CasterxSaber | MasatoxLancer ( ͠° ͟ʖ ͡° )

"There he is!"

Looking at the crystal ball placed on the table, Irisviel said.

In the crystal, one could see Caster with many children beside him as he made his way towards the castle.

"The enemy is trying to lure us out, Irisviel." Saber said while also examining it.

Masato was still stinging on his chair as he had already known what would happen. Instead of fighting with Caster, he was more interested in fighting with Lancer, after all, he also uses Spear.

As he 'can't' kill a Servant due to the system being down, but that doesn't mean that he can't have fun either.

"Those must be hostages," Irisviel replied to Saber with a frown expression.

"I'll have to go down and save them!"

Just as she (Artoria) said it, the Caster in the crystal suddenly stopped and looked in their direction.

"He knows we're watching!" Irisviel, shocked, said.

Masato also looked towards the Caster and frowned.

'Really… just a displeasing fella he is.'

"As promised last night, I, Gilles De Rais, have come to you." Caster started to speak as his right hand reached his chest, bowing, he continued, "I wish to see you, Jeanne. My beautiful Holy Virgin…"

"Irisviel!" Saber looked towards her, waiting for her order.

"You can take as much time as you require," Caster smiled, "I have come prepared for a lengthy wait." He snapped his fingers and the children around him gained their consciousness, "Now, children, it's time to play hide-and-seek."

The children started to panic seeing that they were in a forest currently, but none of this mattered to him as he continued with his mad speech, "The rules are simple. You need only to elude me. But if I find you…" He stretched his hand and gripped the head of one of the children,

"Stop!" Saber shouted but it was for naught as he tightened his grip and the head of the child burst open.

"Disgusting…" Masato muttered to himself. He really was thinking if he should really kill him or not -- not caring about his rewards but then he sighed.

'It is just some children. Not worthy enough, they are not even some important characters.'

To be honest, he has killed more innocent Shinigami who were only doing their duties, so even though he was disgusted by Caster's way of doing things, he didn't interfere.

If there was no reward for him to do so, then why would he do it?

"Run, children! When I count to a hundred, the chase begins!" Caster laughed maniacally and said, "Well, Jeanne; how long do you think it will take me to catch them all?"

Irisviel closed her eyes. Opening them, she looked back towards Kiritsugu and then said to Saber, "Saber, defeat Caster!"

"I shall!" Saber replied before her clothes changed into her battle attire.

She looked in the direction of Masato for a second before running out of the room.

As Saber left, Masato also stood up, gaining everyone's attention.

"What? Never seen a handsome dude before?" He asked, seeing everyone staring at him.

Irisviel stood and made her way towards him before worriedly requesting, "Please take care of Saber, Masato-san."

Masato wanted to laugh after hearing her request to take care of the walking nuke, but he smiled and pats her head, making her close her eyes, "Worry not. She is not so weak that she requires my support. She is the King of Knights. She wouldn't be defeated so easily, definitely not by some madman."

Saying, he looked towards Kiritsugu one last time before turning around and leaving.

---

Outside of Einzbern castle was covered by a forest, hiding it from the eyes of ordinary humans. Einzberns are known for their seclusion from the outside world, so it was no surprise that they built a castle in such a place.

Since it was night, there was hardly any visibility there due to fog covering most of the forest with the moon being the only light source.

In his Servant attire - his hands in his pants pocket - Masato nonchalantly walked in the forest while examining his surroundings.

He was not walking in the direction of Caster, as he had enough confidence that Saber can take care of all alone, but in the direction where he was feeling the coming of another Servant.

Even though <<Observation Haki>>, <<God's Sight>> have merged together to form <<Clairvoyance>> - Masato could still use them.

It is like when you learn Advanced programming but you still remember the Intermediate one as it was an essential part to achieve advance.

So, using <<Clairvoyance>>, he was seeing the present of what was happening and could pinpoint Lancer without the need of future knowledge and getting his mind overheated with it.

After walking for some time, he reached a small clearing.

But just as he reached there, Lancer also appeared there. He stopped as his eyes landed on Masato who was standing at the other side of the clearing.

"Yo, we meet again." Masato waved in his direction, making him look in his direction.

Lancer's grip on his spear tightens as he asks, "Unknown Hero, what do you want?"

Lancer was ordered by his Master to kill Caster, so he cautiously looked in the direction of Masato.

Even though Masato is considered an extra Servant, his going with Einzbern has already made others believe that he would be helping them.

So it was no surprise that Lancer would be cautious meeting him.

"Nothing of importance, Knight of Fianna," Masato said as he raised his right hand in the air and a red, blood-like, spear appeared in his hands.

He looked into Lancer's eyes and said, "I see that you are also a user of the spear. Allow me to witness your techniques."

'I have mixed feelings about such a way of talking…' he thought internally.

Lancer's body relaxed as he shook his head, "Forgive me, but I've been ordered by my Master to take care of Caster. Sadly, I can't entertain you."

Masato smiled and pointed the tip towards his direction and said, "Then you leave me no other choice I guess. Diarmuid, Knight of Fianna, if you want to go where Caster is then you would have to pass me; otherwise, don't blame me for being rude."

"Are you stopping me from executing my Lord's command?" Lancer frowned and changed into his combat position.

"Whatever sits well with you," Masato said as a smirk formed on his face as he launched in the direction of Lancer, "Now enough chitchat, show me if you are worthy of my time."

Masato propelled in the direction of Lancer as the spear in his hand made a vertical arc in the air, hitting the golden spear in Lancer's right hand as he (Lancer) thrust his other spear in the direction of Masato's heart.

Seeing the spear coming in his direction, Masato pulled his spear back and did a spin, dodging the trusts and slashed his spear horizontally in the direction of Lancer's right ribs.

Clang*

Lancer again blocked it with his golden spear as he raised his red spear upward, vertically.

But before he could raise it completely, Masato's leg made its way to his left wrist and stopped it in mid-swing.

He pulled his spear back and spun it within his fingers before taking a step towards Lancer and thrust it towards his heart.

Lancer hurriedly jumped back, dodging it at a paper-thin margin.

He (Lancer) looked in Masato's direction with absolute seriousness in his eyes, a small cut making its way to his cheek.

"Not bad for a warm-up," Masato smirked as the spear danced in his hands like a nimble snake, "It's been a while since I've used a spear. No one has been able to match me in spear art except Master and that was before I went full bonkers against Gods, I do hope that you are able to entertain me, Diarmuid."

"Really… what a troublesome opponent," Lancer said as he smiled, "I, Diarmuid Ua Duibhne, accept your challenge on my knight honor!"

---

"Yaaa!" With a shout, an invisible sword passed through what seemed like a water monster, a squid maybe.

Such monsters were everywhere in the forest with Saber in the center, her hands holding her sword as she was staring at the Caster, who smiled like he was in bliss seeing her.

"Ahh… Jeanne! How beautiful… Do you still believe in God, Jeanne? Even after He has forsaken you, YOU STILL BELIEVE IN HIM, JEANNE!" He shouted with a lamentable voice, "Ahhh! How pure! How sweet! How innocent!"

"Don't worry, Jeanne. I, Gilis De Rais, will save you! My Holy Maiden… I will SAVE YOU!"

"What madness." Saber said as she cut another of the monsters in her way to Caster, "How many times do I have to tell you that I am not Jeanne!"

"You've forgotten everything, Jeanne. It must be what God is playing with you, ah, even after your death, he still plays with your innocent heart. But fret not, Grail has chosen me, it has sent me to save you, Jeanne!"

"Detestable…" Saber muttered and raised her sword and thrust forward.

<<Air Strike>>

A spear-like air left the tip of her sword and killed every monster in front of her. She gripped her sword and placed it behind her before leaning down.

<<Mana Burst>>

Suddenly, a blast occurred where Saber was as she had already vanished from her place and appeared in front of Caster and cut the book, his Noble Phantasm, in his hands.

As the cut appeared, the monsters around her and Caster burst into the mist of blood.

"Let me put down your evil acts, Caster!" She shouted and slashed diagonally upward, trying to cut him into two.

"Ahh! Jeanne! You are mine! Why do you do this!? Jeanne!" Caster shouted as his Noble Phantasm shone with light.

A wave of blood rose from the ground, separated in him and Saber.

But it didn't stop Saber's slash as it divided the wave of blood into two, but Caster was nowhere behind it anymore.

"Teleportation?" Saber said as she clicked her tongue in the displeasure of not being able to kill Caster and stopping his evil deeds of killing more children.

Suddenly, a loud explosion occurred as Saber looked in the direction from where it came from. A projectile in fast motion made its way towards her from that direction.

Saber hurriedly dodged it and looked to see what it.

To her astonishment, it was Lancer.

"Lancer!?" She blurted out in surprise, seeing Lancer's sorry state with scars all over his body with some holes around his lower left rib.

Cough* Cough* Cough* Some blood came out of his mouht as he stood up with the help of his spears, "What a monster." He said while looking in the direction he came from.

Creak* Sounds of someone stepping on broken pieces of wood resounds in the silent forest, making Saber unconsciously tighten her grip around her sword, wondering if it's an enemy Servant.

"Ma~, don't be like that. You will break my heart if you call me a monster now." Coming out of the wood was Masato with his spear on his shoulders, "I also have a heart, you know."

Lancer's brow twitched as he said, "If someone like you is not a monster then I don't know what to call you."

"You can always call me Ma-kun… forget it… it would sound gay as fuck coming from your mouth." Masato's face becomes ugly imagining Lancer calling him Ma-kun. He thought that only girls can call him that, yes, otherwise he would kill anyone who dared to do so.

"Masato? Why are you fighting Lancer?"

Since Masato said that Grail was corrupted and he was not here for it, she wondered why he was fighting with Lancer.

"I am not fighting with him… we are just exchanging pointers." Masato said as he looked towards the sorry state of Lancer, "But it seems that only Master can match me in spearmanship now."

The spear in his hands turned into red particles and vanished.

"It was nice playing with you, Lancer. But, sadly, even you can't match me in spearmanship. Though I must say, your techniques were marvelous to see."

Lancer shook his head, "It should be me who should be saying that. I've never seen such exquisite and precise spearmanship in my whole life. I would expect nothing less from the student of that woman."

"What happened to the Caster, Artoria?" Masato asked.

Saber regretfully shook her head and said with unwillingness in her voice, "He ran away."

Masato nodded. He had expected it. He looked in the direction of the castle and said, "Your Master doesn't seem to be in a good condition, Lancer. Are you sure you should be staying here?"

"Huh?" Lancer's eyes widened as he felt that his Master was about to die. He looked in the direction of Masato and Saber, seeing that none of them was stopping him, he bowed towards them and vanished.

"Would it be alright to let him go?" Saber questions, wanting to hear why Masato let him go.

Masato pats her head, making her relax her body unconsciously as her ahoge moves left and right.

'Cute…' Masato thought internally.

"It is alright. And it's not like you would have stopped him either way, right?"

Saber nodded while enjoying his head pats. As Masato said, she wouldn't have stopped him as her knight honor wouldn't allow it.

"Hm?" Masato looked in a certain direction and frowned.

"What happened?" Artoria asked, confused.

"Irisviel… her life is in danger."