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I started the fight by raising my hand and sending a stream of white magic. The words flew towards the two; Artoria simply sidestepped the projectiles while Caster ducked beneath them.

The issue with Bullet Patterns was that it only taught me how to use simple patterns that could easily be avoided. Burning another command seal, Lancelot charged Artoria. I would take on Caster as I had seen he could mess with Lancelot.

While I was not very good in a melee fight, a proper Caster would be even worse from what I knew of Fate. His childlike form and size would only amplify that.

Charging towards him, I was forced to sidestep and dodge various attacks that grew from the soil around me. They were decently fast but not enough to harm me now that I was expecting it.

My staff twirled around me as more of my mental barriers fell. Whatever he tried to do failed as he barely managed to throw himself under the edge of my staff as it swung just over his head.

Surrounding himself with dirt-made barriers, I slammed my staff through it, only for more dirt to replace what I scattered with my blow.

I had burnt a decent chunk of mana chasing after Kiritsugu, but I could use my soul gem a bit; I didn't have a method to check, but last time I checked, it was around half full should give me some low-level spells.

Shooting a glance over to the fight between Artoria and Lancelot, it was clear that she would be dead if Arotria didn't do something soon. In addition, I could see the faint glimmers of gold flaking off her form.

This would generate a decent chunk of grief but knocking Caster out of the fight would be worth it. Tapping my staff on the ground, I cast Wall of Force around him; it was a wall that was impossible to bypass without teleportation and could only be destroyed by disintegrating it.

It would prevent him from getting out and allow me to help Lancelot kill Artoria. Turning to face Artoria, I flung white magic at her. They couldn't damage her, but her slight flinch when they struck threw her off and allowed Lancelot to land more blows.

Making sure to keep Caster in the corner of my eye, I allowed Lancelot to take the lead and only sent out a smattering of white magic bullets when needed.

My main goal of the fight was to kill Artoria, but I also needed to recover some mana I had spent, so using only my most cost-efficient magics was prudent.

In addition, Artoria was fading fast; her form was becoming increasingly indistinct with each passing moment. I could also see Caster getting irritated and muttering under his breath; however, Wall of Force blocked sound.

Turning my attention back to the fight between Artoria and Lancelot, I saw it was finishing. Artoria had failed to block a swing with Excaluiber, and her wounded arm had taken the blow and severed her arm, causing her to drop Excaluiber.

I doubted it would work, but I had to try; teleporting forward, I mentally directed Lancelot to push Artoria away. As I arrived next to the dropped blade, Lancelot swung Arondight, forcing Artoria to duck underneath it.

The swing was followed up with a devastating punch that slammed into her face and knocked her to the ground. Covered in blood and fading, Artoria still attempted to rise but fell as she put weight on her severed arm.

Grabbing Excaluiber, the swirling wind faded as I grasped the Holy Word. The word beautiful failed to describe it, and I was almost brought to tears by the blade that represented all of mankind's hopes and dreams.

Opening the Gate of Babylon, I dropped it in there. I suspected that the Gate was atemporal because when fully powered up, Gilgamesh managed to use things from the future. That should hopefully allow me to store Excaluber until I can anchor it and prevent it from fading.

As I stood up, I caught the end of Artoria's life. Lancelot had swung Arondight down on her neck, severing her head and causing it to roll across the ground before fading away into glimmering gold.

Ignoring his mournful keen, I strode back to the Wall of Force and peered inside at Caster. I didn't have any spells that could reach him inside it, so I would have to open the Wall to kill him.

"Lancelot over here, you're going to kill this Caster once I drop the wall." I barked at him. I looked over after he didn't respond and snarled. He was bent over where Artoria had died and was unmoving.

I didn't want to burn a command seal as that could build resentment, and having a pissed-off Lancelot after was a one-way trip to being murdered. What would be even worse would be letting this Caster get away.

Dropping the Wall of Force Caster started to run, and I raised my hand, ready to use a command seal. I was cut off by a shell from a massive gun slamming into the ground next to me and exploding.

The blast caused the majority of the left side of my body to dust and flung me dozens of feet away. I was lucky a direct shot would have killed me; ranged weapons were also worse at harming Monsters due to the emotional distance a gun gave.

Stumbling to my feet, I looked up and saw what had attacked me. It was a massive airship similar in looks to a blimp; teleporting to the side, I managed to avoid another of the ship's shots. Dismissing Lancelot to astralize, I ducked inside the castle.

Swearing, I looked around amid cannon shots for Caster and couldn't see him. He must have used the airship as a distraction to flee. Speaking of the airship, I peeked around the corner to see where it had gone.

Strangely enough, the airship was gone, and as I looked around further, I felt another pulse as another mental shield fell. I didn't know what they were trying to do, but it was ineffective, as my shields were powerful.

It used Skidmark's power and its exponential principle to make the shields further down more powerful, preventing a vast majority of attacks and working best against many small ones.

As I downed a healing potion causing my arm to grow back, I felt the Grimoire expand with no new powers. Casting my senses out, I carefully stepped out into the ruined courtyard, careful and ready to teleport at the slightest sign of danger.

However, I saw no danger; it appeared that Caster had fled with the help of what was either a very progressive Magus or a mercenary.

I doubted that a person who summoned a Caster servant would use modern weapons, even ones that were suped up on magecraft. Shaking my head, I directed Lancelot to follow me.

It didn't matter; I now had a new goal; kill Caster and his Master. While I could have Lancelot kill himself and bring the effective soul count in the Grail to six, that would not prevent Caster from swooping in and attempting to grab a wish.

I also needed to make sure that Iskander or Waver didn't die. That could be a problem, given that Waver was a pathetic magus right now.

He would be good in a decade, but as of now, he was a cowardly child who could barely stand beside Iskander without cowering.

He would be easy prey to any competent Magus, especially one who had access to what was effectively a cannon. It didn't matter how powerful Iskander was if Waver was hit with a shell from miles away.

Opening a Path, I walked back to my house thinking. Iskander would be an excellent person to ally with. With the Gordius Wheel, he could attack the airship easily, and very few magi could harm servants, let alone fight them.

That, however, could be shelved for later. I needed to find where the Master was holed up and attack him. While that could be foolhardy, it was better than letting a Caster get set up.

Opening the door to my house, I nodded to Sola-Ui and Komainu before sitting down. If I could figure out the Caster's name, that would benefit me greatly.

I, however, had very little to go on. He was some form of reality bender and had a mental attack. That did not bring anybody to mind, given that people like Alita and Artoria were gender-swapped and nothing like their stories that muddled the waters even further.

I rubbed my forehead before standing up and walking outside. I would wait until 6.0 and 7.0 arrived in the morning with their Dust and have them search the city. I would have to 'update' their powers, but it should speed up the job with them searching.

Until then, I resolved to take a small nap; the weather was mild, and the sun was high in the sky. I remembered enjoying laying in the grass and sleeping under the noon sun. I could also use the break from planning and fighting to relax.

As I sat down, Komainu darted over before sitting next to me. Laying back, I patted the spot next to me, inviting her to lie down.

"I'm going to be taking a nap; feel free to join me," I said. Grinning, she nodded and curled up next to me, her head resting where my arm met my body.

Closing my eye socket, I slowly breathed in and out while clearing my mind. It took a while, but I soon fell asleep.

Waking up came slowly, and I could feel the nap's benefits. I may not need sleep physically, but the mental benefits were many.

As I got to my feet as I, Komainu, clawed sleepily at where I was before curling up into a ball. Looking up at the sky, I saw that the sun was setting and the air was cooling.

Smiling softly, I scooped her up before walking back inside and setting her down on my bed. I tucked her under the covers before leaving and softly closing the door.

I still had around ten to twelve hours before 5.0 and 6.0 came back, which gave me plenty of time to work. I didn't have any Dust, which limited what I could build, but I did have a few scraps.

I wanted to improve the sturdiness of the rings. As seen by Emma Elish, they could be destroyed, and if I weren't in my soul, then I would have collapsed and died.

I would need proper supplies to truly make them perfect, but materials like mithril were hard to come by, and I couldn't make them out of Dust as I had no clue what their composition was.

However, I did have a few scraps that I could use to reinforce them. Striding over to my workstation, I pulled out the leftovers of my projects, there wasn't much due to me conjuring the vast majority of what I needed with Dust, but there was some.

I couldn't directly mess with the rings as that could break the portal between the two of them, and it wasn't worth reforging them if I didn't have a significant upgrade in mind, so I would be plating them.

Humming, I started to get to work. The task was simple, and Master Craftsman provided the bulk of the technical know-how.

As I was working, the Grimoire started to grow.

Blinking, I noticed my posture and adjusted subtly, and I could tell there was room to optimize my spells, mainly in allowing me to throw out more damage for less mana.

Finishing up, I replaced both rings in their respective places before flipping open the Grimoire. The new power was called Battle Forged and gave me an average person's skill in martial combat and some magic skills.

The material side was leaning towards using a staff which unsurprisingly combined well with my magical girl staff. The magic, on the other hand, strictly provided the knowledge to improve the direct combat applications of my magic.

Closing the book, I looked up at the night sky and sighed. I had hours until the simulacrum arrived. I decided to reread the Grimoire to pass the time, so I sat down after making a cup of tea and got to work reviewing the book that was the source of my powers.

Powers Gained

Battle Forged

Everyone who's anyone here is a hardened warrior, so now you are too. With this comes an average human's talent in melee (including everything from general swordplay to hand-to-hand), ranged combat, or battle sorcery, which focuses on your typical heal/buff/elemental projectile trifecta. Skill in both magic and weaponry can be obtained for a loss in some effectiveness in both due to the split focus. Valkyrie essentially receives skill in all three, though they still must make a choice as to which melee weapon and ranged weapon they use and which combat type they're most proficient in.