As the destruction from Archer's fight with the Servant now known as Avenger was being repaired, Reines was lost in thought.
She had expected to encounter some Servant, a fallen Apostle, or perhaps even a True Ancestor, but no one appeared. All the spells she had prepared had no effect; the traps were useless.
And while three different locations, some distance from England, were under attack, she stood there staring at the sky. This irritated her, especially knowing about a certain individual who had been there and done nothing.
"What a complicated situation, and the worst is yet to come, isn't it, miss?" a voice said beside Reines.
She turned to see an old man with a pipe, a scar running down his face and a very long beard. This was Marisbury's other Servant, Rider.
"May I ask where you were while all this was happening?" Reines asked.
"I was fishing while my partner hunted for squid. We were bored, and my master sent me to sea—literally. That's why I wasn't here when that girl attacked the place," Rider explained, stroking his beard.
Reine looked at the Servant, a man of the sea, with a peg leg, a scar, and a partner who hunted squid. Clearly a sailor, and I only knew one man who fit that description, at least not that I'd ever heard of.
"I wonder if having that sperm whale would have been of any use, especially without water," Reines remarked, turning back to watch the sorcerers repair the place.
"Ha, narrow-minded girl, don't underestimate that beast, and let me tell you, it's more than a shallot; it's an impenetrable wall," Rider said, vanishing and leaving Reines alone.
Elsewhere, Rider appeared atop a building, standing next to Caster.
"You seem a bit repentant," Rider teased, setting his pipe aside.
"You came back early," Caster stated without looking at him.
"My marine instincts told me something had happened on land, so I returned. Now, where is my great and wise master?" Rider asked, to which Caster gave him a blank stare.
"He's being held accountable for his complete lack of participation and for a new assignment at the clock tower," he explained.
"New?" Rider questioned.
...
Ruler could be seen surrounded by several important figures from the Clock Tower.
After leaving the True Ancestors' lair, she came directly to this place.
The True Ancestors were quite out of control, and perhaps not all of them were breaking the rules—mostly their subordinates, among other things—but that didn't change the fact that, as a faction, they were breaking the rules.
As a Servant, Ruler couldn't face both the True Ancestors and their Servants. Perhaps one-on-one, but knowing what she was capable of, she wasn't sure that was possible, which is why she came here to ask for help.
"I see the situation; as a sorcerer and as a member of the Association, I can't allow this to happen," said one of the men present.
Ruler just rolled her eyes. She knew that only a small part of this group cared about human lives outside the Association and the Clock Tower; They only said that because it benefited them to have the True Ancestors, whether because of the Holy Grail War or because it suited them for the Ancestors to disappear.
"Hypocrisy aside, how do you suggest we confront those monsters?" asked Lorelei Barthomeloi, sitting across from Ruler.
"Well, we could launch a joint operation to attack the True Ancestors' base," suggested Ruler, causing the entire room to fall silent.
"Entering the lion's den... I don't know how good an idea that is, especially since we have a dim-witted Servant in our ranks," commented Waver Velvet, setting aside his pipe.
"Under normal circumstances, we couldn't, but right now we have Merem on our side, along with the Marshal and his adopted granddaughter. Not to mention, their group isn't all 27 True Ancestors, just a few, so it might work," said Marisbury Animusphere.
Before Marisbury could speak, everyone in the room began to discuss how feasible this could be.
"Silence," Lorelei ordered, silencing the room to look at Marisbury. "Let me remind you that we haven't even discussed your stellar performance in tonight's invasion, so right now you're in the red."
Bartholomei's warning went in one ear and out the other.
"I was doing something important; I couldn't leave it unfinished," the accused replied.
"Your investigation will be useless if the clock tower falls," said McDonell Trambelio Elrod, not far from Marisbury.
"We can postpone Animusphere's trial until after the Holy Grail War is over, especially since it belongs to one of our masters right now, so fighting amongst ourselves isn't a good idea," Waver said, calming the situation.
Lorelei could only click her tongue and look at Ruler, who had been observing everything.
"Well, what do you suggest, Ruler?"
...
Avenger entered the room where Caster was, only to find him sitting in complete darkness with Kiss-shot on his lap, feeding him.
She just looked wearily at her father.
"Weren't you working?" she asked.
"Do I have to be working all day?" he countered.
"Have you even made any progress?" Avenger questioned.
"Why do you think I am?" she retorted.
Avenger just rubbed her temple as she curled up in the fetal position.
After years, she had forgotten her father's carefree personality.
Getting up again, she looked around for the bracelets he had given her.
She approached them and saw that they were adorned with various magical seals and runes.
"Now, with these, she can strike faster and harder, since I embedded my own gravity-based magic formula alongside several seals that enhance your wind abilities, eliminating air friction," Caster explained, standing up and leaving Kiss-shot seated.
Caster pulled a military-looking blade from a drawer.
"With this, even the Servant with the highest defense can be injured; this is for the crazy revolutionary," she explained, taking a staff from a cabinet. "This is for the alternate version of Elizabeth, a staff that can manipulate blood; however, it doesn't generate blood, so I don't know where she'll get it if she wants to fight someone, since her opponent will normally be unharmed."
With that, she leaned back on the desk to look at Avenger.
"I still need to create a device that cures leprosy as quickly as possible in battle and a few arrows capable of killing ghostly odontocetes," she finished, summoning several donuts from her darkness and sitting back down with Kiss-Shot.
Avenger stared at Caster's inventions.
His father hadn't been so good at this kind of thing before; it took him at least a month to create anything like this. At that moment, he realized how beneficial his legend and class were right now.
"If you want, you can give them their weapons, since they're a bit restless now that Ruler can kill them if they're caught out of position; these things will calm them down a bit," Caster said, ignoring Avenger.
She just looked at him and sighed; she could see he had no interest in her at the moment.
Taking the weapons, she left the room, closing the door behind her, plunging the place into complete darkness once more.
"Don't you think you were a little cold to her?" Kiss-shot asked.
Caster didn't answer; he just looked at her and immediately tried to eat a donut, only to be stopped short by Kiss-shot.
"What's wrong?" Caster asked.
"Those donuts are all mine, don't you remember?" Kiss-shot said gently, but Caster felt the murderous pressure instantly.
"I don't remember that; I must have been drunk," Caster replied, trying to eat the donut again.
"Since you were summoned, you haven't had a drop of alcohol," Kiss-shot said, arguing with Caster on the couch.
"How do you know that? I could have been drinking while you were playing on the phone I got you," Caster argued.
After a few minutes, Caster could be seen lying face down on the floor while Kiss-shot sat on her sword eating donuts.
Caster just huffed and banged his head on the floor.
The truth was, Caster wasn't focused; he was thinking about Avenger.
His cold attitude toward his daughter stemmed from knowing this wouldn't last long, and he didn't want to reopen old wounds or get attached to her.
But that's nearly impossible, since Caster decided to participate in this war because of Avenger's appearance, as he doesn't want to fulfill his own wish but rather his daughter's.
Basically, he doesn't want to win, but he wants his daughter to win.
"Can you even give me the crumbs?" Caster asked, only to see Kiss-shot open his mouth and stuff all the donuts in it, swallowing them in one gulp before looking at Caster with a satisfied smile. "You could have said no."
...
Bazett carried some boxes, accompanied by Archer and Berserker, who was doing the same. A few steps later, they arrived at a place where several people were resting.
"It's time to eat," announced Bazett, opening the box to find juice and various sandwiches.
"Phew, just what I needed," said one of the sorcerers who were repairing the buildings, joined by others.
Some took the food without complaint and began eating without much fuss, but others stared at what was there and hesitated.
"By any chance, isn't there anything less, poor thing?" asked one man.
Bazett just frowned at that, especially since she and the others had prepared the food.
This was the way it was, since there were different social classes within the tower. Everyone had to help out however they could.
The people who were looking at the food as if it were something strange were probably from wealthy families or similar backgrounds, hence their way of discriminating, even over food.
Bazett had to admit that this wasn't food from top chefs or some high-end French restaurant, but it was what they had and what they could manage in such a short time.
Just as Bazett was about to complain, a woman came pushing past all these guys. She pulled out a sandwich and a juice and started eating it right there, staring at them.
"If you don't want to eat, don't eat; starve yourselves," the woman said.
"Tohsaka," the one who had spoken growled.
"Did I say something untrue?" replied the woman now known as Rin Tohsaka, taking out a sandwich and a juice and throwing them at the guy. "Eat first, complain later."
And with that, she left, leaving the guys speechless, since she didn't have enough energy to yell.
"Hehe, I like that girl's attitude," Berserker commented, to which Archer just shook his head.
"Very direct; that creates problems," commented the servant Indu.
"But that doesn't change the fact that she said what we were thinking," added Bazett.
...
"I wonder where you were during the attack we had last night, Miss Tohsaka," said Reines, smiling at the woman who approached with bread and juice.
"Would you believe me if I told you you're inside one of the rooms that were destroyed?" she asked Reines, showing her arms covered in bandages.
"I believe you, because knowing you, you would have launched an attack like a monkey trying to take down the infiltrator," Reines mocked.
Tohsaka just clicked her tongue but didn't deny it, mainly because she herself had shown she would do something like that.
"I'm not suicidal enough to interfere in a fight between two Servants, and the monkey comment was unnecessary," Rin retorted.
Reines stopped looking at her and her smile, gazing at the horizon; it was late, and the sun was setting. That meant a new night and a new battle were coming soon.
"What do you think about this situation?" Reines asked Rin.
"It's awful. If they already attacked us once, what's stopping them from doing it again?" Rin replied.
"I thought something like that too," she shared her thoughts, turning back to look at him. "Waver told me that the Ruler of this war arrived and proposed a plan to attack the True Ancestors' base."
"Ruler?" Rin asked, then asked another question. "Will she do it tonight?"
"No, it's too soon. She needs to have some things ready, so it will be the following night," she explained. "Tonight we'll focus on protecting the clock tower while Animusphere goes to scout the city."
"Are you just going to leave the Grail behind?" Rin asked.
"If the plan works, then that doesn't matter, because if we manage to defeat them, the Grail will automatically be in our hands afterward," Reines replied.
"Is the Ruler?" "Hmm," Rin made thinking sounds as she held her chin.
...
Night had already fallen, so Rider and Caster were ready to begin their journey.
At that moment, Marisbury appeared, walking slowly ahead of them, looking back, or more specifically, at Caster.
"Will there be any trouble tonight?" he asked.
Caster simply shook his head.
"I don't know, the future is changing," he revealed honestly, which made his master frown.
"And what about that future?" he questioned.
"It remains the same at its core; you only change the details," Caster said, offering little further insight.
This did not sit well with Marisbury.
Thanks to astrology, he had foreseen an imminent end for humanity, but that was normal. It would happen eventually, but the one he had seen was different. Therefore, he could only bring Caster here to help him and fulfill his wish, only to end up facing something worse.
*Flashback*
The light slowly faded, revealing two Servants: one, the one he had been waiting for, and the other—well, more help never hurts, not to mention he knew how the Holy Grail ritual worked. The more Servants there were, the more powerful the wish could be, or, by default, the more one could ask for.
"I imagine you know why I summoned you, or not, King Solomon," Marisbury said.
Rider, who had been summoned together, simply looked at the dark-haired man with white hair beside him.
But Solomon said nothing, only frowned, which Marisbury didn't understand.
Because of how the summoning system worked and Solomon's level, he shouldn't have been summoned. So, if he answered the call, it meant he agreed with Marisbury's idea and what he wanted to achieve: saving humanity.
"Things aren't as simple as you think," Caster replied, stepping closer and grabbing his master's head.
The moment they made contact, Marisbury's eyes rolled back, causing him to collapse to the ground.
Rider watched this unfold, summoning a pipe and taking a puff.
"I don't think you knocked our master unconscious to control him and become some kind of rogue Servant, did you?" Rider questioned.
"No, I only showed him what I saw," he replied.
"And what did you see?" Rider asked.
"The future," Caster answered.
In Marisbury's mind, he saw himself in a skyscraper; from there, he could see the entire city, but the situation was not normal, as everything suddenly began to shake.
He looked down to see several buildings collapsing from the seismic activity and to see something falling from the ground.
At that moment, he looked up at the sky and watched in horror as stones rained down from the ground. They weren't very large, but they were strong enough to go from comets to meteorites. The ground was filled with explosions.
In the distance, the sea began to surge inland, sweeping everything away.
Marisbury couldn't understand what was happening. This wasn't the end of the world he had foreseen.
At that moment, the skyscraper began to collapse, and the white-haired man fell with it.
The moment he hit the ground, the scene changed.
He saw the clock tower completely destroyed, the streets of England reduced to ashes, and in the midst of it all were two figures.
The first, Caster, better known as Solomon, was missing an arm, channeling magic, while on the other side was an unrecognizable individual.
It was an entity, with a dark flame coursing through its body.
"For what I want to do, you, King Solomon, are an obstacle," the entity declared, only to raise its hand higher in the air and watch as the moon drew ever closer, about to crash into the earth.
At that moment, witnessing the spectacle of the end of the world, Marisbury awoke.
He was sitting in a chair while Rider looked outside, and Caster stood before him.
"What did I see?" Marisbury asked Caster.
"A premonition, so the end of the world you see is very different from mine."
*End of flashback*
"And what about the other future?" asked the master of the two Servants.
"I still don't know who creates the singularities; I may have clairvoyance, but it's still somewhat limited. I can't see everything," Caster replied.
Marisbury simply nodded.
"I give you complete freedom to act and fight; if you can get an answer, that would be ideal," Marisbury ordered, looking ahead.
"Heh, as my master commands," Rider replied, walking toward the city.
Caster just stood there for a moment before activating a magic circle and disappearing, leaving the white-haired man alone.
I was already somewhat paranoid about the end of humanity that I had seen, but what Caster showed was something much worse; it was the end of planet Earth, and the cause was this Holy Grail War.
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Hello, everyone, I hope you're all doing well. I just wanted to let you know that this chapter was supposed to be ready yesterday, but my dog suddenly got sick. He lay there for hours, completely unresponsive, and then he died.
I still don't know what happened to him, and I'm curious. He hadn't eaten for two days, and on the second day, he just collapsed and stopped responding and moving. He was only breathing and occasionally jerking his leg, nothing more. He didn't respond to anything. I'm sharing this here because maybe someone knows what he had, or a vet might have some suspicions.
As I said, yesterday was awful, and my grandmother, who I live with, was crying almost all day, and I had to comfort her, so I didn't have any time to write.
Sadness aside, I hope you enjoyed the chapter; see you later.