"Servants, protect your Masters!"

Yelling this out, Ruler roughly grabbed the only human of this battle to whom that statement had no relevance, pulling the not-really-a-magus out of harm's way in his own effort to avoid the fist hurtling for him via a tactless dodge to the left.

"What are you?"

It had noticed, as would the other Servants have, and maybe even particularly focused Masters. That wasn't just a brute force strike; even with the "arm" being the unwieldy tower of a castle, even though it didn't have muscle to explode out with in power, some vestige of real technique had been behind that attack. It had only been a trace, but there was no denying it was present?

And with what Nakae said on top of that...why would a castle be able to feel pain? Why would it know fighting technique?

"Get the Masters out of harm's way! If your Master is safe, then start attacking, we need to find some sort of a weakness!"

---

The first blow like a descending hammer had been a simple enough affair for one at the level of a Servant to avoid. The second, slightly less so, as could be expected from the difference in their forms. While a Servant could still avoid it, it wasn't something as trivial as the first attempted attack had been.

Archer's bow had materialized since the moment of the golem's appearance, his eyes running over the behemoth in an attempt to pick up on its weaknesses. Possible points of attack had been mentioned, and his own Master was feeding him instructions as well, but for now everyone was relatively equal in flying blind.

His original plan to deal with the approaching tower-fist was to avoid it by leaping up, using the chance to test its defenses with an arrow, but that plan had wound up failing, because...

"What are you doing?!"

Because some twit Master was trying to use his piddling magecraft to avoid the golem's attacks. Was he incompetent, or just suicidal? The first blow had been avoidable, if only just, but now the golem was truly behaving as a combatant equal to a Servant. While among Servants, its speed was nothing to be shocked by, it was still a blow that had surpassed the sound barrier by well over double. For Servants who routinely moved at such speeds, it was only natural.

In other words, this magus was trying to dodge something faster than a bullet after it had been fired from a gun, except in this case the bullet was the tower of a Demon Castle. Perhaps if this was the sweeping motion the other group was dealing with, something never meant to be a killing blow, this would at least be possible, but against this "punch"? Archer doubted he could even dodge a bullet, let alone one that was several times larger than his own body.

A human could not fight a Servant. This was a near-ironclad rule, against a Servant a human would be killed without even knowing what killed them. So then, why would a golem that was equal to a Servant be so slow that a mere magus could avoid its strikes?

He couldn't allow the idiot to die, not when his Servant could be useful in this fight. Regretfully canceling his plan of attack, Archer clicked his tongue and moved to the Master @Kost Alter, grabbing him and pulling him out of harm's way at the last second.

As Berserker would say, the "little shit" owed him.

"Well, it'd still be a good idea to check it ou-"

Hisoka was rudely interrupted the moment that thing crashed into the ground. Luckily for him, however, he finished his second burger, and was almost about to grab a third. Assassin looked up to the thing that landed, and after anticipating an attack, dove into Hisoka and bringing them both out of the way from its oncoming tower strike.

Once Hisoka got his bearing back, he began to observe the golem more. It was a great and imposing structure, worthy by appearance alone to be called a Demonic Castle. Its very being threatened to destroy every single one of these Heroic Spirits, to unravel the very fabric that is this Holy Grail War. This was most apparent by the shields surrounding it.

Do not attack it directly. We will need to find a way to bring those shields down. Hisoka communicated to his servant, Assassin, who nodded back in agreement. Hisoka took a deep breath, preparing to use his magecraft.

"Enhancement of Self; Celerity!" He uttered, his magic circuits flaring as prana surged through them. His body felt faster, his reaction enhanced, and his body feeling lighter; not that his spell gave him a lighter frame. He was just filled with a sense of speed. He needed it, in order to react quicker to its attacks.

Hisoka looked up to the golem, seeing it prepare an attack. A punch. The way it winded it up, the way it prepared its attacked... it was as if the golem fought using a style of martial arts... whatever style it was using, however, was unclear to the magus. Still, he was certain enough what it was going to do...

"It's about throw a punch! Get out of the way! Hisoka exclaimed, before Assassin went over to save his life again, bringing him out of the way. The attack was faster than Hisoka would've avoided at this state. Now it was clear to Hisoka that this golem was more than impressive...

Assassin brought Hisoka a few good pces away from the Demonic Castle, somewhere where he was away its reach.

"Looks like we'll have you hold back here, for now, Matsunaga." Assassin uttered, as he drew bejeweled jian. While his Agility scores were high enough (as expected of an Assassin class Heroic Spirit of Cao Cao stature,) his other physical attributes were average for a Servant. Assassin figured a hit-and-run strategy would be best for this sort of opppnent. They just need to take out its shield somehow...

---

Archer whistled, his hands in his jacket pockets. It seemed that Alex didn't feel like going, although his response wasn't too clear. Well, whatever reason it may be, Archer knew one fact; he was late for the party. He was sure he was late enough to be considered crashing it, even though he had no real intention to, not that it mattered too much to Archer. They were going to talk about that Black-Haired Man, again, more likely than not. And unless his Master decided to transfer his consciousness over to his own eyes, Archer is afraid there was a missed opportunity in collecting more intel on enemy Servants...

Disappointing, really.

Archer saw the party, being about 50 yards away. It looked more like an actual party than a meeting to Archer, almost reminding him of another party he, technically, crashed as well. One with nine distinct partygoers... Eh. No need to cry over spilled blood.

Suddenly, however, something came crashing from the sky. It was a goliath, whatever it was. A living Castle is the best way to describe it... if it even was alive, after all. The Castle began attacking the partygoers indiscriminately. It had the speed and power of a Servant, yet it seemed like none of the Servants had summoned it.

"It looks like there's another interloper on our little War, huh?" Archer chuckled, his clothes glowing with a shimmering light as they changed from his casual attire to his original outfit, fit for battle. Next that appeared was his bow. A long, black bow. It looked almost impossible to be fired, let alone drawn, as the bow appeared to be far too rigid, yet Archer effortlessly knocked an arrow formed of prana back its string, the bow bending back from a mix of both his strength and flexibility. It was a bow that could only be used by one man, and it was such a bow that his status as a King was put on the line for...

Archer focused his shot first before he let it loose, making sure his attack was the strongest he could muster without using the full capabilities of his Noble Phantasm. After the Demonic Castle let loose its second wave of attacks to split up the group, Archer let loose his arrow, aiming dead center at the Castle. His intentions weren't to hit it exactly, but to test its defenses from a direct attack. He didn't have the reliance on his Master supplying him mana, so he had to know exactly what sort of defenses his opponent had so he didn't make any wasteful attacks.

"W-wha..." Xavier flinched as something, or someone that appeared as nothing but a blur even in his Reinforced eyes sped at him and got hold of him.

Regretfully canceling his plan of attack, Archer clicked his tongue and moved to the Master, grabbing him and pulling him out of harm's way at the last second.

After getting a few seconds to register what exactly had happened, Xavier realized that it was not an enemy that had grabbed him, but an ally... well... at least as much as a potentially rival Servant could be considered an 'ally' in the context of this circumstantial battle. "I, well... I was merely taking the essential evasive maneuvers to avoid certain death from that thing." Xavier tried to explain his actions to the silver-haired Servant, while dusting off his own suit.

However, now that the Arkwright Master was a safer distance away from the castle-sized golem's walloping wrath, he was able to get a better, more thorough look on how fast that thing actually moved. Suffice to say... it had moved faster than even he had anticipated. The other Servants were scattered all over the battlefield - most of them trying to protect their Masters, while a few others were confronting the monstrosity directly. But, all of them were moving in their own ways in speeds that Xavier's eyes could hardly keep up with, let alone fully process in time. "Oh... I think I see your point now..." Had he really made such a massive error in his judgement? It seemed to be the case. It seemed he had egregiously underestimated the enemy golem's speed. In fact, it was possible that him dodging even its first, weaker attack was less a result of his skill and more dumb luck! As for the golem's second attack - that surprisingly refined 'punch' - though Xavier had tried his best to dodge it, if that other Servant hadn't swooped in when he did, then... who knows what would've happened...

Nearby, another Master appeared to have tried to use a similar technique as Xavier to avoid the golem's attack, only to be pushed away by his own Servant at the last second - saving his life. It did lessen the impact on the Arkwright magus' pride to see that he wasn't the only one who had made such an error. Quickly brushing aside any petty feelings that might've surfaced from such folly on his part, Xavier freely admitted his mistake and expressed his gratitude. "In any case, thank you. I'll keep my distance, you go back to protecting your own Master." He told the silver-haired Servant.

@Moonlit Sonata

---

Rostam had just begun his conversation with the pale warrior, when another presence made itself known, freely declaring itself as Chi-You, an a War God no less. Turning, he found himself looking down at the largest woman he had ever seen before. She had the body of an amazon warrior, coming almost up to his center chest in height, and was striding towards him with a fierce gleam in her eye. Forgetting the pale haired warrior for a moment Rostam turned towards the self proclaimed War God, folding his arms over his chest and preparing a similarly impressive list of titles to shoot back at her.

They never came, for at that moment the voice of Ruler suddenly shouted in alarm, warning everyone to move.

The next few moments passed in a blur. Rostam had lept to protect his Master, enfolding her in his massive body as some massive structure impacted with the earth around them.

When he had turned to see what source of the terrible impact had been, he let out a low hummmm of appreciation. Rostam had lived many hundreds of years, far beyond the span of an ordinary mortal, or even an ordinary hero of the age of the gods, and there were very few wonders that he had not seen time and again in his day. When however it happened that he did see some new and unanticipated marvel, the effect was all the more shocking to him.

Here was a fortress that moved and attacked like a demon beast. A living mountain larger than a dragon, larger than a Simurgh, and larger even than the King of Demons had been.

For a brief instant, and for the second time in this war, he was truly surprised.

Then the living engine of destruction had moved, smashing forward with its two arms sending one towards either half of the now riven party.
There had been a time when he would have charged towards anything, bellowing his warcry and swinging his mace, filled with absolute confidence in Ohrmazd's blessing. That had been before his latter battles however, and moreover, before his earlier impalement and near death during his summoning.

Leaping clear again, feeling the whipcrack of lacerating wind deflected off his armor as he went, Rostam landed a near 100 yards away, creating his own miniature earth shakeing impact as he touched down. Carefully he bent over and set his tiny homunculus Master down behind some bushes. "Master, are you well? Will you be... alright here?"

He looked up and stared grimly at the immense and apparently ambulatory Fortress. Somehow it seemed even bigger at a distance.

His armor and weapons had rematerialized over his nice party clothes the moment the threat had been detected, and he now lightly tossed his iron capped mace from hand to had as he sized up the... creature.

Rakhsh, I need you.

With a brief surge of prana, the gigantic horse was suddenly standing beside them. He sniffed the air, took one look at what was obviously to be their foe and whinnied in dismay. For an instant it looked almost as though Rostam might have to fight to restrain him from bolting, but a moment later, the noble beast restrained itself, instead simply pawing the ground nervously.

Rostam mounted, twirling his mace experimentally as he did so. Together they were nearly 20 feet tall, a moving mountain in themselves, but for once, even this magnificent alliance would not be able to simply trample over their terrible opposition.

"I trust I don't need to tell you that attacking this thing would be inadvisable? Get closer if you dare, but I would make haste in the opposite direction. If anyone fails to dodge an attack from that thing, they will be beyond even your admirable healing skills."

---

---

Leaning over the steel table that formed his primary workbench, Alex squinted in disbelief as the eyes of his familiar communicated to him a complete impossibility.

He had declined to attend the meeting, feeling that he had spent far too much time inland already in going to the Church grounds. Now he was relieved that he had stayed behind.

The six limbed, thing had descended from the sky and planted itself, black and glittering into the ground like some sort of abominable stone weed. No sooner had it done so then it began drawing immense amounts of Prana to itself, and lashed out with collomous fists at the Servants who had gathered around it.

Archer! Archer do you hear me? "

Working quickly he immediately began to funnel as much prana as he could to the Servant over their distant connection. If this thing was channeling as much prana as he thought it was, then this could be the premature end of the Grail War right here. For a second he contemplated starting the ship's engine and priming it to go, but abandoned the idea, and sat back down at the table, running over his limited support options. His familiars would be completely useless against such an enemy, even a momentary distraction would be impossible with them.

Keep your distance from that thing! It is using nearly as much prana as all of you Servants put together, its a monster! I give you full permission to use your Noble Phantasm should you require it! Don't hesitate to flee if the battle goes against you.

Leaning back in his chair Alex wiped the sweat from his brow. Surely this could not be par for the course in these peculiar wars... something like this should have the Mages Guild in an uproar. What in the hell was going on?

---

@Holy Grail @Cu Chulainn

---

Airi had complained at him yanking her away, but when the tower-punch came hurtling after them and the others, she accepted his choice. The air alone was an imminent danger, as a sonic boom erupted from the enormous mass. Norton pulled Airi off his shoulder, shielding her with his torso. Hopefully, that could safeguard her from the explosion of the sound barrier being broken.

As if the Colossus didn't draw enough potential attention from the civilians. They could only hope that mages and priests were able to contain this from the public, because by the look of it, they'd have their hands full merely fighting it.

His Master cut in with a warning that the left arm was following up with another strike. "Hold fast, lass!" With that, he pushed his legs to their utmost velocity, each step cratering the ground and tearing a swath behind him. Just like how he'd pulverized the asphalt road before meeting her, only with far softer material. Clouds of dirt plumed in his wake, as if buried explosives were detonated. Calls had gone out to regroup, but everyone being in one trajectory for the towers was ill-advised.

The Emperor, too, broke the sound barrier, utilizing the shockwave created by doing so to blow the dirt back towards the tower-arm. Its own shockwave, of far larger size, would scatter the dirty clouds over a wider radius, though the Emperor knew it was unreasonably optimistic to think that would impede its sight. If it even utilized vision to begin with! Berserker hooked south in his escape route, aiming for the line of closer houses just before Shinto proper.

At his speed, it was only a matter of seconds. The civilians were this way, and thus, so would be the magi and priests needed to keep this nonsense hidden. Competent people who had a vested interest in Airi being safe so that her Servant could aid in their goal of containment. Norton was making quite a few assumptions, but they were based in logic. Besides, the housing and roads would offer Airi a better escape route if needed.

He had a plan, but it required getting Airi completely away from the danger. Ruler had promised compensation for those who went the extra mile in dealing with external threats to the Grail War. Granted, there was no proof of any kind that this castle and the black-haired man were related at all, but one could very reasonably call this a threat to the whole Grail War!

The Emperor manifested the hands-free wireless headset for his phone. "Lass, I have an idea. But I need you safely away from that castle." Once they were apart, she'd be able to stay in contact at least. He'd overheard what she'd said about the thing, but hadn't much understood what she meant. However, she did seem to be able to observe something, and given the sheer size of the Castle, being this far from it wouldn't impede that. Hopefully.

Her Berserker was calm. No, he wasn't just calm, he was grinning wide, eyes lit with excitement. It'd been fortunate for him to survive, he'd been lucky to observe and learn what he had. Finally setting her down, he checked to ensure the castle wasn't in immediate pursuit. He kept himself readied to act, in either case. "Call me so we can keep in contact! If that'll work at how fast I'll be going..." Norton wasn't versed in the physics of cell phone communication, naturally. Would supersonic movement be an issue? Well, either way, even if it was a problem, his intentions wouldn't change. Whatever colors corresponded to 'sabotaging the castle', there they were. Manifesting his umbrella-sword once again at last, he gave the umbrella component to his Master, drawing his naval saber from within. "This won't shield its strikes, but should be able to deflect debris and the like." She'd had the time between their reunion, during their shopping sidetrip, and their slightly early arrival to the site to scrutinize her Servant's information, so perhaps his explanation of its rough defensive ability was unnecessary, granted.
@SIGINT

@Moonlit Sonata
@Berserk Gene

---

Airi was still shaking as her body was set down. All that confidence wasn't much in the face of an enemy that she couldn't just run up and kick. Every sense of logic within her told her that staying away was the best course of action. Stay out of sight. Let Berserker handle everything while she hid in a corner somewhere.

But that...that sucked. An outcome that she wasn't a part of was difficult for her to swallow. After all she had done, standing up back at the church, trying her best to rally everyone together, even making a friend...all that yelling about taking down the enemy, and when the enemy comes, she just has to hide and wait it out?

Blood trailed from her lip. Her fingernails dug into the skin of her palms. This couldn't be the most that she could do. There was no way. No way she was that useless. No way she was such a nigh-invisible speck that as soon as the fighting broke out, this was her only option.

...But, maybe it was. She wasn't a strong person, after all.


Taking hold of the umbrella, she scanned the horizon. Was the castle visible from this far away? It seemed giant enough, up close, but now they were quite far. Her own speed was superhuman on its face, though even that was nothing compared to Berserker. But if she could still see, then at least...


"...Alright. I don't like this, but I'll entrust this one to you, too." The girl grumbled, taking out her phone and dialing his number. He was right there, but pretty soon, he wouldn't be. "It's got five cores, or brains, or whatever. One in the torso, and one in each limb. They all think independently of each other, from what I can tell. The thing keeps changing itself around, so pointing out their exact locations is kind of meaningless, but taking out the limbs individually is probably possible. If you knock out the arms, it'll be a ton safer to get close, at least."

She was really just rattling at this point. Any piece of information, any way to be useful. "I never told you about my Eyes, did I? I'll explain later, but I can see stuff like this, I guess. I've had them my whole life, so sometimes I forget that other people don't see what I see..." As far as her repertoire of skills, she had imagined 'kicking people in the balls' would end up being her more important ability, but she had gone into this war with a pretty lopsided idea of what it would entail. "For both of the arms, at least...I can tell that its intentions were focused on the Servants. The brains there seem to not want to hurt the Masters as much. Getting them all out safely should be a thing we can do. But if you stay here, it might chase you into the residential area, so..."

That was really all she had at this point. That information that may well be completely useless, was all that she had to offer.


Was I...stupid? Should I have just stayed in Tokyo and chalked it up to bad luck?

No...if I hadn't been here, at that place and time, this guy would be gone, after all.

So, he wouldn't throw away that life in front of me for something meaningless.

And, I wasn't meaningless, either...


"...Go kick its ass." She looked her Servant straight in the eyes, her own giving off a soft, blue glow. "I don't need a command spell to tell you to do that, right?"

"Get the Masters out of harm's way! If your Master is safe, then start attacking, we need to find some sort of a weakness!"

It wasn’t just that. Even if they decided that they can’t beat it and run away how can they really prepare for it? It appeared without warning, who’s to say it can’t disappear again?

“Can it just appear? Was it hiding all along?” he asked to Ruler. But hiding something like that seemed too ridiculous, how could that hide? Despite the fact that he wasn’t a magus the fact that it did something, that it was improving itself and shifting itself was obvious. Why didn’t it just do that before appearing? Was it that it couldn’t surprise them if that was the case?

But as frightening as the surprise was, confusion sown, if it was so fast and strong then why didn’t it configure itself in this mode, changing its body and “arms” and “blade”. If it was connected to individuals who were interfering with, and watching the war then surely they’d know what a servant was like, and how to exceed them.

For some reason there was something noble, and yet terrifying in its swing. If it was strong with no apparent weaknesses then why was it strong? Why was it strong? Why why why?

It was strong because it was large.

It was strong because it was fast.

It was strong because it was skilled.

The first thing was the only thing unique to it. IT was just a larger servant, but that made it a threat to the masters. But even if you removed the masters from the battlefield it’d still be incredibly dangerous.

Would it be able to stand a chance against that girl?

...Somehow he felt as though he could imagine her victory. It was not human, but a castle was a thing that protected people . How could that which tormented people not defeat their protections? A castle was strong in the stead of normal people, but it could not conquer that which was beyond people. The dragon always kidnapped the princess despite the castle.

It was strong and fast, and too large to fight as an equal. But it was skilled because it could move with intent. Where was that intent coming from? From this giant of stone. It had to have a will, it had pain after all. It wasn’t just a robot acting according to moves programmed into it, it changed specifically into this. Was it adapting? Or was it mimicking?

“Why is it changing only now?” he cried out to Ruler, unable to think of the solution. He knew so little, too little. It was large because it was a castle, it was strong because it was a castle, it was fast and skilled because this was a war of crazy things that shouldn’t be. If that girl was there, then why not a castle like that? What was hiding in this world all along? Would it be strange for a undefeatable castle to appear, in a war like this? If they found a weakness then couldn't it just change to make it disappear? if they turned a strength of it's own self against it couldn't it remove that? What were its limits? what could it not do?

But if it had a scar then that meant it was hurt, right? In some form, in some way.

“Why not before? Why is it only fighting like this now?” It was the only thing he could think of, ultimately. He could only offer dumb, obvious answers as to why it had the physical parameters it did, but why did it change like that and why did it not strike like that in the beginning?

"There has to be something, it could have just struck like that from the beginning and been like that before it came!"

Maybe it'd be a line of thought that would waste everyone's time and get them killed, but it was the only thing still. So he shouted his thought to the overseer until he was heard over the gales and those who spoke, giving their voices to the tortured winds instead of withdrawing within their mental links.

The winds buffeted against him, even with Lancer’s own aid. It was imposible to not feel the strength behind the blow, even if it hadn’t reached him, even if he was still alive and whole.

There was an jolt of fear. This is the sort of battle he would be facing from now on? It seemed ridiculous, it was ridiculous, and he wondered if he would be ready to deal with that sensation in the coming days. He gulped, feeling like he had been dunked into cold water, as though his limbs had lost all feeling, almost as if he was drowning –

And then he forced the feeling down and decided that no, it was not an appropriate time to panic or break down, not now at least. The past could not be changed, but the future could, and if he did not want to end up dead before the night was over, a calm state of mind was more conductive to that sort of objective tan the madenned ramblings of someone consumed by fear.

Yeah, yeah. Break down later, survive now. Good starting plan.

The first thing he noted – and arguably the most worrying, of course – was that what the golem possessed technique. This was more tan the brutish swing from a being that knew no better – the positioning, the angle, the way it flowed. Wonderful, more things to worry about. It had been rather clear this was not something that could be called ‘average’ in any way, but showcasing this now? Ah, damnit. This was bad, this was bad, if it can do this, then what other tricks did it have hidden as of now?

Ah, useless, useless, he could not rule out possibilities yet, whatever plan was made would not have a 100% guarantee of success. If only. . .

“Lancer, I am afraid—I do not really have much to tell you right now.” He’d have chuckled if he found any humor in the situation, but honestly, he wasn’t the sort that could carelessly laugh at the prospect of one’s own death. Call him a coward if you must. “First, I would request that you leave me a safe distance away. I will be no more than a hidrance if you have to worry about my safety while fighting this one. That said, I will still hopefully be of assistance, at least as far as mending any wound you might take.

That said I don’t presume to know enough to tell you what to do. It would be regrettable if you had to reveal your aces in our first battle, but I Will not tell you otherwise if you deem it necessary. In short: feel free to go wild.”

There was no small chance someone had seen the symbol Lancer displayed anyway. So while ideally those tools would not need to be wielded so soon. . .

. . .Well, ideally, he doubted they would be fighting this thing in the first place. So what was that about going with the flow? Or however that line was supposed to go.

“Join up with the others and coordinate forces – seems the most prudent course for the moment.”

@Ijoyen

---

Even as he felt the aftershock of the strike, he did not flinch—in fact, if anything, his scowl only deepened bit by bit as he observed that their enemy might, in fact, not be as simple-minded as he had hoped it to be.

Troublesome, troublesome. But now it was not the time to worry about such things—instead, he tightened his grip on the sword kept his Master behind him—the role of guardian was, at least, something he excelled at. Capitalizing on the opportunity offered by the fact that it had chosen to momentarily focus on the other group, he continued to carry Marguerite to what would hopefully be a safe place. He was not the fastest of Heroes, but he liked to believe he was not too shabby when it came to aspects outside of his resilience.

. . .He would not retreat, he knew that much—whatever it was, it needed to be put down, and it needed to be done fast. At least if his Master was safely out of the line of fire, he could fight with less worries looming over him. But even so.
“. . .It is probably going to be one of those nights.” He muttered. “Ah, well. I will do my best against that, Master—so please be safe. Not much else to say at this point in time.”

And with that, he turned back towards the battle, trying to formulate a plan inside his head. There was always, of course, his own Noble Phantasm—but he was leery of using it, for his own Master’s sake if nothing else. However, should the worst come to pass, it might very well be the only option.

Then again, he hoped the night did not get any worse than a Castle-Golem dropping like a literal bomb amidst what was supposed to be a relatively peaceful setting. Perhaps that was a bit too optimistic. Sharpening his gaze, he decided to choose carefully his next target and see if an average attempt bore fruit. A test, so to speak.

The towers were, of course, the first to catch his attention. What would happen, he wondered, if he tested his sword against one of them?

As far as plans go—well, not the most elaborate thing, but he had to start somewhere, didn’t he? Perhaps much too simplistic, but at least if he could get a measure of its defenses, then he could judge a more appropriate course of action. Of course, the main ‘body’ would probably require to be annihilated in order to truly best this foe, at least with no more esoteric means at hand, but. . .

Taking a breath he did not really need, he charged into battle again, sword held tightly with both hands, displaying his form in a manner that could only be called brazen, as though daring the foe to attack.

Baby steps. Let us test the waters first before fully commiting.

As those Servants fled, bringing their Masters to safety and preparing to launch their attacks, only one of the gathered Servants was able to launch an attack. The arrow of Odysseus sliced through the air and met the shields that sat over its center.

The shield bent inwards, impacted by the blow of that arrow that had reached the A rank, and yet it did not immediately break. If it wasn't for the fact that there was empty space between where the shields stood and where the stone body of the castle beneath sat, then some damage to the body beneath the shield would certainly have happened, but alas that was not the case. It seemed that even an A rank attack, while enough to damage those shields, wasn't enough to shatter them outright.

"...sunder."

[Clairvoyance: C+]

[God of the Bow(?): EX]

A streak of light appeared, an arrow that soon followed the one shot by Odysseus. Out of those present, only Rostam and Lorelei would recognize that attack; how could they not, when it had nearly resulted in Rostam's death the day prior. The arrow loosed by the Archer of Matou shot forwards, aimed with a pinpoint accuracy only possible for an Archer at the site that Odysseus's own arrow had impacted a moment earlier. The shield that Odysseus had struck was damaged, after all, just a bit shy of breaking, and so when that arrow which had exited the realm of the standard scale struck it...

-It punched through, charging forwards into the golem's body.

Barely weakened thanks to the low integrity of the shield it passed through, nearly all of the attack's force was received by the castle. While its size meant that this was little more than the prick of a needle to it, even something that small could be damaging were the force behind it sufficient. The central body of the castle seemed to rock for a second, a wordless scream leaving its stone body.

Damn, damn. I knew it, the maneuverability's too low, I can't use everything quickly enough to compensate. And what the hell was that arrow? Forget attacks, that was something on the level of a Noble Phantasm, and the one before it wasn't a pushover either.

I should-...no, no, I don't want that. If I do that, then that would....but if I don't, then it'll just stay like this. My movements are too telegraphed like this. Even if it's at a similar speed to them, they can dodge any of my attacks, but I can't do the same. If it's a battle of attrition then I can win, but not in a situation where I'm the only one taking damage.

...damn. I really, I didn't want him to...fine. I suppose this is the only option, huh?

As those Servants approached it, it did not take the chance to launch another attack. Rather, it used the moment during which there was still distance between them to do something entirely different.

Why was a castle given a mind, given a heart? Why was a castle able to feel, even if that would cause it to make suboptimal decisions? Why could a castle's blows have the vestiges of technique in spite of the unwieldy nature of its limbs? Why would a castle be designed for anything short of being a castle?

A castle. A king. A hero. A monster. It was designed to be each of these things.

Soundlessly, the golem's body began to fold in on itself. First those shields retracting back from their expanded state, then its entire body began to compress. From three hundred meters to one hundred, from one hundred to thirty, and it even continued from there. Its shield glimmered as its body came together, those towers of its design shifting in shape. From towers to tendrils, shields melding into its body as they slotted together seamlessly, its form changing into something that it had deemed more suitable to fight a Servant with.

Fire and stone. Life. Stone and fire. Death.

By the time the Servants were in a position to realize what was occurring, they would have perhaps a Single Action to capitalize on it, if that. All the while, the castle writhed as it became something that was not a castle.

Still shaken from the sudden arrival of the giant stone magical girl Demon Castle, Lorelei nodded as she took several shaky, careful breaths as she tried to calm herself once more and assess the situation. This...thing had just jumped in and begun attacking them, attacking to keep some of the group separated whilst trying to punch the others. Some were screaming to move, then suddenly the two Archers (one that she was relatively pissed at still) had already struck into the enemy's armor and hurt it a bit, and now the thing was trying to shift into another form. It was madness, all madness, and all she could do was provide healing magic if needed. But at least that was something she could do.

As for her servant.

"Rostam...i...i'm ok," the homunculus managed to say as she visibly gained back her wits and thought about the situation a serious look glimmering in her eyes as she spoke to her servant between breaths, "And i agree, attacking outright would be folly right now. Unless you can get in there and hit it quickly enough before it finishes transforming, though, we need to hold back for a moment to see what it becomes. We don't want to rush into a trap or sudden counterattack."

'Though that Archer who shot my servant has some potent arrows...like they could shoot down the very sun itself, actually....maybe multiple suns?' Lorelei thought to herself after speaking, for a moment thinking back on some things she had read in the past before coming here for the Holy Grail War.

@Beloss

---

It only took the king a moment to leap away from the sweeping attack of the great Demon Castle candidate to move back for a moment, summoning her bow into her hands in the process as she landed on the ground. However, the sight of just what had attacked both took her aback for a moment...and began to get her blood boiling as well. A grand, monstrous sized enemy, standing tall and attacking the group with wanton abandon as it utilized its shielding and sheer strength/mass...it was a beautiful opponent to Chi-You to fight. Ah, the thrill of battle and combat ran through her veins like a drug, one that she had never tired of in life or since then. Already as she looked upon it, Chi-You had readied her bow to aim it at the foe with an arrow drawn on its string, preparing to take a shot at some place or another as her subordinate said something about the joints and such.

Yet two arrows, neither of them her own, suddenly impacted part of the hulking behemoth's armor and destroyed it, dealing damage and causing their combined foe to release a wordless scream from its great stone form. A devilish, excited grin appeared on Chi-You's face at hearing it, but this was not to be the end. Then form of their enemy began to shift before their eyes, melding into...something unknown, and the king took her own shot at the monstrosity. Releasing the arrow in a Single Action, the bolt flew with a sense of grace towards where the damaged area of the golem had once been before it began shifting. Perhaps some damage could still be done in the spot or in general to the beast whilst it transformed? It was the one thing she could do at this point anyways.

@DrowsyPangolin

(temporarily modded with @ConstantlyComic's permission)


The brief cooldown period that followed after the gargantuan golem's mighty 'punch' was a timeframe probably too brief for any regular human to act in a meaningful or helpful way, yet was enough for several Servants to capitalize on; First, the boisterous Goliath of a man, the one that sported a tiger skin and a musky beard, called forth what was (presumably) his Noble Phantasm - a formidable steed that was almost the size of an elephant! The bearded giant had referred to said equally giant horse as 'Rakhsh', a name that one Xavier Arkwright made a mental note to research sometime later, when his life would be less in peril.

"Caster, what is your current status...? Do you have a way of fighting this thing?" Xavier attempted to telepathically communicate with his own Servant through their familiar link - the currently idle state of the golem allowing him but a very brief moment of tranquility to even try to do so.

"Worry not, Master, I am alive and well..." Caster responded, also telepathically. "However, I'm afraid I do not possess the means to fight this monstrosity." It was regrettable, but true; Even if Caster was willing to use his Noble Phantasm for this fight - something he was extremely reluctant to do when it had the risk of harming the other people in the area as well - it would take too long to take full effect, while the golem was capable of moving much faster. Not to mention, even at full power it was doubtful that Caster's Noble Phantasm would be able to hurt the golem too much. After all, it was designed to harm humans and other living beings, not some larger-than-life stone construct that might not even be 'alive' in the traditional sense. As for Caster's other methods of attacking, it was highly unlikely that they'd be any more effective against the golem either.

It was at that point that a Servant fired a bow at the castle-like monstrosity... an Archer? Miraculously - or perhaps by invoking some kind of power unheard of from conventional weaponry - the arrow managed to actually dent one of the golem's supposedly impregnable shields, yet it did not manage to shatter it... No, that particular feat was accomplished by another Servant - the very same one that had saved Xavier's life mere moments ago - who seized the opportunity and fired an arrow of his own at the golem's already cracked shield, finally breaking it. Was he an Archer too then? Were there not one, but two Archers in this Holy Grail War? How peculiar... From what research Xavier had conducted on the mechanics of the Holy grail War, it should've been impossible for two Servants of the same Knight Class to be summoned at any standard iteration of the time-old ritual.

In any case, the combined assault of the two (possibly) Archers had clearly caused some damage to the Titan-sized golem, as its stone foundations rumbled, as if the monster was crying in pain from the attack. And then something very weird happened... The monster began to twist and malform in itself; It started to shrink from its previously massive size, shields seemingly melting into its body, castle spires morphing into tentacle-like appendages. "It's... transforming..." Xavier couldn't help but stare in mouth-gaping awe at the grotesque spectacle, while the castle-like golem's very form was shifting before his eyes into something completely different...

And then, another Servant, this one a woman of impressive height and stature, also fired an arrow of her own at the monstrosity - trying to hit it mid-transformation, while it was most vulnerable. A third Archer?! What was up with this Holy Grail War...?

The golem writhed, its body drawing into itself as it compressed, and then continued even further. The arrow of Chi You struck true, landing at the site of the golem where two Archers had attacked moments earlier. The shields that were folding over one another as it compressed attempted to block the arrow, but it seemed that the act of compression mandated that those shields' integrity fell.

Let us say that in its compressed state, what had previously been a layer of one shield across its body had, by necessity, become a layer of ten; in this case, the integrity of each of those shields would have fallen to just over 10% of their former state, so that compression could be possible. Even Van-Fem could not compress a titan of stone to such a degree without making sacrifices, after all. However, while it was still compressing, those layers would not be ten shields thick as they would be upon completion, but rather three or four.

Thanks to this, the defenses that an A rank attack was previously needed to breach were penetrated, if only just. And yet...while this may have caused damage to the golem, it was not enough to stop it. After breaking through the shields, only strength equivalent to a D rank attack had reached the golem. How could that have been enough to stop it?

What was a castle that did not tower above man?

What was a monster that did not lurk above man?

What was a king that did not stand above man?

Yes, for all of these things, the first premise was only reasonable, but at the same time...

From thirty meters to ten, from ten to five, from five to two to just a sliver below.

Towers to tendrils, tendrils to limbs.

What was a hero that did not walk among man?

Better. Much better. Even if I wanted to stay in it, I can never get used to that form.

Arms, hands, legs, feet, torso, head--- come into being.

The transformation completed. This is the only reasonable result. It is unthinkable that a castle with a heart could stay as a castle for eternity.

In that place where the Demon Castle had descended, standing in the center of the crater that had been carved into the Eastern Field, was now a man.

A black-haired man.

A golem that bore the appearance of a man. Except this time, there was a light to his eyes, a glimmer in them that was...human. A resigned smile graced his lips as he clenched his right fist. Light, a dazzling light that cut through the darkness formed within his fist, magical energy condensing at an absurd pace in a quantity that even outstripped all of the mana that had been consumed upon the Demon Castle's entry.

To Ernest, this was the being that had killed his Servant.

To Norton, this was the being that had stolen his Master.

To Ruler, this was the being that had blighted his war.

And yet, none of them were the most affected by this man's appearance. For, on the other side of the city, a man looked through the eyes of his Servant, and could only think one thought.

That's impossible.

That's completely impossible.

"It's really been too long, and the circumstances aren't ideal, but still...it's nice to be back home, without that suppression keeping me down."

For the first time in a hundred years, the last king of Fuyuki, Matou Zouken, felt a cold pit form in his stomach. Incredulity. Disbelief. Fear.

"...hey Makiri, or is it Zouken now? If you're watching this through your Servant's eyes, sorry you had to see me like this, was trying to avoid it coming to this point. I hope the past two hundred years have been kind, though. I know she'd have been happy to see that you're still fighting, even if she'd be sad that you still have to be fighting."

Because, after all, that man was something that could not be here.

That man was something that was outside even the understanding of a five hundred year archmage.

"...I'm really sorry, Makiri, but that fight of yours ends now. I'll be taking that torch from you."

That man was-

"Na...gato?"

---

The situation had taken an odd turn. While Lancer had worked more heavily to move her Master away, her yelling hadn't been heard it seems and... The Castle had become a man. She had several thoughts, one of them having been to attack while the moment was still there. There was a lot to be gained, but also a lot to lose. If she attacked and it was successful it would already be an upper hand, but doing so also meant going right up against an enemy she knew nothing about.

While she does need to work together with the other servants she didn't know enough about them for teamwork that would actually work without having too many holes. Gritting her teeth she came to a quick decision after a moment, realizing what her first priority should be. Ruler said to defend their Masters correct? Even if she would have liked one or two enemies to have disappeared, thus was definitely not the way, thus she felt she'd have to throw away hiding one of her cards right away.

Holding up her Jumonji Yari, she spun it once before slamming it to the ground, looking back at David with a smile before taking a deep breathe, to raise her voice to the other servants. As in she would shout as loudly as she possibly could, which was surprisingly in volume... Loud enough to resound through the immediate area.

"Fellow Heroes! I plead of you, attempt to bring your Masters into the Fortress so we may fight freely against this unknown enemy!"

Following her words it started to appear. Walls of stone and wood materializing into a semi-large Makeshift Fortress meant to defend a Castle against opposing forces. It couldn't be called a true Fortress but instead was more of a barrier in the form of one. A defense not meant to be permanent but good enough. Those familiar with Japanese history wouldn't have any issue identifying it though.

Lancer had brought out Sanada-maru: The Impregnable Fortress at Osaka Castle. One of her Noble Phantasms that gave her identity away as much as the six coins on her armor that were now showing as well. But to keep those who couldn't fit this anomaly the way a Servant could safe, it wasn't too big a price.

"My Lord, I apologize for showing it this early." Smiling a bit regretfully, she looked back as the closed entrance to the fort appeared between her and her Master, and she looked forward at the man the Demon Castle had become, leveling her weapon to hold it with both hands and point the tip of the blade at him.

"I simply hope others shall head my call and work with me..." Muttering one more line to herself, she adjusted her footing to get ready for the fight to come, not wanting to make the first move without reason yet.

@Breo @Kost Alter @Holy Grail @DrowsyPangolin @Cu Chulainn @Beloss @Moonlit Sonata @Berserk Gene @SIGINT @Yukitamas

---

Rostam tugged on his horse's reins as it fidgeted, pawing the dirt as it the monstrous castle THING began to shift and change before their eyes.

As his Master warned him to stay his charge, a sudden dart of brilliant light suddenly streaked across the battlefield, catching both their attention.

Rostam squinted as attack which he had before attributed to his deity, was wielded with similarly terrifying accuracy by the Archer Servant who had been attending the party with them not a few minutes before.

Leaning forward in his saddle, Rostam stared at the Servant who had unleashed the arrow which had nearly slain him the night before. The arrow which had granted him his deepest, most longed for Wish. The Arrow which had, in his eyes outshone the Grail itself.

For a moment a vein in Rostam's huge forehead twitched as he put two and two together. It had not been any deity which had struck him down after all, but this Hero. His mouth split into a wide grin, and he spurred Rakhsh forward.

"Keep your distance Master! I must press forward regardless of tricks! Moreover, if that one is here then... Head for the Fortress that girl has created!" He said, pointing towards the small castle that the Lancer servant had erected.

Riding forward Rostam and Rakhsh approached the new battlefield of the transformed Castle Demon. Avoiding a direct charge, he directed his horse instead to approach the mysterious Archer who had attacked him the night before, coming to a halt 50 feet from the man.

"You there! Archer! Bowman!" He hollered at the tall pale man, waving his free hand wildly. "I owe you more than my life, though you may not know it! I Rostam am in your debt! Accept my Oath of friendship and loyalty, you who's arrows carry the judgement of Ohrmazd!"

Turning from him then, Rostam set his sights on the small human figure which had emerged from what had moments before been a towering castle. Despite the current bizarre situation, Rostam felt nothing but a warm glow of joy at his meeting with his would be assassin. Here was a Hero who equaled or surpassed both Esfandyar and himself in the strength of their magic arrows. Between the two of them then there was nothing in the world that they could not conquer. So long as the Archer accepted him as an ally, that was. For now, he would have to trust to the general alliance that had been forced on all of them.

After this however, a more convincing token of his gratitude would have to be made. To prevent a repetition of such a tragedy as his slaughter of Esfandyar, it was appropriate to take any measures to prove his own intentions. Why else would Ohrmazd put such a figure here before him now, if not to grant him the chance at atonement that he had wished for? The punishment of receiving a fatal attack at his hands then, had been only the beginning of his true wish's fulfillment after all.

Now though the enemy at hand could not be ignored further.

Though he was accustomed to riding roughshod over such enemys, the shifting of form from one to the other was clearly the sign of a demon sorcerer of great power. It was to be expected then that a straightforward attack would bring terrible consequences. Well, someone had to be the first, and among hero's he was almost uniquely suited to shrugging off terrible consequences.

Whispering a prayer to his god and another to his horse, Rostam urged his mighty companion forward.
With a sound like an avalanche the huge steed began its thunderous charge. Moving like a white wind, the horse and Rider accelerated to and bore down on the small figure which had only moments before been a towering monstrosity. Rostam would have almost prefered that the creature had maintained its castle like form, for had he not single handedly smashed down the gates of the fortress of Mt. Sipand in his youth?

Rakhsh galloped forward, as if to trample the small man under its gigantic hooves, only to pivot at the last moment, vearing to the side of him and shooting past. As they passed Rotsam swung in his saddle, leaning over far to the side and unleashing a huge sweeping side strike with his long handled mace aimed directly at the ground the creature occupied. The strike he had unleashed swung down driven both by the A+ rank strength of the Rider, and the massive momentum of a Phantasmal beast traveling at full gallop. When it hit, it would not only pulverise the ground with enough force to shake a phantasmal castle wall, but send out shock wave of compressed air in all directions, strong enough to lacerate any who were agile enough to avoid the blow.

---

@Moonlit Sonata @Holy Grail

---

Norton felt a sudden pang of sympathy to Airi. That helplessness, especially compared to great heroes, was one he understood. Circumstances out of their control had swept them both up in this, but at least he had the brute strength to fight. Still, as he frowned, he turned aside to look back towards the...castle?

It was shrinking.

It was changing.

It was almost too small to be seen. Almost. That silhouette, however, had burnt itself into the Berserker's eyes, kindling his fury.

"Yes, Master!" The Emperor's teeth grit, lips pulled into a snarl. But the crackling fire of maddening rage steeled this particular Berserker's mind, tempering it rather than melting it. He had the presence of mind to hit the speed dial for her phone number, opening the call between them. In his hand, he materialized the phone itself, knuckles white with anger, yet the dexterity needed to open the video conference option remained. 2004 was 2004, but a Japanese cellphone was still a highly-evolved island species. Airi's phone would provide her with eyes and ears now. @SIGINT

Once he'd done so, he took a few paces towards the man who stole Stirner. Then forceful, barely-restrained stomps across the ground, away from Airi. "Don't undersell yourself. Thanks to your eyes, then, I understand now. If they can still work through this device, I'm going to need your backup more than ever."

The jovial, even perhaps bumbling voice of Norton wasn't seething, wasn't boiling with rage despite how he raised it. It had, instead, gone cold. Icily, cleanly, surgically cold, every syllable measured with precise diction.



He kept his eyes firmly locked on the man who, unknown to him, was one of the founders of this ritual. The Emperor had witnessed the incredible speed of this demon before, and wasn't going to drop a sliver of his guard. But then came the deployment of a Noble Phantasm.

To fight a castle, deploy a castle. This was promising, but he was wary. All the same, the sight of a defensive bastion of their own, the sound of a rallying cry, calmed him down. This was not something he had to do alone. Ah, he was fortunate to always have had splendid allies.

"Master. Do you wish me to take you to that fortress? The demon has attacked masters before...and if what you say is true, I fear my summoner has been taken into it."

The connection between himself and Stirner had been forcibly cut, but Berserker attempted to tug upon it all the same, while continuing to strategize with Airi given these recent changes to the situation. "My goal will be to dismember it. If its arms didn't want to hurt the Masters, perhaps he is one of them? Master, I'll need you to try and distinguish its parts any way you can. You'd have a better chance of that closer to the field in that Fortress Noble Phantasm."

Norton kept his eyes on Nagato in the distance, just in case he had to intercept. "I'm counting on your insight, Master. I had an idea to attack it when it was a castle, but a demon is another matter."

@Moonlit Sonata
@Berserk Gene

---

...So, that was him. They finally got a clear look at the guy, after all this time.

Heh. Everyone's common enemy had decided to drop in on all of them to say hello. On the bright side, assuming they all made it out of this somehow, rallying everyone together would be much easier now. Any doubt of an external actor in the War had been blown away. She wondered what Ruler would have to say about it later.

"What the fuck, there are two castles now?" Airi complained, desperately trying to keep up with the situation.
"Yeah, that sounds good. If I'm right about what I saw, he shouldn't target that defensive-whatever directly as long as it's only protecting Masters. Plus, even if he does, all other Servants would dogpile him to protect their own the moment he diverted his attention."

The girl frowned, still tasting the blood on her lip as she stood on top of a building on the Shinto outskirts. Even from here, she could only see specks in the distance. The video feed from Berserker was her only insight. "But like I said, it has more than one brain, and what's in charge of what might have switched around. I dunno if one of them is in charge of the others or what. Now that it's in this form, I need to look at it again to figure out what it's trying to do..." She breathed into the receiver, creating a rush of static. It was risky, and to be honest, she was probably safer way out here.

But...if there was a chance for her to do something, anything, even if it was just getting a better look at the enemy, she couldn't not take it. It was against everything she stood for to sit quietly and allow her battle to rage on the horizon.

"Whatever, let's just gun it. I'll start closing the distance, so get ready to meet me halfway."

Leaping down from the top of the building and landing effortlessly on both legs, she began to run back towards the field, in the direction of the castle. Though her speed wasn't a match for a Servant's, and she wasn't a magus, she had a bloodline of her own - anyone who saw her running would recognize that it was faster than any human should be. At the very least, she could traverse an empty expanse on her own in a short amount of time. It wouldn't amount to much saved time on Berserker's end, but she'd sleep on a cactus before she sat there and waited for him to pick her up like some leftover kid at a daycare.

Soon, her feet began to tear away at blades of grass, and she was in the Eastern Fields again. The specks were small figures now, still distant. Not too close, don't draw attention, resist the urge to dive in and punch him in the balls, just, meet up with Berserker and get into that castle. That was her goal.

(temporarily modded with @ConstantlyComic's permission)


To say that Xavier was surprised would be putting it lightly; Out of all the Eldritch monstrosities one would expect a Demon Castle to transform into, a human-like being was on the bottom of such a list. "Is that... the Black-Haired Man?" Xavier muttered, remembering the discussions that had occurred earlier in the meeting - before the Demon Castle had shown up - regarding a third party that was interfering with the Holy Grail War itself. It looked like that notorious third party was this pale-skinned man of long, raven hair. If Xavier actually knew the identity of that man. he'd probably feel even more shocked and confused right now, but alas a foreign magus like him had no way of recognizing the head of a 200-year-old Japanese family of mages based on outward appearances alone...

Who was this man? What was his goal? What motivated him? Could he even be called a man, or was he an existence more on par with an Undead or a Demon?

Xavier's analytical mind raced with those and many other similar questions - intriguing mysteries that he did not have the luxury to worry about right this moment. Because, if one thing was certain about this Black-Haired Man was that he was not to be messed with! The fact that he had willingly transformed probably meant that this current form of his - whilst a lot smaller than his golem form - was actually stronger, or at least more efficient and reliable for this particular battle. It was even evident by the ludicrous amount of magical energy that swirled around the being's fists - this was no ordinary man.

It was then that one of the other Servants - a small girl in traditional Eastern armor - made a formidable structure akin to a Fortress rise from the ground - presumably her Noble Phantasm - and beckoned all Masters to get in there for safety. "Hmmmm... That does look like a very effective way of keeping the Masters out of harm's way." Xavier thought in his inside voice.

"I suggest you get there with haste Master." Caster communicated with him through their link. "I shall watch your back. If this Black-Haired Man tries to attack you..."

"Alright." Xavier responded. And with that, the Arkwright magus started sprinting towards the Fortress summoned by the girl Servant, applying Reinforcement to his own legs so that he could hopefully get there faster.

What an undignified situation... The Holy Grail War had barely even started and Xavier Arkwright was already running away for his life. On the other hand, running away was a very effective way of avoiding death, so he couldn't complain.

@Ijoyen

"...strong."

Murmuring these words, the resigned grin on the golem's face sharpened as he faced a horseman's charge. He paid little mind to the other Servants or the newly-risen fortress, even if two of his Partitions were monitoring them. If the Masters protected themselves, that was all the better. He didn't want to kill those who still had lives.

...not strong enough, though. But that's good. One of the stronger ones falling first makes this all easier. If I wasted the reveal on killing a weaker one, it would be trickier.

Bright, bright, terrifyingly bright. As Rostam charged forwards, that tremendous multicolored light flared around NAGATO's right hand. The sheer presence of magical energy was absurd to the point of practically casting pressure.

But...where was this coming from? Not even the mana it had consumed upon arriving would be enough to match up. No, even if it had, didn't it need that energy to function? How could it continue moving if it was willing to move the entirety of that "fuel" to its hand?

■■■■■ ■■■■■ System primed. Calculations complete.

Rostam was aware that what he faced would be a terrible consequence, but he was unaware of the magnitude it bore.

At this point, a question could be asked. In spite of its size, a Demon Castle was nonetheless a combatant "equal to a Servant". In that sense, it could defeat a single Servant, or perhaps two at once, or even more were it to target the Masters and force the Servants on the defensive at a result. But, against a group of this many Servants, a combatant equal to a Servant would lose without question. And yet, NAGATO had shown himself here, with full confidence that he could defeat the gathered spirits.

Was he simply a fool? No, even if he bears the mind of Nagato Tohsaka, something with his calculative ability could not be so shortsighted. Rather, the reason he had come to this gathering with such confidence was simple.

The Servants may have had their trump cards, but he possessed something beyond even those.

And this Servant who had dared to charge at him alone would witness it firsthand.

A radiance lit up the night as though it were day. Upon the golem's hand, a dazzling light collected to wage war upon those who stood against it. Not just Rostam, but every Servant, every Master, every living thing in the area could feel it. Something here was terribly wrong. Something here was an existence that was not meant to be in this world, and it was what lay responsible for that rainbow-colored light. An enemy of the world and an enemy of humanity.

...no. No, that wasn't it at all. Why would Nagato Tohsaka, a third-rate magus, ever be used for the core of a golem at the grade of a Demon Castle? It could not be for a mere rainbow.

That was the fatal misunderstanding born of this light. Not a rainbow.

-A Kaleidoscope.

Jewel Sword System, fire.

Where had that magical energy come from? Why had the Demon Castle stopped its absorption of mana long before it reached its capacity? Why did it not fear the strike of Rostam or the charge of the beast he rode on?

The answer to all of these was the same.

Multidimensional Refraction Phenomenon. Operation of Parallel Worlds. Kaleidoscope.

The Second of the last remaining True Magics in this world. To its Magician was granted movement between worlds, access to their resources. To the sword of its Magician was granted a supply of magical energy as limitless as the number of worlds.

And one of those very swords had just launched its counterattack.

The light, that terrifying, kaleidoscopic light, ran forwards as Rostam attempted to pass by and strike at its wielder. A cone of light which released power on par with an A rank Noble Phantasm streamed out, moving to engulf Rostam and his steed before their charge met anything short of air. In a single burst of magical energy, a prime hero would be eradicated from this world.

In direct combat, NAGATO could likely outmatch Rostam, but against the team of Rostam and his steed, he would likely be defeated. However, that sort of theoretical loss would never come to pass, for just as Rostam possessed his steed, NAGATO possessed his sword.

This was the trump card of Demon Castle NAGATO. This was what made him worthy to challenge all the Servants of this war.

---

For the greater part of his life the assurity of victory had been part of Rostam. A complete confidence in his power which, most of the time, was in itself a sort of power. Had he died of natural causes, or suddenly, as did the great giant Starkad, this great blast from the Jeweled Sword might have been his end.

Rostam had been humbled thrice before his death however, and though he perhaps did not possess the same unreasoning confidence of his youth, the defeats had tempered him in other ways. Rostam had ridden in fully expecting a reprisal, and as Rakhsh started at the sight of the rainbow sword, he trusted in his steeds instincts and had swung himself back in the saddle, pulling his reigns in the opposite direction they had been leaning.

With deer like agility that belied his size Rakhsh made a mighty leap to the side, throwing all his strength into reversing the tremendous momentum of his charge, darting clear of the cone of destruction that the crystal sword unleashed. With a bound that an observer might be forgiven for mistaking for flight, the horse and rider were airborne, arcing over the battlefield to land hard on the far end of the field, nearly full opposite of his original line of trajectory.

Even for such a horse as Rakhsh however, the sudden sharp turn had been to much. As they landed, the horse let out a loud whinny of pain, and his footing faltered. For a moment it looked as if Rostam might be pitched from the saddle. Keeping a strong grip with his legs Rostam kept his seat, maintaining his balance and waiting for Rakhsh to right himself before he dismounted.

Rakhshs front left leg was red and swollen at the knee, the noble beast now holding it carefully off the ground as he stumbled forward neighing and tossing his head wildly back and forth.

With an angry noise deep in his throat Rostam dismissed his lamed mount, Rakhsh dissolving in a shower of white and red sparks. The sparks were still dancing around his massive frame when he turned back towards the strange sorcerer who had injured his lifelong companion, his eyes dark with rage, his hands pale as they gripped the massive oaken mace in his hand.

---

@Moonlit Sonata @Holy Grail

...futile.

In his haste to trust his steed, Rostam had made a fundamental misstep. This was born from nothing other than the speed of a Phantasmal Beast.

Rostam's steed was fast, that much was obvious. Compared to a mundane horse, there could be no comparison, and in fact in a sustained race against a Servant, it would come out on top against all but a handful of heroes. However, in terms of the burst speed that it could reach, the first Pegasus could merely scrape into the realm of half the speed of sound, and the Divine Beasts who pulled a certain king's chariot were below even that.

In comparison, while a Servant could not maintain such speeds in as reliable a fashion, in terms of "burst" movement speed, one would be hard pressed to find a Servant who could not casually shatter the sound barrier. This was the nature of the difference in speed between a Phantasmal Beast and a Servant; while the former had greater strength and greater sustainability, the latter's burst speed was supreme. And in this case, to avoid that Kaleidoscopic light, what was needed was burst speed.

In other words, had Rostam moved on his own rather than trusting in the speed of his mount, then perhaps he could have slipped away, but...

The light streamed forwards, engulfing the horse who was unable to leap out of its purvey in time, and engulfing the Servant who rode atop it. At this point, there were many additional considerations. Were Rakhsh a steed that granted its owner additional defense like the bridle of a Gorgon, were Rostam's armor something that covered all his body in the same way as a nearby Saber, were his steed to have let loose with the Prana Burst inherent to all Phantasmal Beasts in an attempt to push back against the light, then perhaps it could have been survived. Alas, none of these were to be.

You will slay demons.

You will slay your child.

You will be slain by deceit.

The light tore through Rostam and his steed, and when it cleared, neither was present any longer. Even Battle Continuation could not save a Servant from their body being destroyed.

Having taken the first tribute of the battle, NAGATO looked to the gathered Servants with a somber expression, that multicolored light beginning to condense once again. However...

-This time, it surrounded both hands.