Saber would be lying if she had said she foresaw herself sitting amongst other kings from other times. She'd be lying even further if she said she had foreseen a god of death and an eldritch god being with them.

However, such was the position she found herself in.

While the others were elsewhere in the Einzbern castle, the resident gods and kings were seated in the main courtyard. Gilgamesh had brought drink as they all talked.

Iskandar: "I must know, for all of you, if you have a wish for the grail, what is it?"

Gilgamesh and FemGil both scoffed.

FemGil: "There is no wish I would have fulfilled. I already rule all. This world is my garden, I merely permit you all to exist within it."

Saber: "And by who's law is that?"

FemGil: "It is my law. The one which was set down by me during my time on this Earth."

Iskandar: "Ha! A good answer! What of you, Anubis? Surely if a god has a wish, then it is an interesting one."

Anubis: "Hm... I would wish reverence for the gods to cease."

The others were surprised by Anubis' wish.

Iskandar: "Why would you wish for reverence of the gods to stop, Anubis? Surely you have no regrets."

Anubis: "Indeed, I have none. But being put upon a pedestal makes one more likely to become a puppet than a person. I would wish that gods were not so revered simply so I could walk among humanity and be regarded as just another person. Being who I am, I cannot go anywhere without being recognised and revered. I do not mind the recognition, but I wish I could hold a casual conversation with people more often."

Gilgamesh: "Ah, that's why you enjoy Chaldea so much."

Anubis smiled, he had quickly grown to love Chaldea for the way he was treated. Not as the guide to the underworld, not even as a god. He was treated like a human in Chaldea. It was exhilarating for him, he had seen Nitocris get nervous whenever Jack accidentally ran into him in the halls. However Anubis quite enjoyed being around the child servants. They were at the start of their lives in a sense. Being summoned as children meant that every second was all the more precious to them.

Anubis had seen children in the underworld before, while he showed little to no emotion while guiding them, he still wanted to shed a tear for those children who unjustly lost their lives from plague, war, or famine.

Iskandar: "So you wish to be treated as a man rather than a god. I can see the appeal. To walk with humanity is a great privilege."

Chiyo: "HA! Maybe while you were around, but post 2012? Nah. You want NOTHING to do with humanity."

Gilgamesh: "As much as it pains me to admit, from what I've read on Chaldea's database, I have to agree. Who would have thought that shooting a gorilla could lead to such a hilarious downward spiral?"

FemGil: "And what of you, Rider? What would your oh-so-grand wish be?"

Iskandar: "To start my campaign of conquest once again! I vowed to reach Okeanos and come hell or high water, I will see that horizon again!"

FemGil: "Fuhahahaha!"

Gilgamesh: "Under normal circumstances, I would call such a wish utterly boring. However with humanity's current situation, I say go for it."

Saber sighed. She knew her wish would be frowned upon by these tyrant kings. However they still posed the question to her.

Iskandar: "Well, Saber? What of your wish?"

Saber: "... I would-"

Lartoria: "I would try and restore the kingdom I once ruled. I would change nothing of my rule, but would start anew."

Iskandar: "HAHA! Excellent!"

Lartoria: "I have no regrets about my life, but I do want to see my kingdom flourish as it once did under my rule. Though, I may have some new strategies for ruling if and when it comes to pass."

Saber was in shock. Lartoria was an older version of her, so why would she want nothing to change? Was Camelot not brought to ruin in her life?

Lartoria knew the questions Saber had for her and answered them in kind.

Lartoria: "Before you say anything, Saber. My rule was the same as yours. I made all the same mistakes until the end of my life. The difference lies in what I gained after I died. I learned of how Britain flourished as an empire that spanned across the globe and, well, I regained a family in a sense."

Lartoria looked over as Mordred smirked at her.

Lartoria: "If I were to have my wish heard by the grail, I would simply start anew. Changing the past means erasing all I have gained since Camlann. That is not something I will accept."

Mordred: "Father just wants an excuse to drink with the knights again."

Lartoria: "I will neither confirm nor deny that statement, Mordred."

The others nodded with Lartoria. Gilgamesh had already heard of Saber's wish to undo her final moments. Hilarious, but foolish. Her older self had gained much more experience and knew the difference between ruling as a pawn and ruling as a king.

Lartoria: "A king should be fair, yet ruthless. A king should not shoulder the ideals of his people, but his people should instead share in the kings ideals."

Iskandar: "I could not have said it better myself. A king lives for his ideals and his alone."

Lartoria: "Not necessarily. A king can take his people into consideration. But at the end of the day, the kings decisions are final."

Gilgamesh: "Indeed."

Saber could find no words to describe how she felt. Her older self had taken the ideals of a tyrant king. She felt almost betrayed, though she chose not to comment.

Alexander: "What of you, Chiyo? I don't think you ever told us if you had a wish or not."

Chiyo: "Did I not? Well, it's pretty easy. I'm the black goat of the forest with a thousand young. My wish would simply be for my young to grow and live. Oh, and of course I'd want them to S̸͚͂ ̸̧̽U̸̯̍ ̸̦̋B̶̮̐ ̷̼̌J̴͓͝ ̵̛̭U̵͕̚ ̵͇͆G̶͍̏ ̵̻̍Ä̴̢́ ̴̻͊T̵̘͗ ̷̯͑E̷̺͗.

The servants jumped as Chiyo let her eldritch voice through for a moment, though it was followed by laughter.

Nearby, Y/n gazed down at the servants from one of the balconies overlooking the courtyard. He wore a smile on his face, though he felt hollow inside from the things he had seen. He subconsciously scratched at the scars on his hands from where the bolts had been driven through them when Caster had captured him during the real fourth grail war.

???: "Thinking about Caster's lair still?"

Y/n looked at the projection from Chaldea and found the resident true ancestor looking rather concerned.

Y/n: "Shouldn't you be asleep, Arcueid?"

Arcueid: "Nah, I was curious as to how things usually go in the command room, so I decided to have a peek."

Y/n: "Well, how are you finding it?"

Arcueid: "It's kinda complicated. but I can kinda grasp the basics. Everyone's vitals, servant classes, mana levels. I can see shit like that."

Y/n: "Well that's pretty much all you need to know."

Arcueid laughed before realising that Y/n was trying to dodge her earlier question.

Arcueid: "Alright, seriously though. You good?"

Y/n: "I suppose it shouldn't be too concerning. I already lived through it."

Arcueid: "Doesn't mean it can't still affect you, y'know?"

Y/n: "I get that... Still though, I was on the outside looking in this time."

Arcueid: "Hey, at least you weren't cut into seventeen pieces."

Y/n: "True, still fuckin' hurt though. I mean, I was basically crucified."

Arcueid: "True. Still, you made it outta there so it's not all bad."

Y/n: "And with that, I cannot argue. Though, I suppose Haruna's partly responsible for helping me get my mental state back on track. After mom died it was just me and her."

Arcueid: "Your sister, huh? I can definitely tell that you two are close."

Y/n: "How 'bout you? Surely you've got some sort of relatives, right?"

Arcueid: "I'm descended from Type Moon. Or, Brunestud of the Crimson Moon. But I do have a sister, Altrouge Brunestud."

Y/n: "Younger or older?"

Arcueid: "Older, I'm eight hundred, she's... I don't actually know how old she is. But she was born first."

Y/n: "Heh, so you know what it's like too, huh?"

Arcueid: "We don't talk much to be fair."

Y/n chuckled as he gazed down at the kings.

Y/n: "I can't help but wonder how things are gonna turn out once humanity's been restored."

Arcueid: "The mages association's gonna be on your ass if they find out what you can do."

Y/n: "If they do, then I'll just do what I do best. Politely and concisely tell them why that's a bad idea and talk them into seeing things from my perspective."

Arcueid: "And by that you mean you'll ruthlessly hunt them and torture their families in front of them until they give up the search for them."

Y/n: "Oh a hundred percent. Death by a thousand cuts and all that good shit."

Arcueid laughed before yawning. She was tired so she said goodnight to Y/n before walking back to her room.

On the way, she saw Gudako and Gudao in the cafeteria. They were discussing servants that could possibly be summoned. Gudao offhandedly made the comment that he wondered if Arcueid would be able to summon a servant.

That idea got Arcueid herself thinking.

As powerful as Arcueid was, she never entertained the idea of summoning a servant.

Though there was that incident with Zelretch where he summoned a creature that could basically be a beast of calamity in itself.

Brunyaaa.

Arcueid shuddered at the memory of that being, however she had to admit that she was curious now that she had seen the servants around Chaldea.

So she decided to entertain her curiosity and headed to the summoning room. She didn't need sleep, she needed answers.

When the next day came around, the two masters of Chaldea that were still in the base blinked as they saw a new face among the other servants.

Shinbei seemed apprehensive of the new servant, however the other servants seemed to be getting along well with him.

Gudao: "So, uh... Who summoned ponytail over there?"

Roman walked over with a confused smile.

Roman: "Apparently our resident vampiress did it."

Gudako: "WAIT! SHE CAN SUMMON SERVANTS!?"

Roman: "It took her a few attempts, but she managed it."

Gudao: "Where is she now?"

The servant had overheard Gudako's yelling and walked over.

???: "My master is currently asleep in her room. She is quite a heavy sleeper as it turns out."

Gudao: "Well she IS a vampire, so sleeping during the day's no big surprise."

Roman: "She doesn't burn in sunlight though like most people believe vampires do."

???: "Haha! Well, I suppose I should introduce myself. I am Shinsaku Takasugi. Saber class."

Gudako: "... I got nothing, I'm just horny."

Gudao: "Surprising LITERALLY nobody!"

Gudako: "HEY! YOU CAN'T SAY SHIT! YOU BLOW ASTOLFO ON THE DAILY!"

Gudao: "HOW MANY TIMES HAVE I SAID IT!? IT'S FUCKING MUTUAL!"

Gudako: "EQUAL OPPORTUNITY DICK SUCKING IS STILL DICK SUCKING, GUDAO!!"

Both: *Unintelligible screaming*

Shinsaku: "Is this... Normal?"

Roman: "Shinsaku. Nothing about those two is normal."

The saber laughed good naturedly before Roman walked back to the command room. When he sat down, he tried to communicate with the three masters in the singularity.

Roman: "Y/n, Sakura, Ophelia. You three hear me okay?"

Ophelia: "Loud and clear, Doctor."

Sakura: "Yeah, I hear you."

Y/n: "You need something?"

Roman: "A few things. Y/n, is Ahura-Mazda ready to deal with Angra yet?"

Y/n: "He said it's gonna take some time but we should be ready soon."

Roman: "Alright. Next thing, was Caster in his lair when you torched it?"

Y/n: "No. Slimy bastard was nowhere to be seen."

Roman: "Right, then I suggest getting your asses in gear. Fourth grail war records show that Caster deployed his noble phantasm in the river and formed some kinda massive eldritch horror spawn."

Y/n: "So we've gotta haul ass to the river. You get all that, Kiritsugu?"

Y/n looked over as the counter force assassin emerged.

Kiritsugu: "Yeah. I got it. I'll locate the master. You guys handle Caster himself."

Y/n nodded before closing his eyes for a moment. Caster was likely going to bring back old memories, however Y/n would simply have to do what he did before.

Exhaust the concept of annihilation...

Exhume the concept of death...

And inflict devastation.

End of Chapter.

Next Time: Battle At The Riverside.