(13) Grand Order

Fuyuki City, a rural town located on the southern side of Kyushu, Japan. The city is a peaceful area. It's popular for its shrines that scatter across the city, with this, it becomes a tourist attraction for foreigners.

This peaceful city, however, is as you already know, not peaceful as it seems.

This city host multiple powerful magus families like the Matou, Tohsaka, and Einzberg to name a few. They have influence in the world of Magecraft. Each family has its specialties when it comes to magecraft. Like the Tohsaka that have great capabilities when it comes to jewel magecraft, or Alchemy when it comes to the Einzberg.

The noteworthy thing is that Einzberg is a family was created by the disciples of the Magician of the Third Magic seeking to replicate their master's achievements. So for many years, the Einzberns started a quest to recover their lost miracle but eventually came to realize that they would never succeed by themselves and thus sought outside help. The result was the establishment of the Heaven's Feel ritual a few years ago thanks to the help of the Makiri and the Tohsaka. They were the ones who built the Great Grail of Fuyuki.

And that's how The Holy Grail War came to be.

The ritual is considered a success since the winner of the war was granted a wish they desired. The winner wished for a substantial amount of wealth to build an organization whose sole purpose was to protect and preserve humanity.

He succeeded in his endeavor and he was able to create this organization who's now called the "Chaldea Security Organization" Or "Chaldea" for short. The name of the co-founder was Olga's predecessor and her Father, Marisbury Animusphere.

He was also a famed Magus from the Magus Association and a lord but that will be another story for another day.

What Marisbury doesn't know is the Holy Grail War he participated in, will become one of the reasons why humans will go extinct. It becomes a singularity.

To explain, a Singularity is an unobservable region that does not exist within Chaldea's recorded history. It's as if a hole has opened up within the timeline, a hole that is separate from the regular temporal axis. In other words, it's a separate event that didn't happen in human history. And the purpose of Chaldea is to correct that abnormality.

And the Fuyuki Singularity that Alexander and the others were, is exactly that Holy Grail War that diverged from what happens in history.

Now, they are fighting their last opponent to solve the singularity...

•••••••••••••••••••••••••

Saber or she's known in history as Arthur Pendragon, was a powerful and well-respected king. Because of political problems, she was forced to dress as a man to hide her real identity. She was a selfless type of King who put her people's needs before her own and her people love her for that. But that made her broken. She became like a robot, emotionless. But for the sake of her people, she would sacrifice everything, even her happiness.

But that lack of compassion is the cause of her downfall. She wasn't able to connect with her people. Her lack of communication with some of her knights made them abandon her and some betrayed her.

Looking at the girl in front of her, she reminds her of one of her loyal knights. She hated it. It reminds her of a tragic past. It reminds her of the deaths of her knights. That's why she wants to put an end to her futile attempt of defeating her.

*Clang* *Clang*

"It's impressive, although your skills in battle is that of a beginner. Your battle instinct makes up for that weakness..."

"Thank... you..."

Mash takes the opportunity to catch her breath as they have been fighting for quite a while. Saber, however, would let her rest, as she started to gather a large quantity of mana and transfer it to her black sword...

"Alexander! Her next attack will be a big one, are you sure she could handle that?!" Olga anxiously said to the man beside her.

"Don't worry, just put some trust in her. If things go wrong, I'll be sure to intercept it."

He then looked at Cu who is doing the same and they both nodded in unison. They watch as Saber started her NP, Olga and Ritsuka in particular who's anxious.

"Cry out. It is time to fall to the ground.

Hammer of the Vile King. Overturn the aurora. Swallow the light!

Excalibur Morgan!!"

A beam of black light surge from the sword at great speed aiming at Mash and the others. She watches as the attack comes closer and closer...

Time seems to slow down in Mash's point of view as her memories of her happy days come to mind. She remembers her short time meeting Ritsuka. It gathers her sense of joy. But now, as the black light comes closer, she realizes that if that attack strikes her, all the memories she made her senpai will disappear.

Her wavering determination once again lights up. That's when something clicks. Something or someone was telling her to do something. She wasn't able to recognize the voice but she was able to understand its intent.

As the black light comes closer and closer, she then slams her shield on the ground and by instinct was able to deploy her NP.

"True Name, pseudonym registered.

Deploying Noble Phantasm!"

As she said those words, her shield started to glow. A wall made of mana manifest in front ready to block any attacks coming its way.

As the black light crash into the wall, the impact created a gust of wind that pushes everything away. As the target of the attack, Mash was having a hard time. Her body whose full of vigor a few minutes ago was now kneeling and slowly getting tired as she tried her best to continue manifesting her NP.

And out of nowhere a hand that gives her warmth and security holds her hand. She saw a command spell on the hand so she instantly knows whose hand were those.

"Senpai?"

"I'm here."

The command spell in his hand started to glow as one of the patterns disappear. Mash's exhaust body suddenly become filled with energy as she stared at Ritsuka with gratitude. As her body returns to its peak state, she was able to stand up as both of them grab the handle of the shield tightly...

Alexander watches the whole thing with a smile as he said to Olga, "See, I told you they will be fine."

"I'm just worried that something might happen..." She realizes midway through her sentence that she said something that is way off her character, she blushed. Her voice gets smaller and smaller until it was barely unbearable.

Alexander knows why she was embarrassed so he teases her for it, "Oya? is someone worried? I don't expect our lovely director is a worrywart."

Her face becomes red even more as she shouted, "Shut up! Just help Mash and Fujimaru!"

He chuckles at her cute reaction and just nods. While they were talking the other two servants just watch on the sideline with a smile.

Anyway, back to action. Mash and Ritsuka were able to successfully block the attack. What they didn't expect however is the fact that Saber was not done attacking yet. She once again gathers mana in her sword ready to fire the same attack. Fortunately, since Ritsuka used a command spell, Mash was ready to use her NP once again...

"You both did a great job. Just leave the rest to us..."

Alexander's voice echoed throughout the cave. Saber momentarily halt her NP as she gazes at Alexander with interest.

"But Alex-san, I could still fight-"

"No." Shaking his head, "Mash, I know you want to prove to yourself as a capable servant of Fujimaru. You already prove yourself so it's time for you to rest."

Mash want to try to argue but the tone of his voice made her give up. She could only smile and nodded and both of them return to Olga's side.

As Alexander approach Saber with his two spears, the pressure that he radiated made Saber clenched her sword tightly as she enters her battle stance. She knows that her next opponent will be tougher than her previous battle. And for the longest time, she felt her blood boiling from excitement.

Not waiting any longer, she takes the initiative to attack.

She goes for a swing straight down aiming to cut Alexander in half. Her swing leaves a black line trail signifying how powerful each swing does.

Alexander didn't bother blocking as he easily dodges her attack. He goes a thrust with Gae Bolg aiming at Saber's heart. She easily deflected his attack and goes for another swing diagonally down to his right. This attack was not easily dodgeable so Alexander quickly used Gae Buidhe to deflect it with a bit of difficulty. He safely retreats 10 meters away and observes his opponent, carefully.

With this small exchange, even if Alexander was able to fight toe to toe with Saber, his experience is extremely lacking compared to his counterpart. Fortunately, in their small exchange, he was able to determine that he become much stronger compare to before. He was able to learn his limit when it comes to close combat.

Now that he has a clue on his capability. It's time for him to take this battle seriously. He's planning on using GOB. He's going all out from the beginning.

With the flick of his finger, he summons 15 portals surrounding Saber.

Saber watched with bewilderment as 15 different weapons come flying in her direction with the speed of Mach 4. Her skill instinct immediately notified her of the danger as she was able to deflect some of the weapons coming her way. Sadly, more than half of the weapons were left untouched as they all hit her from all directions causing a massive explosion. The mountain shook creating a small earthquake.

As the dust settles down, they were surprised to see that Saber survive that direct attack. She is kneeling with her sword piercing the ground and using it to hold her body up. Her black armor was destroyed revealing her pale white skin. Her beautiful figure, while petite, was shown for the world to see. And fortunately enough, her private parts are still covered.

Alexander was distracted for a moment but ultimately return to his serious face. Although his enemy may be a beautiful woman, he won't hesitate to kill her if she was an enemy.

Saber was unaware of the state of her body as she looked at Alexander with the same expression she's wearing this whole time, indifferent.

She started to breathe heavily as she pulls her sword upward and takes another stance. She gathers her last remaining mana for one last attack...

"This will be her last attempt. If we survive this we win-" Alexander calmly interrupted Cu's words.

"There is no need to."

"Huh? What do you mean?"

"look."

Alexander pointed at Sabers lower body that is slowly disappearing.

"What is happening?" Ritsuka asked in bewilderment.

("I'm not too sure either, I guess that her physical body is crumbling because of the amount of damage it took. In other words, Alexander's last attack was enough to defeat her. But because of an unknown force, her body was forced to remain. But because she is using her NP, her saint graph couldn't handle it anymore and it's slowly disappearing.")

"So does that mean, we won?"

"Yes," Tamamo answered.

Hearing her, Ritsuka finally sighs in relief.

Saber watched as her lower body slowly disappearing. She gazes at Alexander with complicated emotions.

"So I lost, it's unfortunate that we won't able to fight full power. Unbeknownst to me, my power is weakened if not I will able to fight much longer."

Alexander smile sadly for a moment...

"So you felt the same. It's truly unfortunate... That doesn't matter now. Before I disappear, I want to say a few words to you all."

"Please tell us anything you know."

"Grand order, the battle to obtain the holy grails has only just begun. If you continue your endeavor to preserve humanity... You only take the first in that goal... As for how far you people will go, It's all up to you."

After finishing her last words, she completely disappeared. What's left is a black crystal.

"Damn, she's still acting mysterious at the very end... Sigh, Whoa!"

"Looks like you being sent back too..."

Cu's body is also disappearing.

"Looks like it. Hey, it doesn't matter who between the two of you will summon me but summon me as a Lancer next time..."

"If we can, we will do it."

"Thanks..."

As Cu said his goodbye, his Saint Graph dissipate and his soul returned to the throne of heroes.

"Both confirming that Saber and Caster disappeared... so we won."

("Yes, you all did a great job, Mash, Ritsuka, Alex, and Tamamo-san. With this, we can call it a mission success, right director?")

"How... How did that servant know the Grand Order?"

"Director?"

"O-oh, Yes, this mission is a success. Although there are some questions left, let's first retrieve that black crystal first-"

"I'm impressed, you all succeed at reaching this far. Alexander Lampros and Ritsuka Fujimaru, keeping both of you alive was my mistake."

"P-prof Lev?!"

{An: I know I'm being a dick for cutting the chapter here but I'm just exhausted from all the things I have done today. It's already been a couple of days since I posted the last chapter and I don't want to delay it anymore. So here we are, a cliffhanger. You could post all the hate comments below and I'll accept them all. Anyway, thank you for all the support and ill see you guys in the next chap.}