Chapter 39: Aftermath of the Battle

(I have a mix feeling about this. Is it good to eliminate the main boss too early?)

"We won?" Ray somehow in disbelief that the stronger last boss of Fate Zero timeline ended this easily. Perhaps it was his luck or the author is being lazy again and just cut the whole story short to save time and effort.

Regardless, victory is a victory. But, a temporary one until he dispatched everyone and corrected the event to allow the next timeline to occur or everything will just be a waste of effort.

Tanya and Charlotte quickly leave everything at hand and rush to Ray. They are both worried to death and only holding back because if Gilgamesh isn't killed, the chance of his survival would be even lower.

"Are you alright!" Charlotte, the fastest when using Astral travel. Instantly pounce on him and check his wound while Tanya that arrived seconds later quickly applies more healing spells on Ray.

"I am fine." Ray reassured them and showed his wound that fully healed after he activated the active effect of Supernatural Physique which quadrupled his HP regeneration which also meant his regeneration factor.

"More importantly, check where Gilgamesh died! I remember knocking a few of his treasures and Ea while having a hand to hand battle." Ray quickly spreads Wraiths lead by Charlotte to carry out his order while Tanya and Saber tend and guard Ray from other overly ambitious insects, crawling into toward her master. But after hours of scouring the ruin he created, they found nothing.

"Impossible! His treasures that he didn't retrieve back shouldn't disappear along with him?" Ray tried to rack his brain to find what went wrong with his plan. "No, perhaps my information is incorrect." Ray calmed himself down and composed himself, his plan had yet to finish.

"Dismiss my previous order. We will make use of this confusion to finish off Kotomine duo and Kariya in one swoop." Ray conveys his order and regenerates his tattered outfit with mana.

"As you wish, master." Saber stops searching for the treasures and returns to Ray's side. Charlotte too, with a large group of Wraiths trailing behind her. As for Tanya, she has another task of sending Rin and her mother back now that their use is done.

The three march toward the church where the observer lived. Unlike when it's in Kirei's watch, the church that is looked over by Risei still retains the holy and sacred aura a house of worship should have. They peek that place from the woods instead of knocking the front door and spook their target.

"Is the father and son priest duo inside?" Ray asks Charlotte who communicates with the Wraiths that made up the surveillance network.

"They should be, master. None of them left the church according to Keith." Charlotte nodded while answering.

"I see. That's wonderful then. Saber, just blast this place into oblivion." Ray ordered it because he knows Kirei is a very strong opponent in melee combat. "Wait, who is Keith?"

"Keith? He is the one incharge of the surveillance network around the church." Charlotte said as if it's obvious and looked at Ray weirdly.

"Anyway, would you do the honor, Saber."

Saber nodded and sighs before taking her stance. 'For better food, I must persevere.' She whispered before her eyes hardened and blackened mana once again burst out of her arm and channeled to the sword. This massive mana consumption is burning through her satiety way more than she expected and she is already hungry right now and soon transitions into a famished state.

"Excaliburrr Morgan!"

Dark pillar of mana that pierced the sky came crashing down on the church and exploded into a crater that left nothing behind. Ray then sends his Wraiths to scour for the freshly deceased soul of the priest duo to confirm their death.

"Charlotte, you go ahead of me and kill that old worm and secure that girl named Sakura." Ray said before releasing a thousand of his prized and hard-grinded Elite Wraith with Charlotte because the thousand year old fossil of Makiri is quite the cunning one despite his descent into insanity and obsession.

Charlotte nodded and departed immediately with a horde of 4 meters tall and sculpted muscle Wraiths. Until now, Ray still doesn't understand why the evolution line turns his wraiths into macho mens instead of good looking eye candies. How many other lies had I been told by the council?

After Charlotte left, Ray found a place to sit while waiting for his Wraiths to bring in news. Saber stood beside him and strangely avoided his gaze and wore her visor. Ray shrugged and tried to analyze his battle with Gilgamesh which is an important data as it's his first battle against a stronger opponent instead of the usual trampling weeds. Indeed even without deep analysis, he can already tell his major weakness is a strong attack that can injure a stronger opponent and a method to deal with an opponent that is resistant to magic. Also, his main trump card. The spiritual attacks need a major improvement because his willpower simply isn't enough to even get a decent chance of overwhelming a Servant.

Twenty minutes later, the Wraiths finally returned and brought two souls to him which he confirmed belonged to the father and son. Besides that, Tanya and Charlotte have already done their task. Everyone is tired, either physically or mentally. Besides, it's almost midnight already and they are all starving. Saber is famished and probably could eat ten entire cows worth of burgers on her own.

'Let's go to the next city and find a food place that is still open.' Ray informed everyone and Saber near him instantly turned her head and stared at him like a starving beast.

"Food!" She said and her stomach suddenly growled like a lion roar.

"C-calm down. We are getting the food soon." Ray was startled when Saber started to act weird. Is her hunger such a chronic issue that she becomes a feral beast if her stomach is hungry. Well, Ray isn't wrong because her draconic instinct intensified and surfacing when she was hungry. Ray delays no more and creates a portal to Einzbern castle to regroup and then to the next city.

———

"Uh, sir… your order is weird. Can we confirm it again one more time?"

"No need, just bring out all. Buy more if you need because just a hundred is barely enough as an appetizer for her." Ray said before shooing the manager from disturbing him and throwing him a thick envelope filled with cash. After that, he turned his attention back to his table.

"Eat it. You can order other things too if you want." Ray said awkwardly to Sakura that was technically saved then kidnapped by Ray's group. He didn't know how he should treat her since Sakura is the most vital part of his plan and he is treating her nicely for that.

Unlike Rin, who most probably opposes him once he asks for her cooperation since he ordered the killing of her father. Sakura will definitely cooperate with him since she has nowhere to go in her mind. The brainwashing of the old Makiri fossil made her believe her father sell her to the Matou family and plus the torture she is forced through, she resent everyone that cause her this suffering. Ray, who now became her savior. Killed the monster behind her suffering and picked her up like a stray cat and gave her a home and people to call as family. Of course she is still not completely believing in Ray. But his actions so far indicate he isn't someone bad. At least not as bad as her previous 'family'.

"Okay." Sakura said before she grabbed the fries that came along her order of burger and ate it silently. Seeing her finally eating instead of staring at her food like it came from an alien planet, Ray stops focusing on her and looks at Charlotte and Tanya.

"So, what are you planning for the remaining Servants?" Tanya opens the conversation when seeing Ray is unwilling to.

"None, honestly." Ray shrugged and got a big bite of the Filet-o-Fish before getting a big gulp of cola to wash it down. "Other than when dealing with Gilgamesh. I am only thinking about steamrolling everyone with Saber since she is basically unrivaled in this war once Gilgamesh is outside of the picture."

"Can we go for vacation after it ends? Tanya told me there are a lot of wonderful places out there we can visit and various delicious foods to try." Charlotte suddenly butt in and suggested her thoughts.

"Delicious food!" Saber who occupied the next table suddenly stops stuffing food into her cheek and looks at Ray with starry eyes.

If there is one thing he is dissatisfied with Saber's transformation into her Alter form is she still enjoys normal nutritious foods instead of hating them like the real Saber Alter should. If she is given the option to choose between a normal balanced meal or greasy fast food, she will choose the latter one. But if the former is more delicious, she will definitely choose the more delicious option.

"Vacation is a great idea. You two deserve rest after plenty of hard work since our first world all the way here. But first we must secure funds first. The Matou's have plenty of wealth once we liquidate them all." Ray said while looking at the storage ring on Charlotte's finger which contained everything that she ransacked from the Matou's mansion when she killed Zouken and saved Sakura. As for the business etc, Sakura will inherit them because she was made the heir when Tokiomi traded her daughter to Zouken as Shinji, the rightful heir is inept in magecraft.

"But, how are we going to find anyone to help us turn these items into money? We have basically no connection to the Magus community to have anyone trusty enough to deal with these loots." Tanya points out.

"Yes but this is a dog eat dog world and power is everything. That also means once I show my strength, plenty of them will start contacting us, especially now we are involved in the Holy Grail War and have already garnered a lot of attention from the Clocktower and Magus in general simply by participating as a Master." Ray revealed. "Besides, didn't we already have someone that can help us with that?" Ray is hinting about Waver Velvet, the Master of Rider and someone that came from the Magus world.

"Let's not talk about it anymore. We talk about this in a more private setting and focus on enjoying our food first." Ray said before continue eating and even order two more Filet-o-Fish.

———

"Why don't you attack them after their battle with Archer?" Sola-Ui berated her fiance for not taking advantage of the situation to eliminate their headache.

"You do not understand." Kayneth shook his head and sighed at his fiance's behavior that was increasingly rude and unruly since the summoning of Lancer. "Our opponent is a god. His divinity is unmistakable and a god, even in their lowest, can easily trample a magus unless you are on the level of The Queen." He explained while expelling the thought of his fiance cheating on him with Lancer because he himself knows the degree of Lancer's loyalty to him.

"Just admit you are a coward, Kayneth."

"You!"

Kayneth instantly incensed by her words and lifted his hand to almost slap her on the face but stopped and massaged his head instead. He takes a seat and pours himself a glass of wine. He saw Lancer appear in the room, just returned from information gathering.

"Master, as you expected. They attacked the church and annihilated the Overseer and another priest that turned out to be the elusive Master of Assassin." Lancer reported what his master ordered him to observe.

"I see, I am indeed correct that the Overseer and the Tohsaka have a cooperation and the Caster took them out in one swoop. With my authority as the Lord El-Melloi, I manage to dig up information regarding the Second Owner of Fuyuki and by coincidence discover the relationship of Tokiomi Tohsaka and Risei Kotomine." Kayneth said while swirling his wine before taking a big gulp.

Sola-Ui that is making a ruckus just now also turns silent and reassesses the information. Perhaps the situation isn't as easy as she thought and for Caster to not only challenge Archer head on with Saber. They also immediately annihilate the Assassin immediately after fighting Archer which the magnitude of the mana is unprecedented in terms of amount and quality. If those monsters aren't heroes of old, They might really think the Age of God is returning.

"Master, I also have something else to report." Lancer informed after his master digested the previous information.

"Go ahead, what else did you see?" Kayneth nodded to Lancer and poured himself more wine.

"I managed to catch a glimpse of Caster's real ability that he had been purposely hiding." Lancer reiterates how he saw Ray able to summon thousands of Wraiths which Lancer identified as malevolent spirits of the dead and manipulate the deceased souls of Risei and Kirei Kotomine. "I am sure that is his divine ability as I sense no mana is consumed for using such ability and Gods use divine power unlike humans that uses mana."

Kayneth fell into a deep thoughts and dilemma while thinking of his future. If what Lancer said is true then resistance is futile as they are never going to win against a god even if the god is weakened. If so, they can only raise their hand as it is not worth it to forsake his life for a futile pursuit. However, he can at least be amiable with the god and earn some favor to offset his defeat.

"Lancer." Kayneth thought deeply and found a solution.

"Yes, master." Diarmurd bowed his head and waited for his master's order since his master looked like he had a new task for him.

Kayneth took out an empty paper and an envelope before doing something to the paper using his magecraft and then sealed the letter in the envelope. Then he put the emblem of El-Melloi on the wax seal.

"Deliver this letter to Caster for me." Kayneth ordered. Lancer nodded and took the letter before disappearing. Kayneth seems to be in daze for a moment before he walks to the telephone and calls the front desk to arrange his plan.

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