44 Plans and Objectives

"Hahaha. I knew it." The military dressed girl said happily.

"Can someone explain to me please?" Jaune said as he continued to look between them all blinking rapidly.

"Seems you have a doppelganger here. It is pretty amazing, but I feel as if Zelretch might have already known of this. Plus, the old man would have known of this as well." The swordsman said.

Jaune seeing that no one else had anything new to add walked up to Jeanne and introduced himself, "Hello there. I am Jaune Arc master of the Blue faction in this Great Holy Grail War."

Jeanne looked at Jaune with a confused face asking, "Your name is Jaune Arc?"

Jaune answered and said, "Y-yes. That is the name my parents gave me."

"It seems you were named after me. My name is Jeanne d'Arc, Holy Maiden of France. I am the Ruler, or one of the Ruler's of this Holy Grail War." Jeanne said.

"What?! How can that be? I mean I'm not even—" Jaune started before he was interrupted by the coughing of the Saber servant. He started again, "I mean, that must be the case. It is good to meet you Ruler. You don't mind me calling you that right? I think it will be confusing if we both use our names." Jaune said smiling.

Jeanne looked between the one she believed to be saber and the boy. She wonder what this Jaune was about say before he was interrupted, mentally shrugging Jeanne put it off for another time to investigate. "Good to meet you as well. Of course. I don't mind that at all. Though what will we call second Ruler then?" Jeanne asked.

"I will go by my name over Ruler. It will lead to less confusion." Artoria said with a smile.

"Ok then. So what can you tell me about the problem we face in this war?" The renamed Ruler asked.

Jaune looked at his servants before he started, "I have information from a solid source that an outside enemy is threatening the balance of this war. They seem to have gained some limited control over two divine beasts and brought them to this location, the exact place of the Great Holy Grail War." At this statement Ruler gasped and looked around seeing nods from the servants.

"How can that be? I thought divine level phantasmal beasts are all hidden away and protected/defended by the magus associations? How did they secret them away?" Ruler asked with horror growing on her face.

"If I was to guess, then the organization was able to put the divine beasts into hibernation. Which wouldn't be hard with them being asleep most of the time these days. Once they were in hibernation, they would be able to remove the divine beasts from their hidden sanctuaries." Scathach said as she was the most knowledgeable of the servants here on the divine and phantasmal beasts

"I…I see. That truly is an apocalyptic event should they awaken. Do we have any idea of who the two divine beasts might be? Or their origin?" Ruler asked.

"Our Caster and Lancer are both fairly certain the two divine beasts are of the Norse mythos. From their animal sensing magic they felt the aspects of a wolf and a serpent." Saber explained.

"Of the Norse mythos and a serpent and a wolf." Ruler said as she thought hard on who they could be. Her face fell upon coming to the realization of who they could be. "Well there is only really one option for the serpent. It has to be Jormungandr, the world serpent. For the wolves it could be any of the big three."

"Indeed. But going by the fact they went after Jormungandr I don't think they settled for the weaker two wolves." Berserker said, "Besides. I feel it in my blood. The blood of the Norse Pantheon. It has to be the Fen wolf."

"Fenris." Ruler whispered.

"The world devourer." Berserker said with an excited smile. "Two world class enemies both planetary threats. Oh this is going to be so exciting."

"Can it, Berserker. This is way bigger than just you and your need for adventure. So, you will focus on the task or I will begin your own training." Scathach said to Berserker.

Berserker knowing the level of training was closer to its own version of hell had a conflicted look on his face before he folded. "Alright, I won't go out and attack the divine beasts alone." He responded with a downtrodden voice. He went to one of the corners and began drawing circles with his finger on the ground. He kept muttering to himself how it was unfair he couldn't battle to his hearts content.

Jaune felt sweat roll down his back with the ridiculous actions his heroes took towards each other. He rubbed the back of his head at their actions with a uncertain look on his face. "That is all we know at this time. We don't know their location or when the organization plans on awakening them. But our guess would be when there is smaller number of servants to confront the divine beasts. What number is a mystery but it will likely be then. So until that point we need to find the location of the beasts to prevent their awakening or outright kill them." Jaune said explaining their plans so far.

"I see. That is why you all were summoned. Immensely powerful servants at the level of Rulers on your own. That is why you set up the meeting in three days as well." Ruler said understanding the whole of the situation at this point.

"Yeah we hope the war will be put on hold until this situation is taken care of. But if the masters of this war are anything to go by then that could be a problem." Jaune said.

"Why do you say that?" Ruler asked.

"Well the Yggdmillennia family has summoned some very unique servants this time. One or two of them could be a hassle. While the leader of the Yggdmillennia family will be the most dangerous opponent on the Black faction's side." Jaune said.

"What makes you say that?" Ruler asked.

"It would be due to Caster. He is a single minded man focused on his work above all else. If he finishes his Noble Phantasm then he will be an even greater threat than the two divine beasts. It will become a true immortal. One that can't be defeated. While Yggdmillennia's head is a man who has worked so long for this war. It is unlikely he will let anything stand in his way. He will do anything to achieve his goal of winning the Holy Grail. So he is unquantifiable at any point." Jaune said.

"I have to ask how do you have so much information on your enemies?" Ruler asked.

"Well we have a friend high up in the Clock Tower. He gave us this information." Jaune said covering for Chiron.

"I see. Do you have any knowledge on the Red Faction?" Ruler asked.

"That is a little easier due to the situation. The "master" of the Red faction just happens to Shirou Kotomine. Our source has told us that he is an irregular that appeared. He is also the reason you were summoned originally. He is the original aberration to the Great Holy Grail War. The beasts were the reason we were summoned." Jaune said.

"Ok how is he the aberration then?" Ruler asked even more worried.

"He is a servant from the previous Holy Grail War. He shouldn't be here. But he has been here for sixty years and prepared to take the Holy Grail back and make a world changing wish." Jaune explained.

"Huh? How is that possible? He should have been sent back to the Throne of Heroes when the war ended." Ruler exploded.

"We know. That is why he is the original aberration." Saber said.

Ruler put her hands to her head and sank to her knees. Once she was there she folded her hands together and started praying.

Jaune not seeing anything like this before turned to Shirou and asked quietly, "What is she doing?"

Shirou knowing full well that Ruler could hear him responded in just as quiet a voice, "She is praying to her God. That is a form of faith that is taught to the people here. It is said to be a way to communicate to their God."

"Oh. Then why don't—" Jaune started before he was struck in the ribs.

He looked and saw Artoria looking at him with a steely gaze. Jaune quickly shrunk in on himself upon seeing Artoria's gaze.

Ruler mostly ignored them as she continued to pray. She did note down some of Jaune's slip ups for later investigation. This Jaune character was getting more and more confusing.

A few minutes later after she had calmed down. She had also received a response. Well response would be too strong of a word. Instead it would be more like intuition pushed upon her senses.

Due to Ruler being a spiritual being she was actually closer to the divine realm than a human of the mortal realm. Since a heroic spirit was a soul that is summoned upon the world with the help of humanities subconsciousness, her soul is in a realm that is closer to the divine realm. Allowing for divine messages and intentions from the gods to be sent. Those that still survived that is.

And from everything she has seen and felt He is ever present.

"Ok. I will help you to defeat these beasts and take down Kotomine." Ruler said as she stood.

Everyone turned to her but it was Artoria who spoke to her, "You can help us with the beasts but Kotomine is your problem to be dealt with. We will give you what aid we can to allow you to handle Kotomine but we will focus on the beasts as they are our mission. I will be by your side to aid you though as I can not support the blue faction directly."

"I-I see. Well, thank you all the same." Ruler said with a slight bow of her head.

"Right. Now that we have that figured out what do we do for the next three days?" The military garbed girl asked.

"Oh, since we are going to be working together then why don't we introduce ourselves." Jaune said as he looked at his heroes. After a moment they all nodded. "Alright. Berserker is the great adventurer and king of the Viking legends, Beowolf. Lancer is the beast and god killer of Irish and Scottish mythos, Scathach. Saber is a future hero who became known as the King of Swords, Shirou Emyia. Archer or rather Gunner is the most well known Shogun of the warring state period of Japan, Odia Nobunaga. Rider is the young goddess of the Mediterranean, one of the three sisters, Medusa. Our Assassin who is on a mission right now is the original assassin, the Old Man of the Mountain, the original Hassan. He also happens to be a Grand servant, though he seems to really hate that moniker. Finally we have our Caster. She is one of the most infamous beasts of the Asian continent. Tamamo No Moe otherwise known as the Nine Tailed Fox, but she likes to be called Tama. She is also out on a mission that should help you in your quest. That is the whole team. So, what do you think?" Jaune asked Ruler whose face was stuck in a rictus of shock and awe at the magnitude of these names and their legends. The threat of these beasts must be very large for Alaya to send so many powerhouses to deal with them.

"It seems to me that you have a full roster of powerhouses. I hope to see you succeed and prevent the apocalypse." Ruler said.

"Let's head to the battle ground and prepare." Scathach said.

"As long as we are not prevented by the two other factions our mission should be pretty simple. Though they could become a hassle. Well we will deal with it as it happens. Let's go and make sure that the two factions listen to Artoria's words." Shirou said as he headed out of the great hall.

Jaune followed before he was stopped by the clearing of a throat. Jaune turned and saw Scathach's face. "Aren't you forgetting something?" She was pointing towards a table in the corner.

"Oh, right." Jaune said as he walked over to the table where his helmet sat. It was a solid blue metal helmet. It had a similar design to Leonidas's helmet but with a more modern look, more tactical. The eye slits were covered in a clear yellow glassware of some kind that had been heavily enchanted to prevent shattering. It still had the top metal piece that ran from the crown of the forehead back to the base of his skull. Jaune's whole head and neck were covered by the helmet.

"So, shall we go?" Jaune asked with his voice now altered making his sound older and more mechanical. With his size and apparel it would be hard to figure out his age. This would give him another level of protection against the other two factions.

The group began to head out. A few of them dematerialized. Only Medusa and Scathach were left. They both flanked Jaune as he exited the castle. Ruler watched before turning to Artoria and asking, "What do they plan on doing?"

"Well, we do have to over watch this war. So they are going to the no man's land between the other two factions. From there we will see how everything works out." Artoria explained to Ruler.

All of them piled into a van and headed in the direction of the Yggdmillennia family lands. Of course the only one able to drive also happened to be the shortest one there. Medusa was not happy at the snickers from the others as she sat on a pile of books to boost her up. To get back at them she drove like a mad man or woman in this case(child?). In any case no one was laughing at the end of the ride save for Scathach who looked at Medusa and held up her thumb. Medusa just smirked at this and got out of the van.

Jaune stood on wobbly knees as he tried his utmost to not get sick. Even after extensive training he was not able to completely get rid of his motion sickness and with Medusa driving the way she had it was not hard to exceed his normal tolerances. Medusa and Scathach were looking around keeping an eye out for any enemy movement. Artoria and Ruler got out as well and stood a few yards away.

"Ok. Now let's head to the no man's land and see if the two decide to do anything to each other against our warning yesterday." Jaune said. It had now been a day since the battle between Black and Red and the attack on Ruler. But from the magic fluctuations it seemed that there was movement from both sides as they began to move. Homunculus and golems stood in formation ready to enter battle. On the other side was the presence of child sized skeletons without skulls, instead they only had a set of jaws with jagged teeth of a similar form to a shark's maw.

The two groups of the third faction had separated. The two Rulers went to a bluff and over watched the servants actions. While Jaune and his two escorts went closer to the flat land allowing them to move with more freedom while also exposing them to the greatest danger should they be noticed.

Hassan who was still within the Yggdmillennia ground was watching for the specific homunculus that Chiron had spoken of.

Yesterday he saw the said homunculus. He had broken his container and walked up out of the lower level. He had collapsed and had been found by Astolfo and brought to Black faction Chiron's room.

When the black faction ran off to deal with berserker of Red the homunculus was left in the room trying to regain some kind of strength to escape. Upon their return Astolfo was supposed to take the homunculus boy away while everyone was distracted. But Hassan had been contacted by Scathach who told him that Ruler was present and ready to receive the boy. He needed to direct Astolfo in the direction of Ruler. Hassan hearing this rushed to the room in question. He awaited Astolfo's appearance. He was not long waiting. Astolfo walked into the room and rushed to the side of the homunculus boy. As he was explaining they needed to leave Hassan showed himself.

"Peace to thou. This one wishes for a parlay." Hassan said to the battle ready Astolfo.

"Speak your piece assassin." Astolfo said as he put himself before the boy. Astolfo was blatantly shocked at the ability of this assassin, he was the best Astolfo had ever met. And truth be told the scariest with his get up. If he had truly meant to kill him then there wouldn't have been anything he could do. That being the case he decided to listen to this assassin since there was no killing intent coming from him. He would hold off contacting the other servants and masters till he knew the reason for his appearance.

"My Master wishes to see these people free from their chains. To do this he will need the aid of the Rulers in this war. With their protection they will be able to ensure the freedom of the homunculi. They are prepared to accept this boy. I have been notified of their location and you can help this young one to escape." Hassan explained.

"I see. Allow me to ask but why would your master go so far? Also why not do it yourself?" Astolfo asked.

"He wishes to be a hero like his ancestors. They encountered a similar situation in the not too distant past. The ancestors were able to save those people in that time." Hassan said. "I cannot leave as of yet. My job here is not done, and it seems as if you are ready to finish what you started. I will just aid you to complete it."

"I see. Well, he sounds like a good master." Astolfo said.

Hassan nodded his head. "Indeed, he is."

Astolfo thinking about his options came up with only two options. One he finished what he started. Or he alerted his master and the other servants and tried to end the assassin. But Astolfo felt as if he did so he would be beaten by this assassin easily. Then he would be in the center of their headquarters likely taking out nearly all of the masters before they could stop him.

"Ok. Where do I need to go?" Astolfo asked.

Hassan released a Shinigami, "Follow this one. He will lead you to the position of Ruler. Note you will likely be stopped by your factions Saber. Allow the meeting to take place. Only prevent the master from using a command seal. Before you ask we have a diviner on our side so we know some of the events likely to happen."

Astolfo closed his mouth after assassin finished speaking. He had been about to ask why assassin expected it to happen. So not having anything else to say or do he went taking the homunculus with him.