Prologue III

"I'm home! Has everyone already arrived?" Shirou called from the hall.

"Welcome home."

"Welcome home."

Rin and Luvia shouted in unison before turning to stare at one another sourly.

"Welcome home, Master." Saber said. He might not be her master anymore, but to her, he always will.

With that, she drew herself up with her back perfectly straight and her knees pressed modestly together, then bent forward, placing her fingertips on the mat before her, making a bow so perfect and elegant that says she's been doing this for a long time.

Illya glared at her coldly, her own weak "Welcome home, onii-chan," seeming to fall rather flat, and she resolved that next time she would break out the big guns and greet Shirou wearing an apron – and nothing else.

She will show him the wonders of Loli! She shall set him down the path of being a Lolicon even if it means sending him to jail!

A wiseman once said, "Age is just a number, and jail is just a room!"

"Sorry I arrived late, my flight got delayed and—hm?" Shirou stopped his words as he noticed the banner hanging over the wall, "Happy Five Years Anniversary? Ah, so it's that."

"Indeed!" Luvia smiled as she spread her arms, "Today is the fifth year of us surviving the Grail War! So Happy Anniversary everyone!"

"Now, we shall prepare a feast to celebrate the fifth year that we have been together!" Said Artoria with a bright smile and sparkling eyes.

"I'm quite hungry myself," said Bazett as she smiled at Shirou, "Do you have time to cook? Sakura and Caster already made a lot but, as expected, it won't be completed without your cooking."

"Well, If you guys can wait a bit more, then I can." Shirou nodded as he took off his jacket which Illya took. Shirou thanked her and stared at them.

"Sure. Your food's worth the wait." Said Bazett with a shrug.

"Let me help you Senpai." Sakura followed Shirou to the kitchen.

"I'll lend a hand too." Medea also went and followed Shirou.

Knowing that it will take awhile for them to eat, Rin sat down on the couch and took out a raindow-colored gem and began to observed it, causing Artoria to frown as she gave her a stern stare.

"Rin, we already talk about this. No "work"-related stuff during our gathering. Put that gem down, now." She said with a dead serious tone.

"Oohh~ You better listen to her majesty, the King of Knights, Rin, else you'll be punished." said Illya with a grin.

"Hmph!" Luvia released a cold snort, "She probably did not learn a lot during her time with the Wizard Marshal, so she's doing some self studying to make up for what she lack. Such a waste of opportunity."

Rin could've retorted to her, but she only sighed tiredly and said, "If you think learning Kaleidoscope is easy then why don't you go and try? Five years of hard work and this little gem is the best I got to reenact it, and even then this thing could barely even gather some magical energy from a parallel world before burning itself."

"If you focused more on learning Kaleidoscope than your Jewelcraft, then your achievement would've been far more. So don't take it to heart Rin." Said Rider who smiled at her.

She took a potato chips that was on the table and put it in her mouth before saying, "You're not a Caster."

Rolling her eyes, Rin just chose to ignore the glasses woman and continue observing her "Kaleid-Gem", yes, she named it that way. Bite her.

"Rin, put that down. Now." Artoria narrowed her eyes at the Tohsaka head who sighed and nodded at her.

"Fine, fine, I get it. Gosh, you're such a mom." Rin grumbled.

"I mean," Caren stared at Rin, then to Saber, and said, "She did watch you grow up since you're seventeen and took care of you during your time in Clocktower, so you're not wrong."

"What's so special about this thing anyway?" Asked Illya who took the gem from Rin's hands. "That Jewel Sword is much more impressive."

"Hey! Give that back!" Rin glared at her as she opened her palm, expecting her to hand it over, "It's not something a child like you should play with."

"Hmph!" Illya snorted as she observed the gem, "This child you're talking to has almost mastered the Third True Magic and is the closest one here to being a Sorcerer, not counting Caster of course."

Rolling her eyes, Rin said, "Yeah, yeah, now give it back you damn brat."

Illya narrowed her eyes at Rin, not liking the way she talk. She wanted to talk back, but stop herself. She thought of a better way to take revenge.

She doesn't know why she thought this was a good idea, or why she even thought of it in the first place. But it doesn't matter, she will make Rin pay for talking to her like she was a child.

After all, she may have mellowed down quite a bit over the years, but she is still that Tiny Murder Machine who would sicc Berserker to anyone who does not look pleasing to her eyes.

The group's eyes widened as they saw Illya poured a nigh-infinite amount of man into the gem, causing it to release a bright kaleidoscope of colors.

"Stop that Chibi!" Rin yelled as she got up and tried to reach for the gem.

"Goddammit!" Bazett reinforced her legs and leaped towards Illya, reaching for the gem.

But they were too late to react as the bright light engulfed the entirety of the castle. Even the Homunculus living in it who were doing their jobs cleaning and preparing were stunned as the light blinded their eyes.

Everyone were forced to close their eyes under the bright light as they felt like they were on a rollercoaster and some barely hold themselves back from throwing up.

Rider, who pretty much doesn't need her eyes to "see", materialized her chains and nails and wrapped them around everyone and pulled them towards her, making sure they won't be separated.

The others did not resist and let her pull them. Instead, they readied themselves to prepare for battle.

****

Unknown Location...

A group of four people who were walking suddenly stopped when they noticed a large castle hidden in the woods.

"Since when was a castle was built here?" Said a middle aged man with a muscular body standing at 6'5, with a bald head and wearing a brown leather armor while carrying a large two-handed axe.

"That's strange. I was here just a few days ago and I didn't see a castle." Said another man behind him who wears a brown tattered cloak while holding a sniper rifle.

"It was probably hidden by some sort of natural camouflage which can only be seen if we're standing and looking in a specific place, but that's a bit farfetched." Said one of the two women of the group who wears a stereotypical witch clothing with a large hat and a staff.

"Why don't we go and check it out?" Said the last person of the group, a woman with long black hair and tanned skin wearing a revealing clothing while holding a great sword.

"It's dangerous." Said the baldy, "We don't know anything about that place. Besides, what if there are people living there? We'd be trespassing."

"Living? In this Grimm infested forest? Yeah right. The castle look old, probably belongs to a noble before the Great War." Said the man with a sniper rifle, "It's probably abandoned."

"I don't know about that," said the woman wearing a witch outfit as she noticed a group of people coming from the castle approaching them.

The others also noticed it and immediately get into combat stance.

"They are..." The witch's eyes widened in surprise seeing a group of females with different faces but similar in appearance. All of them have pale skin, red eyes, and white hair, and all wears a maid outfit.

The bald man took a step forward when he noticed that the maids just surrounded them and did not do anything.

"I'm Alec, a B-rank Huntsman from Vale, and these are my teammates. We don't mean any harm, we just wanted to safely pass through and head to the town up ahead."

He motioned his group not to attack but merely prepare themselves for battle.

"Hm?" Alec noticed the maids look at a certain direction and followed their gaze. He saw a woman with short white hair, red eyes, wearing a white off-shoulder shirt and blue denim shorts walking towards them.

She was also carrying a halberd in her left hand while holding and licking a popsicle in her right hand. She has a stoic face, and her dull red eyes stared at Alec.

After a few seconds, she pointed her popsicle at Alec and his group, and ordered the maids, "Capture them."

Alec and his group reacted quickly, but they were quickly over powered by the maid group who easily dispatched them.