Fate Texas Night [Quest]

[cooldownnow]

I will give everyone this to help with the guessing. The idea of Caster also being a Foreigner is mostly based on stuff I’ve added to his legend to make him combat worthy and as a bit of a joke. So don’t focus too much on that. As for BnEl15’s guess that’s some solid reasoning.

Also if you want to join in please do the more the merrier.

[cooldownnow]

AN. So now it its time for Act 2. This part will be much more action packed now that servants will be summoned and your options will have a deeper impact on the story. So without further ado lets ado this.

Vast amounts of mana poured out from Caster's book and from it a large lion appeared and leapt through the air to Rider's chariot. However the servant simply nocked a flaming arrow and shot it at the beast. With a large explosion the large cat was gone.

"Truly your insolence knows no bounds. I will only ask you two more times before I get angry. Leave me and my contractor."

Right, Anhur. You think. She was in the chariot as well. Why was she not stopping this? Had she betrayed you and the institute. You look at the homunculus and see that she is dry heaving in the chariot. So it seems she hasn't betrayed you. Good then you can stop this.

"Sorry Rider but have you ever tried to ask a cat to leave you alone? They just don't listen!" Caster seemed to be charging up his mana to summon another beast.

"Stop!" You shout. The two servants pause and look at you.

"Whatcha need master? I'm kinda busy right meow."

"Silence Caster. Your master may be more reasonable than you. Please what do you wish to say master of Caster."

"We aren't enemies." You say. "Your master, Anhur, and I are working together in this Grail War. We should not be fighting."

"Correct." A weak voice says from the chariot. Anhur seems to have managed to steady her breathing. "She is my... my master."

Rider nodded. "Very well contractor." The flames surrounding him died down to only a small flame. "Shall we return to our base?" He said and then steered his chariot down into the penthouse.

"C'mon master I had him on the ropes! We''l have to face him eventually so why nyaat have me beat him now?" Caster said.

"Silence. I will not have you attack our comrade. We have a mission here more important to winning the Holy Grail War so defeating all the enemy servants is our lowest priority. Besides if lions and griffin's are the best you can do you did not have him on the ropes. He was barely even trying and his magical energy output was dwarfing yours."

"Sure sure, he was tough. But trust me I have the purfect attack that could knock him right out. Although given how little energy you're providing me with it might've cost a command seal." And with that he flew the griffin down after Rider to the first floor.

Anhur was standing there bowing her head in apology. "I am sorry for how my servant acted. I should have stopped him sooner."

"Yes you should have, why didn't you? And where is Rider?"

"He went up to the second floor. Said he was going to find himself a good room for his music. And the reason I was incapacitated was because it was my first time activating my magic circuits. The shock of such energy momentarily paralyzed me. Sorry I had not realized the shock it would be since I had the data on how to activate them and use spells."

"You're right, we should have foreseen this happening. Now that you have activated them once will you be okay?"

"Yes I have created a trigger to allow me to activate my circuits and now that I have experienced the activation I will no longer be paralyzed from the energy output."

That was good. A trigger to activate your circuits was necessary for any mage. Yours was the feeling of jaws clamping down on your wrist, the pain allowing you to focus all your energy. "Good to hear. May I ask what you used as your trigger?"

Anhur nodded. "I imagine a knife being dragged across my throat."

Interesting. "Very well now let us get down to business. If you could go up to the second floor and set up defenses there to guard form above that would be optimal. Then speak to Rider to find out his identity and abilities. Caster and I will do the same down here. Understood Caster?" You turned to Caster and saw that he was completely ignoring you and drawing cats all over the wall. "What are you doing?"

"Drawing."

You put your face in your hands. This would be frustrating. You wave off Anhur to go to Rider. "Listen Caster I am your master Naunet Safar and we need to make this place defensible. We do not have time for you to be drawing."

"Nyaa. I'm going to draw. Besides if it makes you feel better these drawing are making this place defensible."

"What are you talking about?" By now he had completely covered the east wall with drawing of cats. He was drawing way too fast for a normal human. This had to be magecraft. You apply magical energy to your eyes to observe Caster's stats and look at his skills. It was all cats. There was even a skill called cats. What was this servant even. At least you saw why his drawing speed as so fast though. High Speed Divine Drawing (Cats). It must increase the speed of his drawing and it also implies that they have magical energy in them.

"My cats protect me and I protect them. As long as my buddies are here it's all good. Now leave me to my art."

You accept the fact that you will have to let him keep drawing but you will not let him speak to you like that. "Listen Caster you are my servant and I am your master. You will speak to me with respect. And to start it off you will tell me your true name."

Caster stopped drawing and looked really annoyed. "My true name is Nekomaru, but you won't find it in any history books or novels. Hasegawa Takejirō wrote about me but didn't use my name. Meow will you leave me alone?"

Your anger was bubbling to the surface. "Enough Caster! You will treat me with respect or I will be forced to use a command seal on you!"

Caster's brush snapped in his hand. "Meow meow no need to be so hasty. If you waste a command spell like that you'll be completely screwed later on in the war. To use my abilities to their strongest potential we're going to need to both access the leylines here and use a command spell to power me up. All using one here would do is make us hate each other. Meow go take a cat nap to calm down. I'll secure the area"

You still wanted to use a command seal to get him to shut up but if he was telling the truth it was better to save them. "Fine. I will hold off on using a command spell, but you will turn this place into your workshop while I set up the Bounded Fields. Then in the morning we will all meet and I will explain to you our goal here." The two of you work in silence from then on and once your work is done you retire to your bedroom while Caster continues to draw. Instead of going to bed though you pull out a laptop and get to googling.

Caster was right when he said the name Nekomaru would not give you any results. However looking up Hasegawa Takejirō(after many many misspellings) with the keyword cat gives you the folk tale of the Boy Who Drew Cats. It explained why Caster was constantly drawing, but it did not explain how he could summon a griffin a phantasmal native to Europe, and even forgetting that Caster existed in a time when phantasmal had long since left for the reverse side of the world, lastly nothing in his story explained why he had a measure of Divinity. This truly was a mystery. Caster had to be lying about his true identity, or at least not telling the whole truth. Eventually though the time to sleep came and you drifted off.


The next morning you awake to the smell of bacon. "What?" You get up and change into your day cloths before marching into the kitchen. There is Rider wearing an apron cooking breakfast.

"Ah Naunet! You are just in time, the bacon egg cups are ready!"

"The what?" He quickly ushers you to a table where Naunet and Caster are already sitting, Caster drawing in his notebook. He then put plates in front of each of them with eggs wrapped in bacon.

"These look delicious Rider." Anhur said. "Thank you for the meal." And then she dug in.

You see no reason to not eat the breakfast and enjoy it before getting down to business.

"Now then Anhur, Rider can you tell me anything I need to know about your ability?"

Rider nods around a mouthful of food before swallowing. "Of course. I am known as the wise king Admetus, thanks to my connection to the god of the sun Apollo I have some power over his flame. If I am ever morally wounded we can sacrifice another servant to keep me alive with my Noble Phantasm." You nod. It would weaken your defences to sacrifice Caster but depending on the situation Rider would be the better servant. "In addition I refuse to fight."

"What!" You look at Anhur who looks ashamed.

"That is correct. I will protect my contractor if she is in danger, and defend myself if attacked but that is all. I do not care for violence and will only fight for a cause I find worthy. Your pursuit for this contract does not interest me so I will remain here in the penthouse learning all I can about this era's art."

"Anhur! Control your servant!" You shout. This was bad. This was really bad. Two servants with bad attitudes, this was the worst. Thankfully Caster seemed willing to fight but without Rider.

Anhur looked apologetic. "I am sorry Naunet. I attempted to persuade Rider all of last night but he refused to see our side of things, I could attempt to correct his behavior with a command seal,"

"Which I can resist." Rider added.

"but I that would destroy any trust between Rider and I. I think it would be best to simply plan our strategies around Rider's personality."

"Very well put contractor." Rider said as he picked up the empty plates. "Now if you excuse me I must investigate this thing called SoundCloud. Anhur please do the dishes." He placed the plates in the sink before heading upstairs.

You feel a vein about to pop in your head.

"If I may interrupt." Caster says. "But what exactly is this contract Rider mentioned?" You realize that you haven't told him about your mission. You quickly fill him in. "Oh my now that is interesting. We have to be careful or this could become a catastrophe. I don't much like being leashed to a master but I can tolerate it for this war; but if my master is leashed herself, that would nyaat be fun."

You sigh in relief. "So you will help Anhur and I get the contract?"

"Of course master. Although I have one question, say you get this contract before the end of the war what will become of me?"

You expected this question and you answer truthfully. "I will send the contract to an agent of Atlas I can trust and then continue this war to grant you your wish." 'and my own.' You add in your head.

Caster gives an appreciative laugh. "My oh my you truly are an amazing master. I was planning on half assing the war when you first mentioned that little distraction with the contract but I guess I'm back to preforming at full power. At least until I decide not to be, after all cats are fickle things are they not?"

You sigh but from what you could understand he was going to be more cooperative than Rider. "Thank you Caster. Now then Anhur did you manage to set up proper defenses last night? I set up mine and Caster bolstered our defenses with his familiars."

Anhur nodded. "Yes, I set up bounded fields to detect intruders from above. I also did my best to repair the windows broken last night and the fire damage. I also added my familiars to patrol the area but they are most likely not as combat effective as Caster's."

"You got that right! My kitties could eat any modern magus alive." Caster said.

"Your familiars. Interesting what type are they?"

"Slimes." She says holding a hand up and from under her sleeve a small silvery blob appeared. "They are made from Ether Clump. It is my elemental affinity so I can create familiars like this without a body as a medium."

"Hmm. That is useful. However you are right about them not being as effective as Caster's. Caster will you expand your workshop to include the second floor and draw your familiars into the wall?"

Caster smiled a cheshire grin. "I was going to do that anyway master." And he left for the second floor.

"Now then Anhur we need to perform some reconnaissance. Dedicate some of your familiars to search the city for other Magus. I will do the same."

Anhur nodded in agreement. "Very well. I will get on that after I do the dishes." She said as she went up to the sink.

For a second you consider telling her that sending out familiars is more important than the dishes but you eventually decide you don't want dirty dishes to start pilling up. You go to your room and pull out a large cooler. You open it and inside are several lizards and birds. Your familiars. Dead creatures you have imbued with your blood to give them a pseudo life. You activate them and send them to search the city for other Mages. The birds fly out the window holding the lizards to drop them off on the ground. Perfect, now you simply had to wait. There was not much that could be done now until an enemy master was either found or went on the offensive. Perhaps you could practice your alchemy. No reason to get behind on your studies just because you are on a mission. Just as you are considering that though there is a knock on the door. You freeze. There was no reason for anybody to come to the penthouse, had an enemy master decided to make a move already.

You rush to the main room and call Caster through your link. He is by your side in seconds. "Summon one of your familiars, and a powerful one at that. Assassin and Berserker wouldn't knock so we must be facing a knight class." He nods and three large lions walk out of the wall from a drawing.
The knocking continues. You shout "Who is there?"

"I'm with Post Haste Delivery Service, I have a letter for a miss Naunet Safar. That you?"

A letter? Who would send you a letter? This had to be some sort of trap. "Who sent the letter?"

"Some priest on the East Side, he even payed to make it priority mail. Please can you answer the door and sign for it? I have other deliveries to make."

That sealed it. This had to be a trap, you hated the church and they hated you. A byproduct of being the student of a vampire. You approach the door signaling Caster to move his lions to the other side of the door. You pull open the door expecting an assault, only to see a pimply teenager holding a clipboard.

"Yeah if you could sign here." He holds out the clip board. You do and he leaves after handing you an envelope.

You close the door. "Now that was odd." You inspect the letter searching for any magical traps. "Caster can you sense anything odd with this envelope?" You turn to him and see he is petting the lions. "Caster!"

"Fine fine." The lions went back into the wall and Caster took the letter. "I'm not excatly a mage but I don't see anything wrong with the letter. Go ahead and open it."

You do and begin to read.

Dear Naunet Safar and her lovely companion I am Father Nichols the supervisor for this Holy Grail War. I humbly request your presence so I can speak with you. There are many things each contestant in this war needs to know so the war can end quickly and with as few possible casualties. You can find me at -

The letter then provided an address. The supervisor for the war, that made sense you had heard that the Church liked to supervise these things as much as they could. However whether or not you want to go is an entirely different question. If both you and Anhur went the base would be completely defenseless. You think about having Anhur go by herself, after all she was essentially made to perform tasks like this, but if Rider refuses to go she will be a sitting duck for enemy masters. You could go with Caster as he had shown he was not useless outside of his workshop last night and if things got bad the griffin could provide a quick getaway. Of course he hadn't yet completed the defenses on the second floor. What should you do.

A.) Don't go. This priest can go shove it. (Write in what you do instead)

B.) Both you and Anhur go. If Rider refuses to leave he can simply stay and hold down the fort.

C.) Send Anhur by herself. The homunculus was made to be a tool used by Atlas.

C.1.) Try to convince Rider to go with her. (Write in what you say.)

D.) Go alone. Caster needs to finish the defenses and you can handle yourself, besides it is daytime a master wouldn't attack in broad daylight.

E.) Go with Caster. He has already finished the first floor defenses so even if an enemy master attacks it could hold them off long enough for you to return. Besides Rider did say he would protect himself and that would probably include his new home.

[OutlandishAbettor]

C. Rider send they wouldn't fight but that they would protect their master! You could make it be a trip for rider that maybe ends up at the church, as Anhur needs to do some quick tasks. You don't have to fight, but you could just take a look at what other people have. I think that would be the best thing!

[BnEl15]

E. The supervisor of this war may have some info regarding the war that could be beneficial to us. We also can't risk losing Anhur and Rider this early on, and I assume Rider would be more combat-equipped to ward off possible intruders. Other than that, we have so little knowledge of the Servants here that we can't absolutely rule out the possibility of one of them attacking you in broad daylight.

On another note, I suspect there's more to Caster than he lets on, seeing his connection to griffins and the fact that Nekomaru himself is a pretty obscure/minor character among Japanese folktales. Phantom/composite spirit with someone else, possibly?

[cooldownnow]

On another note, I suspect there's more to Caster than he lets on, seeing his connection to griffins and the fact that Nekomaru himself is a pretty obscure/minor character among Japanese folktales. Phantom/composite spirit with someone else, possibly?

Knowing the truth while the audience is in the dark is the greatest gift a writer can give themselves. But this is some good theorizing. Keep at it!

[cooldownnow]

Alright so I’m going to write the next part tonight. If nobody else votes or nobody changes their vote I’ll just pick one at random before starting to write.

[SleepMode]

E.) Go with Caster. He has already finished the first floor defenses so even if an enemy master attacks it could hold them off long enough for you to return. Besides Rider did say he would protect himself and that would probably include his new home.

[cooldownnow]

AN. You have no idea how happy I am to get out of the penthouse. Now we can start meeting people.

E. The supervisor of this war may have some info regarding the war that could be beneficial to us. We also can't risk losing Anhur and Rider this early on, and I assume Rider would be more combat-equipped to ward off possible intruders. Other than that, we have so little knowledge of the Servants here that we can't absolutely rule out the possibility of one of them attacking you in broad daylight.

You and Caster are taking a cab down to the address this Father Nichols gave you. Or rather you are taking the cab and Caster is following along in spirit form. The city feels different during the day. The shining lights are now dull and faded. It feels like the life has been sucked out of it. Something quickly catches your eyes though, an entire city block has been sectioned off and rescue workers are doing rescue work on what appears to be a collapsed building. "Hey," you say to the cab driver, "what happened there?"

"The McAlister building? Apparently there was a gas explosion, horrible tragedy. Thankfully it happened at night so not as many people were hurt." He said. "Honestly this San Rio has gone to the shit this past month."

"Really? Tell me more." This 'gas explosion' had to be the result of two servants fighting, it looks like the Holy Grail War is going on without you and Anhur, and depending on what else was happening it seems somebody has had a head start.

"Well the news isn't saying anything but a bunch of people have been disappearing. Used to be a whole community of homeless living under the Jackson Bridge but now most of them have vanished. Plus tons of the smaller stores in the shopping district have been shut down, their rent jacked up sky high so they're forced to sell to these new developers in town. All of this shit started when Mayor Benson got elected. I knew that guy was scum, coming into town out of nowhere and claiming he would clean up the streets. I'm telling you that guy is behind it all!"

While it is possible that the disappearances are the result of a fellow master the economic troubles of the city most likely weren't the fault of the Holy Grail War and so once he starts talking about how Mayor Benson was trying to destroy the working man in favor of big oil you tune out the driver. You're not here to listen to a conspiracy theory, you're on your way to speak to an emissary from the Holy Catholic Church to speak about the war for the Holy Grail.

Eventually though you find yourself in front of the church.

It was an old thing, having looked like it hadn't seen use for decades. You pull out the letter and double check the address just to make sure you're in the right place. Caster materializes next to you. "So this is definitely a trap though right? The chances of there actually being a priest in there are nyaat looking good."

"I agree Caster, be ready to summon one of your familiars, a big one if you don't mind."

A wicked grin appeared on Casters face. "I have the purrfect cat for this church." He began to sketch in his notebook and from what you could see through his blurred hands it was a winged lion holding a book.

You want to be at the ready as well so you grab your trusty thermos and down a mouthful of live worms. 'Activate Vampiric Reactor Core'

You keep your reactor core at a low heat, generating mana slowly. You can increase the production rate later but for now this is enough to provide a steady boost and not give off enough magical energy to be obvious.

You walk into the church expecting a trap, instead you see the man who must be Father Nichols sitting backwards on a chair. "Hey, Naunet Safar! Take a seat and we can hash out this wack war."

"Um, are you Father Nichols?"

"That's what they call me so it's probably true, but please call me Casey."

He was not what you were expecting, and you say as much to him.

"Oh yeah, I've been told I sort of come across as older in my letters. It's just how the church raised me you know. They can be so formal about things so whenever I need to write them a report I end up sounding just like them. But enough about me let's talk about you Naunet, now let me guess that friend of yours is Assassin?" Father Nichols, Casey, pointed to Caster.

"Actually I'm Catser. Assassination isn't really my strong suit." Caster blathers.

"Yes he is my Servant Caster, but why is that relevant?"

"Oh you see I'm the one in charge of making sure the war keeps on running straight. So I need to have a list of who has what servants." I glare at him. "Oh but don't worry you don't have to give me Catser's true name, all I need is the class. So far we have the three knights which appear in every Grail War and for the remaining two calvary classes we have your Caster and whatever it is your partner summoned. Well unless you summoned an Extra Class. I really hope you didn't summon Avenger they're a bigger pain than Berserkers to keep covered up from what my colleagues tell me."

You hesitate for a moment but in the end giving the class of Anhur's servant wasn't really a big deal so you tell him about Rider.

"That's a relief. No Assassin's or Berserker's in this war. Now I just need to worry about more incidents like last night. Lancer and Saber really went at it."

"So the Master's of Lancer and Saber are at odds then?" You look behind the priest where Caster is now on his belly drawing in his book. That damn servant wasn't even paying attention.

A look of panic appeared on Casey's face. "Sorry! Please forget that, I'm not supposed to give out any information that could help a particular Master."

"Don't worry I won't tell anyone if you won't. Now was all you needed our servant's classes or do you have anything else to say before I leave?"

"Right right right! There's actually something kind of big. A War Crasher is thought to be here in San Rio."

"War Crasher?"

"Oh yeah you might not know about those. War Crasher's are people who aren't officially Masters but then try to enter a war partway through by stealing a servant. They're usually violent criminals that the Church cannot abide. We are the representatives of God and we will not have anyone disgrace the sanctity of the Holy Grail War. Even if it is not the cup that held our lord and savior's blood in it we must still not let God's name be sullied."

And now here was the dogmatic church. "Alright so there's a Crasher here than, so I should be on the lookout for her then?"

"Yup, that basically it man." And now it was gone. “She's a bit of a wild one, she's been messing with Wars for over twenty years but hasn't aged a day. Some of the other executioner's think she may be using the minor grail's to extend her life. Here I have a picture of her, she goes by the name Trish. No last name like Madonna"

"She doesn't look like much." You say.

"Don't underestimate her. She's done unspeakable things, we've placed her at a 94' grail war where an entire town in Iraq was wiped off the map. She is the number one War Crasher on the church's radar."

"So if she's that bad why not send a whole bunch of your executioners to take her out?"

"Unfortunately the Church is being stretched thin at the moment with increased Dead Apostle sightings in Europe and we are having trouble exterminating them all. It's all hands on deck, except for me of course but I was never really one for fighting. We are offering a reward for assisting in her capture or execution."

"Oh really and what might that be?"

"For the other master's I offered some leftover command spells from other war's that the church has supervised, but I think you might like something a little more relevant to you. How about the name of the Atlas Contract holder? Would that be a suitable reward?"

"What do you know about that?" Your eyes narrow and Caster has gotten up from his scribbling and is holding his book open ready to unleash that reading lion.

"Whoa! Chill Naunet. Yeah the Church knows about the contract you're looking for. It's just that the Institute hates us so we haven't gotten around to telling you guys yet." Casey put his hands up in front of himself defensively.

"Yeah that's what happens when you have an entire organization meant to wipe out our leader's race."

"Hey it's not our fault he's an abomination in the eyes of god! Dead Apostles are dangerous. Anyways moving past all that we know who has it and if you want I can tell you that, just bring me Trish's head and you'll be set."

You don't trust this man. He may be here to supervise the Grail War by the Church but something fishy was going on. You would need to do some investigating though. "Alright I'll take the deal. I bring you this woman's head you tell me where the contract is." It would be best to not let him know you suspect him though.

The two of you exchange tense pleasantries before you leave the Church. Time to head back to the penthouse. Or at least that was the plan until you saw the man standing across the road from the church.

"So you're the fourth master huh? Knew you'd be called here eventually." He called out. Another Master! Was he here to attack. Caster has his book out and magical energy is pouring out of him ready to summon something, you set your reactor core to full blaze. You look around the area, you aren't in a busy part of town but it isn't abandoned so he wouldn't risk people seeing him would he, especially right in front of neutral ground?

"What do you want?" You ask.

"To kill Saber and Archer, their master's too if necessary. You in?"

"Why should I be?" An alliance? Now things were getting interesting. He implied he was the Master of Lancer and he had clashed with Saber before. Having the majority of the Master's on one team would also completely shift the grail war in your favor. But it could all be an elaborate trap set by this man and the priest, or him and Saber's Master, or even a not so elaborate trap by only this man to kill whoever was called next by Casey.

"Good point. The name's Bradán. There's a nice barbecue place down the road, join me for a meal and I can explain why we should team up." And the man walked away, presumably to the barbecue place.

Now this was strange. What should you do?

A.) Follow after him. A three on one alliance could be a good idea.

B.) Ignore him. You need to get back to the penthouse and this could not be more obviously a trap.

C.) Follow after him, discretely. Make him think you have gone back to to the penthouse and find out what this Bradán is up to.

C.1.) Do you have any ideas on how to follow him? (Write in)

D.) Attack while his back is turned. Now is the perfect opportunity to take down an enemy, and if you keep the summons more mundane Caster won't risk revealing the War to the public.

E.) Something else. (Write in)

[BnEl15]

A. Best case scenario, we could actually strike up an alliance and learn useful info on Saber, Archer, and Lancer. Worst-case, we have Caster to protect us.

Also, I doubt this guy would approach us without any form of protection, so D seems like a bad choice.

[cooldownnow]

AN. I'm going to be on vacation for about a month without my computer so this os going to be the last update for a while. Maybe I'll get the chance to write with somebody else's computer but probably not.

A. Best case scenario, we could actually strike up an alliance and learn useful info on Saber, Archer, and Lancer. Worst-case, we have Caster to protect us.

Also, I doubt this guy would approach us without any form of protection, so D seems like a bad choice.

You're very annoyed right now. Mostly because Bradán had insisted that they not talk business until the food got there and was now stuffing his face with short rib. "You know I love the Wandering Sea and agree that we need to keep it pure from this shitty texture of the world but if I could bring one thing home it would definitely be barbecue sauce."

You pick at your food. "That is nice, but now that you have your food shall we move onto business? What kind of alliance do you have in mind?"

Bradán swallowed another bite of rib and started speaking. "Right right. So anyways the Master's of Archer and Saber have teamed up which is pretty bad. Lancer hasn't fought with Saber yet but Archer is a giant pain. His bow skills really do deserve to be in the Archer Class. That doesn't really matter though because my Lancer could beat either one of them in a fight. So all I need you for is to distract Saber while Lancer has a rematch and then we team up and kill Saber. After that it's just us and the fifth master so depending on whether or not we fall in love by then we can stay teamed up or break up."

He didn't know about Anhur. This was perfect. Anhur would be your ace in the hole. Hopefully by the time the two of you beat Archer and Saber Rider would be willing to fight for you so you could ambush Bradán and win the war. During your investigation of Archer and Saber you could also try and discover which of them had the contract, or maybe even if Bradán had it. Then of course there is that Trish woman.

"What about the War Crasher? Trish? Do you have a plan for dealing with her?" If you brought Casey Trish's head he would simply tell you the holder of the contract.

"Please she's just some modern mage, no offense, she isn't a threat to a member of the Wandering Sea." He waved a finger in the air and drew a rune which then caught fire like flash paper. "I am the strongest mage of the Thule Society, anything this woman tries cannot hold a candle to me."

This man was an overconfident fool. Here he was telling you everything about himself and asking for no information from you. It was almost funny you wouldn't be surprised if he told you his servants name. Actually...

"So you say Lancer is powerful enough to defeat either Archer or Saber, he must be tough. What's his true name?"

"Her and it's Percival, the knight of the round table. " Holy shit he actually told you. He told you that his servant was Percival the original grail hero. "So what is your servant's name?"

You pause. This man summoned a knight of the round table so having him as an ally was a must at this point. However would you be willing to let him know about your own servants name? You think about Caster and how his abilities far outpace anything you would expect from his name. Telling Bradán Caster's name shouldn't give too much away. "His name is Nekomaru, the protagonist of the Japansese folk tale the Boy Who Drew Cats."

Bradán hums. "A very young heroic spirit, do you beleive in his ability to hold off Saber long enough for Percival to defeat Archer?

You think about his book filled with creatures to summon. "Yes he can, Caster can be said to specialize in keeping opponents occupied." Not exactly a lie, after all a large amount of enemies would keep anybody occupied.

"Perfect. Looks like this is the start to a beautiful friendship!" And Bradán held out his arm to shake yours. You stare at it and the barbecue sauce covering it. "Oh sorry!" He quickly cleaned his hand and offered it to you again.

This man was a fool who had access to a nuclear weapon. This was perfect. He would be a great pawn to manipulate to your whims and then easily disposed off when he least expects it. You take his hand. "I'm glad to be working with you. Now let's finish the rest of this meal. Barbecue is truly amazing like you said." You stomach the trashy food as Bradán continues to ramble about anything that crosses his mind. You make sure to listen in case he drops anything of tactical importance but it is all about how much better the Wandering Sea is than the world of man.

Eventually though the two of you finish the food and you pay the check as Bradán didn't have any money. The two of you step outside and he turns to you. "So Lancer and I have some stuff we need to get done before nightfall but we will meet you at the spot where Lancer fought Archer last night. Do you know how to get there?

You nod, you remember coming across it on the drive to the church. "Well anyways it was a pleasure meeting you Naunet, see you tonight!" And he runs off.

So that was that then. You had an alliance to defeat Archer and Saber. Now all you had to do was wait until nightfall. But what could you do to pass the time.

A.) Explore the city. It has been a long time since you left the Institute so why shouldn't you enjoy some of your time.

B.) Go to the meet sight early. You can scope the place out and see if there is any information you can gleam.

C.) Go back to the penthouse. It is your most defensible position and you can fill Anhur in on what happened.

D.) Write in.

AN. Like I said this will be the last post in a month or so and it's pretty short since I wanted to get it done before I left. Sorry for that.

[cooldownnow]

Hey so I'm back. Voting begins again now.

[SleepMode]

C.) Go back to the penthouse. It is your most defensible position and you can fill Anhur in on what happened.

[cooldownnow]

AN. Finally back and we're almost at the first big battle.

C.) Go back to the penthouse. It is your most defensible position and you can fill Anhur in on what happened.

You decide to return back to the penthouse. Nothing in the city is of any real worth and your familiars can do all the scouting you need. You hail a cab and the ride back is uneventful.

You start up the elevator tp the penthouse but then when you are almost there you start to hear something. It amost sounds like music but it is so angry. The elevator stops at your floor and you realize that the sound is coming from the penthouse. You barge in and are just stupefied by what you see. Anhur and Rider are there playing electric guitars attached to large speakers.

Anhur notices you first and immediately stops playing and gives you a bow. "Welcome back Naunet. Sorry for the noise, Rider wished to practice the music genre known as Heavy Metal."

Rider does one last riff on the guitar and gives you a smile. "I must say that I am enjoying this era's music more than I thought I would. They really have perfected the art form. I really enjoy this Heavy Metal but Rap is probably a close second followed by Grunge."

You don't even bother trying to process that information. "Where did you get those guitars?" Behind you Caster was barely stifling some laughter.

Anhur looked ashamed but Rider answered without missing a beat. "We appropriated some of the funds here in the penthouse and went to a shop downtown. Quite the interesting experience shops in the modern era."

"That money is meant to go to our efforts here in the war not your flights of fancy Rider!"

"Please there was plenty to go around. I doubt you will miss such a paltry amount."

"That is not the point Rider!"

Anhur steps between you two. "Please it is my fault. I thought that maybe if Rider and I understood each other better he might fight for me."

"And who knows maybe I was about to say that I would be your sword and shield before you blew up at me and lost your chance." Rider said his voice dripping with sarcasm.

"Rider please there's no need to antagonize Naunet."

Rider smirked. "Of course contractor. You're the boss. I will be returning to my room. Feel free to join me when you are done with your master Anhur." And Rider left.

Damn that Rider, every time you saw him he got even more on your nerves. You center yourself though. There is work to be done. "Caster, finish up your art upstairs I will fill Anhur in on what happened in the church."

Caster saluted and made his way upstairs. "Nyaat a problem master. I will fulfill your request as any servant would."

You sit Anhur down and explain everything from the priest with information on the contract to Bradán and his offer to defeat Archer and Saber.

"I see. A knight of the round table, and one of the most powerful to boot. He is a good ally. What do you wish for me to do?"

"I am not sure yet. Right now Rider is unfortunately our secret ace in the hole. While it might bring me some piece of mind to have him waiting in the background at least I doubt he would do anything helpful even if things went sour. It might be best to just let you and Rider stay here. Bradán was an idiot and I doubt that he will try anything. It might be best for you and Rider to wait here."

Now that you are back at the penthouse you need to decide if you're going to take Anhur and Rider with you to the battle.Not only that but you also need to decide what to do until nightfall.

A1.) Take Anhur and Rider. Have them hide a distance away and if something goes wrong call on them to help and hope Rider will listen to his master.

B1.) Leave Anhur and Rider at the penthouse. Rider has stated he plans on being uncooperative so there is no reason to bring him.

A2.) Talk with Anhur. Write in if you have anything you want to talk about in particular

B2.) Talk with Caster. Write in if you have anything you want to talk about in particular

C2.) Talk with Rider. Write in if you have anything you want to talk about in particular

D2.) Be alone in your room.

AN. Don't worry if you don't have anything you want to talk about with them in particular. I have things in mind just wanted to see if you guys had anything you wanted in particular.

[BnEl15]

A1 sounds good. Just make sure to fill in Rider with the same things we told Anhur. Divulging our plans might help gain his trust and hopefully make him more cooperative.

[cooldownnow]

So sorry this is so late I've been busy with my move so I didn't notice this response!

A1 sounds good. Just make sure to fill in Rider with the same things we told Anhur. Divulging our plans might help gain his trust and hopefully make him more cooperative.

You sigh. It is almost time to head out. Rider and Anhur are sitting in front of you at the dining room table. "Alright let's go over everything before we head out. Caster and I will be meeting with Bradán and Lancer at the aight of their last battle with Saber and Archer. What do we do then Caster?"

"Nyaa? We attract the attention of the remaining two servants and while Lancer is defeating Archer I have to do meow best to not be killed by Saber. Isn't it a little cruel to have summoned a Catster in a war where all the other servants have meowgic resistance?"

You ignore Caster's whining. "Anhur?"

"Rider and I will be observing from some distance away. We are to intervene if the battle begins to go poorly for you."

"Which I will not do unless Anhur is in danger." Rider interupts.

You suppress a scowl. "I was hoping that if you were a hero worth your salt maybe your fighting spirit would rise up and you might want to participate."

Rider chuckled condescendingly. "Read a book Naunet, the wise king Admetus cares little for fighting. I'd rather be looking over my cattle or getting drunk with my friend."

This bastard. "Either way all the other servants will be there so it is still good strategy to bring you along. This war can be ended in a single night if we're lucky."

"I never said I wouldn't go Naunet. Maybe I'll even write a song of you and Caster's bravery."

Caster laughed at that. "Meow you are amazing Rider. A real one of a kind heroic spirit. Are you sure you aren't a Ruler? You stay away from the fighting like one."

"Petty insults from a petty cat. I will enjoy watching you struggle against the servant of the blade."

"Enough!" You could not let Rider agitate Caster, especially right before a battle. And you can't let Caster destroy what little respect this bastard might have for you and Anhur. "We all know our roles in tonight. Rider all I ask of you is to witness Caster and I as we fight. Understood?"

Rider gave a smirk. "Of course. I am sure tonight will be a night to remember."

Break

You drop off Rider and Anhur a few buildings away and make it to the collapsed building. There's Bradán with a servant at his side.

"So that's a knight of the Round Table?" You narrow your eyes.

Lancer simply gives a grunt and Bradán laughs. "It's what she said and I wasn't there so who's to say that wasn't what they wore.

You shake off your suspicions. Even if he did lie about Lancer's identity, which you aren't sure an idiot like Bradán could do, you still agreed to work together. "Nice to meet you Lancer. This is Caster." You point behind you and Caster gives a little bow with a flourish.

Lancer nodded.

"So," Bradán started. "The enemy masters should be here any minute. Do you have any doubts about fighting Archer and Saber?"

"Of course not. Getting rid of the knight classes as early as possible is the optimal strategy. Present company excluded." You say to Lancer who doesn't respond.

"Good." Bradán smiled. "Because they're here." You can suddenly sense the mana of two masters. You turn and there they are.

A young woman and old man. "What did I tell you Maria? The other masters truly do want a fair fight. You should really be more trusting my dear." The old man said.

The woman bowed. "Sorry professor. I should have had more faith in you." The words are reverent but the tone is obviously mocking. "Now then Masters of Lancer and Caster, shall we begin?"

Lancer suddenly moved towards your rear and the sound of metal hitting wood clanged behind you. You turn to see several arrows on the ground knocked away from hitting you in the back by Lancer.

"Now then Saber, your turn." The old man said. A figure emerged from spirit form.

You are only stunned for a moment by sudden appearance of this servant before shouting, "Caster!" From his book two lions appear and leap at the swordswoman, only for them to be cut in half by Saber's katana.

"Hahaha! You'll have to try harder than that!"

"Master," Caster said. "Sorry in advance for the mana drain." Before you can even respond Caster summons another lion from his book, this one even larger and meaner looking then the others. When Saber slashed at this one the blade simply stopped. "Sorry but the Nemeowan Lion laughs at your sword!"

The Nemean Lion? First a Griffen and now this what was Caster. You have no time to think on that though because you hear more clangs as Lancer rushes from place to place striking arrows out of the air. Bradán grabs your hand.

"Let's get out of the way so Lancer can do her stuff." He starts dragging you and the two of you hide behind some rubble as you watch the battle unfold.

Saber danced around the Nemean Lion with ease before a flash and she was hit in the side by a blast of magic.

A new cat had joined the party that attacked Saber from a distance. Through your connection with Caster you know this to be Cait Sith. However the Saber class isn't known as the strongest for nothing because the magic did little to no damage to her and she quickly began dodging the blows again.

You turn your gaze over to Lancer and see her slowly advancing ahead. As you apply reinforcement to your eyes to get a better look at the arrows you realize that they are being jet propelled by water. You gaze further where the arrows are coming from to see if you can get a good look at him. You concentrate harder and harder until you see him standing atop a building.

You cannot make out the face behind the hood but your jaw goes slack as you watch him draw his bow. It is like watching a Michelangelo paint the sistine chapel, or Mozart conduct a symphony. Watching Archer shoot his arrows was mesmerizingly beautiful.

You are shaken out of your stupor by Bradán. "You saw Archer huh? I felt the same when I saw him. The Archer class really is made of Archers. But beauty doesn't win a fight. Lancer will win."

Lancer just keeps on jumping forward slowly but surely. You are then distracted by Caster's fight.

Cait Sith has just been cut in half by Saber's sword and she's going on the offense against the Nemean Lion. "Stop being so mean so my kitties!" Caster shouted and sent forth some lions and tigers against Saber only for them to be cut down without a second thought.

"Now fall!" And with that Saber stabbed the Nemean Lion in the eye killing it. "Perhaps if the people of Greece were a little more more clever wouldn't have needed Hercules."

"Master!" Caster turned to you looking pissed. "Eat your bugs because I'm about to do something big!" You almost immediately feel a gigantic mana drain from Caster burning through your reserves quickly. You then also feel a large amount of mana coming from Archer. You turn and see a bright point of light in the distance.

"May the God's have mercy on your soul! Brahmastra!" What!? One of the greatest powers belonging to the heroes of India built up in Archer's bow and was then released.

This was bad. Caster was about to run your mana supplies dry and Archer just unleashed his Noble Phantasm. What should you do? Trust in Lancer's ability to block the attack, have Caster return to protect you, run away? Do you let Caster continue to fight?

A.) Trust in Lancer to block Brahamastra and let Caster continue fighting.

A.1.) Order Caster to conserve mana. If you spend too much to early you'll be at a disadvantage later on in the fight.

A.2.) Activate Vampiric Reactor Nauntet to give Caster the power, but will that be enough?

A.3.) Use a Command Spell to give Caster the power he needs. Spends one command spell (3 remaining).

B.) Have Caster return to protect you.

B.1.) Use a Command Spell to do it instantly

B.2.) Let him come normally, but he might be to slow and would be exposing his back to Saber

C.) Run away and let Caster continue fighting. Same subsets as A options.

[BnEl15]

A2. I doubt this HGW could truly finish in a night, so I'll save the command spell for now.

[cooldownnow]

A2. I doubt this HGW could truly finish in a night, so I'll save the command spell for now.

You need more time to think. Thought Acceleration! Memory Partition!

Time slows down to a halt around you and your brain expands. You now have six rooms to run your calculations through. You set your thoughts to work through the following, the chances of Lancer blocking Brahamastra, the chances of you getting far enough away if you run, Caster's chances against Saber, the position of the Professor and Maria, Anhur's state as an observer.

Over the course of a singular second you think for hours using the special skills of the Atlas Alchemists. You observe the entire area in a 3D diagram and try to predict the best option. You eventually decide that the best course of action is to trust Caster and Lancer.

You dissolve your partition and resume normal thought speed. Now everything is moving again. As Brahamastra moves closer you pull out your thermos.

"Activate Vampiric Reactor Core Naunet."

You start to burn the worms to give Caster the mana he needs and you look at Lancer hoping she does something to save you.

As the Brahamastra comes closer and closer Lancer raises her club.

"May the Gods know mercy on your soul." 'Wait what!'

The club begins to glow and a beam equal to the Brahamastra Archer sent out was fired.

"Brahamastra!"

You knew it! Bradán had lied about Lancer's true name.

He turns to you and gives you a grin. "Alright so I may have fibbed."

You begin preparing to cast a spell incase this is a prelude to betrayal. "Hey, hey hey! To be fair you lied too, 'The Boy Who Drew Cats' C'mon what is a Japanese servant doing summoning the Nemean Lion and Griffins?"

So he thinks you were lying about Caster's true name as well. Even if you aren't too sure yourself if Caster isn't lying. This could be useful if this partnership doesn't end tonight.

In the background of this conversation the Brahamastra's were still battling with Lancer's starting to lose ground. That was bad. Bradán apparently thought so as well because he began focusing his energies to try and give Lancer the power to overcome Archer. You take that to mean that the conversation is over.

You turn your attention to Caster who has opened up a large portal above him and Saber. Saber for her part was some paces away waiting for Caster to finish. Thank god for the honor of knight classes.

You wonder what he could even be summoning. A phantasmal greater than even the Nemean Lion? Maybe the Manticore, or Lamassu?

You get your answer soon enough when a figure descends from the portal. First is a white lion that looks completely regal, like the king of the lions.

Next is something you do not expect. A man. A man in armor that slightly reminds you of a lion wielding a large great sword.

This was a servant. An entirely new servant manifested through Caster. This shouldn't be possible! The energy alone is starting to burn through even the Reactor Core. At this point you can barely move. The new servant, you'll just call him Black Saber, turns to the lion.

"So this is that guy you wouldn't shut up about Llew?" He nods at Caster.

The lion gave a growl and Black Saber sighed. "Alright then let's go buddy. If you say so I guess we got to." He then turned to Caster. "Don't worry Nekomaru we'll take care of this." The lion roared and Black Saber began to approach Saber. That was when the Brahamastras exploded and some of the remnants of them shot between the Sabers.

Lancer then leapt back towards them. "Hey Archer Caster and this new guy are your opponents now. For some reason I feel like beating this Saber to a bloody pulp."

You're shocked. Those are the first words you've heard Lancer speak. You were beginning to wonder if she could. You look to where Archer is and wonder how he will respond. Faster than you can see an arrow shoots at Black Saber and embeds itself in his heavily armored shoulder.

Black Saber takes it out and looks at his lion, who looks at Caster, who looks at you. "Just let Lancer fight Saber. Take out Archer!" Black Saber leaps on top of the lion and begins riding towards Archer. Arrows begin to rain down on them but either Black Saber knocks them away or the lion just avoids them entirely. Caster is also giving them some cover by sending a few lions and tigers to draw fire but you can tell he is using most of his energy to just keep Black Saber grounded. He eventually makes his way over to you.

"There's nyaathing to worry about Master, Owain will handle Archer. Llew Dewr says he's reliable in a pinch." Owain knight of the Round Table. What the actual hell was happening? Caster had somehow summoned a knight of the round table. This was more than just strange this was insane! You had to keep up a poker face though with Bradán sitting right there.

"Good idea Caster. Definitely one of the better options. Meanwhile the first exchange of blows had begun between Saber and Lancer.

Saber was faster than Lancer but somehow wherever Saber tried to strike she would be blocked by Lancer whose precise blows would knock her off balance.

"I thought with how you were boasting throughout your fight with Caster you would be more of a challenge!" Lancer started going on the offense and pushed Saber back. She managed to trap both of their weapons to the side and then grabbed into Saber's head with one hand and her waist with the other. "Brain Buster!!!" Lancer then fell onto her back taking Saber with her sending her into the ground head first.

Before she could fall though Saber sent an arm out and a gust of wind cushioned their fall and sent them flying apart. "You want to see a challenge Lancer?" Saber laughed. "Then let's see your Brahamastra take this!" Saber called her katana back to herself and held it high in the air.

"The storm gathers overhead!"

A storm began to form over them all. Lancer pulled her club into position to fire Brahamastra.

"The sisters beg for holy justice!"

Lightening shot from the storm and hit Saber's sword, except the lightening didn't dissapear and now Saber had a sword of electricity reaching towards the heavens.

"May the Gods have mercy on your souls," Energy began to gather at Lancer's club.

"What the hell!" A young male voice cried out.

Everything froze, the Noble Phantasms dissipated, and even the sound of Archer's arrows stopped.

A civilian had wandered into the fight. You turn to Bradán. "Didn't you set up any bounded fields to keep this from happening?"

He shook his head. "I thought you would do it."

You see the masters of Saber and Archer appear from over a hill of rubble. You all look at each other then to the boy who was standing in shock.You all knew what had to be done. Any witnesses to the Holy Grail War had to be eliminated. What should you do?

A.) Kill him yourself. Rules are rules and the sooner it is dealt with the sooner the war can resume.

B.) Tell somebody else to deal with it. (Write in who.)

C.) Try and convince them not to do anything and let the boy go. (Write in any ideas on what you say.)

D.) Nothing.

[BnEl15]

Well... this is rather unexpected. I doubt this guy is just some bystander, so I don't think attacking him out of the blue would be a good idea. On the other hand, I'm not sure what I can say to convince the others to let him go either. So... D, I guess?

[cooldownnow]

Well... this is rather unexpected. I doubt this guy is just some bystander, so I don't think attacking him out of the blue would be a good idea. On the other hand, I'm not sure what I can say to convince the others to let him go either. So... D, I guess?

You hesitate. You know what must be done, any witnesses to the war have to be eliminated. However you can't bring yourself to do anything. You look at the other participants of the war who look equally hesitant. You wonder how many of them had killed before.

The young man is looking around shouting about what was happening and who we all were. Nobody answered just looking at one another. Eventually the master of archer stepped forward. "Enough of this we all know the rules. Archer." An arrow appeared instantly and the bystander barely dodged out of the way in time being blown away by the explosion of the arrow hitting the ground.

"W-what the hell!" The boy started running as more and more arrows started flying him barely dodging them all. That wasn't right. There was no way Archer would miss like that. He was purposefully missing. He didn't want to actually hit this boy.

It looked like Maria noticed as well because she seemed pissed. "Archer kill this man before I use a command seal to force you!"

There was a pause in the arrows before one final one came forth and struck the boy on the chest piercing his heart.

You look away unable to watch this. You, you had never seen somebody die before.

However as you are looking away you notice a light glowing. You turn back to the corpse and see a summoning circle underneath him.

''W-what! What's happening!" Everyone was shocked. Hadn't all the servants been summoned already?

"I'm not dealing with another servant!" Bradán shouted. "Lancer destroy the summoning circle!"

Energy gathered in Lancer's club. "Brahamastra!" The beam of energy shot out to the prone boy but then a bright light appeared and the Brahamastra disappeared.

"Observing, observing, observing." A mechanical voice said. "Conclusion reached. All life forms other than Master are enemies." The smoke cleared and a god damn robot was standing there.

Using your rights a master you saw that this is Berserker, and his stat line was insane.

He then looked at his master. "Additional information. Master has been fatally injured. Deploying Noble Phantasm." At that everybody braced themselves for what might come. Berserker's leg opened up and ridiculous amounts of mana began pouring out of it. Black smoke began to pour out of the boy's wound and be sucked up into Berserker's leg. You look closely and see that the wound has completely closed up.

A healing Noble Phantasm on a Berserker, that didn't seem right. Weren't they supposed to be a pure melee class. Berserker looked over all of the servants. "Note, all servants have the skill magic resistance here except for one. Conclusion, strike him." You know immediately what he is going to do but you can't even move before Caster collapses.

On his chest is the same wound that Berserker's master had. "Caster!" You immediately put all your magecraft into healing him. You see to the side that Owain and Llew have both disappeared. What did Berserker do, you didn't see any kind of attack, he just looked at Caster and he was injured.

You sigh in relief as the wound begins to close. He hadn't been struck in his spiritual core so you would be able to save him. You look over to Berserker who hadn't even moved from the spot he was summoned. The other masters are frozen in place. This, this was too much. The Professor spoke first. "Saber attack Berserker!"

The servant shot forward her sword aimed to pierce the servants heart, if it had one. The blade was blocked by Berserker who lifted a mechanical arm. The sword was stopped but dug an inch or so into the servants arm. "Note, designation Saber powerful enough to damage chassis. Conclusion overwhelm with offense to prevent further damage." The servant pushed Saber off and went onto the offense showering her with a barrage of blows that knocked her flying backwards. Even when using her sword to block the hits Saber still slid backwards slowly but surely.

"Archer!" His master yelled. "Assist Saber!" Now a volley of arrows were striking Berserker imbedding themselves onto his boy. He leapt back and red lasers that shot out of his body destroyed the next volley of arrows from hitting him. He then pointed his palms at Saber and the direction Archer was hiding and lasers shot out. Saber tried to dodge but the beams just followed her around.

She leapt onto a particularly large piece of rubble and quickly slashed at the lasers that were coming at her, hitting all but one which singed her arm. "Dammit!"

On Archer's side he tried to shoot the lasers out of the air but most of them managed to dodge the arrows. Them something wierd happened. Arrows appeared from above and below the lasers destroying them in a pincer maneuver.

Berserker just looked on calmly. "Note, Servants Saber and Archer can overwhelm my defenses in this weakened state and escape Obsidian Barrage with minimal damage. In addition despite deployment of Noble Phantasm Master is still wounded due to blood loss and mana flow is dropping quickly. Optimal course of action, take Master to recover away from battlefield. Initiating escape procedures." The inner part of his body glowed and a volley of lasers shot out and ravaged the landscape kicking up so much dust it became impossible to see.

When the smoke cleared Berserker and his master were gone. You look around trying to see if they were maybe still in the area but it appears they are truly gone. You look down at Caster still injured and one thought courses through your mind.

'What is Berserker?'

End of Part 2

[cooldownnow]

Your breathing is labored as you try to fully heal Caster. The other masters have left however you don't want to disturb Caster until he's healed enough to go into spirit form. The process is slow going due to the mana you expended during the fight but there are enough reserves in your reactor core to get him out of the danger zone.

"Nyaa? What was that master? I didn't even feel anyaathing when the wound appeared on me." You think back to that black smoke. It was unlike anything you had ever seen. The other Noble Phantasms you've seen make some sense. Large scale energy output and summoning magecraft of higher levels than you had ever seen before but still logical. Then there was that instant damage transference. Besides the smoke coming out of the wound and into Berserker's leg there was no indication anything had happened, and there was definitely nothing that could have suggested that Caster would be attacked. Then the biggest elephant in the room was the fact Berserker was a freaking robot. They didn't have robots now much less during the age of gods. You swallow all that down though and put on a neutral face for Caster.

"I'm not sure right now but we'll figure it out once we're back at the penthouse." You then have him go back into spirit form and begin to head back to the penthouse, but are then stopped by a row of arrows. "Archer!"

You turn around and there was Archer's master. "Naunet was it?" She asked.

"And you're Maria? What do you want?" Caster was injured and she knew that so getting out of this situation depends on how well you can appease her.

"Why I'm here to kill you of curse!"

You eyes go wide. "Caster!" He appears ready to summon a cat from his sketchbook but four arrows appear and impale each of his limbs pinning him to the floor. This was bad, this was really bad.

You had to find some sort of cover, to avoid these arrows. You turn to run but arrows appear all around you, at first just preventing you from stepping forward but then they start stacking and an entire cage of arrows has you trapped on the spot. "How is this even possible!" You could swear that those arrows came from multiple different directions.

"You like that?" Maria said walking around you condescendingly. "Archer here is the greatest archer in the world. His qualifications but him a league beyond normal servants. That damned Berserker! Archer would have annihilated him if given the chance! You hear that Archer is the strongest servant!" Maria had a crazed look in her eye and she got right up to the cage.

You didn't know exactly what her psychosis was but you weren't going to let this opportunity waste itself. You stir up your reactor core and burn as much material as you have left, you most likely only have one shot at this. Then when the fire is at its largest you force it all out. Fire breath like the dragons of old. The burst of flames went right at Maria who didn't have enough space to dodge. A direct hit!

Now with an injured master Archer would most likely retreat to get her medical attention. Unfortunately as the fire cleared away your hope was shattered. Maria was standing there completely unharmed, surrounded by a barrier of electricity. "You thought that would work on me! Me!" A hand reached through the cage and grabbed onto your hair, the electricity now surging through you burning your nerve endings.

"I am not some first year student who would lose a battle of magecraft to a fucking alchemist! I am Maria von Wolinper! I am the one that will get the Holy Grail! I will raise my family status to the top of the clocktower! And I won't be stopped by a piece of trash like you!" Maria raised an arm to try to punch but was stopped by another hand grabbing her.

"I can't let you harm Naunet." Anhur said, her body glowing with reinforcement magecraft. She then threw Maria back. You see several water propelled arrows coming from Archer's direction. "Do not worry," she said turning to you "Rider has decided to join the fight."

From behind you several flaming arrows meet Archer's and they explode with powerful energy. You then see a shooting streak as Rider on his boar and lion chariot flew by firing arrows all the way. "W-why would he join now?" You were glad for the help but he had seemed so adamant about not fighting.

"He said that Archer piqued his interest. So he would fight as long as it was against Archer."

"Don't ignore me!" Maria said getting up her body surrounded by electricity. "I have had a horrible day and thought I'd let off some steam by killing someone, but now I get to kill two people! My lucky day!" She shot forward and Anhur ran to meet her.

The engaged in a brawl, but you could see it was more than just punches. You could see that rather than just reinforcement Maria was using electricity to speed up her blows and deal more damage while Anhur seemed to have covered her body in ether clump. That was ingenious as the ether clump acted as a conductor preventing most of the damage from reaching her.

You looked up to see Rider and Archer's battle. Rider was flying around shooting arrows in every direction shooting down Archer's. You focused your magecraft on your eyes and saw what was happening in the sky to change the directions of the arrows. It took a few seconds but then you saw it, for every arrow that arrived in a different direction three were shot and they hit each other in the air redirecting the first arrow. That was a level of archery that was beyond human achievement. Could Maria have been telling the truth about Archer being the strongest servant.

You look between Anhur, Rider, and Caster on the ground nailed down with arrows and try to figure out what to do.

A.) Help Anhur, if you beat Maria Archer will fade away; or at least have to help her retreat.

B.) Use a command seal to heal Caster and have him help Rider. Rider seems to have Archer matched arrow for arrow and if Caster has some of his summons attack Archer he'd be unable to handle them both.

C.) Free Caster and retreat. Your magical energy is exhausted and Caster has been injured multiple times tonight. You should retreat and live to fight another day.

C.1) Have Anhur follow you once you're clear. No need to continue to fight tonight.

C.2) Have Anhur finish off Maria. It's time to clear out one master servant from the board.

A.N. So yeah it's been a while huh. Sorry for just leaving this story for so long, I wish I could say that there's a reason but it's just that not writing is easier than writing. Hopefully I'll be more consistent now.