Hello everynyan, I greet you from parts outside of Beast Lair! Boss Elf let me know about you guys on FF.net and I decided to poke my head in here.
Please don't break out the guillotine.
My story takes place in a world where people just had their affairs more together than they originally did. Because of this there was no massive fire at the end of the war. Several battles also went off course thanks to events.
Now ten years have passed and our protagonist has grown up as a normal kid. A normal kid in a world that's growing more obsessed with electronics by the day. One where people are in danger of information overload.
Welcome to the Fifth Holy Grail War, Shirou Urobuchi...
*****
http://www.fanfiction.net/s/6859461/...And_Wizard_Hat : The main story. Up to chapter 14. The last chapter is being looked over by my beta as this thread goes up.
I usually recommend the FF.net versions since I tend to brush up the humor/tone down the overblown scenes a little here, but you guys are welcome to look over the thread for Gen 2 Betas that I put up here.
http://www.fanfiction.net/s/6931474/...e_Kaleidoscope : A series of omakes, what ifs, and could bes for the main series. The Second Magic is so convenient for showing off alternate possibilities and new worlds, eh?
*****
Chapter Index for thread:
Chapter 16, Part I
Chapter 16, Part II
Chapter 17, Part I
Chapter 17, Part II
Chapter 17, Part III
Chapter 17, Part IV
Chapter 18, Part I
Chapter 18, Part II
Chapter 18, Part III
Chapter 18, Part IV
Chapter 19, Part I
Chapter 19, Part II
Chapter 19, Part III
Epilogue
Reflections of the Kaleidoscope:
World 89
The End - For Now.
Fanart - *SPOILERS ahead - Don't click on this until you've completed the story* (Thank you, djibriel!)
*****
Fate/Zero is the property of Type-Moon and Nitroplus. Fate/Stay Night is the property of Type-Moon. All additional references and parodies belong to their respective owners.
Chapter 15: Animate Dead II
“This...isn't proper at all, is it?” Arturia wondered. While she could understand replacing the tatters of the outfit she had been wearing before she had shifted to her battle armor – she just could not understand the purpose of what she was wearing.
A small open chested red leather vest with draw strings along the sides and an equally tiny looking crimson leather skirt with golden buttons just artistically sewn in the front rested on the bed in front of her. A garter belt, stockings, shoes, and a ribbon lay next to the scandalous outfit.
Apparently this and the much safer looking outfit Ilya had taken with her had been worn for her Master's benefit the other night.
The king uncomfortable shifted in place and flushed a bit. She glanced over at the outfit she had been wearing up until they had dropped by her Master's home. It and her shoes were still lying within the white garbage bag it had been stuffed into by Ilya.
The smell of the bag was great.
The king picked up the trash bag and walked over towards the door of Shirou's room to drop it out into the hallway along with the other one containing Ilya's ruined clothing. She quickly jerked her body back into her Master's bedroom and closed the door.
Arturia turned her gaze over at the clothing on the bed.
The amount of leather was minimal.
Arturia crossed her arms in front of her bare chest as she flip flopped between one great evil and another as she wiggled in place in thought. The last time she had ever given so much thought as to what to do had wound up costing her Caliburn!
'What would Master say if I came up to him in these outfits?' Arturia wondered worriedly. The last thing she needed was to turn the opinion of the one person who actually considered her a warrior despite her gender.
It seemed to be her lot in life, though. Even back during the last Grail War everyone started treating her differently when it was found out who she was. It was subtle but even Irisviel had kept trying to push her to be something she wasn't totally comfortable with being.
Only Rider had really seemed to not change too much in how he had treated her once he found out she was a King as well. He had been an outstanding example of a King. Not like Archer had been...
'Still, he got disgusted with me when he found out about my wish, didn't he?' Arturia sighed as she remembered her final bout with the King of Conquerors. At least Archer had been occupied with Berserker during that last fight.
Arturia decided to go ahead and start putting on the outfit. She couldn't afford to be complacent and dither anyway. She quickly threw on the outfit and began to clench at the strings as the vest closed as much as it could over her chest.
The king instinctively brought her bare arms up and tied the ribbon around her left bicep as she finished tying the shoes on her stocking clad legs. She spun to face the cracked mirror on the floor of her Master's bedroom.
“...I look ridiculous.” Arturia pronounced as she hung her head.
The slip of a girl that stood posed in the crimson leather outfit was most definitely worthy of scorn. From how large and doe eyed the green eyes were as she ran her surprised gaze along her exposed body to how ridiculously inappropriate it was in Arturia's eyes to show off such muscular arms and shoulders in the skimpy top.
'Not man enough to be a king. Nor woman enough to be Arturia.' Arturia snorted in self disgust. Camelot definitely deserved someone better than her. The blonde turned away from her reflection in anger.
Arturia's eyes widened as she saw a portrait -poster- on the back wall of the room. She walked around a strange device -computer- that had fallen and broken to pieces on the floor. She moved past a bookcase that had toppled over to drop a series of miniature figures dressed in heavy armor, wielding some oddly modified swords -chainsaws- towards a poster.
It rested on the wall six inches to the left of a window facing a darkened neighborhood. With it being partially open, Arturia could hear only profound silence besides the steadily rumbling sound of an generator.
A tingly itch went up in the back of Arturia's mind.
“Merlin?” Saber blinked and frowned. Why did that slip out? His name wasn't Merlin. It was Myr-Merlin." The king took a step back from the poster fearfully as she shook her head to dispel the thought. Bringing her own will to the task she looked on the poster of a robed older man standing before a castle and holding a staff.
“Merlin” read towards the bottom of the poster. Yet she knew who it was supposed to be. She knew better than what she kept getting repeated to her. Arturia remembered that she had even slipped and had even given her Master that incorrect name as well.
The itch in the back of her mind swelled up again.
“If you could only see me now, Myrddin.” -Saber's- intense concentration allowed her to speak the correct name of her mentor.
Yet...why did it seem like something else had gone wrong?
“I hope Ilya isn't having an easier time getting dressed.” Saber looked back at the door of the bedroom thoughtfully.
*****
Ilya felt her right shoulder throb again as she stood in the trashed living room of the Urobuchi home only with a dark gray skirt, her bra, and a black and red striped necktie around her neck. The gray sweater and white button shirt that came with this skirt were draped on top of the kotatsu in the corner.
Ilya looked around at the knocked over bookcases and pictures on the walls and once again marveled at how well prepared Uncle Ren had been to get the home reinforced before the earthquake had struck it. She walked around the mess in the living room and glanced outside. Several of the building across the street had completely collapsed from the shaking.
'Son of a bitch!' The albino's face purpled with rage as her arm once again helpfully reminded her that she had to turn down Uncle Ren's morphine pills thanks to her messed up body. She reached up with her left hand and rubbed at her forehead to wipe out sweat that had collected.
Oh, fuck this shit.
Ilya decided that she couldn't deal with being practically naked thanks to her arm's stupid condition. Not that Uncle Ren would protest if she traipsed around naked anyway. He always was more tolerant of her quirks than anyone else.
'Well, not enough to not go ape shit when I said a 'gang' had attacked.' Ilya winced as he heard the distant sounds of Uncle Ren banging around in his room down the hall.
Ilya carefully moved around several shattered plates on the floor of the kitchen as she opened up the refrigerator. The puttering sound of an gas powered generator in the cramped backyard this house had behind the kitchen increased a bit as the refrigerator's light came on when she opened the door.
The albino sighed in relief as she dipped her head and upper body into the cool fridge in search of something she could eat and convert into fuel for her magecraft. Her red eyes happily lit up as she saw two plates of leftovers with Shirou's name on it.
Ilya reached forwards with her left hand and pulled out a large plate out and over towards the nearby kitchen counter. She carefully glanced over her now chilled shoulder to see if anyone was around. She summoned her prana strings when she saw that her uncle hadn't come out yet and used them to slash apart the plastic wrap around the riceballs, fish, and bowl of miso.
“My tentacles kick your tentacle's asses Matou-kun.” Ilya snorted as she dispelled them and reached to quickly devour everything set out before her. Some mild flavors struck her palate as she devoured Uncle Ren's fair. Not as good as her own food but not as bad as Shirou.
Or her mom's own food.
Ilya shuddered a bit as she finished smacking her lips together. Her small pink tongue lashed out from her pouty lips and ran along the surface of her skin to finish drawing in everything she could from the meal.
“Uncle is getting pretty decent.” The albino mused. Ravenous hunger struck her moments before she darted back into the refrigerator for more food. It was the price to pay for having triggered the dregs of knowledge that had been forcibly implanted in her such a long time ago.
*****
“Those fucking bastards are going to pay for touching sweet Ilya-chan!” Ren grit his teeth as he tore into the thick strap of duct tape. The older man used the large piece of sticky adhesive to finish securing his masterpiece together.
His nerves, which had been on high alert ever since the earthquake had struck, began to die down as he gazed upon his naginata. Sure, the blade itself was as dull as all get out, but it was cast out of solid steel.
Ren hurriedly continued setting up the last of his preparations. He wasn't going to be taking any chances with his fellow human beings. Especially since Ilya had said she and her foreign friend had been attacked by a gang of delinquents.
The older man looked around at the dozens of discarded boxes of duct tape lay on top of his bed along with his weapon.
The five foot long steel naginata had two red bricks taped to the bottom of it. On the tip of the weapon rested a decently sized chainsaw that had also been liberally attached with more duct tape. The whole thing was liberally wrapped around with even more duct tape to reinforce the weapon.
It wasn't going to take him far. But it was more than enough to intimidate even the shadiest of punks if they tried to come after Ilya in the wake of the disaster.
“Hoorah!” Ren lifted his creation over his head. He set the weapon back down on the weapon after finding the weight to his liking.
Then again, there was yet another problem besides this. There wasn't the typical human reactions at all factoring into his preparation. Not a single person had come up to his door and knocked or called out at all during the whole time he had been getting ready.
The sound of his gas powered generator rattling through the walls of the house and his shout were the only two noises he had heard ever since the earthquake had struck. Very faintly in the distance he could make out the wails of emergency response vehicles.
It should never be this quiet in a neighborhood.
'Don't think about it too much.' Ren desperately reminded himself. None of his neighbors had come over to his house even though he was the only house with power in the block. That wasn't normal at all. 'Do not bring down the fickle fates on yourself.'
'Call me a fool for buying all those extra policies, do they!' Ren distracted himself by thinking about how much money he was going to make off all this. 'Big bucks here I come~ This over-insured rat's nest is going to make me freaking rich by the time this is all over.'
Ren's fear, now sufficiently kept at bay with the thought of all those yens, abated as he went about gearing himself to look properly intimidating. First came some war paint on his face. The black and green paint smeared itself smoothly onto his cheeks along with a coating of black around his eyes.
Ren moved on to cover his torso. A long sleeved leather jacket went on first. Over it came a bullet proof vest. It was a bit frayed, but he had reinforced it after he bought it online. A chest pad from a cannibalized football uniform came over the vest last.
His arms and legs came next. Ren, already wearing a set of thick denim jeans, hopped into a slightly larger pair of denim pants to layer his legs from scrapes and tears. After he buckled a belt over the two layers of pants he slipped on ceramic knee pads with thick padding on the inside onto his legs.
Another set of ceramic elbow pads went on over his arms along with some leather gloves on his hands.
Ren slipped on an dark vest over his uniform. A set of pockets were woven on the surface and each one had either a knife or a taser set tightly into them.
Afterward, he set a rounded football helmet down around his cranium and latched it around his chin. The green brushes had been donated from his broom and had been glued on top of the helmet to give it the appropriate mohawk look.
Ren glanced over at the mirror hanging up on the inside of his closet door and nodded firmly to himself. He was now pretty much the most intimidating looking person he had ever met. The finishing touches and his weapon would also have everyone either fleeing from a lunatic or understating him so badly they wouldn't see his weapons coming.
'I wonder when the police are going to mobilize? This is a pretty poor showing for our tax dollars. Pride of Japan, my ass.'
“Just one last thing to go...” Ren happily reached over and placed a ceramic neck brace around the only part of his body still exposed.
“Hm...and Shirou thought I'd never make the Mad Max look work for me.” Ren snorted.
'No one is going to fuck with my family now!' Ren happily thought as he reached over towards his bed and grasped his weapon.
*****
Ilya glanced up at hearing the sound of Uncle Ren's cheer. She grinned and rolled her eyes as she finished chugging what remained of the juice inside the refrigerator. The last dark spots on her shoulder visibly faded away just as she tossed the empty carton in the nearly overflowing trash can.
The albino winced slightly as she glanced into the emptied fridge and guiltily shut it.
'I'll have to replace the groceries later.'
That's when she heard the door to Shirou's bedroom slide open. Ilya turned and quickly moved towards the white dress shirt. Her fingers dexterously began to undo the buttons on it as she moved to and began to undo the buttons on it.
Hopefully she could get it on before...
“Ilya!” The silver haired girl winced and turned towards Saber. Chagrin and amusement danced in her red eyes as Ilya began to turn to see the skimpily dressed Servant.
'Probably mad I made her acknowledge she was a girl.' Ilya thought mirthfully. 'No reason to be so butt hurt that I want to call her Arturia.'
She thought it was a pretty name. Hell, no one would be able to connect it to King Arthur in a hundred years.
Yet the expected anger on the blonde's features faded to a look of surprise.
Ilya blinked and looked at her healed arm. She waved it about dismissively.
“If it's about the arm, it's fine, see?” Ilya's mood began to dim a bit as she saw the surprise remain on Saber's face. The silver haired teenager blinked and tried to explain as best as she could without letting Uncle Ren hear certain keywords. “I know the same stuff my mom does...or are you amazed at my awesome body~?”
“What happened to your back?” Ilya's joking mood came crashing to the ground. Her smile went brittle as she nervously licked her lips. She quickly threw on the white button shirt over her nearly bared top and began to button it up.
Old scars twitched at being acknowledged.
“Oniichan was really frisky when I gave myself to him.” Ilya was looking away from Saber as she harshly tugged on her gray sweater over her head and down over her dress shirt. “Oniichan can be a real carnivore if you're not careful.”
“Those aren't fresh looking. Plus why would Master ever risk placing such thick looking marks so close near the major arteries on her nec...” Saber's hurried tone was suddenly cut off as the silver haired teenager slashed across the air with her left hand.
“Saber.” Ilya barked out as she reached towards the back of her head and reached into her thick locks of hair to roughly tug the rich wave of hair out from beneath the sweater. Her pinkie dug into sensitive grayish skin at the base of her head.
Saber firmed her lips into a thin line as Ilya slumped slightly in place. The king silently gazed at the magus for a few moments as the concern she had felt on seeing the teenager's back began to give way to annoyance at herself.
“...nevermind.” The blonde bit out before Ilya could open her mouth. Both of them decided to a strained silence as they simply gazed at each other's eyes.
'Why did I expect something different?' Saber began to wonder. 'She's his daughter, right? Just another lia...'
The front door suddenly stopped existing as a solid barrier against the outside world at that moment. A tide of bizarrely warped and uniquely mangled pallid humans began stumbling towards the two teenagers as one.
Each was a more nightmarish parody of death than the last one. Some were missing their lower jaws. Others had their guts hanging out and dripping out of their torsos. A few had a missing limb here or there. Nearly all of the males rushing them had gaping wounds at some point in their bodies.
However the looks of the women in the crowd were disturbing on a different level for Ilya and Saber.
They were entirely whole. Not a single mark was on their bodies. Yet that was a point of horror in its own way as their clothes were torn apart. The look of mindless rage found in the males' eyes were absent in the women, replaced instead with one of confused horror.
Ilya raised a hand to her face as the two of them began to back away from the crowd as she saw a thick liquid drip down from the shadows beneath a mostly torn apart skirt on one of the pallid women's bodies. A few of them sleepily looked around and shuddered in place before looking at the males around them or even Ilya and Saber hungry looks.
A chalk white and bulbous worm slipped out from between a woman's lips and let out a shriek at both of them.
“Saber...!” Ilya yelled.
Saber snarled as she stepped forwards and brought both of her hands together. A surge of wind began knocking aside books and making a few of the corpses stumble awkwardly as they were knocked backwards.
But an equal amount of bodies moved forwards.
The look of madness and rage in the male corpses grew more pronounced as their collectively opened their circuits. A dizzying wave of weakness ripped through both Ilya and Saber as they collapsed to their knees as the familiar worms they had faced before once again used absorption to suck out the energy in the area.
The looks of hunger in the women also began to increase as pronounced squirming appeared beneath their flesh. Blood splurted out of their hands and ran down their hands as thick nails began to slide out of their fingers.
The sound of a chainsaw's engine being revved up answered the howls and moans of the beasts moving towards the two women.
“FOR THE EMPEROR!” Ren shouted as he exploded out of the hallway. He looked like the god of war from an apocalyptic wasteland as the urbanely armored man swung his chainsaw naginata straight at the head of one of the male corpses.
****
“Show them your might, Herakles!”
Ilyasviel laughed as she casually sat on the broad shoulders of her Herakles and clutched onto him with prana strings. The giant blurred as he brought his massive stone axe to bear and smashed another two puppets into smears of gore and bits of worm.
Before the earthquake had struck, the two of them had been whiling away the time until nightfall playing with her two maids, Sella and Leysritt. The two of them were quite easily dominating the maids.
Which made perfect sense since they were the strongest!
“My half of the vessel are reacting to her.” Ilyasviel sneered as she thought about the stain on her family's heritage. The thought of the other one who bore her name being allowed to walk around in broad daylight without a care in the world began to make her see red.
“Shall we be off, then?” Herakles gazed up at the small girl on his shoulder.
“Do it again!” Ilyasviel eagerly grinned as she leaned up against his head.
“Are you sure?” Herakles rumbled, a bit embarrassed.
“Pleeeease?” Ilyasviel fluttered her silver lashes at the older man.
Herakles, the demi-god that had battled with the worst that the Age of the Gods had to offer, immediately crumbled before that gaze. “Well...alright.”
'Children. My one true weakness.' He thought in a bit of amusement.
Why was he surrounded by little girls again?
Herakles mentally winced at he remembered the awkwardness when he had attempted to flirt a little with the two maids. Only to find out that they were two years old chronologically if not biological.
Homunculi were dangers creatures. In many, many ways.
Ilyasviel cheered as Herakles banished his weapon. He reached to the back of his tunic and drew out a massively sized headdress. It was certainly eye catching with several large white feathers contrasting against the leather strap of the headdress itself.
It stood out even more as Herakles tied the headdress up against his head.
“Remember that Leysritt is just lending this to us for now! We would have totally beaten them at chess but we have to be careful not to get it dirty, okay?” Ilyasviel eagerly asked.
“Of course.” Herakles rumbled with a smile.
“Alright! I'll link our senses together so you know where that copycat is hiding then!” Ilyasviel's body was lit up from beneath her elegant dress by a mass of magic circuits as she cast a spell to link the two.
Herakles immediately gazed off to the east and tensed his legs beneath him.
Ilyasviel yelped as Herakles took off in a giant leap. The ground thirty feet around his point of jumping collapsed into a deep crater as both he and his Master soared through Fuyuki's night skies.
Yet Herakles was able to make out their switch approach down on a building being swarmed by more of those filthy monsters.
*****
A dark skinned young girl and a massive bronzed giant came crashing down through the roof of Ren's home at the same moment he struck his first blow. It nearly made him want to dive out of the way but his armor soaked the damage as rubble smacked into him.
“The hell are you people?!” The older man reached towards his vest and drew out a small knife to stab it in the eye of one of the monsters trying to come for him as he struggled with both his chainsaw and the first victim he had turned it on.
Ren's chainsaw naginata, which he realized probably needed more tweaking for actual combat, was currently stuck in the neck of the first zombie he had tried it out on.
“Herakles and I are here to kill the traitor!” The dark skinned girl cheerfully responded from on top of the man as rubble and dust began to settle. A few of the zombies decided to break rank to go towards the newcomers.
A rather shaky looking Saber began rising to her feet. A look of confusion and anger entered her green eyes. “You're not getting anywhere near Ilya!” To Ren's eyes she then got into an overblown stance and gripped nothing at all.
And-- hello!
Ren gaped as he wrenched his knife out of the eye socket of his own target as Saber swung horizontally. Three zombies that had been about to get to her and Ilya were instantly decapitated as she offered the silver haired teenager a hand up.
Blood coated and displayed the shape of a invisible weapon in her other hand.
The chainsaw's engine sputtered off as Ren's surprise gave him enough strength to wrench the chainsaw completely out of the neck of his first opponent. The zombie collapsed to the ground spraying blood from its exposed wounds.
Ren began using his knife to keep the zombies away from him as he began to move closer through the crowd and towards Ilya.
“You're not going to stop us!” The girl's words were backed up by her giant's words as he swung and messily reduced several attackers to gore. “The Einzbern legacy will be restored!”
At that same moment the young girl rose to her feet and showed herself to Ren, Saber, and Ilya.
“Ilya?!” Ren shouted in surprise as he ducked under a swiping slash from one of the women. The sharp nails bounced off his helmet long enough for him to dart forwards and stab her in the neck with his knife.
“It's Ilyasviel von Einzbern!” The young girl angrily replied just as he arrived by Saber and Ilya's side. The teenager was looking pale with fright at seeing her doppelganger. “I am the true self! That copy needs to return everything she st-”
“Move!” Saber pushed Ren and Ilya before out into the backyard just as a new wave of zombies came barreling into his house from the streets. Their eyes flashed bright red as the bronze giant and the young blonde both collapsed to their knees.
“Mmph!” Saber began to gag and lost her grip on whatever she had been holding. Ren quickly rushed up behind her and grabbed her from around the shoulders as he began to try to pull her into the backyard.
Ilya still looked like she was lost as she stared at the younger girl in horror.
“Herakles, what's wrong?!” The young girl was desperately trying to rouse the giant. “Please speak to me!”
The crowd of zombies he hadn't crushed with his entrance began striking and biting at the bronze giant. Each of the blows tore more of his clothing off him but wasn't nearly enough to get through the giant's skin. After a few moments they began to try and get easier prey as they tried and reach up towards the girl.
“It's prana! Those monsters are absorbing it from the Servants!” Ilya shouted as she snapped awake. Saber offered Ren a shaky smile and she shook off her paralysis once the air in the backyard began to hit her.
A wet hiss rose up as a zombie charged across the kitchen towards them.
Saber brought up her hand and clenched it around that invisible weapon. With a single and smooth motion she pierced the monster straight through before flicking them off her weapon.
Ilyasviel glanced over at them for another moment before she shrieked as one of the zombie's flailing arms grasped her around her ankle and began to pull her down. “No! Help me, Herakles!” The young girl's pleading caused the massive giant to begin to tremble. But his paralysis held firm.
Ren wasn't going to stand to see a girl get eaten alive in front of him, though.
“I'm going in.” Ren snapped his eyes over at the two women and began to step back into the house. He was grabbed around the shoulders and torso and hauled backwards by both of the females, though.
“You can't go in there! You'll be killed!” Ilya shouted.
“Don't act as foolish as Master Shirou.” Saber was the one who was pulling him back, though. “She was our enemy. We cannot afford to show mercy to them when they clearly wish to kill Ilya.”
“Well, that just makes me a dumbass, then!” Ren squirmed out of the foreign woman's weakened grasp.
“Uncle Ren!” Ilya shrieked as she was wrapped up in Saber's arms and the two women leapt up towards the rooftops above. His chainsaw roared to life once again as he dove into the thick crowd.
Ilya would be be safe with ...Shirou's other mistress?
'Good going, Shirou. Good going.' The man lightly stabbed and jabbed with his weapon as he tried to push the crowd away.
*****
Herakles furiously roared in the inside of his mind as he remained kneeling on the ground in a fit of paralysis. The shrieks and pleading of his Master rang hollowly in his ears as he saw her try to fight back.
Ilyasviel's body, weakened as it was from being converted into the vessel to call down the Grand Holy Grail, could not physically put up a fight even with Reinforcement. So she began to rely on the alchemical strings that her mother had once used as she shredded any limbs that tried to pull her down into the mob.
Yet even the strings were losing effectiveness the longer that they were in this field.
“Help...” Ilyasviel wept as she tried to crawl up on top of his head to get away from the moaning crowds. A shudder of rage swept through Herakles' frame.
“Get the hell away from her!” The man that had moved to protect their target shouted.
Ren reached towards his vest and threw a knife straight into the head of a particularly rotten zombie near Herakles.
It came crashing down at their feet as Ren continued trying to clear a path towards them.
“A-ah?” Ilyasviel squeaked in shock.
Ren started using his weapons to bash aside the crowd - the spear was used to lightly grind across the face from out of range. Knifes stabbed out at the undead in middle range. Tasers applied to the neck dropped a few more when they got particularly grabby.
“You're a god, right?!” Ren shouted over at Herakles. “What are you doing bowing to these filthy beasts?”
Another shudder of energy began to rush through Herakles' paralyzed body. His fingers began to twitch as the human began to be pressed backwards by the mob of the undead.
“Get away!” Ilyasviel shrieked over at the man.
Ren was hammered from the side by one of the corpses. He smashed into a bookcase and sent it crashing into the ground. The man's weapon went skidding away the spear he was wielded so it landed next to Herakles.
Another shudder raced through Herakles at seeing the stranger fight so hard for his Master.
The corpse that took Ren unawares was knocked down with a swift kick to the leg. Ren started trying to get up, but several more bodies went down on top of him and pinned him to the ground. Ilyasviel's screams rang in his head as he reached for his vest to draw more weapons.
“Then answer my prayers! If there's anything in you that's even partly god...!” The man desperately slashed with two knives into the ground as they began to try to rip him apart. “Save the girl!”
Ilyasviel's shriek was completely drowned out by Herakles' own roar as he fought off the paralysis holding him down. Herakles' right arm blurred as he swiftly smashed away the crowd in front of him. His left hand was equally nimble as he grasped onto the weapon the man had wielded.
Like his stone club, it was filled with divine power the moment he touched it.
And it was going to be used just like his stone club.
“NINE LIVES – THE SHOOTING HUNDRED HEADS!” Herakles shouted as his body flickered out of sight. Ilyasviel just began to descend towards the ground when every undead in the room was just shredded into a fountain of gore.
The front wall of the building was completely annihilated in the following sonic boom.
The bronze giant reappeared before Ilyasviel had descended more than three inches downwards. Herakles' massive hands lightly grasped onto the silver haired girl and a heavily wounded but breathing older man.
“Herakles..!” Ilyasviel hiccuped as her eyes began to water at seeing the wounded man slumped across Herakles' left shoulder.
“Let's go. We can still save him.” Herakles wouldn't let his debt of honor go unpaid to this man. He picked up Ilyasviel and placed her on his right shoulder after carefully setting aside the warrior's spear down. Once he saw Ilyasviel secure herself with her prana strings, he picked up the spear with one hand and held onto his limp body with the other.
Herakles turned towards the missing wall and took two steps before leaping high into the skies. The force behind his exit was strong enough to scatter the furniture in the ruined room. One of the books scattered across the floor was launched up against the turned over kotatsu and bounced off it.
The book flipped open to a page that displayed strange circles with odd writing on the side.
*****
'Hahah. An old man completely wrecked your shit.' Shinji chortled as had somehow found himself sitting down on an aluminum chair in the middle of an empty abyss.
Fuck off.
The darkness around them rippled.
'Hoo. Even I didn't lose a legion to a little girl.' The blue haired teenager looked away. A powerful headache was beginning to form at the top of his skull the longer he stared out the gaze of the monster that had been lingering behind to stare at the Emiya home.
I was doing it for you.
Shirou and a foreigner teenager laughing together as they coasted down a hill.
'Yeah. Like you 'empowered' my uncle, right?' Shinji sneered. The image bled together and lost definition as he saw Sakura collapse in front of a wildly thrashing and screaming man. Uncle Kariya's face was so warped and deformed...
That was the past incarnation. Besides, he did get the power to fight in the Holy Grail War. He was just too much of a pussy to use it right. I swear he wasted me trying to save that bi-
Little Sakura began to scream and beat on the older man's chest as tears ran down her eyes once Uncle Kariya went still.
'Don't even finish that.' Shinji warned. His eyes focused as the point of view swiftly began to approach Sakura.
Why do you care? You treated her like shit afterward.
The younger version of his adopted sister turned to face him. Her expression was always fearful back then. Her features twisted into a parody of the contorted death's grin that Uncle Kariya wore behind her even now.
The teenager remained silent. His expression looked dour as he stood up and started walking around his chair. He ignored how he had placed his hand on her shoulder instead of striking her for mocking his uncle.
Pissed off that 'little sister' had your relatives dying for her? It's always been about her, hasn't it?
'Who was that little girl?' Shinji sighed and ran his hands through his hair. A flash of memory briefly turned the void into an old first person picture of a smiling Ilya and her father. The picture was held by fingers a bit thinner and shorter than Shinji's own were. 'She looked too much like Ilya from those old pictures.'
Thought so. The voice muttered. Maybe a homunculus. Master has a similar art that lets you duplicate yourself after consuming something whole.
'Wait...I'm your Master.' Shinji's eyes narrowed.
…
'...go after that copy of Ilya. I want to see how she's managing to stay sane.' Shinji ordered. The void began to shudder as his point of view was roughly pushed behind the eyes of one of the females in the area.
Yes. The woman shrieked painfully at the alien voice's response as the crest worms within her body flared as one. With a powerful leap she went up to the rooftops as well.
Shinji felt the other infected begin to rush towards the young girl and the bronze giant as the alien presence residing in the void with him began to direct the body they were riding to follow after both Ilya and her doppelganger
Huh, what's this...? Their point of view sharply pulled back. Shinji gagged as he returned to seeing through the eyes of a person down by the Emiya home. A ten year old girl with short black hair and sherry eyes staggered around a corner. Her blue dress was slashed in the shoulder and revealed a black t-shirt beneath it. I could use a pick me up...
'What you doing?!' Shinji demanded as the corpse they were inhabitating took a step forwards.
*****
Miyu Inui hadn't been prepared at all for what Fuyuki City had to offer. Just earlier this day she had been planning her first 'vacation' ever with her brother. Just like he had at this age - she was going to go visit a town just for a few hours and then go back home.
How unfortunate that an earthquake had struck.
The young girl was the last legacy of her parents and was spoiled rotten by her two siblings, Arihiko Inui and Ichiko Inui. She had taken up the part of the domestic caregiver of the home with Ichiko supporting them and Arihiko protecting Miyu.
Yet here she was in the middle of what seemed like the end of the world.
She clenched a wrinkled and stained letter in her right hand. On the cover of the envelop was a name – Alice, which was smudged.
'No, I came here to find him.' Those words had been her manna ever since the tour bus had been utterly annihilated by a hoard of ghoulish people when Miyu had arrived. Somehow she had to survive long enough to find him.
A loud cry came up behind Miyu. The girl nearly shrieked in mortal terror but knew from sadly first hand experience that doing that would just attract more people. She huffed and panted as she raced across the broken streets and swiftly took a corner.
Miyu's eyes quickly scanned the area and found a knocked over trash can hidden in the shadow of an alley. She dashed with all her might towards the cover and slid her body behind the can and prayed that the shadows would hide her.
Miyu silently shivered and waited. A pallid woman with clothing as torn up and dirty as her own glanced wearily about the street. The young girl's eyes focused on the razor sharp claws that liberally dripped a dark liquid in the night.
The woman glanced directly at Miyu and the young girl nearly soiled herself on the spot. Her heart began to rapidly hammer up against the inside of her chest as her hands began to rise to clutch at the front of her lightly shredded dress.
'What are you waiting for...?' Miyu wondered in horrified curiosity as the woman quirked her head. Her red eyes shone in the darkness as the woman twitched her claws about in an odd pattern.
Wait...
Miyu's pupils shrunk as she heard a harsh breathing approach her from behind.
'She was signaling someone from behind!' Miyu let out a shriek of terror. She dove to the left just as a figure flew through the empty spot she had been crouching over. Miyu scrambled to her feet and began racing towards the only house lit up on the block as she heard a loud clatter of trash cans behind her.
Miyu found that she sadly couldn't make herself pause at seeing all the blood in the living room. She had been inured to the sight about one hour into her trip to Fuyuki. A feminine shriek behind her caused the girl to bolt ahead.
Only to slip on a slicked patched of blood. The young girl went tumbling forwards and the top of her dress stopped its struggles as it was torn off her shoulders as she fell face first in blood. The disgustingly noxious substance was thick and nasty as it poured down her throat as she unintentionally swallowed some.
Miyu began to gag as she spun to look behind her to see the slowly approaching duo of undead that had leisurely begun to pace towards her. Her throat began to burn as her eyes watered from a piercing pain that was stabbing into her brain.
'Am I going to die here?' She began to scramble backwards. 'Help me! Arihiko! Ichiko...!' One of the beasts let out a howl of victory and leapt towards her.
“SHIIIIIROU!” Miyu howled as her hand came down on top of a book. Her body flared up with heat as it felt like her body was going to melt as heat and light began to explode out of her small body as a visible wave of force exploded outwards from her pores in the form of yellow lightning.
A pillar of light erupted outwards from the book she had been touching as a massive fist suddenly appeared out of the ether to smash a powerful blow into the corpse's head. The mostly rotten thing didn't stand a chance as worms erupted out of its pulped skull as it flew backwards to smash into the woman that had been lingering behind.
A towering, muscular giant with flaming red hair wearing a rich and flowing cloak over his wide shoulders followed the arm in appearing in the world.
“I see you are being bothered by insects, Master.” The man turned a confident gaze towards Miyu. “Would you like me to take care of them for you?”
*****
Wise up!
Eeerrrokchtk!
Eeerrrorror!
Servant: Rider
Spirit: Iskander
Master: Miyu Inui
Alignment: Neutral Good
Strength: B
Mana: B
Endurance: B+
Agility: C
Luck: A+
Class Skills:
Riding: A+
Magic Resistance: C
Personackhhtt!
System Note: Warning! Warning! System Shutdown eminent to protect core.
War-
Reply With Quote
Originally Posted by meevanhelot
