11

Chapter 11: Chapter 7 Day 3 (cont)Notes:

(See the end of the chapter for notes.)

Chapter Text

Trifas' church is located in the old district and so is closer to the graveyard, and its current inhabitants, than I'd have liked. Unfortunately, I'm fairly sure that's where Ruler is going to have wound up staying, and I need to know what happened last night ASAP. I'm hoping I just somehow missed Sieg, that Astolfo pointed him in a different direction, that the transplant wasn't needed, that Ruler took him in directly, but part of my brain is ignoring all those possibilities and whispering that I fucked up.

The sister of the Church is obviously surprised to see me at the door; it seems the church doesn't church gets many visitors. I give her a smile.

"Hello. I was wondering if a blonde woman named Jeanne was staying here?"

"Are you a friend of hers?"

"We're… acquaintances, working on similar projects regarding historical figures. If you'd like, we'd be happy to wait out here, if you could let her know that Reinhard wanted to speak with her."

"No, no, come in. No point in waiting out in the cold. Take a seat and I'll let Jeanne know you're here."

I sit, silently, for a few minutes before the nun returns and shows me the stairs up to the attic where Jeanne is, before turning and leaving us to our privacy. Up the stairs I go and there I find Jeanne, sitting on the edge of her bed and blinking away sleep after clearly having just woken up. She's in full Ruler regalia, though I can't tell whether she slept in that or just instantly equipped it to get dressed fast.

I give her a small nod. "Jeanne."

"Reinhard and Saber of White."

At this, Saber flickers into physical form next to me, giving Jeanne a respectful nod of her own.

"Ruler. My Master has a question for you."

Jeanne lets out a small, clearly unintentional sigh. "Of course. Ask away, then."

So, let's get straight to the point- "Did you meet a homunculus named Sieg last night? Or at least hear about him from Black?"

Jeanne gives me a strange look. "I met a number of homunculi last night but did not get their names."

I shake my head. "No, not like that. Last night, a homunculus was supposed to inherit Siegfried's powers and leave the Black Faction. Did that happen?"

"Not as far as I am aware. When you say, 'inherit Siegfried's powers'-?"

"Siegfried was supposed to give his heart to the homunculus. He commits suicide to save Sieg."

"A Servant committing suicide? It's hard to believe." Jeanne gives a shake of her head. "In any case, that certainly did not occur; Saber of Black is as healthy this morning as he was when I detected him last night. The Black Faction did bring up that a homunculus was killed during a clash between Rider and Saber of Bla-"

"Fuck!"

The word escapes my mouth before I can stop it, but I do catch myself from letting out any kind of physical reaction- the attic isn't sturdy enough for me to hit the wall, after all. Still, shit! Something's gone wrong; I'm not sure exactly what, but something I'd done had butterflied into- As I'm still mentally off-balance, Artoria speaks.

"You are confident in this, Ruler?"

Jeanne looks between us, before slowly nodding.

"Yes. Saber of Black is certainly still alive. I'm less certain about the specifics of the homunculus' fate, but nothing they said struck me as a lie."

I draw in, and then let out a long breath, internally partitioning a lot of what I'm feeling behind my Stress Defence. Seeing all this, Jeanne seems to quickly grasp that this might be a bigger deal than she initially believed.

"I assume this has to do with your foresight. Did something unexpected occur?"

"You…could say that. That homonculus was fairly significant, and I had planned to work with them...Shit this is gonna-" I cut myself off. "Did anything else happen? Can you tell me any more details about what happened with Black? Are they still all working together? Are the Master and Servant teams still paired up properly? What's going on with them?"

Jeanne gives me a measured look this time, before slowly shaking her head.

"I'm sorry, but I can't."

Wha- "Why?"

"You expressed, to Archer of Red, the possibility of joining the War directly to support her Wish. I cannot reveal strategic details about the Black Faction to a potential member of this War."

But- Jeanne keeps going, cutting off my internal objections.

"In addition, I have a number of concerns about your potential support of Archer of Red. While it is good you understand the possibility of unforeseen negative consequences of wishes and want to prevent those, there are more fundamental problems with her wish than just unwanted side effects."

Oh boy. I have a feeling I know where this is going. Artoria catches my sudden burst of negativity through our link, but it escapes Jeanne's notice as she continues speaking.

"Due to your unusual circumstances, it is possible you do not know the first principle of Heroic Spirits; The dead must not lead the living-"

"Bullshit."

This. This this this. This was why I would have been willing to side with Shirou if he had been willing to alter his wish. Jeanne's, and Apocrypha's own bullshit philosophy rankles me beyond belief. Even if Shirou had changed his wish to account for the Quantum Time Locks, Jeanne still would have opposed it- after all, she'd opposed it before the QTLs were invented. And so, if I had joined with Shirou with his altered wish as I had first wanted, Jeanne would have been my opponent. I'd been willing to work with her in stopping the threat Shirou's wish poses, but I'd be damned if that meant I would directly support Apocrypha's nonsense.

My word clearly takes Ruler aback.

"I'm sorry, did I mishear-?"

"No. I completely disagree with you. I can't agree with the idea that Wishes shouldn't be used for widespread improvement to the world just because a Servant is making it."

Ruler shakes her head. "Servants are fragments of the past; we should not lead humanity ourselves, and at most offer a helping hand in allowing the modern world to choose its own path."

"I don't agree; I don't care about who makes the wish, just what the wish does. Who does the wishing doesn't factor in at all. A Servant making a benevolent wish is equal to a Master making a benevolent wish and should be supported, just as malicious wishes should be opposed no matter the wisher."

Ruler sighs. "As an outsider you may not understand, but it should be the responsibility of those who live in the world to control the course of the world- those whose times have passed should be willing to step aside for the present, not tread modern humanity underfoot for their own selfish reasons."

"Why?"

"Why what? Surely it's clear that-"

"What does it matter if the wish is selfish if it ensures a positive outcome? And why does it matter who ensures the well-being of all children?"

"Mankind must be free to make their own steps into the future, to improve themselves on their own terms."

I shake my head at this- "So, what, you'd be ok with me using my Wish to grant Atalanta's? I'm not dead, right? I'm living and am not a Servant. What materially changes if I make Atalanta's wish in her place?"

"No; even if a living Master intended for Atalanta's wish, I would object to it. Outside of my objection to the dead leading the living, such a wish would also destroy the capacity for free will and the ability to perform good acts towards children."

I shrug. "Ah, the free will argument- the free will to abuse children isn't something I value at all."

"But it wouldn't just be the 'free will to abuse children'; the wish would also destroy the free will to care for children. It would be impossible for people to do good of their own volition, and their capacity to be good would be removed as caring for children becomes as natural as rocks falling from the sky. It is a wish that lacks any faith in mankind and mankind's ability to fight evil and improve themselves on their own terms."

"Yes, but the point isn't to give people the choice to be good, or to let them overcome their inner demons; it's to ensure that good is done, it's to prevent children from being hurt. I don't especially care if the wish removes a potential good deed from Heaven's scorecard or whatever."

The disappointed look Ruler gives me is…honestly a little earned- that last line was a low blow, but I'm fairly sure my own expression towards her isn't any warmer. The idea that there's more value in people being able to choose whether or not to care for children compared to guaranteeing children are cared for is just…alien to me in all the worst ways.

"It would be an unprecedented act of tyranny, to completely remove the ability to choose to do good on this or any issue."

"So, what of the children who have to deal with adults who would go on to abuse them? It's well and good to talk about 'removing the ability to do good', but what of those who suffer because some will choose evil?"

Ruler lets out a soft sigh. "It's unfortunate, but not all children can be saved."

But they- "But they can? If Atalanta or I could make that Wish then it'd be problem solved!" I can recognize this is turning into the Atalanta and Jeanne argument from Apocrypha but can't stop myself.

"By causing a greater problem, trampling the free will of modern humanity with the desires of the past. I urge you to reconsider your current path before you enable a great act of tyranny."

"If the ideals being forced are 'children are unable to be abused' then call me a tyrant." And now I'm speaking glibly, but I can tell that this argument isn't going to convince either of us.

Ruler recognizes this also, shaking her head, and turns to Artoria. "King of Knights, do you have anything to say on the topic to convince your Master against this course of action?"

Artoria pauses, before speaking slowly. "I…can understand a desire for choice and do value the ability to choose to do good. If I had ruled in a manner that allowed my subjects no choice and had them entirely bent to my will, I would have been a true tyrant, an immortal and eternal being unable to perceive my own flaws and rectify them. However, as a king and ruler I still did make decisions to impose my will on others. As a leader, I recognize your position but lean towards my Master's arguments- when I made laws, it was not to discern which citizens were law-abiding and which were criminals, it was to ensure that society bent towards what I believed was right. Had I the chance to guarantee children under my rule were not mistreated I likely would have taken that opportunity."

Jeanne closes her eyes and bows her head. "I pray you do see the reason behind this principle, but if you wish to continue on your current path, I cannot move to stop you. You are outside my jurisdiction until you properly enter the War and are bound by it's rules. Still, I implore you to at least consider my words."

I'm about to say something, but Artoria keeps talking while laying a hand on my shoulder. "We will…consider your words, Ruler, though I cannot promise we will follow them."

Right. Well. I think we're done here. I'd planned on ingratiating myself with math tutoring or cooking, but at the moment I just want to get away from Ruler and have some time to think- the loss of Sieg, followed by…this mess has burnt me out for a bit. We somewhat-politely excuse ourselves, Artoria transitioning back to spirit-mode, and leave Jeanne in the attic to sleep or whatever she's going to do. The sister is found in the church's nave, and I exchange a few pleasantries with her before leaving.

As I slip around the wood doors and exit the building, the hairs on the back of my neck stand on end. Someone's behind us, watching, but I'm not sure who or what. There's some gravel on the path leading up to the church, and it'd be the work of moments to splatter the spy- all I'd need to do is grab a pebble, turn around and lob the rock- my Arrow Guarantee and strength would take care of the rest. After a second's thought, though, I drop the idea. In Trifas, there's probably a whole host of seeded Black supporters, from homunculi to mundane informers. Putting a rock through the head of any of them would just be…pointless- they can't do anything to me in the first place and killing someone for no real reason in broad daylight feels wrong.

'Master- do you want to talk?'

Artoria's telepathy breaks my musings on the spy.

'Nah. Let's head back to the park. There's someone or something behind us that's watching us, but it might just be a human or homunculus, and it isn't like they can attack our base in the first place.'

'As you say, Master.'

-

Artoria, still in spirit form, and I slowly make our way back to the park and our Pocket House. The spy, frustratingly, stays on our tail the whole trip, remaining a block or so behind us to keep us from getting a look at it. And I'm pretty sure it's an it now; it's too small to be a human, and seems to be flying- probably one of Semiramis' dove familiars. Still, I'm content enough to let it be for the most part, and we draw close to the park without incident.

That is, until I feel a familiar presence in the park. Well then. We aren't revealing this to whomever is watching. I pause for a moment on the street just on the corner of the city block, before doubling back around the corner. As I do this, my left hand comes up in a finger-gun motion to casually point at where the spy will be- flying around the corner of the block behind me, moving just a little too fast to react to my own change in movement.

Bang

My Jiwald spell traverses the distance between me and the familiar at, well, the speed of light. Maybe, if I strained myself, I could have seen the laser travel, but I'm not going to strain myself with that and no-one around me has that kind of speed. I don't even catch a glimpse of the bird itself given the speed this all happens at, but the tiny rain of bone shards and scrappy feathers raining through the air and onto the road nearby, as well as the removal of the trailing presence, is evidence enough that I hit my mark.

With the observer removed, I cross the road to, once again, meet with Atalanta.

-

Archer of Red doesn't seem surprised at all at our lack of surprise seeing her again, and instead gets straight to business.

"That burst of magic was you, I take it?"

"Yeah. Just getting rid of an unwanted observer- probably from your Assassin."

As I say this, I push out a tiny burst of Earth magic and pull up basic rock seats for the three of us, and we all sit.

Atalanta grimaces. "Probably. Since our mission to support Spartacus failed, the Priest has been more cautious- he's ordered all of Red to hunker down by ourselves, all far, far away from Trifas. Doesn't seem to want to chance any of us coming into contact with you or Black or Ruler, not until he gets whatever he's setting up ready. He isn't even allowing us to meet up with him or Assassin directly anymore; I can't even tell where they are any more- they're behind enough wards that even the link between myself and my Master is twisted. I only got permission to come out here because I persuaded him I could poke around Black without being noticed, but Assassin is likely on the lookout for me anyways."

That's…aggravating. "So, what's the chance of you being able to meet up again?"

"Not great, at least not until Red gets moving as a faction. This mission was pushing it, and I'm not going to have much to report on Black with how I'm talking with you instead of poking around there."

I lean back against the tree my seat is in front of, resting the back of my head on its bark while I close my eyes. Damnit. Without opening my eyes, I speak.

"Ok, so what can I help you with?"

"Our mission to save Berserker didn't work, like you hinted at. We managed to hurt Saber and Berserker of Black pretty badly, but then Archer of Black started doing some absurd covering fire for the two." I can't see her expression, but her voice is quizzical and probing. "Who is Archer of Black anyway? He's got divinity and is able to shoot down my arrows from miles away."

I mime zipping my mouth shut. "Sorry, but you still are Red at the moment, so…"

"Fair enough."

The conversation lulls for a moment, before Atalanta speaks again. "Have you had any ideas about my Wish? I have a few but wanted to run them by you and Saber and Ruler."

At that, my head tilts forwards and I let out a short, dark bark of a laugh as I open my eyes to meet Atalanta's. "Hah! Don't bother with Ruler. She's…being Ruler I guess- aggravatingly biased while acting as if she's unbiased."

That causes Atalanta to tilt her head at me, so I go on. "She doesn't think Servants should dictate the course of modern humanity, even positively, and also believes free will and the ability to choose between good and evil is more important than anything. The only aspect of your wish she'd talk with you about is trying to talk you out of it."

Atalanta grimaces, like she's bit something overly sour, but doesn't break into a speech or rant about the value of her wish; she can probably tell I don't like Ruler's philosophy any more than she does.

"Well, thanks for not agreeing with her."

"No problem. I still think your wish, provided there are no devastating kinks to it, is as good as this Grail War is going to get."

There's another bout of silence, before Atalanta speaks again.

"Then have you considered my proposal from before? If you're still supportive of my wish, then…"

Right. Atalanta's proposal, where she signs on with me, and so I join up as an official Master of this War for her wish. It's certainly more tempting now than it was yesterday- after my Sieg plan fell through and my view on both Black and Ruler took a tumble, joining directly to force a good end on my own terms is...appealing. There's less need to play nice with Black, if Sieg isn't onside to argue his case to them about homunculi rights, and Ruler…is Ruler. Still-

"What about Achilles? You don't want to consult him or get him in on this?"

"He's free to do whatever he wants. He can join later if he wants, but I don't need to wait for him. If you're willing to work towards my wish, I'll support you in turn. His desires and path isn't tied to mine."

"You realize that Shirou will-"

"Yes. But the fate of the children is more important than anything else. I don't want to be bound to the Red Faction for any longer than I already have, working for that Priest and his doomed cause while throwing away an actual chance at my wish. Achilles is a hero- he can deal with obstacles being put into his path."

That's…colder than I expected, but I guess fair enough. I turn to Artoria, but speak with her telepathically.

'Would you have any problems with this?'

There's a pause, as Artoria considered the matter, but it's a brief one. 'No. Atalanta's Wish is worthy of being made, and your description of her character marks her as a valued ally. As long as you have properly considered the consequences, I am supportive of this course.'

With Artoria's agreement secured, I turn back to Atalanta and give her a nod.

"Ok. After what happened today, I am willing to fight for your Wish. First, though, you need to know exactly what you're signing up for."

Atalanta, silently, nods. Right, here goes.

"Joining up with me would be an immortal-lifetime thing. It wouldn't be limited like a Grail War or whatever. After this War is over, me and my…retinue would be moving on to another world and likely another conflict, intervening there like how I am intervening here. Repeat this effectively ad-infinitum, constantly building up retinue members and power. I don't know why it works like this, but that's the general gist of it."

Atalanta considers this for a moment before replying.

"...I wouldn't need to see my Wish's outcome in this world, and really I hadn't planned on being able to, but were I to join you I would have several requirements: I will not harm children or perform actions that would result in preventable harm coming to children. You and your allies would have to abide by these rules. I would also personally try and save children in every visited world, while maintaining conduct that would not shame the gods."

I mean, "Personally, I wasn't planning on harming children."

Artoria's intervention in the conversation is a little abrupt, given how silent she's been before. "Trade-offs are an unfortunate fact of conflict. Had we not intervened, you" she gestures towards Atalanta "would have had to defeat Assassin of Black, a murderous child Servant, both to achieve your wish and save the lives of numerous children Assassin of Black would have endangered." Artoria's gaze falls on me. "It might be that avoiding hurting any children at all is simply impossible without a miracle like the Grail, or that harming one child is required to save more children. As such, promises to never harm any children are irresponsible. However, I swear on my name and title that I will not and never will bring unnecessary harm to any child, and am willing to consult with both you and my Master on what actions should be taken in the case of such a dilemma."

Atalanta visibly bristles at Artoria's words, tail and ears standing on end, but I can tell that she's right and what's more I can tell that Atalanta knows it. Even in Apocrypha, Atalanta was willing to put down Jack once Jack became a threat to other children, and only really lost it at Jeanne when Atalanta was cursed by Jack's nature. Still, the bluntness of Artoria's words cause everyone to fall silent. Finally, after what feels like literal minutes, Atalanta speaks. "All those worlds and children, they'd still exist? Whether or not I join?"

Oh, "Yeah."

"And no matter what, my Wish here wouldn't reach them? There's no way I could construct a Wish that would-" She trails off, but it's easy enough to finish her thought.

"Sorry, no. Your wish will only be able to effect this world at most."

She sits, silent for a moment as her fingers rake the earthen seat she's on. Eventually, though, she speaks. "So, any child helped is more than would be without us. It can be good enough, I suppose." The words are clearly like pulling teeth from her, but she at least manages to choke them out.

Right then. "There's more you should know- not about the world visitation itself, but what comes with signing up. Servants getting Incarnated covers a lot of the normal benefits like biological immortality and body adjustment, but there's more." I give a quick rundown of Shrouds, the various Defences and Talents and so on.

"So, are you ok with all of that?"

A silent nod, and I let out a sigh of relief. Just one more thing, then.

"Right, last thing. I'm going to explain how my powers work- I have a connection to my employers that let me increase my own power or that of my retinue for points. I get points for everyone I induct into my retinue, or for using the binding process to delete them from their world. As such, outright killing the opposition is a waste of resources- I get that it might be required, but in general binding is superior- I can delete them after if they do need to be removed from the world."

Atalanta gives a light shrug. "You know your powers best. Though I do have one concern- can you support two Servants directly? I know that us being incarnated will solve the basic upkeep, but I imagine we'd still need mana in combat, especially to power our Noble Phantasms."

I give a small smile. "I have a potential solution to that, but that'll have to wait until you join up." Something flashes in the back of my memory. "Oh. Right. I almost forgot- Saber of Red and their Master. They're utterly off-limits for you- Saber and I will be handling them ourselves. You're completely banned from taking out either, even if you've managed to line up a sure-kill shot unless it comes down to you or them."

This causes Atalanta to grimace. "You know I don't want to sign up for you, only for you to ruin my chance by running off to fight Saber of Red at a handicap and losing, right? You're absolutely sure you can handle them alone?"

I'm about to reply, when Artoria cuts me off. "I will be sufficient to handle Saber of Red, and the Master of Saber is not an abnormality like Ruler of Red or my Master."

-

There's a little more back and forth with Atalanta, but the conversation flows inexorably towards the obvious outcome.

"Ok, so all that should happen is that I envelop you with my Shroud and, as long as you don't physically or mentally resist, the process should be instantaneous. Once again, you're sure?"

She nods. With that, I disassemble my Shroud-jacket and engulf her. The instant she's fully enveloped, I hear an alert pop up on my phone. Atalanta get, I guess. With that, I dismiss the Shroud, and there she stands. There's nothing obviously different about her- her Shroud clothing is still the clothing she had as Archer, but there's a different presence about her, like she's more real and solid compared to before.

There's a brief burst of pain on my hand, and as I hiss and clutch at it in surprise, I see three Command Seals form. They're not the Command Seal design that I had purchased, instead they're square, blocky things I don't remember seeing before. I concentrate on them, and I can instantly feel they're specifically tied to Atalanta- not the renewing and general-purpose Seals I could buy more of, but the official and true Command Seals of the Archer of the Grail War.

I guess I'm a real Master and the 'White Faction' is a real Faction of this War now.

I clap my hands, summoning up the portal to our Pocket Home as Atalanta and Artoria both turn away from examining Atalanta's new, incarnated body and to me. Right.

"So, let's get you settled into our base, and we can plan our next steps. I'm thinking…getting Black out of this War ASAP."

Both Atalanta and Artoria turn to look at me in surprise. Artoria raises her eyebrow questioningly, while Atalanta speaks.

"Eliminating an entire Faction so quickly? Is White that strong?"

Here I give a small grin. "Maybe not just yet. But we're going to be that strong by the end of the day- attacking Black tonight should be possible, if what I've planned works out."

As I'm saying this, the three of us enter the portal together and Atalanta catches her first view of the Pocket House.

"In any case, welcome to my house, I guess."

Atalanta stops for a moment to inspect the trees that border the outskirts of my land, set up so the infinite void outside of the 200 square meters isn't visible.

"These aren't real trees, are they?"

"Probably not. I'd guess they're more like 'the image of a tree' than an actual tree. I'm pretty sure I couldn't grow them outside my territory, for example."

"Hmm."

With that, Atalanta turns away from the wall of trees and enters the building proper- I can feel Artoria is ahead of her, already heading for the study-cum-war room. Atalanta takes in the house as she walks through, and I point out the various rooms and amenities. Soon, though, we're all seated around the desk in the center, Atalanta taking the chance to look at the note board of all the participants of the War I had set up from before. When she sees my notes on Saber of Black, she lets out a single exhale.

"This information…no wonder you're so confident."

"You haven't seen anything yet."

A thought causes paper and pencil to appear on the table before me. Right, let's math this out first and triple-check it- it'd be fairly embarrassing if I lost the War due to a math error, after all.

--A Tale Of Two Rulers--

The Ruler of the War, still in her bed at the Church, feels the change that occurs to the one who was once Archer of Red, now Archer of White and lets out a long sigh. Despite her best efforts, it seems that White was now an official Faction of the War, aiming for a Wish which would have dire consequences for the world. But that was something for the Ruler of tonight to deal with, which in turn meant getting sufficient rest today.

-

Far away, many kilometres from Trifas, Amakusa Shirou Tokisada pauses in shock. Behind him, he can feel Semiramis also come to a stop.

"Master? I was saying that the Garden should be ready tomorrow afternoon. Is something wrong?"

Shirou shakes his head. "Like Berserker, it seems Archer has also left our service."

Semiramis' face twists in confusion. "What? But I haven't seen any fighting! My doves have been keeping watch all around Black's territory and Atalanta hasn't even engaged Black to begin with!"

Ah. That aggravation of a false prophet. It seems his poisonous lies had managed to trick at least one of his POSSESSIONS allies into conspiring against him and betraying him. And to think it was the ally he had thought would have the most sympathy for his goal…

"It wasn't Black, then. It seems Rider and Archer may have been less than honest with us about what happened two nights ago."

Semiramis might have said something in reply, but Shirou is already striding down the corridor and spiral staircase to the room where the current Masters of Red are being held. The door opens and as the fragrant incense filling the room wafts out into the corridor, it's easy enough for both Master and Servant to see the Command Spell-less hand of Rottweil Berzinsky. Semiramis' face scrunches up in anger, and she raises her clenched right hand to her mouth, as if to bite the upper joint of her curved index finger.

"That damn lioness. Someone should have trimmed her claws before-"

Shirou speaks, cutting her off as he kneels down besides the Master of Rider. "That isn't important now. We'll deal with her later- what matters is increasing our control over the remaining Masters right away."

Something flashes in Sermiamis' eyes behind Shirou's back, but it leaves just as quickly.

"Very well."

And then, as she is about to move to her Master's side, the last voice Assassin of Red wants to hear bursts onto the scene.

"Oh ho what's this? Double, double toil and trouble, Fire burn and cauldron bubble. By the pricking of my thumbs-"

Assassin cannot suppress her sigh. "Caster. Go away."

However, even as she says this, behind her Master speaks. "Shakespeare, assist us. Archer has turned on us, and we must prevent Rider and Lancer from doing the same in the future."

"The proud lioness has turned on us? Did she chafe or fret, and then break free, or is it pure conspiracy?"

Shirou doesn't even acknowledge Shakespeare's rhyme. "The later. I'm sure she's thrown her lot in with White."

"How unexpected! I didn't think she was the sort, but I suppose smooth runs the water where the brook is deepest. In any case, how might I assist in this?"

"We need to make Rider's Master use a Command Seal on his Servant to order him to forget any conversations he might have had with White or Archer over the past forty-eight hours, while also disbelieving anything White says in the future. For Lancer, we need to completely stop him being able to hear to what White and Ruler say for the rest of the War."

This causes Semiramis to interject.

"Are you sure, Master? With that, we will have used all the Command Seals we can for both- until Ruler is eliminated, we need to reserve two Command Seals on all Servants to counter hers."

"I know! But White's meddling forces our hand! To think Ruler is working with that thief-!"

Shirou cuts himself off, seemingly shocked at his own outburst, and there's a silence that lingers after his snapping response. Eventually, though, with Semiramis and Shirou seemingly made mute by sudden undercurrent filling the corridor, Shakespeare speaks up and breaks the atmosphere.

"What you ask is a simple matter. I'll craft a tale to enthrall the Masters, convincing them that they needs must issue such an order."

Hearing this, Shirou pulls his attention away from himself and to Caster, nodding while replying.

"Good. Let me know when that's done."

With that, Shirou spins on his heel and leaves. Semiramis half-raises an arm, then moves to follow him, but an (annoying) voice stops her in place.

"A moment of your time, oh Queen?"

Semiramis doesn't turn to face him, instead looking at the back of Shirou gradually vanishes from view around the spiral staircase, his shadow twisting due to the lights of the staircase.

"What, Caster?"

"I was wondering if you had noticed the…shall I say character development of our lead actor?"

This causes Semiramis to turn.

"What do you mean, Caster? Speak plainly, or-"

Countless magic circles spring to life, all through the corridor both Servants are standing in. Shakespeare hurriedly raises his hands.

"Peace, peace! I'm no fighter or caster. I just meant…" and here his voice dips soft and low "Our Master seems plainly different. You've known him for longer than I, and so I wished for your opinion as to why; after all, you have a unique, valuable perspective of his character."

Semiramis can't bring herself to disagree, as much as she'd like too just on principle.

"Since meeting with White, he has been…more focused on his goal."

"Ah, so that was the trigger. How I wish I had been there myself! Master and his hated foil. It must have been intriguing, to see our self-assured Master brought low by emotion, unable to even deceive his enemy."

"It was…interesting, if nothing else."

A paper and quill materialize in Shakespeare's hands as if by magic, and as if he's completely forgotten about the still-present threats of Semiramis' magic and chains.

"Could you elaborate on that meeting? I tried talking to our Master about it but he waved me off. As director, I should really know everything about everything that's happened but-"

The circles spark again, and Caster silences himself. Still though, for some reason, Semiramis finds herself almost compelled to speak, to get the matter off her chest.

"It was a conversation about wishes. White claimed our Master's wish was impossible, even with the Grail. That the mechanics of parallel universes meant that our Master's wish would destroy the world even if it was made."

She does not touch on how White's Master had trusted her drink despite knowing her identity, nor how the wish White claimed Shirou planned left little room for her own.

Shakespeare dramatically clasps at his heart.

"What tragedy! To strive for a cause for so long, only to find at the last minute that it has been impossible from the start. To dream an impossible dre-"

"Enough."

As Semiramis speaks, softly but with an air of command that sucks all sound from the corridor, dark purple chains erupt from the ground near Shakespeare's feet, surrounding and binding him. She stalks over to the now-bound Caster.

"There's no reason to believe that White was telling the truth. Trusting our Master should be-"

"But out of the two, who do you trust more, o wise Queen of Assyria? Our Master is no stranger to falsehoods, and you yourself admitted to the change in him. He's not dismissing White's claims off-hand and has instead dug his feet into the ground and is as furious as I've ever seen him. And would his wish being impossibly denied not be the most poetic and tragic end to his- owowowowow peace peace peace!"

The chains tighten, and down them flows a burst of electricity. Semiramis turns on her heel and stalks away.

"Caster, you have a role to play right now. Let me know when you've finished your script for the Master, and I'll release you."

"You do know my best work was done when I was comfortable, not chained and shocked into compli- owowow!"

But Shakespeare is speaking, increasingly tightly as the chains again constrict, to air. Semiramis has already vanished up the stairs, trailing Shirou and trying to put Shakespeare's words out of her mind.

--Back in White's Pocket House--

So. With Atalanta's signing on, I have 89 points at the moment, which isn't enough to buy any of the three big upgrades I want. But there's a way to get a lot of points real fast, if I'm willing to bear extra responsibilities. Again, I review the terms of the loan system, which turns out to be a little different from how I had remembered waaaaay back four days ago when I had been working this out for fun, but it's mostly the same.

'...disables personal Shroud upgrades and all Heritage benefits except those that facilitate Capturing...disables Defences...will only reactivate after debt paid...all points earned afterwards allocated to debt except for retroactive refunds…maximum is the points of the world before disadvantages...only one Loan per world...'

The terms are harsher than I remember, but it's still worth it. The only real downside is that with this, I'm committing myself to a certain number of captures and sales, but becoming a proper Faction has already guaranteed that both Red and Black are enemies, and some very quick maths shows that there should be enough points in the Masters and Servants of the War to put me back in the black even if things go terribly wrong and over half the Servants wind up dead- as long as Karna remains on the table, anyway.

I check the maths again and it still reads the same- with a maxed out 365-point Loan, and the current 89-point balance, I can get everything I'm after and still have a slight buffer. I don't quite rub my hands with glee as I confirm but it's a close thing, and both Atalanta and Artoria seem to sense my shift in mood as the loan goes through and my balance rises by 365.

"Master? Could you explain-"

"Sure. So, first things first. Artoria, here."

And with a thought, and at the cost of 100 points, I slide her the triangular plain brown paper package that had just materialized before me.

Artoria can tell what it is even under the wrapping, but even so I can still feel her disbelief as she tears through the paper, brown giving way to metallic gold and blue as the sheathe comes into view.

"Master, you- my sheathe? Just like that?"

"Just like that."

Artoria seems stunned, barely even hearing my reply and instead looking at Avalon with a shocked and rapturous expression.

As for me…let's get immortality for me- death always had been a phobia of mine, but now... Another thought, and another 100 points gone and I jolt in my seat as Reinhard's true strength enters my body. The half-assed strength I had been using up till that moment flows away and is replaced by his full abilities- his strength, speed and ability to acquire and stack infinite blessings. This time, I don't quite manage to hold back my glee, and my face breaks into an excited smile; with these, the War should really already be over.

But let's make doubly sure of our victory. Points flow out, and in flows upgrades. Dragon Scales, of no value at the moment with the Loan is cancelling it's effects, but a prerequisite for also-acquired Treasure Hoard, an upgrade that allows for mid-combat Captures which will be instrumental in paying off the loan. Finally, I pick up the last level of Soul Defence at its discounted price, and then grab Inexhaustible; a Talent that ensures my pool of mana is now limitless. I could use magic all day, alongside both Servants spamming their Noble Phantasms and Artoria using her Mana Burst to its fullest and there'd be no drain at all.

Both Servants instantly notice the change, the flow of mana from me to them breaking its previously high-but-finite limits. It's as if each Servant is tied to a Grail for their mana supply, even outside their incarnation. Artoria, who has managed to draw herself away from Avalon, merely meets my smile with her own and nods, but Atalanta bursts into excited laughter as she realizes that I'm really going to be able to give her victory.

-

I leave Artoria and Atalanta in the house as I exit it for a moment- I forgot to remove the raised seats I had set up outside of the house portal, and unfortunately the disconnected nature of the pocket dimension stopped me from using magic from within the House to alter the world outside. And while random rocks rising from the ground while merged with the earth probably wouldn't raise too many questions in Trifas, there's no reason to be irresponsible about this.

However, I don't see the seats I had raised. Someone has stomped them into the earth already- I can see armoured boot-prints and rubble scattered around where we had been sitting. There's also a very small, unnatural presence in the rubble, identical to the presence I had Jiwald'd out of the sky before this. This time, I get a proper look at it rather than lasering it to pieces before my eyes can see it- it's a white, boney bird skeleton, loose feathers hanging where it's wings would be, with a piece of paper strapped to it's leg like a messenger pigeon.

Oh. Well. I guess we can't put them off any longer. Trying to sort out the tragic mutual communication failure of the Pendragons was one of my main objectives in selecting Apocrypha and Artoria, after all. I extend my hand to the undead familiar, and with a quick motion grab and unroll the paper.

"'King of Knights'. I call your title false and your time over, and so challenge you to battle at the graveyard of Trifas tonight. If you decline, know that neither the sun's glare nor the civilians of Trifas will be able to hide you from me; if you don't come to me, I will pursue you across all the earth to have satisfaction.

Your successor and destroyer,

Mordred Pendragon."

Well, I guess Black gets a reprieve. Tonight, family reunions are on the menu.

Notes:

So, the relationship breakdown between Ruler and Rein was always coming. I repeatedly said in-thread, and there were a couple of hints in-story (from Jeanne's internal stuff about Wishes to the fact that Rein went to Shirou first and his plan was always to try and get a "worthy" wish made) that Jeanne-acting-as-Ruler-as-presented-in-Apocrypha and I have some pretty severe philosophical incompatibilities, and my support of Atalanta's child-salvation wish is the break point. While writing the discussion, I tried hard not to strawman Jeanne (because, you know, I disagree with her pretty strongly), and so the arguments she used against Rein are based on things she says in Apocrypha or are minor extrapolations of things

Her "Servants shouldn't lead" argument is from Ep13 at 17:30 ("[Shirou] is violating the law of Heroic Spirits…The dead must not lead the living, that's the greatest law of Heroic Spriits") and the manga Chapter 47 ("Although we might be here for the moment thanks to the Holy Grail, we are fragments of the past. We must remain in the world's shadows. We should not lead people by pointing them into the right direction. What we are meant to do is lend them a helping hand."). The wiki also lists her saying it in Vol3 Chp4 of the novels, but I don't believe that chapter's been translated yet so eh.

Her "Free Will and ability to choose to do good is more important than good being forcibly done" argument is from Ep24 at 9:30 ("Because [Shirou] lacks any hope for mankind. People have fought their inner evil and refused to accept any defeat throughout history…[Shirou's] salvation does not lend strength to that struggle but crushes it altogether…they won't be able to do good or bad either.")

After the aggravation the Ruler bit put me through, Red's segment was funner than expected, and it's good to check in on how they're doing after a lot of focus on Black, White and Jeanne. It turns out, Shakespeare is actually pretty neat to write- an almost-4th-wall character who positions himself as court jester to pick at the flaws of others is fun, and his gimmick of him quoting himself isn't actually that bad. I did try and make the quotes actually relevant to the situation, rather than how in Apocrypha where he'll at times just randomly spout quotes that don't fit the context at all ("My kingdom for a horse" in response to being asked "What are you doing here" was kinda ???). In his appearance here, he has two Macbeth quotes and one Henry VI p2 quote, one Macbeth line that he twisted a little, and one quote he tried to steal from someone else but Semiramis stopped him.

Anyways, I'm sure next chapter will be another completely actionless chapter where everyone willingly sits down for Family Relationship Counseling and no-one tries to commit brutal Patricide/Filicide.