald humiliated the student called Waver Velvet in front of the whole class, namely the class he had been attending. Chadwick actually had been interested in the manuscript he wrote. Not that he believed the content of course, but he had wanted to know, what kind of arguments Waver would use, to justify his theory.

That changed of course, after he heard of Waver's theft. Only a sore loser would retaliate with such a common crime and it showed to everyone that he actually didn't have any convincing facts and really was only fantasizing.

Chadwick stopped with his reflections, when he reached his destination. He knocked on the wooden door and soon enough it was opened from the inside. In front of him stood another man. The most striking feature, was his black blindfold he wore, fitting to the black suit and his black hair. And ironically he was called Weissbach, Volquart Weissbach. He was a researcher, like most magi, but he wasn't that successful. Rumors said that he had lost his eye sight in one of his experiments and was now incapable of using anything than the most basic thaumaturgy.

"Yes, what can I do for you?", the researcher asked the student.

"I was told to deliver this letter from Miss Edelfelt to you", Chadwick told him and handed over a letter to him. Wait. A letter.

"Do you have someone to read it for you?", Chadwick asked cooperatively, but Mister Weissbach waved him off.

"Don't worry about that", he told him, "I have that covered." Chadwick bowed down and left him alone. He closed the door and turned his attention towards the letter. It had runes on it, so that nobody else except him would be able to read it. On the other hand he had to read it, to get to know the content. Sighing he took off his blindfold. Opposite to what the rumors said, his green-brown eyes didn't show a sign of blindness. Actually there was nothing wrong with his eyes. But the fact that he had to wear the blindfold because of some experiment, was true.

He opened the letter. Inside there was just a short notice:

"Dear Volquart,

Please find me immediately.

Your loving sister,

Dietlinde Edelfelt"

Volquart snorted. Yeah. "Loving" sister, alright. If she really had been such a loving sister, she would have given him that jewel for free. And she wouldn't have sent him a letter just to tell him, to meet up with her. He put his research notes away and put on the blindfold again. Then he headed for the residence of his older sister.

Since she married into the Edelfelt she stopped living at the Clock Tower and they didn't meet that often. Fortunately. The relationship between him and her already hadn't been the best before, but now, they really hated each other. The problem was that he had only been able to learn magecraft thanks to her. And she wouldn't let him forget it. When he rang the bell of the magnificently impressive mansion, he was welcomed by a maid.

"Good evening, Miss Edelfelt is already waiting for you. Please follow me." Miss Edelfelt, or Dietlinde Weissbach, as he had known her for half of his life waited for him in a fancy room drinking tea. Her most distinguish feature was her long golden hair styled in large coils and her expansive blue dress.

"Good evening, Volquart. You are late." The person in question just wanted to get out of here as fast as possible.

"Please forgive me, Miss Edelfelt." He bowed towards her. "Once the message managed to reach me, I came as fast as I could. Can I ask, what it is that requires my lowly services?!"

"Right." She waved towards a butler and he brought in a black suitcase. "In this suitcase there are important research documents, I have for a contact in Japan. I want you to bring them to him." She snapped with her fingers and the same butler gave him an envelope. "In this envelope you have all information considering the name and location of the contract. Do you have anymore questions?"

"No, I will immediately venture towards Japan." She smiled at him a sinister smile.

"Excellent. I knew I could count on you!"

Now:

How could this happen?! Angra Mainyu was aghast. In all his times he lived through the fourth Heaven's Feel, nothing like this has happened. Somehow someone managed to summon a Servant without going through him. Meaning, although the summoned Servant did indeed receives mana from the Grail, it didn't need any to be summoned. It appeared just like that with a link towards it.

What's more, he just couldn't figure out the identity of the Servant. He knew the class was Saver, but that was all. No matter where he looked, he couldn't find its origin. Someone did go through such length so hide it from him, as if he knew that Angra Mainyu was residing inside the Holy Grail and manipulating it. That was dangerous.

But what should he do? What could he do? His power about the True Magics wasn't infinite. He could only do specific things, regarding the Holy Grail. So, as an example he could only jump in time using the fifth Magic in the moment of his demise towards his death in the third War. The third Magic allowed him to anchor heroes to the Throne, preventing their summoning and the second to search for substitutional heroes somewhere else.

The only thing he could do to counter the new Servant was to summon his own. He had a little bit prana over, so it just might be enough for a specific Servant class. But now, he had to find someone who would try to summon a Heroic Spirit even though he didn't receive Command Seals and all other Servants where already summoned. But to his luck he even already had a candidate in view, he just had to wait for him to try again.

Volquart followed the description his sister had written – or rather had let written – to find the house of Sakoshimo Hiroko. Of course, she just had to send him towards Fuyuki while the Heaven's Feel was held. Somehow he wondered if she deliberately tried to get him killed. But he couldn't say no to any of her request. Not after her giving him that jewel which steadily sent out ultrasonic waves.

Volquart was different from normal magi. Every magi is able to a certain extent to detect activation of magecraft or lingering of magical energy. In other words, to detect magi. Of course, a lot of magi didn't like that and so developed ways to hide their magical energy. Now, when Volquart was young, he did an experiment. An experiment that would give him the ability to detect even the smallest traces of magecraft. He did that not because he wanted to have an edge over other magi but just for the sake of research because he had theorized that he could. He tried to modify one of his senses so that it would become sensitive to the presence of magecraft. This way his magecraft detection, using one of his own natural senses as a medium, would be superior to the ones using their sixth sense, their instinct.

In that he succeeded. But the experiment did not work as it should on two accounts. First, he was not able to switch it off. Second, and that was the real problem, the sense which he had enhanced to detect magecraft, was not his sight, as he had intended, but his actual sixth sense, his sense of balance. Now, whenever in his vicinity thaumaturgy was used, he felt as if the gravity came from that direction. But since the actual gravity didn't change at all, it felt to him like he was standing on a wall, vertically towards the ground. The stronger the magecraft, the stronger he felt the pull, resulting in him falling down trying to regain the balance, he hadn't lost in the first place. This has made him unfit to even be near magecraft and would have put his whole career on hold, if he hadn't found a way around it.

And he did. He managed to create a Mystic Code which would gather the sound waves coming from his environment and, as long as he made some sounds himself, turn it into an inner vision, just like bats oriented themselves. Of course that wasn't all. To work against his sense of balance he didn't connect it to his axis but to Gaia's, meaning directly towards the gravity itself. That induced, it would always be stagnate, regardless of what his sense of balance was telling him.

That did sound good, but in reality it wasn't that great. It did let him see behind himself and everywhere his sound reached, but at the same time, he only could use it to work against his sense of balance, if he put his mental viewpoint vertically above him, making it hard for him to coordinate his actions. Furthermore, he had to close his eyes, since the mental vision would overlap with his real one, making it even harder to coordinate. That was actually the reason, he always wore a blindfold. Third, he continently had to make some kind of noise, which would result in people around him getting annoyed or thinking he was crazy.

The solution was of course ultrasonic. But he didn't knew how he could do something like that. And that was, were his sister came in. Gratefully she gave him a gem which would steadily send out the sonic waves. But of course she didn't told him, how he could produce the same object, since it was part of the Edelfelt's gem magecraft. But he didn't had enough money to buy the jewel, so they settled instead with him providing her any services she asked from him. Not that he had any choice, if he wanted to continue with thaumaturgy and not be labeled as a failure. Her giving him letters and descriptions, he had to read with his eyes instead of Structural Grasp, were just intended as humiliation towards him. That is to say, to add insult to injury. Yes, their relationship was that bad.

He really would be glad, when his task was over. After all, outside of the Clock Tower he couldn't wear his blindfold and usually settled for black shades, which blocked as much light as possible, but not all. He had to copy the road description on another cheat of paper to even be able to set one foot after another without stumbling, since looking with his eyes usually messed up with his balance system.

Finally reaching his destination he rang the bell and a big, burly middle-aged man opened the door.

"Sakoshimo Hiroko?", he asked. "I've come on behalf of Dietlinde Edelfelt."

"Oh, yes", he nodded. "I was waiting for your arrival. Please come in." Volquart followed him inside and took place at the table in his living room. He felt a strong wave of prana coming from behind a specific door, but that was to be expected. After all, a magus workshop was the place he did all of his magical experiments and every magus had one. Volquart took the suitcase and handed it over towards Mister Sakoshimo, who opened it and read the notes inside.

"Is my presence still required?", the researcher from the clock tower asked and the Japanese magus looked up from his notes.

"Please wait for a moment. I might have a message for you to take to Miss Edelfelt, if that is alright with you?"

"Of course." Volquart would have preferred to get out of here, quickly, but if he left without getting the reply he would get into trouble. The host looked through the notes, then sighed in frustration.

"Damn, nothing helpful. Well", he looked up, "please send Miss Edelfelt that I am thankful for her help, but it didn't advance any of my research."

"Yes, I will do so." He stood up and Sakoshimo did the same, holding out his hand while he did so.

"It was a pleasure to meet you. I hope we can meet again."

"I think so, too", Volquart said and politely shook the hand, even though he never wanted to come back again. Suddenly, when he turned around, it happened. Out of nowhere the host took a giant axe and slashed at Volquart from behind. Even with his bird's-eye view he only narrowly avoided the weapon and its giant blade sank into the floor.

"Oh? You dodged?", Sakoshimo noticed with glee in his voice, but Volquart didn't responded. Within one moment he used prana to enlarge the reach of his Mystic Code to the maximum. Before he only had the necessary scope for walking, so to not invade the privacy of the magus, but this one had tried to kill him. Now the whole layout of the residence was pictured out inside his inner eye. What he saw filled him terror. In the room he had previously felt a large amount of prana lay three human corpses. Without hesitation he sprinted towards on of the side doors. The main entrance was blocked by the magus with the axe, so he would have to make a detour, to get out of the house. Once outside he hopefully would be safe. So he ran quickly through a set of rooms towards a window, while behind him the axe-wielder shouted:

"Run! Run! Oh, that makes it always so much more fun!" He nearly reached the window, when suddenly in front of him a boar materialized and charged straight at him. Without time to react, he took the full force of the attack. He gasped for air and the husks ripped open his stomach. But the boar didn't stopped there. Without slowing down, he crashed with him through a wall and then another. His glasses flew away and most of his rips broke. The boar suddenly stopped and he flew into the middle of the room. He couldn't even master any strength to stand up. With his blurred vision he noticed himself landing beside some strange big red symbol.

"Oh, yes, I forgot that was there", Sakoshimo said, while walking through the hole in the wall. The boar impatiently scrabbled with his hooves while he stood just there thinking with his giant axe nonchalant on his shoulder as if it didn't weigh anything.

"Alright, I've decided." His face split into a big crazy smile. "You know, next to you that is a summoning circle. If you manage to summon a Heroic Spirit and become a Master, I'll let you live. Na, how about that?" Volquart didn't responded. He still had trouble progressing what he had said. He nearly didn't notice, when Sakoshimo put down a cheat of paper under his nose.

"Hurry, hurry up and read!" Volquart steadied his vision. He didn't exactly thought that would work and he knew, his enemy didn't thought that either. Otherwise he wouldn't let him try it. But it was his only chance to get out of this alive. Like a madman he clinched on that small piece of hope and recited, what was written on the paper.

Ah, now Angra Mainyu remembered. This development happened more than once before. The fake Sakoshimo would try to summon a Servant day after day, but he was too late, everybody else summoned his one already. And then another one would come to his place, bringing documents, he always thought, would help him to summon a Heroic Spirit outside the norm. And usually it was Volquart Weissbach who would be the one delivering the paper. Usually Angra Mainyu would ignore them both, but this time it was a special occasion. He needed another Servant for himself. And since he didn't knew, if the axe wielder would try to summon again after Volquart failed his summoning, he had to do it now.

Oh, the irony! Poor fake Sakoshimo, right after he had decided to include another Servant. Some people really didn't have much luck. Now the only question was, what Heroic Spirit he should summon. Since he had to do with the mana he had over, he could only summon one of the Avenger-class. Even though he would be able to go down himself as the representative, he didn't have much power outside the Grail. So it was better to summon someone else. But for a rule, there weren't that much heroes fitting for the Avenger class and those who did were rather weak compared to other heroes. Even if they had been extremely strong in their own world and time, they would be weakened by the class container under which they were summoned. And since the Avenger class had no class skill they had to make only with their abilities from life, so more often than not they didn't have Magic Resistance, Presence Concealment or Territory Creation.

So, he had to choose an Avenger who had a Noble Phantasm that would counter the eighth Servant. But since he didn't knew anything about that Servant he couldn't decide depending on that. So, what about a Servant, capable of countering the strongest ability of his favorite Counter Guardian and a wish, he wants to have fulfilled, no matter what?

"The base is made out of silver and steel.

The foundation is stone and the lord of contracts.

By the great ancestor, the Master Schweineorg.

A wall will block the falling wind.

The gates to all four directions will close.

From the crown, come fourth and venture through the forest to the king.

Fill, fill, fill, fill, fill.

Repeat Five Times.

But destroy each when filled.

I hereby propose.

You shall come under my command and your blade shall control my fate.

If you accept my will and reason, answer me under the summons of the Holy Grail.

I make my oath here.

I will become the white of the eternal world, I will slay the chaos of the eternal world.

Under the six heavens, you clad with the Great Trinity, come fourth from the circle of refraction.

Guardian of the Heavenly Scales!"

Contrary to all his expectations suddenly a bolt of pain went through Volquart's right hand and a red mark appeared, resembling a key with a key ring and inside something like a closed eye. Sakoshimo was frozen in place, as the summoning circle started to glow in a white blending light. They had to close their eyes and with his sonic vision, Volquart could see a person forming.

When the light died down, he opened his eyes to better take in the appearance of this newcomer. It was a young slender teenage girl with purple hair and green eyes. Under each of her eyes there was painted a blue triangle. She wore a white mixture of over shirt and coat, covering her shoulders and back. It split up in two parts at her bottom, going left and right and at the end rolled itself up like a role of bandages. Under that she wore a purple undershirt only covering her chest and exposing her belly. Her lower body attire consisted of a white skirt, black and white stockings as well as black shoes with the same closed-eye-insignia that was on his hand. Furthermore she wore a white hat, with the same insignia in the middle in pink and ribbons on both sides. The only thing asymmetrical on her was the really long wristband with a ribbon on her right lower arm.

"How?", stammered Sakoshimo. "I tried and tried and it didn't work! How come he tries one time and gets it right?!" The summoned Servant put her hand on her hip and puffed her chest out with pride.

"Hi, I am Me…", she stopped and a frown appeared on her face. "Wait! Am I not supposed to not introduce myself?!" Then she noticed the man lying on the floor. Panic filled her face as she kneeled down. "Mister, are you alright?" Then she turned around towards the other one, still his axe in his hands. Her eyes were filled with anger.

"You did that, didn't you?", she accused him. He shrugged.

"And what if I did?" Within a second she was before him, striking with her fist. But just as fast as she was with her attack he held his axe in both hands and blocked the strike. However to his surprise his weapon didn't withstand the force and splattered in a red liquid, while her fist drove into his chest, sending him back flying through the hole in the wall.

"I won't allow anything to leave me without dreams and hopes again!", she declared gravely. Sakoshimo stood shakily up.

"Interesting. So it is possible to summon Heroic Spirits even if the seven are already present. I have to tell my brothers this!" Quickly he went away, before the Servant could attack him again. But the Servant in question right now had different problems.

"Mister, hey Mister, are you alright? What shall I do, what shall I do? Right! An ambulance, right?! I am going to get an ambulance!" But before she could do anything Volquart gripped her leg.

"Don't!", he pleaded. "This is a workshop! Don't let ordinary people come here! Just give me something to bandage the wounds!"

"Right!", she said and eagerly searched around for some rags. At the same time he moved himself into a more stable position and when she came back, covered his wounds. Now that he saw her close he could see two things that were a little bit odd about her and showed that she wasn't human. First, she had rectangular pupils. Second, she had pointy ears sticking out towards the side.

He winced, when suddenly a bolt of pain soared through his body. He really should search for a doctor soon. But first he had to be able to move.

"So, who are you?", he asked her.

"I am Me… I did it again! Sorry, I am Avenger, your Servant!" Avenger?! He tried to recall what he could of the Holy Grail War, but couldn't remember anything about the class Avenger.

"Well, for now, after I got some rest, it would be good, if you would bring me to the church. The supervisor of the Grail War should stay there. He is going to be able to help me."

"Okay!"

The aforementioned supervisor was worrying turning towards his son. He only said four words:

"Avenger has been summoned!"

Chapter 5: Searching for a Wish

"So, are you happy with my performance, Master?!", Lancer asked in a mocking tone. His Master wasn't happy with the tone, but didn't reprimand him because his performance really had been outstanding. When he first heard about the Territory Creation of his Servant, Kayneth didn't knew, what to think about it at first. As a magi he would have been able to create his own workshop and protect it accordingly. But, as Lancer has told him amused, a workshop could be created by someone who only had a Territory CreationRank B. Rank A would allow someone to create a "Temple", superior to a normal workshop, but with his A+ he is able to create a "Castle"!

So when Kayneth had been prepared to book an entire floor of a hotel for himself, Lancer had told him, to just buy an empty house, since that would be more efficient. And it was. On the outside their little house looked like a normal residence belonging to a poor family, but on the inside it was a gigantic palace! With dozens of rooms, staircases, traps and monsters, ready to attack any intruder, some of them capable of keeping Heroic Spirits on their toes and even defeat weak ones.

Yes, when it came to creating a home advantage Lancer was the best. Most likely even better than the Caster, summoned in this Holy Grail War. Usually Territory Creation was a class skill inherit to the Caster class and no other Servant should have it, when they hadn't built a workshop in their whole life. But according to Lancer he was born with the potential to build something like a workshop, he just didn't used it.

The explanation for the high rank of this skill was actually another skill: Double Summon. This rare skill allowed the Servant to have skills from two classes, additionally to his personal skills! So he had the Magic Resistance and Battle Continuation from the Lancer class and the Territory Creation from the Caster class. So he was both a magic resilient fighter who would only go down from the most severe wounds and a great magus capable of using great thaumaturgy. Even him missing the Caster skill Item Construction, since he wasn't suited for it, wasn't significant as he already had a collection of potions and magical pendants.

"Yes, Lancer", Kayneth also praised his Servant without feeling the need to hide his respect for him. "You certainly are a great Servant. I have the feeling with you on my side, we won't have any problems claiming the Holy Grail for us! Speaking of which, now that I think about it, I still didn't ask you, what you wanted to wish from the Holy Grail." Actually he had planned to ask this question right at their first meeting, to not get a bad surprise once they defeated all the other Servants, but forgot it in the swirl of events.

"My wish? I want to lose my abilities!" Kayneth was taken aback. Again! This Servant really managed to do that way too often for his taste. But really, why would someone want to lose such great power?! His wife was the one who voiced his thoughts:

"Losing your abilities?! You want to lose, what helped you to become a Heroic Spirit in the first place?! Aren't you happy with those powers?!" Lancer coldly laughed.

"Yeah, the powers are great and all, it's more the fact that everyone is thinking so, too that is bothering me. But what about you, Master? What are you going to wish from the Holy Grail?"

"I don't have a wish", Kayneth told him without shame, "I participate in the Holy Grail for the fame the victory will bring me!" Lancer twisted his face.

"Seriously?! That's totally lame, not to say stupid! Risking your life just for the sake of fame? That's even a worse reason than conquering the world! There you at last gain something!" Kayneth was getting angry.

"Oh? You think being famous isn't a good enough reason for you?!"

"Of course it's a good reason as any. But I personally wouldn't want to be famous for doing something stupid! Have you even ever thought about what would happen, if you die?!"

"Who said I am going to die?! I am the strongest Master and you the strongest Servant. Or are telling me, you are actually weak?!"

"Oh isn't there someone full of himself. There is always someone stronger! Or someone who has a Rock-Paper-Scissor-advantage against you. And with your conviction you won't hold out for long!" Now Kayneth was furious. Who does this Servant think he is, to talk that way with his Master!

"I have had enough of your insolence!", Kayneth raged! "By the power of this Command Seal, I order you…"

"Stop!", Sola-Ui interfered in their dispute. "Why don't we all calm down and talk this out like civilized people? Fighting doesn't help any of us, right?"

"She is right", Lancer admitted and hold out his hand. "I am sorry, I stepped out of line. But you should really find something to wish for, when we get the Holy Grail, right?" Kayneth was still seething, but he decided to be generous and forgive his Servant this once.

"Alright, I will accept your apology", Kayneth declared and accepted the hand, shaking it. "And to honor this moment I will indeed think about something to wish from the Grail."

"Great! So, what are we going to do now? Wait inside my castle for the others to kill each other or go out and find ourselves some opponents to fight?" Kayneth thought about it for a bit.

"I want to know what you are capable of, so tonight we are going out and see, if we can someone to fight."

"Great!", Lancer exclaimed and made his way towards the door of the western styled room. "Then I will be going shopping now as long as there is still some daylight. Anybody wants to come with me?"

"Actually I wouldn't mind going with him", Sola-Ui announced and Kayneth nodded.

"Don't let me keep you from going", he told her, "I am going to stay here and plan for tonight." Sola-Ui nodded in recognition and went together with Lancer.

"Well, we are off!", the latter one shouted, but before he closed the door, he sent a mental message towards his Master:

'You should also really work on your I-am-invincible-attitude. Right now when we shook hands I could have killed you in ten different ways without you being able to react, so until later~

It was already night, when Volquart and Avenger finally made it towards the church. They only were able to go bit by bit, since they had to be careful not to be seen by anybody and attract attention. Luckily the church was rather close by and so they managed to get there without any incident. But before they entered the church grounds, Volquart stopped her.

"Please stay outside", he begged her, "the church is neutral territory. That means no Servants."

"What?!", she responded frantic. "But you can't even stand without my help! How do you do you expect to even make it to the door?!" Suddenly the door opened and a man emerged from it and now made his way towards them.

"Good evening", he greeted them. "I am Kotomine Risei, the Supervisor of the fourth Heaven's Feel. I am right with the assumption that you are Master and Servant?"

"Yes, we are", the Master answered. "I am Volquart Weissbach and this is my Servant."

"He got hurt really bad", Avenger added. "Can you help him?" She looked at the clergyman with pleading eyes. But Risei had to disappoint her.

"As the supervisor of the Holy Grail War, I am not allowed to play favorites. The only thing I can offer you is sanctuary, when you lost your Servant."

"That's okay", Volquart responded, "I actually came here to revoke my right as a Master." Shocked Avenger looked at her Master.

"What do you mean?", she demanded to know. "Didn't you summoned me to reach the Holy Grail?!" She probably would have backed off from him, if she didn't supported him so that he wouldn't fall down. Volquart laughed humorless.

"Even if I am not wounded I need magecraft to even walk in a straight line. I wouldn't even think about joining the Heaven's Feel in the first place. That other guy was the one who prepared the summoning ritual in an attempt to summon another Servant while there were already seven. It was just a stroke of luck that I was the one summoning you and not him. And I don't have a wish important enough to risk my life over it!" Avenger looked hurt at her Master. Risei on the other hand quickly analyzed the situation inside his head and the possible further developments that could happen.

"Please come inside", he told the strange pair. "This isn't something to discuss outside. But remember that this is neutral ground so hostile activities won't be tolerated." Silently Avenger helped her Master after the supervisor, refusing to look him in the eyes.

"There really aren't any hopes or dreams for me", she mused quietly in resignation. Volquart wondered, what she meant with that, but couldn't ponder about that, when his injuries sent a bolt of pain through his body as he tried to sit onto a bench in the church.

"Now please tell me, what happened regarding the summoning of your Servant."

"Well, it started with me getting the order to deliver some documents to Sakoshimo Hiroko. But after I've delivered them, he tried to kill me. He would have succeeded, if it weren't for a coincidence, which let me to the room, where he drew a summoning circle. In that moment I was already too wounded to even run, but after seeing the summoning circle he decided to let me try it out. As it appeared, he had tried it countless times and was searching for a way to summon an eight Servant. And I don't know, why I succeeded where he failed and I don't think, he thought it would work either, but it did. I summoned Avenger, who repressed him. After that he ran away and I made my way towards this church as I had no intention to participate in the first place."

"I see", the father said after giving the matter some thought. "Usually it is my duty as the supervisor to reprimand everybody trying to temper with the Heaven's Feel. But as you weren't the one doing the tempering, I won't."

"Wa-?" Avenger was shocked to even hear that her Master might have been punished for something he didn't did, but Volquart only thanked the old priest.

"So", he added, "regarding my right as the Master…"

"Ah, yes. I have decided that under this special circumstances you are allowed to try to reach the Grail, if you so desire."

"But I don't desire the Grail!"

"Yes, in this case I can grant you sanctuary, after you have officially revoked your right as a Master, after all for you, there isn't any wish worth dying for!" Volquart nodded.

"Exactly." Avenger wanted to say something, but stopped, before she spoke a word and then just looked sadly down. But then Risei said something that made them both perk up. Volquart because of the contents and Avenger, because her Master perked up.

"Not even reaching the Root?"

"What?!", Volquart spluttered out. Akasha, the Root was the location of the so called Akashi Records, the Swirl of the Root, which was the source of all events and phenomena in the universe. Reaching and having access to it was the ultimate goal of most magi. It was actually the reason, why he was so persistent to overcome his natural handicap and being able to study thaumaturgy, so that he might find a way to reach it. So, hearing that out of the mouth of the priest wasn't something he expected.

"Reaching the Root? You mean the Holy Grail is even able to do something like that?!"

"The Holy Grail is a powerful artifact that can grant any wish. Even reaching the Root."

"But I thought the Church doesn't care about the Root?!"

"We don't. But on the other hand, just like I said the Holy Grail can grant any wish. It is our duty to make sure that nobody tries to misuse it. Therefore reaching the root is a wish we can support."

"You are right. Reaching Akasha is indeed something I would consider worth risking his life for." Avenger's face brightened up. Does that mean, she still had a way to reach her Goal?

"But only if there is a chance for me to reach it", he added, "and no matter how strong my Servant is, someone like me won't stand a chance in this Heaven's Feel!" Avenger face dropped again.

"I understand", she said, "you don't want to be my Master. There is nothing we can do about that. But please stop giving me hopes!" Now Volquart felt bad. Seeing a young girl on the verge of crying wasn't something he felt comfortable about, especially if you considered that he indirectly was the reason for that. A usual magus would have had no problems with that, but Volquart was different, as he had always been on the bottom of the food chain himself and thus knew, what it felt like.

"There is a solution to that dilemma", Risei threw in. "One of the original seven Master already lost his Servant. If your Master isn't willing he might be."

"Are you giving me again hope, just to take it away later on?"

"You are right. It could be a vain hope. But isn't this better than just giving up?"

She thought about it.

"I suppose?"

"Good." Then he turned back towards Volquart. "Regarding your participation, alone you indeed wouldn't make it. But what about an alliance with another Master, until all the other Servants are defeated?!"

"You already have someone in mind?!"

"Yes, Tohsaka Tokiomi has the same wish as you, reaching the Root. He wouldn't say no to an alliance and when you have defeated the other Servants you can let your two Servants fight against each other to decide who will receive the Holy Grail!"

Volquart's head was spinning.

"So, I have the chance to either reach Akasha or help someone else to do it and be there to witness it? Okay, I will participate in the Heaven's Feel as the Master of Avenger!"

The girl beamed at him. It really looked like her wish was that important to her.

"Now isn't it time to let them in on our secret?", another voice perked up.

Volquart looked at the newcomer and saw another priest. And next to him…

"Indeed, that would be the right course of action. Why? Because if we don't tell them now and they find out about it later they would feel betrayed and would work against us."

"A Servant?!", Avenger stated shocked. Why would a Servant be here?! And why did she noticed that just now? It couldn't be…

"My name is Kotomine Kirei", the newcomer said. "I am the Master of the Servant Assassin. As a member of the Church I was tasked in this Holy Grail War with the support of Tohsaka Tokiomi. If you indeed team up with him to search for the Root, supporting him means supporting you, too. You should know that to do this, we let it look like Archer killed Assassin, so he could move around freely. And that is also the reason, why I searched for sanctuary at the church."

Volquart couldn't suppress a small laugh. So, no playing favorites?! Well, as long as he was one of the favorites, he could life with that.

"But what about Assassin", he asked. "Is he okay with giving up his wish?"

"I do not search for the Holy Grail", Assassin answered the question himself. "Why? Because I am a shinobi and when a shinobi received a mission he will finish it, regardless off the rewards, as long as he doesn't receive a different mission from his chief or it endangers the lives of his comrades."

Wow. That clearly was some strong devotion.

"So, do you know, where the Tohsaka-mansion is or are you going to need directions?", Risei asked and Volquart answered in the negative, resulting in the supervisor giving them to him.

"But you should stay here for the duration of the night and let me take a look on your injuries, before you finally start as a participant in the Heaven's Feel."

"So, do your enjoy your day so far?", Saber asked Irisviel while they were walking through the streets of Fuyuki City. Both did arrived earlier that day with the plane and were now binding their time. Kiritsugu already arrived twelve hours earlier so that the other Masters would think that Irisviel was the Master instead of him. And for the duration of the Holy Grail she would act like it, too. But for now Irisviel wasn't thinking about that.

"Thank you, Saber", she said happily, "I really am enjoying myself!"

Saber was different from usual Heroic Spirits. Normal Heroic Spirits could dematerialize into Spirit Form to lessen the burden on their Master, since even when they weren't fighting they would still need to receive a great amount of prana to sustain corporal in this world. Although Saber had this skill, too, he also had another one, called Double Identity. It was an unranked skill which gave him two forms under which he could materialize. His Standard-Form, the same he took on upon being summoned and his Battle-Form, which she had yet to see. But his Standard-Form had nearly no maintaining cost, making it possible for him to walk around without straining his Master and making him look like a normal human, even to Servants capable of sensing other Servants.

And that made it possible for him to accompany her through the city like a normal child following his mother. Or aunt. He refused to call her mother, since he already had one, but didn't mind getting an aunt. He was actually calling her that to invoke the appearance of a normal family. Or as normal as they could get at last. Since Irisviel had never been outside the Einzbern castle and Saber was actually from Japan in the future – at last that was what Kiritsugu and Irisviel suspected – she was a lot more exited than him about everything that was there to be seen. When she mentioned it giggling to Saber he, too, smiled and answered affirmative.

"So, aunt Irisviel", he then asked her, "is there any place you would like to see, before the fighting starts?"

"Actually there is", she admitted. "I want to go to the beach." Irisviel had been living in the Einzbern castle her whole life, so she had never seen the beach before.

"Yes", he agreed. "Seeing the sea is something you should do at last once in your life! Although it is already getting darker. We won't be making it there before night-time!"

"That doesn't matter. Let's go!"

"Beautiful!", Irisviel exclaimed happy while looking at the water expanding and retreating on the ground made out of sand.

"Yes", Saber agreed, "the moon reflected on the ocean's surface is always a sight to behold!" Irisviel giggled.

"You've been to the sea before?", she asked.

"Yes, occasionally." He then remembered something and started to chuckle. "One time one of my friends planned a trip to the beach with our whole group, or most of the group anyway. Regardless when we reached the coast there was no beach but a pier because this town was famous for its crap fishing." He chuckled again. "Some of us were rather angry at him for this slip up." Imagining the scenario Irisviel laughed with him.

"Your friends seem like a lively bunch."

"Oh, they are. We certainly had a lot of fun."

"Had? Did something happened?"

"Well, the family of one of my friends got into trouble and I decided to help her out."

"Her? Don't tell me she's your girlfriend!", Irisviel teased.

"Wha-?", Saber red-faced spluttered. "Ah, no, no, no, it wasn't like that. She is just a friend. I already have…" Saber trailed off, as he noticed, what exactly he was saying there.

"So you do have a girlfriend! Ah, you're blushing, how cute!", she squealed and embraced him with a hug, swinging him around. "I just want to take you home with me!"

'Aren't I already your Servant?', was the only thing he could think, while she was cutting off his air supply, when suddenly he stiffened. Irisviel noticed this and let go of him.

"…An enemy Servant?", she asked and he nodded. "But he isn't going after us even though he clearly noticed us. Instead he is slowly distancing himself. Is this an invitation?"

"Hmm. That is honest. Does he want to choose the battlefield?"

"Well, if he is really inviting us…"

"…shouldn't we follow his invitation?" In the blink of an eye Saber's voice deepened. Aghast Irisviel stared at her Servant. Suddenly he was a lot taller and mature-looking. His eyes were red and his hair grew and protruded spiky from the back of his head, with the top half white and the bottom half is black. Furthermore his glasses vanished and he was now wearing a blue cloak over a black kimono and white socks and strip sandals.

"So, I guess this is your Battle-Form", Irisviel assumed.

"Indeed", he confirmed, "this is the form most suited for battle. So, shall we be on our way, princess?!"