Mastermind And Confrontation

This night was Friedrich's first night where he wasn't teleported to train in Silbern or fight against enemy servants. When the first light of the sun touched his eyes, he reluctantly opened them.

"Already?" he asked no one in particular as he struggled to stand up.

"Indeed," said BG9, surprising Friedrich as he hadn't heard him move. "It is actually 8:45 AM in this time zone. You should have slept seven hours and forty-two minutes."

Friedrich looked at his teammate; he was dirty as it seemed that the fight with Chiron had dirtied his cape a bit.

"Thanks for the information, BG9. Do you know where Cang Du is?" Friedrich asked the machine.

"Cang Du is training in the cave below. It has been four hours since he started his training," BG9 replied to Friedrich.

"Did you detect anything noteworthy during the night?" Friedrich asked BG9 as they started walking toward the cave where they could hear impact sounds.

BG9 replied instantly, "The two armies fused during the night. I detected a grand number of servants in the army. If we decide to fight them, we'll get obliterated."

Friedrich looked at the ground, pondering their next course of action. A fight was not optimal, and perhaps they could consider forming an alliance for the time being since their goals aligned perfectly. The only downside was that he didn't know what His Majesty wanted with the Grail and if His Majesty was truly...

'Wait, why am I doubting His Majesty?' he thought, his eyes widening at the realization. He had never once doubted His Majesty, so why were these thoughts of doubt creeping in?

Then Friedrich heard the cacophony of voices again, much like in the First Singularity, saying a single word: 'Betrayer.' The word struck something deep inside Friedrich, and he clenched his heart in pain.

BG9, stopped in his tracks to look at Friedrich, his blue eye wondering what was happening to his teammate

"Are you in pain Friedrich? "asked BG9 without an ounce of emotion in his voice

BG9 stopped in his tracks to look at Friedrich, his single blue eye showing a hint of curiosity. He asked, without an ounce of emotion in his voice, "Are you in pain, Friedrich?"

Friedrich's pain dissipated at the sound of BG9's voice. He took a long breath to dispel the remaining discomfort and then smiled at his companion. "That's good, BG9, just a little heartache."

BG9 continued to look at Friedrich for a moment before resuming their way.

They soon arrived at the improvised training ground where Cang Du was. He could be seen navigating between rocks at blazing speed, delivering a punch to one of the cave's walls, leaving an enormous dent in it.

Sensing the arrival of the duo, he stopped to look at them, sweating of the effort that he made for four hours straight.

Friedrich looked around the cave, noticing numerous craters on the ground and walls, along with boulders smashed to smithereens.

"It seems that even as a Stern Ritter, you continue to train, Iron," BG9 analyzed.

"Good analysis, BG9. I'm sure your Schrift gave you the intelligence to analyze this," replied Cang Du, his voice laced with sarcasm.

"Was this meant to anger me, Iron?" asked BG9. "What a typical human thing to do. Is this why you were defeated by the young Hitsugaya?" inquired BG9 further

"Enough! I've already told you that your banter is useless," I ordered them. "Why are the elites from our army just a bunch of kids who seek problems with everyone else?"

"You haven't met Bazz-B or Bambietta, it seems," said the Iron, looking at Friedrich with a smirk.

"I'm inclined to agree with the Iron on this one," acquiesced the robot.

Friedrich looked at them, deadpanning. "Well, if there are bigger kids than you, it doesn't excuse the fact that you're acting like kids. But it paints a bad image in my head of the two of them."

"Let's go toward the army camping in the plain. If there are no objections from you, I'd like to ally with the Chaldeans to destroy the one that possesses the Grail. We'll take the Grail and bring it to His Majesty," Friedrich proposed.

Cang Du and BG9 exchanged glances and then turned their attention back to Friedrich.

"That's one of the worst ideas I've ever heard," Cang Du commented. "I hope that your past friendships with the Chaldeans will not impede our mission, Friedrich."

"I agree with the Iron. Your idea is illogical. Let's just watch from the sidelines before taking any action. The more the enemies fight amongst themselves, the less we'll have to fight," BG9 concurred.

"His Majesty informed us of your little incident with the Saint, I hope that if you need to fight her, you'll go at full potential" BG9 added

'Wait are they speaking about the feeding ?' Friedrich thought, embarrassed, 'So His Majesty saw it??'

Friedrich, his face flushed with embarrassment, quickly turned and made his way to the cave entrance. "I'll go outside for some fresh air," he stammered, "It's getting a bit stuffy in here, and the heat is insufferable." With that, he hastily exited the cave.

BG9's sensors were analyzing the situation. "The temperature outside is actually lower than what we experienced yesterday," he said to Cang Du, clearly puzzled. "Friedrich didn't seem bothered by it then, so why was he bothered now ?"

Cang Du threw him an amused glance before walking out of the cave too. "Well, it seems that a machine will never comprehend human emotions. And BG9, start using your soul instead of your sensors. It'll help if you ever have a woman one day."

BG9 looked at the departing figure of Cang Du, analyzing him and what he said. He felt a bit lost by what Cang Du meant.

"My soul? What does it mean? Everything needs to be logical, Cang Du. Emotions and other things are not needed; they are a weakness. And what does having a woman mean? How could I possess another person?"

Cang Du didn't stop his departure; he just shook his head, clearly amused by BG9's reasoning.

"It'll never stop being funny mocking this piece of junk," he thought, smiling as he exited the cave.

"Now, where is Friedrich?" Cang Du asked himself before attempting to sense his team leader. He found the trail of energy that Friedrich had left and promptly followed it.

He soon arrived at a small clearing, finding Friedrich sitting on a rock and gazing at the sky.

"Well, team leader, it's good for you to have a little crush, but what I meant is that love doesn't have its place in our ranks," Cang Du said as he sat on a rock near Friedrich.

Friedrich let out a sigh, shook his head, and looked at Cang Du. "I am not in love, Cang Du. I just appreciate her. She is one of the only people who showed me kindness in my life, and she healed me, so I am indebted to her."

Cang Du smiled clearly amused by his teasing

"if you say so captain"he replied before BG9 appeared near them

"My sensors are picking the Chaldean Master, Mash and two other servants coming here" he informed them "What is our order, leader" asked BG9

Friedrich pondered for a moment. Encountering them would not be detrimental, but they could just wait for the final fight as BG9 suggested.

"We'll avoid them," Friedrich decided. This earned him a smile from Cang Du and a nod from BG9.

They promptly departed from their position, heading in the opposite direction from Chaldea's group. As they continued to flee, a strong presence bore into them.

"An important amount of energy is right ahead. He's coming right for us," BG9 informed them. Cang Du took the frontline, and BG9 positioned himself at the rear to provide fire support.

Soon, a man dressed strangely appeared in front of them, his aura unpleasant to behold. The man held a cane.

"So, you're the ones who continue to interfere with our plan?" the man asked.

"So you are the one that started all of this ?" Friedrich asked the man

The man chuckled as he gazed at the group. He then launched a blade made of wind towards them. Cang Du took the blade without suffering any damage, and the man didn't appear to be shocked by this.

"Well, well, well," said the man, still smiling. "It seems you can't be killed that easily. Fortunately, I brought some servants with me!" he exclaimed before three shadowy figures charged at them.

"I didn't pick them on my radar, but it seems the Chaldeans knows about our little skirmish, they are coming fast toward us " informed BG9

"We need to finish this quickly," Friedrich declared before charging at the first figure within his range. It was a tall woman with long purple hair and a bandana covering her eyes, wielding two strange weapons that Friedrich had never seen before. He could tell from her eyes that she was not in control; her gaze was filled with intense hatred, not directed at him but toward the strangely dressed man.

"I'll end your suffering," Friedrich said, using his spear like a club. The woman attempted to parry the attack, but with the momentum gathered and the increased weight from the Iron, he cleaved her in half in a split second.

"What?!" exclaimed the strangely dressed man as he witnessed the battlefield, with one of his servants killed within the first few seconds of the encounter. Cang Du was handling two opponents with ease, dominating them. BG9, seeing this, transformed his spirit weapon into the shape of a machine gun and shot down one of the two shadowy figures. Meanwhile, Cang Du impaled the last one with his claws.

Suddenly, a shadowy woman with a skull mask and a dagger appeared behind BG9. She rushed at him, but just as she was about to strike, BG9 reappeared behind her. Using his machine gun, he pulverized her body in a fraction of a second.

Seeing the state of shock on the face of the strangely dressed man, Friedrich threw his spear at him, using Blut to enhance his strength, the spear flew like a meteor for the man, but as it was about to hit him, an humoungous shadow appeared in front of him, taking the at his place

"You were far stronger than we expected," he said. "We'll see each other very soon, visitors," he added before disappearing, leaving the shadow to fight the three of them.

The shadow removed the spear impaling him, then threw it toward BG9. Friedrich quickly used Hirenkyaku to appear in front of BG9 and deflected the projectile with his Schrift. Seizing the opportunity, Cang Du rushed the shadow, but as he closed in, he was met with a strange club-like sword with dents on it. He managed to harden his body with the Iron and Blut, but the impact still caused him significant pain.

"Argh!" exclaimed Cang Du in agony as his reinforcement couldn't completely negate the damage, his body launched like a rocket toward the duo.

Friedrich deflected Cang Du to their side, while BG9 used his machine gun to rain down bullets on the shadow. Friedrich rushed toward the shadow, spear raised to impale him once more, but as the spear made contact with the shadow's skin, it stopped. The spear was unable to pierce him, and Friedrich was left shocked, wondering how his spear had done damage when he threw it earlier.

Meanwhile, BG9's bullets caused some damage to the shadow, who roared in defiance. One bullet even pierced his skull, making the colossus fall to the ground. However, in the next moment, the shadow roared and stood up, his wounds completely healed. He swung his club toward Friedrich, but Friedrich's Schrift deflected the blow.

BG9 then decided to fire more bullets, but this time, the bullets did no damage to the shadow, just like the spear.

"He's invulnerable to what initially harmed him!" BG9 informed them. "We need to find another way to kill him." He then let his cape fall from his body, revealing a robotic form with missiles attached to it.

"Dodge, Friedrich!" BG9 advised. He then launched four missiles toward the shadow, who was still attempting to attack Friedrich.

The explosion resulting from the reishi-powered missiles was enormous, far more potent than normal missiles. Their strength and lethality were enhanced to an extraordinary level. However, as the dust cloud dissipated, the colossus's flesh began to heal, showing its resilience.

"How many more do we need to kill this monster?!" Friedrich complained. He generated an enormous arrow, launching it using his spear. The arrow impaled the shadow, leaving him resembling a donut.

At that moment, Cang Du reappeared. His claw charged with reishi, he pulverized the head of the shadow. Then, using his momentum, he brought down his leg enhanced with his Blut and Iron, delivering a devastating blow to the shadow's stomach, which had already started to regenerate, tearing The shadow continued to regenerate, attempting to punch Cang Du with its fist. However, the Quincy was swift and evaded the blow using his speed.

Friedrich suddenly appeared in front of the shadow. Using his Schrift, he cut the shadow in half with a swipe of his finger. Surprisingly, this time the shadow didn't regenerate. The two halves of its body remained on the ground.

"What a tough opponent," noted BG9. "If we were alone, we might not have been able to defeat him."

Suddenly, BG9 turned to look behind them.

"It seems I was a bit too distracted by the shadow's peculiarity that I forgot to check my scanners. You can come out!" BG9 exclaimed.In response, Ritsuka and Mash emerged from behind the trees."That's not the entirety of your group, young man," BG9 added with a wry smile, coaxing Mordred to step out from her hiding spot.

Ritsuka locked eyes with Friedrich.

"What are your orders, Friedrich?" asked the young master of Chaldea. "Why did you betray us back in France? Do you know how shaken Jeanne was by your betrayal?"

Friedrich gazed at him. As Ritsuka stepped forward, Jeanne's silhouette appeared behind him.

Friedrich exchanged glances with BG9, who let out an uncharacteristic chuckle. Cang Du, surprised by BG9's sudden emotional response, looked at him with widened eyes. He had never seen the Stern Ritter display any emotion before.

'Had BG9 omitted mentioning Jeanne in his scan to catch me off guard? 'Friedrich sighed, turning his attention to Jeanne.

"Listen, everyone from Chaldea," he began. "We've received our orders, and this Grail must be ours. You have two choices: one, you let us take it like before, and we'll give it to you afterward. Two, you try to stop us, and we'll kill you and the Grail is ours, choose wisely."

Mordred started emitting red lightning, and Mash quickly positioned herself between them and Ritsuka. However, Jeanne remained still, her gaze fixed on Friedrich.

Ritsuka maintained his unwavering gaze on Friedrich, despite the escalating tension.

"What do you seek with the Grail, Friedrich?" he asked.

"Or more importantly," Da Vinci said from the screen that appeared behind Ritsuka, "What do you need within it?"

Friedrich glanced at Da Vinci for a moment before shifting his gaze between BG9 and Cang Du.

"What His Majesty wants with the Grail doesn't concern us," Friedrich replied, slowly backing away from the Chaldeans. "We serve him and our people; that's all I need to know."

Da Vinci persisted, "What if your king's intentions with the Grail lead to the end of humanity or have other destructive consequences? What then?"

"Impossible, His Majesty's will is for the benefits of our people" Friedrich said but as he said it, the same pain that appeared before reappeared

"You still believe these lies?" the voices echoed. "You'll see this monster differently if you knew what happened in Soul Society."

"Shut up!" Friedrich exclaimed within himself. "You're just a bunch of ghosts! Don't dictate how I think or how I feel. I am myself, and you hold no power here."

"Friedrich Braun, are you well?" BG9's voice cut through the turmoil of Friedrich's thoughts, dispelling the inner voices. Friedrich looked at him, a sense of gratitude in his gaze as he turned back to face Da Vinci.

"As I said, His Majesty is benevolent towards humans, unlike those who call themselves gods, a bunch of traitors and usurpers," Friedrich declared with rage.

"Do you truly believe it?" Da Vinci pressed, her voice probing. "What if your king lied to you and—"

Before she could finish her sentence, a blue beam pierced through the screen and embedded itself in the mountain behind it. Mash was taken aback by the speed of the attack and thought, "If this were aimed at Master, I wouldn't have had time to react."

"Be careful how you speak of our king, woman," BG9 warned, still aiming his machine gun toward the screen. "People have lost their heads for far less than that."

Tension reached its peak with this altercation. "Hey, leader!" called Cang Du. "I take back what I said before; we should kill them here!" He started generating reishi on his claws.

"Indeed, I am once again amazed by the Iron's ability to make good decisions," BG9 added, aiming his machine gun at the Chaldeans.

Da Vinci reappeared on the screen, looking somewhat surprised by how quickly the situation had escalated. "Okay, stop!" she exclaimed as we all turned our attention to her. "I'm sorry for insulting your king. I didn't mean it that way. What I meant is, are you sure we can trust you with the Grail?"

We pondered for a moment, and then my voice spoke of its own accord,

"No, you cannot." My teammates looked at me, mortified by what I had just said. 

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Well it concludes today's chapter I hope you liked it 

See you soon