Ch 157: disillusion.

As the sun was setting outside, Akeno, Ciel, Artoria and Caren came out of Sanctuary. Akeno had created for Ciel a casual outfit, consisting of a short black cotton skirt, a blue sleeveless top, and blue stockings with black leather boots. Caren, on the other hand, was in her priestess slash inquisitor outfit, had her hands handcuffed behind her back and was blindfolded.

While Artoria and Ciel headed for the living room for Ciel to properly introduce herself, Akeno seized Caren's left arm and marched her out of the house. Reaching the garden's gate, she removed Caren's blindfold and uncuffed her.

"You're lucky your superiors insisted I release you." said Akeno as she opened the door and pointed to a direction.

"The church is that way."

"…Are you not going to let Ciel return to the Church?" asked Caren with a conflicted expression.

"You heard her, didn't you? Ciel isn't part of the Inquisition anymore. She belongs to my faction now, and the Church would do well to not attempt to mess with us again. I have refrained from retaliating for your attack. That will not be the case if it happens again."

"I understand." slowly nodded Caren, starting to walk away.

"Oh, and Caren?"

The white-haired girl stopped and turned back.

Akeno looked at Caren with her best sadistic expression. "If the Church decides to ignore this warning and attack us again, make sure you do not participate. Because I promise you, the next time I see you, I will not let you go. I will put you back in that bodysuit or something similar, and train you to the point where you will feel uneasy whenever you are not bound, gagged and edged."

Akeno closed the garden's door and walked back home, not giving Caren another glance. She took her smartphone and sent a text to Kiritsugu Emiya, asking him if he and Irisviel would be available this night for the demonstration she promised him. She suggested the temple east of the city as the location.

When she returned to the living room, Ciel was done introducing herself and was apologizing for her role in the previous attack.

As she did, Rin squinted at Akeno.

"Ciel can be trusted. She signed a Soul Contract." smugly said Akeno.

"Already?" exclaimed Rin. "That was fast."

"I never had a lot of faith toward the Church, and Akeno gave it the finishing blow." shrugged Ciel. "Besides, my reasons for joining the Inquisition in the first place were more pragmatic than a matter a principle. It was that, or end up chained up, stuffed in a metal casket, and buried deep underground. And being part of the Inquisition gave me allies, and a better chance to find a True Ancestor I want to kill. Akeno promised me she would help me find him, so I'm throwing my lot with you guys."

"It seems there's a story behind it, but it would be rude to ask." shrugged Asuka. "What about the other one?"

"I just let her go, with a stern warning to the Church that if they attempt to mess with us again, there will be retaliation."

"They will try to." warned Ciel. "I'm sure of it."

"Did they not get their butt kicked badly enough this morning?" frowned Rin.

"They will retaliate for three reasons. First, I will be considered a traitor the instant Caren reports to Father Kirei, and the Inquisition has a policy of hunting down any and all who leave its service without their approval. They will not want to create a precedent that might convince others to consider leaving as well. The second thing is that I also possess a valuable relic, and it is bound to me, likely for a long, long time."

"A relic?"

Ciel nodded, looked at Akeno for a second, and her outfit changed. In seconds, her torso, waist, and legs were covered by a thick, dull gray metal armor that had glowing red lines around the joints, while her shoulders and arms were bare.

"This is a conceptual armor called Virgin Pain. It was created by melting an Iron Maiden that had seen a hundred women being tortured inside it, and reforged into this armor. When I wear it, like now, Virgin Pain is passing judgment upon me, until it affirms that I am a witch. Until it is done judging, I am immune to any attacks. If Virgin Pain affirms that I am a witch, it will kill me. If I try to unsummon it or remove it, it will kill me."

"And what happens if this armor decides you aren't a witch?" asked Chisato.

"Nothing. I just keep wearing it until it..." Before she could complete her sentence, she suddenly collapsed, and the armor disappeared, replaced by her previous clothes.

Akeno knelt beside Ciel and was about to cast Greater Healing on her when Ciel opened her eyes and stood.

"This time was shorter than usual." shrugged Ciel. "A normal woman would be locked into this armor until it killed them. But since I cannot die, I am the only one who can reuse it, and Virgin Pain remain bound to me."

"Medea would likely be able to sever that bond, if you wish." pointed out Akeno, and Medea nodded confidently.

"I am grateful for the offer, but I will decline, at least for now." smiled Ciel. "Once Roa is dead, then, maybe I will ask you, if the offer is still on the table."

Akeno nodded and checked her smartphone after feeling its vibrations. She had received an answer form Kiritsugu. Without surprise, he agreed to meet tonight.

"So…" asked Miwa. "…The Church wants to make an example out of you, and you have a relic belonging to them that will forever remain bound to you, as far as they know. And you mentioned a third reason for the Church to attack us?"

"Yes." sighed Ciel. "One of the male inquisitors who died this morning was the grandson of the Inquisition's leader. He will surely want revenge."

"I see." nodded Akeno, not really worried. After seeing Noah's memories of the final battle against Aizen's Arrancars, it took a lot to scare her.

"We will just be extra careful until the end of the Holy Grail War, then go to London. Hopefully, they will consider us out of their reach."

"But if they start a fight, we will be the ones to end it."

…

Caren felt uneasy as she entered the church of Fuyuki City. She didn't see Father Kirei being present and decided to enter the confession booth.

Once inside, she knelt on the wooden platform, and prayed for forgiveness.

At least, she tried to. The tingling in her crotch wouldn't go away, and she had a hard time focusing. During her prayers, we found herself placing her hands behind her back, imagining her arms once again restrained in the leather sleeve. Imagining the thigh latex bodysuit clinging to her like a second skin.

Her panties had already become damp by the time she reached the church, and her treacherous body showed no sign of calming down.

As she struggled to keep her mind off lewd matters, Caren heard footsteps, and someone entered the other cabin of the booth.

"Please pray for me, Father, for I have sinned." said Caren.

"Indeed, you have, Sister. I will listen to your confession." replied Kirei.

"Father, I have sinned by arrogance, for underestimating them so badly."

"You do not need to go into detail, Sister Caren, as time is precious. I was observing the situation with a familiar. I will absolve you for that sin, after you accept contrition. What else?"

"Father, I have sinned by entertaining impure thoughts, as Akeno held me and Ciel captive."

"Impure thoughts?"

"…She tried to convince us to betray the Church and join her side. And her chosen method of persuasion was… lewd in nature."

"…Did she abuse you?"

"She didn't touch me. At least, not in that sense. But she had… tools. Please do not ask for more details. I endured without revealing anything the whole week, and then she released me, as you had requested.

"The whole week? Sister Caren, you were only captured this morning."

Caren opened her eyes wide in stupefaction.

"That… is impossible, Father. Even though we were almost constantly blindfolded, we endured that torment for far longer than half a day. She fed us food over a dozen times, and we were allowed several resting periods."

"This is strange. But today is still May 29th. Were you perhaps drugged in a way that interfered with your ability to measure the passage of time? And where is Sister Ciel?"

"I have sad news, Father." said Caren with a softer voice. "Sister Ciel has believed Akeno's lies and turned her back on us. You should assume that Akeno and her group will soon know everything Ciel could tell them about the Church"

"Lies?"

"About the creation of the Holy Relics. She claimed that the Church murdered the people the Lord chose as his swords and shields whenever they refused to join the faith, and used their body parts as cores for the Relics.

"…That is certainly a vile lie." replied Kirei, troubled.

Caren's eyes narrowed as she heard his answer. There was something in Kirei's tone that raised alarms in her head.

"Ciel's defection is a tragic matter. Are you certain she isn't just pretending to betray us, so she can work from behind the enemy lines."

"Father, I cannot be certain, but I heard she willingly signed a magic contract."

"You heard? Is your informant reliable?"

"I was in the room when Ciel and Akeno conversed and signed the magic contract. I only said 'heard' and not seen, as I was blindfolded at the time."

"I see." sighed Kirei.  "Is it a pity, for Sister Ciel. I will report the information to the Vatican."

"Father Kirei, there is something else. As she released me, Akeno asked me to relay a warning. If we attack them again, they will not simply repel the attack, but also retaliate."

"…I understand. Are you ready for your contrition, Sister?"

"Yes, Father."

Caren left the confession booth and followed Kirei inside the church's private area. She stopped in the middle of the room, and partially stripped, revealing her back. Kirei move behind her, a cat o nine tails In hand. The nine leather strips weren't very long, but they were knotted, and would inflict a significant amount of pain.

"A hundred times, Sister, and you will be absolved of your sins. Be aware, however, that the Inquisition may decide to punish you further. Bishop Giovani passed away, and the Cardinal is furious."

Caren nodded as she gritted her teeth, and the flogging began.

And after a few dozen strikes, she eyes widened.

She didn't feel it.

Not the pain. That, she felt intensely. But the pleasure that usually came with it was absent. The feeling of surging pride for enduring in the name of the Lord, the feeling that supported her while she was in Akeno's hands… that feeling wasn't there. As she wondered what was wrong, she remembered something that Ciel had said. That she recognized Akeno as a good person because there was no brutality in the way she handled them.

The blows Kirei was raining on her… They didn't feel like though love. They didn't feel like Kirei was helping her cleanse her soul from her mistakes. They were, cold, mechanical. Like it was simply a task he was fulfilling before starting the next one on his list. She didn't feel any love, in those blows.

Caren didn't utter a sound until he was done, then covered her back with her outfit.

"Thank you, Father."

"You are welcome, Sister Caren. Take some rest in your room and wait for further orders." said Kirei as he turned away. He had a report to make.

Once she entered her room and locked the door behind her, Caren switched her Inquisition's combat uniform for a lighter outfit and laid face down on the bed.

She tried to make sense of what she had just experienced. Without a doubt, her stay in Akeno's hands had changed something in her. As she tried to understand what had happened, and how to reverse it, something else happened. Remembering about the tightness and the glossy appearance of the white bodysuit, the strict leather bondage, and the unending, pleasurable torment it had subjected her to, caused her body to quickly heat up again.

Before long, she had to press her hands together, fingers interlaced, to stop herself from reaching to her breasts and groin. But she couldn't seem to stop herself from grinding her hips against the mattress.

…

"Master, some of the people you described are crossing the bridge and heading east. They hare escorted by a half-dozen Servants." said Tomoe as she appeared in front of her Master.

"Thank you, Archer... It looks like our time has come." nodded Genos.

The day after the clash between Archer and the enemy Saber at the docks, Genos had realized how much damage he had done to the economic livelihood of the city, and felt a lot of guilt over it. He had not thought about using his reality marble in the heat of the moment, after they fell into an ambush, and still kicked himself over it.

As a result, he had changed his tactic. He had simply kept his head down, only sanding Archer in her dematerialized form to observe, and decided that he would wait for his fellow Masters to face each other, then swoop in to challenge the leader and seize their spot.

"Are you certain this is the way you want to do this, Master? They may not accept a duel."

"We've already discussed this, and it is too late for second-thoughts anyway, Archer. Either their leader accepts, and we stand a good chance of winning this competition without needing to battle every single one of our rivals, or they don't, and I can't fight so many. In that case, I will quietly surrender."

"…Understood, Master."

"Please sit down on the chair, Archer. I'll top you up while we still can."

Archer nodded and sat, unsummoning her samurai armor but keeping her white sleeveless kimono vest, and moving her long silver hair over her right shoulder.

Genos placed his hands on her back and started transferring his mana to her. The process was long, but his body simply wasn't equipped for the other way of supplying Mana to his Servant.

"You told me about the six others, Master. Which one do you think is the strongest?"

"I do not know much about them. All we know is what you saw when their fought and captured that Saber, and from what you told me of their body language afterward, Akeno Himejima seems to be the leader. Asuka mentioned something about her being able to fly and use lightning. I can fly over short distances, too, and most of my weapons have a high effective range, so her flying isn't a huge issue."

"Yes, Master. I am only a bit worried that whoever their leader is, normally should be the strongest of them."

"Yes. But in the grand scheme of things, it doesn't matter all that much. This is a fight to determine who gets a mostly honorific position, and who gets the right to command the others until our Champions are allowed to enter this world. We aren't going to try to kill each other, and I trust the others are smart enough not to give unreasonable orders. Well, mostly. I have doubts about Darkness, but I do not see her winning."

"I haven't seen her in the group tonight."

Genis suddenly smiled. "Besides, if another Master proves to be stronger, we can learn from them to improve ourselves."

"That is true, Master." fondly smiled Tomoe. "Having people to look upward to and motivate oneself to become stronger is a great thing."

…

"Wow, this is a great place." admired Chisato as she looked at the long sets of stone stairs leading to the Ryuudou Temple. There were easily three hundred steps forming a straight, ascending passage, only interrupted by flat surfaces at regular intervals to break a fall. And the trees on both sides made for a memorable scenery.

"It is. I want to return during daytime and take a few pictures." smiled Akeno.

Akeno, Rin, Ciel and Chisato were escorted by Artoria, Britomart, Medea, and Scathach. They had deliberately left several Servants and Masters at home, more than enough to deal with anything the Church might throw at them.

They climbed the stairs as they maintained a vigilant watch for ambushes from the sides. They didn't think Kiritsugu would renege on their agreement, especially after giving up his Command Seals, but they had more enemies now, including a few enemy Masters.

Once they reached the top, the Ryuudou temple revealed itself before their eyes. Its rectangular-shaped grounds were surrounded by a three-meter-tall wall topped by dark gray tiles, but the large double doors in front of them were open, allowing the group to see the temple's main building, a large structure that looked like a stereotypical, single floor, old-fashioned Japanese building. Several smaller structures could be seen behind the main one, connected to each other by a roofed passageway. The people living in the temple would be able to come and go without needing umbrellas during a rainy day, but would still be exposed to the wind and cold.

It was still a great scenery, easily rivaling the Amaterasu Shrine back home, and Akeno promised herself she would take a lot of photos before leaving Japan. But most of her attention were on the three people waiting for them.

Artoria walked faster as she made a beeline for Irisviel, and the rest of the group followed more sedately.

"Saber!" exclaimed Irisviel with a warm smile.

"Iris. I am glad to see you." replied Artoria as she took Iris's hands in hers. "You, too, Maiya, and Kiritsugu."

Her tone made clear that she still disliked Kiritsugu, but she intended to keep the peace.

"Hello, everyone." she Akeno with a smile. "Thank you for coming at this hour of the night."

She proceeded to introduce everyone from her side.

"I hear you had a scuffle with the Church." said Kiritsugu, taking his smoke off his mouth.

"We did. Officially, in was an unsanctioned attack. Officiously, they didn't like my side having so many Masters and Servants, and wanted to do something about it. When did you hear about it?"

"Around seven this morning."

"So, about two hours after it happened." nodded Akeno. "Your ability to collect information is one of the main reasons I wish for us to cooperate. And we may as well start with the demonstration. We can chat afterwards."

Kiritsugu and Irisviel nodded.

"Who amongst your Servants are you going have spar against each other?"

Akeno grinned as she activated her reality marble. She suspected that without it, the Temple would suffer some damage.

"Lancer, and Saber!"

"Saber?" exclaimed Irisviel. Saber nodded as she turned her casual outfit into her blue battledress.

"There's no better meterstick than her for this demonstration." nodded Akeno. "You already have seen her fight previously, so you are aware of her base capabilities. Saber, Lancer, are you both ready?"

Britomart summoned her giant sword as she took position on the courtyard in front of the temple, and Saber faced her, her invisible sword held in her armored hand.

"Since this is a demonstration, for now, you are only to use the passive strengthening." said Akeno as a reminder. "Start in Three, Two…One… Start!"

Britomart launched a few air blades at Artoria as the latter closed the distance while making random sidesteps to avoid the waves of compressed air. In a second, she reached Britomart, and their blades made loud, sharp noises as they clashed. Britomart and Artoria danced together, both of them opening or closing the distance separating them in a seemingly intricate danse.

"Saber is moving significantly faster than before." muttered Irisviel.

"Not quite twice as fast, but she definitely is much faster." nodded Kiritsugu.

"It's not just her speed, but her mana capacity, strength and resilience were all increased." said Akeno.

After half a minute of sparring, she shouted.

"The use of Shunpo is now allowed!"

For an instant, Britomart and Artoria both jumped back, smiled at each other, and they both started playing a game of tags using Shunpo, instantly appearing, clashing their blades once or twice, and disappearing to reappear all over the place.

"This is a high-speed movement technique called Shunpo, and one of our best trump cards." said Akeno.

"I can't quite follow them, they are just too fast." said Maiya, struggling. Kiritsugu and Irisviel also had a hard time.

"The use of Shunpo is not allowed anymore. The use of Augment is allowed." shouted Akeno.

In an instant, Artoria and Britomart returned to their starting positions. They nodded to each other, and a silver magic array appeared for a second under their feet before disappearing. Then they resumed the spar.

"This… This is even worse!" said Irisviel, her eyes wide, as the sounds of blades clashing became so frequent that they seemed to turn into a continuous sound, coming from every direction.

Kiritsugu actually had to use magic and accelerate his own time to be able to follow Saber's movements.

"Augment is an active body strengthening technique. It consumes a lot of mana, but as you can see, this is well worth it. I can keep it active for over fifteen minutes. Saber and Lancer can likely do it for more than ten."

"This is extremely impressive." said Ciel, shocked. "Akeno, you could easily have crushed the Inquisition team this morning just by yourself."

"Yes. And remember, this is only part of the abilities that Noah can share with his subordinates. He has many more tricks up his sleeves. To name a few, he can launch almost instantly relatively large elemental attacks, open holes in space to absorb or redirect attacks, create artifacts rivaling Servant's weapons that literally makes their users faster and stronger, and many more."

"Last part! The use of Augment is not allowed anymore. Please use Hard Light Arsenal!"

Instantly, Artoria and Britomart started manifesting objects made of glowing yellow light. Weapons and shields appeared only to disappear almost as soon as they were used, and footholds suspended in the air were used by the two servants to stand in the air or execute swift direction changes, making their dance a three dimensional one.

Akeno let Artoria and Britomart fight each other using both their normal weapons and Hard Light constructs for half a minute, then clapped her hands once.

"Alright, that's enough. Thank you for the demonstration, Lancer, Saber."

The two Servants smiled and nodded at each other as they unsummoned their weapons and returned their outfits to their civilian attire.

Akeno turned to face Kiritsugu.

"What Saber and Lancer have demonstrated are the abilities that are most combat-focused. But you can add to the list a complete and absolute immunity to curses, poisons and debilitating magic. The Church discovered that to its detriment this morning, when their ritual that forcibly dematerialized Caster and Assassin had no effect on Lancer."

"Night vision, a limited ability to create artifacts or everyday items, even food, an ability to heal all injuries and remove curses on others, comprehension of all languages, and lie detection are included. And I left what you might consider to be the best one for last. Noah, as the Champion of a Goddess, has been granted immortality, and is able to share his endless lifespan with his subordinates. I will still be young and healthy a thousand years from now."

Akeno's voice softened and lowered to barely more than a whisper.

"And I believe that the homunculi created by the Einzbern have a lifespan problem."

As they digested Akeno's words, Akeno carefully observed their expressions. Irisviel had been awestruck during the demonstration and had recovered somewhat, but she flinched when Akeno mentioned immortality and the Einzbern's homunculi. Her own daughter, Iliasviel, was also a homunculus. Her expression had started doubtful but was gradually switching to hopeful.

Kiritsugu, stared at Artoria for a few seconds as he inhaled his smoke, then at Irisviel, and lastly turned to Akeno.

"What is Noah like, character-wise? You gave me a rough idea of his power, but not of him as a person."

Akeno smiled as she saw Ciel also perk up. She had, after all, sworn herself to him, and Akeno hadn't actually told her much about Noah yet.

"Noah wants to lead a quiet, peaceful life, surrounded by pretty girls. That is the extent of his ambitions. But he also doesn't tolerate injustices, and will do what it takes to correct them, even if it means standing in the spotlight. Being the center of attention is something he really dislikes, which is pretty inconvenient, since his duty is involving a lot of that. But he grits his teeth and does it anyway."

"He is a hard-working person and devotes almost all of his time either nurturing his faction, or training himself to become stronger. He does have a few... questionable preferences related to bedroom activities, but those are a private matter and not something that impacts his duty or his actions outside of the family."

"And he would be fine with me pursuing and killing the Magus who prey on humans?"

"As long as you do it in a way that doesn't get innocent people killed, I am sure he would. He might even ask you to expand your target selection to criminals like mafia bosses. You would be doing some of his own work."

Kiritsugu nodded thoughtfully. But in his mind, the decision was already made. The possibility or sharing more than a few years with Iris, and more than, at most, two decades with Ilya, was enough for him to swallow his pride. He might have still refused if Akeno's backer seemed to be the very type of power-hungry individual he targeted, but that didn't seem to be the case.

Kiritsugu glanced at Maiya, silently asking for her opinion, but she only shrugged.

"Very well, I'll accept working for you for three years."

"Thank you." smiled Akeno, before she started creating soul contracts.

In truth, she didn't really care much about what Kiritsugu might offer her. His usefulness would be niche at best. What she really wanted was access to the Einzbern's homunculi. If all of them were as beautiful as Irisviel was, Noah would be happy to bring them to the island, and solving their lifespan problem would be an easy way to earn their loyalty.

"What about you, Maiya? Should I prepare a contract for you, too?"

"Yes. I trust Kiritsugu's decision."

Akeno nodded and gave them the contracts for them to read. The terms were simple and very different from those of the Salve Contract Artoria and Ciel had signed, and clearly stipulated that the grant of special abilities was contingent to them being willing to accept Noah as a figure of authority.

They each signed the contract with a drop of their blood.

"What now? I do not feel anything different." said Kiritsugu.

"You haven't truly accepted Noah as being your boss yet, right?" suggested Akeno.

"…No. I guess I will need some time getting used to the idea."

"If you do not manage it on your own after a while, you can contact me, and we will take measures to nurture your sense of loyalty toward us. Let's hope it won't be necessary. When your acceptance reaches the required threshold, you will lose consciousness for about twenty minutes, and when you wake up, those abilities will be there, and you will know how to use them as if you had years of experience doing it."

"I can confirm." smiled Artoria. "I knew how to use things like Shunpo and Hard Light Arsenal immediately."

Akeno looked at Artoria for a second and nodded to herself.

"Well, we'll be heading back home. Artoria, feel free to remain here for a while, you can return later. I'd ask you to be careful on your way back, but I pity whoever would try to attack you."

"Yes, thank you very much, Master." smiled Artoria with a smile.

…

After saying goodbye, Akeno and her group, minus Artoria, left and descended the stairs to return to the city proper. On the way, Ciel spoke.

"Akeno, all those abilities, I will also have them once you finish training me as your slave, right?"

"Yes, you will have them. One of the main reasons Noah and I insist on making our comrades our slaves is to make them strong enough that we don't have to worry about their safety. Now, do not misunderstand, we would likely still enslave you if this sharing ability didn't exist. I'm not searching for excuses there."

"Hehe, honest Akeno is the best Akeno." laughed Chisato.

Akeno chuckled.

"There's also one more ability that you will have, but it will remain sealed until the Champions can enter this world. It is Teleportation. We can't use it too much in battle, because there is a cooldown of about twenty seconds, but as long as we know the place we want to reach, we can teleport over there without any windup time."

"Yes." confirmed Chisato as she looked at Ciel. "Teleportation is sort of part of the default package every Champion is given after they prove themselves. But when we came to this world, only Noah possessed a way to share his abilities with his subordinates. That isn't the case anymore, but since I haven't signed a soul contract with Aria, I guess I'll end up signing one with Noah instead."

"Yes, you can bet on that." grinned Akeno. "There's no way I'm not adding you to my family. I feel a bit sorry for Aria, but that won't stop me."

"Woe to me, being forced to have a hardworking, handsome and kind guy as a lover, and getting plenty of cute sisters… speaking of family, has Asuka given you an answer yet?"

"Not yet. I'm not going to pressure her. She can take as much time as she needs to think it over."

"Sure. Could you and Noah lend me your phone again sometime tomorrow? I'd like to chat with Takina again."

"I do not mind, and I'm sure Noah won't either, as long as he doesn't have an urgent need of it. But back to the matter of Teleportation, there's a reason I mentioned it, Ciel, even though none of us can use it at the moment."

"What is it?"

"I said we could use it to reach any location, as long as we had been there before. But we can also use it to reach a person, as long as we know their name and appearance."

"Oh… Oh! That what you referred to when you said you had the means to track Roa!" exclaimed Ciel.

"Exactly. There will be nowhere for him to run, once the Champions get there and that ability is unsealed. However, once you can use that, I strictly forbid you from going off on your own. I want at least three of us to escort you, just in case."

"Yes, I promise." nodded Ciel. "But why is it sealed in the first place?"

"Because it is too powerful. Look at this little competition of ours, for example. If we could teleport to each other, the whole thing would have been a race at who would be the first to summon a Servant, then blitzkrieg the others. The Gods want us to save the world, and they make certain we can, as long as we don't laze around, but they also wish for us to make it fun to watch."

"…But what if this ability being sealed means that we fail, when we didn't have to?"

"I'll tell you something of a secret, Ciel. The Gods may want their fun, and by and large, they do not pay much attention to humans as individuals. Some do not care at all if the population on one of the worlds they created ends up decimated by a world war or something. But Lilith, and the other six deities involved in the creation of this world and the Root, do care, since they sent us and recruited Champions to take care of their worlds, and they just won't let major catastrophes happen."

"To take this Holy Grail War as an example, if we somehow fail, the Gods will intervene directly to stop Angra Mainyu. They will, however, be disappointed in us. And we do not want them to be disappointed. So we do our best, and trust that the Gods have given us the tools we need to overcome any difficulty that lies ahead. it's working well so far."

"I understand… Who are the seven Gods? I heard mention of Lilith in several mythos, but…"

Chisato opened her mouth to answer, when she something happened. The buzz of a nearby electrical power relay stopped abruptly, as did the faint chants of insects.

"We're trapped inside a reality marble." frowned Akeno, watching around. "Get ready."

Britomart was already summoning her Fortress Armor.

Akeno put on the magic detecting glasses and observed her surroundings again, searching for any magic source. But nothing stood out.

"Master!" called out Tamamo. "I sense some magic fluctuations ahead near the bridge. I assume someone is fighting, and we've been caught near the edge of the reality marble."

"Let's move forward cautiously. Lancer, you're on vanguard duty."

"Yes, Master."

"Let's go see what is going on." said Akeno, taking her swordstaff from her inventory.