45 By Ones Own Wish

Fifteen minutes later.

Jaune from his position called over to Ruler. "Get ready. We have incoming."

Ruler just looked on with a questioning gaze. "Who are we expecting?"

"Well if I am to hazard a guess it would likely be one of the servants of Black with a guest." Artoria said as knowing smirk.

"What? Why are you looking at me like that?" Ruler asked.

"Oh, no reason." Artoria's smile widened as she looked away. "I am going to another location. You take care of this situation. I will run interference on the other side."

Ruler looked on with a questioning gaze before turning in the direction that Jaune had pointed out. She looked and saw a servant girl carrying a young homunculus boy. Ruler seeing this rushed to their position as Black Saber and his master appear.

Astolfo after escaping the mansion was following the Shinigami in the direction of Ruler. He had just gotten in the woods when he felt the familiar feeling of Saber. It seemed what assassin had explained was taking place. He had to be vigilant and not allow Saber's master to use a command seal.

So it came to be Astolfo was confronted by Saber and his master. When Astolfo defended the boy he was able to change Siegfried's mind. Siegfried for the first time in his life and after life decided to do something for himself rather than another person. To complete his wish he knocked out his master before turning toward Astolfo and the boy. It was at this point that Ruler appeared and tried to stop Saber from doing anything rash.

"Do not worry Ruler. I am only completing my own wish." Siegfried said as he held up one of his hands and pushed it into his chest. A few seconds later with immense pain on his face he pulled out his heart. He then proceeded to place the heart against the homunculus boy's chest where it sank in with some slight ripples of energy.

After completing his task Siegfried staggered backward and sat upon a rock. "I was finally able to do something of my own free will. Rider I commend you for being able to do this all the time. I hope you will continue to do so in the future. Tell the boy he is free to do as he wishes. His freedom is my wish." Siegfried then dematerialized evaporating into magic particles.

Astolfo just nodded his head at Siegfried's final words and wishes. Turning back to the boy both Astolfo and Ruler were shocked when the boy grew to fill out the clothes that had been largely baggy on him as of yet. Ruler walked up and tried to examine the boy, but Astolfo was in the way. Ruler with a frustrated face grabbed Astolfo's head and threw him away.

Astolfo rolled on the ground and called out when he stopped, "Hey!"

Ruler ignored him and continued to examine the boy. As she was doing so Jaune and his two companions landed not fifty yards away looking towards the Yggdmillennia estate.

Astolfo feeling their presences turned to look. She found her master, the other masters of the Black faction and servants facing off against three people. One was likely a teenager or a man in his twenty's in blue jeans and a leather jacket with an advanced looking Grecian metal helmet. A normal looking black sword in one hand and an intricate shield in his other hand. To his left was a woman in dark violet body armor with a blood red spear pointed at the ground. On his right was a younger girl covered in a purple full body cloak who held a scythe and chain at the ready.

Lancer of Black called out to the three and asked in a condescending tone, "Why do you stand in the way? What business do you have here? Who exactly are you?"

"Nice to meet you Lancer of Black, your majesty. I am the master of the Blue faction. These here are my companions. I am here to ensure the safety of this homunculus and Ruler. It seems a hero's final wish was to see this boy live a free life. I intend to see that happens. No matter the obstacles." Jaune said as he tilted his head allowing an arrow to pass right by his head. A second later he lifted his sword deflecting another arrow from going towards Ruler and the boy. He felt a sting in his arm at the strength of the arrow. 'Dang, Chiron really wants to kill me.'

"Hey! That is not me, just a different version. Besides that was only training." Chiron said from the reality marble.

"Yeah well I seem to have "died" a few times while undergoing your training." Jaune thought to Chiron.

"Well at least I'm not as bad as Scathach." Chiron said to Jaune in an injured tone.

"Thank you. I take that as a compliment." Scathach thought to them both after hearing them talk.

"Jaune just shivered. Hahaha." Nobunaga said laughing.

"I don't blame him." Beowulf said in a matter of fact way.

The two who spoke materialized to the sides lending their presence to Jaune's stand against the Black faction.

The Black faction became restless seeing these new servants.

"I see. So it seems we have lost our Saber." Lancer of Black said as he looked around. "Will you allow us to take his master with us? As well as Rider? After we will withdraw."

"Lancer. That boy is the perfect reactor for my project. We can't let him get away." Caster of Black said to Lancer.

"I understand your frustration Caster. But we are at a disadvantage in this moment due to our missing servant. We will find you another reactor for your project." Lancer said. He indeed wanted to battle but there were too many unknowns at this time. The enemy had a couple servants missing that could change the tide of battle. Even with his domain aiding him he does not feel as if he would survive the confrontation. Even the master was an unknown quantity as he was able to deflect and dodge two of Archer's arrows without the use of magic to aid him.

"I can agree to this." Jaune said he turned his helmeted head towards Darnic and asked, "You heard of our mission. What say you? Will you aid us in our quest to stop the outside force? Will you be willing to meet us in three days?"

Darnic looked on with am impassive gaze. "I have heard of your so-called outside force, but I have not seen any kind of evidence of their presence or actions. I will not stop my actions until I have proof of your so-called outside force. You have these three days to come up with any evidence to support your claims. If you are able to come up with it at that time, I will order a halt to our actions. You will have to ensure the Red faction does accordingly or there will be no stop to this war."

Jaune looked at the man for a full minute before he agreed with a nod, "I will find the evidence you seek. I will contact you when it is in my possession. I will also work to get the Red faction's agreement as well."

"With that agreement we are in accord. We will continue the battle between the Black and Red faction until you show proof of the outside force. Once you do I will be willing to stand down, but only if the Red faction agrees to it." Darnic said.

Rider's master called for him to pick up Saber's master. She was livid and likely to harm Rider when they got to the estate. "Caster if you would please." Lancer said as he pointed his head toward Rider.

Caster stared at Lancer before he turned. His gaze behind the mask was leveled on the homunculus. His prize was so close but so distant at the same time. Sighing he created a solid stone set of handcuffs in the form of a large orb of stone.

Astolfo's arms sank under the weight a few inches. He then turned and spoke to the homunculus boy and said, "Live your life to the fullest. Don't let Siegfried's wish die out." Before he turned back and prepared himself for the pain that was likely to come soon.

The Black faction turned away, heading back to their estate.

Jaune released the tension in his shoulders as the group disappeared over the hill.

Beowulf asked the group of heroes through telepathy so that Jaune wouldn't hear, "Hey, did you guys notice the way that Black's Berserker went silent and didn't show any hostility after she looked at Jaune?" The other servants put in their own thoughts.

"Yeah I did notice that. She was growling at everyone then went silent after getting a look at Jaune." Shirou said as he looked in the direction of where Berserker of Black had left.

"Do you think she noticed the state of his soul?" Medusa asked.

"That is a likely scenario. Jaune's soul is a mishmash of all of our souls and only a spark of his original. Since Frankenstein has already gone through it, she is probably very sensitive to it. She sensed a kindred soul. Knowing the legend, it is likely that she will come to our side at some point in hopes of joining Jaune since he is a form of her deepest wish." Scathach said with some sadness in her eyes.

"If that is the case will we accept her when she wishes to join us?" Nobunaga asked.

"Knowing Jaune, he will do so in an instant when he finds out about her background." Shirou said as he sighed. Everyone else nodded their heads at this exasperatedly.

"Well Berserker aside. I hope that Caster will be able to find some kind of evidence for the meeting in a couple days. If she does, we can rope the two factions into helping us. Otherwise we may leave Jaune in a comatose state with our magical output to deal with the divine beasts." Beowulf said.

"True and if he gets captured…" Medusa said not finishing. They all knew the danger such a thing could bring upon the world.

"So did we decide whether or not to let Tama to summon Leonidas? If so we can have one more person helping to defend Jaune." Nobunaga asked.

"Once she is done with her investigation and her sabotage mission she said she would then. Then she could just focus more on staying with the group rather than using her power to escape should she be discovered. Plus she also said that Scathach could summon him as well." Shirou said.

"I will speak with her once she returns then we can bring him out one way or another. I am in less need for magical power as my body is more than enough to end divine beasts or servants." Scathach said. It was not bragging but simple fact. She would be the greatest weapon in Jaune's arsenal when he goes to deal with the divine beasts or the two factions. Even Karna, Achilles and Siegfried together would barely survive against her at full power with noble phantasms. The only three who could give her trouble were already on her team, Artoria, Hassan and Medusa.

"Even at his max output Jaune is only able to sustain you and Hassan for a minute or so of all-out battle. While at his current output he can keep all of us filled for most of the day in our materialized forms and battle ready for thirty minutes. But since you and Tama found that leyline you have been able to cut your draw on him significantly. This has made it possible for all of us to be present at a time and able to battle for a much longer period of time." Medusa said. "We truly have some good luck to find a leyline that has not been taken over by a magus family or the other two factions."

The heroes nodded as they all turned and followed Jaune. Beowulf and Nobunaga both dematerialized.

Ruler seeing the situation led the homunculus boy away and proceeded to talk to him on the way to the one location she knew he would be safe. He on the way chose a name; Sieg in memory of the hero who gave him his freedom.

Jaune went to the town nearby with his escorts. He made it just in time for dawn. It was a beautiful scene. One he hoped to enjoy for a short while. He walked to the center of the town. There he sat at the fountain, his body began to shake as he sat there going over the killing intent pushed upon him by those servants. Medusa and Scathach both looked on with sad looks on their faces as they realized the strong front Jaune had put up had finally shattered.

They let Jaune decompress just giving him the much-needed companionable silence. As much as Jaune may seem like an adult he was only a child who had not even reached his teens. He had not been trained in a world where humans sent killing intent to one another. He came from a world filled with monsters that forced humanity into a united front.

Scathach and Medusa both looked upon the form of Jaune with some worry and sadness. They both knew that Jaune was an extremely kindhearted child who had never really seen war. Oh, he had seen the war between humanity and the Faunus against monsters. He understood that form of war. But the type of war that was most common and constant in this world is the war between humans.

Due to his life in a world where there was a unifying enemy, he had never really seen the atrocities that humans could place upon each other. And he was about to see the worst of it here in this Grail war. They hoped that Jaune would be able to handle it. Whether that be emotionally or physically. He was just under 10 years old even if he seemed older both physically and emotionally.

They also hoped he wouldn't act recklessly. But then they thought about it once again and they couldn't hope for that because it would keep him from being himself. They would just have to do their best to make sure he was protected while he did what he wanted to do.

After the shaking had stopped Jaune stood back up and looked at Medusa and Scathach, "I need to sleep lets go find a place to settle in and prepare for tomorrow. It will be a very dangerous day tomorrow." The two women nodded leading the downtrodden and tired Jaune to a already scouted hotel.

Jaune fell right to sleep when they got to the room. The women looked at their charge and felt pain knowing someone so young was being placed in such a dangerous position between three immensely powerful enemy forces. They pledged to themselves then to the other heroes that they would do whatever it took to make sure Jaune survived this war, even if they had to sacrifice themselves to do it.

During the night there was a couple of occurrences that brought the heroes on alert. One was Mordred destroying some golems and the following homunculi. While the other was a shadow that made multiple attempts to breach the hotel that they were staying. Each time one of the heroes would appear and scare off the shadow. This continued till the night of the next day.

Jaune after sleeping for so long was feeling well rested even after all the magic was being used to support all the heroes.

"We need to get moving. They are preparing to start." Scathach said to Jaune who nodded and put on his helmet. The group returned to the same location as the previous day. Looking down Jaune could see the two armies preparing for battle. One filled with golems and homunculi. The other filled with skeletons with shark mouths as heads filling the ground enough to block out any of the grass. The ground rumbled from their constant pounding of the dirt.

The two armies started to run at one another. The two clashed and Jaune saw war in its most brutal form. "Hey Scathach, Medusa." Jaune called out with a slightly emotionless tone.

"Yes, Jaune?" Scathach and Medusa asked. They felt a shift in Jaune's temperament at this moment. They were not sure what it was but they would be vigilant of the possibility of a breakdown.

"I know I was told what homunculus are and why they are made. But do they not have their own wills? Do they not want things outside of just following orders? I only see emotionless eyes. Eyes that were described to me by my uncle. He told me of the Great War that happened on my world. Where a country in hopes of preventing further grimm attacks made the decision to try to eliminate emotions and its trigger, art.

"With this they hoped to stop the grimm from attacking again. But some very brave souls stood up to this tyranny. Thus, the great war happened. At the end my grandfather and great grandfather went to the kingdoms where the people had this restriction placed upon them. They both later told my father and uncle how the people had emotionless eyes. Due to the lack of entertainment and any form of art they had become walking husks nearly completely drained of free will and a will to live. Only able to follow orders and do what they were told. Looking upon these homunculus's I am seeing exactly what my grandfather and great grandfather saw in their time." Jaune shivered before he continued, "I know it might sound stupid and a needless risk but I want to save these people from their endless torment. I want to be a hero like my grandfather and great grandfather, who helped the people they saved regain their life. I want to free them." He looked at the two.

Though his face was covered up by the helmet the two women saw bone deep sadness but also a fierce determination. The two women looked at one another before Scathach spoke, "You understand that this action will harm the Black Faction, making them less likely to aid us in our objective?"

"We will have to do this in steps. You can't do it all at once. Otherwise you might as well just have us face off against the Black Faction now." Medusa said with a serious expression.

"Understood. What do you two suggest?" Jaune asked the two.

"Save the ones on the battlefield and take them with us. The ones still at the Yggdmillennia mansion we can help later on. Once you are able to heal up the ones on the battlefield we can release them. Of course, after that everything may change." Medusa said. She had come to understand the power of Jaune's healing capabilities and could calculate that he could keep that up while giving the heroes enough power to defend him.

Jaune nodded his helmeted head and looked around. He was looking for a suitable location for the homunculus to be placed. One that was easily defensible and had enough ground to lay the injured. He found one such location. He pointed at the desired place and turned to Scathach. "Can you put up wards and protective runes to give them a place to heal?" Scathach looking to the location nodded her head with a smirk. Jaune was not going in without thinking out a plan. The lessons are starting to sink in.

Jaune also said to the air, "Shirou can you get a couple of vans or bigger vehicles so we can bring them with us?"

"Sure thing. I will bring them all to the edge of the forest." Shirou said as he rushed in his insubstantial form.

"Nobunaga can you protect the trucks from the servants that are likely to come after us?" Jaune asked.

"Hahaha. I will set up a defensive line. Don't you worry about that." Nobunaga said as she rushed off with Shirou.

"Beowolf would you mind staying here to help protect the ones we save?" Jaune asked.

"Awe I wanted to join in the fight." Beowolf said as he materialized.

"I'm sure that once we are noticed both factions will be after us. So you can fight them then." Jaune said with a smile hidden under his mask.

"Oh, if that is the case then sure by all means. Bring them to me." Beowolf said with a massive blood thirsty smile.

"Scathach follow me and Medusa when you finish. Alright Medusa." Jaune said as he turned to her and asked her. "Are you ready?"

Medusa just nodded as she readied her scythe. Jaune prepared as well as he pulled out his sword and shield. Now with weapons in hand Jaune started the largest magic casting of his life up to this point.

"Trace On." Jaune said as he ignited the dragon core in his body. His magical output skyrocketed. Once it was at its peak Jaune started his next most contradictory idea. He summoned the grimm he has defeated.

Multiple packs of beowolfs, herds of boartusks, gaggles of creepers, five deathstalkers, four megoliaths and one imp grimm.

He summoned his world's enemies.

Not to deal death, but to save lives.