Outside the city. In the air above the forest.
Tokiomi stared at the monster below him with a horrified expression, this was getting out of hand. This thing was endangering the secrecy of this war. He cannot allow regular people to see this. His old friend Risei was a convincing man but even he had his limits. The last thing the head of the Tohsaka family needed was the Clock Tower or the Church to interfere in the Grail War. He turned to his servant and bowed once again.
"Your highness—"
"I heard you, Tokiomi. I'm not deaf. No need to repeat it." Gilgamesh said with an annoyed tone before looking down at the monster. "This abomination is sore to look at. Very well, I should lend you three weapons from my treasury to slay the beast. Be grateful."
Gilgamesh didn't pay Tokiomi any mind as he focused on Caster's monster. Having activated his Gate of Babylon, three gold portals appeared under Vimana. All of them aimed at the monster on the ground. The next second, three weapons were shot as projectiles, all flying towards their target. However, they failed to slay the abomination and instead only cut some of its larger tentacles. The monstrosity roared as its wounds healed with an incredible speed. Archer let out a frustrated groan.
"What a pity to lose three of my treasure on something like this." Tokiomi looked confused.
"Your highness? Aren't you going to continue?" Gilgamesh raised an eyebrow.
"Why should I? I already wasted my treasures on this monster. Let other servants deal with it, I have no desire to stain myself with this thing." now his master looked dumbfounded.
"But…but—!"
"You have something to say, Tokiomi?" Gilgamesh's red eyes glared at his master. "Do you want to disagree with my decision?" his master froze before lowering his head.
"No, my king."
Gilgamesh clicked with his tongue, disappointed how his current master had no backbone. Even that boy who was the master of Rider had more guts to speak against the King of Conquerors. However, his eyes soon found someone more interesting. Archer smirked. Perhaps his master still can provide him with entertainment.
"Tokiomi, if you want to prove yourself in my eyes, I won't mind slaying this beast for you. But first, you would need to actually do something in this war."
The head of the Tohsaka family said nothing but soon decided to do whatever Archer wanted. His status as the second owner of Fuyuki and the chance to win this war was on the line. Gilgamesh smirked before turning Vimana around.
Towards two other masters.
***
The monster summoned by Caster was a giant tentacle abomination. It was taller than any tree and could have been seen outside the forest. It let out a strange aura akin to some sort of purple gas that covered the area around it. The mad Servant was inside it, hidden in safety while his beast would deal with any threat to its creator. Avenger carefully examined the creature. It was huge and had too many appendages, her katana alone wouldn't cut it. What's worse, she couldn't see any divinity from it, making her noble phantasm less than effective against the monster.
"Avenger, do you hear me? What is your status?" she soon heard the voice of her master.
"Loud and clear, Lelouch." Nobunaga quickly answered back. "We are close to this thing but it hasn't attacked us yet. Also, I feel the presence of other Servants in the forest. Do you have a plan?"
"We should prioritize Archer first. The monster might act as a distraction. Lancer should strike him while we have an opening. Deal with Gilgamesh first. If other Servants won't kill it, we would take care of Caster and this thing after."
Nobunaga nodded. She turned to a male Servant who had a stern look on his face. Avenger quickly figured out that Kayneth most likely told Lancer the same thing and the knight didn't like it one bit. However, the Japanese Servant didn't care about his inner turmoil. They had a job to do.
"You heard our orders. We stick with the plan and go after that gold bastard first. Right now, this monster isn't focused on us. We attack while we have this chance."
Lancer clenched his fist but said nothing and simply nodded. Both servants turned towards the flying platform in the air and the servants sitting on its throne. However, before they could attack, the strange aircraft started to disappear.
***
Lelouch had a bad feeling about this entire thing.
The monster was both horrifying to look at and troublesome for their plan. They were supposed to slay Archer tonight, but this thing made everything more complicated. Saber was probably somewhere around, and Lelouch was sure Rider was on his way as well. Iskandar wouldn't miss something like this. This left only Berserker unaccounted for and the Demon Emperor hoped the unknown servant would opt to stay out of this fight. But he wasn't so optimistic.
Seconds ago, Nobunaga contacted him and informed him that Archer disappeared from sight. Whatever he was flying, it was fast. Neither he nor Kayneth was able to see it. Worse still, the monster started to move towards the city. It was slow but the master of Avenger was sure it would reach Fuyuki in less than an hour if nothing was done.
"What should we do?" his ally asked with a worried tone. "Archer's most likely escaped, leaving Caster and this monster to us. Do we order Servants to attack it?"
"Not yet. Gilgamesh might be tricking us. Avenger and Lancer will continue to wait. Besides, Saber should be somewhere nearby. She is no longer under the effect of Lancer's cursed spear. Let her deal with Caster. Should she fail, we will join and assist her." Lelouch explained as he stared at the beast.
Caster's monster was moving when suddenly it stopped and let out another roar. Because of the trees, Lelouch couldn't see what was going on the ground. He used his mental link and contacted Avenger.
"Avenger, why did it stop?"
"It's Saber. The little knight attacked it. The monster is currently trying to capture her." Artoria was already fighting then, very well, she should be able to slow it down for some time. "Should we help her?"
"Negative. Do you see the Archer?"
"Nope, that bastard flew away too fast. And because of this thing, I can't sense him."
'How troublesome,' Lelouch thought to himself before speaking. "Very well, continue to observe the monster. Do not help Saber. It might be a good chance to learn her noble phantasm."
He couldn't see Nobunaga, but Lelouch was certain the she-demon was smirking.
'Saber is Artoria Pendragon, the King of Knights. Her noble phantasm should be more than enough to deal with whatever Caster summoned. But should she fail, my Servant would act...Still, where is Gilgamesh?' his thoughts were interrupted by Kayneth. "What is it?"
"We have a problem," the older magi said with a fearful tone.
"What do you—oh," Lelouch wanted to ask but stopped the moment he saw who was behind him.
Flying in the air above them was Vimana and its passengers. Archer and his master were looking down on them. However, Lelouch quickly noticed that Tokiomi Tohsaka looked troubled by something, Gilgamesh on another hand looked pleased.
"So you two formed a team, huh? And this is your ally in this war? I expected more from you, Lelouch Lamperouge." Archer laughed while the masters below and next to him stayed silent.
He appeared out of nowhere but didn't try to kill them yet. That meant he wanted something from them. Lelouch noticed how Kayneth started to slowly raise his hand, no doubt thinking about calling Lancer but he stopped the blonde magi. Gilgamesh surely noticed it and if Kayneth tried to call for help, the Demon Emperor was certain that the ancient king of Uruk would strike them down. Instead, he sent a message to Avenger and started to speak. He needed to buy time.
"Your Highness, what a surprise to see you here. This night keeps surprising all of us, doesn't it?" Lelouch said with his best fake smile. Gilgamesh chuckled.
"Hmm, some mongrel with a phantasmal beast is unexpected but not pleasant to look at. I left it for others to deal with. If they're truly heroes worthy to fight against me, they shouldn't have any issue with a pest of this calibre. However, I'm here for a different matter. You see, Tokiomi over here prefers to stay away from a fight. Something I can't help but find pathetic, so I decided that it would better if he fought two of you at the same time. Should he win, I will grant him his wish."
As the King of Heroes spoke, Vimana lowered itself just above where Lelouch and Kayneth were standing. The head of the Tohsaka stepped forward with his staff in his arms. He looked focused but Lelouch could see in his eyes. The Archer's master wasn't so pleased with this arrangement. Gilgamesh on another hand enthusiastically spoke.
"Rules are simple. Two against one, fight to the death. If either one of you would try to call for your servants, I would kill you both." Kayneth paled.
"W-why aren't you trying to kill that monster first!? That thing is dangerous for everyone here. And you!" he turned towards Tokiomi. "You're a Tohsaka, right? If so, order your Servant to attack Caster first!"
The man before them bit his lip.
"I'm but a humble servant of his Highness. I cannot order him anything, only ask. Right now I requested he help us slay the beast… but first I should prove myself and defeat both of you. You're Kayneth El-Melloi Archibald, right? I've heard about you. The master who had come from Clock Tower, a rising star there. And you," his tired and empty gaze turned towards Lelouch. "You, the one who calls himself a member of Britain's royal family. I don't know anything about you. But tonight I should learn what kind of magus you are."
As he said it, Tokiomi raised his cane tipped with some sort of jewel. A second later, it sparked with crimson light as the ground around the magus became covered in flames. With a calm demeanour, the master of Archer aimed at them. The fire around him changed the form akin to a flamethrower attack. It flew towards them but was stopped by a wall of flowing mercury that formed around Kayneth and Lelouch.
The master of Avenger said nothing. His only weapons were a handgun and some explosions. The Demon Emperor didn't think that actual magi would fall for something like that too easily.
Kayneth was skilful enough to fight both Kiritsugu and his partner back in Einzbern castle. The blonde magus was supposed to be a prodigy in the Clock Tower, so Lelouch was hoping his ally would be helpful right now. Still, Lelouch sent another message to Nobunaga.
"I can't use command seals while Archer is watching us. Head over here and strike Gilgamesh from behind while he is focused on us." Lelouch silently sent her order. The response was fast and quite disappointing.
"I would love to but Lancer and I are in a difficult situation, Lelouch."