"Master." Mark sat up from where he sat on the grass, looking up at Caster.
"What is it?" he asked the Servant.
"It seems that the battle has begun in earnest. Should we act?" Caster asked.
"No." Mark said. "We have no need to move. This is our fortress; here we are superior to anything any team can bring to bear against us. The longer we wait, the more powerful we grow, and the weak the competition gets as they tear each other apart." Mark smiled. "Who knows? Maybe we'll advance to the finals without ever having to lift a finger."
"Very well." Caster said, and walked away. Among the varied and chaotic areas that made up the Academy, Mark had tracked down an empty room, a storage room almost the size of a warehouse. It was here that Caster had established his temple, creating a vast forest from nothing. Immediately, Caster had begun preparing to wage war with the other Masters and Servants, as well as turning the room into an unbreachable bunker.
"Husband." Speak of the devil. Mark glanced up to see a woman, clad in a modest white linen dress that was a match for the tunic Caster wore, appeared.
"Yes, my wife?" Caster said. The man had fairly average features, made all the more bland for the lack of expression he showed. Only when he looked at one of his wives did his face change, in this case becoming slightly more gentle.
"The first layer of bounded fields has been laid." the woman reported.
"Good. Would you like to take a break, allow your counterpart to act?"
"No. I can continue."
"Then by all means. Let us return to our work." Caster kissed his wife on the cheek and walked away. Mark returned to his nap.

___________

"Three hundred...four hundred..." Alysis intoned as she counted out the money she'd made off of Vincent, grinning evilly as she made planned on what to do with he legally-gotten gains. It had been a long time since she'd actually had money to spend. She wondered if William would mind if she continued to tutor Vincent. Well, if he did, then she could just steal her upperclassman's wallet when he was drunk.
"Master."
"...six hundred...seven hundred..."
"Master!" Alysis blinked looking up at Saber.
"Huh? What?" she asked.
"Do you hear that?" the Servant asked. Alysis listen carfully. Her eyes narrowed as she faintly heard the sounds of combat.
"Well, I guess the party's started." she said, putting her money in her pocket. "Why don't we go make our official debute, Saber?" Alysis flung her arm around her Servant's neck, and, putting his arm around her waist, he charged towards the battle.

Before they could reach the battle, Michela Di Christi bound infront of them, atop a giant wolf.
"Just the woman I wanted to see." Ella said as she gently stroked the fur around the wolf's neck.

--

Nicola wrenched her arm free and jumped back from the slender blond teen. So she had gotten Gabriel, the feared for who got Ella, the stronger of the two, behind her back called the Alpha bitch.

She looked up and Berserker was grappling with Gabby's servant and holding his own.
"Your... Strong..." Berserker said as he and Ruber were trying too get ground over each other.
"And your not human!" Ruber said from his wolfish head, with his glowing red eyes.
"Neither...ARE...YOU!!!" Berserker said in a growl and threw Ruber across the Quad.

The servant quickly jumped up and sneered at Berserker, Ruber's eyes glowing brighter and his body began to twich and contort under the surface.
"This is bad." Nicola said running over to Berserker.

Ruber howled out, now on all fours, a large wolf with razor sharp teeth. Nicola was almost at Berserker as Ruber leaped towards them, Berserker seeing that his master could very well be harmed by the rabid wolf, and he didn't have much speed growled out while extending his extremely muscled forearm. A wall burst partially from the grounds partially out of nowhere, to block the wolf. Ruber was able to slow down at the last minute and avoid slamming into the wall, but he growled meancingly as he landed.

"Now that is interesting." Gabby said, walking towards the wall, Ruber and Nicola.

Nicola placed her hand on the wall and attempted to transmutate it, but the wall had history, it had craftsmanship, it had mystery, it had power, the wall was a noble phantasm and she couldn't hold to transmutate that. She was too slow, and Berserker was still too far away to help physically as Ruber turned to go around the wall, when another wall burst up covering the other side.

"Well that's handy." Nicola said. Berserker had reached Nicola's side now, and Gabriel was stroking his snarling wolf.

"This is going better than expected, we are wearing your servant down." He said cheerily.

"You bastard."

"Ruber." He said rubbing the giant wolf on the belly, and he started to contort again, until he was naked blond man on the floor, and then instantly a red set of robes appeared over his body.
"Yes master." Ruber answered.

"Bite Ms Branson please." Gabriel instructed his servant, and Ruber responded by showing his newly grown set of razor sharp teeth.

"Berserker, don't worry." Nicola said standing just slightly behind her servant's leg.

---

A fight in the snow quad, Vincent was running towards the snow Quad with Saber in tow. As soon as he got close enough to see who it was he gasped out.
It was Nicola vs one of those creepy twins. He could see the Twin's wolfman and Nicola half obscured by two walls standing with a giant of a servant, he must have been about 7 and a half feet tall.

What to do, what to do!

"Oh, its you guys again." Alysis sighed. "Honestly, if the previous winners are just going to butt in, why bother even holding these tournaments?"

_______

"Hey." Someone reached out and snapped their fingers under Vincent's nose. "Hey. You okay?" Jacob frowned as he tried to get the other first-year's attention.

Ella rolled her eyes, "If we can't intimidate the younger years why bother have these servants at all. It's not like I can actually defeat you, but I can make it easier for a member of the House of Rhea to take you down" Ella pointed her hand towards Alysis jumping of Venetus' back as the wolf bounded forwards.

---

Vincent was instantly brought back to where he was standing, "Oh yes, I'm sorry. I don't know what to do, my friend is currently fighting Di Christi and I want to help, but I am promised to House Rhea so I can't." Vincent said sighing.

"Ah, so what you're saying is that your current crop of contestants are too pathetic to win without you holding their hands? Saber!" Alysis shot back, and Saber charged the enemy Servant, his sword upright an in front of him.
"I hope Vincent actually got a card so that you won't have to fight all of your candidate's battles for them."
__________

"Well, I guess it depends on whether you think your alliance is more important than your friend." Jacob said. "I mean, I'm technically sworn to Rhea -- the name's Jacob, by the way-- but they've done jack shit for me so far. Flimsy alliances are a dime a dozen, but friend that'll stick with you through thick and thin are rare." Jacob heard Berserker growl in agreement in the back of his head.

"No no Rhea stands strong, like the Titan, like the stone of her mother. But that doesn't mean we can't have fun when the chance arises." Ella said staring at Alysis. Saber had raised his sword, so Venetus swift on four legs jumped wide to the side, and attempted to strafe behind Saber.

"And that Vincent boy, he had been giving you money, helping an enemy and known ally to House Hel, the way things are looking for him, he wont get in." Ella said laughing.

---

Vincent looked at the boy Jacob, "I'm Vincent. And you know they are doing this." He said waving towards the fight, "for you, for us. They want one of us to jump in and take the win. If I spit in their face like that and challenge them I won't make it to Rhea." Vincent placed his hands on his head. "I'm scared." he said quietly. He was scared of losing a friend, he was actually quite fond of Nicola, and she didn't completely hate him, they spent time together via Alysis. He was scared Nicola would hate him if he came to her rescue whether he suceeded or not, he feared she and Alysis would hate if he did not. He was scared of not having a house, some place to be.

But then he remembered what the boy Jacob had just said. What use was he as a magus if he couldn't chose what he wanted to be, adamant, wasn't that the defining trait of House Petra, the tenacity. "Thank you Jacob." He said turning to the magus he had just met, "I'm sure it would happen eventually, but I think this marks it, I'll be going against Rhea, you will be my enemy, but for now you have been my friend.

"SABER!" Vincent called and Saber appeared next to him. "Knight me!" Saber drew a beautifully jeweled sword and activated its power, a wave rolled over Vincent, like an aura of power. And Saber threw the jeweled sword to Vincent who caught it, as Saber summoned his other broken sword. And then at amazing speed the two sped off towards the battle.

Gabby was too busy being a dick to notice Vincent speeding towards him, sword drawn. Ruber looked back at his unarmed master, and instantly a roman Gladius appeared in Gabby's hand and he quickly parried Vincent's strike in the nick if time. Ruber turned to run back to his master, when Saber appeared between them.

Ruber summoned a Gladius to his hand and stopped before Saber. "Looks like your master isn't gonna make it to house Rhea, unless of course he wins the tournament, but he won't if he turns the only house that was possibly willing to help into another potential saboteur."

"I know hatred too let it be known, but yours is rooted in nature not in nurture, you truly are a rabid beast." Saber said raising his sword.

"Idiot! Say goodbye to any future in the academy." Gabby said as he and Vincent continued to fight, Gabby knew why he himself was able to move this fast the joys of having who they had as servants meant currently they weren't 100% human, but Vincent was moving fast as if everything he had was increased. The sword in his hand glinted as he held it, clashing it against Gabby's gladius.

Nicola was running towards Vincent and Gabby, and before Ruber noticing something was wrong, slowly turned around and Berserker was standing behind him, with Saber in front of him.

Serperion said "No no Rhea stands strong, like the Titan, like the stone of her mother. But that doesn't mean we can't have fun when the chance arises." Ella said staring at Alysis. Saber had raised his sword, so Venetus swift on four legs jumped wide to the side, and attempted to strafe behind Saber. "And that Vincent boy, he had been giving you money, helping an enemy and known ally to House Hel, the way things are looking for him, he wont get in." Ella said laughing.

"Wow, you're kind of a bitch, aren't you?"

Robert skidded to a halt as the two battled, Berserker behind him, quizzically looking around. The area suddenly seemed to get very humid, as Robert winked at Alysis.

No, humid wasn't the right world. There were visible drops of water floating all around, mainly concentrated around the .5 Alumni ahead of them.

"Berserker, get ready."

"Ah, yes! I will, boy! Groovy, just... Groovy!"

"Wow, you guys are just a bunch of petty assholes, you know that. I thought I'd left that level of maturity behind when I came here." Alysis said coldly. She began to chant.

Ye who sings the song of the storm, let your lyrics fall upon my lips.
Let my dirge be heard, and guide them to safety or danger.

Alysis cupped her hands, and a white hot bolt of lightning cracked between her palms, and then a focused blast of thunder exploded from her hands towards Ella, as powerful as it it had been created by a fully fledged lightning strike in a thunderstorm.

Saber made a complete 180 and ran back towards Alysis, maintaining the same position; sword up and in front of him.

__________

"I look forward to it. Good luck!" Jacob called after Vincent, waving. In the back of his mind, Jacob heard an inquisitive sounding grumble.
"No, Berserker, not yet. Lets see how our new friend fares before we jump in."

idkman said
"Wow, you're kind of a bitch, aren't you?"Robert skidded to a halt as the two battled, Berserker behind him, quizzically looking around. The area suddenly seemed to get very humid, as Robert winked at Alysis.No, humid wasn't the right world. There were visible drops of water floating all around, mainly concentrated around the .5 Alumni ahead of them."Berserker, get ready.""Ah, yes! I will, boy! Groovy, just... Groovy!"

"Me or her?" Alysis asked.

"Nope" Ella said as Alysis shot the blast of lightning towards her, but she just smiled and vanished in an instant before the blast could hit her, and then Venetus vanished also.
--
Elsewhere behind Ruber dropped a large wolf.
"Good to see you brother." Ruber exclaimed.

Gabby perked up, as he felt his sisters aura close by. Vincent barely had time to react to Ella slicing down with her sword from the other angle as she just appeared, his increased reflexes and strength were being challenged, there was something not quite right about these twins. But as Ella swung down, Nicola was there, grabbing the female twin in her hands and pulling her into a grapple.

"Ella!" Gabby shouted, but Vincent continued to press him.

Ruber and Venetus back to back, were being circled by Berserker and Saber, a large beast of a man and armoured warrior.

Nicola and Ella rolled in the snow, and Nicola punched her in the face a few times.
"Ella!" Gabby shouted and once again she vanished instantly appearing next to Gabby and once again starting to double team Vincent.

"Fuck I hate it when they do that!" Nicola said jumping up.

"Fuck fuck fuck fuck!" Vincent shouted as they pressed him harder, his breathing was slowing down and he could feel his chest heating up. They were pressing him harder and harder and then he shouted out and the twins went flying back from a shockwave of flames that had centred and originated from Vincent. Vincent stood in a puddle of steaming water, as the snow of the Snow quad had melted at his feet.

Gabriel and Michela were standing together and holding hands. Their aura started to flare, as they tapped into their origin once again.
"Castor." Gabriel said. "Pollux." Ella continued the spell of mediumship, that they were channeling through their origin.

"You whore!" Alysis snarled. "Saber! After them!" As her Servant grabbed her, she shouted back at Robert, "If you want to help then hurry up!"

Ichypa said
"Me or her?" Alysis asked.

"Her, duhhhhh~~"

Ichypa said
"You !" Alysis snarled. "Saber! After them!" As her Servant grabbed her, she shouted back at Robert, "If you want to help then hurry up!"

"Well, fuck then! Berserker, let's go!"

"Alrighty, mah boy!" Berserker lifted Robert onto his shoulder and quickly caught up with the other two, "This is just... Dandy! Fine and Dandy!"

Berserker and Saber were circling Ruber and Venetus, before they vanished in a wisp of magic and appeared behind the twins and they all started glowing, pulsing in sync.

"This is bad." Vincent said to Saber and to Nicola who was busy making sure Berserker was ok. Vincent and Saber jumped in.

Gabby and Ella's eyes were glowing a vibrant green, and they raised their hands, now tipped with razor sharp claws, and they lept as well as their two servants, it was a wave, a blitz of scratched, punches and kicks, as the two sets of twins, jumped, strafed, lunged and leapt around the area, striking. Vincent and Saber and moving before they had a chance to counter.

Berserker was making his way over to help, but he was soon trapped in the circle, as they widened their net in order to include him. It was just a blur or blond, red, blue, green and black as they blitzed around and attacked, they of course were not allowed to actually defeat us.
"Fuck!"

Damien and Juan stood at the edge of the area, watching the battle unfold.

"See Juan, I told you these two were fuckin' weird."

"Si, senor Damien, very weird."

"Don't underestimate them, though. Like any alumni, they are not to be fucked with."

"Aye."

"Tally ho, bitches!" Alysis cried as she and Saber crashed onto the scene.
"Saber, don't let those tow make fools out of us!" she commanded.
"Of course, Master." Saber said, charging into the fray. "Vengeance shall be ours!"

"Alysis!" Vincent shouted when he heard his mentor. As he was being swarmed.

Nicola managed to reach Alysis before they got to Vincent who was currently being pressed by the twins x 2. Berserker behind her.
"Alysis, Berserker. Berserker Alysis. Now that that has been done Vincent and his Saber are being attacked by those fucking twins. And I don't know how to help them, the twins are too strong and dextrous, for my Berserker to fully keep up, plus there is two of them."

Vincent's Saber raised his broken sword and gripped it tightly. "I will not die a forget name in history." He said as he started swinging towards the wolfen quartet, as he did so the sword started to glow as if it was charging.

"Tally ho!"

Berserker charged into the fray, drawing a battle-scarred saber from it's sheath. "Mr. Vincent, I am here to assist you with the kicking of ass! Let's beat these wicked curs and scoundrels into shape!"

Berserker rushed to attack the nearest fighter, be they servant or master, of the opposing side. His sword seemed more like one that would lead a group, but those who tasted it's edge would know to fear it.

"This is... Stupendous! I think..."

Meanwhile, Robert stood back and conjured strategic puddles on the ground to trip up the enemy or slow their movement... Or just dirty there feet, any inconvenience would do.

Alysis' Saber and Roberts Berserker had jumped into the fray, there was now 4 Berserkers and 2 Sabers on the field.

Ruber and Venetus as well as the Twins jumped backwards, to avoid RBerserker and ASaber. All four of them were sharing Prana, 2 sets of Gemini twins and this wasn't even their final technique.

"WALL!" Vincent shouted at Nicola, as she stood next to Alysis and NBerserker. as VSaber rose his glowing broken sword, the glow flickered on and off slightly like a broken lamb, but he still rose it.

NBerserker, stamped his foot and a large wall erupted infront of him and his friends. VSaber jumped through the air towards the two sets of Twins. VBerserker and ASaber behind him.

"EX-CALIBURN!" Saber shouted and a blast of pure prana exploded towards the enemy with a redish aura to it. VSaber fell back and stumbled, that had taken alot of him.

After the blast had settled.
Ruber and Venetus were naked on the floor steaming, covering the bodies of the twins beneath. The Berserker twins, were naked covered in burns, although they were getting less red and more pink, as if slowly getting better if you paid close attention.

Ella pushed her way through the twins, brushing them aside, as they still lay motionless.
"WHAT THE FUCK HAVE YOU DONE!" She shouted, raising her hand, still enclawed.

Vincent had run to Saber, but when this happened, he looked directly towards Robert as Alysis and Nicola were hidden from view.
"This is bad right." He said to Robert.

Serperion said "This is bad right." He said to Robert.

"Let me put this in the simplest of terms... Yes. Yes it is."

Berserker bounded back to Robert's side, his saber raised in front of him. "This is most certainly not... Cool. Not cool at all!"

Serperion said
Alysis' Saber and Roberts Berserker had jumped into the fray, there was now 4 Berserkers and 2 Sabers on the field.Ruber and Venetus as well as the Twins jumped backwards, to avoid RBerserker and ASaber. All four of them were sharing Prana, 2 sets of Gemini twins and this wasn't even their final technique. "WALL!" Vincent shouted at Nicola, as she stood next to Alysis and NBerserker. as VSaber rose his glowing broken sword, the glow flickered on and off slightly like a broken lamb, but he still rose it. NBerserker, stamped his foot and a large wall erupted infront of him and his friends. VSaber jumped through the air towards the two sets of Twins. VBerserker and ASaber behind him."EX-CALIBURN!" Saber shouted and a blast of pure prana exploded towards the enemy with a redish aura to it. VSaber fell back and stumbled, that had taken alot of him. After the blast had settled. Ruber and Venetus were naked on the floor steaming, covering the bodies of the twins beneath. The Berserker twins, were naked covered in burns, although they were getting less red and more pink, as if slowly getting better if you paid close attention. Ella pushed her way through the twins, brushing them aside, as they still lay motionless."WHAT THE FUCK HAVE YOU DONE!" She shouted, raising her hand, still enclawed.Vincent had run to Saber, but when this happened, he looked directly towards Robert as Alysis and Nicola were hidden from view."This is bad right." He said to Robert.

"Fucked you over, that's what." Alysis said. "Saber! Nail them down!"
"Right!" Saber said. He plunged his sword into the earth. "ELASA!" he roared. Lines of light exploded from the sword, shooting across the ground until they formed a square. From thin air appeared a group of hardy warriors, standing behind ASaber. They raised their weapons and stepped forward, but Saber waved them back.
"No, my faithful friends." he said. "This is a personal matter. Allow the four of us and our Masters to handle this." Blue armbands appeared, wrapping themselves around Alysis, Nicola, Robert, and Vincent's right biceps. Red armbands did the same for the twins and their Servants.