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As I followed the mana trail, I started to run over a plan for this upcoming fight. I was running low on mana and high on grief.

I also knew that Kayneth had purchased the hotel's top floors and set up defenses that could fight Servants.

The only benefit I had was that Lancer would be out of the War for a long time. While Sola-Ui could do spiritual healing, it would still take at least a day to get Lancer back on his feet.

Even with that, I didn't want to give him a moment to breathe. I wasn't willing to go in with overwhelming force; the people inside the building were innocent, and blowing the building to bits would be the last option.

That still left the issue of killing him. As I approached the front of the building, I walked inside, looking around.

Tilting my head, I decided to go with a simple, straightforward plan. Kayneth couldn't have his defenses up all the time and would need to put them down when other people traveled to meet him.

Walking up to the front desk, I tapped lightly on the desk to catch the receptionist's attention. Turning around, she held up a finger before finishing her talk on the phone.

Flashing her a grin, I pushed a dab of mana into my eyes and cast Hypnosis on her. "Hi, I'm here to meet with an associate named Kayneth."

Nodding, she flipped through a few papers before looking back up and speaking to me. "He has rented out the entire 32nd floor; however, he is staying in room 3205."

Nodding politely, I spoke to her again, this time with even more hypnosis. "Could you please tell him you are sending a complimentary bottle of wine as a customer reward?"

Nodding happily, she picked up the phone and started talking. It was hard to pick up Kayneth's side of the conversation, but he sounded confused but pleased.

Giving the women a grateful nod and a smile, I walked towards the elevator and hit the button for the 32nd floor.

Looking up, I could see a gap being opened in a massive layer of bounded fields. I would not want to fight through that labyrinth of defenses.

As the elevator dinged to a stop, I straightened my back and walked forward with purpose. Knocking on door 3205, I stepped back, ensuring Kayneth could see only my human face.

I could hear footsteps padding before the door was opened, and a voice drawled out. "Well then, where is the wine?"

The man standing in front of me was a few inches shorter than me, around 5'8, and dressed in a clean-cut blue robe with his blond hair slicked back.

Grinning, I raised a hand and sent a sword spinning towards his chest as I said. "Don't whine when I impale you."

Stumbling back, a swirl of metallic liquid intercepted the sword before peeling back, revealing that the now gone blade had only scraped his chest.

Raising his hand Kayneth spoke as I transformed. "By the power of my command seal, Lancer, aid me!"

A blur appeared before me, resolving into a heavily wounded Lancer; he was sans most of his clothes, leaving only a pair of briefs and holding his two spears.

He was still heavily wounded, but he now had only third-degree burns instead of missing his skin. As he slashed at me with his red spear, I teleported into the room.

Looking around quickly, I saw a woman with red hair and pale skin standing in shock as the fight broke out.

Teleporting next to her as both mercury and a spear hit where I was standing, I locked an arm across her chest and held my staff with the tip pointing at her head.

"Now then, perhaps we could have a nice talk," I said, giving them a skeletal grin. "I only need one thing from you."

Gritting his teeth, Kayneth directing for Lancer to stand down. I knew he ordered Lancer to kill himself when Sola-Ui was at risk during canon.

The main issue was that with Lancer so close, he could feasibly try something before I could respond with me running so high on grief.

"Try to survive" With a cackle, I dragged us into Castle Brunestud. My strength was magnified six-fold here. I tossed Sola-Ui away before turning to face Lancer.

Lancer's eyes darted towards Sola-Ui before snapping back at me. The castle and moon's magnificence stunned Kayneth as he looked around.

Spreading my arms wide, my voice raised as my mania grew, and a faint part of my brain screamed just to kill them, no need for theatrics; the larger part, however, wanted to show how powerful I was.

"Welcome to Castle Brunestud," I crowed. "Home of the Ultimate One of the Moon and progenitor of Dead Apostles, and now your tomb."

Seeing the two mortals freeze as their (delicious) blood fled their faces was delightful. Lancer replied by charging me with his spears, ready to kill me.

Dancing around his blows, I was almost bored. Before, I was forced into desperate dodging for survival; here, with Lancer hampered, it was easy to dance around him.

I was still careful as he was a deadly foe. Still, even without using teleportation, I could tell that he was hard-pressed to fight me and was only still standing with the energy of the command seal, which was rapidly dwindling.

Approaching him with my staff held in my hands, I started fighting in melee. All my powers grew in Castle Brunestud, including Eye of the Mind (True), which allowed me to fight him in close combat.

While he usually could have kept up with me even when powered up, his burns hampered him. Slamming his spears away again, I hit him in the face with the staff and heard a resounding crack.

Stumbling backward, I saw the moment the command seal's power drained away, and he slumped over to the ground twitching slightly as he tried to rise.

Striding over to him, I pointed my staff at his face and sent a single Eldritch Blast that reduced his skull to a pulp; soon after, Lancer faded away in a golden mist.

I saw that Kayneth and Sola-Ui were standing together, sacred but unbowed. Looking at them, I could see that they were both running low on mana.

It would appear that they had been trying to heal Lancer when I interpreted them, despite that Kayneth pulled his mercury around him, ready to fight.

It was pathetic how despite being a prodigy, Kayneth had fallen for simple tricks. As the mercury lashed out at me, I teleported next to him.

Spinning the mercury around himself, he pushed Sola-Ui behind himself as I swung the staff toward his head.

The staff slammed into the mercury, forcing it to bend to absorb the blow. Speeding up, I sent attack after attack forcing him to hunker down and defend himself.

As the mercury was liquid, I would be unable to hammer away until it broke; I did, however, have another trick up my sleeve.

Reaching out, I tapped the spinning liquid with my finger and ripped the mana out. The liquid then collapsed to the ground with a thud.

Standing in front of Sola-Ui with a firm look on his face, he raised his hands, ready to go down fighting.

"Well then, any last words?" I asked while slowly spinning my staff. Gritting in his teeth, Kayneth charged me while pushing e shouted. "Sola-Ui, run!"

Sending a wild haymaker at me, I slapped it to the side with my hand before slamming my staff like a baseball bat into the side of his head, causing it to explode like a watermelon.

I couldn't leave Kayneth alive as he was Lancer's master and could have summoned Caster if he had escaped. Sola-Ui could not, as she was providing the mana and nothing else.

Given that she could fuel a Heroic Spirit on her own, I assumed that she had reasonably good magic circuits which could help me in my fights.

Teleporting in front of her, I grabbed her wrists and spoke calmly while she franticly attempted to escape.

"I am not going to kill you. However, I will be forcing you to leave the city, understood?"

Blinking dumbly at me, I sent a mana pulse into her brain as she was distracted and hypnotized her asleep.

Scooping her up, I left Castle Brunestud and arrived back in room 3205. Looking around, I saw dozens of mystic codes lying about.

Many were nasty and presumably used for various tortures or other Magi activity. The three that interested me were the small chair-sized objects radiating mana.

These magic furnaces were able to fuel Kayneth's entire defensive operation. They would be another great boon to my mana supply.

I opened a path, scooped up the furnaces with Bullet Patterns, and walked towards my house.

Arriving, I saw that 5.0 was lounging in the shade of one of the trees. Plopping Sola-Ui down, I reached out a hand for him to grab.

As I lifted him to his feet, he spoke. "I retooled the parahuman's circles and set up a few other defensive measures."

Slapping him on the back, I grinned before speaking while gesturing to Sola-Ui and the magic furnaces.

"I managed to grab these four; I want them hooked up as soon as possible."

Rolling his eyes and giving a fake huff, he picked up Sola-Ui and the furnaces before walking over to the numerous circles that contained our batteries.

As I walked inside, I realized I needed a better method to check the grief in my soul gem. I didn't know how close I was to overflowing; that could be game over.

Rummaging in my drawer, I pulled out the pen and grimaced. The gem on end was almost completely covered in black and slowly leached away by Shard of a Selfless Wish.

Tucking it away, I guessed it would take around twelve hours to clean the gem thoroughly. I could use that time to prepare for tomorrow's meeting.

As I walked out, I felt somebody slam into my lower body, and my bones creak as Komainu gave me a bone-crushing hug.

"You're alive," she whispered as the hug tightened. "Your alive."

Grinning, I hugged her back before trying to pull her off without much success. Resigning myself to my fate, I sat down and allowed her to sit on my lap.

Stroking her hair, I spoke to her. "I'm going to need your help tomorrow."

Perking up, she nodded rapidly as I continued to speak. "I'm involved in what is called the Holy Grail War, where seven Magi summon a person from history to fight for them." I'm playing the role of Caster, but I still need a Master."

Turning around to face me, she grinned. "So I'm going to be the Master?"

As I nodded, she hopped off my lap and gestured to the kitchen while affecting the voice of a snooty noble. "Well then, servant, go make me a PB&J."

Bowing low, I replied while pitching my voice deep while I walked into the kitchen. "As milady commands."

As she followed me, we both broke out into laughter. Pulling out the supplies for a PB&J, I soon had a sandwich that Komainu was devouring.

As I sat next to her and stole a piece of the crust, my Grimoire grew again without any new powers. Leaning back, I allowed myself to take in the relaxing atmosphere. I had some time to spare, and this was a nice indulgence.

Powers Gained

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