Ch 163: The last Masters.

"You look like you're longing for Mistress's attention." said Britomart as she sent a glance at Artoria.

"Is that not also the case for you?" quietly replied the King of Knights. The two Servant were patrolling Fuyuki City at night and were headed for the Temple.

"It is. There is only one of her, unfortunately, and I understand her priorities. She needs to spread Noah's abilities to all of us as soon as possible."

"How about we, you know." suggested Artoria with a short hesitation.

"Have some fun together, as Mistress would say? I'm all for it. But I get the first turn being the sub."

"I agree… Who do you think will be next? She's almost done with Sakura and Medusa, I think, and has started on Scathach. Maybe Caren or Ciel?"

Britomart thought for a few seconds before she decided.

"I think she's going to let those two simmer for a while... Miwa or Nero. Probably Miwa. You've seen how the girl is sometimes depressed and calls herself useless. Mistress has heard her say it at least once, and she's not the kind of person to ignore it. Miwa is also one of the weakest among us, so Mistress would worry if something happened, and we end up separated."

"Yes, Miwa likely has a high priority on her list." agreed Artoria.

"Speaking about that pair, I noticed you now get along with Nero pretty well." said Britomart, and Artoria chuckled.

"It's impossible not to get along with her, once you get to know her. I still don't agree with her semi-translucent skirt, but she's a good, honorable person, and behind her boastful façade, she is… warm."

"Umu!" confirmed Britomart, borrowing Nero's way of speaking, and Artoria's smile widened.

"I think she's the ideal Servant for Miwa. She's outgoing where Miwa is reserved, and she's helping her Master break the ice and get along with everyone. Miwa is coming out of her shell, at least aside from her depressed episodes.

"Yes. She's…" Britomart abruptly stopped as she stared forward. Artoria also paid more attention to her surrounding, and she felt it.

Far ahead, in the direction of the temple, they could feel weak energy fluctuations.

And they heard faint sounds of… gunshots?

"Let's go take a look." said Artoria as she dematerialized. Britomart did the same and they quickly reached the stairs at the base at the hill and climbed them more cautiously.

There were now getting close enough that the two Servants fighting might possibly notice their presence, if they weren't so busy fighting each other. At Artoria and Britomart jumped over the wall surrounding the temple, they saw the Servants in question as one went through the wall of the Temple's main building, firing back at whoever had yeeted her with the red and black sub-machine gun she held in her right hand, and the other followed in hot pursuit, holding a strange rectangular shield and a long... was this a tree branch?

The first Servant, who was at an obvious disadvantage, was a petite girl with a long mane of silver hair, pale skin and blue-gray eyes. Four black feathers, likely from a crow, were tied to her hair behind her left ear. She was dressed in multiple layers of clothing covering her from neck to ankle. A badly frayed red cape over a black military coat with gold highlights, over a gray hakama, over a white pleated skirt and more clothes that weren't visible. Her feet were covered by white socks and black sandals with high blocky heels.

Berserker, on the other hand, was an armored knight. The pitch-black armor constantly exuded large quantities of black smoke, as if Berserker was burning inside, and the slit of his helmet glowed red. The only touch of color in his armor was a plume of blue hair tired to his helmet. Berserker held a strange tree branch in his right hand, the black wood veined with slightly glowing red lines, and his left hand raised a shield that, upon a closer look, was one of the temple's doors, also black and covered with red glowing veins.

Archer used her left hand to push on the ground, correcting her posture and turning her fall into a smooth landing, and jumped to the side to create some distance as Berserker made a high jump in her direction.

Artoria tried to use her bond with Akeno to inform her of the fight, but she felt no response. Akeno likely still was inside the Sanctuary, and the time dilation messed with the bond.

And since Britomart and Artoria were both Akeno's Servants and didn't carry a smartphone with them, they couldn't inform the others.

Unless they decided to make a ruckus so huge that it would be felt from a long distance.

This was a serious oversight, and Artoria would make sure to correct it in the future.

"We're definitely seiz… I mean saving Archer, but let's search for their Masters first, they might be around." suggested Britomart in a low voice.

"Agreed."

Artoria quickly entered the forest and circled around the temple clockwise, still in her dematerialized state. she ran among the trees, and eventually found one man hiding behind a tree, about two hundred meters north of the temple. A tall man with blue eyes and slicked blond hair, an arrogant but displeased expression on his face.

Artoria wasted no time materializing near him. The man noticed her presence and turned toward her, but Artoria used Shunpo to reappear behind him, and chopped his neck. The man collapsed, instantly losing consciousness.

Artoria checked his pulse and used the scan function of Greater Healing to make certain he wasn't going to die from her strike, then resumed her scouting.

She sensed her fellow Servant behind the temple. Britomart materialized with a finger on her lips, then pointed at one of the rearmost buildings of the temple. Another Master, a young woman with mocha-colored skin and waist-long black hair, wearing a white dress and long white gloves, an outfit more suitable for a gala than a fight between Masters, was observing the fight still ongoing between Archer and Berserker.

Suddenly, Archer's expression changed, and her aura exploded. She jumped back, and many firearms appeared floating around her, all black and red with white highlights. In her left hand, she held her submachinegun. In her right hand, a rifle. One grenade launcher near each of her ankles, a giant anti-material rifle above her right shoulder, and a comparably huge high-caliber weapon Artoria couldn't even determine if it was a rifle or a canon on the other side.

"Crawling across the ground are black wings. Torn apart are the claws and fangs of Hifumi! Gun God Yatagarasu!" shouted Archer as she opened fire with all of her weapons, unleashing a torrent of bullets of various caliber at Berserker.

Berserker, unusually calm for someone of his class, lowered his posture, hiding his whole body being the door he used as a shield.

Artoria frowned as she saw the door deflect most of the bullets, although it was receiving obvious damage. The small caliber bullets left indentations behind. The larger caliber ones pierced holes. And whole parts of the door were ripped apart by the grenades exploding on contact.

Then it wasn't bullets and grenades anymore hitting the shield, but Archer herself. Before Artoria could notice, Archer had gotten out of most of her clothes, now wearing a dark gray tunic much more suited to fighting, and delivered a flurry of punches and kicks to her opponent. Her attacks were so quick that an untrained observer would only have seen her limbs turn into a blur of after-images. The physical assault only lasted a few seconds, however, and left Archer visibly tired as she jumped back.

When Berserker straightened his posture, he didn't seem to have suffered any actual damage, even if the same couldn't be said of the door. What was left of it wasn't usable as a shield anymore. Berserker seemed to agree as he threw it away and charged Archer once again.

"Let's take action." whispered Artoria, and Britomart nodded.

Artoria used Shunpo to appear near Archer, striking her left arm with the flat of her blade.

The girl was shocked by her sudden appearance and the submachine gun escaped her hand.

Since the weapon was part of the Servant, Artoria had no doubt that the girl would easily make it reappear in her hand if she wished, but it would take her at least half a second, and with Artoria so close, Archer knew she wouldn't have time.

"Freeze, Archer. Surrender and no harm will come to you." ordered Saber sternly.

Britomart, on the other hand, had forcibly pushed Berserker away.

"Try to calm down a bit, Berserker. We don't want to kill you or your Master." said Britomart, her voice deformed by her Fortress Armor.

Berserker had stepped back, tree branch still in hand, coldly reevaluating the situation. That was, until he turned his head and saw Artoria. Nothing happened for a second, but then, his aura changed abruptly, and Artoria felt a cold shiver spread from her spine.

Berserker completely ignored Britomart and howled, a terrible scream that sounded like a man who was tortured. His previous calm, at least for a berserker, now seemed like an illusion as Berserker positively radiated rage and violence.

And Artoria felt certain that for some reason, all of this rage was directed straight at her.

As if to confirm her suspicion, Berserker launched himself at her, keeping his body close to the ground and completely ignoring Britomart.

Artoria forgot about Archer and jumped back, getting ready to receive his charge. She raised an eyebrow when Berserker picked up Archer's submachine-gun on the ground. A Servant couldn't use another Servant's weapon.

Except that this one apparently could. As Artoria intercepted Berserker's tree branch, she saw glowing red veins start spreading over Archer's weapon, and the weapon's colors faded, the red parts turning to a dull brown.

Before the weapon was completely taken over, Artoria activated Augment. She felt like it was a somewhat dishonorable thing to use against non-enhanced Servants, but she and Britomart had four people to capture. Although one of them was already knocked out.

As Berserker pointed the SMG toward Artoria, she stepped to the side and sent a switch kick to his right flank, making Berserker fly and crash against the temple's perimeter wall. The wall cracked under the impact, but stopped Berserker.

"You dirty thief! Give it back!" screamed Archer, firing at Berserker with a rifle. The bullets impacted Berserker but didn't seem to do much, only causing some indentations on his armor. He didn't even look at her.

Archer was clearly running on fumes now, and the power of her attacks was affected.

Seemingly unaffected by the kick, Berserker opened fire with the SMG, and Artoria, fearing that both Archer or the Master might get hit by stray bullets if she evaded left or right, instead created several layers of light shields and charged toward Berserker.

The outer layer shattered by the time she was upon him, and Berserker howled as he slashed at her with the branch he now held with two hands.

Artoria easily blocked the furious attacks, and could have injured Berserker by exploiting her superior speed and strength to forcibly create gaps in Berserker's defense, but… She hesitated. There was something… familiar in the way Berserker moved.

Suddenly, Berserker paused, and Artoria paused as well, hoping he might settle down. He roared in rage again, as if fighting invisible restraints, then resumed his attacks.

"Saber!" called out Britomart as she tried to stop Archer from dematerializing, but she was just a little bit late. "Asuka and Assassin are coming!"

Artoria nodded as she also felt Assassin's familiar aura coming closer. Aife wasn't bothering hiding her aura as she came closer. Archer's noble phantasm had failed to significantly injure Berserker, but the sheer amount of mana used must have been felt over half of the city, and Asuka and Aife had been patrolling the area around the bridge.

"Go capture that Master, Lancer." suggested Artoria as she batted away the SMG Berserker still tried to shoot her with. Artoria simply renewed the shield layers as he did.

Britomart used Shunpo to close in on the young woman hidden behind the back building.

The Master panicked as she saw the huge, armored form coming for her and placed her hands on the ground, drawing mana from the leylines to create a small tornado of flames. Britomart thought that an attack of this caliber might be effective against another Magus, but an average Servant would barely be bothered, and Britomart was already out of its area of effect when it triggered.

"Stop this, young lady! You're about to damage an historical building!"

The girl, seeing the futility of trying to fight a Servant, nodded and stood. She closed her eyes, as if expecting to be skewered and wanting to die with dignity.

Britomart sighed and poked her forehead with a finger, causing her to open her eyes in surprise.

"You're not going to die. Are you Archer's Master, or Berserker's Master?"

"…Berserker." replied the Magus after a short hesitation.

"Well, ask him to stop fighting, so we can talk like adults."

The Magus winced as she looked at her Command Seals. Britomart saw that two of them had been spent.

"I tried already, but he doesn't listen to me."

Britomart nodded and turned to Artoria.

"Saber, Berserker is totally out of control!"

"Understood." said Artoria, as she decided to be serious. If Berserker couldn't be negotiated with, she would just have to put him down.

She used her sword to forcibly push away Berserker's tree branch and got inside his guard. The nagging feeling that she had already fought against Berserker had never left her, and she estimated that if she hadn't received Noah's many gifts, his combat prowess would have been very close to hers.

Artoria drove her sword into Berserker's heart, and he finally stopped moving. The tree branch fell from his hand, and he fell to his knees.

The black miasma dissipated, and the color of Berserker's armor changed, turning from jet black to deep purple. The helmet disappeared, and Artoria stared in horror.

She knew him! How could she not have realized it was him?

"L-Lancelot." said Artoria with a choked voice.

"...T-thank you… your M-Majesty."

Lancelot smiled as he closed his eyes, and Artoria understood. He never wanted to kill her. He wanted her to kill him. As punishment for betraying her, and for killing Gareth, another Knight of the Round Table.

But Artoria didn't want him to have his way! She didn't want to lose one of her most precious companions a second time!

As she retrieved her blade, glad that she hadn't targeted the heroic spirit core that was inside every Servant's abdomen, she immediately used Greater Healing on him. She managed to stabilize his mana loss and slowly heal the wound. When she was done, black miasma started oozing again from the joints of his armor, but she had an idea and decided to run with it.

Berserker class Servants were particularly strong, if hard to control, and were one of the most desirable classes for Master candidates.

Some Berserker Servants were berserkers by default, like Spartacus and Lu Bu, and would not normally appear as other classes. However, as long as a Berserker hadn't already been summoned, it was possible for the Magus doing the summoning to add to the incantation a spiritual shackle called Madness Enhancement to obtain a Berserker. The effect of this shackle was self-explanatory.

Artoria knew that Lancelot wouldn't be a Berserker by default, and if this Madness Enhancement was like a curse placed upon Lancelot… Noah's repertoire of abilities had an answer to that, too.

Artoria placed her hand on Lancelot's torso and used Purge. She felt some resistance, but she pushed harder, and felt something like glass shattering. The miasma evaporated. Lancelot had lost consciousness, but Artoria thought she could already see his face becoming less pale, his hair slowly turning from black to his original purple.

"Do you know him?" asked Britomart, walking closer with the defeated Master.

"I know him, yes. Lancelot. I got rid of his Madness Enhancement."

Asuka and Aife had joined them.

"Lancer, can I leave it to you? I think I know where Archer went, we may still capture her and her Master."

"Sure."

"I'm coming with you." said Aife, and Asuka nodded.

Artoria ran with Aife toward the location where she had left the unconscious Magus.

He wasn't there anymore, but she spotted footsteps. It didn't take the two Servants long to find their quarry.

Archer was carrying her Master over her shoulder. She didn't have much choice, as she was smaller than average, and her Master was a tall man.

Feeling them come, Archer put her Master on the ground and prepared herself for a last stand.

"Please stand down, we do not wish to harm you and your master, and you're obviously out of mana." said Artoria.

"If you do not wish to fight, then let us go." said Archer.

"Sorry, but no. The Holy Grail War ends tonight. I want your Master to transfer his Command Seals to my Master, and for you to join our side."

"…I can't." said Archer as she shook her head.

"You can't?"

"For a mercenary, her word is her life. Breaking a contract with the client is out of the question. I would rather die."

"I see." nodded Artoria with a soft smile. She had occasionally worked both with and against mercenaries in the past, and she had a favorable view of those who didn't cut and run whenever things looked dire.

"So you would be amenable to making a new contract with us if your Master releases you from your service, am I correct?"

"That is correct." nodded Archer.

"Let's join back with the others to discuss this. My own Master is on her way." suggested Artoria, letting her sword dematerialize.

Archer nodded, and decided to trust them for now. She wasn't in a fit state to fight anyway. She knew it, and she knew they knew it, too. For two Servants with such strong auras to kill her and her Master would be child play. She dematerialized her own rifle and picked up her Master, then followed Saber back toward the temple, with Aife walking behind her.

…

Akeno was in a great mood as she reached the temple with everyone else.

Archer and Lancelot, as well as their Masters, looked at them with wide eyes.

"Y-Your Majesty. Are all those people your companions?" asked Lancelot.

He had regained consciousness shortly after Artoria returned to the temple, and had spent most of the time kneeling in front of Artoria and apologizing over and over, both mortified that his attempt to get Artoria to kill him had failed, and grateful that he had a chance to atone for his crimes by serving her again.

Kayneth was awake, too. He looked like he was sulking, while trying to hide it behind a disdainful facade, but knew he had lost.

"Yes." said Artoria. "I will tell you more later."

"It is my pleasure to meet you, Archer, Berserker, and both of your Masters. I am Akeno Himejima, and I am the leader of our group." she looked pointedly at the girl in white, and she took her cue. She made an elegant curtsy.

"I am Tiné Chelc, a foreign Master from the Snowlands. I am grateful for your and your Servants' mercy and benevolence."

Akeno nodded. She already thought that Tiné and her would get along. There was something about her that she found appealing, and she was cute as a doll. The Snowlands she appeared from was a sparsely populated part of the North-American Continent, a land-locked area part of the US that shared a border with Canada.

She turned her gaze to Kayneth, and he answered stiffly.

"Kayneth El-Melloi Archibald, a Brand from the Mage Association."

Akeno nodded again. Rin had explained to her previously how ranks worked withing the Mage Association. There were seven of them.

It started with 'Frame', a rank where one was barely considered a Magus at all. The rank above it, 'Count', wasn't much better. After it came the 'Cause', which described the majority of the Magus in the Tower. 'Fes' was the typical rank of Magus who had lived a long time and gained some achievements.

The fifth rank was 'Pride', belonging to Magus who were actually considered dangerous and somewhat respected even by the strongest Magus. Zouken Matou, the five hundred years old patriarch of the Matou, had been a Pride.

Above the Pride were the Brand, typically heads of Magus families who has thrived for centuries and made some significant contributions to the advancement of Magecraft.

The final Rank was named 'Grand', and as far as Rin was aware, only two people had it. Touko Aozaki, the Grand Puppeteer whose creations easily sold for hundreds of millions USD, and her younger sister Aoko Aozaki, who possessed the Fifth Magic.

The Association also attributed Colors as honorific ranks for exceptionally talented Magus. Red, Blue and Yellow, the primary colors, were the highest ranks, followed by Orange, Purple, Green and Black. Touko Aozaki had Red, and her Sister Aoko had Blue. She was sometimes referred to as the Blue Magus as a result.

But there were al least two individuals in the Tower who stood outside of the ranking. Lord Brishisan, the elusive and rarely ever seen President, and Zelretch.

"Rin, can you do what we discussed on the way, please?"

"On it." replied Rin as she took from her bag two pieces of paper and a clipboard, and started writing.

"Lord Archibald, miss Chelc, I am going to have you sign a Geis acknowledging your defeat in the Holy Grail War, as well as agreeing to cooperate with me for the next three years."

"Cooperate with you, for what reason?" frowned Kayneth.

"We have been told, from a very reliable source able to foresee the future to some extent, that a major crisis will soon threaten humanity. That is one of the reasons me and my colleagues are gathering so many Servants. We do not know yet what form this crisis will take, or exactly when it will start, but we probably don't have too much time left to prepare."

"Do you have any evidence of that?" said Kayneth.

"Not at this time." smiled Akeno. "Which is why I am willing to throw you a bone. If you agree to sign the Geis, you will gain a favor that you can cash in later. If you decline, you can still leave unharmed, as long as you transfer your Command Seals and your authority as Archer's Master to me."

Kayneth snorted as he walked closer to Akeno.

"I do not have a habit of agreeing to a Geis with such vague terms and promises. If you want this Servant, you can have her. She proved useless anyway." scornfully said Kayneth.

Archer flinched and looked down. Akeno didn't miss it, but said nothing as she extended her left arm, and felt the bond with Archer being established as Kayneth's two Command Seals were transferred to her. Then, she punched the Magus hard enough for him to sprawl on the floor.

"What is the meaning of this? You agreed to let me leave unharmed!" angrily exclaimed Kayneth, a vial of mercury appearing in his hand.

"This was for insulting Archer. Now leave. And be careful on your way out, Kiritsugu Emiya is on his way. I won't care if he ends up killing you."

Akeno could tell that Kayneth really hated her guts and, in other circumstances, would surely try to kill her. But with this many Servants and other Masters around, he knew it would be suicide.

With a last glare, he gathered what dignity he could and left.

Akeno sighed and turned to Archer.

"Archer, That is how things turned out. I heard from Saber that you are a Mercenary. Would you be willing to enter negotiations with me?"

"Why do you want me?" said Archer with a sad tone. "It's as he said. I failed to defeat any Servant. I couldn't even injure Berserker."

"From what Saber told me, Berserker is quite strong, and this was partially your previous Master's fault for not supplying you with adequate mana. And I believe in your potential. What would I have to pay for a lifelong commitment?"

"…I request three meals and at least thirty minutes of naptime every day… And if it's not too much, how about a few onigiris a week?" hesitantly asked Archer.

"Is that really what you wish for?" incredulously asked Akeno. Onigiris were those rice cakes, traditionally triangular shaped and with various stuffings, and partially wrapped in seaweed. She had made many kinds of onigiris for years, and her item creation ability would replicate them for a paltry amount of mana.

"I'll be content with just one onigiri per week… or even not at all, as long as you agree with the three meals and rest time."

"Girl, you need to value yourself more! But I'll agree! I'll give you onigiris every day if I can." smiled Akeno."

"Then the life-long contract is established." nodded Archer. "Yeah, till death do us part."

"Welcome to the team, Archer." smiled Akeno. Then she turned to Tiné.

"Miss Chelc, it seems your Servant is already willing to join my side already. but what about you? I have something different in mind, compared to the offer I gave this arrogant jerk."

"A different offer?" asked Tiné carefully.

"Yes. Please tell me, miss Chelc. Do you desire power?"