Matou Zouken was at his study when he heard the room's door open behind him.

He was surprised. Normally, the only person that would open that door besides him would be Sakura. A little girl he had adopted as his granddaughter from Tohsakas. She was to be the next successor of the Matou Bloodline, and was the only other person worth noting in the house. Zouken could feel that she was downstairs, so this couldn't be her.

Byakuya, Zouken's failure of a son, and his son Shinji, even more of a failure even though the brat didn't even know it, were away. This meant this couldn't have been either of them too. Besides, neither would dare come to his study without being called.

His surprise quickly made way to curiosity. The intruder was bold enough to just walk in his study, the heart of his workshop, and skilled enough to do it without being discovered beforehand. This was quite a feat considering Zouken had bugs all around the mansion and inside every room.

Then his bugs in the room told him who the intruder was. He learned the intruder's identity about a second after he opened the door.

"You've come again." said Zouken without turning around. As a magus, he cared about his appearance, and hurriedly turning around wouldn't look good.

There was no answer. The intruder took two steps inside and stood there.

Good, Zouken thought. There were defences in every room, but it was here, in his study, he was strongest. In case this turned into a fight, the further in the room the intruder was, the better.

"You didn't knock the door this time," said Zouken, reminding his unexpected guest of their previous meeting. If he had come to talk, he would talk. If he had come to fight, for some reason, it would be better to get whatever information he could before that.

Again, he was met with silence.

Zouken turned around in his armchair. He hadn't even heard the man's name before their first and only meeting last month, and couldn't find anything on him even after that. Even though his bugs had kept a constant watch on him since he opened the door, it was still better to keep him in his own sights. He knew too little about him to be content with any less.

When their eyes met, the intruder spoke:

"You know," he said in a calm voice, "the most worthy wish in the last war was Kariya's."

"Kariya's? Hehehehe!" Zouken laughed with a wheezy voice. He hadn't expected an attack because of his brat that had recently died.

This time addressing his bugs, Zouken spoke: "Eat."

The intruder was instantly covered by a black horde of carnivorous insects.

* * *

"Kuh!"

Zouken held his head with his only remaining hand. His other arm was severed from the shoulder.

This could be fatal for someone else, but he wasn't worried. Rejuvenating an arm or two was no trouble for him.

He wasn't worried, he was angry. Angry at the fact that some nobody had managed to break into his most well protected room, attacked him at his strongest, yet the only thing Zouken had managed was driving him away.

He had even lost an arm in the fight, and he still couldn't kill the intruder. The arm was not a problem, but it was insulting.

Why hadn't his defences detected the intruder before he opened the door to his study? Was the layer on layer defences he spent so much time setting up so weak? He had especially strengthened them before the recent war, so they shouldn't have been that weak.

So, why was he laying on the floor of his now destroyed study, with just one arm, waiting for his splitting headache to go away?

The intruder's mental attacks were on a whole another level than he would expect from an unheard-of magus. And he was apparently not even specialized in mental spells. He had thrown a magical blast that had taken out a lot of Zouken's bugs, along with his left arm, and would have easily made a whole in the wall, or maybe even took down the house, if not for Zouken's defensive boundary fields.

Yet, during their fight, Zouken hadn't once felt magical energy from him or any one of his spells. It was possible for a highly skilled magus to prevent magical energy leaks from basic spells, but it should not be possible for big spells, such as the ones the intruder used.

"I must put up new defences." Zouken said to himself. His head responded to his low voice with a fresh wave of pain. He decided not to speak for a while.

Zouken knew he didn't know anything about the intruder's motive other than that it had something to do with Kariya, and possibly Sakura, and this vexed him.

Such a fight deserved a much more important reason.

* * *

"Oh, did your visitor leave?"

Emiya Kiritsugu raised his head and looked at the face of his foster-son Shirou. He paused for a second, then chose to ignore the boy's question.

"Come Shirou. We have bags to prepare. We're leaving tonight."

The boy sprang up to his feet.

"What? What do you mean we're leaving? Where are we going? Why?"

Kiritsugu looked away. He hadn't prepared for this beforehand. He had decided this only after his talk with his unexpected visitor had ended. And obviously he could not tell his son the real reason. After all he was just a little boy, and would not understand the danger.

He was just a little boy, but a sharp one.

"Are we being chased? Was that visitor a magic user like you? Did you get a warning that we're in danger?"

Kiritsugu looked at Shirou, and smiled. He had a soft voice when he talked.

"No. We're not being chased. But we still have to go, so let's pack up."

He took his son's hand and as sun started to set, they went inside.

They had left by morning.

* * *

High atop the mountains in a certain region of Germany, snow was falling. A whole pack of wolves, not having eaten anything for quite some time, were on the hunt.

Their pray was a silver haired little girl that, for reasons they couldn't care less about, was alone in the wilderness.

The girl ran, screaming at the top of her lungs, trying desperately to get away from the wild predators. She ran, and ran at full speed, caring neither about the scratches on her arms and legs she got from the odd tree branches she passed by during her flight, nor about the frostbite she got from running bare-footed on the snow.

She ran, but the legs of a little girl were not enough to outrun the wolves. The fastest of the wolves tackled her and she fell, rolling down a low slope, and ended up lying on her back. Wolves quickly gathered around her, and with anticipation, began biting her. She screamed, but was powerless to stop their teeth from tearing her flesh.

Then the wolves suddenly stopped. A shadow started getting bigger on the ground right next to her, and the wolves scattered.

A giant of a man fell from the sky, and landed nimbly on his feet just next to her. Wolves encircled the giant man, but did not attack. For a mass of muscle towering at two and a half meters was clearly a more difficult prey than a small girl.

The battered and bloodied girl opened her eyes and looked up. Her vision was fuzzy and she could not make out the giant's face, but she knew who he was, she felt it.

"Berserker, why? I left you behind."

The hungry wolves could no longer wait. A giant mass of meat just stood there, not even paying attention to them. The wolves attacked with ferocity and tried to sink their teeth at the giant man. They attacked the back of his neck and his other vital spots to quickly bring him down, but he didn't even flinch.

"Why aren't you fighting?" the girl asked as she raised her upper body of the ground. "Because of me? Because you don't want to make me suffer?"

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The man did not answer, and just stood there like a statue.

Bright blood-red marks appeared at the girl's cheeks and hands as she spoke:

"Get them, Berserker."

The marks shone for a moment, then disappeared.

"Very well, Ilyasviel." the giant answered.

* * *

The circle shone blindingly when the last words of the incantation left Atram Galiast's mouth.

"Yes!"

Atram was sure of his success. Although the light hadn't subsided enough for him to confirm it, he could already feel a tremendous amount of magical energy from inside the circle. He had undoubtedly summoned the witch Medea, and along with her, the ability to summon the Colchis Dragon!

"Huh?"

The light subsided and allowed him to see the one he had summoned. It was a man. The man drew his sword from his belt, and showed it to Atram with a smile on his face.

"Greetings, master. Look, I have a sword. Guess which class I am."

Atram was shocked. His relic should have allowed him to summon exactly the heroic spirit he wanted. Yet clearly...

"You aren't Medea."

The man's smile flickered. He lowered his sword.

"Medea? You tried to summon Medea, master?"

Atram felt himself getting angrier by the second. It was his fault.

"You! Why are you here? Why did you ruin my summoning? Who the hell are you!?"

The servant lowered his head, and sheathed his sword.

For the first time, Atram looked beyond him not being who he wanted, and examined him.

The servant was about 175 cm tall. He had a finely-built body covered in armour. His breastplate, gauntlets, and greaves, all looked bronze, royally-made, and had golden decorations. His short sword, now in its scabbard, was straight, and together with his armour gave of a feeling of antiquity. Atram guessed he was from before the Middle Ages, and was probably from Europe, but couldn't be sure.

The servant raised his head, and looked at Atram with such determination that, despite everything, Atram suddenly felt like whatever he would say next would undoubtedly become a fact.

"I am not a princess of Colchis, master, but I give you my word: So long as you don't betray me, I will win the grail, and make your wish, as well as mine, come true."

* * *

"It seems you have skipped out on your training, Kirei."

The red haired woman, Bazett Fraga McRemitz had a serious look on her face. She hadn't said that to mock the priest, but just as an honest observation. The priest answered her with a fake smile.

"Indeed. I have a more peaceful job now. I no longer go into battles. I am now a simple priest."

Bazett turned around her to examine the room. It was richly decorated with furniture on the comfortable side. For a simple priest, the man was living quite a luxurious life.

"Hah! A simple priest who oversees a battle to the death between maguses."

Kotomine Kirei smiled. This time it was a genuine smile, but the reason for his smile was not anything Bazett had said. He smiled because it was time for the trap he had set beforehand to activate. It wasn't a magical trap, for his guest was a master magus that could likely detect and counter any magic he could prepare, but a mechanical one. Not many maguses would spend any time preparing for any non-magical trap, and Bazett was no exception. Any moment now, she would become unable to defend herself. Then, Kirei was going to cut her arm without losing any time, and he was going to get the servant of that woman who was foolish enough to separate from her servant.

Kirei's smile turned into a grin. Anytime now.

"Kotomine Kirei!" The shout echoed through the church.

Kirei's smile instantly vanished. He immediately took two steps toward a desk, and with a slight move of his hand, deactivated the trap.

"Were you expecting someone else?" Bazett asked him.

Kirei wondered who would come to the church shouting. Was it a master he didn't know? This might be a church, but he still had set up an alarm that would inform him whenever anyone with a semblance of magic approached. Since the alarm didn't go of, could he assume the visitor was just a normal person? Or was this an attack? Either way, it was too risky trying to go through with his original plan considering Bazett.

"No, but this is a church. It is open to public. Now, excuse me for a moment, I'll be back immediately."

"Kotomine Kirei," the shout came again. It was closer now. The visitor, whoever it was, was getting closer to the back room they were in.

Kotomine got out of the room, into the main hall. The young man who was shouting saw him, and started walking up to him, then extended his hand for a handshake.

"Greetings, I am Marcus Grayson." said the man with an energetic voice. He had a carefree smile on his face.

Kirei examined the man. He couldn't feel any magic from him. The man looked to be close to twenty five years old. He was wearing a high quality looking pale green suit, complete with a white shirt and a sky blue necktie. His face was clean shaved, and he had fine looking features with a straight nose bridge, thin eyebrows, light green eyes, and short, light brown hair. He had something like a hilt on his belt. A flute?

Kirei didn't shake his hand.

"I am Kotomine Kirei. Welcome to Kotomine Church."

The man immediately started to speak with a clear voice.

"I was actually meaning to talk to Miss McRemitz, but couldn't get the courage to approach her. When I saw her entering this church, I thought this would be a safe place to talk with her, so I came. Is she back there?" The man looked towards the door Kirei came from.

Even for a magus good at hiding his magical energy, completely erasing it so that Kirei couldn't feel anything even from this close was practically impossible. Who could this young man who obviously knows Bazett but is not a magus, be? A suitor?

"Did I hear my name?"

Bazett came out of the room before Kirei gave an answer.

"Miss McRemitz. You are beautiful just as I heard. Greetings, I am Marcus Grayson."

The man quickly passed by the priest and walked up to Bazett and extended his hand. Kirei didn't interfere, and let things work out for now.

"Ah, thank you. Nice to meet you. But how do you know me?" Bazett took his hand and shook it with a slight blush on her face which quickly disappeared.

The man, Marcus, spoke without losing his smile even for a second:

"I would actually very much like to get to know you better. Too bad we are enemy Masters in the war."

Both Kirei's and Bazett's eyes opened in surprise. Bazett let go of his hand, and took half a step back.

"A Master, huh? Why would you disclose that information?"

Kirei interfered:

"This is neutral ground. If you came to pick a fight, do it later when you are away from here."

"It's just that I knew Miss McRemitz from reputation, and I prefer fair fights, so I figured I'd introduce myself before the war starts." The man shook his head. "I have no intention to fight now, though I can't say the same for my servant. You know how Berserkers are."

Kirei frowned. He knew through the Spirit Board he possessed as the judge, that Berserker was summoned unusually early. He had assumed that Einzberns, up there in their home country, had summoned it. Was this the Einzbern master? Or did this mean his assumption was wrong?

Bazett sent the church's gate a look, than stood silent for a few seconds. She had probably talked to her servant telepathically. Then she looked at the man for a second, and turned to Kirei with her usual serious expression.

"So long, Kirei, I'm leaving. It was nice talking with you after all this time, but I'd rather not enter a fight before all others are summoned."