Just An Unorthodox Thief (Fate/Zero-Lupin III Crossover)

[shounen jump]

Why do i smell fire?

[TheInfamousMan]

Last preview swear to god. And it's very rough.

xxXXxx

"Are you sure you're okay boy?"

Waver Velvet looked towards Rider with tired eyes. The Servant was dressed in his civilian clothes which seemed to reflect in the moonlight. The Mion River flowed soothingly, the sound of running water calming Waver. The ground underneath was hard, but the grass helped to make it not completely uncomfortable. "Yeah Rider." Waver looked back at the river and looked at the reflection of the city. "Just trying to handle things." Waver touched the stump that was formerly his left arm. "And trying to handle withdrawal from the morphine."

"Ah yes. It's a good thing we got you off those drugs when we did." Rider scratched his beard in thought. "Several men of mine lost themselves to foreign drugs, but they did prove useful when dealing with grievous injuries."

"Does everything go back to conquest with you?" Waver asked with a raised eyebrow.

"Not... Everything." Waver could not help but chuckle at that.

"Eh, it's just who you are Rider." Waver looked back at the river. He looked at his own distorted reflection on the water's surface. He looked haggard now, a far cry from the ambitious young Magus that entered Fuyuki.

Wasn't that what he wanted?

"No, not really..." Waver looked at Fuyuki and frowned as the police sirens grew more distant.

They had to evacuate their hiding place when police officers came to evacuate anybody who was still in Fuyuki. Something about terrorists or national security. Waver was still out of it from all the morphine, but he managed to hypnotize the cops into thinking that they found no one before Rider went with his solution which was 'knock them unconscious and not think of the consequences'.

Seeing that they couldn't stay in the place anymore the duo had decided to bide their time and wait by the riverbank.

Waver honestly didn't know if it was because of the painkillers or not, but he had been thinking some more on his wish.

What did he actually want?

Acknowledgement was out the window. He had gotten to his position through sheer dumb luck To prove himself against stronger Magi was also a bust as he barely survived against Kiritsugu Emiya. Waver knew he wanted something, the Grail wouldn't have chosen him if he didn't.

"But I'm still a man with no desire. No goal in mind, or at least one that I haven't realized yet..." Waver lifted his right hand and looked at his Command Seals. His mind wandered to the gangsters and Taiga, and how he had despite all reason gone over there and risked his life to save the girl's. "That man Pycal... He let his desire to be acknowledge consume him. And that girl... She didn't realize what the world she lived in was truly like until the end. And when she did, it brought her nothing but heartbreak." Waver frowned again. "I don't want to be like that. I don't want to be like them. But then what the hell do I want to be?"

"BOY!"

Waver gasped as his back was smacked, and he landed face-first in the dirt. "Ah! Damn it Rider!" Waver got up and glared angrily at his Servant. "What the hell was that for!?"

"You were moping." Rider replied simply as he crossed his arms. "I simply thought that you needed some help putting an end to it."

"That's not how you help someone..." Waver rubbed as best he could his back. Hopefully he wouldn't develop a hunchback when he got older. Rider hit hard.

Rider sighed and looked down at Waver. "Boy... Are you still troubled about the war?"

Waver glanced at Rider. "Nothing escapes you huh?" Waver then slowly nodded his head. There was no real point dodging the question now. "Yeah, I am. Because..." Waver bit his lip as he said, "...Because I'm still not sure what the hell I want. I've tried to think about it, but I keep drawing a blank." Waver gave a cold chuckle as he pat his stump. "Pretty stupid huh? Considering I lost an arm in my time over here, and it was just to protect some girl."

Rider had belittled and treated Waver's initial wish with scorn. He had called it stupid and small, and Waver supposed that he was right. Wanting to be acknowledged by others would seem very small and stupid to a man who conquered most of the known world in his time. Perhaps Waver realized how small it was when Kayneth was taken out of the war, when the man who belittled him was gone before they had even gotten a proper fight. In fact, Waver supposed that the people who laughed at him at the university had since forgotten about the whole incident. So if he wasn't proving himself to anyone... What was the point for even participating in this war?

The recent events and grief Waver had gone through proved to him that he had the drive and courage to reach out for something. To the point that he was willing to risk everything for it.

But Waver still had no idea what the hell it was.

"It's not stupid boy."

Waver was brought out of his thoughts and stared at the calm Rider, smiling wistfully at him. "Huh?"

"Boy, tell me." Rider kneeled down next to him and patted his head. "What was it that you wanted to grow a few inches for? Acknowledgement is not an answer. It is fleeting gratification and not an actual truth."

Waver thought hard about it. "It was to show that pompous ass up wasn't it?" No, he was thinking about acknowledgement again. Showing Kayneth up was self-gratification, a dream to make Kayneth who was a gifted and respected Magus acknowledge him.

A gifted and respected Magus...

"Ah." Waver gave a sigh. "I wanted to be a great Magus." A simple dream, one every person who entered the Clock Tower had.

To Waver's surprise, Rider simply grinned. "There's you answer. There's your reason."

"What are you talking about?"

"Boy, sometimes dreams are not grand. Sometimes dreams have a simple goal in mind." Rider then began to pat Waver's shoulder. "You want to be a great Magus. That's an admirable goal you have in mind for your future. It's a dream that you created for yourself, one that is not small like getting a bit taller." Rider grinned even wider as he said, "You wish to live a life where you set out to be a great Magus, and it's a dream that'll both have you live life fully and one that has you risk everything to see it completed."

Waver could not believe it. Could his wish really be that simple? "Was I... Looking way too hard?" Waver could not help it as he let out a few chuckles. He felt a bit stupid now. "Rider... Risking my life like I did with that girl all the time is just insane. Living life fully while being willing to throw your life into danger is completely insane."

Rider gave a shrug of his shoulders. "Well... This world could use a few more insane people." He looked back at Waver, and the reborn conqueror gave a small smile to his Master. "But Waver, you must look at this future you have in mind for yourself. You must reach out for it and never let go. Be willing to give it your all, but be willing to live so that you can see it accomplished."

Waver felt his cheeks redden a bit. "I-I don't need you to tell me that." But as he said that sentence, a smile grew on Waver's face. This Servant of his, the legendary King of Conquerors, had tried in his own brutish way to help him ever since being summoned. And now the Servant had helped him figure out just what he wanted out of life.

Waver could not help but feel a kinship to a man who has been dead for centuries.

However, the moment was silenced by a whistling noise in the air. "What the hell?" Waver looked up to see something explode in the night sky to see something expode. Waver covered his eyes for a second as bright light hit them, but blinked and saw in green letters were the words "COME ONE, COME ALL!"

"Fireworks..." Waver muttered out.

"Assassin's handiwork, most likely." Rider's eyes narrowed as the words dissolved into smoke before more whistling sounds were heard.

The next words appeared in red. "TO THE FUYUKI CIVIC CENTER!" The next volley were in yellow. "THE GRAIL IS IN MY HANDS!!"

"What!?" Waver shouted in shock, and even Rider seemed to be surprised. How could the Grail already be in Assassin's hands? Why would he...? "He wants us to see him win!"

The next fireworks were in blue. "LETS GET READY TO RUUUUMBLE!!!" Then next to it fireworks exploded in white light, and in nearly perfect cursive (Which was surprising considering the letters were made using firework lights) was the signature of Lupin the Third. Finally in several pink explosions Waver could see a giant cartoon of Assassin's grinning face.

Rider gave a hearty laugh at that. "Hah! That truly is an amusing way to declare the final battle Assassin!" Rider gave a nod. "Alright, very well! It's time to finish this!" Rider's sword appeared in hand and he pointed to the sky. However he looked at Waver before doing anything else and asked, "Are you ready for this boy?"

Waver looked at Rider before looking at the place where the fireworks once were.

Before, when he was unsure, he would have refused.

But now...

"Yeah." Waver got onto his feet and smiled at Rider. "Let's go."

He wasn't going to be scared.

Waver Velvet was going to win the Grail for himself. To prove to himself and no one else that he was a great Magus.

Rider then summoned his Noble Phantasm in a flash of bright light and the sound of thunder, and the two rode off into the night sky for their final battle.

[Fan_Fic_Reader]

Another preview? Another preview

Zenigata was very close to setting off a mine from the Magi and Church.

To Waver's surprise, Rider simply grinned. "There's you answer. There's your reason."

your

[TheInfamousMan]

FOR THOUSANDS OF YEARS I LAID DORMANT... WHO DARES DISTURB ME SLU-

Oh right just finished the new JaUT chapter.

...It's not exactly as great as I originally thought it would be.

Writer's block hit me hard. Like, hit me like a freight train. I had the idea in my head as to how it would go. I had a point by point plan, and yet I could not write it. I have no idea why. It annoyed the hell out of me. So I transferred my attention to A Different Kind of Truth.

And then this fic laid dormant.

I don't want that to happen. I'm so close to the endgame, I can almost taste it. I want to finish this. I PROMISED myself I would finish this. And I'm going to.

So I finished what I had made, and sent it to my beta. Kiiam is literally the thing that helps me keep up this fic's quality, so he'll hopefully help me polish this thing to a degree that it's acceptable for you guys.

Just glad to have finally gotten this thing done.

[shounen jump]

FOR THOUSANDS OF YEARS I LAID DORMANT... WHO DARES DISTURB ME SLU-

Oh right just finished the new JaUT chapter.

...It's not exactly as great as I originally thought it would be.

Writer's block hit me hard. Like, hit me like a freight train. I had the idea in my head as to how it would go. I had a point by point plan, and yet I could not write it. I have no idea why. It annoyed the hell out of me. So I transferred my attention to A Different Kind of Truth.

And then this fic laid dormant.

I don't want that to happen. I'm so close to the endgame, I can almost taste it. I want to finish this. I PROMISED myself I would finish this. And I'm going to.

So I finished what I had made, and sent it to my beta. Kiiam is literally the thing that helps me keep up this fic's quality, so he'll hopefully help me polish this thing to a degree that it's acceptable for you guys.

Just glad to have finally gotten this thing done.

Can't wait for it.

[Mattias]

I'm honestly surprised that, as a writer of a Persona fic, you had not just fallen into the black hole of P5.

[TheInfamousMan]

I'm honestly surprised that, as a writer of a Persona fic, you had not just fallen into the black hole of P5.

But I have good sir. I have. That and Nier: Automata. But I sat down and forced myself to do so. Because it's been far too long since the last chapter.

[Fan_Fic_Reader]

But I have good sir. I have. That and Nier: Automata. But I sat down and forced myself to do so. Because it's been far too long since the last chapter.

Glad you are back to this fanfic.

[Agailius]

That and Nier: Automata.

Perfectly understandable. 2B has an ass so perfect it should have it's own equation.

[TheInfamousMan]

Twenty-Eighth Heist

xxXXxx

"Though Fuyuki is still reeling in shock from the damning evidence of Tohsaka Tokiomi's part in the sexual slavery of his own daughter, the pressing question on everybody's mind is... what is Lupin the Third doing?"

"From one subject to another…" Saber muttered as she glanced at the screen sitting on a chair within a bar with the table in front of her covered in papers while a half finished mug of Guinness sat to the right. She'd come to realize that was just the media's way of handling things.

The bar was mostly quiet with very few customers. Other than the bartender, Saber had been the only constant of the place. She had seen young men and women come in to take a glance before either leaving or remaining for a quick drink, a couple of Russians talking with Koreans and Chinese men about their 'business' in the town, and some old men who stayed for a few hours as regulars.

Saber had remained in place for hours, going over notes about Lupin the Third she had gathered on her own. Quenching her own thirst with both water and beer, only slightly annoyed that her body made the alcohol more or less be flavored water.

But really, she wasn't actually looking to get drunk. She needed to be ready to act after all.

So instead, she sat and read as well as watched the world turn on the TV screen.

The reporter had a cheery smile on his face, a far cry from the grim news that he had delivered just before. "The infamous thief, or perhaps a very skilled copycat of the same thief, has been unusually quiet as of late. His last highly public robbery of a local caused hundreds in property damage, the resignation of the head of said bank, and the public embarrassment of the police force. And yet there has been no word in regards to his whereabouts or his next course of action. Earlier today the head of the investigation, Inspector Zenigata, gave us a statement."

The elderly inspector looked at the cameraman and the microphone in annoyance as he walked down a sidewalk. "The investigation is still ongoing. However the rat has always been very good at covering his tracks, but I always find him sooner or later. And that punk usually helps because of his ego. He'll clue me into his whereabouts eventually, if only so he can rub it in when he gets away when I do track him down." Zenigata then got into a car that was parked and told the driver. "Get me the hell away from here."

Saber could not help but chuckle at the inspector's words. "He's still as driven as ever..." She had actually grown to respect the inspector somewhat when they fought together at the Owls' base. He was a man of conviction and honor, who took his duty as an officer of the law seriously and was ready to risk life and limb to see that justice was done.

He did not hide anything, or disrespect the ones he called his allies.

"I wish he had been my Master instead of Kiritsugu..." Saber grimaced at the memory of her 'Master', who she hadn't seen hide or hair from since her ultimatum. And honestly she was glad. She had grown sick and tired of the man's disrespect and lack of trust, and the fact he seemed to be wrapped up in his own agenda rather than working together.

Perhaps she should have done this sooner.

Still, being away from Kiritsugu didn't resolve her troubles or lessen her worries like she had hoped. Irisviel was still missing and it broke Saber's heart that she could not find the woman.

But if she defeated Lupin the Third, then maybe she could see Irisviel one last time.

One last time before she...

"I'm afraid that my country has no information in regards to this 'Lupin'." Saber turned her head back to the TV and saw a woman in her late thirties, with long red hair and smooth skin as well as blue eyes that looked cheery and kind. She was wearing an intricate white dress adorned with gemstones and a small sapphire gemstone necklace on her neck, and a crown on her head. "I had not seen the man since I was just a girl, and he made no effort in contacting me. While I do owe him my life for saving me from the incident regarding the former Count, I do not want anyone to my country has involved itself with him just because of my own personal feelings for the man."

The reporter returned onto the screen as he said, "And that was Queen Clarisse de Cagliostro responding to accusations that she, and her country, had been harboring Lupin the Third during his time 'dead'. After the break, the Republic of Carib shows the world its multiple renewable energy programs. Meanwhile in the United States, the Clinton Administration..."

Saber returned her attention to her notes, staring at a picture of Lupin the Third who was laughing as he had his arms around two beautiful women at his side as he sat on a sofa with the great works of art hung behind him.

"Lupin the Third... It won't be long now..."

The experience was horrible and Saber had no intention of ever going through it again, but the trip she had taken was enlightening in a way.

She had learned through it that Lupin the Third was a man who subscribed to the ideology that the world was his. That the world was his playground and he could do everything and anything at his leisure.

Stealing to him was the ultimate thrill, the ultimate pursuit of pleasure, and a high greater than any drug or amount of sex could provide.

Saber could not fully experience that. Her personality would not allow for that.

What she could do however was aim for the Grail.

Desire it.

Be willing to get it at any cost.

"And I will fight tooth and nail to get it." Saber took a swig of her mug, downing the contents with hearty gulps. Men and women looked at her in awe (With some even looking away with flushed cheeks) as she set it down with a grin.

"No matter what you might think, make no mistake… I will be the victor in this War, Lupin the Third."

xxXXxx

Zenigata lifted the glass cup to his lips and gulped its contents. The alcohol burned his throat on its way down, sloshing about at the bottom of his gut. Zenigata hated the strong stuff, but it was doing its job. His anxiousness and worry was slowly disappearing and in its place was a sense of calm as well as self-assurance.

"And that's why it's called liquid courage." Zenigata muttered to himself with a dry smile as he poured another glass of whisky.

Ever since his talk with Daisuke, Zenigata had been going over his notes about the case... and about these magicians that had been running the show in Fuyuki and managing to keep it out the public eye.

And the more he thought about it, the more complicated the conspiracy got.

The Einzberns were from Germany and Kayneth Archibald had come from Europe. And if there was a secret magic contest going on in Japan every sixty years and people from all over the globe were participating, it meant that there were more so cities for magicians around the world.

It could also mean that they ran the media, hence why there haven't been any reports about a magician who screwed up.

And with the church involved, it meant their hold over the world could have been around for centuries.

"So how the hell do I bring them to justice?" Zenigata drank another glass. He remembered how he had been told not to report about the Count of Cagliostro all those years ago, because practically every country had been in bed with the nation that had been printing goat bills and revealing the count's crimes would make them all look bad. So Zenigata, rather than wasting time hearing those idiots talk about careful political maneuvers, simply got a camera and filmed the illegal operation live.

It could still work, but he had no idea how long it would take before these magicians shut things down and did some sort of mass hypnosis thing...

"Hey Pops, maybe you should cut back on the sauce!"

Zenigata looked up to see that, reclining on the chair across from his desk, was none other than Lupin the Third.

The punk smirked at him and said, "After all, that stuff is bad for your li-."

Zenigata didn't let the thief finish. "GOTCHA!" Zenigata took out a remote from his coat pocket and pressed a singular red button.

Lupin blinked in surprise as four hidden compartments on the wooden chair's armrests and front legs opened. Metal cuffs came out and hooked onto the thief's wrists and ankles, completely restraining him.

"Ha! I've got you Lupin! I've got you!" Zenigata got up from his seat and skipped around joyfully as if he were a young man again. "I knew you would eventually try and play your dumb little 'cool thief sitting on the chair unexpectedly' routine, and set up this little baby for you! And you fell for it!" Zenigata let out several joyous laughs, tears coming out of his eyes at the thought of finally catching his rival.

"Wow, Old Man, I'm kinda touched that you thought of me so much!" Lupin gave a small chuckle. "Honestly, this gift for little ol' me?"

"Ah, save it." Zenigata walked up to the chair before leaning down and grinning at Lupin. "Save all your thanks for the nice little cell I reserved just for you. Has your name on it and everything!"

"So, did you finally figure things out?"

That sentence deflated Zenigata's joy a bit. "Yes." There wasn't any point in playing dumb with Lupin. The bastard knew about everything. "Magicians are waging a little contest over in this town, and you're part of it in one way or another. But your end goal is still their little Grail."

Lupin then gave a hearty laugh. "Hah! Knew you would figure things out Zenigata! I knew once you'd stick your nose in this business you'd uncover their secrets, even if it's grown a lot of hair..."

Zenigata let out a grunt. "Smart-ass..."

"So what do you intend to do?"

Zenigata stood up straight and glared at Lupin. "That should be obvious. I'm blowing this thing wide open. I am not letting those bastards get away with this. Too many people have died just because of the pride of a bunch of Magicians."

Surprisingly, Lupin began frowning at that. "Be careful, Zenigata." Lupin's voice was serious, the absence of his light and joking tone making Zenigata pause. "Choose your next course of action carefully. These are not people you want to screw around with."

The gravity of the infamous thief's tone inspired a grim look from the seasoned investigator. As with the Matou Sakura case, it meant Lupin was actually worried about something. "I can manage myself." Zenigata then crossed his arms. "Now tell me Lupin, why the hell did you come here? Must've been for a reason."

"Actually I do have a reason." Lupin gave a sigh before saying, "Old Man... you and the cops need to evacuate Fuyuki. All the citizens and everything. Before tonight."

That made Zenigata a bit worried. "What? Why?"

"Because I'm ending things tonight."

The finality in Lupin's tone had Zenigata clenching his fists in order to ward off the anxiety he felt. Knowing what he knew now and considering what Zenigata had seen and read, if this War was approaching its conclusion then the entire conflict would end bloodily. However...

"You're not ending anything punk." Zenigata turned around and grabbed a piece of paper off the desk. "I'm bringing you straight to your cell and I'm going to find out everything you know." Zenigata grinned happily to himself. "I can't wait to take your mugshot! I'm going to do it personally!"

Zenigata then turned around...

...And saw that Lupin was gone.

The cuffs were broken and Zenigata spotted a small note on the chair. Anger already starting to bubble in his chest, Zenigata picked up the small slip of paper.

"Sorry Pops, but I've got a date planned for today that I can't miss! We'll do lunch some other time! - Lupin the Third"

Under the message was Lupin's usual cartoon doodle of himself.

Zenigata crushed the note in a shaking fist as his fury at the Thief's escape reach its peak.

"LUPIN!" Zenigata shook his fist at the chair. "YOU BETTER NOT DIE UNTIL I CATCH YOU, YOU LITTLE PUNK!"

He would later have a long discussion with the remainder of the Fuyuki police force and the government to start the evacuation.

xxXXxx

"Are you sure you're okay, boy?"

Waver Velvet looked towards Rider with tired eyes. The Servant was dressed in his civilian clothes which seemed to reflect in the moonlight. The Mion River flowed soothingly, the sound of running water calming Waver. The ground underneath was hard, but the grass helped to make it not completely uncomfortable. "Yeah Rider." Waver looked back at the river and looked at the reflection of the city. "Just trying to handle things." Waver touched the stump that was formerly his left arm. "And trying to handle withdrawal from the morphine."

"Ah yes. It's a good thing we got you off those drugs when we did." Rider scratched his beard in thought. "Several men of mine lost themselves to foreign drugs, but they did prove useful when dealing with grievous injuries."

"Does everything go back to conquest with you?" Waver sighed.

"Not... everything." Waver could not help but chuckle at that.

"Eh, it's just who you are Rider." Waver looked back at the river. He looked at his own distorted reflection on the water's surface. He looked haggard now, a far cry from the ambitious young Magus that entered Fuyuki.

Wasn't that what he wanted?

"No, not really..." Waver looked at Fuyuki and frowned as the police sirens grew more distant.

They had to evacuate their hiding place when police officers came to evacuate anybody who was still in Fuyuki. Something about terrorists or national security. Waver was still out of it from all the morphine, but he managed to hypnotize the cops into thinking that they found no one before Rider went with his solution which was 'knock them unconscious and not think of the consequences'.

Seeing that they couldn't stay in the place anymore the duo had decided to bide their time and wait by the riverbank.

Waver honestly didn't know if it was because of the painkillers or not, but he had been thinking some more on his wish.

What did he actually want?

Acknowledgement was out the window. He had gotten to his position through sheer dumb luck to prove himself against stronger Magi was also a bust as he barely survived against Kiritsugu Emiya. Waver knew he wanted something, the Grail wouldn't have chosen him if he didn't.

"But I'm still a man with no desire. No goal in mind, or at least one that I haven't realized yet..." Waver lifted his right hand and looked at his Command Seals. His mind wandered to the gangsters and Taiga, and how he had despite all reason gone over there and risked his life to save the girl's. "That man Pycal... he let his desire to be acknowledged consume him. And that girl... she didn't realize what the world she lived in was truly like until the end. And when she did, it brought her nothing but heartbreak." Waver frowned again. "I don't want to be like that. I don't want to be like them. But then what the hell do I want to be?"

What had even been the point of joining this war if he didn't get anything he wanted… or for that matter, what was the point when he didn't even know what he wanted?

"BOY!"

Waver gasped as his back was smacked, and he landed face-first in the dirt. "Ah! Damn it Rider!" Waver got up and glared angrily at his Servant. "What the hell was that for!?"

"You were moping." Rider replied simply as he crossed his arms. "I simply thought that you needed some help putting an end to it."

"That's not how you help someone..." Waver rubbed as best he could his back. Hopefully he wouldn't develop a hunchback when he got older. Rider hit hard.

Rider sighed and looked down at Waver. "Boy... are you still troubled about the war?"

"Nothing escapes you, huh?" Waver then slowly nodded his head. There was no real point dodging the question now. "Yeah, I am. Because..." Waver bit his lip as he said, "...Because I'm still not sure what the hell I want. I've tried to think about it, but I keep drawing a blank." Waver gave a cold chuckle as he pat his stump. "Pretty stupid huh? Considering I lost an arm in my time over here, and it was just to protect some girl."

Rider had belittled and treated Waver's initial wish with scorn. He had called it stupid and small, and Waver supposed that he was right. Wanting to be acknowledged by others would seem very small and stupid to a man who conquered most of the known world in his time. Perhaps Waver realized how small it was when Kayneth was taken out of the war, when the man who belittled him was gone before they had even gotten a proper fight. In fact, Waver supposed that the people who laughed at him at the university had since forgotten about the whole incident. So if he wasn't proving himself to anyone...

Again, what had even been the point of joining the Holy Grail War?

The recent events and grief Waver had gone through proved to him that he had the drive and courage to reach out for something. To the point that he was willing to risk everything for it.

But Waver still had no idea what the hell it was.

"It's not stupid boy."

Waver was brought out of his thoughts and stared at the calm Rider, smiling wistfully at him. "Huh?"

"Boy, tell me." Rider kneeled down next to him and patted his head. "What was it that you wanted to grow a few inches for? Acknowledgement is not an answer. It is fleeting gratification and not an actual truth."

Waver thought hard about it. "It was to show that pompous ass up wasn't it?" No, he was thinking about acknowledgement again. Showing Kayneth up was self-gratification, a dream to make Kayneth who was a gifted and respected Magus acknowledge him.

A gifted and respected Magus...

"Ah." Waver gave a sigh. "I wanted to be a great Magus." A simple dream, one every person who entered the Clock Tower had.

To Waver's surprise, Rider simply grinned. "There's you answer. There's your reason."

"What are you talking about?"

"Boy, sometimes dreams aren't anything grand. Sometimes dreams are simple with a simple goal to fit." Rider then began to pat Waver's shoulder. "You want to be a great Magus. That's an admirable goal you have in mind for your future. It's a dream that you created for yourself, one that is not small like getting a bit taller." Rider grinned even wider as he said, "You wish to live a life where you set out to be a great Magus, and it's a dream that'll both have you live life fully and one that has you risk everything to see it completed. It's not something you want because it'll make others proud, but it will make you feel proud of yourself."

Waver could not believe it. Could his wish really be that simple? "Was I... looking way too hard?" Waver could not help it as he let out a few chuckles. He felt a bit stupid now. "Rider... Risking my life like I did with that girl all the time is just insane. Living life fully while being willing to throw your life into danger is completely insane."

Rider gave a shrug of his shoulders. "Well... this world could use a few more insane people." He looked back at Waver, and the reborn conqueror gave a small smile to his Master. "But Waver, you must look at this future you have in mind for yourself. You must reach out for it and never let go. Be willing to give it your all, but be willing to live so that you can see it accomplished."

Waver felt his cheeks redden a bit. "I-I don't need you to tell me that." But as he said that sentence, a smile grew on Waver's face. This Servant of his, the legendary King of Conquerors, had tried in his own brutish way to help him ever since being summoned. And now the Servant had helped him figure out just what he wanted out of life.

Waver could not help but feel a kinship to a man who has been dead for centuries.

However, the moment was silenced by a whistling noise in the air. "What the hell?" Waver looked up to see something explode in the night sky to see something expode. Waver covered his eyes for a second as bright light hit them, but blinked and saw in green letters were the words "COME ONE, COME ALL!"

"Fireworks..." Waver muttered out.

"Assassin's handiwork, most likely." Rider's eyes narrowed as the words dissolved into smoke before more whistling sounds were heard.

The next words appeared in red. "TO THE FUYUKI CIVIC CENTER!" The next volley were in yellow. "THE GRAIL IS IN MY HANDS!"

"What!?" Waver shouted in shock, and even Rider seemed to be surprised. How could the Grail already be in Assassin's hands? Why would he...? "He wants us to see him win!"

The next fireworks were in blue. "LETS GET READY TO RUUUUMBLE!" Then next to it fireworks exploded in white light, and in nearly perfect cursive as was the signature of Lupin the Third… the detail of which was surprising given that these were fireworks Assassin was using. Finally in several pink explosions Waver could see a giant cartoon of Assassin's grinning face.

Rider gave a hearty laugh at that. "Hah! That truly is an amusing way to declare the final battle Assassin!" Rider gave a nod. "Very well! It's time to finish this!" Rider's sword appeared in hand and he pointed to the sky. However he looked at Waver before doing anything else and asked, "Are you ready for this boy?"

Waver looked at Rider before looking at the place where the fireworks once were.

Before, when he was unsure, he would have refused.

But now...

"Yeah." Waver got onto his feet and smiled at Rider. "Let's go."

He wasn't going to be scared.

Waver Velvet was going to win the Grail for himself. To prove to himself and no one else that he was a great Magus.

Rider then summoned his Noble Phantasm in a flash of bright light and the sound of thunder, and the two rode off into the night sky for their final battle.

xxXXxx

Saber gripped the handle bars of her Yamaha bike and pulled on the breaks. The tires screeched on asphalt as the bike came to a stop in front of the Civic Center. "So it's here..."

Saber had known something was going to happen when police entered the bar she was formerly at asking the occupants to leave with them. Because of her height, she had managed to slip by them without notice and leave with her bike.

She was still sort of annoyed about one of them asking for her identification since they didn't believe she was of drinking age.

Saber had managed to stay out of sight for the most part by staying by the ruins of the Einzbern Manor. It wasn't like the police were going to be hanging around it when they were busy evacuating everyone in the city. "Just what are you up to, Inspector Zenigata?" Saber guessed he must have sensed something in the air and convinced his superiors to go through with this.

And considering the fireworks that Assassin launched to announce his desire to finish things, it was likely that the thief sent his old rival an advanced notice to the final battle.

Saber supposed that Assassin's lack of desire to have innocents injured was admirable, but ultimately the thief could not help but make a big show out of the announcement.

Saber looked around at her surroundings, taking in the civic center and the parking lot which had a few cars parked in it. All the lights of the building were off and none of the cars showed any indication of being tampered with.

That just supported the suspicion Saber had since entering the area.

"You're not here, are you Lupin the Third?" Saber asked, glaring at the civic center in frustration. If Assassin had been here, he would've made a showy entrance already. Made some sort of quip or joke to play off the fact that they were going to fight to the death and that he wanted to steal both her sword and the Grail. A showy entrance that would've stroked his ego and been perfectly in character for the thief. And yet he was not anywhere near the area. "So why did you say you..."

She then heard the sound of braying oxen and the shout of a familiar voice as thunder crackled through the air while mixing with the sound of hooves. "Of course..." Saber looked up to the sky to see Rider flying through the sky.

The hooves of the oxen hit the asphalt and the oxen themselves brayed as Rider pulled back on the reins. Electricity crackled across the Gordius Wheel and Saber considered it a miracle that few cars that were in the parking lot didn't have their alarms go off. Rider grinned at her and said, "Well now! I must say Saber, it's a surprise seeing you here first! Didn't think you were the type to rush into battle!"

Saber gave the other Servant a small nod. "I had hoped to finish things between me and Assassin, King of Conquerors." Saber then motioned towards the civic center. "But it appears that Assassin is not here."

"Oh? What makes you say that?" Rider asked with a raised eyebrow. Saber noted that Rider's Master was peeking out from behind the Servant.

It sort of made her envious, that Rider and his Master got along well enough that they would ride into battle together.

"Assassin has an enormous ego. He would have made a giant show of facing the both of us if he were actually here." Saber then gave a small huff of disappointment as she began turning around her bike. "I do not enjoy these games of his. I'll continue searching for him since I'm out here anyways. He most likely has some sort of trap in mind for us..."

"Wait."

Saber halted her progress and looked at Rider. "What is it?"

Saber could see the Servant's face. No longer was it boisterous and proud, one of a man who seemed to take everything in stride and seemed to enjoy everything he saw.

Now she saw the face of a fellow king.

"I have been hoping to meet you for a while now Saber." Rider crossed his arms, glaring lightly at her. "And now that we are both here... I see no reason to delay."

"Delay what?"

"Our battle for the Grail of course."

Saber's jaw clenched. She had been expecting to face Rider for a while now, but not under these circumstances. "And I wish to duel you as well, Rider. But Assassin is still out there and we should not fall for his machinations."

"Perhaps..." Rider touched his beard and closed his eyes. "Or perhaps... his true intention was simply for us to meet right here."

"..." It made sense. Assassin wanted to have them kill each other here. He knew that he could not face both Saber and Rider. They were far too powerful, and the only option was pitting them against one another and facing the weakened 'winner'. "Yes. I could see that." Saber turned her bike to face Rider. "But still, if you know this why do you want to play along with Assassin's schemes? He seeks you dead as much as I in order to get the Holy Grail."

"Because, quite frankly, we were going to face each other one way or the other. This simply speeds things along." Rider's frown grew even more. "Saber, I learned from Assassin what your wish is."

Saber stared at Rider for a second before closing her eyes. "I suppose you don't approve, do you?"

She knew the answer before Rider even parted his lips. She felt anger bubble within her, because yet again someone was attempting to dissect her wish. To tell her once again how pointless it was, how foolish she was, and how selfish she was. "No, not now." Saber clenched her jaw and closed her eyes. "Do not get distracted. Do not be troubled by Rider's words." She remembered the Grail, and knew that somewhere Assassin was watching and waiting. "You have your goal. You must do anything to reach it." She took in a breath to calm herself.

"No, I do not." Rider shook his head from side to side. "Saber... to try and change the past is to go against what being a king is. A king never regrets his actions, never looks anywhere but forward. The men that follow their king share their ideals..."

"Stop."

Rider paused at the interruption, as if he were surprised that someone would stop his display of wisdom.

Saber opened her eyes and looked directly at Rider. "You are not going to tell me anything I have not heard before. Nothing I say will make a difference in your opinion about me. Debating on the nature of my wish is pointless." Saber kept her voice even. She wondered if those first few sentences came off as tired because she was tired of all this. Perhaps she wanted this entire war to end sooner rather than later. "I do not have time for yet another lecture from someone who thinks they understand me. Not when my rival is waiting somewhere in this city seeking to finish things once and for all. I only ask you one last time to stop this so that I may continue to search for Assassin, King of Conquerors."

Rider blinked at that response. He must have been expecting her to refute his declaration. Perhaps he saw her as a prideful and stubborn little girl who only had the title of a king.

He certainly did not expect her to simply cut him off.

She had learned a few things since they encountered each other last time.

Suddenly, Rider bust out laughing. "Oh my! It's good to see this fire coming from you, Saber! Have to say, this is a welcome and surprising sight!" Rider then shook his head. "But I cannot. As a king, a conqueror, I cannot stand by and allow you to get the Holy Grail. I need it to grant myself my wish, at the cost of the foolish wishes you and Assassin have."

Saber closed her eyes. She knew what this meant. "Very well."

Rider then took picked up his Master by the back of his shirt with the young man shouting, "Hey, what are you...!?"

"You cannot ride into battle with me this time, Waver Velvet." Rider informed his Master. "Should you die at my side, how would you be able to become a great Magus?"

The Master opened his mouth... and then closed it. His hand clenched into a fist, and Saber could tell the young man was cursing himself for not being able to stand beside his Servant without risking his own life.

It made her a bit more envious at their bond.

"Alright, but you better not lose!" With that, the Master of Rider ran away to the side, off the asphalt and running to put a sufficient distance between himself and the Servants.

Rider chuckled a bit before looking at Saber. "I suppose we should get started Saber! It is unfortunate that I did not bring wine, so that we may share a final drink together."

Saber's muscles clenched as she felt the air turn razor sharp from the tension.

It reminded her of the old days.

"Prepare yourself Rider." Saber glared at the Servant. "I don't intend to allow for this battle to last long."

Rider grinned, and snapped the reigns of his chariot. "Hiya!" Rider shouted as the oxen brayed. Their hooves clattered on pavement, and electricity crackled through the air. Rider's Master ran back as his Servant went towards her. Saber grimaced as she turned her bike and sped forward. Despite her boasts, she knew that charging at Rider was foolish.

"I would be electrocuted to death! And that's if I am not crushed to death by his oxen." She needed to fight him at a distance...

Saber then heard the sound of hooves galloping above her. She turned her head and saw Rider's Gordius Wheel was now flying in the air. "Right. It can fly." Saber grimaced as she made a sharp turn to the left, avoiding a strike of electricity from where she was previously. "Because why not?"

Saber weaved through cars, avoiding the lightning-like strikes from the Noble Phantasm. The gasoline within engines ignited, causing them to explode and flip over into flaming metal wrecks. Saber grimaced as she sped her motorcycle, with Rider always just a step behind. She needed to force Rider back onto the ground, even if only for a scant few minutes. "I can throw wreckage at him... no, it might just have him put more distance between us. An aerial battle is out of the question as well. I would have fewer opportunities to fight there, and I certainly can't fly." She glanced up. The nostrils of the oxen were flaring. "In the end, Rider needs to steer those beasts in order for his Noble Phantasm to move..." If she could have them go down...

She glanced at a car. Yes, that could work.

Saber applied the brakes, and felt her body lurch forward. Rider sped off ahead of her, crying as he pulled on the reigns to make the beasts slow down. Saber then released the breaks while applying gas, causing her motorcycle to speed towards a small car. She raised the front, and as she drew closer, Saber lurched her body up. The back tire hit the hood of the car, and then Saber used the car as a springboard. It jumped into the air by a few feet, at which point Saber got off the motorcycle and threw it towards Rider.

Rider gasped and ducked, but the electricity of his Noble Phantasm caused the motorcycle's engine to explode. The oxen moaned as they went down, their hooves hitting on the pavement of the parking lot.

"I actually liked that vehicle..." Saber muttered bitterly as her armor formed on her body, Excalibur held in her hands once more.

The oxen, even if they were Noble Phantasms, were still animals. Because of the sudden threat to their life, they ducked down and returned to familiar footing. While Rider could likely return to the skies, his beasts were still shaken up ever so slightly.

"Bravo Saber! A well-executed maneuver, if I do say so myself!" Rider laughed out with a grin. "However... you have lost your vehicle! And now you face a mighty chariot without the benefit of your machine's speed!" He snapped his reins, and the oxen groaned and huffed angrily, looking at Saber with rage-filled eyes as they began charging. "This battle shall now be mine!"

Saber's mind raced as Rider's chariot came towards her. She needed to kill the oxen, that way Rider's Noble Phantasm would become unusable. "Yet when I do kill them, I still have the rest of the chariot to worry about for a few seconds. I cannot recover from my plan unless I have a foot on the chariot, but if I do that the electricity would kill me instantly. So how..." Saber's eye darted to the now destroyed car to her left. Specifically, its now destroyed tire. "Yes, I can use that!"

Moving quickly, Saber grabbed a portion of the tire before running towards the chariot. She jumped to the left before throwing herself forward. She placed the rubber tire underneath her right foot, avoiding the oxen by only a few hairs. Saber grimaced as the stinging pain began to hit her body as the sparks of electricity emanating from the oxen hit her armor. She ignored it, and thrust Excalibur forward. Her blade met the right ox's neck, slicing through it and severing the spinal ford within seconds. It brayed while Saber grit her teeth. She was in so much pain that her body wouldn't let her scream. "I must eliminate the other one!"Saber twisted the blade to the left, bone and flesh squelching as she did so. She added more strength to her thrust, and the tip of Excalibur's blade went through the left ox's skull. It went right behind the ox's eye, the animal crying as its brain was cut through. Blood evaporated in the air thanks to the electricity.

Saber's rubber-covered foot landed on the front of the chariot. Saber turned to Rider, and saw that he was raising his left arm which gripped his sword. Saber raised her right hand and moved it slightly to the left. Rider brought down his sword, and the edge of the blade met Saber's hand. Rider had considerable strength, but Saber was just as strong if not stronger. And normally Rider's strike would have pulverized at least one of her fingers.

But all it did was slightly cut the far right of her hand, the pinky finger long gone thanks to Assassin.

However, the force of the blow was enough to finally knock Saber off of the chariot. She took Excalibur with her, and grunted as she raised her left arm to shield her face from the ground. She tumbled around like a rag doll, her armor sustaining the worst of it. She cried out as she was finally stopped by the side of a small minivan, its alarm blaring while Saber coughed.

'That went well..." Saber thought to herself as she attempted to use her hands to raise her body. But she noticed something. Her left hand would not release its grip of Excalibur, and her right hand was shaking. "I-Is this my body reacting to the electricity!?" Saber felt spittle come out of her mouth, and grimaced in frustration as she tried to close her right hand. It took some effort, but she could form a fist with it. "But I cannot use it to grip Excalibur, not yet." Saber shakily got onto her feet and looked at her opponent.

Rider was no worse for wear. He was standing just before his downed Noble Phantasm, petting the suffering right ox. The chariot itself was practically wrecked, cracks on its front and its wheels destroyed. "Rest now old friend..." Saber watched as Rider rammed his sword through its head, ending its suffering. Rider gave a sigh before turning towards her. His eyes were inquisitive. "I must admit, I never expected to see such tactics come from you Saber..." He hummed as he crossed his arms. "You actually managed to make one of my Noble Phantasms unusable due to the fact it relied upon the oxen driving it... I commend you for your pragmatic thinking. I could fight you now... but I suspect I would lose in such a duel, even in your state."

"What's he going on about...?" Saber thought to herself.

Rider gave her a grin.

"I think we should change the playing field to make things a bit fairer, don't you Saber?"

Saber's world turned white.

xxXXxx

Saber's eyes blinked as rays of sunlight hit them, her eyes watering slightly at the sudden disturbance to her vision.

"What is this!?" Saber thought to herself as she took stock of her surroundings.

What was once the ruined parking area of the Fuyuki Civic Center was now a desert. The sand was almost a pristine white, with dunes stretching out as far as her eye could see. Not a single cloud was in the sky, and the sun blazed down on her while the hot air caused her body to sweat as well as her throat to dry.

There was only one explanation to the sudden change of location.

"A Reality Marble..."

Rider stood before her some ways off, his arms crossed as he said, "Do you like it, King of Knights? This is the battlefield on which my men marched, where we crossed in order to conquer the world, the hellish field in which they followed me so that we could reach Oceanus! Ionioi Hetairoi!"

She hadn't imagined she would encounter a Reality Marble. "But in all honesty, I shouldn't be surprised..." The Grail as well as her tutelage under Merlin gave Saber a good understanding of the concept. It could be best described as a pocket dimension, an inner world given shape and form by the user, allowing them to draw themselves and others in. "This could pose a problem..."

Saber then heard clouds form behind Rider, and her eyes narrowed before widening.

"T-Those are people!"

Indeed, the very cause of those clouds of sand was the marching of an army. They formed behind Rider, wearing armor of similar design but in different styles, which seemed to match their slightly differing features.

"These are my men! This is my army! In here, they march with me once more so that we may achieve victory and conquer once more!"

The soldiers raised their spears, swords, and bows while giving roars of agreement. Their voices thundered in the air, causing Saber to narrow her eyes. It sounded like they numbered in the thousands, perhaps hundreds of thousands.

A giant black horse galloped to Rider, who smiled gently as he pet its head. "Hello again, old friend..." He muttered softly before boarding it. He sat on its back and said, "Arthur, King of Knights!" Rider shouted, his voice thundering in the air. "Allow us to show you the might and willpower of both a King who serves not his people, and a people who see their king's dreams as their own!" He raised his sword and pointed it at her. "CHARGE!"

The soldiers roared as their horse-bound king charged toward her, and they themselves followed. Saber looked down at her hands. They were still shaking, and her left hand retained its iron grip on Excalibur. The effects of the electricity had still not gone away, and it would likely take some time before she could confidently grip her sword with both her hands and fight at her fullest strength.

"Still..."

Saber's mind wandered to her first days under Merlin, her first time fighting in a true battle. Her forces small and hopelessly outnumbered, her shaking despite Merlin's spells. The things she had to do to stay alive...

"You've been in worse situations. And you are still alive."

With that, Saber hopped to the left before leaping forward. Rider seemed surprise at her action, expecting her to go after him head-on.

But she saw the archers just behind him, ready to intercept her should she try to go after their king. So instead she would go the route that few men would take. Head straight into the fray, become lost in the steel and blood.

She felt the wind coat her blade, the mana gathering as she drew closer. The men were becoming bigger in her field of vision.

"Not yet..."

Their shouts were growing louder and louder.

"Not yet..."

She could see the spittle coming from their mouths.

"Not yet..."

She smelled their sweat, and their newly-polished armor and swords.

"NOW!"

She thrust her sword forward and a furious gale followed.

"STRIKE AIR!"

The two men hit directly had their exposed skin torn off violently and their armor dented. Their helmets and swords and spears flew back along with their bodies. One of the helmets hit the heads of a soldier further back, snapping their neck almost instantly. The swords impaled two other soldiers while their bodies knocked the men behind them down. Saber did not relent and ran as soon as her feet hit the ground. The first soldier to recover came at her from her right. He raised his sword overhead, and in that instant Saber swung her blade. Within second, his right arm, sword, and the top portion of his head. Blood sprayed from the now free bottom jaw, but Saber paid that no mind. With her right hand, she grabbed onto a spear thrust on her which scraped her body armor to the right. Even with her weakened grip, she tore it from the soldier's grasp. She turned and thrust, the tip of the spear piercing the man's neck as if it were butter. He gurgled on his blood and broken windpipe.

"You bastard!" One cried out as he swung at her. Saber instantly ran forward, she weaved through the mob of soldiers.

"What the!?"

"Where'd she go!?"

"Damn it! Just missed her!"

"She's too damn small and fast!"

Yes, this was a tactic she used often when she found herself hopelessly outnumbered. Avalon haltered her aging, but Saber had long figured out how it gave her an advantage. Her short stature and slim physique made it easier for her to dodge, for soldiers to be caught off balance swinging their swords. They were used to hitting men around their own height, being as weighed down as them. "But they have never encountered one like me before."

One however had seen her coming. He drew back his sword and thrust low. Saber grimaced as she felt cold steel cut through her shoulder. It stung, but the adrenaline and numbness from the electricity saved Saber from the worst of the pain.

The cry from behind told her that the soldier's move had unfortunately caused him to harm a comrade.

But she could not waste any time. Curling her right hand into a fist, she swung her fist back and felt it impact the soldier's face. She felt skin tear and bone break. A feeling she had grown used to during wartime. Be it barbarian or Roman, it all sounded the same.

She raised her left hand to intercept the blade of a soldier just before her. With a small push, she caused the soldier to fall back and had the blade slit the throat of one of his comrades. She turned to the left and in one smooth motion pieced her sword through the groin of another soldier before spinning around and relieving a soldier on his sword hand.

"I should be disgusted. I should be ashamed." Saber thought to herself.

She heard a cry behind her, and turned her head to see archers lining up and aiming towards her. Rider was trying to move through his soldiers, but the crowd was thick. And the sounds of shock and rage drowned some out from his commands.

"But... I must do this to survive. To reach my goal, to reach Lupin and the Grail." She jumped up as the archers released their bows. The soldiers just behind her received them in her stead, crying out or gurgling in pain as they fell. "It is no different from when I was fighting in war."

Yes, as much as Saber loathed admitting it, chivalry was a non-factor in an all-out war of this nature. The barbarians cared not for it, and neither did other knights when it seemed they had strength in numbers.

"You fools! Hold back your fire! You will only hit one another!" Rider shouted, causing his soldiers to tense.

Saber landed on the ground and ducked the thrust of a spear. Her hair came lose, and she responded by swinging Excalibur in an arc to the back. The soldier's head lolled back, only held by part of his skin. Saber kicked the body back and caused more soldiers to fall down.

Saber then cried out as she felt her face sting, She kept back and saw a panting soldier with his blade drawn, a thin line of blood on it. Saber's eyes closed as something dripped into them. "Blood! Damn!" Saber used her left hand and began trying to wipe away the blood from her eyes.

"There it is men! Charge! Do not give her a moment to recover!" Rider ordered his men, and she heard several soldiers charge towards her. Their confidence restored.

But Saber had noticed something else.

The shaking had subsided.

Saber then had her right hand grip Excalibur. She swung the blade in a circle, and felt the familiar resistance of three bodies.

She heard the familiar spurts of three newly bisected bodies as well.

"Hm. To think the King of Knights..." Rider grumbled to himself, which Saber heard in her ears. "No, I should have expected this. Her early years occurred in a dark time. No knight could survive then through lofty ideals."

Yes, she remembered those years. Those horrible, horrible years where she found out the art of killing. She saw battle after battle with no honor, fighting in the muck against knight that wanted to do nothing more than stomp her head into a red pulp. She remembered the sweet relief she felt whenever she won a battle, surviving thanks not only to Merlin and the few knights who followed her, but by pure luck.

Those feelings had returned here, to this fight for survival on a strange battlefield.

"Did I... enjoy fights such as these? Did I feel... free in them?"

Saber gasped as a mace of some sort impacted her back. She was thrown to the front, but Saber raised Excalibur to block a soldier's spear. He thrust is shield forward, impacting Saber in the face and knocking her down.

Yes... free of the pressures of an ideal, of the duties of a king. Her destiny and position were a non-factor. All that mattered was swinging her sword and surviving to see the end of the battle. Nothing else had mattered.

Saber swung her sword in an arc, slicing through three mens' legs. She got onto her feet and nearly screamed as a spear went through her right side just below her armor. Quickly, she turned and stabbed her attacker through the chest, crumpling his armor like paper. She gasped in pain as she tore the spear out of her, throwing it to the side as she breathed heavily. The soldiers seemed to never end.

Saber was never as bloodthirsty as Mordred.

But... perhaps one part of her understood what her... son... had felt in battle.

It was moments like this... when she was truly free.

"I will not survive with these numbers." Saber knew this truth. She would be overwhelmed sooner or later. She could kill hundreds of these men even with her current injuries,

She needed to reduce their numbers, and quickly.

Luckily, Saber had just the ability to do so.

With all he might, she jumped upwards. Wind rushed past her face and body as she sailed in the air. She frowned as she looked down at the soldiers. She could not see Rider. "I could miss." But she would still clear the battlefield, and then she could lay down the final blow. Time seemed to slow for Saber, and her sword began to emit a golden glow. "How strange... Before, I would see this action as unbecoming of me. These actions are what made me lose Caliburn, the actions of a knight who lost her way." Saber remembered her knights, all of them looking at her with loyalty as well as suspicion. "And yet... living and representing that ideal lost me much. It made them see me as inhuman, and I accepted their hatred of me." Camelot was in flames, and she could now smell the blood and iron of Camlann. "Those ideals lead to the destruction of all I held dear." Saber's eyes narrowed as she could hear Assassin's laughter in her ears, his smug grin in her mind's eye. "Trying to live up to that image caused me to lose sight of so much. I cannot win by acting as I once had. I will defeat you Lupin. I will have the Grail!" Saber raised her sword over her head, energy emitting from it. "I want it! I shall make it mine, no matter what I have to do to retrieve it! I will not allow myself to be chained and weighed down, not when it is within reach!"

Saber shouted one word, a shout that echoed throughout the desert.

"EXCALIBUR!"

The Sword of Promised Victory sung as she brought it down, a blast of knights' hopes and dreams crying out in the form of golden energy. It grew and tore through the air.

It only took a second for it to hit the ground.

Excalibur was a Noble Phantasm that allowed Saber to turn her mana into kinetic energy and amplify it by the force of a dragon. It could incinerate and crush an entire army of men, should they be in front of her. There would be no survivors should some unlucky bastard be within the blast's path.

The soldiers underneath Saber didn't even have time to scream.

The soldiers were incinerated, and the sand had become glassed. The soldiers that were out of the blast's range were thrown back, hitting their comrades while the sand was blown up, obscuring both Saber's vision as well as the soldiers'.

But she was not back in the real world, meaning Rider still lived.

Saber's foot hit the ground as Excalibur's glow faded. "The fatigue will be coming soon. Excalibur takes much from me..." If she did not finish this soon, then she was as good as dead.

The glass under her foot cracked as Saber squinted her eyes. The sand was still falling, and she could only see the outlines of the men around her. She only had seconds at best. If she could not see Rider, then it was all over.

"Come on..."

If Rider did not rise, then she would lose. She would have fallen for Assassin's trap, and lost the game.

She refused to die here, in Rider's world.

Saber then noticed a figure, bigger than the rest and more muscular, rise with a groan. She did not waste a second, and leapt forward. Her foot hit the head of a soldier, and she used it as a springboard to launch herself further. Saber drew back her sword. "King of Conquerors..."

She was close enough to see him, his left leg no more. Excalibur's blast had cauterized the wound. He saw her, his eyes widening as he raised his sword to intercept her own.

"...This is the end."

Saber could swear she saw Rider smile in satisfaction, as if he were proud of her.

Steel cut through flesh and bone.

A head flew in the air while blood splashed both on body and ground.

It was not Saber's.

Rider, Alexander the Great, third of his name, child of Marcedon and once ruler of most of the known world... was dead.

xxXXxx

Waver could feel what had happened before the air shimmered and the Reality Marble fell.

He may not know the details of the battle, or how things ended. But there was one cold, hard fact. A bitter truth that was hard to accept, even if Waver had long since accepted the possibility when he entered the Holy Grail War.

"Rider is dead."

It almost seemed unreal, as if the idea itself went against the laws of the universe. After all, Rider certainly made it seem as if he were invincible. Constant, unending stories about how he was the King of Conquerors, how he was going to start up his campaign in the modern age despite how the modern armies of the world would probably wipe him off the face of the Earth if the Association and Church didn't first. Laughing in the face of any and all danger, his confidence in victory in the face of impossible odds.

"And yet he is dead." Damn it. Waver hated how his face seemed to contort. How his throat tightened and how his cheeks felt wet. Waver never liked it when he cried. He hadn't done it for years, because he had long since accepted that crying wouldn't accomplish anything. And yet here he was, crying as if he were ten or younger again. "Why should this surprise me? Rider was never a god. He was Alexander the Great. He died because he got poisoned while drinking. Not in some epic battle. He was a man like everyone else." Him becoming a Servant simply gave him some extra powers. Amazing powers that befitted the man's legend, but he was still a man in a sense. Waver's right hand clenched hard into a fist while the stump that was his left hand ached. "God dammit, Rider..." Waver sobbed out. He hated how it sounded like he was blubbering. "Didn't you say you were going to conquer the world? Weren't you going to get your stupid wish to be brought back to this world again!? W-Weren't you going to bother me for another night, making the battles more epic than they already were just to inflate your stupid ego!?"

He couldn't say any more. His voice was getting caught in his throat, as if his body was refusing to work from the grief. "G-God dammit..."

Rider would probably be mocking him right now, chiding him for crying with some stupid machismo-related logic. "No, no Rider wasn't like that. He knows that even men cry."

But he would probably say that Waver shouldn't cry over him.

The air then seemed to shimmer like heat rising from an open oven or a stove. Slowly, a figure came into view. Waver clenched his jaw, but felt the heaviness of the pit in his stomach increase.

Saber was now back in this plane of reality, looking bloodied and battered. Her armor seemed to be stained with blood and what appeared to be sand, her dress torn and revealing small gashes on her legs.A piece of her shoulder seemed to be missing, a slab of flesh and muscle now gone. Her hair was also undone and both it and her face had splashes of blood staining it.

The blood that was dripping off her sword clued Waver into whose blood it most likely was.

"Here she is. The King of Kings, King of Britain. She's standing right in front of me, and all I can feel is anger towards her and cry about her enemy." It would be kind of funny if it weren't so sad.

Saber turned her gaze towards him and Waver clenched his jaw. She seemed to study him for a few seconds before saying in a low voice, "If it is any consolation, he died quickly."

Waver's eyes narrowed as he said, "Don't lie to me, King Arthur. Don't disrespect either me or him by saying that."

"...You're right. Forgive me." She stared at him, and it took all of Waver's strength not to let his knees shake. "You stayed here, even though it would have been smarter for you to distance yourself from this location."

"I..." Waver gulped whatever saliva was in his mouth. "I had to see this to the end."

It was the truth. Waver could feel the finality in Rider's voice when he last spoke to him. One of them was going to die.

Waver just hoped desperately it would be Rider who would return, looking like hell but still alive.

"Even if you knew the risks of putting yourself in danger."

Waver unconsciously gripped his stump and said, "Even if I would put myself in danger. If I didn't see this through to the end... what kind of friend would I be?"

"Friend." How easily that word slipped from his lips. He had never considered Rider a friend before. He was supposed to be a Servant, a mere weapon to use against the other Masters and their Servants.

And yet, after their first night together Waver simply went along with Rider. Even if he knew how pointless and stupid it was. Even if they should have been using their time more constructively.

And some part of him enjoyed it.

Saber was silent for another second before saying, "Would you hold your ground if I were to come at you with the intent to kill?" Waver's breath hitched as Saber pointed her sword at him, still stained in Rider's blood which was dripping off. "Letting another Master live would be unwise, after all."

Yes, that was an unspoken rule. If a Master lived, they could establish a contract with another Servant. If Assassin's Master died, Waver could easily become the Servant's new Master.

"No." Waver clenched his jaw as he said, "I would do my best to stay alive. I would run, I would struggle, and I would hide. I would survive. Because Rider... he wanted me to become a great Magus. I want to become a great Magus. And I cannot do that if I die. I will not disrespect his final wish by dying… and I won't sacrifice my dream by dying either."

Yes, his dream. A dream, a wish that was so vague but was the only one Waver could say with utter conviction. One that he believed in, and wasn't something as shallow as earning the respect of people who he did not even like.

It was a dream even Rider approved of.

Suddenly, they heard the sound of fireworks exploding in the sky. They turned their heads up to see the message 'WELL DONE ARTHUR-CHAN!' in white and blue fireworks. 'SORRY FOR THE LITTLE FIB' appeared in red once the previous words dissappeared, accompanied by a cartoon that looked vaguely like Assassin frowning and crying. 'LET'S PARTY AT RYUUDOU TEMPLE! SEE YA THERE!' then appeared in bright green, coupled by the grinning face of Assassin.

"Figures..." Waver thought to himself bitterly. The lie that brought Rider and Assassin here allowed Saber to kill Rider while injuring herself. She was weakened now, likely making the fight that she was going to dive into much more fair for Assassin.

Saber was silent for a second before turning around. "I see..." She let out a sigh which Waver could not help but note sounded... sad. "I wish... I had received someone like you as my Master." Waver's eyes widened as she began to walk away. "Become a fine Magus, Waver Velvet."

Then, with little to no fanfare, Saber ran forward, disappearing from Waver's sight in matter of seconds. But Waver knew where she was headed.

Ryuudou Temple.

But what now? "The smart thing to do would be to go to the Church. To receive asylum until this insanity ends."

Waver was silent for a second before sighing and running to the streets of Fuyuki. He fished out several hundred thousand yen and began waving it shouting in broken Japanese "HELP! NEED RIDE!"

Rider wanted to reach the end.

So Waver would honor him by seeing this to the end.

xxXXxx

"Woo-boy! I knew Arthur-chan could pull it off!" Assassin said with a grin as he stared at the television "I mean, I kinda wished the camera went into that... what did you call it?"

"Reality Marble." Kirei offered the Servant, who snapped his fingers.

"Reality Marble! Right!" Assassin then took the controls in his hand and pressed a giant red button at the center of it. The screen then instantly cut to static, and Assassin threw the controller away. "I mean, I coulda seen Arthur-chan at her absolute best! I saw part of it back over at her place, but seein' it from the outside would have been a trip too!"

"But you wouldn't be experiencing it yourself." Kirei crossed his arms and asked, "You would not experience much enjoyment if you were an outsider looking in."

Assassin huffed as he threw the controller away. "Yeah, yeah. Guess you've got a point."

Kirei could not help but chuckle a bit at Assassin's attitude. The man was truly enthusiastic at seeing the fruits of his labor.

Kirei had noted for a while that Assassin took an especially particular interest in Saber. Even if Assassin had explained it to him, that Saber was his rival, Kirei had only thought about how such a relationship and Assassin's attitude towards it applied to him. It was simply another piece of the puzzle that was Assassin.

But now, after learning how a twisted person like him can enjoy life through theft, Kirei could see the relationship for what it was.

Assassin had managed to free Saber of all the chains that bound her. No longer was she a personification of the ideal of knighthood. Now she was simply someone who yearned desperately to get what she desired, no longer coating it in the illusion of selflessness.

It filled Kirei with unbridled joy, seeing the once proud King of Knights fighting Rider on such a low level, then seeing Waver Velvet sobbed as he realized his Servant was taken from him.

A camera on a remote-controlled helicopter was a great way to see the events unfold.

"Though I am curious at how the quality could be so good." Kirei mused to himself. He then turned to Assassin and asked, "But how did you know she would be victorious? It could have gone either way."

Assassin chuckled as he said, "I don't choose my rivals all willy-nilly, Kirei. I can tell someone is special, that they'll do anythin' and survive impossible odds to keep chasing me. That nothing will stop them, and the chase will continue so long as either of us draw breath." He pointed to the screen. "I had to get Rider out of my hair. There was no way I would survive against him. Either I would get chopped in half by his sword, trampled and electrocuted by his chariot, or brought into that Reality Marble. So all I had to do was have Arthur meet up with him, and she at this point will make sure to do whatever it takes to reach me. She would win, Rider would be gone, and now she's comin' over to finish this." Assassin then took out the TV remote from his jacket and pressed the button. The monitor changed to show the front entrance of the temple, and at the bottom of the steps in black and white was Emiya Kiritsugu. "And you get to finish your business too! Gotta make these things pass, otherwise you get constipation ya know?

Kirei could not help but smirk. "I wouldn't use such a crude analogy, but yes I see your point."

"Aw, you're no fun."

Kirei then turned his eyes to another monitor, which showed Irisviel von Einzbern's body laid down on a slab. Blood was dripping from under her body and onto the floor. Parts of her flesh were slowly disintegrating with small specks of golden light.

He will enjoy making Kiritsugu watch as he takes the foolish wish-granting device right before his eyes.

To Be Continued...

[TheInfamousMan]

Twenty-Ninth Heist

xxXXxx

"Okay everyone, board the buses in a calm, orderly fashion and...!" The officer shouting in his loudspeaker then shouted in panic as mob of people began to push past him. "E-Everyone please! T-This is assault! Assault on an officer of the law!"

"Tsunemori is getting swarmed out there." Daisuke said casually to Zenigata. He and the inspector stood to the side leaning on Daisuke's car, a good distance away from the mob of people being directed to buses and other vehicles that lead out of the city.

The scene was not so much complete chaos, but rather an orderly kind of chaos. People young and old were traveling with their families, pushing one another forward while half asleep and wondering what was going on. While Zenigata could feel the crowd's lethargy, there was also a fair bit of uneasiness too. Honestly, Zenigata was a bit glad for it though. Their cover story for the evacuation was a terrorist threat on the city and while that was the source of people's anxiousness their effects to keep things controlled and the crowd's tiredness kept things from exploding into a full panic over the events. Officers were within and to the sides of the crowd, attempting to direct the crowd and keep order.

Zenigata gave a sigh while pinching the bridge of his nose. "If the JSDF weren't helping out, we probably would still be trying to convince these people to get out of their damn homes."

Indeed. While the officers were doing an acceptable job with crowd control, it was the presence of JSDF soldiers and trucks that helped to give the operation a sense of legitimacy. A citizen would ask twenty questions if a police officer told them to get out of their house and evacuate out of the town. Especially in a country like Japan.

But when you have a member of the JSDF accompany that officer?

People shut up for the most part and do as they are told.

"Yeah, about that..." Daisuke glanced at Zenigata and asked, "How did you get them to help out? Thought you hated politicians and they didn't like you that much either."

Zenigata grimaced and grumbled out, "I called in a couple of favors."

Before Oscar, Zenigata had been in a dark, dark place. He was in the company of scumbags who were just as bad as the creeps Lupin often left behind for Zenigata to pick up. When Oscar inspired him, reignited his sense of justice, he turned in his superior and had remained as an Inspector ever since.

But Zenigata still knew names.

He knew where the bodies were buried.

"I never wanted to call in those damn favors... but I don't have time to be prideful. Especially not when numerous lives are on the line." Zenigata's fingers tapped onto the car. He needed a damn cigarette. He craved it, yet knew he could never have it. Unfortunately, Zenigata didn't even have a pen to put in his mouth. "Even if I did, I can't appear nervous. The officers are looking toward me for inspiration, and the citizens are on edge enough as is."

Still, Zenigata could not help but wonder. Wonder if he was doing the right thing listening to Lupin's advice. After all, what if this was all an elaborate ploy? Something to keep the police busy while he put one over his head yet again. He was crafty enough after all. He could be that much of a bastard.

"No." Zenigata closed his eyes. "Lupin is many things. That punk will do plenty to get his loot. But something like this... with something like this, he wouldn't lie about it."

Zenigata had moments like this throughout the years. Why should he trust Lupin's word? The man was a criminal, a thrill seeker who broke the law numerous times on flights of fancy. Zenigata was an officer of the law. He had a duty to catch him, to stop at nothing until he brought Lupin behind bars. Hell, his very bloodline dedicated itself to catching criminals. He shouldn't make exceptions.

Yet over the years, Zenigata had come to trust Lupin. Zenigata understood the thief almost as much as much as he understood himself.

Maybe that was the reason why he trusted Lupin so much.

If he couldn't believe in Lupin, he wouldn't be able to believe in himself.

"Inspector! Help!"

Zenigata was snapped out of his musings by the distant cry of Tsunemori, and Zenigata watched his hand as it traveled with the crowd.

"Jesus Christ Tsunemori..." Daisuke grumbled while placing his hand on his face. "You aren't a damn rookie!" He turned to Zenigata and said, "Better go and help the idiot before he gets himself trampled on."

"That punk better not die in this magical death tournament..." Zenigata grumbled to himself as he and Daisuke pushed through the crowd to help the officer.

If he did, Zenigata would kick his ass in the afterlife when he got there.

xxXXxx

Saber panted as she passed in between trees, her breath haggard and her body alternating between cold and hot. "Ignore it. Just keep moving..." As she thought that, Saber had to struggle in order to keep her eyes open.

She was feeling the heavy price of using her ultimate Noble Phantasm. Excalibur was a wondrous and terrifying weapon, one that only she can wield with expertise. But at the same time, such a weapon came at a cost. For Saber, it brought about intense fatigue. Saber felt weak, even if she knew that she was still getting Mana from Kiritsugu.

"About the only thing he is good for at this point."

Despite thinking that, Saber liked to believe that she wasn't a bitter person.

...Okay, she was a tad bitter. But now wasn't the time to think about Kiritsugu.

Saber slowed her progress before coming to a stop. She put her right hand on a tree.

She knew that Excalibur would take a lot out of her, but never to this extent. "It must be because of the blood I lost earlier." Saber closed her eyes and grimaced. "It's times like this where I truly miss Avalon."

Being a Servant made her body tougher than a normal human's, and it also healed much faster than them, but it did not make her invincible. Saber still needed blood to survive, and losing said blood in a fight led to the complications she was experiencing now.

The cut on her forehead had long since sealed up, and Saber was grateful for not getting blood in her eyes anymore. Her shoulder wound however was taking much longer. Saber could still feel some blood running down her arm.

Blood loss and Excalibur-induced fatigue made one hell of a combination.

Saber's eyes then snapped open when she felt something hard on her right cheek. She had been resting her face on the tree.

"Damn. How can I black out for even a few seconds?" Saber groaned as she pushed her body off of the tree and staggered forward. "Then again, I haven't been put into a state like this since I was a young girl." Had she become too reliant on Avalon over the years? Too reliant on Merlin's spells? "No, they simply aided me. It was up to me whether to continue or not. To survive or die. In the end, it was only by my power that I was able to continue."

However, this was still bad.

She had just blacked out. That did not lead to favorable possibilities with how her battle with Assassin might go. What if she was shot again by one of his special bullets, and the ensuing blood loss caused her to fall unconscious for more than a few seconds? The smart thing to do would be to rest, heal and determine from there her course of action.

But by then, Assassin would grow bored. She knew that he had little patience, especially after making a big show like this. From his message, Saber could tell that Assassin was feeling pleased with himself. He was congratulating himself for choosing his rival wisely, that he knew she would survive and eliminate Rider, making them the last two remaining Servants.

Saber wanted to wipe that grin she knew he had off of his face.

Saber wanted to get the Grail. She wanted it more than she ever knew was possible.

If she rested now, she would be betraying herself. Denying herself the opportunity of retrieving the Grail and defeating Assassin in his game.

"He will not be resting. Lupin would not cease his attempts at getting what he wants when it is so close to his grasp." Saber's gaze hardened as she picked up her pace. "So I shall not either. I cannot let this exhaustion hinder me. I need to push beyond my limits, and not stop until the Grail is mine!"

With that, Saber began her run once more. Perhaps even faster than before.

The temple wasn't that far now.

xxXXxx

"It looks like our suspicions have been confirmed." Maiya commented as they went up the steps. Kiritsugu gave a small nod as he touched his Glock on his left hip and his Thompson on his right side.

"Indeed. But it wasn't too hard to figure out." Kiritsugu informed her. "Especially when we took into account where those fireworks were coming from."

Ever since Saber's... warning... Kiritsugu had limited his actions to surveillance and preparation. It was extremely likely that Assassin and Kirei had holed themselves up in one of the Four Gates. The Church was out of the question since Kirei was going against the Church's wishes. The Tokiomi manor was also off the table, as there was too much media attention and Assassin had already taken Tokiomi down several pegs. Assassin tended to avoid unnecessary killing, especially when it came to targets he had already sufficiently humiliated.


That just left the Civic Center and Ryuudoji Temple, and when the fireworks launched Kiritsugu simply followed the direction the fireworks were most likely launched from.

They lead straight to the Temple.

"I can still feel our connection and the mana drain, it's safe to say she won." Kiritsugu knew that Rider and Saber would fight to the death sooner or later. While it would have been smarter for him to arrive on the scene to take out Rider's Master from a distance, he could not risk angering Saber and having her kill him in her rage. "To think, that was really King Arthur..."

Kiritsugu had been worried since the initial summoning that he and Saber would not get along. They employed different tactics, and had different ideals even if their end goal was the same. In order to avoid conflict, he kept himself at a distance. He kept their interactions short and brief, putting his foot down when it came to the most practical of solutions.

Now he was stewing in the consequences of his decisions.

It was not a nice feeling.

"To think, my attempts to avoid conflict and rejection ended up causing both." Irisviel was likely the only thing that was keeping Saber from rejecting him early on. Kiritsugu knew how he sounded when he chided her, insulted her pride and let out his bitterness towards the era of knights and its glorification of war. He had forgotten that Saber would not have been unwise to the horrors of war, of the darkness of humanity. She after all created Camelot specifically to steer Britain towards a better path. Who knew how long Saber had been patient with him? Who knew how long Saber had been on the verge of rejecting him, only for Iri to have her keep her faith in him.

And now Irisviel was gone.

And in the end, he would be the one to kill her for the sake of his dream.

The two then reached to the top of the steps, and saw that the temple was empty. Not a soul in sight, but there was evidence of Assassin's presence. For one thing, there was a cardboard cutout of him pointing with its right hand further into the temple with his grin stretching from ear to ear. The speech bubble next to its mouth saying 'ADMISSION FOR TWO!'. There was even a ticket dispenser in its left hand.

"He must not know I am providing support." Maiya told Kiritsugu, as he took a ticket with his right hand and glared at it (And especially at his right hand, which was still shaking). The Servant was still playing him as if he were a child.

"No, that can't be it. He knows I have support." Kiritsugu's eyes widened. "Which means...!"

Pain erupted in Kiritsugu's right side, and Kiritsugu heard two gunshots as he stumbled forward. Kiritsugu put his hand on his right side and lifted it to his face. There was blood.

And a hole that hadn't been there before.

Kiritsugu turned to see Maiya firing upon a tree, and a figure jumping down from a branch. The figure stepped out of the shadows, revealing Daisuke Jigen. He didn't look phased or worse for wear. In his mouth was a cigarette, freshly lit. His Magnum was aimed towards them, and his hat hid his gaze from view. "Damn. You messed up my aim, woman."

Kiritsugu glanced at Maiya, who was already reloading. The silent message was shared, and Kiritsugu began running.

"Normally, I don't like fighting women. But I can tell from your eyes that you aren't an ordinary woman." Jigen's gruff voice stated from behind him. "Never had a childhood, for starters."

With that, the gunshots rang in the air. "No, ignore it. Maiya is trying to buy you time. She's loyal, and knows what's at stake."

Honestly, she was too good for him.

Kiritsugu ran through the front door. His side burned. The gunshot lessened his chances of survival considerably.

But it was too late now to retreat.

Kiritsugu then heard another door open, and looked to the right to see Kotomine Kirei.

The man wore a small serene smile. It was perhaps more disturbing than the expressionless mask, the smirks, and the grins he had worn before.

"I am truly glad you are here, Emiya Kiritsugu." He took a step forward, his voice even but held a slight tone of joviality. As if he were talking to an old friend. "Well then, I suppose it's time we get this over with."

"Yes. Let's." Kiritsugu replied with a glare.

This was, after all, a long time coming.

xxXXxx

"Was this really necessary?" Saber muttered to herself as she ripped off a ticket from the cardboard cutout of Assassin. Saber closed her eyes and tried to ignore the sound of gunfire and flesh hitting flesh.

They were likely from Kiritsugu and Maiya. It seemed that Kiritsugu had taken her wish to never see him unless completely necessary seriously. While that in itself was satisfying, the fact that he was likely struggling against Assassin's Master worried her somewhat.

After all, if he dies her chances of getting the Grail become nonexistent.

And Assassin would win.

"...All the more reason to stop Assassin as quickly as possible." Saber decided with an affirmative nod. Kiritsugu could handle himself. After all, one did not obtain a demeanor like his by being arrogant in their combat skills.

Even if he apparently had no confidence in her skills as a warrior, his opinions didn't detract from the fact that he was quite able in his own right.

A path then lit up through the courtyard with small electronic lights. They lead to the right rather than the front entrance, leading to another structure that looked smaller than the main temple. "Leading me yet again..." Saber quickly followed the path and went up the stairs, swinging open the door. Within the temple were several chairs, neatly aligned and leading to the most left portion of the room. Likely the area where they worshiped. To her right were several small shrines, and further in was a door that read 'MAIN RIDE: ONE TICKET FOR ENTRANCE'.

"I'm surprised that Lupin would keep this place so nea-" Saber's thoughts were halted when her nose picked up the distinct smell of cigarette smoke. Her eyes narrowed as she took a step forward

"I knew that you would make it, Arthur-chan!"

"Lupin the Third." Saber said crisply as she walked towards the door. "Your confidence may have been well rewarded, but you do realize that it was very likely that Rider would have won our duel and come here to confront you."

"Aww... can't you take a compliment? I was congratulating you, ya know? For meeting my expectations yet again!"

Saber shook her head. But her eyes kept scanning the room. She saw the loudspeakers, microphones, and cameras at the corners of the room. He was watching from afar, which made sense. Their last face to face encounter ended rather poorly for him.

"But he's close. I simply have to find out where."

It was obvious that he wanted her to open the door with her ticket. Perhaps he was behind it? Or would it be a trap? Then again, a ploy like that seemed a bit too mundane for him. All that was left was to buy time until she could figure out the source of the smoke, which was definitely on the right side as the smell was becoming stronger.

"I do not act simply to meet your expectations, Lupin."

"Oh, but you did! And exceeded them!" Assassin's voice declared with laughter. "I mean, who would'a guessed that the stoic and serious King Arthur would become what you are now? I knew you would have potential to be a great rival ever since I first laid eyes on you, something that would grow and change and become a fun playmate for this game!"

Saber frowned, but said nothing. She was now in front of the door.

"Alexander the Great was a fun guy, but he couldn't cut the mustard. He wouldn't want to keep up a game with me, try to one up me and become a person who would stop at nothin' to catch me. Not to mention his whole 'conquer this' and 'conquer that' spiels got real old, real fast. Who wants to make all this about war? War is such a boring concept, just one side killing the other and taking their crap. There's no fun in it!" Again, Lupin chuckled. "But you... you were always different Arthur-chan. You became such a great rival. Always thinkin' about things, taking our interactions seriously... you even dropped all that knightly stuff the last time we met! It's really been a trip and a half!"

"He looked forward to me killing Rider." Saber inserted the ticket and watched as the small device ate it. "Rider complimented him in terms of personality, but he was lacking in drive and their definitions of happiness differed. He was... a nuisance to Lupin, at this point in the game."

That irked Saber somewhat. While she had been the one to kill Rider, she had been hoping to avoid the fight until after Assassin had been dealt with. She didn't see Rider as a nuisance, she held no personal vendetta towards him. Rider was simply stopping her from reaching the Grail, so he had to be killed. It was simple as that.

And while his defeat was a necessity, Saber was still rankled by the fact that their confrontation had been the result of Assassin's scheming and that her eliminating Rider from the War had been another successful attempt at manipulating her actions.

"Now don't get me wrong, I don't mean to pull Alex through the mud. I'm just statin' the facts." She could almost hear Assassin's grin. "In the end, it was always going to be you and me Arthur-chan."

The door then opened, and Saber saw a staircase leading down. She could smell the familiar scent of caverns, the stale air...

...And the scent of cigarette smoke coming from her right, which was supposed to be a wooden wall.

"After all, I still haven't stolen Excalibur. And I'm always a man of my wo-!"

Saber then punched the wall to her right, her fist going through the wood like tissue. Slowly, she took out her fist and looked through the hole. Through the hole she could see a room filled with monitors, and Assassin sitting before them blinking owlishly as he held a microphone.

"Uh..." Assassin blinked and gulped the saliva in his mouth. "Pay no attention to the handsome thief behind the-!"

Saber didn't let Assassin finish his joke before proceeding to use her sword to create an even bigger hole and rushed inside. Assassin yelped as he tipped his chair down, facing the right before pressing a button. At that moment, the wall to the right opened up the the main room and rockets erupted from the legs of Assassin's chair. Saber quickly turned on a heel and followed Assassin, her left arm reaching out and grabbing one of the monitors. She ripped it out from the wall and proceeded to throw it at Assassin. It hit it's mark which was the chair's legs.

"WAAAH!" Assassin yelled out as his rocket chair then crashed onto the ground. He bounced several times, knowing down some of the tables as he rubbed his head. "Come on! Ya ruined the surpris-!"

Saber leapt up, holding Excalibur in her hands as she brought it down along with her body. Assassin's eyes went wide as he rolled to the side, making Excalibur instead split the wood floor and turning the rich and polished planks into splinters.

"I have to keep moving, keep going in for the kill." Saber thought to herself as she stood up straight and began rushing towards Assassin who was crawling back. "Lupin needs time in order to use his tricks. Don't give him a moment."

She wasn't going to be playing Assassin's game. No longer would she dance to his tune or fall into his pace.

He was going to play by her rules this time.

"Shit!" Assassin cursed as he raised his right hand and pointed a gun towards her head. In a span of a second, Saber lopped off his hand. She closed her eyes as well as held her breath just before the smoke hit her face and lifted her left leg. Her foot met Assassin's abdomen, and he was launched from the ground and into the wall. "GHK!"

Saber had expected smoke or ink to come out of Assassin's hand. It fit him to use an underhanded trick like that.

At least it wasn't the chili sauce this time.

Saber listened to Assassin's groans and gasps of pain. She likely broke most of his ribs with that hit. The sound of blood exiting the mouth confirmed that. She kept her eyes closed and ran forward, following his voice. Her hands gripped onto Excalibur as she raised it overhead..

However, the sound of a gun cocking behind her caused Saber to jump to the left. She grimaced as a shit rang out and a bullet scratched her cheek. She opened her eyes slightly to see five copies of Assassin now standing up and pointing their guns at Saber.

"Not this time!" Saber said as she brought Excalibur to the ground. She dragged it, destroying wood before bringing the sword up in an arc. "The same trick will not work twice!"

The splinters of wood struck true. Four passed through their copies and embedded themselves in the devices projecting them. One splinter embedded itself in the Assassin to her left's right shoulder, causing him to grunt as he stepped back and fired the gun up to the ceiling rather than at her.

"You should have known better Lupin! I thought you were unpredictable!" Saber shouted as she ran towards him.

Assassin merely grinned as pressed a button in his right hand.

Saber's eyes then widened as several of the floorboards then open behind her and mechanical hands attached to cable-like arms came out. Two grabbed onto her heels, two on her wrists, and one around her neck. "Shit!"

"Language, Arthur-chan! I thought the King of Knights would have a much cleaner vocabulary!" Assassin admonished while Saber glowered at him.

"I can assure you, I have said far worse when I was younger." Saber replied while Assassin shook his head and took out a gun from his jacket's pocket with his left hand after throwing away the remote.

"Don't say that. You'll make the boys and girls who look up to you cry." He aimed at her forehead with it. "And while I love this kind of kinky stuff, I better just go for what I came for and finish this up."

"That is if I let you." With a flick of her fingers, she held Excalibur with the blade pointing down in her right hand. And while the hands allowed for little movement, they allowed enough for Saber to cut the fingers of the hand that held her right ankle. Assassin cursed and fired, but Saber ducked her head to the left. The bullet only took off part of her left ear, and she felt it remain that way rather than heal. "You shouldn't waste bullets on an opponent that can dodge them easily!" She shouted as she made her right foot stomp on the cable holding her left ankle, breaking it. Then with a flex of her arms, she ripped out the devices holding her wrists. Saber felt the hand around her neck tightening, but a quick swing of Excalibur made short work of the hand and cable.

Saber glared at Assassin, who took a step back as Saber took off the hand around her neck. "I hope you are getting the picture now Lupin. I'm not playing your game anymore. You may have set the board..."

She pointed Excalibur at him, her hands gripping on it tighter.

"But I'm the one making the rules this time."

Despite her declaration, Assassin's smirk grew even more.

"Just what I wanted to hear, Arthur-chan!"

xxXXxx

"Why do I always have to get myself wrapped up with troublesome women?" Jigen muttered to himself, which was answered by two shots that took out portions of the tree he was hiding behind. He winced as his ears rang for a bit and several splinters scratched his face. "I seriously must have pissed a gypsie off when I was young." Jigen reached out from behind the tree and aimed towards the tree that Emiya Kiritsugu's ally, Hisau Maiya, had hid behind. He pointed upwards and fired twice at the branch overhead. As it fell down, Jigen quickly dove behind a tree to his left. The woman apparently did not let the branch distract her for long, as she fired just behind him. When he came to a stop behind the tree, Jigen lifted his left foot and saw that his shoe was now missing its tip. "Damn, and I liked these..."

Out of the three, Jigen was supposed to have the 'easiest' job. Lupin was busy taking on the revived King Arthur, Kirei was taking on the person who summoned her in the first place. While they had their hands full, Jigen just had to deal with Kiritsugu's right hand woman who was supposed to be injured after Kirei and Lupin's last assault.

"Apparently she got better." Jigen thought bitterly as he held his breath. He could hear the woman reloading, and like he suspected she moved quickly and efficiently. Like a true professional. "But if Kirei's information is right, then that woman won't be able to use her hocus-pocus on me."

Jigen seriously hated magic. Almost as much as he hated the dentist. Magic was weird, apparently could do anything, and it often did not make a lick of sense.

Still, it was what brought Lupin back, so it did have its perks.

"Now if only he had been as old as the rest of us." Jigen then turned around and fired at the tree. He heard the rustling of grass and saw a bush shake. "Make the bastard feel the crap we've been feeling while he was able to go back in time body-wise."

The thought of Lupin complaining about aches, pains, and the fact it was getting difficult to take a piss brought a small grin to Jigen's face. The grin the disappeared when he saw something silver jump out at him from the USB. He fired at it, and saw a blade imbed itself into the ground as well as a handle.

"This woman really wants to kill me. Then again, she wants to protect her boss."

Jigen had known what kind of person he was facing the moment he laid eyes on her. That professional stance, the holding of the gun as if it were an extension of herself, and those cold eyes... Jigen had seen that look plenty of times in his line of work. However, there was a haunting nature that set Maiya apart from the hitmen, assassins, and occasional psychopath or sociopath. The look as if something precious had been lost for a long, long time.

The woman he was facing was a former child soldier.

He had seen them several times in his long career. Sometimes in Africa, sometimes in Asia, sometimes in the Middle East. Jigen tended to try avoid killing them, because he knew what they were: Kids who happened to get a shit hand in life, who were turned into something less than human by men who were too chicken-shit to put their own lives on the line, for all their cruelty and bluster. Who had their childhoods replaced with all forms of human cruelty, and were forced to take lives at an age no person should.

Jigen didn't know Maiya's history. He could not say he understood her, and he sure as hell couldn't pity her because doing so would be disrespectful.

Knowing this simply made it clear that his options for defeating this woman boiled down to three paths.

One where he died, one where she died, and one that was perhaps crueler than death.

"It's too quiet..." Jigen tensed. He hadn't heard that woman move since he shot down the knife. Where could she be?

Then, he saw that woman come out from under the bush holding a machine gun in her hands. She fired, and the bullets sprayed out. The tree quickly turned to splinters, and Jigen grit his teeth as he stayed ran forward. The tree could only stop so many bullets, and the thing was likely to fall over. "Either I move of my decomposing corpse becomes part of the wildlife!"

Jigen grit his teeth as he turned around when the bullets stopped. He heard the releasing of two grenade pins. He turned around and saw two grenades sailing in the darkness. He fired twice, hitting both in the center. They exploded, causing leaves and branches to burn and be blown away while Jigen was knocked off his feet. He groaned but began reloading. His ears rung, but he knew that the woman was approaching.

He opened his eyes and got onto his feet, aiming forward. Standing before him was Maiya, aiming her own handgun in her left hand at him.

"...You're willing to die for that guy, aren't you?" Jigen asked Maiya. She simply gave a small incline of her head, a nod.

Not much of a talker, but he knew that she was thinking he would do the same for Lupin.

"Don't think we're in love or anything. I wouldn't touch the bastard with a ten foot pole. It amazes me that women can actually stand him. He won't shut up, makes shitty jokes, treated everything like a game, and does shady crap." Jigen took in a breath through his nostrils. "Still... we're partners. Have been for a long time. I'm one of the few who could stand his ass. And... I owe him this."

The falling of a branch was the signal they needed.

Jigen had been in this business for a long time. His retirement hadn't made his skills too rusty.

It's why he was able to fire first.

The bullet hit Maiya in her left upper arm. His Magnum plus the high caliber bullet went through muscle and bone as if it were nothing. She fired just as the bullet began going through her arm. It missed its intended target, his head, as the arm jerked down. Jigen felt something sting, but ignored it. He fired again, hitting Maiya in her right upper arm.

In the span of two seconds, it was over.

Maiya's eyes were wide with horror as she stared at the two new holes that adorned her arms. She didn't need to be a medical expert to understand the implication.

He took away her ability to ever effectively wield a gun again.

Her life as a soldier was basically over.

She fell to her knees, most likely still in shock. She was now out of the game, as Lupin would put it.

"If this guy you're following is really worth it, then you'll move past this." That was all Jigen could offer. He was not a nice or subtle guy. He was a thief, a gun for hire who used to bodyguard scum and killed other scum before he met Lupin. He was not one to comfort. He was gruff and cold, he kept his heart guarded because it was stabbed one too many times.

But what man would he be if he just left this woman to wallow in her own despair, with nothing to say for it.

Jigen began walking away into the woods. He grimaced as he reached into his jacket's pocket.

If felt strangely wet.

"I need a cigarette..." Jigen was done. He was going to find a nice, quiet place and have a smoke.

Now, it was all up to Lupin to finish this.

Jigen had repaid Lupin in full.

xxXXxx

"This is going as well as I thought it would." Kiritsugu thought grimly to himself as he watched Kirei sidestep another hail of gunfire.

While his Calico was incredibly useful at spraying Bullets, it also wasted them in a sense. If he couldn't land a single hit on his target, the gun would eventually run out of ammunition and he would be forced to rely on his Glock.

And against someone like Kotomine Kirei, that just put Kiritsugu at his complete mercy.

"If I am to stay alive, I need to put some distance between us!" Kiritsugu focused as Kirei began to move towards him, stepping slightly to the right in order to avoid the Calico's bullets. "Time Alter: Double Accel!"

With that, time seemed to slow down to Kiritsugu. Kiritsugu often hated using this technique partly because of what it did to his heart, and partly because it felt like he was moving his body underwater.

But it was what allowed for Kiritsugu to turn around and run to the corner. He turned around and took out a his Thompson with his left hand after passing his Calico to his right. He aimed and fired at Kirei.

With luck, the priest's heart would soon decorate the other side of the hallway.

However, it seemed that Lady Luck was especially pissed at him today.

Kirei's eyes widened but rather than dodging the bullet traditionally he instead slammed his foot onto the ground and jumped upwards, avoiding making contact with the bullet. When his left foot touched the ceiling, Kirei's leg muscles tightened. Kiritsugu's heart beat like a jack hammer as he began dropping the Thompson and instead took a smoke grenade from his belt. He threw it just as Kirei began to leap off the ceiling and raised his Calico before firing. The bullets grazed Kirei's robes and scratched his hands and face. But he wasn't what h was aiming for.

A bullet hit the grenade, and the hallway was then filled with smoke in slow motion.

Kiritsugu grabbed the Thompson just before it hit the ground, and released the spell. He gasped out in pain and clenched his chest. "Damn it... I'm bleeding out even more!" There was no time to apply a healing spell on it. Kirei would not give him that precious moment. What he needed to do was reload his Thompson and prepare to end this! What made this situation worse was that one more Time Alter would likely make him bleed out!

But before Kiritsugu can begin that process, a fist punched through the corner just near Kiritsugu's head. Not giving the priest time to follow up on his attack, Kiritsugu fired his Calico down and made the bullets turn the corner into splinters. "Shit, he heard my breathing!" That was the only explanation as to why he could find him despite the smoke and the usual ringing of ears when an explosive goes off nearby. Kiritsugu must have been wheezing up a storm.

The sound of a bullet piercing flesh gave Kiritsugu some satisfaction, but it was lessened when the hand gripped the corner and Kirei used it as leverage. He was now up in the air,, with his face only adorning a few new scratches and burns. Kiritsugu raised his Calico and pulled the trigger, only to be met with a click and nothing more.

He was out of ammunition.

"Oh you have to be fucking kid-!"

Kirei's left foot impacted against Kiritsugu's chest. The blow was hard, but it was meant more to hurt than to kill. Kiritsugu gasped and felt his ribs shake.

However, if he was falling he better use it to his advantage.

With the flick of his wrist, the Thompson opened. The spent round fell out as Kiritsugu's body bounced on the ground, and Kiritsugu began turning his body. He made sure that the motion seemed to be natural rather than intentional.

"You know... I should not indulge in speeches. They waste time and give you more opportunities to recover yourself." Kirei spoke, and Kiritsugu looked over his shoulder to see Kirei limping towards him. Blood was jutting out of his right ankle, likely where he was shot. His smile did not fade either. "But with you, I shall make an exception."

Kiritsugu quickly loaded an Origin Round into his Thompson and began bringing it into his left hand. But he needed to have it so that Kirei thought he was doing something else with his already apparently moving right arm. So he took out the Glock and aimed it at Kirei.

Kirei was faster, and in and instant Kirei's right hand was outstretched and embedded into the ground by a Black Key.

Kirei dragged himself some more, and Kiritsugu bit his lip. "Not yet, he needs to get closer..."

"You say that you do this for your family... a wife that loved you and believed in you until the end. A daughter who loves you with all her heart." Kiritsugu grimaced at Kirei casually mentioned Irisviel and Illyasviel. "That woman outside is likely part of your family as well... an adopted daughter? A lover?" Kiritsugu grit his teeth. "Either way, you love and care for them. Me? I never could care much for mine, not in the way you do."

Kirei was now five feet away, but it was still not close enough.

"I respected my father, but I could never care for him the way I should have. I did not love my wife in the slightest, and my distorted desires made me wish I took more of a part in her demise. My daughter... well, let us just say that I perhaps care for her, but likely not in the way a true father should to his child. My life was empty, and I could not love like a truly righteous man."

Kiritsugu looked at Kirei, and the priest gave an uncharacteristic shrug as he went on.

"In fact, I was contemplating suicide for a good while."

He began to reach down, and slowly began taking out the Black Key. Kiritsugu grunted as he felt the searing pain of the blade being taken out, scraping against skin, muscle, and bone.

"When I found out about you, I saw you as a man who might've felt the same at one point. I thought you would provide an answer so I could avoid that, but it was not to be. You weren't a man who was tormented by a seemingly purposeless existence. You were simply a foolish man who chased after an unobtainable goal. One that could only become real through a miracle."

Then, suddenly, Kiritsugu felt Kirei slam the Black Key back into the ground. "What is he...!?" He saw Kirei taking two steps back, and taking out more Black Keys. "No... NO!" Then a Black Key pierced his right knee. Then, his left. Then, his right shoulder blade. The pain was horrible. Kiritsugu felt his body grow weak, and his vision was growing foggy. "I... I'm going to pass out! Damn it!"

"Do not worry. I'm making sure those wounds are not lethal. I will heal you before your blood loss becomes serious." Kirei gave that damnable smirk as he pierced Kiritsugu's left foot with a Black Key. "Now where was I...? Ah yes, you're goal relied on a miracle to come true. I however, found meaning in something real. Something tangible. Something that allows for a twisted person like me to perform righteous deeds in a sinful occupation. A paradoxical lease in life, one that suits my twisted desires." He grinned more as he raised his Black Key-filled hand. "And now, I will feel fulfilled once I drag your body to where the Grail is held, and I will watch in delight as me and Lupin the Third steal it away from you!"

It was now or never.

Either he acted now and shut this monologuing priest up... or he lost.

"You talk too much." Kiritsugu declared as he snapped to Thompson's barrel in place under him. He twisted his body to the left and back to face Kirei, ignoring the feeling on his body tearing itself and being sliced by the Black Keys. The barrel was now aimed right at Kirei's head, and the Priest seemed too shocked to react in time. Kiritsugu began pulling the trigger...

...Only for his head to jerk to the right. The Thompson went off, missing completely and hitting the ceiling. His body felt like lead, and his vision began to turn red. "W-What...?" Kiritsugu's head hit the floor. He could see his reflection on a glass door that now sported a hole, cracks, and blood splatter.

His forehead was now sporting a hole that was not there before.

Behind him, also shown in the reflection, was an Owl Man holding a pistol. The barrel was still smoking.

"Emiya Kiritsugu." The Owl intoned, his voice seeming to take delight in the situation as he spoke. "You winning was never part of our script."

Kiritsugu's vision began to blur, and his thoughts were slow. "No... No...!" Kiritsugu wanted to thrash, wanted to shout and scream. "No! I was so close! So close to making it all worth it!"

He remembered his childhood, one where his father was simply an eccentric Magus and Shirley, dear Shirley, was his childhood love and friend.

He remembered when reality came crashing down, when his father's crimes were made plain as day and Kiritsugu made a choice that damned his childhood friend and home.

He remembered Natalia, the woman that was like the mother he never had.

He remembered killing her, and making the choice that mapped out his life forever.

Kiritsugu felt the battles and and smelled the smoke of bullets.

He felt Maiya's body as he took her away from the hell she had lived.

Kiritsugu saw Irisviel, so withdrawn from the world.

He remembered teaching her about life outside the castle walls, and seeing her smile.

He remembered holding Illyasviel for the first time.

"Please... let me win..."

Kiritsugu saw Irisviel on the soft and huge bed within the Einzbern castle, Illyasviel napping next to her.

"Please... I was supposed to win..."

Now he saw Illyasviel looking out the window into the white abyss, waiting for him to return.

"Let me save the world... and come back for her..."

Then, Kiritsugu thought no more.

Emiya Kiritsugu... last of the Emiya name, Magus Killer, Master of Saber, husband of Irisviel von Einzbern, and father of Illyasviel von Einzbern... was dead.

xxXXxx

Saber felt as if she was a puppet whose strings had been cut.

The Mana which had fueled her throughout this war had suddenly disappeared, and with it her strength.

She fell onto the floor face-first with a graceless 'thud', her eyes widened with shock. "No... it can't be...!" She gasped out, but at the same time she quickly had her armor and Excalibur fade from the physical plane in order to save what little Mana she had left.

She knew what this meant.

Kiritsugu, her Master, was dead.

"Eh? Arthur-chan?" Assassin spoke, his face conveying shock as he took a tentative step forward. "I get your beat, but fallin' asleep on your partner is just..."

"Will you shut the hell up!?" Saber snapped, her anxiousness causing her to lose composure. "Kiritsugu is dead! That means...!"

"That is correct."

Within a second, a long bladed rope then circled around Assassin's neck. He gasped in shock and pain before a thick second skin began peeling off as he moved his head back, being torn off and revealing Assassin being perfectly safe save for some red scratches along his neck.

Saber then looked around as she heard footsteps, and saw that they were now surrounded by Owl Men. Each one with their guns trained at them. A Küken stood before her and behind Assassin, a rope blade in its hand. She could hear the dainty footsteps of two others behind her. "They have us surrounded..."

She knew from this entire showy display that they were the ones who killed Kiritsugu.

"I always knew that our involvement with them would have us pay..." Still, Saber could not help but feel anguish. Despite her personal feelings, Kiritsugu was still her Master. Even if she didn't like him in the least bit, she felt somewhat responsible for his safety. And yet, she had failed. He was dead, and now she was on the ground at the mercy of this gang of criminals.

The crowd of Owl Men then parted ever-so slightly, revealing one Owl Man with a distinctive bird mask and suit that stood in front of the others. The Owl Man also had a hauntingly beautiful black gem on a ring which was worn on his left hand. He was circling around them, like a vulture observing its dead prey.

"Emiya Kiritsugu is dead. My men shot him in the head. Poetic no? That the Magus Killer was killed by the very modern weapons he employed and used on other Magi?"

"Sounds like a sucky poem to me." Assassin responded while he began to place his hands in his pockets. The clink of the sword rope from the Küken behind him caused Assassin to stop however, and put his hands to the side. "I mean, if you're planning on impressin' the ladies, ya need better material than that."

"Please. As if I want the attention of spittoons." The Owl Man said with a scoff. His voice then seemed to gain some smugness as he said, "My, my... how the mighty have fallen. The one and only King Arthur, on the ground with her face in the dirt like the pig she truly is. And Lupin the Third... once again, held at gunpoint whose life can be taken at leisure once more... Truly, this had been a day I have been looking forward to. I admit, I had some fears that I would not arrive in time. But I can see that luck is on my side, and this tale is proceeding exactly as I..."

"Ya sure love hearin' the sound of your own voice, don't you?" Assassin asked, interrupting the Owl Man. Saber, despite her position, could not help but smirk. She was getting annoyed by the monologuing as well.

"..." The Owl Man then turned his head towards Assassin, and she could practically see the man's eyes narrowing at him. "You should have more respect for the person who killed you the first time, Lupin the Third."

Assassin's smirk disappeared then and there. His mouth was now a thin line, with only an eyebrow raised in interest.

"This man killed him?" Saber supposed that she shouldn't be shocked. After all, Assassin had been killed relatively recently, which meant that his killer would have likely been still alive. "But... I thought he would react more aggressively towards that declaration... no, that isn't his style."

But then, what was Assassin feeling right now?

"I suppose introductions are in order. My name is The Count, and that will be the only name that matters to you. I am the leader of the Owls of Minerva, the organization that has been carefully watching this entire war...and helping things along, with our former partnership with Emiya Kiritsugu and our short-lived talking relationship with Pycal."

"So you're the ones that brought him here." Lupin muttered.

"Indeed. Someone had to keep you busy, and have you not noticed the recent... untimely death of one Fujimura Raiga. We needed a new base of operations after all." Assassin said nothing, and that seemed to make the Count more amused by the situation. "What, no little wisecrack? No jokes about the situation? No funny gadget to lighten the mood or break out? Oh, this is certainly a welcome surprise Lupin the Third!" The Count let out another chuckle. "Then again, I have long fantasized this Lupin. Fantasized it for so long on many nights, the day that I personally wipe that damn smirk off of your face..."

"This man... he and Lupin have history." She could tell from the tone. One did not speak with that tone of familiarity mixed with hate without being previously acquainted. "But what could it have been? Is he a former rival of Lupin's? One of the people he stole from?"

The Count's body then shook. "I've hated you since they day I first heard of you, you know that? I hated you so much I could barely stand it. That smug grin, your ego which is on display every time you announce a heist, treating everything and everyone as a part of some grand game for your amusement... Your prideful nature is so infuriating!" The Count was now screaming as he said, "And worst of all, your damn undeserved sense of superiority! I see it in your eyes, how you look down on everyone! Oh, not like those smug people you often steal from. But in a way that you're the only one in this world who matters! That other people are simply toys in your wide, open toy box!"

"...Those are certainly some infuriating aspects of Lupin." Saber was annoyed by Assassin's pride and ego at times. After all, who can truly stand a man who seemed to believe that the world was boring and the only thing that mattered was finding ways to amuse yourself, with people simply being a tool to achieve that? But the Count's summation of Assassin... it seemed tainted by his personal feelings rather than actual logic. "He's obsessed about something, to the point that he distorts his perception of reality to keep his eye on his obsession... but what is it?"

The Count breathed in and out before the air of smugness returned to him. "But... I should thank you for that attitude, Lupin the Third. For that habit of not giving your toys a second thought after you're done playing with them. That inattentiveness allowed for me to pick up the scraps that Almeida left behind, to begin molding this organization into something more than it once was. And for giving me the opportunity to wait and grow before simply killing you once I got sick of the very sight of you."

"Who are you?" Saber asked, only for the Count to shake his head.

"Didn't I tell you? It doesn't matter." He then raised his right hand, and took off the glove. On it were the familiar symbols of Command Seals. Three of them, to be precise. Saber's eyes widened at the sight of them. How did this man get them? "What matters is that I am the holder of Command Seals, three of them. What matters is that you are now lacking a Master, and will disappear from this world without a replacement." Saber grit her teeth. She could almost see the smug grin forming on the man's face. "I trust you will make the right answer."

Saber clenched her fists. Her form was now becoming slightly translucent. As much as she wanted to deny it, she was going to lose unless she did something. She needed a Master to stay in the Holy Grail War. "

But... I cannot become this man's Servant." Saber could tell that whoever this man used to be, he was now someone who had grown into a vile and resentful being through whatever hardships he faced in the past and whatever obsession he had. "And yet... I need the Grail!" How many times had she told herself that she wanted it? Hadn't she just before made a vow to push beyond her limits to achieve it? "I want to beat Lupin... but must I truly throw away everything I believe in to my core to do so?"

But then... what choice did she have?

Saber took in a breath. "I..."

"SABER!"

Saber's eyes widened as she turned her head to the left, and saw through a hole in the wall Waver Velvet running towards the temple with his right hand out.

"Arthur Pendragon, I implore you to become my Servant!" Waver shouted out, his Command Seals glowing red.

"What? No!" The Count shouted, and Assassin smirked.

Saber's eyes narrowed as she said, "I accept, Waver Velvet... my Master!"

The Contract was now established.

Saber felt the rush of Mana immediately. She saw her form become solid and whole once more. She felt far more energized than before, and felt her wounds begin to heal once again.

"What are you idiots doing!? Shoot him!" The Count ordered, and the six Owl Men closest to the hole then aimed their guns.

Saber was faster.

Before they began to pull the trigger, she was on her feet and behind them. Excalibur rematerialized in her hands, and she swung it with all her might to the left. Holy steel cut through flesh, muscle, and bone. Their top portions of their bodies were already flying in the air, their brains barely registering they were already as good as dead. Their blood erupted from their now cleaved forms, but Saber had already turned around and began running towards the two Küken that had been behind her previously.

"Damn it, if you want something done right...!" The Count began, taking out a gun from his suit with his right hand.

"Nah, gettin' help often leads to beneficial results." From the corner of Saber's eye, she saw Assassin flick his right hand to a small device with a red button in it. He pressed on it...

...And the Count's right hand exploded.

"GAAAH!" The Count screamed in pain, the Küken with the whip seemed unsure as to whether help her master or strike Assassin. Assassin made that decision for her and simply shot the Küken between the eyes with the Walther in his left hand. As it fell to the ground, Assassin smirked and began shooting the Owl Men who had just begun aiming their guns at him.

"By the by, I tend to improvise when I'm given a script!"

"Hide!" Saber ordered Waver, who nodded and quickly scrambled to the Küken to her left and right quickly jumped to the sides. The one to her right threw a small cylinder, which made a beeping sound as it flew in the air. Saber noted that the Owl Men behind the Küken were aiming their guns at her. Rather than focus on the Küken, Saber raced ahead and allowed the cylinder to explode behind her. One of the men screamed as she sliced open their neck. She ignored the spots in her eyes as she rammed Excalibur through the chest of another Owl Man and pushed, impaling the Owl Man behind him. She then picked up with her right foot at the now headless Owl Man behind her's left hand whose finger was pressing down on his rifle's trigger, making the gun go off on the floor. The gun then aimed at two of the Owl Men that were further down, riddling their bodies with bullets.

She then took a step back and avoided the stab of the Küken's knife before hopping back and swinging to her right. "Before, I was holding back." Saber thought to herself with a frown. The Owls' assassin then leapt back, but one of the Owl Men's bodies flew off of Excalibur and hit her body. "But I am not this time!" Saber kept forward, and watched as the Küken jumped over the body. She was now only three feet away from the assassin. The Küken then brought her left arm up and held her knife in a reverse grip before bringing it down. Saber swung Excalibur from her left side and up. The knife was cut in half, and the arm was cut in half from the shoulder. The Küken's head then split in half, the top of her head spinning in the air while the jaw portion gurgled on its own blood.

Saber then felt something tighten around her neck, and then choked as it got tighter. She reached for her neck with her right hand, and felt wires constraining it. She fell to the ground and felt herself get dragged back. "Damn it! There's not room to slip my hands in!" She felt herself get dragged closer to the Küken. Her eyes narrowed and she willed Excalibur away. "Fine then." She heard a blade unsheathed as she was brought onto her feet.

Saber then jumped up slightly, slamming her head into the assassin's face. As the Küken stumbled back, Saber turned around and raised her right fist. She punched the Küken on the left side of her face, and she could hear the jaw instantly shatter. The force of her blow then caused the assassin's head to turn to the right before turning completely backwards. Saber heard the snapping of the spine and tearing of skin, things she mercifully was unable to see thanks to the Küken's suit, but the creases of the suit's neck gave her a good image of her move's effects. The assassin fell back, and the wires around Saber's neck came loose. She then tore them off with her hands, and summoned Excalibur back to her right hand.

All this took place within a minute.

"S-She killed the Eulen-Küken like it was nothing!" One Owl Man cried out in fright.

"Oh god... what are we doing here!?" Another shouted, backing away in fear. "This is a Servant! We're as good as dead facing one of those!"

Saber glanced at them, causing several to freeze in fear. She was rather sure one of them urinated in their pants.

"You goddamn idiots! You have the Fräulein Eule!" The Count shouted as he attempted to limp away. "Use that and finish he-!"

"Hey, no running out on us!" Assassin shouted as he peeked out from behind a table he was using for cover. He shot twice, putting holes through both the Count's kneecaps.

"GAH!" The Count shouted in pain as he fell to the floor., screaming as he grasped at his bleeding knees.

Assassin laughed as he said, "Our date has only begun!" He then moved to the right, just a bit from his cover, and thrust out his right hand. The hand then extended from his sleeve, which revealed Assassin's true hand holding a spring-loaded device, and the false hand grabbed a downed Owl Man's rifle before bringing it back to the Servant. He then began firing at the Owl Men which were trying to move for cover.

But Saber couldn't concern herself with that now.

"Damn it, he's right!" One Owl Man cried out as Saber split one in half from head to toe. "This drug is our most powerful weapon in our arsenal!"

As if on cue, fifteen Owl Men facing her then began raising their hands and snapping their fingers. Saber's eyes narrowed as she saw the white flower petal-like drug.

She had only one response to the substance that downed her and made her see.

"STRIKE AIR!"

Mana shot off from Excalibur. Seven Owl Men directly in front of her nearly exploded in a shower of blood and bone as the air tore them apart. The wall directly behind them turned into shreds as the pieces were thrown away. The eight other Owl Men either flew into each other or towards the wall, slamming into them with deadly force.

"Certainly different from facing Servants..."

"DUCK!"

Saber cursed as she ducked her head, avoiding a shimmer of air which created a gash in the wall behind her. She turned her head to see an Owl Man with a dagger that sported runes, muttering a spell. She spotted around her dirt moving, as was water and the very wood itself.

It seemed that the Mages within the Owls Have begun to reveal themselves.

Saber glanced towards Assassin, who was grinning as he held a remote. He pointed to the ground, causing Saber's eyes to widen. "He's not going to...!"

He pressed the button.

Saber dove next to Assassin, only narrowly avoiding a red beam of light which slightly singed her ahoge. Saber pinched the small bang of hair that stood up, and grimaced at the smell. She watched as red beams off light cut through the Owl Men as if they were butter within a matter of seconds, making their bodies fall to the ground in bloody chunks whose skin was burning and melting. "The cameras, I assume." Saber stated, while Assassin grinned.

"Yup! Hooked these bad boys up to them in case things got a bit too... heated for me. Think of it like a last resort. They cut through anything with a body heat signature and standing at a certain height."

Saber eyes the now-dead Owl Men with a sneer. "It's a horrible, horrible thing. I cannot believe you would employ it."

Assassin shrugged. "Hey, blame the scientists that made it. These things almost cooked my goose at Cagliostro."

Saber eyed Assassin with a frown. He certainly wasn't lying, and she truly could believe that Assassin would only employ such a device if his life was in mortal danger. "...Yes, well I could have handled them myself."

"Oh, I believe ya. But that would have taken too long."

Saber could not help but smirk. "I thought you were a patient man, Lupin the Third."

Assassin gave a chuckle. "I say a lot of things, Arthur-chan."

The Count's groan caused both of them to blink before looking at each other. "Oh right, him." Assassin pressed his remote again, causing the beams to disappear. The stood up, and watched as the Count was crawling on the ground, clutching his stump of a right arm.

"H-How!?" The Count demanded, turning towards Assassin. "How did you...?"

"Ya should have kept better tabs on Old Man Risei." Assassin declared with a smirk. "I had him slip in a little gift for me when you decided to drop by. I suspected you'd try to pull somethin' like this when I heard about Kariya's little vacation to the other side, and since Risei was the only one that could stitch those onto you..."

"B-But we bugged Kotomine Risei's phone!" The Count shouted, clutching his bleeding stump even more.

"Yeah, ya did. But honestly kid..." Assassin walked closer to the count, and kicked him onto his back. "Did you really think I hadn't dealt with your type before? Did you honestly think you could pull this kinda thing on me? You're a thousand years too early to think you can try this 'shadowy mastermind' crap and surprise me."

Saber stood silently to the side, her arms crossed as she observed the scene. Normally, she would be interfering with a situation like this. After all, Assassin was deliberately taunting and practically torturing an injured and now defenseless man.

"But this man is also the leader of a criminal organization. A distributor of drugs, an inheritor of a legacy forged by a monster barely a man... He does not deserve much in terms of mercy."

"Damn you Lupin...!" The Count froze as Assassin stood over him, leaning down with his arms reaching to the mask. "No... No!"

"Oh come on, don't be such a baby!" Assassin grabbed onto the mask and began pulling. "Man, this thing is stuck on tight!"

"No! Fuck you, Lupin! You goddamn thief!" The Count reached up with his left hand, attempting to claw out Assassin's face only for Assassin to stamp onto the arm with his left hand. "You ruined it! You ruin everything! You should have stayed dead! Stayed in the fucking dirt where you belonged! Everything would be perfect if it wasn't for you! I would still be with him if-!"

"And the one behind the Owls of Minerva is...!" With a mighty tug, the mask came off.

Saber blinked at the person behind the mask.

The face behind the owl mask was incredibly feminine, despite the noticeable signs of aging like crows feet and tightened skin. He had long and curly hair which was a mix of grey and black. His eyelashes were long, and seemed to compliment his face and green eyes.

Green eyes that were now tearing up.

"Do you know him?" Saber asked Assassin, whose face was impassive as he threw away the mask.

"...Yeah, surprisingly." Assassin took a few steps back while placing his hands into his pockets. "This was Pops' old partner, Oscar if I remember right. Last I saw of him, he went down with a bomb meant for a bridge. I suspected he got involved with Almeida, which is how he knew about it. Pops was depressed about him for a good few years." He eyed the Count, no Oscar, who was still on the floor. "So this is where you ended up huh?"

Saber could hardly believe it. Someone who had been Inspector Zenigata's partner, the partner of a dedicated and righteous man, became the leader of an organization like the Owls of Minerva? "...Why?" She asked Oscar, who grit his teeth.

"...After the amusement park, after all that I have done and what those damned owls turned me into... a brainless copy of that spittoon Fujiko Mine... I knew that my relationship with the Inspector was over." He clutched the stump. "I was dirty... unclean... and the darkness of society was the only place where a person like me could live. So I was able to gather samples of the drug and some of Almeida's money and rebuild, slowly but surely so that nobody would notice." He glanced towards the now dead Owl Men. "In time, I was able to get men and capital, becoming one of the most influential drug dealers in the underworld. Encountering the Magi was a complete accident. But it brought me even more influence..." Oscar looked down, his lip quivering. "Even if I could not face the Inspector, I... I tried to help him in any way I could. Give him hints to important cases, provided him and his family a bit of extra compensation..."

He then glared at Assassin.

"I blamed Fujiko Mine for my situation. After all, she was the one Almeida was obsessed over right? But then I realized... the Inspector only got wrapped up in all that filth was because of you. Because of Almeida's interest in you, he got the two of you involved and as a result brought the inspector in! He laid with that spittoon because of you! He keeps putting himself in danger time and time again because of his obsession with you! He would never know peace until he brought you in or you died!" The glare grew even more as he said, "So, I decided that enough was enough, and I put you down."

Saber did not know what to say. "What can I say, to a person so blind to the truth?" Assassin was not responsible for this man's choices in life. He may play with and manipulate people, but in the end it's people's own choices that cause them to fall within the plans.

And considering how much Assassin respected Zenigata... he never manipulated Oscar.

No, Oscar made his choices.

Made them while influenced by something... deeper if his tone when recollecting the Inspector was any indication.

"Do you understand what you've done?" Assassin asked Oscar with a frown on his face.

"Yes. I did what was necessary in order to give the Inspector the life he deserved." Oscar looked at the black gem on his left hand. "A nice, quiet and well-compensated retirement. Free from the filth. Even if I never could see him again, I was content watching him from afar. My black gem that shined more brightly than the others..." He then glared at Lupin again. "But even when you, a distraction, was eliminated, he was not content! He was not happy! You poisoned him far too much for that!" He was almost frothing at the mouth, madness and rage overtaking his eyes. "Crime? Theft? They are nothing but distractions! Poison for humanity! They are only good for being tools to manipulate your pawns! All of this... all of this was leading to my dream! The Holy Grail would have granted me my deepest and most true wish! For a world without you! A world where the inspector wouldn't be obsessed with you! A world..." His voice then grew quiet as he said, "...A world where I... could still be with him. A world where I wouldn't be dirty, where he could accept me..."

"...What a load of crap."

Oscar's eyes widened as he stared at Assassin, who looked back at him impassively.

"That's what all this was about?" He sighed and shook his head. "Man, what a disappointment... This was never about Zenigata you idiot."

"...What?" Oscar muttered out.

"Ya know, I bet Pops saw you as a son. I bet even if he knew you had feelings towards him, he wouldn't be disgusted or nothin'. He'd never have hated you. Hell, he'd probably forgive you over that whole Almeida thing after a bit." Assassin then pointed to Oscar. "Nah, this was about you. You couldn't stand the fact that your perfect little life was ruined by your own choices. You chose to be in bed with Almeida, even knowing that Pops wouldn't have hated you. You chose to hide yourself from Pops, never reconnecting and trying to mold him into somethin' he wasn't. And for what?" Assassin then narrowed his eyes. "Because you were never in love with Zenigata."

"What the fuck are you talking about!?" Oscar demanded in anger. "I loved him! I loved him more than anything! Don't you dare say...!"

"You were lusting after him. There's a difference." Assassin informed Oscar. "You lusted after the image of Zenigata that was in your mind. Some idealized version that only existed to you. Being in love with someone means you love them for who they are. You love them, warts and all. You accept everything about them. You lusted after some made up version of Zenigata, and tried your damnedest to make that vision become reality. All this crap... The Owls, my death, this Holy Grail War... it was trying to force Zenigata to become somethin' he was not. You were tryin' to make Zenigata... not Zenigata." Assassin shook his head. "I'm not bitter over the fact you killed me. In all honesty, I don't really care. I was going to die someday, be it at your hand, some other wannabe supervillain, a common criminal, a lucky cop, or a complete accident." Assassin then narrowed his eyes and said in a completely harsh voice. "But don't you dare say that you killed me for Pops. Doing that is the ultimate form of disrespect you can give to him."

Oscar was silent after Assassin was finished, gaping with his eyes glossed over. It was as if he was having trouble accepting reality.

Trouble accepting that he never loved Inspector Zenigata, and saw him only as an object to lust after from afar.

"It's sad, in a way..." Saber thought to herself. Saber had never truly loved anyone, not in a way a lover would. It was not allowed. Oh, she had spent nights with women, but there was no emotion of love. She only felt saddened by the fact that she couldn't give them what they truly wanted. She knew what love and lust were, because love was the thing she could never give.

To see a man stooped so low, to have fallen so far because he could not distinguish the two... it did not excuse him for his crimes, but it made him almost pitiable in Saber's eyes.

"So here's what's going to happen." Assassin looked up. "Either Pops eventually gets here and arrests you... or you bleed out before then. Honestly, you're not worth the bullet."

Suddenly, Assassin's face erupted into a grin.

"Besides, I've got better things to do."

Saber's eyes widened as flames came out of Assassin's shoes and he flew through the air, going in through the opened door with the stairs leading down. "Like getting the Grail!"

"Shit!" Saber shouted as she ran after him.

She went down, leaving Oscar to wallow in his own sins and the misery of his own making.

Down to beat Assassin to the Grail.

xxXXxx

Kirei took in a deep breath with his nose, ignoring the iron stench of blood and the smell of gunpowder, before breathing out with his mouth.

"Well, that was certainly cathartic."

Around him were the dead bodies of eighteen Owl Men which had saw fit to... interrupt... his meeting With Kiritsugu. Seven had Black Keys shoved through their chests or heads. Three had all their limbs sliced off before Kirei had mercifully sliced open their neck. When he ran out of Black Keys, Kirei had resorted to using his fists. Two simply had their necks snapped, three had their chest cavities crushed by a well placed kick or punch, and two simply had a sufficient amount of blunt force trauma to the head that they'll die within a few moments due to the severity of their concussions or the pieces of skull now lodged into their brain.

However, the one that killed Emiya Kiritsugu received... special treatment.

Kirei eyes the wall behind him. That particular Owl man's body now looked like ground beef rather than anything resembling a human. His clothes drenched with his blood and gore, the skin completely shredded, his head a paste and still slipping down the wall alongside the droplets of blood that marked it.

Kirei's hands and parts of his robes were still drenched in his blood. In fact, the man's bones were sticking out of Kirei's knuckles and fingers.

Those would sting for a few days.

"Did they really think that they could subdue me?" Kirei shook his head. "Either they are arrogant or extremely foolish. Perhaps both." Well, it did not really matter either way.

Kirei turned his attention to Kiritsugu's corpse. Blood was still coming out of his head, and the blood from his wounds was now creating a pool under him. "How... disappointing." Kirei muttered to himself.

Kirei supposed that he shouldn't have expected much from Kiritsugu after learning the truth about his wish. The man was, after all, idealistic and had an almost child-like wish that went against human nature. But still. Kirei had expected... more.

"I was supposed to utterly defeat him, and steal the Grail right before his eyes. It was supposed to be a grand spectacle, one that I could savor every second."

It would have been a good bit of fun and satisfaction, making the man who utterly disappointing Kirei watch as his one chance at making his foolish wish become a reality slip from his fingers. To rob a man that would force humanity to change so drastically.

And yet this is where they were. No grand spectacle. Emiya Kiritsugu died unceremoniously, by the very weapons he had employed.

It was equal parts comical and poetic. A Magus who employed weapons to quickly end the lives of other Magi, shot in the head with a pistol.

This was where his long road in life and through the Holy Grail War ended.

"It's surprising... I should perhaps be angry. And yet..."

But then, what was there to be angry about? Kirei had found his answer thanks to Assassin. He learned from Emiya Kiritsugu's foolishness. With Assassin's help, Kirei had long since stopped comparing himself to Kiritsugu and found a new goal in life which would allow him to express himself. So what was there to be upset about?

Kirei let out a sigh.

"I suppose I'll take solace in the fact that all your hopes and dreams amounted to nothing in the end." With that, Kirei turned around and began limping away. He needed to heal himself, otherwise his injuries will become a serious issue rather than an inconvenience. "Farewell, Emiya Kiritsugu. I continue on to a life more fulfilling than yours."

As he left, a chuckle escaped Kirei's throat before he began laughing.

He realized what this meant.

He and Assassin had won.

"If only I could see the King of Knights face as Lupin the Third steals her hopes and dreams right before her eyes..."

xxXXxx

Saber didn't like the dampness of caves. Every portion of her body felt slightly soaked even though she wasn't sprayed with water. The air was cold, just enough to put goosebumps on her skin. The smell was perhaps the worst part, the distinct scent of bat guano mixed with cave water.

But that wasn't something Saber needed to heed right now.

"I have to give these Magi credit. They know how to make a staircase." All of it was carved with the stone of the cave, and seemed to spiral down which added to her apprehension. It was a surprise that she didn't hear Assassin curse more often due to slamming head-first onto the cave walls. "Then again, he probably knows how to steer."

Saber had been going at a rate faster than she had expected. Sure, she could equate half of it to being the result of forming a new Contract with Waver, but for some reason her injuries didn't seem to hurt as often. In fact, she felt better than ever. Why was that?

"Irisviel..."

The thought of the Einzbern woman, the holder of the Grail, the one kidnapped by Assassin, made her move faster.

When she reached the bottom of the stairs, she noticed several caverns which lead further down. The one in the center seemed to emit a purplish glow from further in, and as a result she went through the cavern.

She paused at what she saw, her eyes widening in shock.

It was a massive cavern, almost as big as the Einzbern Manor itself and just as wide. Stalactites hung from overhead, dripping water down. Further down was the Grail, a golden cup which glowed...

...and was releasing a purplish yet red liquid.

It formed a pool that reached out, bubbling and letting out steam from the water that dripped down from overhead.

Around ten feet away from the pool, just a few feet away from Saber, was Assassin with his back turned towards her.

She couldn't see his expression, but she could guess that he was staring at the Grail in shock.

"What the hell?" Assassin muttered to himself, sounding legitimately surprised. "Is this supposed to happen? Kirei never mentioned..."

Saber glared at Assassin and gripped Excalibur.

She would ponder about the Grail later. "Now is the chance to strike!"

She shifted her foot, causing small rocks to scratch against one another as well as the ground.

"Huh?" Assassin began to turn.

Saber was already halfway towards him.

Assassin's eyes widened in horror as he began taking out his Walther with right hand.

Saber cried out as she raised her sword.

Assassin began pointing his gun towards her as she brought down her sword. He fired three times, one missed while her sword sliced through two and made them fly to the side. His aim drew closer to her head.

She was faster.

Assassin froze before blood came out of his mouth in a cough. Blood sprayed from his wound and dripped down Excalibur. Her strike was flawless, her sword went in between Assassin's left shoulder down to his hip, splitting his heart.

A true killing blow if Saber had ever laid eyes on one.

"It's done." Saber stated with finality as she pulled Excalibur out, ignoring the blood which stained her body. Assassin fell onto his knees before falling onto the ground at her feet. Blood began to pool as Saber stared at the body.

She knew that it was not a trick.

She killed him.

"...I feel like I should be satisfied. And yet I feel... saddened?" Was it because she had finished their 'rivalry'? Why? Assassin was the one who declared it first. She was simply following through. It was going to end like this one way or the other. Saber sighed out, "I suppose... I don't know myself as well as I thought I did." She frowned. "And the cost... Irisviel..." She even briefly considered all those who died during the war, even Kiritsugu. "This war... it has created horror and death. All so that we can get the Grail... it's unfair."

Saber walked around Assassin's body and looked towards the Grail. Excitement filled her heart, but so did... fear? Anxiousness?

"Is the Holy Grail... supposed to give off these feelings?" Saber muttered, placing her right hand over her head. She felt sick, woozy... staring at the much coming out of the Grail was making her head hurt.

And yet this was what she wanted. She came this far to get it, and she had no intention of backing out now.

Saber took a step forward.

A gunshot rang out, and Saber felt pain coming from her throat. "W-hrk-!" Saber tried to speak, but a liquid was filling her lungs. Her spinal cord ached, and her neck felt as if it were on fire. "Air! I need air!" Excalibur cluttered onto the ground to her left while Saber fell to her knees. Her hands gripped her throat while blood leaked from the hole in her neck, staining her hands.

And it was not healing.

Saber heard footsteps, and her eyes looked to the side to see Assassin dragging himself to her left. "H-hhhk!" Saber cried out as best she could.

Assassin's wound was still there, or at least the indications that the wound was made. It was now a sickly scar, with newly clotting blood.

"He should be dead!"

Assassin grinned as he placed his left hand on his chest. It seemed to glow as an object began to come out.

A blue and gold object that Saber recognized immediately.

"Avalon!?"

"It kinda surprised me that Einzbern had this on her." Assassin said, his voice hoarse but slowly gaining its former volume. "But when she did, I decided to keep this on me. Never... Never expected it to work. But..." He then began to grin. "Guess my Noble Phantasm... made it recognize me as its owner!"

Saber's eyes widened in horror. This was why she seemed to keep going, despite being weakened by her fight with Rider. This was why she was able to fight at nearly full strength, and was practically at her peak when making the contract with Waver. "It's why Assassin was able to keep up to me, to still function despite that blow I laid on him to the chest! Avalon was in him, healing the both of us!"

"Guess I shouldn't be surprised... after all, Diarmuid's little tool still works even if I change its form, despite the guy being gone. It sees me as the rightful owner now that I've stolen it..." Assassin let out a chuckle. He then began to laugh. "Man! I'm one lucky guy! The luckiest son of a bitch in the world!"

Saber watched as Assassin began reaching down. "N-hh-o!" Saber feebly reached out with her left hand to grab Excalibur, her trusted sword and the Blade of Promised Victory.

Assassin set down his Walther and grabbed onto Excalibur before the tips of her fingers could grasp onto it. He lifted it up as the Wind Mana disbursed, revealing the blade in all of its glory. Saber reached out towards Assassin as he gave the sword an experimental swing, giving an impressed whistle. "So this is the legendary Excalibur huh? Nice..."

"Stop...! It's not a toy!" Saber reached out, but that caused more blood to come out. She placed both hands on her neck again. She felt as if she were drowning, and she was feeling weaker by the second. "The Lady of the Lake... she trusted me with it...!"

Assassin looked towards Saber. His grin grew as he turned towards her. "Great job, Arthur! Ya really pulled through and turned into a great rival! Without you, I would've been bored to tears with this Grail War!" He chuckled. "That's kinda my thing ya know? This world... it's so depressing when you just sit around and do nothin'. It just wants to push you around, control ya and it does not care... all bland and borin'. The only way to enjoy life is to go against all that crap. Make things fun for yourself! The world is only borin' if you make it that way, so all you need to do is find ways to keep having fun and make little games with rules you make yourself!" He nodded to himself. "This Grail was just another way for me to have fun once I was back." Saber glared at Assassin despite her pain. "Ya know... this had to be the most fun I ever had, if I had to be perfectly honest. But..." Assassin's face grew softer as he said, "...This is just how things are. This is how it always works out. This is my story Arthur, and in my story... I always come out on top."

Assassin then began limping away. His back turned towards her. "You bastard...!"

He looked towards the Grail. He then muttered out, "Just wish I hadn't had to do that Einzbern woman in to get this thing..."
Something snapped within Saber.

She looked at the Walther to her left, a weapon she had longed judged to be dishonorable. It made one lose any feeling of responsibility for their actions, lessened the burden of taking a life. A cynical and detached weapon which suited the time.

Before, she had never considered personally using one. She couldn't stomach the idea.

Now...

Saber reached out with her left hand and grabbed it. She aimed it and fired. Five times she pulled the trigger, five times the bullets went through Assassin's back. Assassin cried out in shock and pain while stumbling forward. Saber threw away the gun and leapt forward, her body impacting onto Assassin's and causing him to fall on his back. Before he could recover, Saber straddled his abdomen and put her hands around his throat and began to squeeze.

"No-h-yr-hrk-toy!" Saber gasped out, ignoring the pain and drowning sensation. "...MY-HKKK-STORY TOO!"

Assassin gasped out as he began to turn blue. He tried feebly to push her off, but she kept on squeezing. Blood was coming out of the hole in her throat, splashing onto Assassin's face. Saber knew Avalon was an amazing mystical object that could heal much.

But it couldn't do much when a brain died due to lack of oxygen.

"It's now a race to see who dies first. Who will die first. Him by choking, or me by drowning?"

Saber could see herself in Assassin's eyes. Her teeth were bared, stained with blood. Her hair was a mess, and blood stained her face. Her expression... it was a combination of madness and fury.

"This is me... This is really me."

Saber felt horrified looking at herself. And yet... she knew why she was acting this way.

She was tired seeing Assassin's smug expression, that belief that he would win in the end despite all her efforts.

She was tired of this war.

She was tired of the idea that she was not in control of her actions, of her life.

And most of all...

"Most of all, I'm going to be the one who wins the Grail!"

"HHK-BEAT YOU!" Saber coughed out, and saw Assassin's eyes begin to go up...

Then she heard a groan, something bubble. She looked up and saw the liquid of the Grail rise like a wave.

"Oh..."

It hit her, and then all Saber saw was darkness.

To Be Continued...

[shounen jump]

First: Glad to see this updated so soon and just loved those twists.
Second: Not to nit pick but i thought it took longer to establish a contract with a new Master, and that Avalon needed to be inside Saber for her to gain any benefits from it?

[Mattias]

Nice chapter, I guess all that's left is the fire/epilogue. Nice ending to every fight. Oscar actually showed up, as fucked up as ever.

Some spelling mistakes I caught if you want to edit it:

She grimaced as a shit rang out and a bullet scratched her cheek.

Yeah, I hope you meant shot, or else this is a fucking weird duel...

"Either I move of my decomposing corpse becomes part of the wildlife!

I assume that's an or not of

But he wasn't what h was aiming for.

Anyways, keep it up. You're in the home stretch now.

[TheInfamousMan]

First: Glad to see this updated so soon and just loved those twists.
Second: Not to nit pick but i thought it took longer to establish a contract with a new Master, and that Avalon needed to be inside Saber for her to gain any benefits from it?

We never exactly got a good look as to what happens when a Servant makes a contract with a new Master. Shirou's transfer took longer because of the fact he was not a proper Magus and his Circuits were screwed up, and we never see how Shinji became Gilgamesh's technical 'Master'. The closest we got was with Sola-Ui and Kayneth, and it appeared that took a few minutes at most after some 'gentle' encouragement. So really, Nasu (to my knowledge) never gave a concrete canon scenario to this dilemma.

Iri seemed to be getting Benefits from Avalon so long as she was near Saber, same with Kiritsugu. It seems to really depend how far or close Saber is that varies its effects. Though a case like Shirou's, where Saber is beyond Space and Time, takes a bit longer.

[TheInfamousMan]

Nice chapter, I guess all that's left is the fire/epilogue. Nice ending to every fight. Oscar actually showed up, as fucked up as ever.

Some spelling mistakes I caught if you want to edit it:

Yeah, I hope you meant shot, or else this is a fucking weird duel...

I assume that's an or not of


Anyways, keep it up. You're in the home stretch now.

Oscar appearing was something I had planned from the start, as my main inspiration for this was The Woman Called Fujiko Mine and his fate was basically left in the air. So I figured, why not bring him back as a villain?

Oscar knows that Zenigata doesn't see him like Oscar sees him, and kind of knows how fucked up it is to love the man who's like an adoptive father, hence why he never gives Zenigata any hints and shows passive aggressive disdain to Fujiko in his presence (and outright disgust and disdain when alone with her). So he's content to watch from afar... at least until those bottled up feelings of lust, shame, and self-disgust make Oscar do unwise things that ruin his life. But like in the series itself, he needs to blame someone else. It was Fujiko for the fact that he never was honest to Zenigata about how he felt, and now Lupin for the fact that Oscar's rash and stupid decisions turned him into a criminal.

He does not recognize no one forced him to keep running away and become the Count, just like he doesn't recognize how he lusts after Zenigata than actually love him.

Hell, his entire beef with Lupin is like a jealous wannabe girlfriend getting murderous that 'his man' has a life outside of her and a relationship with another!

Thanks for the corrections. Will fix it soon.

[Agailius]

TIM, you magnificent bastard. I'm eager to see how this ends.

[solopy567]

Maybe Lupin messed with Saber a bit too much. Now she completely lost her mind.

And with the grail mud, we gonna get some Saber Alter goodness I hope.

[shounen jump]

Maybe Lupin messed with Saber a bit too much. Now she completely lost her mind.

And with the grail mud, we gonna get some Saber Alter goodness I hope.

As for the first part: Yeah, i have to admit Saber at the end of all that seemed about as desperate as Kitsurugu is to get the Grail to make a wish. Though with all that she's been through in the War alone i'm honestly surprised she's not worse.
For the second: Maybe, maybe not. After all she has gone through some personality changes and shifts throughout the war. She could now maybe have a strong enough will to resist the Mud like Gilgamesh did, granting her a real body. Though she's just as likely to become Alter, what with the Grail being unable to grant her wish, even if she did get it, and her being pretty much off her nut.
Heck, she could come out like Gil. did but still be equal to Alter in temperament. I mean she has been given a flesh and blood body, pretty much making it impossible to go to another Grail War to get a wish. Forcing her to either use the current corrupted Grail to get what she wants(and im sure i don't need to tell you all the issues with that), or just give up. And seeing as how she's stuck in the future where she has none of the papers necessary for modern life or allies, has little in the way of marketable skills since, while she did run a kingdom, the Grail given knowledge of the present isn't 100%, and has just failed to get what she has fought tooth and nail for she could become so bitter she'll be the second coming of Kitsurugu the Magus Killer.

[TheInfamousMan]

Thirtieth Heist

xxXXxx

Waver honestly did not know what to expect once he had arrived at the temple.

He had gambled on at least one person remaining in the city. There were usually one or two stubborn idiots who remained in an area despite warnings from the government. Even back at the Clocktower there were those who would ignore emergencies and stick to their rooms. Thankfully, he had been proven right and they accepted the money he had in hand for the ride to the temple. And he was lucky that the temple was the correct location to go to. Though the civic center, the Einzbern's manor, and the Tohsaka household were already out of the question. So it was more like a process of elimination.

It was actually a miracle he had arrived when he did, finding Saber down on the floor with numerous men wearing owl masks surrounding her and Assassin and holding them at gunpoint, with the one that was presumably their leader holding up his right hand which bore Command Seals much to his shock. This likely meant that Saber was now without a Master and the Owl man was her only option for remaining in the war.

"At least until I showed up." Waver muttered before he let out a soft groan. "I'm lucky I didn't get shot."

But still, Saber became his Servant and proceeded to make sure that didn't happen. Waver hid himself after that, stewing in his emotions for a bit. After all, he just became the Master for the Servant who killed his friend. Saber was King Arthur, and while Waver did feel a swell of nationalistic pride at the thought of standing beside THE King Arthur, she still killed his friend and he was still a bit angry at that. It might be unfair to Saber, as there was no way she was getting to the Grail without killing Rider and Waver knew of this possibility from the start, it still hurt.

But at least it was better than letting her being unwillingly conscripted to that Owl Man's agenda, which he had somewhat overheard from his hiding spot.

Though, that wasn't exactly his greatest concern at the moment.

"Should I leave?" Waver thought to himself while biting his lip. "I know I said that I would see things through until the end, but..."

Waver, for some reason, felt the unexplainable desire to just run. To get away, as far away as he could. He felt fear and nausea, some sort of primal urge to flee in terror because something truly terrible was nearby. His hand was shaking and he was sweating all over. The air shifted from hot to cold almost with each passing second.

"Is this feeling... coming from the Grail?" Waver asked himself. "Did someone win?"

But his connection to Saber hadn't been cut nor had his new Servant returned to tell him everything was over so they could make their wishes upon the Holy Grail. Something was wrong. Waver did not know what it was, but something had gone terribly wrong.

A familiar scent then invaded Waver's nostrils. It was not the putrid stench of death emanating from the Owl Men, nor the scent of blood.

It was the smell of burning.

Waver's eyes widened as he noticed flames coming from within the temple. "A fire!?" Did the battle between Saber and Assassin cause a fire to erupt? Waver covered his mouth as the smell of burning flesh and hair spread out. The flames within the temple grew, causing the windows to crack and burst as smoke came out. The corpses of the Owl Men were likely being burnt by the flames. A temple with hundreds of years of history was being burned to the ground.

But that wasn't the worst part.

"What the hell is that!?" Waver shouted as something came seeping out from the floorboards, came dripping out from the bottom of the door which was just beginning to blacken and crack. It was an inky-black liquid, shifting from purple to red and mixing. Waver did not know what kind of substance this was, but it seemed to have height, length, breadth, mass, and a few other things. Staring at it was making Waver's head hurt and brought about a feeling of nausea that was more powerful than anything he had ever experienced. It was like mud yet it was not.

"This shouldn't exist."

This assertion was something Waver felt absolutely correct in saying.

And everything it touched instantly caught on fire.

As the building began catching on fire and the mud began dripping onto the courtyard, Waver heard the screeching of tires. He turned around to see Kotomine Kirei in the driver's seat of a yellow Fiat 500, glaring at him.

"I would suggest you get in."

Waver was in no mood to demand what his intentions were, and did as he was told. He went into the passenger's seat, and noticed the back seats were occupied by a man in a suit similar to that of the Owl Men's leader, clutching the stump that was his right hands and bleeding out from both it and bullet wounds to his legs.

Kirei then stepped on the gas, and Waver noticed that they were heading to the steps. "Wait, wait! Go down the hill! The hi-!"

Kirei did not listen, and the car flew off the edge and hit the steps.

"WAAAAH!"

Waver shouted as he was bumped up and down on his seat, putting his right hand on the roof to push his body down so he wouldn't snap his neck like a twig on it. Within seconds, they were on the road turning to the right and racing away from the temple.

"Were you trying to kill me!?" Waver demanded.

Kirei simply smirked. "I would think a young man like yourself would be more thankful towards the person who saved your life."

Making sure his seatbelt was fastened first, Waver turned away from the priest. "Yeah, well why did you do that? We're supposed to be enemies in this Grail War, remember?"

Kirei was silent for a second, with his smirk disappearing. "Well, it's simply because you are the last Master of this war. If you were to die, there would be no one to truly steal the Grail from."

Waver blinked before looking at Kirei. He seemed serious about his intent to keep him safe, so that there was someone to 'steal' the Grail from. "So, Assassin turned you into a thief like him?"

"You could say he saved me, and you by extension." Kirei admitted with a nod. "A few days ago, I would have likely left you to be burned alive."

Waver shivered at the thought. "T-Thanks, I suppose." He then looked in the backseat. "And this is...?"

"He is the leader of the Owls of Minerva, a criminal mob that has been causing many problems throughout this Holy Grail War." Kirei explained while racing down the abandoned streets of Fuyuki. "You likely are unaware of them, so do not concern yourself with the details. But needless to say, Assassin had been planning on leaving him either to die or for the police to find him."

"...So why are you saving him?"

Kirei's smirk returned.

"Well... leaving him to the police, to be arrested by Inspector Zenigata personally, seems like a more appropriate punishment for a man like him."

"N-No..." The leader of the owls groaned out from behind.

Waver looked back at Kirei. This man, this member of the Church, had become a thief for whatever reason thanks to Assassin. Yet the man seemed to be acting on his own when it came to the Owl man, meaning he was not beholden to Assassin's wishes.

He was a thief with a mind of his own, and Waver was having his life saved by him because Kirei got more enjoyment out of the heist from that.

"Please try not to die." Kirei informed the leader of the owls as he steered the car. "I'd prefer not to smell the stench of a freshly made corpse in a vehicle this size."

"This entire War is so screwed up..." Waver sighed as he looked back to the temple. The forest surrounding the temple was now catching on fire, with smoke going up into the air. Waver thought he heard the sounds of screaming from people young and old, male and female, and the groan of something... more than human.

"Saber... please be alright, wherever you are. Please... end this."

xxXXxx

Saber gasped as she opened her eyes, as if she had woken up from a deep slumber. She coughed while putting her hands on her throat. She did not know why she was trying to feel along her windpipe, for it was without a single mark. As it should be.

"Where... am I?" Saber muttered as she looked around. No longer was she in the cave below the temple. She was now in a grassy field, the blades a rich dark green, just like the one she had been in during her vision. Except now, the sky was dark with clouds. It was raining, but the raindrops seemed strangely... dark. "How did I get here?"

The last thing she remembered was wrapping her hands around Assassin's throat, watching the life drain from his eyes while blood filled her lungs before the Grail...

"Oh God..."

Saber's eyes widened in horror as her voice grew quiet. Saber raised her shaking hands up. It was odd that she had ten fingers instead of nine, but that was not important. She remembered the feeling of Assassin's throat, skinny yet warm. She felt his throat struggle against her grip. She remembered the feeling off domination and of victory as Assassin drew closer and closer to death. She smelled the scent of gunpowder and smoke from her left hand, the one that she shot Assassin in the back with…

"Why... why would I...?"

"Because you wanted to."

Saber turned around, and came face to face with Irisviel von Einzbern. But no longer was she dressed in the casual clothes they had purchased while in Fuyuki. Now she was wearing a white robe with gold trimmings. Her hair combed and neat, her smile serene and her red eyes filled with warm comofort. Her hands were folded in front of her. "It is good to see you, Saber."

"Irisviel..." Saber muttered, her voice almost cracking as she faced her Master's wife. The woman who talked to her with no reverence, with warmth and kindness. Who saw Saber as just another girl. Her dear friend... "I-I thought... Assassin said he..." Saber then stopped, her raised arms prepared to embrace Irisviel lowering. "You're not Irisviel, are you?"

Irisviel's smile did not disappear. "But I am Irisviel, Saber."

Saber wanted to believe her. Oh God, she wanted to believe that Irisviel was in front of her. That smile and voice belonged to the woman she knew.

And yet she knew it was not truly her.

"Do not lie to me."

The "Irisviel" in front of her kept smiling. She... it... gave a small shrug as it said, "I suppose you are right. I am not the Irisviel you know. I cannot communicate because I am without a true personality. But Irisviel Von Einzbern's consciousness provided me one, along with her form. And thus, I am using it to communicate with you."

Realization dawned on Saber. "You are the Grail."

"Yes, as well as Irisviel von Einzbern." The Grail gave a nod. "I am truly glad you have made it to me, Saber. I am saddened that it is not Kiritsugu, but I suppose it was simply not meant to be."

Saber didn't know what to say. The treasure she had sought for so long was now in front of her, using Irisviel's body and voice to communicate with her. Her throat was dry, and sorrow filled her heart knowing that her friend was truly dead. "What is this place?"

"You are inside me." The Grail said as it looked up. Saber followed its gaze and gasped at what she saw.

It was both a sun and moon, a dark black void that emitted a red or purple light. The raindrops were originating from it, falling down and landing on Saber.

"I am so full, practically bursting at the seams. I am ready to be born, to be brought into the world." The Grail muttered with Irisviel's voice. "Aren't I beautiful?"

Saber didn't know what to say. On one hand, she was grateful that she no longer had a hole in her throat and was no longer missing a finger. On the other hand... "I feel sick..." The uneasy feeling had returned, and Saber wanted to throw up as she looked upon the Grail. Was this truly the Grail? It was black, and yet it was not. It had height, weight, depth, and several other things that Saber could not hope to describe. She swore that she could see faces on the black orb overhead, coming into being and overtaking one another as eyes formed within both sockets and mouths. And the noise... God the noise... It was like hundreds of moans being let out all at once on an almost alien frequency. "What do you mean by being born?" Saber asked as she looked upon Irisviel... the Grail... once more.

"I mean simply what I said. With your wish, I will be born into the world and grant your miracle."

"But..." Saber bit her lip. "But... I..."

What was her wish?

She knew she had one, different from that of her original one.

She realized it in her drugged haze, running and laughing in that field...

Yet why could she not remember what it was?

"Confused as to what your desire is?" The Grail simply continued to smile. "Then let me show you."

With that, the scenery changed. The sky as well as the ground began to warp, to be made anew.

And Saber was brought into a new reality.

xxXXxx

"Confused as to what your desire is? Then let me show you."

Assassin gasped as he opened his eyes. He clutched his throat as his eyes went wide, taking in deep breaths. "Air! I need air!" After a second, he noticed that his breathing was occurring uninterrupted. He also noticed that there wasn't any weight on his abdomen, nor the rage-filled visage of Saber. "I-I'm okay?"

"In a sense, yes."

Assassin then sat up, and noticed that he was no longer on the cave floor… or in a cave at all. Rather he was now in the familiar surroundings of his Fiat 500, within the driver's seat. Outside of the car was a forest, filled with tall and old trees. It was raining, his car being pelted with huge black droplets.

He then turned his head to the left and saw in the passanger's seat was the familiar form of Irisviel von Einzbern.

The woman he had killed personally.

"Surprised?" "Irisviel" asked with a serene smile. "I don't blame you if you are."

"You could say that." Assassin gripped the driver's wheel and rested his forehead on it. "Man, I must've really pushed Arthur's buttons..." He had boasted to the King of Knights, boasted about always winning right in front of the face of a hero that had become willing to do anything to beat him. He should have seen that coming. "And I should have kept my mouth shut about Einzbern... that was what really set her off."

Getting shot in the back yet again, five times this time, was not fun.

"So... where am I?" Assassin asked as he turned his eyes to "Irisviel". "This is no afterlife. You're actin' too chummy to the guy who killed you."

"Hm... I suppose I should be angry at you. My container does have some rather strong feelings about you reaching here instead of Kiritsugu." The woman he killed shrugged. Although based on what she said, Assassin had the feeling that this woman next to him wasn't necessarily the one he killed… at least, not anymore. "But that's simply how things came to be. While Irisviel von Einzbern provides me a personality and form, I simply use those to communicate. I do not let them control me."

Assassin's lips pursed for a moment before he grinned. "Never thought I would have a conversation with the treasure I've been wanting to steal."

Indeed, this was a first. Never had Assassin actually conversed to a treasure with a personality. He had never been brought to what felt like another plane of reality from the brink of death, so close to victory just so he could talk to a treasure.

It was truly interesting.

"Ah, but you aren't stealing me." The Grail wagged its finger. "You are winning me. There's a difference."

"And this place is inside of you, I'm guessing?" Assassin tapped his fingers on the dashboard. "Some sort of mental link? Because I should be bleedin' out right now and be on my way back to the Throne of Heroes. Speakin' of which, I'm guessin' you've got Arthur in here too?"

"Oh?" The Grail raised its eyebrow. "How could you tell?"

"The sentence you said when I woke up. It was like you were having a conversation with someone else." Assassin brought up his seat and leaned back on it. "So I'm not the only one you are talking too."

The Grail simply giggled. "Yes, you are correct. Saber is in me as well, and we are discussing her wish."

Assassin frowned. "So I haven't stolen you yet."

"No, not yet." The Grail's smile grew more. "This process takes some time, to find a person's truest desire so I may grant them a miracle. You could say this is a final test. A race to see who realizes themselves first. The winner receives their miracle."

That made Assassin's brow furrow. What was she talking about? "I don't have a wish. I just want to take you. That's all there is to it." Assassin smirked as he said, "What? Do you think I want to be revived? Please, my ticket got punched and I'm cool with that. Change history? Never had a regret in my life. Assure the future? I think the mystery of what's going to happen is thrilling, and I don't want to spoil that for everyone."

"But that's where you're wrong, Lupin the Third." The Grail shook its head. "You do have a secret desire, a secret hunger that you keep hidden even from yourself… and that secret is the miracle that will allow me to be born."

"Be born?"

The Grail only pointed up. Assassin then opened the top, and his eyes widened at what he saw.

A black red and purple sun, shining brightly and illuminating the forest, raining down the specks of darkness.

"That's my egg, ready to burst and bring me to the world." The Grail said happily.

Assassin's frown grew deeper. "Who are you, really?"

"I am the Grail, and I am Irisviel von Einzbern by extension."

"You shouldn't lie to a thief. We can smell them from a mile away." Assassin said coldly. "Plus, I've never seen something dark and ominous that belonged to anyone beneficial, and nothing about this matches what Kirei said about the Grail. So who are you?"

The car was silent for a second, then the Grail let out a giggle. "Nothing gets past you, does it Lupin the Third?" It then sighed contently. "It's true, I wasn't the Grail initially. For fairness sake, I will give you a hint. From a song that I happen to like in this modern age." It looked up and whispered out, "Pleased to meet you, hope you can guess my name."

Assassin hummed in thought. Definitely wasn't the obvious answer. Lucifer would have too much of an ego, according to his stories. It was most definitely an 'evil' god or entity. An equivalent to Satan.

"Were you Roman?"

"Ice Cold."

"Babylonian?"

"Colder."

Assassin pursed his lips. "Persian?"

"Warmer." The smile remained on the Grail's face.

Assassin's mind wracked what ancient deities he knew from the region, an encyclopedia in his mind thanks to the treasures that originated from the region. "What can even be considered the Persian equivalent of Lucifer?"

"Ahriman."

"Ooh... close but no."

Then, his eyes widened. "Angra Mainyu?"

The smile grew. "Red hot."

"Well this is certainly a twist." Assassin didn't know what else to say. This was not what he had expected in the least. An ancient idea of evil was the Grail?

The Grail chuckled. "In the Third Holy Grail War, the Einzberns had gotten it into their head that summoning a deity, a god rather than a hero, would give them an edge. Needless to say, I utterly disappointed them and my time in the War was short-lived. But my spirit itself... well, let us just say it was too much for the Grail to handle, and so I became the Grail itself. And I want what it wants: to grant a miracle."

It looked towards Assassin and smiled.

"And that miracle... will hopefully be yours, Lupin the Third."

xxXXxx

Saber now found herself seated. "When did I...?" She looked around. No longer was she in the grassy field. She was now in a room she recognized, her throne in Camelot. To the sides of the long carpet were her loyal knights. Kneeling before her was Lancelot, his head bowed down in shame. "Why am I here...?" Saber muttered out in horror. She remembered this day.

She looked right, and saw Guinevere next to Lancelot with her head bowed down and her eyes closed.

It was the day that Lancelot and Guinevere's affair had been discovered.

"Two people who were your companions, being punished for the simple crime of loving one another." Irisviel's voice echoed in her ears. "What is it you wish to do?"

Saber bit her lip. Her duty as a king required her to punish Lancelot. She was required to execute Guinevere for her betrayal. After all, a king should not allow for this slight against them to go unpunished. Even if she knew that Lancelot could give Guinevere the love she needed and deserved. The love Saber could never give her...

Suddenly, there were loud gasps of shock. They were quickly followed by furious and confused arguments between the knights.

"How could he!?"

"Allowing that traitor to live... and take his wife as well!?"

"Has the King gone mad!?"

"That's not how it went!" Saber gasped out, looking at Lancelot who was staring at her with wide and confused eyes. She looked back at Guinevere, who was just as confused...

...But had a grateful smile on her face.

"I... I was going to order Guinevere's execution!" Saber looked wildly from side to side. "Lancelot would try to rescue her... and Gareth and Gaheris would be killed by him!"

"Yes, but this is what you would have wanted to do. To keep them both alive and safe, to love one another. It would have resulted in another civil war yes, but the casualties would be less and your dear Lancelot and Guinevere would likely be safe."

"No... that can't be..." Yet Saber knew it was true.

It pained Saber to declare Guinevere's execution. She may not have loved her wife, but Saber cared for her like a sister. She didn't want to punish her or Lancelot for the crime of being in love and finding happiness with each other. But she had to do it for Camelot. Had to do it for her knights. "Had to do it as the King of Knights, to keep up the appearance of an ideal king." Yet at the same time, she wished for another way.

"Was... was this the other way? Did I find... a war acceptable if I had gotten what I had wanted with their happiness?"

Then, in the blink of an eye, she found that now she was standing. She was in the middle of the throne room, completely empty save for the person in front of her. It was Mordred, dressed in armor with his helmet off, showing his face to her. The face that looked so much like her own.

"This is the day that he told me..." Saber could see the hopeful look in Mordred's eyes.

"A son of yours born of twisted designs, yearning for love and acceptance. What do you wish to give to him? What was your answer to his pleas?"

Mordred had revealed his origins to her after Morgan revealed it to him. She had no idea what he felt, perhaps disgust and horror towards the fact that he was the result of her sister's plotting and was a child of unwilling incest. But the one thing that had been clear was that Mordred still idolized her, saw her as perhaps a beacon of knighthood, chivalry, and righteousness. All Mordred had wanted from her was acceptance and an indication that Saber saw him as both her son and a rightful heir. He did not have a single traitorous thought at this moment.

She did not think he was right to be king. Mordred's emotions ran hot, and he was bloodthirsty and almost sadistic in warfare. Saber still stood by her decision that he did not have the capacity to be king.

Yet he was still her son.

Even if the events that lead to Mordred's creation turned her stomach to this day...

Saber then blinked as she found herself closer to Mordred, with her arms wrapped around his frame and her head next to his.

She was hugging Mordred.

She then heard light sobbing from Mordred, heard his voice that was surprisingly feminine say, "T-thank you, father... I promise, I will follow all your lessons..."

"I... wanted to teach him?" No, no that can't be right. She had to reject Mordred! "Camelot always had to have an ideal king! One had to be taught and groomed into that role! Like..." Saber looked down. "Like me..."

"Your choice in the past was based off of the belief that only you could remain the ideal king your kingdom needed. And as an ideal king, you needed to keep a child who yearned for acceptance at arm's length and to reject his faults. Yet what you truly wanted to do, in spite of the lessons Merlin and his ilk ingrained into you, was to embrace your child. To help him overcome his faults. Even if his reign would likely be far more brutal than yours... it would help to free you from the cage that is your throne."

"That can't be right!" Saber cried out as Mordred disappeared. "I couldn't have wanted such a thing! Mordred wouldn't have changed! He would have become a king just like the ones I had fought against in my youth! That's why I had to reject him! That's why I had to keep my distance!"

"And yet... you do not deny that you wished to embrace him, to accept him. Where are your justifications for that?"

Saber remained silent at that. "I... had to do it didn't I? The throne could not be connected to Mordred. His birth would have caused a stir within the kingdom. Morgan might have had machinations in place that would force Mordred to betray me against his will. I... I made the right decision for my kingdom at the time..."

And yet she remembered her feelings after. That pit of despair and regret, the heavy heart she had when she saw Mordred's look of betrayal...

The hatred she felt for...

Then, the scene shifted again.

She was now in a forest, a stone in front of her. Within it...

"Excalibur!" Saber ran up to her sword, her soul mate, and nearly hugged the blade. "It's back..." Tears almost formed him her eyes as her fingertips brushed against the blade.

When Assassin stole the blade and treated it like a toy, a trophy, Saber had felt like a piece of her heart and soul had been ripped out of her. His taunts about how he would have taken the blade from her were uttered with such nonchalance and certainty, a dismissal of the blade's importance to her, was enough to infuriate Saber to her core.

She felt relieved to see it once more.

"I shall never let you go again, old friend..." She muttered as her hands gripped the handle.

"Remove the blade from the stone. Remove it, and grasp onto your fate. Your destiny."

Saber's body froze at those words. "What?" Saber muttered out weakly. What did the Grail say?

"Go on, take it out." Saber looked behind her and saw the Grail's form once more. It smiled at her serenely. "This is what began your legend, your path to being a hero isn't it? The sword in the stone? This isn't the exact blade you extracted, I admit, but it'll serve as a good replacement since it is inside of me as well."

"Yes... yes it is..." Saber looked back at Excalibur.

It was so easy. Just one tug, and Saber would free Excalibur from its confinement. It had been simple when she was just a little girl. It would be simple now.

One tug, and she would be whole again. King Arthur once more.

So why hadn't she pulled it out yet?

"Ah, there it is. We have finally gotten to the root of all things..." The Grail clapped as it drew closer. "We've found your wish."

"I... I don't know what you're talking about!" Saber shouted desperately. "No, pull the blade out. Don't listen to her. Do not admit it. It's too painful..."

"Come now Saber, you should now know what your wish is." The Grail muttered into her ear.

"Please, don't make me..." Saber's hands were shaking as she gripped Excalibur. With her strength, she could easily rip the sword from the stone.

"It's a wish that you would kill me for. No matter how much you would deny it, you know that I had to die in order to reach the Grail. You were angry because of your feelings for me yes, but a part of you was relieved. Relieved that Assassin took the action you feared that you would have to perform." Saber's eyes widened as she felt the Grail smile. "But if I was still alive, and you had killed Assassin... you would have done the same to get the Grail you desire. To receive your wish..."

"I... I wouldn't..." Yet Saber knew it was true.

She knew that Irisviel had to die for the Grail to form.

And had she still been alive in that room, and if she had successfully slain Assassin...

"Your wish isn't to not become the King of Camelot for the sake of your people. That was a lie you told yourself. You did not even wish to acquire the Grail simply for the victory over Assassin. That was you simply crafting a new lie." The Grail's slender arms wrapped around Saber's waist, and she rested her chin on Saber's left shoulder. "You have a desire. A secret desire you hide from yourself. Your deepest, darkest wish."

"No... " Saber's grip on Excalibur grew weaker, and she felt her eyes sting.

"You do not need to say anything, Saber. I already know what it is, this exercise is simply so that you do not lie to yourself either." The Grail hummed as she said, "I will say what your desire is, and all you have to do... is nod...

Tears came down her cheeks as the Grail's grip grew loving.

"You want a normal life."

Saber's hands fell from Excalibur and fell to her sides. Saber could not help but begin sobbing, tears flowing freely from her cheeks.

Her head gave a small decline.

The Grail simply gave a small chuckle. Irisviel's voice sounded so melodious...

"Good. We're all being honest with ourselves now." The Grail turned Saber around so that she would face it. "You poor thing... for so long you have been keeping this secret to yourself. This desire which is oh so human. So many responsibilities thrust upon you..."

"I-I hated it..." Saber didn't know why this was pouring out of her. These words flowed out of her, like a dam had broken. "I hated it! Why!? Why did it have to be me!? Why couldn't I love anyone!? Why couldn't I be myself!? For the good of the kingdom!?" Saber's hands shook as she said, "My life... it was barely a life! My entire fate had been written before I was born! I was to embody words from a magician, words that my father had believed in! I was thought of as a king since I was a child, and nobody saw me for me! Nobody asked of me what I had desired, simply believed in what I could represent! I... I threw so much away for all of them... Threw so much away for a path where death was my only release..."

"And you embarked on so many quests to forget the life you had sold to meet their expectations." The Grail muttered out, the smile remaining on its face.

It was true. Whenever Saber had embarked on a quest in the past, it was to keep her mind off of things. To be away from the throne she secretly loathed. To be away from the looks of admiration, all the expectations that Merlin and the others instilled the desire to fulfill as the ideal king.

"I... I could have been a simple squire." Saber sobbed out. "I could have been a baker, or a farmer. I could have been a wife... I could have had a family that I would love with all my heart... Why? Why was it decided that I had to be a hero?"

There it was. Her darkest secret. Her most selfish desire.

She wanted to escape this life of battles, of expectations and ideals that she must embody as King Arthur.

She wanted to be like Irisviel. Like Waver Velvet. Like Inspector Zenigata. Like all the people she had passed by on the street.

Simply Arturia Pendragon, not King Arthur.

A normal person.

"There, there..." The Grail cooed out as it hugged Saber. Even though she knew the entity was just using Irisviel's form like a shell, Saber deny the comfort of her touch. Irisviel held her like she would a child or a lover. "Do not despair Arturia. There is no need for that. For I am the miracle you have long sought, the miracle that can bring you what you desire..." Saber looked up at the Grail, who held her chin. "The eyes of fate do not look in this place. There is none to judge you. Once you make your wish here, in this place where only the two of us matter, Fate will be broken. All those expectations the people then had of you would be no more. All you need to do is make your wish, and allow me to be born."

Saber looked up to the Grail and asked, "What does that mean?"

The Grail simply smiled.

"I will show you."

xxXXxx

"Again, not looking for a miracle. I just want to..."

"Have fun?" The Grail asked with a raised eyebrow. "Yes, I quite understand that's your motivation for most things. You love the adrenaline rush of constantly putting your life in danger. There is no better drug for you than that. But tell me, why become a thief? One of the very things society frowns upon?"

Assassin blinked and found himself now on the edge of the Grand Canyon. The air was dry, and the wind did nothing to cool Assassin off. He was now standing instead of sitting, and yet it did not disorient him in the slightest.

"Ignore it. Don't give this thing an inch." Assassin fixed his tie and said, "Well, that's easy. I don't like anyone tellin' me what to do. Society, religion, laws... all of them are the made by people long dead that other people use to control everyone else. No way am I sittin' down and shutting up for an easier time."

"You're still not answering my question."

Lupin looked behind him and saw Jigen's form instead of Irisviel's. But it was just how Assassin had remembered him, in his prime. Oh the same suit and hat were still there, but no longer were there any wrinkles or signs of grey. Jigen looked like he was in his twenties once more.

"You believe that nothing matters, that everything is dull and stagnant unless you create your own fun." The Grail smirked. "And yet you keep stealing from the ones who are the most powerful within society, the ones who help make the rules. The ones who dictate how things work."

"Yeah, because it's fun. They have the biggest stuff and the most to lose. Plus they are so sure of themselves." Assassin narrowed his eyes. "Also, I'd appreciate it if you didn't pretend to be my friends."

"And let's not forget your malleable personality."

The voice now came from behind Lupin, and he turned to see a younger Goemon. The scene shifted once more, and the world turned black. Behind the Grail, illuminated by lights, were three Lupin's. One wearing a green jacket, one a red jacket, and one a pink jacket.

"When you started your career, you were very different." The Grail uttered in Goemon's voice. It pointed to the green jacket Lupin. "Cruder, crueler, more dangerous, more ruthless, your emotions and actions more raw..." Then it motioned over to the red jacket. "Then over time you became softer. As if you were running from who you once more. You ceased to see the necessity of killing, your actions being akin to practical jokes." It then looked at the pink jacket. "Then you became more ridiculous, cartoonish, a far cry from who you were when you began everything. Constantly reinventing yourself and your personality..."

Assassin frowned while crossing his arms. "Can't a guy change as he gets older? I liked having fun. So what if I indulged myself more over time? And the killin'? Come on, with everyone in my crew I didn't need to do that anymore..."

"That's not true." The Grail smiled at him. "After all, why would you kill in the Holy Grail, kill those unaffiliated with the war? You had just as much help, even if you were lacking one other person."

"What are you getting at?" Assassin couldn't quite curb his growing irritation and his quick reply sounded biting even in his own ears. The Grail was really starting to piss him off. A feat that was rather hard to accomplish.

"Let's now address the issue of your friends."

In the blink of an eye, Goemon became a younger Zenigata. "All your life, you aligned yourself with those who were rejected by human society in one way or another. A bodyguard with a dark past, a samurai who wandered around searching to hone his skills with assassination, a policeman who cared not for the law he followed so long as he captured you, a woman who was free and did whatever she desired..." The Grail then began walking, and Assassin could not help but follow it. The scene then shifted again, and Lupin recognized the moss and grass-covered stone ruins. The ruins of the Grand Duke of Cagliostro's castle. "Even those you rescue are in some way being bound by society."

In the blink of an eye, the Grail disappeared in front of Assassin.

"And those you decide to make rivals are entangled by chains in a figurative sense." Assassin looked to his left to see Fujiko, wearing the same wedding dress she wore to get the 'Dizzy Dust' from the head cultist on the day he first truly saw her. "Sometimes aware of it..."

"Sometimes not." Assassin looked to his right to see Saber wearing her suit, smiling as well. "And yet you push them along, try to get them into either your orbit or make them see things the way you do in some way."

"Or you guide them to a path where they can be themselves, but not as complete slaves to their desires." Now the Grail appeared as Kirei, sitting on a stone cross that was on the ground just a bit away. "After all, there is nothing worse that being a slave to the one thing that gives them joy. So you open their mind to possibilities, possibilities that they would never be open to with the strict doctrines on good and evil that human society has in place..."

"Okay, cut this out!" Assassin shouted, stopping in place. "I told you, I don't have a wish! All you're doing is lecturing me about stuff I already know!"

"Haven't you realized it yet?" Assassin turned around and saw Riko. Her little smile heartwarming and bright. "I thought it was obvious!"

The scene changed, and Assassin now saw himself at the main street of a town.

But the scene was utter chaos.

People were on the streets, drinking, eating, making out, and screwing anyone and everyone without a care in the world. People jumped out of windows to be caught by the crowd below. People were painting and playing music, each piece somehow a masterpiece and an improvised mess. Sometimes works akin to the Mona Lisa were made on the side of buildings with graffiti. Fire erupted from windows, and yet everyone cheered. Sometimes hate-filled fights broke out in the middle of the crowd, only ending when someone split the opponent's head open. Women and men were dressed in the finest jewelry, obviously stolen from nearby broken shop windows.

It was like the wildest and more terrifying party Assassin had ever seen.

"You want everyone to have what you have... freedom!" The Grail declared in Riko's form. "You steal, because you hated society! You hated humanity for the chains it bound itself in! That's why you smirk in the face of authority. That's why you always remain in the fringe, only coming out to free others. You may hate them, yet you want them to live like you do. Free from all the rules, from all the behaviors drilled into them by their societies. You want everyone to do whatever the hell they want, with nobody to say otherwise!" The Grail's smile then widened. "This is the world that you want to live in! The world where your daughter and friends can live!"

"No way..." Assassin took a step back, his eyes widened in horror. "This... this isn't..."

This couldn't be what he wanted, right? Assassin liked to thumb his nose at all the snooty rich people and authority, but he would never want this! This place was utter chaos! People were dying all around him while indulging in their hedonism and raw emotions! He liked to have fun, but Assassin never enjoyed killing people!

And yet, there was some primal part of him. Something in the back of his mind.

Something that liked what he saw.

"Take up my offer... Take up me..." Assassin looked behind him, and saw Irisviel's form once more. "This world, free from all laws and restraints, can be yours. A world where you can do whatever you want. A world where you and the rest of humanity can be free. I am Angra Mainyu, as are you Lupin the Third. Evil is but one of the concepts humanity embraces when free of all restraints. And freedom is what you like to represent, isn't it?"

Assassin bit his lip.

It was true.

For all his life, Assassin had hated the laws which told people what to do. How to see others, how to walk and talk, how to form friendships, how to love... everything was given a script. Deviate from it, and you were rejected.

Assassin chose the life of a thief to escape it all. To take what he wanted, do what he wanted, and decide everything for himself.

He even 'reinvented' himself to not become his own prisoner.

Yet he still made friends, and still loved. They were not the ideal relationships people dreamed of. Each one of his friends and even the woman he loved tried to kill him at one point or another.

But he liked them for that, liked them for who they were, warts in all. Hell, the warts even complimented them all.

Was this the world he dreamed of? One where everyone could truly be happy, be free without anyone telling them what to do?

A world where Riko could live and make her own choices? Choices that would, no matter what, lead her to a happy and fulfilling life?

Assassin didn't know.

"And this is the only way you'll be able to truly win. I'd advise you to hurry, unless you want your rival to beat you." The Grail said happily, looking up to the sky to see its egg.

Assassin blinked in realization. "Arthur, huh? Still in the game..." The King of Knights who evolved to the perfect rival. Someone who opposed him on every level yet in some ways became part of the era he represented. If she was still in this muck, then that meant that the Grail was doing the same thing to her that it was doing to him. Making him see his deepest desire.

Assassin then chuckled, and made his decision.

xxXXxx

Once again, the surroundings shifted. Saber was now on a hill with the Grail.

But surrounding the hill were knights, each of different heights and race, each wearing different armors and banners, all of the killing one another. Stabbing one another with swords, riddling the other side with arrows, fire erupting at random locations, the smell of blood as well as corpses and steel in the air...

Saber was speechless as she saw, in the distance, was a tower with a giant purple orb on top in the distance.

"I know this may look quite horrible, but to be quite honest... they always do this. Even without my birth."

The knights then turned into modern soldiers, hollering curses with eyes full of hate as they shot one another. Explosions erupting every other second, men and women screaming in pain.

"Man always finds a reason to turn on man. Eventually they destroy themselves, and become a footnote in history."

Saber watched as misses raced across the sky, and in the distance mushroom clouds came into being.

"Your reign as king eventually amounts to nothing. They will never learn from your example. You becoming king only delays the inevitable. They are selfish and cruel, eventually consuming themselves in their own greed and hate. So why not indulge in your selfish wish, if this shall always be the end?"

The scene then shifted again, and Saber found herself back on the hill. She gasped at what she saw.

In the distance was a small cottage, quaint and humble. Cozy looking, two windows as well as a small oak door and a chimney letting out small puffs of smoke.

Just outside hanging clothes on a small rack was her, a copy of her wearing a brown dress with her hair down. Sweat on her brow, but smiling contently.

"That's me..." Saber muttered out in awe. This was her, not a King or a knight. Living an ordinary life, free from duties imposed upon her.

The door opened, and a small bond-haired child came out wearing a brown shirt and pants. The child looked so much like Mordred. It laughed as it ran up to Saber's double and hugged her, while the copy giggled at her child's antics.

It made the tears in Saber's eyes flow faster.

"Yes it is." The Grail cooed out. "It is what might have been if you hadn't taken that sword."

Saber looked behind her, back to Excalibur, still lodged into the black stone. The ink of the stone began seeping upwards, marring Excalibur's once polished steel and gold with black and red.

"This is but one of the lives you can live, free from the burden of being a king. Free from the quest for peace that had been thrust upon you, allowing you no release." The Grail whispered out. "Once I am born, I shall make it come to be. Make it so that the prophecy never came into existence. You will simply be Arturia, with fate once again yours to control. You will be able to grow old, live a fulfilling life, and die years before humanity decides its own fate." The Grail then began bringing Saber's mouth closer to its own. "All you have to do is wish upon me."

Saber wanted it. God help her, she wanted it.

A life free from expectations.

A life with her in control, not 'fate'.

A life ruled by her decisions rather than following the script of someone else.

And yet... she saw how this would all end.

But if man was truly destined to destroy one another with or without her reign...

"Then... this is truly it, isn't it? My first and last choice, free from all expectations. Free from having to live up to the image of an ideal king."

She either chose her own happiness... or she would remain a hero for a race that didn't deserve her.

Her lips drew closer to the Grail's.

"My choice..."

She remembered Irisviel, and she remembered the day she pulled the sword out of the stone. The day where she had sacrificed it all for a land in chaos. A land whose people were suffering.

She made her choice.

xxXXxx

"Heh..." Assassin chuckled. "Hehehehe..." The chuckle grew in volume, making the Grail raise its eyebrow. It then became full-on laughter, echoing through the 'world'. "BWAHAHAHAHAHA!"

"I would have thought it would take a bit more than this to make you mad." The Grail muttered out while tears came out of Assassin's eyes.

"P-Please... pffthahahaha!" Assassin attempted to stifle his laughter, and was failing miserably. "I'm laughin' because you almost had me!"

That caused the Grail's mask of serene happiness to break. "Excuse me?"

"Oh man, you're one smooth talker, aren't you Angra?" Assassin turned around to fully face it. "You really almost had me. This party is wild. My kind of scene. It's almost like somethin' designed for me... except for all the killin'."

The Grail raised its eyebrow. "Yes, well certain emotions become much more powerful without laws to tell them it's 'wrong'..."

"Oh don't try to salvage the illusion now I've peeked behind the curtain." Assassin placed his hands in his pockets as he walked forward. "That's how this works, isn't it? You put on a show like this to fool people to think that what you want is what they want. You know what words to say, the sweet nothings that fool people into believing they want to make a certain miracle, and accept what comes after as a necessary cost." When Assassin stood in front of the Grail, and it took a step back, he grinned. "But in the end, our miracle is just your necessary cost. All you want to do is get back in the world, turn it to a Hell on Earth because that's what you're all about. Gotta make the person who's going to make a wish forget they are talkin' to the personification of Evil, after all."

"But this is your desire." The Grail said, forcefulness in its voice as well as annoyance. "Humanity will be free, and without restraints this is the result."

"Again, nice try." Assassin wagged his finger. "But ya seem to be forgettin' something important. Something not 'formed' by laws and such." His smirk grew wider. "Human decency and goodness. They are in all of us. Sure laws help to give justification and words for it, but people are compelled to help their fellow man. To work together and be happy together. Those fights from before that you showed me? I guarantee you several people in that party would help to break it up. Even someone like me knows this." Assassin shook his head. "But no, that's what you see humanity as. Doing its worst to one another, fittin' it into the box of 'evil' and sayin' that's what I'm workin' for. If I made the wish, none of us would actually be free. We would just be in your world and given the illusion of freedom."

The Grail was silent for a few seconds before it sneered. "You just like to think you're so damn smart, Lupin the Third..."

"You tryin' to hurry me up gave it away, really." Assassin shrugged. "Had to sell the idea to me as quickly as possible so I wouldn't smell your bullshit."

Yes, Assassin wanted freedom. Yes, Assassin hated authority and the shackles society placed on the people.

But never like this. he never saw man like this, hedonistic and self-destructive.

Assassin wanted true, human freedom. Where people made their own decisions, free from any external influence.

And among those free people would be those who would do good. Not because they were told, but because they wanted to.

That was the world he lived in.

That was the world Jigen, Goemon, Fujiko, and Zenigata were a part of.

That was the world Riko would find.

That was what Lupin the Third was about.

"It doesn't matter if you do not make a wish." The Grail said forcefully. "Saber is still here, still here and will make the right decision for her own happiness. You pushed too hard, Lupin. You made her just as selfish as the rest!"

"Hm..." Assassin then eyed the Grail. "You said this is your container, right?"

"Yes, why?"

"Thanks! I want to test out a theory." With that, Assassin placed his hands on the Grail's shoulders.

"What are you doing!?" The Grail shouted before its eyes widened. "L-Let me go!"

"Aww, what's the matter? Aren't you goin' to do your little disappearing trick?" Assasin asked mockingly. At that moment, the sky began to crack. Reality began to look a lot like glass, little lines forming in the air and ground. Black blood began dripping out from each crack, oozing out before being sucked back in.

"What is this!?" The Grail shouted, Irisviel's features showing panic as cracks began to form on the body's skin.

"This was a long shot, but I decided to take it." Assassin let out a chuckle. "Remember my Noble Phantasm? Anything I steal, take with my hands, becomes mine. I did it with Diarmuid, I did it with Arthur, and now I'm doing it to you. Or more specifically..." Assassin grinned. "...the Grail."

"You can't!" The Grail screamed as black blood began coming out of its cracks. A bright light began emanating from its throat. "The Grail isn't an object you can just take!"

"Oh, but it does need to take a physical form when it enters this world, doesn't it?" Assassin questioned with a raise of his eyebrow. "It is an object in that case. One that I just grabbed. I'm the new owner... and I'm kickin' you out. You're way overdue on your rent anyways."

Before the Grail could respond, it let out a scream. Light came out of its eyes and mouth, while the egg overhead continued to crack and break, pieces falling onto the ground and shattering reality revealing blinding light. "I still have power!" The Grail shouted in anger. "Enough for the miracle! I may not be able to curse you, Lupin the Third, but I will be born!"

"You obviously don't know Arthur." Assassin said with a firm confidence. "You're gonna be sorely disappointed."

Assassin knew Arthur, the kind of person she was deep down when she didn't fool herself with ideologies and tried to live up to them.

He had faith.

"Damn you, Lupin the Third!"

And with a scream that sounded like a million hate-filled voices mixed with Irisviel von Einzbern's, everything went white.

xxXXxx

Saber broke from the Grail's grasp, turned around and gripped Excalibur's handle. With a mighty tug, the blade came loose. The blackness faded from the blade as she turned to face the Grail again...

...And rammed the blade through Irisviel's abdomen.

The Grail stood there, shocked at the wound and blood flowing out of its wound. "S-Saber?" It whispered in Irisviel's voice before blood came out of its mouth.

Saber chocked back a sob as she pulled the blade free from the Grail's body. The body that belonged once to Irisviel fell to the ground, staining the once perfect grass with blood. "I can't." Saber muttered as her hands gripped into fists. "I can't do it. I will not."

"Saber, why did you do this!?" The Grail screamed, looking up at Saber with Irisviel's eyes filled with betrayal. "Why are you denying yourself happiness!? Why are you allowing yourself to be controlled by fate!?"

"Fate is not controlling me! Neither is some illusion of destiny!" Saber screamed out while looking down. "I... I understand. I understand that this is indeed what I truly want. Assassin was right about me. Deep down, I am as selfish as every other human being. I hate being King Arthur. I hate how I was forced to become a hero by forces and people since the day of my birth. I just want to be like everyone else, not an ideal king. Not a legend in the form of a human." Saber's hands shook. "But... even if I am selfish. Even if I am not an ideal king... I will not allow this to come to pass. I will not damn future generations for a life that I had already sold."

"But it is inevitable!" The Grail cried out from its position. "Whether you rule or not, they will just kill one another!"

"...No, they will not." Saber whispered out. "Humans... they have produced so many heroes, haven't they? From noble and true to dark and flawed. Each of them, representing something. Each of them showing that deep down... humans want to be better. To escape the self-destructive path that even they foresee." Saber shook her head. "Perhaps what you have shown me is indeed a path humanity will take... but saying that is the only future for them? That is the fate you forsee them to take. That you will make into a reality should you be born. I hate the concept of fate, and therefore... I reject yours."

Yes... Saber had been troubled by heroes like Assassin. Those that lived by breaking laws, lives full of hedonism and danger. Because it meant that the ideals Saber had tried to represent were, in the end, worth nothing.

But at the same time, her ideals lived on. The very thoughts she harbored were shared by all humans, the desire to help in a time of need, the wish for a better life free fro bloodshed and chaos. While some may bask in the worst of humanity, others simply wanted to carve out a future for the best in what little ways they could, all the while living their lives.

Saber wanted what Assassin had: freedom.

If she accepted the wish, she would never be free. She would not only be the Grail's prisoner, but her own. Her 'new' self would never have a choice, she would be unable to become a king or knight even if she wanted to.

Even if the Sword in the Stone still existed... she wouldn't have the choice whether to pull it out or not.

The Grail screamed and thrashed around. Blackness came out of its pores, and the sky began to crack and bleed darkness. "Damn you, Lupin the Third! How dare you reject me!?"

"Ah, so he was here as well." Saber let out a hollow chuckle. "Well... he did promise to steal the Grail, and he was always a man of his word."

"Arturia! Think about this! There's still time! I still have the power to grant your miracle!" The Grail shouted, reaching out towards her. "Look at them! Look at the family you could have!"

Saber did indeed look, looked to see herself happy with a child. Happy in a small cottage in Britain, within the dream Saber always had deep down.

"Why? Why would you sacrifice that!? Why would you throw away your own happiness for them!?"

Saber's lips pursed, and then she let out words that seemed to be truth itself.

"Because that's what heroes do."

Yes, before she did not have a choice to become a hero. Everyone else made decisions as to how she should live her life.

Here? In this desolate place? Separated from reality, somewhere within time and space inside a cup that granted miracles?

Saber chose to become a hero.

Nobody would know this. Nobody would know what she sacrificed. No one would sing her praises for this act.

But Saber would do it anyways.

The Grail snarled as bits of its skin fell off, Irisviel's voice filled with hate. "I curse you, Arturia Pendragon! I curse you to bear the likeness of this container, who you would have killed for this miracle you have rejected!"

Saber took a deep breath as she looked up towards the Grail's egg. She gripped Excalibur and raised it, specks of light gathering around the blade.

"I curse you to forever roam this Earth that you despise, suffering every night until the day you die!"

Saber watched as reality collapsed. The hills and plains slowly disappearing. Saber watched as the cottage turned to nothing. And darkness consumed her copy and her child.

Consumed the life she was sacrificing.

"I curse you to never die until one of the Lupin bloodline slays you! The man you've grown to hate, only he and his ilk can end you! No others! Angra Mainyu curses you!"

Saber looked up at the Grail and calmly said, "So... let it be done."

She swung her sword, and in a brilliant flash of light... Excalibur's strike landed true.

xxXXxx

"Well, everything's on fire." Daisuke muttered out as he and Zenigata, along with various onlookers including civilians and policemen watched Miyama town as well as the surrounding forest go up in flames.

"I can see that." Zenigata groaned as he scratched the back of his neck. His lips pursed when he heard several civilians begin sobbing.

This was a disaster that they had been expecting. No way were a bunch of legendary heroes going to duke it out and leave the city intact. Honestly it was just a miracle that they evacuated everyone when they did.

Otherwise, there would be more than just one or two casualties from people too stubborn to leave home.

As if on cue, one building collapsed.

"And there goes my house. Great." Daisuke's shoulders went down. "I just got that thing too..."

Zenigata patted Daisuke on his right shoulder and grimaced at the flames, looking directly at Mount Enzou, which was still in flames despite the fat everything burnable within the area should have been long turned to ash. "Damn it Lupin... what the hell is going on over there?"

Suddenly, Zenigata saw something glow on Mount Enzou. Then, a beam of light shot up, going higher and higher into the sky. Zenigata gaped as the light shot into the sky and parted the clouds, blowing them all away.

"WHAT THE HELL!?" Zenigata screamed out in shock while everyone else gaped in awe. The flames nearby were blown out, and Zenigata felt a burst of air hit his face. "Was that one of the heroes?" It had to be. Zenigata didn't know any modern weapon that could release something like that. "Lupin..."

The sound of a car horn echoed through the air, and Zenigata looked to the side to see a small yellow Fiat stop just before the crowd.

"Lupin?" Zenigata whispered out before a grin broke out across his face. "LUPIN!" He then ran through the crowd, pushing and shoving anyone in his way. "I knew you would make it! No way a punk like you would let some old-timers bring him down!" He chuckled as he then burst through the front of the crowd. He reached into his jacket's pocket and took out a pair of handcuffs. "I've got a pretty pair of braces with your name on them, Lupi-!"

His smile then turned into a frown as the driver door then opened, revealing a brown-haired man with a bleeding ankle.

"You're not Lupin..."

"No, I am not." The man replied, sounding almost amused in response to his disappointment.

Zenigata recognized him.

Kotomine Kirei, a man who was supposed to be dead.

"Identify yourself!" A JSDF soldier yelled. The man raised his arms as he walked to the backseat.

"I am but a man of god, delivering to you a criminal..."

"And that's not me!" The head of a young boy... Waver Velvet, if Zenigata remembered right from the files, shouted as he raised his right arm. "I'm not the criminal he's talking about! I'm innocent! Innocent!"

"Yes, not him." Kirei said with a nod. "I'm talking about him." He then opened the door to the Fiat, reached in, and threw a body down on the floor.

Zenigata's eyes widened as he recognized the face of the man groaning in pain while clutching his stump of a right hand. It was aged, but Zenigata had ingrained those features into his mind.

"Oscar?" Zenigata whispered out, looking at the form of his long missing lieutenant. The one he had thought died somewhere, who he grieved for even if he betrayed what it meant to be a policeman.

The boy who had saved him, all those years ago.

"You know each other, which saves an explanation." Kirei then threw an owl mask next to Oscar. "I present to you with the leader of the Owl's of Minerva."

Zenigata took several steps forward, motioning to the soldiers. "Lower... Lower your weapons..." The soldiers did as they were told, and Zenigata looked at Oscar. "Oscar..."

The boy, now man, looked up at Zenigata. "Inspector..." He looked away in shame, his eyes filled with guilt and self-disgust.

Nothing more needed to be said.

"Take him to receive medical treatment." Zenigata ordered to the soldiers behind him. "Don't let him out of sight."

They nodded, running forward before bringing Oscar to his feet and moving him past Zenigata.

"Jesus..." Daisuke muttered as he came out of the crowd and the soldiers passed by him. "Who is that?" He asked Zenigata gesturing to the man on the ground.

"Someone who was like a son to me..." Zenigata grumbled out sadly.

"Damn..."

Tires screeched, and the two policemen looked up to see the Fiat zoom away. "Stop!" Daisuke shouted while taking out his gun. "I said sto-!"

Zenigata raised his hand. "Forget him. I have the feeling we'll be seeing him really soon."

Especially if he was driving around Lupin's signature car.

Zenigata then eyed Waver, who was attempting to sneak into the crowd. "And where do you think you're going?"

The young man then froze up while Zenigata waved his hand that held the cuffs.

The look on his face was priceless.

"Lupin... wherever the hell you are... you better not have gotten caught up in whatever the hell this is. And if you have... you better be alive or I'll throttle you in the afterlife when I get there."

xxXXxx

Where the Ryuudou Temple once stood, ashes remained.

Wood that had been put in place hundreds of years ago were now burnt splinters, falling apart at the gust of the wind. Trees that stood longer than that were now blackened husks. Stones cracked by intense heat, marking the end of the once proud temple built within Fuyuki City.

In the distance was Fuyuki City, buildings that were once homes were now ashen heaps. Some still burning before falling down. The sounds of flames and distant sirens echoed through the air.

It was like hell on Earth.

And yet Saber knew that the alternative was far worse.

"Khhk..." Saber gripped her stomach as she moved out of the remains of the temple, into the burnt out forest. Her left hand dragged Excalibur on the ground behind her, its once pristine blade marred by specks of black. Her throat felt like it was on fire. Her eyes stung and her feet had who knows how many splinters, scratches and pieces of glass in them.

Oh, and she was completely naked.

That was not fun.

Saber had no idea how long she walked through the burnt forest. It felt like an hour maybe more. She kept walking and walking with no destination in mind, other than to get away. "But there is no mud. There is no mud, meaning that I've succeeded..."

Meaning that she had destroyed the Grail.

Meaning she had destroyed the thing that could have granted her what she had wanted.

It hurt. It felt like she had ripped off a part of her soul, denying herself that life. Saber wanted to cry once more, but what good would that do? It would not have the Grail be pure from the start. Not bring her back her wish, one without the consequence Saber knew was far too great for it.

Eventually, Saber tripped. She groaned as she ignored the new scratches on her body, but picked herself up. She then looked ahead and saw a source of relief. "A river..." She muttered as she crawled to the moving water. Saber brought her hands to the water, the ash sinking to the bottom, and brought it up to her face.

She looked at her reflection.

Where once golden blond hair stood, it had been replaced by snow-white locks.

It reminded her of Irisviel's hair.

"Heh..." Saber let out a bitter chuckle as she touched her throat, a sick round mark marring it. Her finger was also still gone. Both now constant reminders of Assassin injuring her. Reminders of her time in the modern age.

Marks of her transition to this new time she had to call home.

The Grail obviously kept its word. She was in a new body, one crafted to its specifications. Her bones ached as did her muscles. Her insides felt like they were getting torn up and her skin felt akin to glass.

She was in pain, horrible mind-numbing pain she never had the displeasure of experience before.

"I did it..." Arturia Pendragon muttered as tears formed at the corner of her eyes. "I... I became a hero. But by my choice..." She looked down and muttered, "My choice... but it was the right one, wasn't it?"

Only the sound of falling trees, the crackling of ash, and running water answered her.

xxXXxx

"What a mess..." Kirei muttered to himself as he observed the remains of the Ryuudou Temple.

He had decided to return to the area to check on things once the flames died down. While there were many burnt homes and a good portion of the forest around the mountain now burnt to a crisp, only roughly a good quarter of Fuyuki itself had been destroyed. Whatever had occurred with the Grail had obviously been hampered by the numerous caves and tunnels underneath the temple, lessening the speed of the mysterious force that caused the flames.

It was truly a miracle that there weren't any more casualties.

"But what of the Grail?" Kirei muttered to himself as he kicked over a burnt out pillar of wood causing it to collapse. "What happened to it, to cause all this? Assassin most certainly hadn't done this, and Saber does not have the character to perform such an act. And even if Emiya Kiritsugu set a separate contingency beforehand which his ally activated, it holds no strategic value."

Kirei looked behind him, and the burnt remains of the temple, forest, and Fuyuki.

The old him would have gotten some sick pleasure out of seeing this.

But now he was into finer things, and a finer line of work.

"Now... I suppose I should see who won, in the end." Kirei placed his hand into his chin. "With luck, it is Assassin. I truly hope he at least kept Saber alive... that would make this entire exercise worth it..."

"Come on Kirei my man, did you ever doubt me?"

Assassin's voice caused Kirei's eyes to widen and turned his head to a burnt tree trunk that was still standing. A hand was waving from behind it to the left before Assassin's face peeked out. Slightly marred by soot, but very much unharmed. "Yo! Glad to see ya again!"

Kirei let out a sigh of relief as he said, "So you did win..."

"Yup! Got the Grail!" A hand to the right shot out, and in its hands was a golden grail.

THE Holy Grail.

"I... expected more." Kirei admitted with a frown. The cup which held enough energy to grant an impossible miracle should be a bit more heavenly.

"Ah, well a lot of stuff happened, and I made it mine..." Assassin sighed and shook his head. "Rather, just the container itself is mine now. All the gunk inside it is gone. Or expelled. Whatever."

"I'm… not sure I understand."

"Long story short, making it mine kinda made it into a glorified drinking cup now."

"..." What a half-assed explanation.

"I'll fill you in on the details later."

"I hope." Kirei's eyes then widened. "But... if the Grail ran out of power, you should no longer be in this world. Or at least, that's what I've been lead to believe."

Assassin nervously laughed. "Yeah, I kinda expected to be on the throne by now. But..." He shook his head. "My guess is... I've got a certain treasure of Arthur's to thank."

"Avalon..." It made sense in a way. Its power could have been enough for Assassin to retain a form, even without the Grail. To give him a flesh and blood body. One that didn't have to return to the Throne of Heroes after his purpose had been 'fulfilled'. "You truly are a lucky man, Lupin the Third..."

Lupin grinned. "Don't I know it! Now I hope you've got an extra pair of pants in the car, because I'm naked as a baby here."

Kirei let out a chuckle. He then began laughing, laughing in joy.

He knew what this meant, and it made him far happier than he ever believed he could be.

"Crack open the champagne Kirei, my man. We're partyin' tonight! I've kept my word! The Grail... is ours!"

To Be Continued...

[shounen jump]

Wait, why did Saber get cursed but not Assassin?
Also love the "it'll be alright bro" moment between Zan. and Jigan.