A normally quiet forest on a moonlit night is now alive with what caster knows as arrows splicing through the air. They patter the underbrush scarring up the landscape as he sits nestled in a tree waiting for his opponents to cross his path unaware.

He had planned a restful night of stargazing by himself but off in the distance he could hear the distinct sound of explosions and yelps from an animal he couldn't quite identify...yet. A dog? A wolf?

"Definitely a canine of some sort." He ponders to himself and rises to his feet. Luckily enough, with his curiosity growing, the commotion was heading straight towards him. He smiles with excitement whilst another electrified blast from a charged arrow hits a tree just beyond the ridge ahead sending a mushroom cloud of smoke and debris into the air.

He crouches down in a combative stance and waits for them to arrive. Another blast followed by a painful cry from the animal and a sinister laugh from a woman echoes around him. He didn't much like the sound or even the thought of earth's creatures being hurt, it had always been something that bothered him. From the sound of this animal it was losing its fight.

Another crash up ahead this time through the first line of trees before him. It lit up the area with small torched patches of brush giving the area enough light to see. Then through the flames bursts a sight he has never seen before. He knew they existed and had felt their prescience many years ago. They are elusive mythical creatures protected by the earth itself. It was a fox, but not just any fox, a nine tailed white fox twice the size of any ordinary fox. He gasps at its beauty in the moonlight and watches it closely as it scampers just under the tree he sits on. To his right is a cliff side that the creature is not able to get around or climb. It slams into the rock side unable to stop due to its speed and following behind is a wild looking woman carrying a large bow.

She comes to a stop at the tree line and laughs.
"There is no place to run now, I have you cornered!"

The fox cowers against the rocks hissing and seething. It was then He noticed the arrow sticking from its shoulder, and the blood drenching it's underside. This was enough to summon his staff and join the fight..

"We could have done this without the bloodshed." She sneers and draws her bow. Just as she pulls back on the string, caster leaps from the tree startling her. He lands in front of the fox on guard, his staff charged and ready to fight.

"Is this what the lower class servants are doing these days?" Caster asks, showing a cheeky smile.

The woman scowls back, baring her teeth.
"Lower class? I am far beyond you forest sage!"

"Oh? Is my identity that obvious?"

"Anyone who knows about runes would know who you are right away. Now get out of my way, I have a fox to catch!" She shoos him away with her hand and walks casually towards caster and the fox. But she is stopped by a rune he had cast while he distracted her with conversation. She freezes in place as vines slither up from the ground wrapping themselves around her legs.

"I don't have time for your tricks!" She wails.

"You do now." He replies smugly.

"You know I am an archer right?" She draws her bow once again but before she can let an arrow go he disappears. She curses his name using her senses to find him, but he was far too sly. Suddenly runes appear circling her clockwise and she braces herself for what is to come next. The runes pick up speed and finally begin to shoot fireballs all at once. She does a decent job of protecting herself but was too distracted to look up. Above her, caster has leapt into the night sky drawing mana into his staff, he whips it around aiming it down words into his opponent then strikes. Backed with electricity his staff makes a direct hit causing a deafening blow to her head, her guard against the barrage of flames disappears and she is thrown back into the forest.

Caster sighs, disappointed in her lack of strength and acuity.
"Not much of a servant is she?" He asks the fox behind him. But it only responds with a shallow cry. Just as he turns to see it the woman shoots an arrow he cannot dodge, one backed with enough mana to level the place entirely. He blocked the initial blast coming from the tip of the arrow's head but was thrown back first into the cliff's edge. He lands nearly on top of the fox but braces himself up on all fours so as not to crush it. It stares up at him frightened and weak, losing its battle against death. He had to do something fast or he would lose this creature.

More arrows join the last and he watches them as they approach. However he has another trick up his sleeve, a lesser version of his wickerman noble phantasm. He calls forth his power and encases both him and the fox in thick strips of wicker wood then activates his divine protection from arrows around it. Thankfully it does the trick and the archer stops her attack.

"Is this what the higher servants do? Hide behind their walls of weeds?" She laughs.

It was time for caster to end this, and he knew just how to do it. He uses his spirit rune to move out from the wicker barrier without her noticing. It gives him the ability to change to any form he wishes, he decides something small like a moth would suffice.

He flutters his way out of the barrier flying right beside her as she waits.

"Come on caster! Give up the fox."

He lands on a branch just to her left.
"What does this fox have anything to do with the holy grail war?" He asks.

"Wouldn't you like to know. Unfortunately you will have to figure that out in your next summoning." She raises her bow absorbing a substantial amount of mana and just before the tips of her fingers slide off the string caster calls forth two runs circles one above and one below her. These runes are meant to freeze whatever is inside the circle to a solid state. Within seconds she is nothing but an ice cold statue mid attack. He then takes this opportunity to shift back to his human form and force the sharp end of his staff through her heart. He has won this battle almost effortlessly.

Satisfied with himself he watches her disappear into nothing but blue mana sparks that float into the sky. As soon as she had vanished completely he turned his attention back to the injured fox and released it from his wicker wood. To his dismay the fox was slumped over on the forest floor. He had very little time left to get this fox to his master's home where they will both be safe and he can start the mending process. He had made sure the home had enough illusionary and defensive runes surrounding it so no one could get inside unless they knew the spells undoing.

Caster gathers the fox, he reaches two strong arms underneath its body and lifts it into his arms. He notices two things upon doing this, the first is the fox is female, the second is how soft her fur is and how it sparkled like the stars in the sky.

"Precious." He hums.

And he was off leaping through the trees as fast as he could.

—————————————————————-
Upon his arrival to his master's house he slips through the barriers and approaches the front door noticing a barely legible note in the door.

I will be back in two days. Fridge is full, don't trash the place!!!!

He rolls his eyes remembering his first day here. It wasn't his fault she had summoned him directly on top of the kitchen table. If she had cleaned up dinner first there would have been far less of a mess to clean up which his master flexed his alias name servant far too quickly in that incident.

He hooks the door knob with one hand still carefully holding the wounded fox and prys it open. A smell of rosemary and vanilla overwhelms his senses, something he is still yet to get used to and he closes the door behind him. He looks around at the room deciding where to place the fox. Somewhere warm, comfortable, with a blanket. His eyes catch on a thick fur rug spread out in front of the fireplace.

Perfect....

He walks over to it and lays the fox down gently on her side then throws a flame rune into the fireplace lighting the coals left from the night prior instantly. Then he got to work on healing this poor creature.

He examines her body first starting with the arrow wound on her shoulder. The actual arrow itself had disappeared when he killed the servant however the wound was still there spilling out blood. He placed a mana charged hand over the wound reciting a mantra to close it. A yellow rune appears on her skin and the gap begins to close. With that done he was able to move onto the rest of her limbs. He lifts her front paws feeling no damage or breaks but as he moves further to her hind legs he finds her right leg to be broken in two places. Caster was really hoping there were no breaks as they take much longer to mend using magic and he would have to splint it.

Up to the kitchen he goes to find something that might work. After a few minutes of rummaging he finally returns with a wooden spoon and a towel he has ripped into strips to tie it all together. It was definitely a makeshift job but he was confident it would do the trick.

With the fox bandaged and breathing more steadily, it's heart rate at a normalized pace he finally gets to relax. He grabs a beer from the fridge and sits down on the couch but instead of turning on the tv, he finds himself staring at the flames in the fireplace thinking of the archer he had just killed and why she was chasing a nine tailed fox. There was a connection between this war and this fox in some way....but why?

His eyes run along its thick tails and up to its pointed nose. He leans forward getting a closer look at her, she was quite adorable looking especially when sleeping, he couldn't understand how someone would want to hurt such a thing. This was all so strange, never in his summonings has anything like this come up. It was always the same battles for the same purpose, but this time it felt different. Even shifting into this world was strange, almost like there was a glitch in the energy, he felt dizzy quite often and occasionally his magic circuits would buzz with a low vibration. In The prescience of this creature he felt far more aware of the world around him. She seemed to level out the energy in the air and was constantly pulsing with mana. She was a powerful little thing, in a distinct way.

He finishes his beer and sets it down on the end table then leans back looking up at the ceiling bringing his hands behind his head to think further. He comes to no resolve and drifts off to sleep.