Fate/Blackened Sugar

[] You want to return to the hideout. That's one of the places you know Sakura and Miyu would be. If anything, Ayumi should still be there. You have to check there.

"I have a hideout to return to. Hopefully my allies will be there but if not then I'll simply return here," you replied as you leaned back on your seat.

"You seem awfully casual about it. Do you expect no one being there waiting for you?" Caren asked as she raised an eyebrow.

"Not sure. But I don't have high hopes," You answered as you got up your feet, "I should be going now. There's not much time to waste."

"Are you sure? The pain of your wounds shouldn't be healed just yet," Artoria pointed out with a frown.

You gave her a look ad shook your head, "I'll be fine. There's no need for you to be concerned. I'll send a message if I found anything. Miss Administrator knows where to call me."

"Wait," Caren said as she stood up from her seat and walked towards you, "You almost forgot something."

You raised an eyebrow as she revealed the Command Seals on her arms, only to have one of them glow bright. The back of your hand began to burn hot, scalding even before you looked down to see a new Seal be inscribed upon it. You blinked before giving her a strange look.

"It's your reward for finding and killing the serial murderer of the war. We wont have to worry about the Undead now but we have bigger problems. See to it you use that thing well," Caren said as she crossed her arms, "Still, are you certain you need to go now?"

"Yes. It's just how I am," you answered as you met her gaze.

"Your funeral," Caren sighed as she shrugged.

You figured she would say that but you decided to let it slide. Chiyome bowed politely towards them before following after you. You had much to think about from the revelation that Luvia wasn't with Matthias to the disappearance of both Miyu and Sakura. Your body was still in the middle of healing but you couldn't afford to be idle. You could send Assassin out on her own but with the appearance of the Phantasmal Beasts, you're uncertain if that would be wise.

Better to have her by your side instead of wasting a Seal.

You knew what you had to do now, it was probably for the best that you made the most of it.

"Hans, don't push yourself," Assassin warned you as she stood by your side.

You glanced at her and smiled, "Yeah, I know."

.....
....
...

You arrived at the hideout Luvia had been using. Standing in the elevator, you ascended through a dozen of floors until you reached your destination. Some lingering wards erected by Luvia and Sakura maintained but your presence still registered among those that could go through. Assassin had gone into stealth while you walked ahead.

There were no signs of anyone going through the hall you just passed. It's almost untouched even. You kept walking until you arrived at the hideout's door. You knocked first and listened for anyone to come towards the door and open it.

"Hello? Is there anyone inside? Ayumi? Sakura? Miyu?" you called as you stood back.

You waited for a good ten seconds before you opened it. The door wasn't even locked for some reason, making you immediately frown in response. You stepped in and were immediately hit by a feeling of dread settling right on your shoulders. You tried not to buckle from it as you held on the walls for support.

The feeling however vanished as quickly as it came, making you wonder if it was just your imagination.

"What the hell?" you growled as you kept moving.

The living room was cleaned up and the dinner table was spotless. There weren't any dishes in the sink and the while place seemed very clean. There was no signs of life either, not Miyu, not Sakura and definitely not Ayumi. You gave it another look before you turned to see that the doors were shut as well.

"Hans, you might want to see this," Assassin said as she dismissed her cloaking to stand by the bathroom door. You walked on over and peered inside.

The bathroom was pristine save for a couple of things. The mirror was shattered, cracked on every surface as if something beat on it over and over. Judging by the splashes of blood on it, someone punched it. The blood was dry but couldn't be more than a day old. So whoever this belonged to must have vacated recently.

Process of elimination points at Ayumi but how she could have left this place without tripping the wards was unknown to you. But if it was Manaka then you wouldn't even be surprised.

"Ayumi's gone too but we could probably track her down with her blood," you said as you inspected the shards of glass at the sink, "Only four Servants left, Chiyome. Things are getting dicey."

"Who do you plan on looking for first?" Assassin asked you from the side.

"Well, that's just the thing. I don't know if it's even safe to look for them. If Ophelia has Luvia then the former would no doubt try and convince the latter to become allies. If that happens then Sakura could be easily convinced, allowing them to take Miyu with no resistance... I can assume that Ophelia probably said something which keeps the Lancer faction from contacting me outright," you guessed as you rubbed your chin.

"But there shouldn't be a reason for them to ally with her... Especially against us, right?" Assassin pointed out as she crossed her arms.

"That's the thing. I did lie to them about what I needed the Grails for. I told them it's for research, to look for the means to accomplish my goals... You should be aware by now, Assassin. This isn't the final War I intend to wage," you explained as you leaned against the wall, "Matou and Edelfelt have the explicit goal of preventing these subcategory Grail Wars and dismantling them, what would they think if they found out from Ophelia that I plan on waging another?"

"It'll be another reason to stop you then," Chiyome noted with a grimace.

"And then there's Ayumi going missing. With a new Blackened at large out there, I would assume she would go to meet it. Well, not specifically her but Manaka could be on the reins again. Though that would mean that she was willing to break her promise of returning on Christmas Eve," you added, "We don't know if Manaka or Ayumi is the one in control of their body and we don't know if they're hostile or not. It could be safe to assume that the war's on its way to becoming a four way brawl."

"Then, would it be wiser to have Caren cancel the war and deal with the Blackened first? That would be the best step," Assassin suggested as she looked your way, "That way, you can take stock of everyone's mood during a ceasefire."

"I don't know if that'll hold... And I doubt Minerva would miss the opportunity to kill me, even with the ceasefire going on," you replied with a frown, "But... That is a fourth option."

[] Go find Sakura and the others. It'll be best if you confronted them now, just don't expect that they'll have a warm welcome with Ophelia behind them.
[] Go track down Ayumi with her blood. You need to make sure if she's being possessed or not. She's the only one who could probably control the Blackened and if Manaka is on the wheel, maybe you can yell at her or something.
[] Go back to Caren and have her order a ceasefire. Dealing with the Blackened comes first and under the rules of the war, a ceasefire could be established if the integrity of the war is at risk. This was one way to look at things.
[] Go hunt Minerva. You want to kill her before she kills you so you might as well get this fucking over with. That way, only the reasonable Masters will be left for you to deal with.

[] Go track down Ayumi with her blood. You need to make sure if she's being possessed or not. She's the only one who could probably control the Blackened and if Manaka is on the wheel, maybe you can yell at her or something.

"We'll have to go search for Ayumi. Leaving her out there on her own gives me more worry than checking on the others. At the very least Miyu is safe for now but we'll have to take her back at a later date," You decided as you glanced at the blood that had dried on the mirror's surface. You walked of it and ran your thumb over them.

You then etched a rune upon them and stepped back, having a wolf made out of magical energy manifest before you. It took one sniff of the blood on the mirror before rushing out and darting across the living room. It then jumped off the window, leaving a trail to follow as you watched it go. You held your stomach wound and felt it sting.

If this turns messy, then you'll be in for a bad time. Still, you have to check. You didn't have much time to idle about, especially when you have to be wary of your own allies. You looked down at your hand at your three Command Seals. You have an advantage over most Masters now, you can't afford to mess this up.

"We'll leave a message for the others if they return here. For now, we have to hurry," you told Assassin as you glanced at her.

"Understood," your Servant replied as the two of you left.

.....
....
...

Surprisingly enough, you didn't end up at the amusement park where the House of Mirrors was located. You were instead led by the tracking rune towards the underground reservoir of the City. You and Assassin knew this place well, it was the location of the battle that caused everything to crumble for you. It was also where Manaka had her last stand as your ally.

To think she would come back here, it was pretty surprising. No, there's still the chance that she wasn't fully back yet and that Ayumi was still in control. If that was the case then what was she doing here? Could there be another reason? Did you leave something important here? You kept walking through the tunnel until the tracking rune dissipated.

"Get ready," you warned your Servant as the two of you stepped out of the tunnel. You both came upon the main section and noticed the flowing water of the city's waterways. The familiar you sent out vanished around here so you were left wondering what could have made it disappear.

You looked around and leaned against the rails to look down one of the churning pools of water being purified before you noticed something under the water. You immediately stepped back in alarm, causing Assassin to speak in your head in concern.

"What's wrong?"

"I thought I saw something under the water," you murmured with a frown. Almost as if you saw the reflection of something...

Looking again there was nothing. The water was clear enough that you could see the dark bottom before you moved along. You then decided to speak up and call for Ayumi.

"Hello? Ayumi? Can you hear me, it's Hans. Call out if you can hear me!" you called, your voice traveling through the reservoir as you stood along the catwalk.

The sound of water flowing continued to rush all around you before you heard footsteps. You looked ahead to find Ayumi standing before you with an out of breath look on her face. Her eyes widened upon seeing you before forcing her legs to move towards you. She ran as she cried out in alarm.

"Run! He's coming!" Ayumi yelled as the pathway behind her exploded. The catwalk shuddered as she was blown towards you, causing you to catch her.

You looked to see a man walk towards you. A tall man with a rather muscular frame emerged from the flames. A white cape covered in slick black mud flowed behind him as his skin had noticeable signs of being Blackened. His golden eyes settled upon you for a split second before looking straight towards Ayumi.

He then lowered the staff he had in his hand before raising his free one. It was as if he was asking Ayumi to come with him.

Ayumi simply held on tight to you and looked away. The Blackened narrowed his gaze before beams of light thundered from behind him to strike you and Ayumi. Assassin reacted fast and smashed the catwalk you were on, causing you three to fall before she grabbed you and Ayumi to jump higher. The Blackened looked down and fell into the pool of water below while Assassin dragged you to the next platform.

You kept a tight hold on Ayumi before you looked down at the Servant on the water, seeing how he caught himself on a floating piece of gold platform. Beams of light gathered behind him and fired, forcing you to pull Ayumi to her feet as the ceiling was carved open.

"Thank you, Hans," Ayumi said as her blue eyes met yours.

"We have to go!" you yelled, ignoring the coldness of her hands, "Assassin!"

The three of you began running as you jumped down to the bottom of the reservoir. Assassin caught Ayumi while you used reinforcement to break your fall. You caught your breath but felt the sting of your wounds pulse through your body. You stumbled but you managed to catch yourself just as you turned to see light headed your way.

"Aegis!" you snapped as your golden shield caught the blast.

It was strong enough to easily shatter your shield, sending you flying back and forcing Assassin to stop. You got up as Chiyome set down Ayumi and threw an explosive kunai at the ceiling. It exploded and caused a cave in which cut off the entrance to the reservoir.

"Hans, get up! What do we do?" Assassin snapped at you.

[] Make an escape. Whatever happens, you're not to confront that Blackened Servant. It's powerful, probably stronger than any individual Servant in this War so far! You have to leave and make a plan!
[] You'll call for help. You and Assassin will hold down your ground while you contact Caren. This is their purview, they should get here and deal with this thing!
[] Write in...