[h2]Saber[/h2]

It wasn't heard. It wasn't seen. Rather, Saber [i]felt[/i] it, a roaring, rumbling sensation that spread through her very being before she caught sight of a sudden flash of brilliant light. She didn't waste a second, almost immediately wrapping her arm tightly around her Master and hurling herself out of the way. In spite of her size, she was still a Servant, and thus it was an almost effortless motion to dart out of the way and carry her Master at the same time. She felt it rush past her, felt the tremendous backdraft, and saw the concrete rent from the sheer impact. Even in motion, she recalled her armor, her hakama forming in a blaze of green motes of light and her lacquered protection forming in a verdent flash. Her shoes skidded across the hard ground, scattering sparks as she righted herself, her free hand gripping her gleaming nodachi.

The full length of the blade glittered in the moonlight, clasped in one hand, as the black-haired swordswoman set her Master down, swiftly placing her other hand on the weapon's hilt before she stepped forward and in front of Mira. She had hoped to make it to the church without interruption, but if this was to be the first battle of the grail war, so be it.

Her opponent was a man, astride a chariot drawn by two large horses and wielding a spear. From this, she could not determine his identity, but what she could guess at his class. There were few Servants outside of a single class that appeared astride a beast or other form of transport.

"Rider, I presume," she began, narrowing her eyes and holding her lengthy blade at the ready, "An ambush is the beginning of this war's first battle?"

[hr]

[h2]Estelle Varianbec, Master of Rider[/h2]

There was that wonderful feeling again... and then they stopped, suddenly. Eyes fixing on her opponent, the magus with the witch-like garb standing behind the sword-wielding Servant(Doubtlessly, it was Saber. What other Servant would begin their challenge with a blade?) She was quick to take in a few details of the enemy heroic spirit as she got to her feet, standing upon the chariot beside her Rider. A Japanese Servant? That was definitely some kind of katana, and there was no mistaking that clothing or that armor. Smiling brightly, her gaze returning to the enemy Master, the childish magus curtsied.

"Estelle Varianbec," she introduced herself, cheerily. She was certain that any magus who lived here, at least, would recognize the name of her family.

"If you surrender now, we'll merely kill your Servant and spare you the humiliation of her brutal defeat~!"

[@Feyblue][@Blackstripe]