16

Chapter 16: Chapter 12 Night 4 (p2)Notes:

(See the end of the chapter for notes.)

Chapter Text

The immense bulk of the Greater Grail loomed over the Masters of Black, who had evacuated beneath their Fortress. The room holding the Grail was Black's last line of defence, the entrance defended by several of Caster's elite golems, while also being a mass of bounded fields and wards. Before tonight, Fiore would have found it hard to imagine the defences ever being brute-forced through. Now, though, all their preparations felt utterly inadequate…

Fiore looks around, eyes skimming over the walkway around the Greater Grail. In addition to several hand-picked homunculi, who would likely do nothing to any foe who reached here, her grandfather, brother and Celenike were all present, as was Caster. All the other Masters were focused on the candles projecting the views of their respective Servants. She had been doing the same, until Archer had broken from the battle to inspect the wounds left by the Master of White. Roche, the Master of Caster, had not made it to the safe room yet- Caster had explained that he had been caught out and was instead moving to hide himself rather than chance attracting White's attention in crossing the fortress.

'Master, I've checked as thoroughly as I could and can't find any poison or toxins- the wounds seem clean of anything of the sort, and the only substances that would work both on Servants and humans should be easily identifiable.'

'But that still doesn't make you feel confident.'

'No, but there is nothing else I can think of right now, though that might change if the Master of Saber shows changes.'

'How is Uncle Gordes?'

'Besides his wound, which I dressed, he is peacefully unconscious. Before my examination, he woke, making wild threats towards our Saber, but he had to be sedated for me to properly investigate his wound. I've left him where he was- the Master of White could have killed him instantly if he had wished, so he is in no direct danger from White.'

Reading behind the lines is easy enough, but any problems from Archer 'attacking' another Master of Black would be problems Fiore would be happy to deal with in the future, as it would mean Yggdmillennia had reached a future.

'Master, your orders? Should I resume supporting the lake force, or try and assist Saber?'

Taking a look through her Servant's eyes, Fiore sees Chiron's gaze briefly travel to where White and Saber were duelling- Saber having abandoned all defence but still being unable to land a single blow. The battle had circled the outer wall of the Fortress and was now approaching where it had begun, leaving a rough trail of felled foliage and split stone in a ring. An arrow, shot towards the Master's back as if to prove a point, fails to land and doesn't even seem to be noticed. From there, Chiron's gaze turns to the lake, and Fiore pulls back to consider.

Fiore once more looks across the room. With Gordes 'asleep', they had no first-hand connection to tell how Saber was fairing, but without Chiron's support White's Archer had been raining fire down on Black's Servants, having already wiped out all the supporting forces by the lake as well annihilating Black's attempted reinforcements. The Lake force seems to need Chiron's help, but…would simply shutting down White's Archer truly allow Black to win?

Her eyes flick from vision to vision, from the unharmed King Arthur systematically wearing down the lord of Wallachia, to the unnamed Saber of White who was brutally taking both Rider and Berserker apart- even as she thinks this, the Saber's blade catches both legs of Berserker and cleaves through. Berserker's vision goes spinning. She sees her brother flinch, before grasping at his hand; red light blazes in the underground chamber, as Caules is forced to use a Command Spell to heal Berserker and return her to the fight.

Wait. Command Seals.

'Archer, support the Lake for now, but be ready to abandon that position and regroup with the other Black Servants. I might have a plan.'

No verbal response, but she can feel approval from her Servant. With that, she pushes her right wheel, rotating herself first to face Caster of Black.

"Caster, I must confirm something. Did you receive any Command Spells when you became the Master of Berserker of Red?"

Caster's faceless bronze mask turns to her, and tilts slightly.

"No. You know this already. I cannot control Spartacus, though so far he has kept his attention fixed on the King before him rather than the Lord of Romania."

He doesn't turn away, instead keeping his mask fixed on Fiore even as the conversation ends. He has no real reason to watch the perspective of Spartacus, after all. The whole battle had been one where Spartacus had failed to have any impact at all; one where he had spent most of the fight falling into the lake, then rising up only to fall again. White studiously avoided engaging Spartacus, as if they knew his Noble Phantasm and ability to power up through damage, and Spartacus without those boosts could not engage with King Arthur.

Caster's gaze still fixed on her, Fiore once more wheels herself around, this time to face Darnic Prestone Yggdmillennia.

"Grandfather, as the expert on the Grail and the Grail Wars, if a Master was contracted by multiple Servants, would they gain Command Spells?"

Darnic speaks without looking away from Lancer's view.

"...No. You have a plan, Fiore?"

"While White outmatches us, Uncle Gordes said that the Master of White used a Command Spells in the engagement between White and Red at the start of the war. If White only had two Spells left, we could take advantage of that. Not to eliminate a Servant of White; so far the Servants of White have been complacent and are clearly holding back but if one were to fall that could change. Rather, we should use our Command Spells to eliminate White at their source."

He still doesn't face her, but Fiore does see Darnic's gaze flick down towards the Seals on his hand.

"You mean to call all of Black's Servants back, to all fall on the Master of White at once?"

"Yes. He will likely summon two Servants, almost certainly his Sabers, to assist him, but at the very least this would remove the terrain advantage King Arthur has enjoyed against Lancer, in exchange for bringing the battle to our front door."

Finally, Darnic turns to face her, and gives a slow nod.

"Very well."

Caster's cold and dry voice cuts in from behind Fiore, but what he says is direct past her, to Darnic.

"And Spartacus? How am I to summon him?"

"Your Master should be able to send you one of his Seals. Use that for your Berserker."

-

It's approaching three minutes in my 'dance' with Siegfried, relying on Reinhard's sword skills and blessings to avoid his newly reckless attacks, when all three of my Servants 'shout' out at me at once.

'Master, they're gone!' / 'Berserker, Rider and Lancer just-' / 'Master, call us!'

Siegfried notes my distraction and lunges forward, Balmung outstretched. Reid slips out and taps the trust away, even as I trigger three Command Seals- one of each set.

"To me, Servants!"

Siegfried is turning, transitioning the parried thrust into a wide swing, but suddenly another blade is there- as if by instinct, Clarent swings up into Balmung's path as if Mordred had already been moving as she was teleported. Through my link, I can feel her excitement as her suggestion to our plan comes into play- 'Deep Striking' the whole of White right onto their Fortress. Behind me, I can feel Atalanta materialize and immediately leap backwards in order to get distance from Black's Saber, leaping over the top of my earthen bubbles in an attempt to claim the top of the wall. As for Artoria…Strange. There's a little resistance to my order, as if she was fighting against if using-

From the direction of the lake there's a blast and a pillar of gold rises, illuminating all of Trifas and the surrounding countryside. Even as the sound of the blast reaches the Fortress, Artoria snaps into existence on my other side.

'My apologises for my delay, but I felt it best to guarantee the destruction of the Golem.'

'That's fin-'

And then, as Siegfried's eyes widen and he begins to retreat, my sight becomes a solid mass of white bars. No, not white bars. That's my Sword Saint's divin-

The land becomes a forest of stakes.

Even as the stakes are rising from the earth, I'm already twisting my body, slashing out with Reid in a low circle around me to trim down any stakes in arm's reach. The stakes shoot up around me, but I've managed to dodge or clear out the ones right by me, for now at least. My blessing flares again, and this time the white lines are horizontal, branches coming off tree trunks.

I'm off the ground immediately, leaping up and back and clearing the small parch of lans I had made before stakes slam through the empty air, filling the gaps between the stakes with interlocked prongs. In the air, my head darts around, trying to take in what's happening. I can't see Siegfried, and it's only my connection to Artoria working perfectly that lets me know she's unharmed- the area she had been teleported to is impossible to see under the weight of stakes burying it, with the concentration even heavier than I had been subjected to.

Towards the edge of the ring of stakes, I see silver-and-red armour, as if Mordred had tried to jump clear. She didn't escape unharmed, but thanks to her armour the blows seem to have been glancing. Atalanta, on the other hand, seems more seriously injured according to my link with her. I turn towards where I can feel her, and-

The forest behind me has gruesome 'foliage' on it.

The world seems to slow, as the sight burns itself into my eyes. There're dozens of bodies, not all whole, arranged on top of the stakes. Atalanta had been crossing the shielded homunculi when the stakes had emerged under her, and Lancer's stakes had emerged from under the homunculi and their shields- not intentionally, clearly, but utterly indiscriminately. The stakes had risen, forcing any homunculi caught by the stakes through the earth mounds I had set up. For the first time, I'm exposed to the real aftermath of violence- up until this point, it had been limited or 'clean' but this-

I see a flash of green below me, and I drag my attention away from the white and dripping red to focus on Atalanta below me. She's standing, clutching a gaping wound to her torso- not a mortal wound, but far more serious than the inconvenient grazes Mordred had managed to escape with. She's going to be out of the fighting for at least a few minutes, and that isn't time we're going to be getting.

There's another rumble, more stakes blast up from the ground- this time, however, they don't seem targeted and are far more randomly placed. While more rise and then fall where Artoria is, otherwise the staking fails to harm anyone els- another earthen cocoon is pierced with unfortunate timing, and Atalanta has to bodily hurl herself backwards from a stake that would have emerged under her. Right, I'm bringing this to a close.

'Atalanta- you're out! Grab anyone alive you can, homunculi or whatever, and then get through the portal I'm going to throw up.'

'I can sti-'

'No. You're going to get yourself clear while evac'ing anyone you can. I'll Command you on this if I have to.'

'...I'll save those I can tell are unwounded, but then I'll retreat out of Lancer's range- I can still help and won't spend the battle cowering in your house. '

'Fine. Artoria? Mordred?'

'I am unharmed, thanks to Avalon. It seems Black does not know of it's true power; they continue to rain fire at where I am, and so I continue to draw their focus.'

'I'm ok. I got out of the worst of it. What's next, Master?'

'As soon as Atalanta is clear we're stopping Black. Now. No running timers down, this ends the instant it can.'

'Understood.' / 'That's a plan I can get behind.'

While Artoria remains under a constant barrage of stakes, Mordred and I have to dodge the occasional random staking using our instinct and precognition. My dodge passes by one of the ruined outer walls of the Fortress and let my fingers trail along the wall to open a portal. Seconds tick by, and then a green blur dives past me; Atalanta carrying a half-dozen white-clad bodies. My link with her goes silent, as she crosses the threshold, but that's expected.

A half dozen compared to- I shake my head. Those thoughts can happen later. I skip to the side and dodge another burst of stakes. How many could Vlad make again? I thought he could only do a thousand or so at one time, with an upper limit of…ten or twenty thousand stakes out. It felt like he'd put out half his total already just in this courtyard.

Atalanta's connection flicks back into existence, and with a though I slam the portal shut to stop any stray stakes entering. Atalanta doesn't pause, bursting away from Black's fortress to the southeast, greedily sucking down on mana to temporarily patch up the wound and allow her to move at that speed. Thank god for Inexhaustible- both for her, and for allowing Artoria to keep Avalon up for this whole time.

'Mordred, Artoria? Go time.'

There's a pulse in the air, as Artoria's mana burst flares out with such intensity that it almost becomes a physical pressure even meters away, where I'm standing. The world almost pauses and then, from within what looks like a single great pillar made of stakes, Artoria emerges. But only for a fraction of a second- her mana burst carrying her at such speeds that she almost seems to skip over the intervening distance between where she had been standing and where she ends up. The path she took is clear, though, as she blasts through Black's fortress almost like how my Swordplay had cut a corridor in space. Mordred, body seemingly bursting with lightning and mana, and I are down the corridor Artoria cut for us right away.

The impromptu corridor cuts across the entire of Black's main base, and the three of us emerge on the other side of the fortress to find the Servants of Black arrayed against us. For the first time, I actually get a good look most of the Servants. There's Astolfo, as effeminate as expected. There's Fran, there's the already-familiar Chiron and Siegfried. There's Vlad, and I can feel my face twist as I get a proper look at him. I can't make out Avicebron or Spartacus, but those two are the absolute least of my concerns now- especially with the Adam Golem's destruction by Artoria.

With that last bit of preparation taken care of, all three of us lunge for Vlad. He's the keystone of this fight- even with Siegfried's anti-dragon nature being good against the three of us, without his constant stake support Black's other members could never hold. And the timer on the other two potential-threats of Black was also counting down. Unfortunately, the way the fight has been positioned has the city of Trifas as our backstop, otherwise I would have had Artoria and Mordred blast him then and there.

Mordred and Artoria's charges are straightforward and entirely physical, but I have more than that- I slow my charge for a moment and my palm thrusts out towards Vlad. Al Jiwald's laser catches him in the chest, below the neck- I'd been aiming for his head specifically, but it seems that Arrow Guarantee was only for the general target. The beam doesn't punch through, but he staggers back from the attack, desperately throwing up stakes between him and the two charging Sabers that are shattered as fast as they emerge and thrust forward.

The other melee Servants of Black try to counter-charge, while Chiron leaps backwards with his bow raised towards Mordred. My focus shifts, and the fingers on my already-thrust hand splay out. The time it's Ul-Jiwald- I can't remember what the precise Magic Resistance of the other Servants are, so a mass B-rank spell should at least point who would might require Al-Jiwalds; my five fingers twitch into position automatically thanks to my blessing, one at Chiron, one at Astolfo, one at Fran and one at Vlad again just in case he had C MR and the last one at- the last one at that arrow that was launched.

The arrow being shot down was, unfortunately, the highlight of that spell. I knew that Astolfo has a book that gave him enough MR to tank Semi's Garden Lasers in the big battle, but I had thought that required a moonless night, and the moon was in the sky. It seems my memory wasn't quite right, as the beams on Astolfo, Chiron and Vlad all fail. Most surprisingly-

"——uu!"

Berserker's charged is completely unaffected by the attack, the laser hitting her flowing off her, discharging behind her in small jolts of green lighting that run up into her mace. Did Fran somehow have B rank Magic Resistance that just never came up in Apocrypha?

A wave of stakes flows up towards me, as Vlad and Siegfried's weapons both intercept Excalibur's swing. Clarent is swinging in an instant behind Excalibur, but Siegfried shifts his very body into the way of the blow, glancing it off his Dragon Armor. I feel Mordred's emotions snarl out at that, and then Fran barrels into Mordred in a move that sends the knight flying backwards, but not before her gauntleted hand grabs Fran's mace and yanks her off her feet and back along with Mordred. The sight of Mordred pulling Fran into melee causes Astolfo to let out what sounds like a yelp of panic before diving after them. Siegfried tries to launch an attack at Artoria, but then I feel my connection to Atalanta flare, as she indicates she's in position outside of stake-range, and an arrow appears in his shoulder causing his blow to miss.

I slip past the stakes, letting my fingers linger on the outer wall of the mansion for a moment before launching myself at Siegfried and Vlad.

-

"Wow, I can't believe I get to fight a knight of the round table! Hey, you are, aren't you? You had to be the one who had a fight last night, but then Saber of White dramatically revealed her identity and you were all "Oh my King, let me help you!". You must be- you're super strong and you were summoned into this War with a wish but gave it away to join up with White."

Rider of Black would not shut up.

With one hand, Mordred grabs the point of the lance thrust at her and throws it into the ground before stomping on it, all while catching Berserker's mace with Clarent and parrying the strike past her.

The Servants are weak. Master had said before that in his 'vision', Mordred had been able to defeat both Servants one after the other with no problems, something that didn't surprise Mordred. After all, she was King Arthur's Artoria's destroyer child knight comrade. Still, a two-on-one fight should have been harder than this, even as she was holding back on her Master's request. The only thing stopping victory was- her instinct twinges and she's forced to step back, off of Rider's lance as an arrow passes through the air where she had been standing. The numbers of White were their current weakness- Archer of Black was harassing both Mordred and, more unforgivably, her Father, while also messing with Atalanta's attempt to help.

"I can't believe Avicebron and Spartacus decided to skip this. Isn't this kind of meeting of heroes the whole point of this war? I mean, I guess I can understand but who would pass up a chance to meet King Arthur and a knight of his- hers, sorry. That still throws me. Hey, can I guess which knight you are? Maybe you're Bedivere- dutiful enough to give up your wish to help your King? Ooooh, are you Gawain? He was my favorit-"

Alright, enough of this! Mordred hadn't had much practice with this, but she'd seen her father do it before- a silver and red cape materializes behind her, which then twists up as a claw and tears into the Rider before her. The scream of shock and pain is timed perfectly with her Master's sudden surge of victory.

-

Fighting both Vlad and Siegfried and Chiron alongside Artoria reminds me of the first proper fight of this war, against Achilles and Atalanta. Once more we're up against one foe whose skin-level protection Artoria can cut through, while under fire from another whose arrow I pivot into the flight of. My opening laser on Vlad has clearly affected him; his stakes have slowed, and he is laying into me with his spear in a desperate effort to try and land a blow so as to stake me internally.

Unfortunately for him, he isn't a dragonslayer and so all my blessings are working at full force. In addition, Siegfried seems to have gotten tired or somehow been weakened- his attacks, even with his dragonslayer bonuses, lack the force of either prior encounter.

And then the timer hits 0 on Black.

Instantly, I can feel two Servant bonds snap into existence, and two sets of Command Seals- one pair connected to Siegfried, one trio connected to Chiron, blaze up my arm. As Chiron and Siegfried both stumble, Vlad is forced to retreat from Artoria without Siegfried's assistance. I take a step back from Vlad as I simultaneously raise my arm, trigger two seals and open the portal on the wall I had touched at the start of this engagement.

"Chiron, Siegfried, enter that portal immediately."

Siegfried, eyes still wide in shock, can do nothing to stop the command, and launches himself at the portal. Stakes emerge in front of him, Vlad realizing something has gone horrendously wrong and trying to stop Siegfried, but he barrels through them without pause, the stakes bending off his body like blades of grass.

Chiron, by contrast, doesn't move at all. He doesn't move to the portal, doesn't raise his bow to me, doesn't try and retreat. With Artoria handling the isolated and wounded Vlad, forcing him to devote every single stake he can summon to stay alive, and Mordred free to beat Astolfo and Fran, I approach Chiron.

"Chiron?"

"I suppose- this is what you meant by- talk later?"

"Mm hmm"

"Your bite- steals- Incarnates- Servants? Through- Masters?"

"Something like that. If you don't want to go thought the portal, we could talk here. Black is finished."

"Yes. But- Bond to Master is not-"

"Fiore? I'm not going to hurt her at all. I'm going to offer to cure her. The solution won't be perfect, but she should be able to both walk and keep her Crest."

"So- What? Independent Action- lets me resist but-"

With a sigh, I close the portal, and Chiron relaxes a little as the order cuts off. He still doesn't move, but not because of any Command Seal binding but more because I'm right up in his face and he knows talking is all he has left.

"I…can't grant your Wish. I can't give you your exact immortality back. I can get you other immortalities, but-"

"But you know I do not wish for immortality itself, but rather want to regain the connection to my parents it represents."

I pause for a second and take a breath.

"I'm sorry, but the Grail is reserved for Atalanta's wish. Is there any way I could convince you to stick around- there's a girl who could use your help, and I'm in over my head and could use-"

A shake of the head.

"I cannot serve you. I'm sorry. Once our talk is done, I'll resist your orders, fight for my own wish, and likely die in the process, but that is a risk all Servants acknowledge when summoned into such a war, and a risk all Heroes come to terms with."

I could Command Seal him again. It's clear his resistance is limited, and an order would be able to eventually overcome it. And that's before the deeper connection through the binding comes into play, where I could alter his desires and have him join up. But- No.

"You'd really prefer death to this? Even with the possibility of maybe getting you your immortality in the future somehow?"

"I would."

That's…ok. I don't get it at all, but I'll accept it. I meet Chiron's gaze, nod, and with two taps to the phone in my pocket, Sell him. He's deleted, vanishing before my eyes- once again no fading into sparks, just there-one-second-gone-the-next. I stay still, looking to where Chiron had been, before a pulse of magic and a strangled shout from Vlad behind me draw my attention.

I turn, to find Vlad reeling back away from Artoria, clutching his head and screaming. No more stakes pour from the ground, no more combat can be heard in the courtyard- Mordred standing over the defeated Astolfo and Fran, all three heads turned to Lancer.

"Darnic you bastard! I am not a vampire!"

Shit, I know what that means.

"Mordred, Artoria! Kill him right now!"

Even as the words leave my lips, I've left the scene, already charging into Black's destroyed castle to the where I feel the trace of the just-used Command Seal. Darnic isn't going to get to use his second one to tie his soul to Lancer or whatever else he had planned.

I barrel through rubble without stopping, clearing a path to the stairs downwards and then leap down. Impossibly slow rock hands slap out to try and hit me, as golems along the corridor spring to life, but I avoid them and slam into the metal doors they're guarding with Reid. The blow shatters the door, and before anyone in the room can react, before even the magic defences can properly trigger, I raise my hand to Darnic and let out another laser.

This time my Al-Jiwaled is precisely on-point and, even as Darnic is slow-mo mouthing his next order, his entire head comes apart as the beam punches clean through. There's an impossibly brief moment where I can make out how his head hasn't quite yet collapsed despite the palm-shaped hole cutting through the centre of it, but then the remaining bits of head and skull just fall to pieces and Darnic Prestone Yggdmillennia is about as dead as any one person can be.

Caules flinches backwards from Darnic's falling corpse with a shriek as it nearly falls on him, and Fiore also physically recoils from the sudden violence, face entirely pale. Celenike is the only of the three who doesn't react as a normal person would and just turns towards the door where I'd entered from. I can't see Roach at all; maybe Avicebron took him when, according to Astolfo, he turned tail on Black? My fingers once more splay, landing on the three remaining Masters of Black. From what they would have seen of the courtyard fight, as well as what I just showed them, they should understand the threat behind this.

"Black is over. Surrender."

Caules was still looking at Darnic's body as if he can't believe it but tears his gaze away to look to his sister, who remains transfixed by the corpse. The few homunculi I can make out in the room move in front of their Masters, but don't yet approach me, while Celenike doesn't waste any time and raises her hands.

"I surrender. Should I order my Rider to commit suicide now, or-"

"No. Just tell them that Black is surrendering. We can all talk about what happens next."

There's a pause, where Celenike looks at Fiore, who seems physically ill and completely out of it, and gives a small smirk before turning to me.

"I suppose I'll step in if our current head is otherwise occupied. The Yggdmillennia family, and the Black Faction of the Great Holy Grail War, surrender to the White Faction. We'll all stand down, though we can't control the golems that Caster made since he abandoned us."

"That's fine."

My tone to Celenike is clipped, but whatever. With this all settled, I turn my attention away from the defeated Masters and their homunculi guards and contact Mordred and Artoria as I begin, using Reid and my magic, to destroy the golems outside the room.

'Everyone ok?'

'We are fine, Master. Vlad impaled himself on my blade moments ago.'

'Suicide via co-'

**Your retinue member, Gordes Musik Yggdmillennia, has died**

Oh what the fuck now?

'Artoria, watch the two Servants. Mordred, come and peacefully escort the Masters up, clearing out any golems in the way. I need to check on the pocket house. Atalanta, if you're able you can come back to us- no need to rush, though.'

Three acknowledgements and a few seconds wait for Mordred to arrive, and then I open a portal and step through.

-

The outside of the house seems…normal. I'd expected there to be a trail of blood from Atalanta taking the wounded homunculi here, but rather it seems clean. I open the door and see a sight I had not at all expected.

Pinned to the ground like an exotic insect, is a face-down Gordes, arms metal and hands covered in blood and…is that blood-stained hair? The object pinning him is Balmung, and I can see the owner kneeling down over something that I can't make out with Siegfried in the way. A step forwards and to the side reveals the body of…someone. I'd guess it would be a homunculus, but the state of its head makes it impossible to identify- the grey hair that should be there is dyed a pinkish red and the face is just...gone, pummled into red. I draw closer and kneel down by Siegfried. A touch of the body and a pulse of magic reveals it's been dead for maybe a minute. So, before Siegfried were sent here.

Working out what happened here isn't especially hard, though why Siegfried felt the need to kill Gordes is something I can't work out, not with my limited understanding of what exactly happened to Sieg and the aftereffects of that. As I try and work out what to say next, Siegfried speaks in a dull voice.

"How is the Black Faction?"

"Defeated but mostly alive. Vlad and Darnic were killed, and Chiron preferred death to sticking around without his Wish. Did Gordes kill him?" I don't gesture at the body, but it's fairly obvious who I'm talking about.

"Yes. I entered to find him in the process of beating the corpse, ranting about failures and traitors. He moved to attack another-" Siegfried gestures at a nearby still-unconscious homunculi "-and so I intervened, as I should have days ago."

"Is this about Sieg?"

"Sieg?"

"Sorry. The nameless homunculus who tried to escape."

"You knew of him? But yes. I wished to help him, of my own will, and my Master prevented that. I could not repeat my mistake when I saw it happen again, and while I could not save this life, at the very least I stopped any further deaths at his hands."

He sounds…utterly defeated when he says that last line, and that tone carries on as he continues.

"I suppose this is fate. I shed so much blood in my lifetime, I now must also shed the blood of those I swore to protect if anyone around me is to be saved. You said Chiron 'preferred death'? Is that-?"

I can tell where this is going, but just from how…crushed he sounds from all this I can't bring myself to make my pitch. Siegfried has a problem with forcing himself to grant requests over what he wanted to do, and so asking him would be the same as commanding him when it's obvious that he's just done with it all.

"Yes. If you'd like."

"I failed to protect the innocent and killed my own Master. My desires should not be relevant." With nothing else to add, Siegfried closes his eyes and waits.

-

I exit the house with a heavy heart. Siegfried vanished without any more reaction, and I'd spent a few moments looking over each homunculus to see if there was anything I could do to help them with my water magic. From the portal, I make my way back up to the courtyard, slipping past the destroyed golems and rubble littering the castle interior, and find everyone who remains there. Artoria and Mordred stand over the two Servants, while Atalanta is perched on the roof of the castle, bow is hand but not yet pointed at the three Masters. The two youngest still seem in shock, though they're putting on a brave face.

I let out a breath and speak.

"Gordes and Siegfried are both dead. Gordes murdered a homunculus, then Siegfried stabbed him to stop him doing so again and then asked to die. So."

Caules winces when he hears the news of Gordes' death, and Fiore brings her hand to her mouth for a moment, before visibly collecting herself and speaking with a slight stutter.

"Why do you have us here, Master of White? Defeat our Servants, spare our lives if it pleases you, and then take your fight to the Red Faction. We have already unconditionally surrendered."

Caules and Celenike both agree silently- it seems Fiore is the spokeswoman for Yggdmillennia now. She was Darnic's nominated heir, if I recall correctly, so I guess that makes sense. I flare some earth mana and chairs and a round table are raised from the ground, to around the height where Fiore can comfortably see. I gesture to them, and hesitantly everyone present, Servants included, finds a place at the table- Fiore's seatless position is opposite my own.

"Now, I have an offer for you" I manage not to glance at Celenike as I speak. "I'm going to say some stuff now that would be fairly unbelievable but, after everything you've seen tonight, I hope you'll have an open mind about it. Once I've said my piece, I'm going to lay out a series of choices about what happens next."

-

I've gotten used to repeating my story by now, so it's fairly concise. When I describe my circumstances and world-hopping, Caules is visibly shocked and gives me another once-over, but other than that it's all done fairly unremarkably.

"-So. Now come the offers, to the Servants first. I can't give you the Grail; Atalanta has that reserved, but for Fra- Berserker", my last-second word-switch happens as Fran bares her teeth at my first syllable, "I will eventually be able to grant your wish. As for Astolfo-"

"Heck yeah I wanna go on adventurers to worlds no-one has ever seen before, fighting ne'er-do-wells and saving people!"

"Just like th-?"

"Obviously? Who would turn down that offer? It's basically just being a Servant but instead of meeting and fighting other Heroes it's going on adventurers in other worlds with those heroes! I can't believe I get to fight alongside King Arthur and one of his knights!"

Astolfo's enthusiasm is…a lot, and I can feel Mordred begin to realize with some degree of horror that it's possible Astolfo will be a semi-permanent fixture of White.

'Master-'

'I'm overwhelmed also but I'm not going to turn him away just because he's too happy to join up.'

'I wish you would, Master.'

As I send Mordred a burst of wordless sympathy, I give Astolfo a slightly smile and nod.

"Right, well I guess we can have a demonstration."

"Do you need to bite me? I can-" Astolfo begins tugging at his shirt collar and-

"No! No that's fine. I'm going to envelop you in my cloak for a moment and, if you don't resist, you should join up instantly."

And that's what happens. As I feel the new seal appear on my arm, I notice Celenike glance at her hand, which would now be bare. I'll be coming to her soon, though, so I avoid staring at her. The Shroud cocoon falls away, and Astolfo emerges. There's no visible change to him, but-

"Oh wow you guys had this mana supply? It's like being hooked up to the Grail. Maybe? I haven't actually been hooked up to the Grail, but wow this is a lot-"

I tune out the rest of Rider's ramblings and look to Fran. She glances between me, Caules, Astolfo and Mordred of all people, before letting out a loose growl and pointing at me, then her.

"——uh?" (And my Wish?)

Thank you, Communication Talent.

"I can't grant you your wish right now, but I swear to you that it is both a wish I will be able to grant, and that I will grant it as soon as I can. I can't give an exact timeframe, but I would be able to grant it the first time I move to a new world."

"My Ma-"/"Mast-"

Both Artoria and Mordred begin to speak at the same time and fall silent when they hear the other. The pause lasts a moment, before Artoria gestures at Mordred, who nods in acceptance and turns to Mordred.

"Master made a list of all the Wishes of the War days ago, and he's had yours as 'grantable' from the start. And as far as I or…King Artoria can tell, he hasn't lied about anything like that."

Fran considers, tapping a finger on the table, once more turning to look between me and her Master and then nodding twice.

"—um." (Talk to Master first.)

I turn to Caules who, like all the Masters of White, seem confused- right, they don't have the translation skill.

"She said "Talk to my Master first". I'm guessing she wants to make sure I'm not going to try and cheat you or something if she joins up before."

Fran's head tilts at my understanding, and Caules also seems taken-aback, though less at me and more at Fran. Still, no reason not to abide by that. Caules wasn't the one in trouble, anyway.

"Masters get a different set of choices from Servants. You guys can walk away, can join up and travel between worlds with me until you find one you want, or stay here with the benefits that come from my retinue- biological immortality with no fog of ages, an infinite well of internal mana, eternal youth, perfect physical health and an immunity to illness, the ability to learn combat, survival, and language skills faster, a permanent clothing-based mystic code and more. The downside is that you get bound to me like a familiar, and I could use that link to influence you mentally or just outright delete you from the world at will; your life would be in my hands."

I've been standing since Astolfo joined, pacing back and forth around the table as I've been speaking, and as I finish, I come to a stop 'coincidentally' behind Celenike.

"Let me demonstrate."

Celenike's head begins to turn, but the side of my hand is already slamming into the back of her head, knocking her unconscious. An instant later the Shroud has her covered.

"So. Here's another thing. People who make a hobby of murder, who indiscriminately and fatally curse random innocents for kicks, who torture others for fun and who plan on saving their command seals so that they can rape their Servant when they win don't get a choice."

I stand there, as the two remaining Masters look on queasily. A silence falls, and two minutes later the Shroud opens to reveal that Celenike is no longer there.

"This is me being honest with you. If you bind yourself to me, I could do that at will, across any number of worlds. You'd be agreeing to basic moral ground rules about stuff like 'not murdering people'. And 'academic pursuits of magi' wouldn't hold water because you'd have infinite time to take a longer, more moral path."

Once more silence falls across the table, but it doesn't hold long before Fiore breaks it, eyes still glued to the empty chair where Celenike had been sitting.

"And the Red Master of Saber? Which option did he take; did he agree to your terms, or did he suffer a similar fate?"

"He's still on the fence. I granted him his wish, like I plan to do with F-Berserker and you, but in doing so I had to bind his daughter to me to heal her from her toxic Magical Crest. He might join up to be immortal with her, he might decline my offer but still travel to a new world with me, or he might find a way to extract her Crest and then ask me to unbind her, which is something I can do, once per person."

"I suppose you have no reason to lie- we are entirely in your power, and you demonstrably can forcibly bind us."

Fiore takes a deep breath, and then gives a short nod.

"Very well, Master of White. I accept your terms, as you must have known I would, given your clairvoyant knowledge about Celenike's… proclivities, as well as our Servants."

I extend my arm towards Fiore, ready to let the Shroud work, when I hear Caules spring to his feet.

"M-Me first. Bind me first, please."

"Brother…"

"Let me just make sure, ok. Let me just make sure that this won't just kill humans it's used on."

I turn to him, and he's standing stiff as a board, fear present on his face.

"You sure? I could inste-"

"Just…do me first. Please."

I glance at Fran.

"Are you ok with this? If I bind him, it'll also bind you through your link."

Fran takes a minute, before giving a short nod, and with her approval I turn back to Fiore and Caules. Fiore meets Caules' eyes, sighs and gives her assent. With that, Caules walks as if going to the gallows and stands before me, braced as if prepared for the worst. The shroud covers Caules for a moment, and then it's done. He emerges, without any visible change baring the command seals that vanish from him and join the ones on my arm. He seems honestly surprised; clearing having expected something else to have happened.

"Brother, is what he said true?"

"I…I think he's told the truth. Even the unbelievable stuff about the Od wellspring." As he says this, his clothing twitches and moves despite there being no wind. Fiore tilts her head, and then asks something of a non-sequitur.

"What did we bury together, and where?"

Caules quickly catches on to what Fiore is really asking, and replies easily.

"We buried your dog in the forest near behind our home."

"The breed of the dog?"

"An…Appenzeller Sennenhund, I think?"

With this, Fiore waits for a second, before throwing out one last question.

"Lastly, what is the name of my Mystic Code?"

Caules pauses before replying.

"Its official title is Bronze-Link Manipulators, but you secretly call the limbs Aster, Blanca, Comet and Wolf after the canine spirits in each limb."

"...Thank you, Caules. Thank you so very, very much."

Fiore's voice tears up towards the end, and Caules embraces her tightly. After a moment, he steps away and, after she collects herself, she pushes her left wheel and rotates to look up at me through red-rimmed eyes.

"Very well. Master of White, please grant my wish."

-

After Fiore joined up, the rest of White had left the remnants of Black to their privacy, returning instead to the courtyard we had started in. With Vlad's death, his stakes had vanished, the corpses they had left behind having fallen to the ground. Tonight's been the first time I've seen corpses outside of hospitals and funerals, and the bodies left on the ground here are nothing at all like the prepared and presentable ones from there.

As I look around, trying to work out where they should be buried, there's a frantic rapping at the front door of the Fortress. Which by itself is a little surprising given how there's breaches in the wall right next to the door, in fact there's more hole than wall to be honest. I have a fair guess as to who the visitor is from there presence, so when I open the door to find Jeanne, dressed in full regalia with her flag in hand, I'm not surprised. She takes a look at me, walking about a destroyed base of Black and opening its doors, and heaves a sigh.

"I see you move quickly, Master of White. I assume that the Black Faction has fallen and that the additional Servants I feel are new recruits of White?"

"Yeah. It didn't work out perfectly, but Kairi's note should have given you the gist of what happened."

"Then, as the current master of the grounds, I ask that you show me to the Grail. Something strange has occurred that I need to investigate immediately. There are also two other matters, but the Grail takes priority."

Well, that's all fairly ominous but…

"Sure. I'll show you the way."

"Thank you."

Artoria moves to accompany me, but I mentally wave her away; Jeanne wasn't going to just up and assassinate me and having Artoria get a better sense of the damage done while also starting to plan our next steps would be more useful. Entering the main building, the two of us walk in silence down the path I had blitzed down minutes ago, and eventually find ourselves on the walkway where I had found the Masters of Black, with the Grail looming over the room. I very pointedly force myself not to look at Darnic's headless body, still lying on the floor where it had fallen and instead focus on Jeanne, who is studying the Grail closely.

"Anything I can do to help- get you closer to it or something?"

She doesn't hear my words, and so I wait. After a minute, she pulls herself away from the Grail and towards me.

"The Grail is only very slightly filled."

That sentence knocks me for a loop. "Huh?"

"The Grail has the essence of one Servant in it, received recently. I felt the Grail absorb the essence, which prompted my arrival as I should have felt the same feeling from the other defeats."

Hold on, what?

"That doesn't work, I've already dealt with more than one Serv- oh. Fuck."

"You know what has occurred?"

Oh goddamnit. Does Selling not count as 'killing' as far as Grail is concerned? That's…Jeanne says something, but I'm busy doing maths in my head, but I snap out of it when her gauntlet's hand touches my arm. I glance up to see her looking seriously at me, entirely business-mode.

"Master of White, do you know what has occurred?"

"Probably. One of my methods of defeating Servants seems to have messed things up."

"The Grail must be filled, and a Wish must be made. That is the purpose of this ritual, which I was summoned to oversee. Tell me honestly; have your actions made the ritual impossible to complete?"

"No. Not yet. The Grail needs six Servants of energy to function- seven if going for the Root, which no-one remaining is. There's… seven Servants left, counting Shirou. As long as at least five more die properly, the Grail War can finish."

"As overseer of this War, I must insist that you not perform any actions that would-"

"I get it! I need the Grail to be filled also; I'm hardly aiming to have done all this with Atalanta and then stop her getting her wish due to a system error."

"Very well. Now that this has been addressed, my second point- as I arrived here, I felt Red enter my detection radius. They are all travelling together, and are moving relatively slowly, but they will be in range to engage in a few hours. The next battle will also occur tonight and must be completed before day rises tomorrow to maintain the secrecy of the War."

That's…less of a big deal than the first piece. I mean, it's still not great and I would have liked another day to actually plan things, to get the new members up to speed, but at least Ruler's problems with Shirou and the Red Faction have her giving me this much of a head's up, and she might even be willing to help us in this fight, given Shirou is on the other side.

"And the third thing?"

"Ah. The third- do you know why there would be a massive surge of energy from the direction of Red Faction a few minutes ago?"

"A few minutes ago?" What, when Black was being finished up? So, around Darnic's death or thereabouts? There's nothing that springs to mind- the fate of Black should have no bearing on Shirou and his faction. "Nothing springs to mind."

"Strange…I am also unsure of what caused it and had hoped you would have some idea through your visions."

"Sorry, I don't know what that could be."

As I say this, I open my link to all members of my retinue currently in the vicinity.

'Everyone, Red is coming, and will be in range in a few hours. We have that long to prepare before what will probably be the last big battle of this War. All Servants meet up in the courtyard where we just were to plan. Caules and Fiore, you might want to retreat to Trifas' church- Red Saber's Master and his daughter should be there taking shelter also, and two of Red's Servants have enough power to level this place if they want to.'

There's a mass of replies that I don't try and sort out just yet, and I turn to Jeanne.

"Given the situation, will you be assisting us? It's down to White or Red now, and Red is entirely under Shirou's control."

Jeanne pauses, before drawing in a breath and giving me one short nod.

"While I have concerns regarding your wish, Ruler of Red's actions and wish are both completely unacceptable and in total violation of both rule and spirit of this War. A Ruler should know better, and one that refuses to act appropriately is a grave concern. I am willing to join forces to combat him."

"Glad to have you onboard, then. We're meeting up in the courtyard behind this Fortress if you'd care to join us. I've already recommended the surviving ex-Masters of Black seek sanctuary in the Church, if that's ok with you?"

Notes:

Bye Black, Hi Red (after one chapter of decompression and prep).

I mentioned towards the start of the fic upthread that I was concerned about Astolfo- because he's the sort of person who I feel 100% would take an offer to have adventures in other worlds, but he's also someone I have a real hard time clicking with. I also couldn't find a way to real avoid him, because the only way would have been to kill him in battle and Rein wouldn't want that AND Mordred is powerful enough (esp with her upgrades) not to need to resort to that, even against an un-Semi-blasted Astolfo. Astolfo also brings one really nasty trick he can pull with an infinite mana supply (his Hippogriff NP), so he's actually a really good recruit. He's just going to be a pain to write, with problems being almost entirely meta.

Fran…is basically the opposite of Astolfo, in that she doesn't seem really hard to write, but she isn't a super-valuable recruit in combat. Like, the more the better, and her knockoff Mana Burst that can be gotten by gaming Bridal Chest and Galvanism via friendly fire could be useful I guess, but it isn't up there with Astolfo's PermaGriff, or Artoria's Infinite Mana Burst+Infinite Avalon, or even Mordred's Infinite Mana Burst. She's more of an Atalanta-style Servant (except Atalanta can at least NP spam) where infinite mana is useful, but it isn't inherently totally absurd.

Chiron's Wish wasn't possible (so he has no reason to stick around), and he's also too loyal to Fiore to just switch Masters on the spot- he's one of the most anti-Shirou-Servants in F/A both because he has his own wish and he's loyal to his Master. That, and meta-wise, he'd be too broken with his "perfect hero teacher" shtick (Wisdom of Divine Gift in long-term stories is ummm...). Siegfried was just fucked this war, unfortunately, even more than in F/A where at least he got to go out on his own terms, achieving his lifelong wish. Gordes not ever developing and instead doubling down on his worst aspects in how he saw both Servants and homunculi meant that Siegfried had to pull an even more extreme version of what he did in canon, which fucked him up further because of how he wound up attacking someone he had previously sworn to protect ("Since you were spilling the blood of various people so far, you will even spill the blood of the people you are protecting"), after having failed to protect two more innocents while on the verge of failing to protect a third.

As canon, Darnic tried to make Vlad go Dracula when all other hope was lost and it was his last-ditch effort, but he only got the first Seal out before he was killed, and without the Seal telling Vlad to stay alive at all costs/let Darnic merge and control him Vlad had enough sanity to just jump on the now-super-effective holy sword in front of him and die properly. This revealed the thing I'd been working towards since the defeat of Jack where Jack was just deleted from the world, with no fading away or anything like that. This is the reason why Black asked Ruler about Jack's status when they met- their Spirit Board said that Assassin of Black was gone, but Darnic's own Greater Grail observation said that no Servant had died.