The Kings In The Mountains

[NewAgeOfPower]

Cool. Good chapter, by-the-way.

[Courier]

The sensation I get from this story....its very similar to when I summoned the Giants the first time in Majora's Mask. I...can't describe it. Beautiful.
Just for fun

[Hymn of Ragnarok]

This was so much fun to read. You have a touch for true drama and epicness. I was enthralled with the intro, describing how humanity's heroes have returned to save the world in its hour of greatest need. Cu and Fergus were also fun, and appropriately badass. And the Knights of the Round table? Sheer, unadulterated win.

This fic is a breath of fresh air. No snark or irreverence. I like those at times, but they're like subversions. They lose their weight without the original to be contrasted with.

Here, we have honor, glory, and sheer badassness. You have everyone who shows up shine. I loved every single character you introduced. All of them. I loved how they're all referred to by name. There are no extras, everyone is important. As befits the greatest of humanity's heroes.

Gah. I just love this. I had similar ideas for how to portray Arturia in one of my fics and you beat me to the punch.

I've never played any of the Mass Effect games, although I'd like to someday, but I'm still gonna follow this story by virtue of how awesome the old heroes have been. How damn stylish and awe-inspiring they are, as they should be.

Excellent work Seika.

[Spinach]

and the most famous hero of [censored] next chapter.

Yes, it's obviously Denmark.

[lethum]

Yes, it's obviously Denmark.

I thought it was Luxembourg.

[Mattias]

Wow, I'm getting reminded of 'Far More Terrible' here, and the epic war machine the Knights were in that one-shot.

[Emy]

the most famous hero of [censored] next chapter.

I don't find it obvious.

[India]?
[Mesopotamia]?
[Hameln, Germany]?
[The Emiya Household Kitchen]?

[dragonwarz50]

I don't find it obvious.

[India]?
[Mesopotamia]?
[Hameln, Germany]?
[The Emiya Household Kitchen]?

I like the last one the best....

But If MOTHERFUCKING Karna gets summoned.... Good luck to those xenos I say. They'll need a million worlds worth of fighting forces to put down Karna.

[linkhyrule5]

I'm guessing Greece, myself .

... If Gilgamesh is back, that might do more harm than good, actually. That could be interesting....

At any rate, looking forward to the rest. Ooh, ooh - will you show us Present King meets Once and Future King? Pweeeeeeeze?

[Gunbazca]

@dragonwarz50: hah, India only need their immortal rishis and Ashwattama to come out of hiding. Parashurama alone should be plenty.

[nick012000]

I look forward to Iskander and Waver. After all, he now has a whole new galaxy to conquer. And how he'll react to adult!Waver, with his maido T-1000.

Also, the Japanese Heroic Spirits. I want to see Shirou, Masamune, and Muramasa getting into a sword-forging competition. And Shirou and that knight getting into a Tracing competition. And the inevitable romantic hijinks when Gwenevere and Lancelot find out about the relationship he and Arturia had.

I wonder if Prisma Ilya will turn up, though, given how she goes and defeats a bunch of (corrupted and insane) Heroic Spirits one after the other, and then defeats a serious Gilgamesh in a one-on-one battle. She's certainly got a connection to the Throne of Heroes, what with being the Lesser Grail.

[linkhyrule5]

I'm not sure romantic hijinks really has a place here, or for that matter any of the canon F/SN characters. This isn't really Nasu cross Mass Effect so much as it is Nasu's take on the Heroic Spirits cross Mass Effect; the Kings in the Mountains, not the Kings that currently exist.

... Well, we might see EMIYA, or Heroic Spirit Shirou. That's about it, though.

[legoguydude]

There are no words, but I will try. This...is the worst kind of crossover fic there is: having your favorite characters curbstomp the most powerful entities of another series to show how awesome they are. Like having the Power Rangers beat up Darkseid, or having Drizzt kill a daemon primarch. I'm extremely disappointed in you, Seika.

[nick012000]

I'm not sure romantic hijinks really has a place here, or for that matter any of the canon F/SN characters. This isn't really Nasu cross Mass Effect so much as it is Nasu's take on the Heroic Spirits cross Mass Effect; the Kings in the Mountains, not the Kings that currently exist.

... Well, we might see EMIYA, or Heroic Spirit Shirou. That's about it, though.

Waver Velvet is an Heroic Spirit too, because he's one of Iskander's followers, and thus affected by Iskander's Reality Marble.

There are no words, but I will try. This...is the worst kind of crossover fic there is: having your favorite characters curbstomp the most powerful entities of another series to show how awesome they are. Like having the Power Rangers beat up Darkseid, or having Drizzt kill a daemon primarch. I'm extremely disappointed in you, Seika.

Well, to be fair, the Reapers are still in the "WTF is going on" stage. Once they figure it out (and they almost certainly will), they'll probably roll out whatever tactic they used to stop these sorts of shenanigans in the past (probably involving Indoctrinated Heros, or the Reaperised manifestation of the Heroic Spirits of the races that make up each Reaper). Then the real fight begins.

[khagerou]

Technically Karna is dead, and only "Heroes who will return" are being summoned, most of Hindu Mythology ends with the Mahabharath, after that there are some things here and there.
Kalki is possible because myth states him as a savior who comes at the end of Kalyug to cleanse the world of all evils.
Meh......
Still I doubt any heroes could actually kill Sovereign class Juggernauts by themselves.

[The Curious Fan]

Technically Karna is dead, and only "Heroes who will return" are being summoned, most of Hindu Mythology ends with the Mahabharath, after that there are some things here and there.
Kalki is possible because myth states him as a savior who comes at the end of Kalyug to cleanse the world of all evils.
Meh......
Still I doubt any heroes could actually kill Sovereign class Juggernauts by themselves.

Not just the ones who will return, pretty much all of them are being summoned.

But it is not only these legends who are realised now. Alaya's plea has no hold on them save the common bond of humanity, but few indeed are the heroes who would abandon their species, their planet, or a damned good fight. The path to the Throne of Heroes has been forced wide open, and the best that Earth has ever had to offer comes pouring out.

[eddyak]

Still I doubt any heroes could actually kill Sovereign class Juggernauts by themselves.

A crapton of heroes could tear them apart with their bare hands, if their legends are accurate. Atlas and Heracles, to name just two.

[nick012000]

A crapton of heroes could tear them apart with their bare hands, if their legends are accurate. Atlas and Heracles, to name just two.

Maui could also probably also take one if he's got his net or his fishing line. He caught the sun in his net and beat it up to make it move more slowly, and fished up a giant fish that became New Zealand's North Island, after all.

Which could probably make for an amusing scene, if any of the giant space cuttlefish he kills with them also turn into islands.

[Gunbazca]

Technically Karna is dead, and only "Heroes who will return" are being summoned, most of Hindu Mythology ends with the Mahabharath, after that there are some things here and there.
Kalki is possible because myth states him as a savior who comes at the end of Kalyug to cleanse the world of all evils.

Seika already said that Kalki is out of the question since he's a messianic figure.

These guys, however...

[Seika]

This was so much fun to read. You have a touch for true drama and epicness. I was enthralled with the intro, describing how humanity's heroes have returned to save the world in its hour of greatest need. Cu and Fergus were also fun, and appropriately badass. And the Knights of the Round table? Sheer, unadulterated win.

This fic is a breath of fresh air. No snark or irreverence. I like those at times, but they're like subversions. They lose their weight without the original to be contrasted with.

Here, we have honor, glory, and sheer badassness. You have everyone who shows up shine. I loved every single character you introduced. All of them. I loved how they're all referred to by name. There are no extras, everyone is important. As befits the greatest of humanity's heroes.

Gah. I just love this. I had similar ideas for how to portray Arturia in one of my fics and you beat me to the punch.

I've never played any of the Mass Effect games, although I'd like to someday, but I'm still gonna follow this story by virtue of how awesome the old heroes have been. How damn stylish and awe-inspiring they are, as they should be.

Excellent work Seika.

Get away from my ego! I like it small and crushed!

Yes, it's obviously Denmark.

But If MOTHERFUCKING Karna gets summoned.... Good luck to those xenos I say. They'll need a million worlds worth of fighting forces to put down Karna.

This isn't really meant to be about wanking the Nasuverse heroes, or about a smackdown of the Reapers. That might happen, but I was interested mainly in:

1) The concept itself - what if all these legends did come true, and what if we took the Nasuverse versions?
2) What interesting things might be done with the resurrected heroes. Caladbolg with a true master, Herakles-killing Gáe Bolg, Artoria has to deal with her knights and the prospect of kingship again, next chapter, we have people reacting to the return of an ancient hero who saves them from the terrible invaders, and an exploration of a certain Noble Phantasm.
3) And all the heroes' reactions to an invasion. If you wanted to classify it (and I didn't whilst I was writing, but the categories do work quite well), we've had Neutral (Cú and Fergus dive in because it'll be a good fight) and Good (Artoria and her knights go to war for Britain's sake). Our next hero is the ... selfish, if not outright Evil, part of the equation and his bracketed motivation is (anger). Lots and lots of anger.

To illustrate: look at the last chapter. It was all about Artoria interacting with her knights, getting to rescue Merlin, the weird powers of Llenlleawg, Artoria finding the lions in Trafalgar square ... and the Reaper-killing took two or three paragraphs, because they were completely caught off-guard. In other chapters, I'm weaving the things I want to explore together a bit more closely with the actual scenario of 'Heroes vs Reapers' - the familial/comradely relationship between Fergus and Cú is there throughout, and the Reapers are nice targets for Rune-boosted Gáe Bolg and Caladbolg I. The chapter should be more like the first one, where the themes (destruction/creation; the purpose and value of machines; life, chaos, mortality set against unchanging, unliving, eternal law) are what I'm trying to look at, via the medium of the battle. That, and the characterisation point of, as I said, a canon hero being deeply hacked off.

To return to the beginning - if I saw something interesting in defeat for a hero, I'd be happy to have them get their arses kicked. I just happened to take some scenarios where victory was the obvious outcome - Gáe Bolg and Caladbolg I; multiple Excaliburs; the NP found in Chapter 3. Actually ... that gives me an idea. Bonus chapter idea is born!

At any rate, looking forward to the rest. Ooh, ooh - will you show us Present King meets Once and Future King? Pweeeeeeeze?

I'll put it in the ideas box.

I look forward to Iskander and Waver. After all, he now has a whole new galaxy to conquer. And how he'll react to adult!Waver, with his maido T-1000.

Also, the Japanese Heroic Spirits. I want to see Shirou, Masamune, and Muramasa getting into a sword-forging competition. And Shirou and that knight getting into a Tracing competition. And the inevitable romantic hijinks when Gwenevere and Lancelot find out about the relationship he and Arturia had.

I wonder if Prisma Ilya will turn up, though, given how she goes and defeats a bunch of (corrupted and insane) Heroic Spirits one after the other, and then defeats a serious Gilgamesh in a one-on-one battle. She's certainly got a connection to the Throne of Heroes, what with being the Lesser Grail.

I'm not sure romantic hijinks really has a place here, or for that matter any of the canon F/SN characters. This isn't really Nasu cross Mass Effect so much as it is Nasu's take on the Heroic Spirits cross Mass Effect; the Kings in the Mountains, not the Kings that currently exist.

... Well, we might see EMIYA, or Heroic Spirit Shirou. That's about it, though.

linkhy has it right: I said before that I was trying to keep out all the extras of both universes. No Shepard, no Clock Tower, no TYPE-EARTH screaming about what the hell all these abominations are doing on the planet, and so forth. The canon characters you see are going to be strictly the Heroic Spirits. (Certainly for this original version of the 'fic - maybe I'll drop in others in new bonus chapters if I think there's an interesting enough scenario to be had).

There are no words, but I will try. This...is the worst kind of crossover fic there is: having your favorite characters curbstomp the most powerful entities of another series to show how awesome they are. Like having the Power Rangers beat up Darkseid, or having Drizzt kill a daemon primarch. I'm extremely disappointed in you, Seika.

As I said - and, I hope, demonstrated - above, that's not the point of this 'fic, and I'm sorry if that's what you take away from it. (And, really, I'm fairly comfortable with the relative power-levels I've shown off so far as being essentially true to canon for both sides, unlike - to my knowledge - the examples you gave). I'll reassure you again that there is a broader picture coming, but the main chapters have a narrow focus on the canon Heroic Spirits who have just resurrected and who are engaging ignorant Reapers. There's a lot of factors in there which tilt the scale one way. I've put an extra note at the end of the post for you to look over too.

Waver Velvet is an Heroic Spirit too, because he's one of Iskander's followers, and thus affected by Iskander's Reality Marble.

No, that's fanwank.

Well, to be fair, the Reapers are still in the "WTF is going on" stage. Once they figure it out (and they almost certainly will), they'll probably roll out whatever tactic they used to stop these sorts of shenanigans in the past (probably involving Indoctrinated Heros, or the Reaperised manifestation of the Heroic Spirits of the races that make up each Reaper). Then the real fight begins.

This is the first time such a thing as Alaya has appeared: the Reapers have no special tactic to fight it. If the attribute ever turns up in a subsequent Reaping, though ...

As a general point, I'm going to re-iterate that these are snap-shots, focused on particular heroes, who are various flavours of utterly broken by canon. In two days, we'll be at the epilogue, where you'll see (as I said before) a broad picture of the consequences, a mention of certain factors which limit how much these snapshots can take place (and which I'm a bit surprised no-one's brought up yet), and my take on the result of this scenario.
(This is mildly frustrating for me: when I'd completed the overall plan, I started writing up the prologue, then completed the epilogue whilst editing it - it was the first chapter I actually finished. But, because this is serialised, I can't just point at it. Wouldn't like to do that anyway - story integrity and all, but it'd be nice to have the option ...)