Hey everyone, I'm finally excited to announce that I've finished my university semester! That means I'll have all the time in the world to write fanfiction like before, so I can go back to writing chapters every other day like I used to.
Another thing I want to mention is that this chapter is a bit shorter, since I want to start the next chapter with the conflict right away, without any breaks or anything. I'll also try to make the fights more direct, short, and simple, because if I complicate them, not only does it take me longer to write them, but I feel like you guys might not understand some things either.
With nothing more to add, let's get started.
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The sun was already approaching, the light was already flooding the place, and 70% of the clock tower was clearly destroyed.
Some areas were partially intact, and others were still standing, but it didn't matter since the situation wasn't conducive to living and they would surely have to be demolished, and others were completely gone.
In the midst of all this, Reinnes could be seen with several survivors, mostly young people, alongside materials that could be considered important for the clock tower.
Throughout the chaos, she was responsible for keeping both the materials and the people safe; among these people was Barthomeloi Lorelei, who was seriously injured in the first attack on the clock tower.
One of the tank shots from the beginning was aimed at her office; she realized it, but that didn't mean she could react in time. The attack damaged her entire arm, her neck, and parts of her chest and abdomen, leaving her completely incapacitated.
Thanks to Reines' actions, along with those of others, they managed to get her out of there before the situation worsened, and that's exactly what happened.
The moment Assassin activated his Noble Phantasm, the entire center of the clock tower was completely destroyed by missiles, cannons, and explosions; the place was unsafe.
"Thank you for saving me," Lerelei said, leaning against a badly damaged wall.
Reines said nothing, just stared at the scene, unable to stop thinking about two things: the fact that Dante was one of the ones responsible for all of this, someone she never thought would do this to him, and the worst part was that she didn't know the whereabouts of Gray, Flat, Svin, and Rin.
She couldn't help but think they had died in the chaos. Thinking about it, she couldn't help but clench her fists and curse him.
Another thing that worried her was knowing... She glanced away to see the former king of knights, practically destroyed. Not by Avenger's attacks, but by his own power.
His entire body was covered in black veins, one eye was completely useless, one arm was completely blackened, and a small mana leak was present in his body.
He sat among some rubble, staring at the ground. When he summoned him, when he saw that he was practically planning to commit suicide to end Aevneger's life, he used a command spell to summon and save him.
This sparked a minor argument between the two, and they no longer speak to each other.
Now she just waits for Caster to arrive so she can ask him to help Saber with her condition.
Lorelei simply glanced at Reinnes and sighed.
"I see you guys didn't have a great time either," a voice said from behind them.
When they turned around, they saw Bazett covered in wounds; the most noticeable was a cut from her shoulder down to her abdomen.
"McCremitz," Lorelei said, shifting her position more comfortably. "I see you didn't fare too well."
"It was awful," Bazett said, sitting down in a pile of filth. "It was full of traps and dead apostles, and we faced all the true ancestors of their faction along with their Servants. We managed to defeat one Servant and two of those monsters, but our sorcerer's losses were, in a way, worrying, especially since they didn't warn us about what was happening here. They took advantage of our small chaos to separate us."
Silence filled the room.
"I see, I think Caster was right, in a way; the only problem is that she didn't know the specifics of this chaos, like how she was incapacitated from the very beginning, so I couldn't help anyone," Lorelei complained in a defeated voice.
Bazett let Lorelei think before looking at Reines, who hadn't moved from where she stood.
"Rin called me," those words pulled her from her trance. "Dante fought the four of them and sent each one to different parts of the world; so far, we've only managed to contact Flat, so we can say the other two are fine."
As soon as she said that, Reines could breathe a sigh of relief, since she'd been thinking that if she had fought them, she might have prevented their deaths, but seeing it this way, Dante wasn't out of his mind when he came here.
"That said, there's someone who's 100% missing. " Those words made the two of them look at her. "Come on, he came here to look for you and he arrived at the base where everyone was."
With that said, Bazett left, still clutching her arm, which seemed to be useless.
Reines looked at Saber, who stood up to hold Lorelei and follow Bazett without looking at Reines.
She just took one last breath before following them.
...
At the new base of the true ancestors, everyone was licking their wounds. The plan wasn't bad, but, as always, something went wrong in its execution.
The idea was for Arcueid to face Altrouge as usual, but instead, it was her caster, Solomon, and her master, Animusphere, who confronted her. They didn't fight to defeat her but rather to keep her occupied.
This gave Arcueid the opportunity to do as she pleased, which allowed her to eliminate Alcatraz and TATARI.
Also, her rider, amidst all the chaos, when they separated, approached and launched an impossible spear, killing Archer instantly.
Luckily, because everyone was separated, Altrouge focused her attention on Arcueid, preventing her from continuing her rampage.
Luckily for them, Saber, though not particularly offensive, had a Noble Phantasm that survived long enough to bolster the morale, strength, and courage of her faction, preventing more casualties than usual. That said, everyone ended up contracting leprosy, but before leaving, Caster had anticipated this and had a contingency plan.
Right now, those without immunity to disease were receiving treatment for leprosy, as there were some here, especially the servants, who were susceptible to the illness.
The atmosphere was quite tense, as the casualties were higher than expected, but those who went to the clock tower couldn't be blamed. Thanks to them, they were able to retake some ground and emerge somewhat victorious, since they had wanted to wipe everyone out in one fell swoop, and they hadn't been able to.
"Damn it," Chaos said, punching the wall, cracking and shattering it.
"Hey, be more careful," Rita chided him, who wasn't far away.
"I was so close to killing Merem, if it weren't for that guy," Chaos continued his curse, ignoring Rita, referring to Asterios, who had saved his master at the last minute.
At that moment, the door opened to reveal a caster carrying an assassin on his shoulders like a sack of potatoes, followed by Avenger.
"Hmm, I think there are fewer people than before," he commented, throwing the injured assassin to the ground.
"Ow," the assassin groaned, curling into a ball in pain.
"I see you did well," Altrouge said listlessly, looking especially at Caster.
"Mission accomplished, I killed the martial Zelrecth; you're welcome," Caster declared, sitting down on the couch as if checking the weather.
"You did it?" Rita asked, surprised. Altrouge looked at Caster incredulously, since he hadn't expected him to do that.
"That means..." Altrouge commented.
"You could say Kiss-shot is the new third true ancestor, but that title won't last long, since when the Holy Grail War is over, we'll both go to the Throne of Heroes to continue our duty," Caster explained, standing up abruptly.
"What's wrong?" Rita asked, seeing Caster leave the room.
"I remembered I have some things to do," he replied, looking at Altrouge. "Are you going to do anything tonight?"
"I don't think so. We need to reorganize things here and plan our next move," he explained listlessly.
"Sounds good to me." Caster nodded, leaving without looking back.
Seeing Caster do as he pleased, despite his authority, he couldn't help but click his tongue.
"That idiot. I hope he doesn't do anything to hurt us," he finished.
"Anyway, thanks to him and his plan, we destroyed our enemy's base, and we already have our own, which gives us time to prepare since they won't have time to attack us," Vlov finally spoke up from his silent meditation.
"Tch, whatever," Altrouge finished, getting up and leaving.
Seeing this, Rizo could only sigh.
"I see that Tatari's death affected him more than it seems."
...
Elsewhere, Caster, or rather Solomon, could be seen checking on Saber's condition. To be honest, it wasn't good.
"Even as the King of Sorcerers, my power is somewhat limited, so as much as I might want to, I can't perform miracles," he told Saber.
"Don't worry, I'm well aware of my current condition; after all, it's my body, not to mention I've been through something like this before," Saber said, remaining still so Solomon could finish the healing and reverse the effects of using the Red Dragon's power.
While Solomon was doing that, I couldn't help but let my thoughts wander.
How he fought Altouge and when the situation at the clock tower became known, everything spiraled out of control, and he ended up facing Primate Murder.
Then, how he arrived at the scene and saw all the destruction and chaos, especially the confirmation of the marshal's death.
At first, he was merely considered missing, but as time passed, he didn't reappear, and his jeweled sword was found at the scene, which only increased the suspicions.
But after Merem confirmed that the third position among the True Ancestors, which was Zelretch's, had been filled, his death was confirmed.
It was thought that he was simply badly wounded within his dimension, where he liked to spy on other universes, recovering from his battle injuries, but it never occurred to anyone that he had actually been defeated by Dante.
The news hit everyone like a ton of bricks, since a great authority figure, someone whom many respected and saw as inevitable given his possession of one of the five true magics, had fallen to someone who had belonged to the same institution.
"I did what I could. I slowed the corruption of your body to a certain extent, but as long as you have the red dragon core inside you, I won't be able to remove it completely," Solomon explained to Saber, who nodded in agreement.
"As long as it buys me more time in combat, I'm fine with it," she remarked, getting up and starting to put something on her upper body.
Solomon merely glanced at the black veins coursing through his body, brimming with uncontrollable power. He had also plugged the mana leaks, but it was more of a band-aid; it would work for a while, but his body was already damaged beyond repair. Otherwise, Merlin himself could have saved him instead of offering to create an entity capable of withstanding the power to protect Britannia.
"I've heard a few things about the other caster," Saber began, drawing Solomon's attention. "I don't know the details, but honestly, I don't know what to think of a father capable of doing anything for his daughter, even going against the country where he lived. That's something I would never do."
Solomon listened, unsure what to say, but he didn't have to, as Saber spoke immediately.
"Heh, well, perhaps that's why my two daughters ended up trying to kill each other, and Britannia fell. But I don't know if it was because of my lack of presence or my poor fatherly conduct that happened; I'll never know." With that said, he left the area where they were working, which was somewhat secluded for privacy.
Once Saber left, Solomon stared at the sky as the moon slowly began to rise; this was relatively easy, since there were no walls or ceilings where he was.
Out of nowhere, he felt a tiny pulse of mana, minuscule, almost imperceptible, but he felt it.
He looked back the way he'd come, only to see a black cat with red eyes watching him from afar, near the forest.
When the cat realized he'd been spotted, it turned and went into the woods.
"Don't tell me..." He didn't finish his sentence as he looked back at the others.
He knew perfectly well what she was doing; she was calling him to a specific place. It was foolish to go there, but if he didn't, the entire area was vulnerable to attack, so the best course of action was to draw his enemy's attention away from the others.
"Master, I sensed an anomaly in the area. I'll investigate," Solomon communicated mentally.
"Understood. If necessary, use all the mana required to return," replied Marisbury, who was far away.
With that, Solomon set off for his opponent in the forest.
After several minutes of walking in the dark, he arrived at an abandoned place near the city. A few meters away, he found the other caster in this Holy Grail War, Dante, son of chaos.
The caster, or in this case Dante, was sitting—or rather, sitting very uncomfortably—in a chair made with alchemy.
"You took your time. I thought you'd teleport here or something," Dante remarked, snapping his fingers and activating the bounding field.
"This is...?" Solomon asked.
"It's so no one bothers us," Dante replied. He stood up, summoning his goat-skull staff and pointing it at Solomon. "It's time to end this. I only did and am doing all this for one reason: to eliminate you from the equation. That's why I brought you here."
"I see, this means only one of us will leave here alive," Solomon remarked, rolling up his sleeves and offering a small smile.
"Who knows?" Dante replied, also smiling.
Outside the marked field, Avenger could be seen; Dante had come with her earlier to do something.
She looked at the arrow covered in runes and seals that she held and stared intently at where the two casters of this Holy Grail War should now be fighting.