So here we are in chapter 2! The reception so far has been really good, it makes me really happy, so you guys didn't seem to like my form of -speech-, thanks for the criticism I won't make the mistake again, so with that done, let's get on with the story!

I OWN NOTHING

ENJOY

Yu Narukami had done much in his admittedly young life; he had stopped the serial killer Tohru Adachi, not an easy task when you consider his method of killing: Throwing people inside TVs to get them to another world, where your worst insecurities would be multiplied by ten, take your form and start to taunt you, and if you denied them, which you most likely would, they would transform in a horrific monster and try to kill you….

CRASH

He had also defeated the fragments of a Goddess known as Izanami-no-Okami, two of them inhabited the two main suspects of the murders, the previously mentioned Tohru Adachi and his unknown accomplice Taro Namatame, the last one was not inside anybody, rather it had taken a human form, and it had been stripped of all its memories, a gender was given and she was placed in the Velvet Room, by what means he did not knew, he had not only defeated the first two with the help of his friends, but he had managed to save the third, who he had become Marie, one of his closest friends, giving her a reason to live and defying her fate…

BREAK

At the end of that year he had topped it all off by facing off Izanami-no-Okami herself, the one who had created the Midnight Channel and started the chain of events that would lead towards his year of constant savings and risking the lives of A LOT of people, oh but that wasn't all of it, not even close, she pretended to cover ALL the world in the fog that covered her own world, which had incredibly poisonous effects on humans without Personas, luckily he and his friend managed to stop her and defeat her with the aid of his World Arcana, a literal man-brought miracle…..

CRUSH

And just last summer he had stopped ANOTHER crazy deity with a crazy sidekick who wanted to cover the world in a poisonous fog, only this time this one was a little less arrogant and more cunning, it had separated them all, made them fight in a fighting tournament, in order to make each other tire and be unable to stop it when the time came, it had however underestimated the bonds of himself and his friends, and they had managed to defeat it in the end…

CRASH

Throughout all this endeavors Yu was more than well aware of the risk that he was taking, and that death was most certainly very near in all of these adventures, he however also knew the risks and consequences that his lack of action could do, so he decided to leave it to his own skills, he and the Investigation Team were the only ones who could do it after all, but throughout all of this, never, even in his wildest dreams, did he thought that he would die like this….

"AT THE VERY LEAST ACCEPT YOUR DEATH LIKE A MAN YOU CHEATER"

He certainly didn't thought that he would die at the hands of a crazy chick wielding a flag, but alas here he was running around his apartment trying to evade being bludgeoned to death by a flag wielded by a crazy chick who was accusing him of cheating…Of what exactly he wasn't rightly sure….

"Why are you trying to kill me?" Yu said as he run around, kinda proud of himself for maintaining his usual stoic face while dodging the flag

"DON'T ASK WHY YOU CHEATER! YOU WERE THE ONE WHO SUMMONED ME! IT'S MY SACRED DUTY TO PROTECT THE STABILITY OF THE HOLY GRAIL WAR! AND YOU'VE DISRUPTED IT"

"The hell is a Holy Grail War?"

"DON'T ACT SO NONCHALANT YOU DEGENERATE! DO YOU PLAY ME FOR A FOOL?!"

"No I play you for a crazy chick with a flag trying to kill me"

"WHO ARE YOU CALLING A CRAZY CHICK YOU PERVERT?!"

"Ara did I say that out loud?" Yu said with his usual stoic expression

"I SWEAR I'LL KILL YOU!"

This was a bad situation, he wouldn't get anywhere if he just kept dodging, but he couldn't summon his Personas either, not without blowing his apartment that is…..Then a plan began to form, he sprinted down to the first floor towards the entrance

"COME BACK HERE YOU HERETIC MAGUS" She started to sprint too as she kept screaming and throwing insults at Yu, however when Ruler came down she saw Yu holding a phone close to his ear

"Hello? Police Department? Yeah you see I have a situation here…"

"STOP!" Ruler yelled this time not in anger, but in fear, knowing that if the secret got out about the Holy Grail War, the whole city would be destroyed, seeing her distraught face, and knowing that she at least would be paralyzed enough to make at least a couple of question

"Ah sorry sir, it was a simple mistake, the neighbor's cat just snuck out of their home, sorry for wasting your time" Yu lied flawlessly, turned off the phone and then turned towards Ruler "So are you calmer now?" Ruler only looked at him with incredulity

"What kind of magus are you? You didn't use any Command Seals, you don't have a workshop at all, because this apartment cannot be called a workshop, and you call the cops?! Don't you know how important it is to keep it a secret?"

"Keep WHAT a secret? What is a magus? What is the Holy Grail War, and most importantly, why are you trying to kill me?" Yu said as he began to feel frustrated, questions were piling up like crazy and so far he hadn't gotten any answers, Ruler looked just as confused

"Wait a minute; don't sell me that kind of stuff! Only a magus can do the ritual of the Holy Grail War!"

"Can you please, for five seconds, stop using those unknown terms and start explaining, from the beginning, what exactly is going on?!" Yu said, trying to keep himself calm, Ruler scrutinized him for a couple of minutes before she talked again, now far calmer than she was before

"You really don't know what's happening, do you?" She then looked at her hand, flexed it a bit, made it into a fist, and then release it, finally she sighed "Normally I would complain, given that an uninformed Master is usually a dead Master, but I feel just as strong as I was back when I was alive, so it's fairly certain that you are not just a regular run-of-the-mill guy, so I might as well explain it to you, can we take a seat?" Ruler asked, now a bit embarrassed, Yu didn't blame her, if he had such a rage attack he would certainly never allow himself to live it down, fortunately that wasn't how he rolled, but there was a detail that confused him

"Wait, back when you were alive? Are you a ghost of some sorts?" Ruler simply smiled, in a mix between sheepishly and smugly, as she sat down

"Not exactly a ghost per say, let me present myself, back when I was alive I had a name but in this War, and do beware that it is indeed a war, I am known as Ruler, this is done to hide my identity, you are my Master, my partner for this war" It seemed that the word "Partner" followed him around quite a bit, he didn't mind though, if his and Ruler's relationship became even a fraction of how close he and Yosuke, his best friend and brother in all but blood, were then he was sure that he and Ruler would become inseparable

"Then wouldn't you mind telling me your real name? We are partners after all aren't we? Well I suppose you don't know mine so let me present myself, my name is Yu Narukami, it's nice to meet you Ruler" Yu said, somewhat surprising Ruler, more often than not Masters tended to see Servants as mere objects, weapons at best, that fought their battles for them, then again he didn't knew the whole story, she would judge him once he has all the information

"First allow me to explain, many years ago three families of Magi….." Yu interrupted her before she could continue

"Sorry but you already lost me, what is a Magus?" Ruler scratched her head; she wasn't exactly the best for this kind of stuff, her friend Gilles de Rais would be much better to give an explanation about this subject….

"Look I can't give you a full description because back when I was alive I didn't really study Magecraft, which is the science that Magi study, to give you a general understanding a magus is a man or a woman who have studied the previously mentioned Magecraft, a science that basically studies how to perform miracles, no seriously" She said when she noticed Yu's look of incredulity "True Magic is the creation of miracles, Magecraft is simply the copy of said miracles, the older the family of the Magus, then the longer time they had in order to replicate miracles, and thus magus tend to put A LOT of importance in how old or new a family of magi is" Upon seeing Yu's look of understanding, or at least she thought she did, the guy was too damn stoic, she continued

"Ok going back, many years ago three families of Magi, the Einzberns, the Matous and the Tohsakas, wanted to reach the Root, don't ask me what it is exactly because I have NO idea, the only thing I know is that it would allow them to use True Magic, it would allow them to do miracles, however they couldn't reach it by conventional means so they decided to create something we now call the Holy Grail, now do not be mistaken, this is NOT the Cup of Christ, through the use of the body and soul of an Einzbern, whose name was Justeaze Lizrich von Einzbern….."

"Wait what?!" Yu asked, somewhat shocked, so the one who had given him the pendant had been the body and soul of the Holy Grail? Seriously there had to be some sort of limit to his magnet for trouble!

"What's the matter?" Ruler asked confused, Yu debated the pros and cons of telling her, for one side, it would probably make her trust him more, it could also help him get to the bottom of this whole thing, on the other hand it could backfire spectacularly and make her resume her attack on him, mostly because she would think him as a crazy magus that was lying the whole time, then again if he hadn't trusted people, he wouldn't have gotten where he was today…He took out the pendant and showed it to her, she instantly looked alarm and took the pendant

"Where did you get this?! This jewel…..I know it to be part of the original Grail!" She exclaimed in alarm and turning to look him with her eyes demanding an explanation, Yu held his hands up, in an attempt to calm her down

"Calm down" Don't steal my lines young one…Then again that is your catchphrase "I can explain, when I was first arriving in this city I was confronted by a woman, she had white hair, red eyes and a doll-like face, and introduced herself as Justeaze Lizritch von Einzbern, she was the one who gave this to me, as well as giving me the paper with the ritual for the summoning" Yu explained making Ruler widen her eyes and then go into deep thought before looking at him again, with an expression in her eyes that he couldn't quite comprehend

"I take it you don't believe me?" It was a very real possibility after all, but he was pleasantly surprised when she shook her head

"No I do believe you, after all if you really did just come to this town then there is no way you could have obtained this on your own, this apartment is also too new, too empty to have been inhabited for a long time, providing evidence to your words, and the Einzberns or the Matous, the only ones who would have been able to give you this, would not do it even if you point a sword at their throats, if you were a magus though I wouldn't have believed you, then again if you were a magus you would have used a Command Seal, or at the very least you wouldn't have tried to call the cops" Yu understood, it was because it was such an insane concept that it made sense, in some level, in other circumstances the reaction wouldn't have been so favorable

"What's a Command Seal?" Ruler only nodded, apparently satisfied by his answer

"My point exactly, well allow me to continue, through the body of Justeaze they created an omnipotent wish-granting device they called the Holy Grail, a way to reach the Root, however the Grail needs power, like a battery, it needs to be charged before it can deliver any kind of wish, this comes in the form of Prana, which is a form of magical gasoline from what I understand about it, this comes in the form of Seven Servants, these are….Well you can call them copies of the souls of great Heroes throughout time, but something happened, something nobody could have foresaw…The Grail can only grant one wish, and then hell came to this town, all the Magus that were chosen fought for the right of the Grail, and the wish that it had to offer, to my knowledge nobody has ever won the competition, to battle each Servant is given a class, Saber, the Servant of the Sword, Archer, the Servant of the Bow, Lancer, the Servant of the Lance, Rider, the Servant of the Mount, Berserker, the Servant of Madness, Caster, the Servant of Magecraft, and Assassin, the Servant of the Shadows, each has their own special skills because of their class, but their most important secret is their own identity, their powers are based off their legends, and their strongest attacks are what we call their Noble Phantasm, which is the manifestation of their legend, like King Arthur's Excalibur, or Achilles' Invincibility, as I'm sure you can guess by my presence alone, there are more than those seven classes, there are three Extra Classes, the first is Avenger, there's not much to say about this class because it was meant to be a replacement, not a full-on class, those who have this Servant are likely to lose unless the Servant is obscenely powerful, the second is the Class of Saver, the Messiah Servant, which is called upon to save the Holy Grail if everything else fails, and the third is my class Ruler, this type of Servant act as a referee, ensuring that the rules that exist in the Holy Grail, for this very reason that this class shouldn't have a Master…..Which is kinda the reason why I attacked you" She said apologetically, Yu nodded

"Don't worry about it, I understand" Ruler looked at him shocked

"Really? You do?" She was half-expecting him to use a Command Seal, even if he did not knew about them, to order to never attack him again, Yu only tilted his head

"Well you did say that it was your "sacred duty" or something, and you were afraid when I was calling the cops, so that means that you weren't doing it for your own gain, and if this is a war I can only think that something terrible will happen if the secret is found out?" Ruler nodded, sadly at that

"If the secret is exposed to a large number of people….The whole city will be destroyed" This finally got out of a reaction out of the stoic teen, making him do a shocked expression

"What?" Ruler only nodded, there were hardly any words to describe the situation they were in, the likes of "horrific" or "terrible" only insulted its gravity

"Finally to ensure that the Servants don't kill their Master they have the Command Seals, which ensures that the Master can give three unavoidable orders that the Servant cannot disobey, unless they have certain skills that allow them to do so, and that's pretty much it" Ruler finished and for a long while Yu was silent until finally….

"So let me see if I get this straight, three families decided that they wanted to be able to perform miracles, so they created a wish granting device, but it turns out that this, so-called omnipotent, device is only able to grant one wish, so they decided to make a war, summoning seven heroes of the past to battle in a battle royal that spans all around town and the last one standing wins, you are the one who has to ensure that no one breaks the rules and reveals the existence of the Holy Grail War, am I correct?"

"Spot on" Ruler said nodding, Yu only deadpanned at her for a couple of minutes before finally saying….

"This has got to be the stupidest idea that I have ever heard" That shocked Ruler enough to exclaim:

"Wait you don't believe me?!" Yu however only shook his head

"No I do believe you, it's the whole idea that it's stupid to me, for one does the Grail even work? I mean from what I got from your story it seems to me like they threw themselves into a battle royal without even confirming if it worked, second aren't you even confused by the whole paradox of an "omnipotent" wishing-granting device that can only grant ONE wish? Third how does it even grant the wish? How do we know that it won't harm other people when granting ANY wishes whatsoever?" Ruler seemed a bit affronted

"Of course it works! Do you think that we would risk our lives for the possibility that it "might" work? Besides the method is obvious after obtaining all the energy it releases it into the world in order to change the world by rewriting reality!" Yu snorted, making Ruler narrow her eyes "What?"

"You are not describing a wish-granting device there; you are describing a bomb, ready to go off at a moment's notice, a big bomb, a magical bomb even, but a bomb all the same, also you didn't even answer my other two questions, how do you explain the paradox? Or how are you so sure that it won't harm anyone?" Ruler avoided his eyes in an uncomfortable fashion, giving Yu all the answer he needed, she didn't have the answers he was seeking, they stood in silence before Ruler seem to remember something and the shot him an accusing glare

"Hey wait a minute! I've been telling you everything and you haven't answered ANY of my questions, how did you manage to summon me without being a magus? How did you get Justeaze's attention? And how are you so calm about this whole ordeal?!" Ruler ended up shouting, very confused by his behavior, Yu on the other hand pondered, on one hand if the previous explanation could backfire, then this one could explode in his face right away, on the other hand they were partners for this war, and being partners meant trusting each other no matter what, she also had been nothing but truthful in her explanation, so he decided that such truthfulness needed to be repaid

"Look what I'm about to tell you might be unbelievable but I can assure you that it is the truth, I only ask you that you don't interrupt me until the end, because it's kind of a long story" Ruler looked at him with skepticism before nodding, Yu cleared his throat

"Let me ask you this, imagine that you are in a normal town, in a normal life, everything is fine…..Except for one detail, there's a serial killer on the loose, nobody know who will be his or her next victim, nobody knows how he or she is killing his or her victims, as they have no injuries whatsoever, really nobody knows anything about him or her, but then, one night, you decide to stay late, and then your TV turns on and it shows you the face of the next person that is going to die, what would you do?" Ruler looked confused for a second before she answered

"I would think that it's an awesome concept for a mystery novel, what does it have to do with our situation?" Yu simply chuckled and began to tell her about the tale of the most incredible year he ever had, about the unbelievable mystery that he and his friends had to solve, which ended up with his fight with a deity, of course he didn't tell her everything that had happened, only the general picture, after all many of those things that were parts of it were extremely personal, and things that he SHOULDN'T be talking about, for they were not his to tell, he saw that Ruler was deadpanning at him for quite a while before….

"Pff are you serious or just insane? Do you seriously want me to believe that in some small town somewhere in Japan there exists another world that can only be accessed by TVs? That a murderer used said world because in there your worst fears would take your form and start to taunt you and, if you denied them they would become giant monsters and try to kill you? And that you and your friends defeated a Goddess? Do you really have that much desire to go to hell you heretic?" Ruler said while covering her mouth to repress her giggles, clearly looking down on him, but Yu knew something like this would happen and had a particular counter-argument

"Pff are you serious or just insane? Do you seriously want me to believe that in some small town somewhere in Japan there exists an omnipotent wish-granting device that the people call the Holy Grail? That people that study a science regarding miracles and how to recreate them are chosen by it and fight to the death every sixty years or so? And that you are supposed to be some famous Hero from the past? Do you seriously want to go to the madhouse that quickly you lunatic?" THAT seems to shut Ruler up

"Ugh….Touché, but I have at least SOME proof of what I'm talking about, where's your proof?" Yu then smiled and extended his hand where, much to her surprise, a card appeared, Yu then crushed said card and flames, that didn't have any heat, appeared and from said flames a…..Wait a snowman?

She didn't wanna quote Frozen dammit! But now that she looked it from up close…..He was really cute, as in the cutest snowman EVER!

"Hee Ho my name is Jack Frost, nice to meet'cha!" Jack stopped however when he saw the sparkles that were coming off of Ruler…..

"He's sooo CUTE!" She then began to hug the living snow out of him

"I take it you believe me now?" Yu said with a smile, Ruler suddenly realized what she was doing and let go of Jack, she coughed in an attempt to dispel her mortification before she, still blushing red in embarrassment and avoiding his eyes, spoke

"W-Well it seems like you are telling the truth, so I'll believe you for now…"

"Ah that's a relief" Yu said with a deadpan

"You are totally looking down on me aren't you? I'll never be able to live this down….." Ruler said as she sulked, that is until she suddenly got a look of confusion

"Wait a minute; you said that you can summon many of these "Personas" can't you? What kind of beings can you summon? Because no matter how cute Jack here is, I doubt he is much of a threat to a Goddess….." Ruler said while sending an apologetic look at Jack who simply waved it off, it was the truth after all…

"I can summon pretty much anything really, Heroes like Cu Chulainn or Siegfried, Monsters like Yamata-no-Orochi or Ongyo-Ki, Dragons like Kohryu or Nidhoggr, Demons like Abaddon or Beelzebub, Angels like…"

"Wait angels?! You can summon angels?! Show me!" Ruler seemed really excited, like a girl that just had gotten told that her birthday had come earlier this year, there was just a slight problem, angels tended to be…..Loud, so the best course of action was NOT to bring the likes of Michael or Gabriel, as they would be among the loudest, rather it was better if he simply called his Angel Persona, so he did exactly that

"Salutations, I am Angel, please do not be concerned about my lack of identity, unlike humans we Angels do not need names of our own, with the obvious exception of the greatest of our kind" Angel said politely, though for some reason Ruler seemed to have frozen in place, Yu frankly didn't knew why….Could it be because it was the first time she was seeing one?

"Well now that we both know the motives behind each other's reasons for being in the war I suggest that…"

"Wait just a second!" Ruler shouted before glaring darkly at Yu, point at Angel with a trembling hand, all the while exuding a murderous aura

"Why, in the name of all that is Holy, is this poor Angel in bondage?!" Yu pondered a bit into that, looked at the Angel who only shrugged with an amused smile, and they came to the same conclusion, Yu then turned to Ruler who seemed to get more murderous by the second

"We really have no answer for that one" That seemed to be the wrong answer as Ruler was instantly on her feet with her flag clutched in her hand, Yu, thanks to his experiences in the TV world, would have a high rank in Instinct if he was a Servant, so he quickly evaded the strike that followed and managed to get into a spring, with Ruler not far behind once again flinging her flag around like a mad woman

"YOU- YOU CHEATER! DEGENERATE! HERETIC! PPPPPEEEEEERRRRRVVVVEEEERRRRRTTTTTT!"

And that's how Yu and Ruler became partners…

30 minutes later

"So that's how it is huh? W-Well it ain't my fault ok?! How could I have knew that you didn't have any control in how they appeared" Ruler said, her face with a beating red blush in embarrassment, and she tried to laugh awkwardly, once again to dispel her own mortification, this had to be a record, a Servant attacking her Master twice in one day, the first day she was summoned no less, and with the Master surviving both without the use of a Command Seal, well….At the very least if she couldn't quite catch her Master despite her A rank in Agility meant that her Master was quite efficient at evading….

"Well I suppose that with that done we can discuss our situation, I mean this has been fun but I think it's time for business don't you think?" Yu said, proud of the fact that he still maintained his stoic face despite the fact that his so-called "Servant" had tried to kill him with a flag twice in the same day

"This was "fun" to you?! What kind of life does this guy live?!"

"Oh! I can hear your thoughts!"

"Agh I forgot about the Master-Servant link!"

"What's this about a link?"

"STOP READING MY THOUGHTS!" Ruler yelled in embarrassment, then started to cry "I'm not even this much of a screaming person, how can this guy press all of my buttons without even trying?" She sobbed before she felt a hand in her head; she looked up and saw Yu smiling an apologetic smile, with a calming aura around him

"Sorry Partner, this must have been a shock for you, tell you what, tomorrow, after school I'll show you Michael, Gabriel, Uriel and/or Raphael, don't worry they don't have any bondage, they are quite curious about you, you know?" Ruler only looked up in surprise

"Let's do this again, my name is Yu Narukami, apparently I'm going to be your Master/Partner, for this Holy Grail War, happy to be working for you, may I know your name my lady?" Ruler looked astounded for a second, this guy…..He still treated her like a human being, despite knowing that he could order her to do whatever he wanted, despite knowing that he held her life in his hands, not once did he thought about it, despite her attacking him, despite the most likely fact that she was but a mere copy of the original, as she herself did not knew if she came from the Throne of Heroes or somewhere else, he still treated her as a human being…..

"Y-You are not gonna use them?" She asked somewhat fearfully, Yu looked confused for a couple of seconds before an understanding look downed upon him, he then frowned

"No one should have that kind of control over another person, trust me, I won't use ANY of them" Ruler looked at him in shock for a couple of seconds before she smiled, and she looked so radiant that it seemed that Heaven itself had descended upon the Earth

"…"Sigh" really why did I have to have such a troublesome Master? You are a heretic and a pervert….But you really are a very kind person, my name is Jeanne d'Arc, in this war I'm known as Ruler, I look forward to working with you Partner!" Yu smiled as well, knowing that the she really didn't meant the insults and that she actually kind of approve…..Ah the wonders of being the quiet one, because if you don't talk that much in a conversation, then you are only left with listening, and that often meant that you understand the one that's talking better.

Ruler right now may seem to be loud, she may be aggressive, and she is certainly a bit of a Tsundere, but even to him it was obvious that she only wanted the best for other people, and she was truly sorry about what had happened, she was only confused and scared, and that in turn affected her behavior, he couldn't blame her, if you were supposed to be an neutral force without any boundaries and you suddenly realized that you were bound to someone, who could force you to do whatever he wanted then the most normal reaction is to try to defend yourself, and given the difference of gender many different, disgusting scenarios could have played here that would have justified her fear

"Yeah, I'm looking forward to working with you too O Madam of Orleans" Ruler blushed a bit in embarrassment, a good kind of embarrassment, and shook his hand

"Let's walk, hand in hand, towards the answers that we both seek, O Seeker of the Truth"

Thou art I…And I am Thou….

Thou hast established a new bond…

Thou shalt be blessed when creating

Personas of the Judgment Arcana

And that is how Yu Narukami, and Jeanne d'Arc, AKA Ruler, became friends….

Next day: Homurahara Academy

"Huh? Three new students?" Shirou Emiya, a young man with red hair, yellow eyes and dressed in the typical uniform said as he listened to his best friend, Issei Ryuudou, a young man with blue hair, blue eyes and glasses, also dressed in the school's usual uniform

"Yeah and two of them are girls…..And very much suspicious ones at that" Issei stated with a bit of distaste, while Shirou simply sighed, his friend seemed to have a real strong aversion with girls for some reason

"Now, now you are letting your fear of women make you say nonsense, they haven't even set foot here!" Issei simply stroke his chin, thinking

"It may be true that I'm being a bit biased towards them, but it's not because they are women, it's because of something else….." That picked Shirou's interest

"What about them?" He asked with curiosity

"Well for one they are foreigners, both of them, one came from England and the other from Romania" Issei then passed their files to Shirou, he opened them to see a beautiful blond and a cute brunette "The blonde's name is Luviagelita Edelfelt, the brunette's name is Fiore Forvedge"

"Huh, foreigners sure got weird names" Issei simply nodded before he continued

"Both of them have very good academic scores; Edelfelt has a good sports record, specifically in wrestling for some reason, Forvedge doesn't have any sport records for obvious reasons, she is a cripple" Issei explained when Shirou's face became confused "Both of them were very popular in their respective schools, so the question is…"

"Why did they transfer here?"

"Exactly"

"Well then what about the third one?"

"The third? He is perfectly normal, his name is Yu Narukami and he has a fairly good reason for transferring, his parents travel a lot you see, and thus he has to transfer constantly, despite that he is a perfectly good student, in his previous year in Inaba he was always in the top five scores, he was the ace of his basketball team, had a good social life, worked efficiently, pretty much an A+ student and teen in general, just with bad luck"

"You sure do know a lot about him though….."

"Hm? Oh yeah they informed me because nobody is particularly sure for how long he will stay, we know that he will be here for a year for sure, however his parents made sure to make us understand that would be probably the minimum, if so the idea is to make him at home as much as possible, after all Yasogami High was greatly benefited by having him as a student, the teachers also wanna see what he is capable of"

"Huh, seems to me like they only wanna take advantage of him….."

"It does give that kind of vibe doesn't it? Still I'm more worried about those other two, they gave very vague reasons like, they were visiting a cousin, or they had important family business and they didn't wish to miss school weeks"

"Hmm….."

"Well maybe I'm just overthinking it, after all life is unpredictable…"

Fuyuki Streets

"Why are we here again?"

"Because we….Have to fight in the Holy Grail War?"

"That's not what I mean! What are we doing in this school?"

""Sigh" We talked about this Assassin, we need to maintain a decent alibi"

"Fiore, there is a difference between taking risks and throwing yourself into the lion's mouth, this school is a PUBLIC PLACE, which to us Servants mean, all-you can eat buffet!"

"We are NOT doing that!"

"Don't worry Fiore I have no reason to do so, you supply me with enough energy to restore me to the capabilities that I had back when I was alive after all, but listen to me, in every war there is some incompetent idiot who can't maintain his/her troops, so what do they do? They steal, this war is no different, trust me in this there will be some Master that will try to either attack you or take advantage of all the Mana that there is in the school"

"Maybe…..But even so, what am I supposed to do? These kinds of things tend to get attention, so I need an alibi, or would you have me remain in one place until the other Masters found me?"

"Ugh true that; just remember that so as long as I haven't constructed my Gardens I won't be able to help you….."

"Don't worry; I don't pretend to get into a fight anytime soon"

"Very well…Don't worry I have begun the ritual, soon enough we will have our own impenetrable fortress"

Fiore only smiled as she went towards the school, even if she did say it was only an alibi it kinda made her happy, it had been a long time since she had been able to interact with other people without politics getting in the way, the ambient around the Clock Tower sometimes seemed like it was purposefully trying to cut your throat, the only thing she could hope for was that there wouldn't be any…..

"Well hello there beautiful"

Ahh dammit, of course.

Fiore turned to see a blue-haired, gray-blue eyed, with his hair looking like seaweed; he was dressed in the typical uniform of the academy, he was looking at her with a strange mixture of smugness and desire, like a hunter that believed his prey wouldn't be going anywhere….A mixture she had seen more than enough

"Not interested" She shot him down coldly, which seemed to piss him off, she went towards the gate but she was stopped when he grabbed her hand

"Hey let go!" Her shout seemed to attract the attention of other people, who began to murmur.

"Really? I thought Shinji couldn't sink any lower…."

"That guy is just the worst, how does he even get a fan club in the first place?"

"Somebody oughta punch his teeth in; see if he thinks so much about himself after that…" Shinji growled and turned towards Fiore who was still trying to free herself

"Listen here you…." However he was stopped when a hand shot forward grabbed his and made him free Fiore's

"Hey what the hell?! Do you have a problem you ba…" Shinji stopped however when he saw who had stopped him, he was a tall guy, with gray hair and eyes and with an aura around him that currently said "mess with me and you are going to regret it"

"She said she wasn't interested" The guy said with the tone clearly saying "take a hint and leave NOW" Shinji growled, but he left, in an attempt to spare himself further humiliation, while people murmured even more

"Whoa who's that? That was so cool!"

"I've never seen that guy before, who is he?"

"They did say that there were gonna be three transfer students, could this guy be one of them?"

"I hope so! I mean he is the first guy who actually stands up to Shinji, that was so cool!"

Yu simply ignored the rumors in order to check on Fiore, who was mildly surprised that someone had come to her aid

"Are you alright?" Fiore turned to see him and turned a bit pink out of embarrassment at being put in the spotlight

"Yeah I am, thank you, I really didn't want any problems in my first day after all"

"Heh then it seems we are the same then, ah sorry I didn't present myself, my name is Yu Narukami, third year here, nice to meet you" Fiore smiled

"My name is Fiore Forvedge, nice to meet you too Senpai!" Yu smiled in response

"But man it's really difficult being the new kids huh?" Yu said in order to make small talk, Fiore simply giggled

"True that! Ahh but at least we get to meet new people right?"

"I guess so, ah well see you later Forvedge-san, hope you have a good day!"

"To you as well Senpai!" It was then however that they had other, more private conversations

With Fiore

"Fiore dear, stop flirting with that guy for five seconds and let's analyze what just happened will you?" Fiore blushed at the accusation

"I wasn't flirting! Is it really so wrong to make a good first impression? I was just being friendly that's all!"

"Yes, yes whatever you need to tell yourself to sleep at night, now let's analyze the situation!"

"I really hate you right now…."

"You DO know who just tried to make a move on you right?"

"I'm not entirely sure, I mean yeah he felt like a Master, but at the same time he didn't…"

"Hmm, maybe a fake? To my knowledge it is technically possible to transfer authority to a Servant from the original Master"

"Maybe…But he didn't felt like a Magus at all"

"Hmm this is an enigma…" Just then Fiore crossed the school gates however, she felt a sudden pressure come over her, and she knew instantly what it was

"Ah dammit…"

"What did I tell you? Trust me Fiore, in life I was a Queen, I know how the minds of the people work, but still it's a rather pathetic plan isn't it? Typical of a magus…This kind of approach is so obvious, so inelegant, and so desperate that I'm starting to feel a bit of pity for the Servant of that particular Master"

"So what should I do?" Fiore asked while ignoring the jab directed at her people

"For now its best that you go to your classes, but listen to me, you have to be the first to leave when the school period is over, you hear me?

"Understood" Fiore said as she prepared herself, either way this was gonna be a tiring day…

With Yu

"Ahh so you are that kind of person huh…." Ruler said, sounding amused

"I have no idea what you are talking about"

"Of course you don't, anyway you do know what she and the Casanova wannabe over there were right?"

"They did feel strange, were they Masters?"

"Exactly, you can feel other Masters due to the presence of the Command Seals; however it seems that they won't be able to sense you as easily, most likely because they are looking for magi, not people with superpowers"

"Personas are not superpowers…." Yu almost pouted

"…Did you just pout?" Ruler sounded like she had just found a gold mine

"No I didn't"

"Yeah right, so anyway about our plans-Oh goddammit not this early on!" Ruler suddenly exclaimed when Yu passed through the gate and suddenly felt a pressure, not unlike the one from the TV World, though this one felt significantly weaker

"The hell's this?"

"This is a Boundary Field, and a very aggressive one at that, right now I imagine it must feel similar to the effect of that "TV World" you mentioned, but it is not active yet, if it were to activate then it would suck out the life out of everyone in the building" Yu's eyes widened

"Wait what?!"

"In normal circumstances we would have no choice but to leave it be Yu, however this kind of thing cannot be allowed to pass, there's just too many people, NO ONE is gonna be fooled by any explanations, especially because of how….Showy it's gonna be, as in a giant field is suddenly going to appear and suck the souls out of everyone inside of it"

"We need to stop it" Yu said with certainty, while he didn't agree with the fact that, if it wasn't as showy as it was Ruler wouldn't have been able to do anything, the fact of the matter was that she was jumping at the opportunity do something meant that she wasn't happy with it either.

"Of course! But still I knew people at some point were going to cheat, in this kind of fight it's inevitable, but what kind of idiot begins to cheat at the first stage of the war? And with both you and me going around there's little to no chance that they will win the war anymore…."

"Very well, at the end of the school period we are gonna stay behind and search the school"

"Got it" Yu sighed, this was a troublesome way to start the day…

A couple of hours later

"Neh nothing new, at the very least I won't have to worry about what I have to study…." Yu said as he was walking down the corridor towards to get something to eat

CRASH

Yu suddenly got his guard up as he looked around only to find a very….Strange situation.

Two girls, both very much so beautiful, one black haired with blue eyes, and wearing the female version of the school uniform was standing there, glaring at an equally beautiful, though a bit more…..Endowed in a certain area with the same school uniform blonde with goldilocks were glaring at each other and clashing each other's foreheads, as if trying to make it so that their glares really will kill the other.

"What the hell are you doing here Edelfelt?" Said blonde simply looked smug

"I think you know exactly what I'm doing here Tohsaka"

"Ugh but why on earth would it choose you? You don't have any particular desires…." Now the black-haired girl looked confused, which made the blonde sulk, momentarily separating

"I know, and unlike you I don't have a free spot in this war so I really don't know what it was thinking…." The black-haired girl simply sighed

"Fine I'll tolerate your presence in my territory, for as long as the Grail War remains, but after it's over it'll go back to our usual routine you hear me?"

"Oh you mean us competing and me winning all the time?"

"As if! By the time you realize it I will have left you in the dust!" They both resumed their clashing

"Oh? Are you so sure about that? I used a very powerful catalyst you know? I'm fairly sure that it is one of the strongest Servants in the war!"

"Ugh! Don't get so full of yourself you hyena!"

"What did you say you washboard?!"

"Oh that's it bring it you hyena!" Meanwhile Yu was kind of amazed of how reckless both girls were

"…..What should we do?"

"Actually I think we should approach them" Yu's surprise must have been felt because Ruler quickly began to explain:

"Now don't get me wrong in any other circumstance I would be against it; however both of them seem to be highly skilled magi for their age, so it's unlikely that they set up this boundary field…."

"Oh and the black-haired girl said that this was her territory so it's likely that she will be looking for the perpetrator won't she? After all for the looks of it, it's her responsibility…"

"As expected from you Partner, yeah it's better to come to her now and avoid the headache that would appear later if we let this be" Yu only nodded and began to approach them

Meanwhile with the rival duo…

"Rin someone is approaching" Archer warned his Master who suddenly froze

"Luvia-chi someone is coming!" Caster warned Luvia who also froze in place, the problem? They were in the middle of a wrestle lock, with no definitive advantage going to anyone, they released the lock and tried to look like nothing was happening…..

"Nice try, but next time do try not to shout, otherwise you would be in real trouble" A male voice said as he stepped into the light, he was a tall guy, with gray-I'm really starting to get tired of giving this description you know? You all know what he looks like anyway

"Who are you?" Rin asked with suspicion, which was shared by Luvia, the guy only raised a hand in a friendly greeting

"Hello, I'm Yu Narukami, and I am the Master of Ruler in this war, nice to meet you, Masters of Archer and Caster" He said shocking both Rin and Luvia

"Wait what?! Ruler is not supposed to have a Master!" Rin said in a suspicious tone, of course the fact that he knew which Servants they had was suspicious but still…..

"Yeah about that, the Grail was unable to properly supply Ruler for this war, so it chose me to be her Master because I have no desire for the Grail" Rin and Luvia looked at each other before beginning to whisper

"Is that possible?" Luvia asked Rin, who only looked contemplative

"Well, remember that this war tends to happen every sixty years or so, in comparison only ten years have happened, in this kind of circumstances it's perfectly possible"

"Huh…." Luvia said, Rin on the other hand turned to Yu with a serious expression

"If you are truly the Master of Ruler then you won't mind showing your Servant right? After school period of course" Yu nodded

"Of course, but in return can you hear a request of mine?" Both Luvia and Rin looked a bit confused but they allowed him to elaborate

"Surely by now you would have felt it right?" He didn't need to explain WHAT they had all felt, both of them nodded with a serious expression, then Luvia turned to look at Rin with an expression that was equal part mocking and disappointed

"Seriously Tohsaka? Even I expected a little more from you than this you know?" Rin only grumbled a bit

"Shut it hyena" She then turned to Yu "So are you proposing what I think that you are proposing?" Yu only shrugged

"Unlike the rest of the competitors of the Holy Grail War, both mine and Ruler's goal is not to win but to understand what is wrong with it that required Ruler to be summoned, so really I'm nobody's enemy, unless that someone begins to cheat or threatens the rest of the town, so what do you say? We do an alliance until the Master of whichever Servant did this is caught, then you can go back into the War and me and Ruler will go back into our little investigation, deal?" Both Rin and Luvia began to talk to their Servants in order to see about the proposal

"What say you Archer? I think it's a good deal, and being in the good side of the referees of the war is never a bad thing….."

"That kid is good actually, seems calm and he wasn't lying when he said that he was the Master of Ruler, or at least I don't think he did, just to be sure let's make it so that he shows us his Servant first and then you confirm if he/she is Ruler, and if they are then we accept the deal, as you say, doesn't hurt to be on the good side of the referee"

"Yeah and I'm NOT about to let whoever did this get away from it while doing it in my territory!" For some reason she felt how Archer sweatdropped

With Luvia…..

"What say you Caster?"

"Hmm I say he's rather handsome isn't he? And so bold too….."

"Wha-wha…."

"Hi hi hi, you are so easy to tease Luvia-chi….."

""Growl" Really?"

"Hi hi hi, anyway I think it's a good plan, don't you? At the very least this will give us a momentary advantage over the other Masters….."

"That is true, very well I think it's decided then"

"I will help you Yu Narukami, my name is Luviagelita Edelfelt, you can call me Luvia though, and I am the Master of Caster" Luvia said with an elegant smile, Yu returned it with his usual warm smile

"As for us, we will wait for the end of the school period; don't get me wrong I think your plan is good, but both me and Archer would like confirmation before going along with your plan" Yu nodded, and Luvia looked a bit crossed at the fact that her rival thought about such a thing when she didn't

"Ok, we'll meet in the rooftop after school hours are done, is that ok with both of you?" Both Rin and Luvia departed after nodding, though it seemed that their classes were in the same direction because he and Luvia ended up walking in the same direction as well.

"….Narukami-senpai, god these honorifics are so awkward to use, can I ask you something?" Luvia asked, after grumbling a bit, much to Yu's surprise but he only nodded

"What do you think of this war? Honestly" Luvia seemed to be evaluating him, Yu only sighed in response

"You are probably going to be insulted, but I think that it's the stupidest thing that I have ever heard in my life, I mean what kind of person needs to kill seven, or even fourteen people, and that's only assuming that they'll limit themselves to the participants, to get a wish they can't do by themselves? We live a short life; we should concentrate on doing everything we can to make it a fulfilled one, not to mention nobody has ever tested the Grail, so how do we even know if it works? Really I'm just the kind of guy that prefers to work for his wish to come true rather than go running towards a dubious wish-granting device…Sorry if I offended you" Yu then turned to look who's hair was hiding her eyes, but when she looked up….

Her face was glowing in admiration; she then suddenly grasped his hands into hers

"Narukami-senpai, no may I call you Yu?" Yu was a bit taken aback by the sudden outburst but complied

"Yeah sure"

"Ah Yu-senpai you have no idea how relieved you have made me, I thought I was the only person in this town that saw how ridiculous and pointless this war is, indeed your way of thinking it's the best, what can't the human mind achieve that is not fundamentally impossible? Even beyond such things as impossible, we can achieve them with time! Ahh now there's no further doubt in my mind I will definitely be aligned with you; people with good heads gotta stick together after all!" Yu was a bit surprised at the reaction, but nonetheless smiled

"You really are a good person aren't you Luvia-san?" She only smiled with a bit of a blush in her face

"I can say the same about you senpai, very well if I delay any longer I will be late and I don't wish to make such a bad first impression, I look forward to our partnership together!"

I am Thou…..And Thou Art I

Thou hast created a new bond…..

Thou shalt be blessed when creating

Personas of the Temperance Arcana

"Huh, so she is the Temperance? Huh….."

"As expected from you Yu, really I'm starting to wonder who's the real womanizer here, you or the seaweed head…"

"I'm not a womanizer…." Yu almost pouted…..Really he had underestimated this woman; she was making him almost pout twice in a day, while the Investigation Team hadn't been able to do that for a year

"Did you almost pout…..Again? Ho ho, it seems I'm starting to find chips in the invincible armor that is Yu Narukami…"

"I have no idea what you are talking about"

"Of course you don't" Ruler giggled, Yu only smiled though, it seem that now that she was a little more at ease around him, she was showing him what she really was like, it felt nice…

"What do you mean you need more help?" A curious male voice asked that Yu overheard

"Sorry Shirou but this is too heavy for you alone, and I've been called to an urgent meeting, are you sure you can't get someone to help?"

"But everybody is in class right now…"

"Yeah that is certainly a problem…" Yu then decided to enter the room

"Hey do you guys need any help?" He saw two guys, one with blue hair and blue eyes, the other with red hair and yellow eyes; they both looked surprised that somebody had appeared, until the one with blue hair seemed to recognize him

"Oh! You are Narukami-senpai right? Man what good luck right Shirou?" The blue-haired smiled towards the red-haired one, who also looked a bit relieved but then looked confused

"But what are you doing here Senpai? I thought everyone was in class already…."

"Oh that, well you see I kinda had an emergency so I had to return to my apartment for a bit, nothing serious don't worry, and then the rest is history I guess…"

"Wow that was pretty smooth"

"I got experience in these things, if Uncle Dojima couldn't find out about the TV world until he had me arrested, these two will never find out about what happened between me, Tohsaka-san and Luvia-san"

"Oh, I see, then it's good you didn't had too many problems, sorry to bother you but can you help us? Oh sorry where are my manners? We haven't even introduced ourselves yet, my name is Issei Ryuudou" The red-head held his hand in a friendly greeting, Yu grasped his hand in a handshake

"Hey! My name is Shirou Emiya, nice to meet you!"

"Nice to meet you both Emiya-san, Ryuudou-san"

"Nice to meet you too, sorry to ask you this, especially considering this is your first day, but could you help Shirou with this? This machine here, really I have no idea what it is, is supposed to help the boiler system, considering that winter is coming I would rather be prepared, you just need to take it down to the boiler room"

"Ok, no problem" Issei simply sighed in relief

"Thank you senpai, Shirou please show him the way"

"Got it!" Issei then left, and Yu turned towards Shirou

"Well I'll be in your care"

"Yeah let's do our best!"

Shirou and Yu then, after a bit of struggle, managed to get the machine into the boiler room, where they were received by the maintenance guy, he thanked them and they then left

"Fyuu, sorry for dragging you into this senpai, that thing was really heavy!" Shirou looked apologetic towards Yu, who he didn't quite understood why

"Hey don't worry, if you ever need help again, don't hesitate to call!" Shirou looked a bit troubled though

"I wouldn't wanna cause you any problems though….."

"Hey, the duty of the senpai is to help the kouhai no? Besides even the most invincible of heroes needs help once in a while" Shirou looked at him, a bit surprised, but then got into a thinking position, and ultimately smiled

"Yeah you are right, even a Hero of Justice needs help from time to time, thanks senpai!" Shirou smiled, after all even his father had said that he had had a lot of help, and then held his hand once more; Yu simply grasped it and shook it

I am Thou…..And Thou Art I…

Thou hast created a new bond…..

Thou shalt be blessed when creating

Personas of the Star Arcana.

"Ah crap I need to go to the Archery Club! See you later senpai!"

"Yeah see you later!" Yu waved

"Yeah but still what was that about? Hero of Justice? I mean I get the irony you were saying but wasn't that a bit redundant?"

"Hmm, maybe he wanted to be such a hero when he was a kid?"

""Shrug" Perhaps, but that really doesn't concern us right now, c'mon it's almost time to get to Rin Tohsaka's reunion place"

"Roger that" Yu then departed towards the meeting ground…

Rooftop

Rin waited for a bit, she hadn't arrived that long ago after all, while Archer simply leaned on the wall, Luvia had left a bit ago, claiming that she didn't need to confirm the identity of his Servant because she had already confirmed about his trustworthiness, whatever that meant, but still it was a good sign, Edelfelt was, for all their rivalry, a good judge of character and if she trusted someone, or at least got a good impression of them, then they certainly got on the right foot….But that wasn't the problem now was it?

It had truly nothing to do with Yu Narukami, what it HAD to do was the fact that, if he was telling the truth, then Ruler had been summoned and that meant that something terribly wrong had been going on in the War, but what could it be? Certainly it had to be something grand but what could it…..

"It's too early" Archer broke her out of her thoughts

"What is?" Archer simply deadpanned at her

"C'mon Rin we are both thinking about the same thing, whatever happened that forced Ruler to appear won't show itself before the fighting even begins, what we need to focus on right now is to find the one who set up this Boundary Field, disable it and then we will be able to continue on" Rin nodded

"Yeah for now let's focus on that" She said and returned Archer to spirit form, what was the Servant looking for though? While their partnership had been recent, she knew her Servant wasn't one for meaningless movement; maybe he was trying to remember his life? It was possible; she simply shook her head and went towards the seal in the floor….

"Huh? You are gonna erase it? What a waste….." Rin looked alarmed towards the source of the voice, a man with long blue hair, tied in ponytail, red eyes and dressed in ultramarine full body tights, he merely smirked when she looked up to him

"…Is this your handiwork?"

"Nope, stooping to dirty tricks is a mage's role after all, my kind simply fights when we are told…..Right my invisible buddy?" Rin simply widened her eyes

"So you can see Archer…That means you are a Servant!" She exclaimed in worry

"And if you know THAT little girl, then can I assume you are my enemy?" Rin then began to look around, this was bad they were fenced by all four sides, in this kind of fight would be very disadvantageous for them….

"Oh, impressive, you seem ignorant but you have the gist of things….Boy I really blew it" Rin looked at him with the question being written in her face

"I shouldn't have let my curiosity get the better of me and spoken up" He said as he rose the spear to his side, Rin made an attempt to run, but he lunged and then….

CLASH

"Huh? Well, well and here I thought that all Masters were cowards" Lancer's voice spoke, and Rin turned to see something unbelievable….

It was Yu Narukami, with a strange blade, blocking Lancer's attack, Lancer seemed just as surprised though his seem more pleased

"Well, well and who are you supposed to be?"

"Yu Narukami and you are Cu Chulainn" He said, shocking both Rin and Lancer

"Wha-HOW?!" Then another blade shot out of nowhere, forcing Lancer to dodge

"That would be because of me" The new figure was a beautiful blonde with a dress-armor, wielding both a sword and a flag, Lancer simply eyed her warily, while Rin widened her eyes in shock before she turned towards Yu

"You were telling the truth….." Yu simply turned towards her in confusion

"Why would I be lying about that?" Rin nodded, certainly if one were to look at it from an objective point of view the fact that he was making such a bold and borderline ridiculous statement spoke of the truth, if only because of how outlandish it was, Lancer on the other hand was carefully assessing his opponents

"Saber? Alliances this early on is not cool you know?" Ruler however only shook her head

"Not Saber, Ruler" This made Lancer widen his eyes "And we are simply making an alliance to find out about the one who set up this Boundary Field, do you know anything about it?" Lancer put down his lance, battle-fanatic he may be, but he is not stupid, attacking the referee would only result in him being killed, he then shrugged

"Not really, I'm just scouting, this Boundary Field caught my eye but when I got here there was no Servant in sight, then I stumbled unto Ojou-chan over there…And the rest is history" Lancer said as he pointed his lance towards Rin in a casual fashion, Ruler simply nodded

"Thank you Hound of Ulster" He simply nodded and went to leave, but just before he did he turned to Rin

"Ojou-chan you better be more prepared next time, I won't be as…..Wait what?!" Lancer suddenly turned towards the air, probably talking to his Master

"Are you nuts?! Do you want me dead you bastard?! It's not like what you are doing is in accordance to the rules either!" He yelled making everyone guard themselves

"Lancer…" Ruler said while she unfunded her sword, while shooting a glance at Yu, making her message clear, it seemed they were going to fight, Lancer growled before he turned towards them

"Sorry but it seems my Master wants you dead referee….Prepare yourself!" He said as he lunged

With Luvia a couple of minutes earlier

"So this is definitely the work of a Servant huh…." Luvia asked Caster as she was examining one of the magic circles

"Yep, this Magic Circle reeks of the Age of the Gods Magecraft, even if we destroy it, it eventually will repair itself, how troublesome" Caster sighed as she turned towards Luvia

"Who do you think did it?"

"Couldn't have been the Knight classes, they don't do these kinds of things, we both know I didn't do it, and we both know that Berserker couldn't have done this, this leaves either Assassin or Rider….But if I must bet I would say this is Rider's doing, this is way too blatant for an Assassin….." Luvia simply nodded and went towards the roof until….

BAM

"What was that?!" Luvia asked in worry, Caster simply began to run towards the roof

"C'mon Luvia-chi! It's happening in the roof!" Luvia nodded and started to run after her

On the roof

"What's going on here?!" Luvia shouted as she opened the door, Caster followed after her.

The scene could only be depicted as a battle, with Yu and Ruler were bombarding Lancer with dozens of strikes from either side, while normally Yu would not be able to keep up with such fast paced opponents he had been casting spells like Power Charge, Matarukaja, Marakukaja and Masukukaja in order to keep up and put pressure on Lancer, meanwhile Archer had appeared and was firing a great amount of arrows in order to limit Lancer's movement and actions even further, Luvia, while amazed at Yu's prowess so far, was also practical, so…..

"Caster!"

"Roger!" Caster then began to throw spells towards Lancer forcing him to leap off the building, Ruler followed suit, with Archer and Caster not far behind, Rin on the other hand went towards Yu

"How did you do that?! I was barely able to run away from him!" The fact that they were equally confused irked Luvia but nonetheless looked at Yu, who simply smiled in a calm way

"I guess you can say it's part of my abilities, nevertheless we should focus on Lancer" That answer was as vague as it could possibly be, but practicality dictated that they needed to focus on Lancer, a fact that both Luvia and Rin understood

"What do you suggest?" Rin asked, Yu looked down at the fight and then turned towards both of them

"…Ok we are gonna do this….."

School Grounds

"Damn!" Lancer exclaimed as he jumped away from Ruler's ferocious attack, he deflected an arrow from Archer; he then landed but had to immediately dodge another fire spell from Caster

"Curse my E Rank Luck!" Lancer exclaimed, because he had run right into Ruler who resumed her vicious assault, he could tell that she too had A rank Agility just like him, but he was forced to hold back in the first duel…Meaning that if something didn't happen soon he was going to die.

Suddenly his feet were frozen into the ground, no doubt Caster's doing, and he had no choice but to block both Archer's arrows and Ruler's attacks, when he finally managed to push her away, he figured there was only one way for him to survive

"Tch no use hiding it now, prepare yourself referee! I'll take your heart!" Both Archer and Caster got in their guard but Ruler raised her hand, stopping them from advancing any further, she then raised her flag

"God is with me, Luminosité Eternelle!" A shield was then formed around Ruler, shielding her, Archer and Caster because of proximity, Lancer however only smirked

"Heh sorry to say referee, but Gae Bolg cannot be blocked!" Lancer said, now sure of his victory, but became confused when Ruler simply smirked

"Maybe Luminosité Eternelle is incapable of blocking your lance Hound of Ulster, but it's doing a mighty fine job at distracting you!"

"Eh?"

"Ziodyne!" Lancer was then blasted by a torrent of lightning as Ruler smirked, truly the ability of Personas were astounding in and of themselves, last night, after that disastrous introduction, she and Yu had spent a good deal of time making plans, nothing too detailed, as they didn't knew about the identities of the other contestants, but rather certain situations of what to do given their tools and abilities, while she certainly had a lot of power at her disposal, as well as two very powerful Noble Phantasms, the problem lied in that if she used La Pucelle then she would die, so using it was out of the question, so both of them decided that she would be the shield, taking care of the main fighting, while he would support her and deliver the attacks that required a bit more of a kick, that way she wouldn't need to use La Pucelle and they would be able to get through the War just fine, however that was only in the theory plane, she could see right away that the opponents would be first-class Servants, as Cu Chulainn could be underestimated by no one, though for some reason he was not fighting at his fullest, Tamamo-no-Mae on the other hand was not only powerful but had a severe home advantage, Ruler was not worried about them however, Lancer clearly had a horrible relationship with his Master and he couldn't possibly be that dangerous if he didn't come by himself….

If only she knew.

As for Caster while she was a powerful contestant it was clear that her Master didn't had a lot of interest in the Grail War, she probably summoned Tamamo in order to survive, which was perfectly normal, what did trouble her though was Archer, she could not recognize his name! What could that mean? Without a proper name they couldn't properly adapt to his fighting style, so the alliance turned out to be a good move on their part…..

Ruler then went towards Yu, high fiving him for a job well done, with both of the other Servants relaxing a bit

"Gotta say kid that was a good plan, after all if Lancer fired Gae Bolg that meant that he would have to focus all his attention on us" Archer said impressed by the performance without taking his eyes off of Lancer, using a Noble Phantasm as a distraction? That was a bold move, but what the hell were those powers that he used? He certainly didn't know of any magecraft that could knock out a Servant in one strike! He looked at Rin who nodded back at him, they needed answers for this but now it was not the time

"Ahh dammit! That was a cheap shot!" Lancer exclaimed, making them know that he was still conscious, with all involved parties turning towards him and get on guard…That was until Lancer once again turned stiff and turned towards the school, running towards there, Yu, Rin and Luvia became confused until…..

"Luvia-chi! There's a student in the school grounds!" Caster exclaimed, making all three of them, along with their Servants in the case of Yu and Rin, turn toward her, Rin quickly spun into action, with Yu not far behind

"Tch a bystander?! Hey Rin you know we can't let him get away!" Luvia said, not far behind from them, Rin only turned towards her

"I can't just leave him to his death! I'm going to erase his memories but I don't think Lancer is going to be as nice as I am going to be!" Rin shouted before she speeded up, leaving Yu and Luvia behind

"Dammit what is that Tohbaka thinking?! Does she seriously believe she can take on Cu Chulainn by herself?!" Luvia asked herself, having figured the Servant's identity due to Archer calling out the lance's name, Yu only sped up, however…..

CLANK

He had to block a strike that came out of said Lancer, who was obviously running, Ruler quickly tried to attack him by the side but Lancer simply jumped and by the time they realized it, he was already behind it, Yu, Ruler, Luvia and Caster simply got into a fighting stance, but Lancer simply held his hands up

"Whoa easy, it seems my Master realized how stupid it was to attack the referee with two other Servants watching, as for you…Hmm you are an interesting one boy, never would have thought that a Master could fight against a Servant…But you seem…..Familiar somehow, have we met?" Lancer asked, unsure and confused and Yu instantly knew what he was talking about.

Though at first his Personas were nothing more than tamed Shadows, but after he obtained the World Arcana, which can be said to be a miracle in and of itself, they began to evolve, their nature changing from being "Shadows" to being more akin to "Spirits" and thus they could interact with him, their appearances also changed with Cu appearing like the warrior that was in front of him, Siegfried had a strange armor that covered his arms and legs but left the chest somewhat uncovered and the back completely unprotected his skin was tanned and his hair had become longer and silver, Scathath had become a beautiful woman in a tight suit similar to Lancer's, though hers was dark purple, as such he had received training from Siegfried, Cu Chulainn, Scathath and Yoshitsune, especially after the whole P1 Grand Prix and Climax where they insisted that he couldn't be caught off-guard again, in fact he could hear them gloating right about now…..

"Ha! What did I tell you kid? It always pays to be prepared!

"As much as I hate to agree with a dog, he is right"

"Heh? What you wanna fight you bastard?!"

"Why is it that I have to be surrounded by brats?"

Cu Chulainn, Siegfried and Scathath said, or in case of the later sighed, strangest thing though is that Cu and Siegfried had developed a rivalry, though given the fact that they were both the strongest heroes of their generations this was only natural…..

"Anyway ignoring the tool over there how about you let me fight him? That prowess he showed was pathetic! And he is wearing my face!"

"It wouldn't be fair Cu, as it stands if you are summoned then it means that you would be at the strength that you would be if you were in if we were in Ireland, as it stands, and with him holding back, you would wipe the floor with him" Scathath said in a chiding tone, like a mother telling a kid not to pick on a weaker one

In the exterior Yu only sighed

"You can say that we met in some really strange circumstances…." Understatement of the century.

Lancer arched an eyebrow, along with Luvia and Caster, but he then turned around, ready to leave

"Today was a really embarrassing day…..Beware kid, next time we meet I will show you the power of Cu Chulainn! You beware too referee, this probably won't be the last time we fight" He then sped off, with Rin arriving not too later

"Hey"

"Hey my ass! What happened to the student?!" Luvia asked in frustration at Rin's calmness, which was probably an intentional move on her part

"He's fine stop worrying already hyena, by the way did you saw Lancer?" Rin asked with a smirk at the fact that she managed to annoy Edelfelt

"Yeah, but he got away" Yu said while thinking a strategy, Rin quickly picked up on that and suggested something herself

"For now we should follow his tracks, as it stands he cannot beat the three of us but his Master may have a way to counter that, for now knowing where he might be is our best approach" Yu nodded, he then turned towards Caster

"Caster-san can you detect where they might have gone?" Caster only shook her head

"Call me Ta- I mean Caster, I don't really like formalities cutie" She said while winking towards him, making Ruler, Luvia and Rin splutter at her lack of shame "As for my detection I only put some runes around so I could detect people, only if I put them in a certain area and I am concentrating in that area, can I sense these people, and if I put them in too many places there the effect diminishes…" She says with a shrug, Yu only nodded

"Ok, then I think I've got a plan…." Thank god he had been around Rise for a year otherwise he might have been flushed and that was not the way he rolled, Caster simply raised an eyebrow at how easily she had been ignored, but she then smirked and got up to his face, all the while maintaining that sly-smirk of hers

"Ohh, you are a tough one to crack aren't you? That's ok it is said that the most delicious dish is the one that is the toughest to cook" She licked her lips as she got closer to Yu's face, testing him, however she was pushed away before she got any closer

"Wha-what the hell do you think you are doing baka kitsune?!" Ruler asked with her face red in embarrassment, Caster on the other hand got into her face

"What do you think I'm doing you prude? I know for a fact that this is a free country and just because he is your Master doesn't mean you have an advantage you know?!" She said, annoyed at her interference, Ruler's face became even more red

"Wh-wh-what is that supposed to mean? We are Partners! P-A-R-T-N-E-R-S! Get it right baka-kitsune!"

"Hmph didn't know I was dealing with a tsundere…" For some reason Rin felt like somebody was stealing her thunder….But then she squashed that thought, she wasn't a tsundere!

"Who are you calling a tsundere you vixen?! I am the Maiden of Orleans and I will NOT be demeaned so!"

"Your Servant certainly has no problems revealing her identity…" Rin deadpanned at Yu who only shrugged

"She said that if she hid it everyone would start distrusting her because she is the referee"

"I suppose that makes sense…." Rin said, somewhat seeing the logic of it, though if it was up to her she would still err on the side of caution

"Well I was the greatest courtesan of Emperor Konoe! The most beautiful woman in japan!" Caster said in an attempt to compete with Ruler, much to Rin and Yu's shock and Luvia's horror "And if history has taught us anything is that beauty allows us to get away with plenty of things!"

"Yeah it allowed you plenty of things, like being harassed by all of Japan, getting the highest record in murder of history and getting killed and transformed into cursed stones for all eternity, lucky you!" Ruler said sarcastically

" You summoned Tamamo-no-Mae?!" Rin asked Luvia who was now sulking in a corner, this was bad! Tamamo-no-Mae would get a HUGE advantage in Japan, she was known as one of the Three Great Calamities! That had to be the reason behind her parameters, which were quite high for a Caster, as it stood however she had a HUGE disadvantage, sure she was technically the better magus, but even she could not deny that Edelfelt was the better fighter, and there was no way that Archer could defeat Caster without a good plan! At least not as it stood…

"Calm down" Yu said in a firm voice, snapping Caster and Ruler out of their fight and snapping Luvia and Rin from their respective sulking, he allowed himself a smirk on the inside, he still got it

"For now it's best if you have Archer station himself in the higher buildings of the city, the war hasn't started yet, so the most likely scenario is that he is going to return to his own hideout, that being said this city is simply too big for one of us to scout, which is why me and Ruler will take the ground, Archer will search in Shinto, while we search in Miyama, if anyone of us finds anything we contact Luvia and Caster, then you two" He said pointing at Luvia and Caster "Will set up those runes, it's not a foolproof plan, but given our circumstances….." All of them nodded, Rin and Archer immediately moved out, while Ruler signaled him to start doing the same

"C'mon PARTNER" The last word was growled while she was looking pointedly at Caster who simply huffed dismissively to her, and then winked towards Yu, making Ruler fume, Yu simply waved and Luvia waved too as she left, though hers was a little more depressed, no doubt due to her rival knowing the identity of her Servant, once they were out of sight….

"Ugh the nerve of that woman!" Ruler fumed in a foul mood, she then turned towards Yu

"And what was up with that reaction?! Aren't you supposed to be blushing and stuttering?! At the very least you should have looked at me with a face like "Please save me!" or something like that! And I would have been like "Ah well can't be helped right?" And I would have been left like the cool and collected onee-san, but no you couldn't let me have that could you?" She pouted while getting into Yu's face, Yu only deadpanned at her for a few seconds before…

"Has anyone ever told you that you look adorable when you pout?" If he intended her face to resemble a tomato, then he certainly got the results, the Personas in his mind were laughing it up

"Wh-wh-wh-wh-what are you saying all of a sudden?!"

"What? I was just telling the truth" Yu said with his usual deadpan face

"Get a damn filter for your thoughts then!" She screamed with her face red of embarrassment

"Anyway we better start with…."

"DON'T IGNORE ME!" Ruler yelled in a comedic fashion, knowing fairly well that Yu was trolling her, however before their Boke and Tsukkomi act could continue both of them tensed as fog began to cover the street they were walking in….

"Oh? Ruler has been summoned? And has a Master? How strange…..Is it because the Grail doesn't have enough energy? Is it Onii-chan?" A childish voice, which belonged to neither Yu nor Ruler, called out.

Both turned to find a little girl, she had white hair and red eyes, she was dressed in a dark purple heavy coat with a hat on top of her head, she was not the thing that grabbed their attention though, behind her there lied a giant with black skin, though he had a red glow underneath, he had red eyes and a long black mane of hair, he had some sort of a battle skirt, and it was the only thing that he wore, but it gave the impression that he didn't need anything more, he seemed like an invincible monster, when Ruler saw him, her eyes widened, something that the child seemed to notice, making her smile

"Oh! She recognizes Berserker! That means you must be Ruler!" There were some holes in that theory, but given that she was not dressed in the style of Greece, she could be forgiven for thinking that. She then turned to him

"Ne, ne what's your name Onii-chan, mine is Illyasviel von Einzbern!"

"What a mouthful of a name" Yu said in his usual blunt style, much to Ruler's horror, though Illyasviel didn't seem to mind, in fact she even nodded!

"I know right? That's why everyone calls me Illya!"

"Ok, hello Illya, my name is Yu, Yu Narukami"

"Ok! Ne, Yu-san, do you have a wish for the Grail?" She asked in such an innocent tone that it was hard to picture the fact that she was in a battle royal where one would have to kill everyone else in order to survive.

"No, not really"

"Really? You are so blunt about it too, oh well I guess that's why you are Ruler's Master, then what do you want to do Yu-san?" Yu only looked at Illya, trying to figure her out, certainly Berserker could be intimidating but he had come face to face with Izanami-no-Okami and she was not only way bigger but also way more intimidating than this guy.

"I want to minimize the deaths that happen in the Grail War, that's all" That answer seemed to surprise her, though she only smiled, a bit of sadness coming through

"You better give up while you still can Onii-chan, people are going to die, it's what always happens, I myself am not too interested in the Grail, but…..I do want to kill someone" She said in a sudden dark tone, Yu only raised an eyebrow, while Ruler was the one that asked

"Who? And more importantly why?" It was certainly very disturbing for the Madam of Orleans to see such a childish figure wanting to kill somebody so badly, Illya simply smiled, this smile being far more sinister

"He took everything from me, and I'm going to make him suffer" Yu only closed his eyes, he knew better than to try to convince her otherwise, not only were they simple strangers, if what that guy had done been so extreme then he had no right to argue, though he made a mental note to keep an eye on her, she was after all a child, it could be that the guy was innocent and she was simply trying to shift the blame unto someone that didn't deserve it.

Illya smiled once more and signaled Berserker, the giant picked her up and put her on his shoulder

"You don't have to worry about me, I don't need to cheat in order to win, Berserker here is invincible!" Ruler only nodded

"Certainly having the strongest Hero of Greece is a very sure sign to win" Illya clapped, delighted at her approval

"Right? He is the strongest Servant of them all! Bye bye Yu-Onii-chan, Ruler!" She waved as the giant left, to what direction they were not sure…..

"…You know maybe it's because I saw the Disney version when I was kid, but I definitely didn't picture Hercules like that"

"Heracles" Yu turned to her, as if asking for an explanation, Ruler only sighed

"Heracles was his real name, Hercules is just the Roman version of it, it means for the Glory of Hera" Yu only snorted

"Well isn't that ironic?" Ruler only nodded

"C'mon Lancer has to be somewhere around here….."

Core of the Grail

It had done it.

The process had been difficult, and very delicate, but it had managed it at last, it had divided a piece of it so small that no one, not even Lancer would be able to tell, and stuck itself unto said Servant, looking for a proper host to model itself after.

That Emiya boy.

No one noticed it, but he has some sort of power that could be very useful for its new form, so it had placed itself at the tip of Lancer's spear and entered his heart, in other situations it would have to take control of the boy, but with the power of the Grail on its side it managed to do a full-blown clone of him, it wouldn't be able to release that boy's Reality Marble, but it would be able to replicate his dormant Projection ability….It will be most useful.

Now, get up Bazett Fraga McRemitz, you have a job to do!

Unknown House

"Oi, oi how long do you plan to sleep anyway? We have a job to do you know?" A voice stirred her from her sleep; she opened her eyes, trying to understand what was going on…

"Wha-What happened to me?"

"Ooh? Finally! I thought that you were never going to wake up at this rate!" She turned to see what was going on, only to find a teenager with an ungodly amount of tattoos on his body, with black hair and with a red bandana on his forehead, and a red mantle covering his waist

"Who are you?" She asked weakly, still confused

"Ah dammit! You still don't remember! Well I guess you did lose a lot of blood…"

Blood.

Suddenly memories started to rush at Bazett's mind, the summoning of Lancer, how excited she was at the fact that she had got it right and summoned Cu Chulainn, how they had gotten along so well at first, and…..Kirei Kotomine.

Suddenly Bazett shot up and grabbed the teen by the throat

"Who are you?! Are you an ally of Kotomine?!"

"Upah, you got it all wrong you idiot! I'm the reason you are still alive" He said with that infuriating smirk on his face, despite being held by the throat, confused Bazett released him, he caressed his mistreated throat.

"Who are you?" She said, a bit more calm now, he maintained the smirk though

"I'm Avenger, your Servant for this War"

"What?! NO, my Servant was supposed to be Lancer!"

"Don't you remember? My God you either have Alzheimer or you are a complete idiot, let me remind you, Kirei Kotomine cut off your arm, and took of Lancer, he is Lancer's Master now!"

"But I've got both of my arms!" That had to be a nightmare, it just had to be!

"Ah well, you see when you were lying there, dying, your blood reach the summoning circle and your desire for vengeance, summoned me, I healed you up and waited until you actually woke up" Avenger said with an uncaring shrug, he looked at Bazett, who's eyes were being shadowed by the bangs of her hair

"Avenger…..Can you actually fight?"

"Hey I'm still a Servant aren't I?"

"Doesn't mean much when you've got not parameters or skills!"

"Ah, but I still got my Noble Phantasm, don't worry it will come in real handy" Bazett looked at her Servant with a determined look

"The prepare yourself"

"What for?"

"We ae going to go to the Church, and kill Kirei Kotomine!"

And done!

Ok let's pass to the people's questions:

How come Lancer was so weak in the fight?: Holding back against a Servant is suicide, even for another Servant, given that he was holding back against three, it's only reasonable that he was swing around like a ragdoll.

Why are Yu's Personas spirits now?: It is specifically said that the World Arcana is a man-made miracle, does it sound familiar? It should, veterans of Fate/ Stay Night should know that is the exact description for the True Magics, through the World Arcana Yu is more similar to a Sorcerer than a Magus.

Will Rin and Shirou still make an alliance?: Absolutely, but it will be more around dealing with Berserker, rather than dealing with Rider, given that Illya will be targeting them both.

Why did Kirei attack them knowing that Ruler was the referee?: It will be explained on the next chapter.

What was Yu using to block Lancer's spear and how come he was able to fight him in the first place?: That is the Blade of Totsuka, and given that it is hinted to be the real thing, I will take my chances and say that it can block a Noble Phantasm, considering that it is pretty much a Noble Phantasm of its own, as for Lancer's fight it was more of a thing of Yu constantly boosting himself, Lancer holding back, and the sheer surprise that he was capable of giving him a bit of a fight in the first place.

Wait, the preview was out of order!: One of the things that you have to be careful about with previews is that people can guess accurately what's gonna happen if you do them wrong, that's why I'm going to do them out of order, to keep you guys in your toes.

Why are you using – instead of "" for speech you damn casual?!: Ugh, Ok I got it already! No need to burn me in the stake!

Current Participants of the Holy Grail War

Yu Narukami and Ruler

Rin Tohsaka and Archer

Luviagelita Edelfelt and Caster

Fiore Forvedge and Assassin

Kirei Kotomine and Lancer

Illyasviel von Einzbern and Berserker

Shinji Matou and Rider

Bazett Fraga MacRemitz and Avenger

That's all for now, and now for a little preview!

"KOTOMINE!"

"What was that thing that Narukami was using?"

"So now it is time, kill them all Berserker!"

"A treasure that is not mine you say? Blasphemy…"

"Finally! My beautiful gardens shall rise!"

"Shirou, you don't know what you are getting yourself into…."

"Let me see how much the Wild Card has evolved since my time Yu Narukami….."

"Just what I needed, that useless grandson of mine has put everything in risk!"

"This is the place where you die Yu Narukami…"

"IZANAGI"

"I ask of you, are you my Master?"

Until next time!