[FF] Grail Works, Ltd.: Fate/Anarchy (Type-Moon/Scion crossover)

[Xamusel]

Hmm... I'll keep that in mind.

Well... thanks for giving me an answer, anyway, RanmaBushiko.

[RanmaBushiko]

Chapter 29: Father and Child


The Wolfen
Erik's personal office
12:30 PM




https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=VSxKojYtQ78 (Mordred's Lullaby ~ Heather Dale)

For a long moment, Mordred stares in shock at her father, even as the look on her face shows she's analyzing things furiously. Her face subtly shifts, as dozens of possibilities flash through her mind over how she's staring at her father, before she notices the obvious. Her father, just like her, is female. The dress gives it away that her father is wearing. Slowly, with a force of effort, she pulls down her arm.


"It's like Chaldea, huh? Long distance communication, from another universe? Am I right, Father? Which means that..." Mordred pauses, as she glances across the room, before her eyes come to Rin's own. "Rin Tohsaka is an agent for wherever you're working at."


Mordred sighs, and settles back against the door, just staring at her father, for the longest time. "Merlin made you male, and then that bitch stole your semen to make me, huh? Or something like that? He always WAS a bastard, wasn't he..."



Arturia continues staring at her illegitimate child, for a long time, before she slowly rubs her temples as she speaks up. "So, you're on board this... Ship of Erik's, too, then."


Mordred smiles, sadly. "Hah. Just like us... dancing around the damned issue. But we don't really have time for that, with things going on, do we? Between the world-ending crisis and my Master using a Command Spell to let me fully tap into my memories from the Throne of Heroes... I'll get right to the point. Did you ever wonder why I rebelled, Father?"


Arturia nods silently. "I thought it was to try and show that you were able to rule as well as I, to be honest. The way you did things at the end, however..."


Mordred glances over, and then sighs. "Mind keeping this to yourself, folks? You, Rin, seem to be working with my father. You, Archer, are under Rin's control, and thus aren't going to be an issue. In comparison, Erik, you and your wife are deities, and for all that I could say or do to ask for secrecy, we're in the depths of your Wolfen. I'm sure anything we say here is going to be heard, somehow."


Rin slowly nods, as Archer frowns and gives out a calm "Yes.", while Erik softly nods, as well as Tamamo.


"Father. I wanted the throne, not to take your place, but to ease your burden. It was never about taking your place, taking your power. Not like that bitch who was my mother had planned. It was always me seeing how tired and exhausted, lonely you were, and wanting to give you some relief." Arturia pales, her skin going white, as she desperately grabs a wall to keep herself upright, while staring at her child.


"What...? Why?! Why would you even..." Quietly, desperately, Arturia speaks, as she stares at her illegitimate child.


"You never got it back then, Father... But all I wanted to do was support you. You were right. You were a beautiful ideal, you and what you worked for, and all I wanted to do was... help. Show I was worthy enough to learn, to be able to help you. Show you that I could help guide your Knights when you needed a break, if you gave me the training. And then that bastard knight pulled his sword out to kill a snake by his feet, instead of crushing it, and..."


Mordred bows her head, as she just shivers.


"And then I died, just wanting to touch you one last time, as you ran me through with that Lance. And then you... died too..."


Mordred growls, then punches the wall, before looking up at her father. "All I wanted to do was to be acknowledged by you. Being your knight was almost good enough, but I wish you had trusted me, let me in. I could SEE you suffering, even if no one else could!"


For a long moment, Mordred just stares at her pale father, separated from her, before she snarls softly. "I saw you suffer, Father. Every town you destroyed, to save the rest, you suffered over. Even if the others couldn't see the looks of exhaustion on your face, from lack of sleep, I could. Even if the others failed to realize what was going on, I'm related enough that I could see your torment, your self-hatred—every insult to yourself, in your own mind, that you could have done better if you simply worked harder. I could see it all, and I wanted to fucking HELP YOU! DO YOU THINK WE DIDN'T SUFFER TOO, KNOWING WE COULDN'T HELP YOU?!"


For a long moment, Arturia just stares at her illegitimate child, without words. Sire and Child, even if she never acknowledged it. Erik and Tamamo are motionless, watching without saying a word, while Rin half reaches out towards Arturia, before bowing her head and holding her arms.


"You're right, Mordred." Arturia finally speaks up, studying her child. "You're right, and I apologize. Merlin... always convinced me that a King had to be beyond their people, beyond reproach. Perfection without flaw. But he himself could not understand humanity. He was just too inhuman to really guide me with things."


Arturia sighs, just... studying her child. "I have truly done you a disservice, haven't I? And it's been compounded too, hasn't it? All the suffering you went through, just to prove that you could help, only for us to fight and both die from it."


Mordred runs one hand through her hair, nervously, studying her father. "Yeah. I didn't want it. I didn't want it to end like that. I wanted us to come to an agreement, so I could help. I wanted to help make things better, to help you ensure the kingdom was able to last as long as it could."


Arturia nods, frowning. “I honestly did wish I could have made things better for you, Mordred. You have to understand, your mother was...” She trails off, the frown on her face evident, as she struggles to figure out what to say.


“A complete and utter bitch, out to ruin my life as well as your own? I know it well enough. Considering what she did to try and make me replace you every time she talked with me? I hated her with a passion. And Semiramis is nearly as bad as she... oh, right!”


Mordred rubs her temples, and then looks over at Erik. “Sorry to cut this short, Father, but I need to tell Erik about what I managed to remember. My Master ordered me to remember what I'd forgotten, that I was so desperate to remember... which MOSTLY covered what we just talked about. But I did get hints on something involving the war.... Feel free to listen, though. Maybe you can see what I haven't...”


Mordred grabs a chair, and sits. “So, first off, Shirou Kotomine is the previous Ruler Servant from the last Grail War, where he got summoned. I can't remember anything else about him, but I know he was originally a Ruler Servant.”


Mordred pauses, grumbling and then sighs. “Could I get some water to drink, Erik?”


Erik nods, tossing her a plastic bottle full of water. She catches it out of the air, cracks off the top, and downs it quickly.


“Ahh. That's better. Shirou, in that timeline, took out all the Masters of Red early, getting Semiramis to force them to work for him, and eventually give him their Command Spells. There was something about a giant floating sky fortress, much like your Wolfen is, Erik. But it looks like you already gathered all the Masters of Red before he had the chance to, so he's likely to be desperate.”


Mordred takes a breath, even as the room collectively thinks over the things she's told them so far.


“To be honest, the other version had a much different lineup for Servants. I vaguely remember Achilles as Rider and Karna as Lancer... the only one who seems to be the same is me.”


For a long moment, Mordred looks like she's thinking over her memories, trying to figure out more information. “I should correct myself: it's only the Servants of Red that are different. The Servants of Black seem to be exactly the same. Unfortunately, I think I missed a lot of the major fighting. I know their Berserker is Frankenstein's Monster... but she's not a bad sort, and if I talk with her, I might be able to convince her to not fight me. I've met her in some of Chaldea's Singularities... though if my memories are vague about this it's likely even worse for those.”


Mordred sighs softly. “At the same time, Shirou stands to gain the most from infighting. And Assassin of Black is a Rogue Servant. I can't remember much about her, except for young. One of her... wait. Her? Yeah, has to be a Her... Noble Phantasms. Keeps you from remembering anything about her.”


Erik nods, settling back. “Any idea of what Shirou wants?”


“It's vague, but... as far as I know? To save Humanity. However, I don't know anything about how he'd actually pull it off, or if it's even feasible. I'm pretty sure I lost before he revealed anything.”


"Saber! Dinner!"


Arturia's eyes widen, as she turns, looking away from Mordred off-screen. "Perhaps we can continue this later? It appears that dinner is served."


Mordred simply nods. "Thank you for talking things out with me, Father. It was... nice to get things off my chest."


"The same with you, Mordred. Once things are done, if you manage to incarnate like I have, we should settle down and talk. Perhaps work things out..." Arturia smiles, before her image disappears.


In the back, Archer glances at Rin, then bends down to whisper in Rin's ear, "Was that Shirou's voice, I heard just now?"


Rin nods, moving her head up to whisper back, "He would have come too, but Zelretch sent me, and with someone named Shirou Kotomine, we really didn't want to see what would happen if they met. Especially if Shirou Kotomine was an alternate of Shirou Emiya, raised by Kirei Kotomine."


Archer twitches at the thought, before nodding. His voice whispers back to her, moments later. "The thought of someone raised by him, coming out as anything other than a monster, sends chills down my spine, believe me."


Moments later, the intercom goes off. "Hey, boss?" Erik glances down, with a raised eyebrow, before rapping the button to answer. "Yeah, Scylla? What's going on?"


"The Legion of Coal and I have finally finished scouting the destroyed labs, when your Domain collapsed upon entering this universe. Looks like Special Projects Lab 2 is half there, but the three main testing facilities are completely gone, as well as the other labs."


Erik pauses, settling back, as he folds his arms, thinking. "So, the space flight testing facility is partially intact... does anything look like it's still whole enough, or does it mostly look like scrap?"


"Not sure yet, honestly, Boss. The Legion of Coal had to move a whole crapton of scrap metal from where the other labs literally compacted into a short 3 inches of steel, it looks like. They only found it with tremor sense."


Erik frowns, and then nods. "Got it... Mordred? Do you think you'd rather chat with your Master about what you've learned? Or would you rather explore the wrecked lab with myself?"


Archer frowns, studying Erik, before Erik glances his way. "Oh, to be sure, if you'd like to come with, Counter Guardian Emiya, you can. I suspect your Master and you want to talk things over, however. Just keep in mind, I don't know how much is trashed, and we might have to scrap everything in there, so it could simply boring or a waste of time."


Archer sighs softly. "Fair enough. I'll be talking with my Master then. If this is the end of our chatting, for now?"


Erik smiles a bit. "For now, I suspect Illyasviel is too busy to remember we were in the middle of chatting."


Rin snorts at that, then nods. "She'll take talking with her brother whenever possible, to be fair."


Mordred, who's remained silent until this now, thinking, glances back at Erik. "Going over neat stuff that may or may not be trashed? Sounds better than lying in a mausoleum, being bored as hell like I did for the first version of this war I wound up in. Sure, it sounds great! Anyways, your stuff is neat, and I'm enjoying learning about it."
Erik nods, and smiles, turning towards his wife to give her a gentle kiss. "And what of you, love?"


Tamamo smiles, kissing her husband back gently, before embracing him. "Servant Ruler has awoken, and is considering a ceasefire to all hostilities until Assassin of Red and Black are dealt with, my husband."


Erik smiles, hugging his wife and just holding her as they relax together. "With that... I'd say we should send Mordred and the others in an hour. So... 15 minutes to break in, then half an hour search the lab, Mordred?"


Mordred smiles, and nods. "Sounds great to me!"


With that, the group leaves Erik's office, going their seperate ways.






12:45 PM
The Wolfen
Remains of Special Projects Lab 2, Space Flight Testing Facility




Clank.


Clank, Clank.


"Son of a bitch, this shit is harder than I thought it would be. Oi, Erik! Should we try that lightsaber again?!" Mordred's voice echoes through the lab.



Clank, Clank, THUD.


"Nah, I've nearly got it. Just a bit more brute strength just... THERE!" Erik finishes with a cry, as he hits the perfect spot, sending the entire chunk of wall he's been battering at, towards the floor.


CRUNCH.


"Holy crap, you actually did it. New doorway, am I right?!" Mordred smiles, and looks in.


"Charge that lightsaber while we check out inside, will you?" Erik replies, while grinning. "And it's useful as hell to be strong, sometimes."


"Oh, I totally agree with you on that one. And now, where's... Ah! There's a wall outlet!" With her words, she moves, plugging in her new favorite sword. "Nice how these things charge on any of the wall sockets!"


"I know, right?!" Erik grins, pulling out several flashlights. "Now, let's find the light switch. It SHOULD still have power in here..."


For a while, they wander around the walls. A good chunk of the room is trashed, boxes of parts scatted all over the floor.


"Gah! Ow! Hey, this is a wing thing?!" Mordred looks up, shining her light over it.


"Oh, sweet! The Arwing prototype survived!" Erik's voice reaches her. Now where is that damned... Aha! One light switch coming right-" Erik smacks the lightswitch, only for nothing to happen. "Up... The switch does not work. Fuck."


"What the hell's an Arwing, Erik?" Mordred studies it closer, blinking, for what she can see of it.


"It was part of a game series involving a humanoid bunch of animals flying space fighters, called Star Fox—I can let you try out the series, if you want, yourself. They were kinda like those Jedi Starfighters, or X-Wings in Star Wars: had an odd G-Diffuser system. I made my artificial gravity systems kind of based off that, in the hopes of making them work like the games did. Unfortunately, it, and the Wolfens from later in the series, never worked out well. It effectively was just jet-propelled spacecraft that could fly in space as long as it had fuel, rather than neat stuff with artificial gravity like I planned." Erik's voice echoes back.


"What went wrong with it?" Mordred's voice hits him again.


"I couldn't get the artificial gravity system that small." Erik replies, voice sounding irritated.


"Ah. Sorry. Hey, this wall has a switch!" Mordred rushes over.


"Give it a shot, then!" Erik's voice echoes.


Mordred flicks the switch, and then blinks at a couple lights fizzling on along the walls.


"Eh, looks like tiny lights at least?"


"Yeah, those are mostly for ambiance, but every little bit helps, I suppose..." Erik's voice echoes, as he barely misses stubbing his toe.


"Hey, Erik? What's that big round thing in the middle?"


"Eh, it's been a few years since I've last been in here. Give it a glance, while I try to find... Aha! A ladder! Maybe the top floor has a working light switch!"


"A few years? Aren't you a god, though?" Mordred sounds curious, as she shines her flashlight along the tarp covered thing before her.


"I might be one, but omnipotent is not the same as being able to remember everything. I never figured out how to have a perfect memory, unfortunately."


"That's a pity. Any neat skills you've picked up?" Mordred circles around the tarp covered object, looking for a possible entrance.


"Well, I've GOT the ability to see in the dark, normally. Unfortunately, there were quite a few times where I accidentally blinded myself in the labs in here, and set up some suppression runes for it to keep myself from being in the middle of night vision, and then having a giant flashlight the size of my head lighting up inches away from my face—left me unable to see for half a day."


"Ouch, that sounds rough. And why did it work like that?"


"Eh, it has to do with how night vision works: when your eyes are adjusted to darkness that much, the sudden shift can leave you blind. It's like leaving a dark cave and going into a sunny outdoors. At first you're blind, before your brain and eyes adjust to it."


"Ah, that's happened a couple times to me, too! Damned caves. Damned torches." Mordred pauses, and then blinks. "Hey, I think I found a door over here!"


"Neat, see if there's a switch or anything involved with it!"


"Nope, but there's an entrance! Should I get inside?"


"I... hang on, I think I've... AHA!" With those words, Erik smacks a light switch, turning on several lights on the upper walkway. It doesn't light up the room fully, but it does enough to illuminate most of the room, as well as what Mordred's staring at.


"Erik? Is this what I think it fucking is?" Mordred stares, and even across that distance Erik can see her slowly starting to get a happy look on her face.


"Yup. That's my attempt at building the Millennium Falcon. I managed to get the artificial gravity systems, and even doubled it, but I never could make a small enough reactor to power the damned thing, so it could only fly while plugged in..."


For a long, long moment, Erik looks down at his chest, blinking, while Mordred glances inside, studying it.


"Actually, Mordred. I think Mysterious Heroine XX helped me build a perfect reactor for the damned thing, earlier today. Might take some work to get another one made for it, though."


"Holy crap, really?!" Mordred sticks her head out, blinking at Erik.


"Yup! You think you'd like to learn how to pilot it, once we can fix it up?"


Mordred nods, smiling, before glancing in. "So, what's the difference between this thing and the Wolfen?"


"Well, we experimented with dual gravity systems in a single unit, that could let it fly AND produce artificial gravity... But the damned thing was expensive to build." Erik pauses, thinking over pricing terms in a way Mordred can understand. "Let's put it this way. The amount of money back in your day and age, you know how much a sword cost, right?"


"Yeah, pretty expensive, to be honest." Mordred studies the inside, listening.


"That's about as much, in modern terms, as it would cost to buy a car, or truck, or motorcycle. Transportation, if you will." Erik thinks over the analogy.


"Okay, makes sense so far..."


"So when I say that the dual gravity system on that cost more than a couple million swords, in terms of modern currency..."


"Oh, damn! Say no more, I get that. Stupidly costly stuff?"


"More the sheer pain in my ass of constructing it that way. In bigger systems, it works FINE. Shrunk this far down, we had to create entirely new materials to even try to test it. And though the dual system works fine for something this SMALL... Not so much for anything bigger. The other weapons mostly work, though blasters are never going to be quite the same as how they're depicted in Star Wars—too much cutting, not enough 'blasting' for my stuff."


"Damn. Maybe Mysterious Heroine XX could give you pointers or tips, then?" With those words, Mordred leaves it, staring in awe at the shape.


"Yeah, I'll talk with her about it, see if she's got any hints, or suggestions for me. If we want to use it for this fighting, though, I'm going to have to rebuild a good chunk of it, then need to take some drastic measures for the rest of the equipment..."


"Drastic?" Mordred studies Erik, for a long moment. Her expression shows confusion, as well as a bit of worry that he'd use that specific term.


"Yeah. I've got a couple devices I'd rather not use for this war. Strategic weapons, if you will. But if I want to overhaul this... well, I'd rather not have to take one apart."


Mordred nods, and sighs. "Let me guess, we should go?"


Erik nods, smiling softly. "We should go. Anyways, we have time to explore later, and show you other neat stuff here."


Mordred smiles, and nods towards Erik. "Sound good! Thanks for letting me see in here! Oooh, so THAT'S an Arwing, huh? And that other ship is a Wolfen?"


"You can imagine my surprise at seeing the Wolfens named similarly to my own ship. Pity I can't get the gravity systems shrunk that far."






2:00 PM
Wolfen's Hangar




Erik sits, beside Mordred, showing her the controls of the massive truck she's sitting in the driver's seat of.


“These three levers handle the saw blades from the cargo container, Mordred. They're on mechanical arms, and SHOULD be able to handle most objects that are in your path. They're also not subtle at all, so try to save them for in case you're having to deal with obstacles on the road.”



Mordred smiles, widely. “This is so awesome! They're that handy?!”


Erik grins at her. “Indeed. Now, on the other hand, this button right here, deploys saw blades below the bumper, to ensure that roadblocks and the like are cut in half. The truck's wheels handle the rest. Bulletproof honeycomb style wheels, at that.”



Mordred thinks, pondering, before smiling. “I got it. That makes sense!”


Erik smirks, before pointing to a big red button. “And this handles the rocket thrusters in case you need real speed, or an enemy Servant winds up plastered on the bumper. If you get Assassin of Black on there, feel free to hit that and the lower sawblade sets, so she gets turned into a meat dish.”


Mordred snorts, then laughs, as she contemplates the idea of Assassin of Black as a meat dish. “Okay, fair enough! I'll give it a good shot, too!”


Erik pauses, thinking, before snapping his fingers. “Now, one issue with this model, is that unlike the games, at high speed, this can't turn all that fast. However...”


Mordred tilts her head, smile still on her face. “However?”


Erik grins. “However, I'm pretty sure that you could have Mash stick her shield out of the windows for the second passenger seat set, and use it to turn the vehicle, much like a motorcycle driver might use their feet to turn.”


Mordred blinks, repeatedly, before a wide grin spreads across her face. “Oh, really now?”


Erik smirks. “Yup. If her strength holds out, she should be able to let you chase them for at least 30 minutes of constant chasing...”


Morded's grin widens. “Oh, I think I'm going to enjoy working with her for this.”


Silence reigns over the hangar for a small while, as a track course raises up out of storage, moving into the hangar. “Go ahead, Mordred, give it a spin, see how it works on the track.”


“Erik, are you taking worshipers? I'm seriously thinking of converting right now...” Mordred's grin couldn't be wider, if she tried to make it wider.



“I am, as a matter of fact! Give it a honk, too!”


HONK



Erik laughs, long and hard, at the shout of glee from Mordred, at the loud as hell horn.


“Oh, HELL YES!” With those words screamed into the air, she drives the truck onto the course, testing the massive truck and it's functions.







30 minutes later...


“Mordred!”


The grin on Mordred's face hasn't faded, as she tests the turn again, this time obviously testing the jet engines. In the room, Mash, Olga and Amaterasu watch, wide eyed.


“Mordred! Hey!”


“Mordred seems to be busy with it... should we come back later?” Mash tilts her head, watching.


“No, I think she's just too busy having fun to realize we're here. Also, no offense, I'm not in the mood to be roadkill to one of my own trucks.” Erik glances back at Mash and Olga, grinning.



Mash softly giggles. “Fair enough!”


Almost immediately, they notice Mordred turn, blink up at them, do a double take, then start to slow down, riding off the course to drive up.


“Erik! You are my God, if you'll have me! But would you be willing to keep supplying me with neat things like this?!”


Erik laughs. “Not only that, but if you're interested in it, I'll show you how to build them!”


Mordred pauses, as a range of emotions cover her face as she comprehends what Erik's told her. Shock, confusion, dawning amazement, before a large smile appears on her face. Not her grin, or smirk. But a real, true smile.


“I'd like that, Erik. I really... would enjoy learning about it.”


Erik smiles at Mordred, nodding, before tossing her a CD. “Put it in the cd drive, then hit play when you start heading off. Music for the road. It's about an hour, hour and a half to the place.” Erik nods as she catches it, then continues. “You're going to need to be on the look out for any known Servants of Black, especially on the lookout for Assassin of Black, as well as Assassin of Red, and her Master.”


Mordred smiles. “Gotcha. Oi, you lot! Coming? We've got a couple hours to sit and talk while we drive, let's get a move on!”


Mash picks Olga up, rushing to reach Mordred as her Master clings to Sapphire as well as Mash's arm. Amaterasu, on the other hand, has slightly less hurried pace.


As they move, the entire hangar section starts shaking, as it moves upwards in the Wolfen.


“Oi, Erik! Why are we shaking?” Mordred glances down, blinking at the floor, then the walls.


“I'm moving us up so you can launch the Truck off the highest level that it can be launched from the Wolfen from. You'll need some of the mechs to collect you and bring you back in, but it should make for an amazing jump, this way.”


Mordred laughs. “Oi! Are you serious?!”


“Very much so! Should be fun for you!” Erik grins, as they stare at the massive doorways opening.


Mordred laughs, then glances back. “Everyone buckled in back there?”


Amaterasu smirks as she pulls herself into the passenger seat. “Not quite. I'm up here with you. Easier to make us invisible if I can see traffic.”


Mordred smirks. “Gotcha! How about you, Mash?!”


“I'm going to be fine without one. Especially since Mr. Erik mentioned something about me using the shield to adjust how we're moving? Like a motorcycle?”


Mordred nods, then glances in the mirrors, while adjusting the truck.


“Oh! One more thing! Turn on Song 34 only when you're chasing someone, will you? It'll be perfect for it!” Erik's voice reaches Mordred, to which she reaches out, giving him the thumbs up, before turning the stereo on, and preparing to drive off the massive ramp that is the highest hangar bay door on the Wolfen.


Amaterasu smiles, letting Mordred turn the music on, then gun the engine.


https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=igvP806798U (Born To Be Wild ~ Steppenwolf)


As the song reaches the ears of the truck's occupants, Mordred grins, stepping on the gas. And as the massive machine roars out the doors, she hits the horn, laughing the entire time.


HOOOOOOOONK


Erik smiles, as he watches the truck race into the distance, eventually reaching a road, and driving off towards the battlefield.






Author's Notes:


Yeah, Erik did do a lot of innovation while on Mars. But between paperwork, the joys of leading a small nation, entertaining that nation, being a married man who wants kids with his wife, trying to terraform Mars, and other such things, a lot of innovation attempts just were too expensive for him to really be able to replace most of his stuff with.


That's the cons of being a genius scientist God. You might have ALL the neat toys, but if you can't afford to build them with current technology, you have to wait until material science is developed enough to make it easily. And thus ends most of Erik's neat designs.


In comparison, for Erik's growing relationship with Mordred? Her master isn't paying much attention to her, and she gets why, even if it hurts. Erik knows what she's feeling, a bit like what she's been through, and is happy to show her neat things in life. There's more to it than that, though.


Let's be honest, here. Knights were well trained, some able to read without issues, they were effectively well off, and studied by most standards. That doesn't mean they were taught as much as they could have learned. A lot of things were simply taboo, or frowned upon for learning, and you can imagine Morgana didn't allow Mordred much of it. Considering she was born as a homunculus, an artificial human, she had to have a lot of abilities and knowledge programmed in, to save time.


So Mordred getting to actually learn, and see neat things that she never dreamed of being possible, that the grail never could have known about? It's awe inspiring to her. She's learning, for the first time, and she's loving every moment of it.


Add in that Erik is the Norse God of Innovation, and is someone who doesn't mind a happy student wanting to learn? We have them meshing rather well, here.



As for WHY this chapter was so late?


Writer's block. Lots and lots and lots of writer's block. Then rewriting the Mordred's memories part until both Kieran and myself liked it. Then more writer's block, while working out how the upcoming fight is going to go. Mixed with an RPG game that used to be on Thursdays, and has changed to Fridays, as well as the plots for that.

[Kieran]

DISCLAIMER: Lunar Legend Tsukihime, Fate/Stay Night, and all related characters and concepts are the creation and property of Kinoko Nasu and TYPE-MOON, along with whomever they’ve happened to license them to, such as Geneon, Funimation, A-1 Pictures and Netflix.
This is a not-for-profit, just-for-fun project.





Millennia Fortress
Trifas, Romania
July 3, 2004








Chiron awoke—which was, to him, quite surprising.

. . . Of course, it took a moment to remember why that would be the case. Once he did, the Archer performed a cursory self-examination.

He appeared, to his brief surprise, to be intact. Whether it was a function of Servant restoration, or the fact that even without his immortality, he was still born of divinity—and the Athanatoi, especially, were a particularly hardy breed—the centaur could not be certain; perhaps a mixture of both.

Regardless, Chiron could only feel a measure of relief; despite the necessity of it, he felt awkward enough manoeuvring with only four limbs instead of six. Being reduced to two was not a situation he cared to contemplate . . .

Not least of which because it would disappoint his Master.

Chiron had trained many students, over more years than most mortals would consider; that it was the most important aspect of his legend meant something, after all. As such, he knew how to judge them quickly and accurately, that he might see how to tailor lessons in order to bring out the best in them, and temper the worst from them. Fiore Forvedge Yggdmillennia, he felt, was not a warrior; not by nature, at least, though necessity could make impressive warriors of even the least of humans. That ability to rise above circumstance was one of their most admirable traits, the centaur felt, and he felt certain his Master was no less capable in that regard.

But far more than just a selfish, nearly-trivial wish bound them in similarity. In her, Chiron saw a love of knowledge, and of learning, that reminded him of himself; and from that, it was his wish to see her reach the level her brilliant mind was capable of, insofar as her gentle heart and weakened body could bear. And if winning the Holy Grail’s wish allowed the latter to be dealt with, then her potential would be all the better for it.

Which, he admitted, made the current circumstances problematic, to say the least.

He had heard of golems like the one which had been used (Talos being a prime, though hardly unique, example) but none of them had been piloted, nor possessed of such strength. It would be a difficult challenge, at best; and it was all the more intimidating for the knowledge that it had already inflicted such terrible havoc—

The sound of the room’s door opening caught his attention, and the time it took for the opener to enter versus the opening of the door itself allowed him to deduce that it was his Master on the other side of it. As such, Chiron took the extra moment to compose himself; his concerns were not something he ought to show her . . .

“Ah,” Fiore said in pleased surprise. “You’re awake—how do you feel, Archer?”

“I find myself much recovered, Master,” he assured her. “My compliments to your physicians; I, more than any, am aware of the difficulty of healing such injuries—much less in a spiritual entity.”

“My birth family did specialise in the study of human anatomy,” she admitted with a blush that combined embarrassment and pride. “Caules’ choice of Servant is hardly coincidental, after all.”

“I would hope that his has served him better than yours, Master,” Chiron said ashamedly. “I must apologise for my poor performance in the previous battle, Master—”

“You have nothing to apologise for, Archer,” she insisted. “No one expected what happened—and circumstances have changed somewhat since then, in any case.”

Chiron raised an eyebrow. “Oh? How so, Master?”

The young woman took a deep breath. “Well, the attacker’s claims seem to have been at least partially borne out, based on recent events—and according to my source, it’s not the only potentially world-ending danger involved in this Grail War . . .”








Security Station Three
Battleship Wolfen
Outside Sighișoara, Romania








“Damn,” Godafrid muttered, staring at the video screen. The epithet was not used simply because the footage from the ship’s external cameras showed what effectively happened to that version of Scion Earth.

Which was, frankly, not unlike watching Angra Mainyu’s tainted Grail mud consume something on a planetary scale, and just as horrifying to see as such an event sounded . . . No, it was also because the Sword of Atli clearly did fly out one of the holes blown in the ship—after arriving here, on this Earth.

I was really, really hoping it had been lost back in the Scion universe; the fact that it’s here, though, basically guarantees that if we don’t find it, it’ll turn up at the worst possible time in order to screw us over . . .

Godafrid sighed. Was that a paranoid thought? Definitely. Was it in line with his typical luck? Absolutely. And did it also happen to dovetail perfectly into the way Fate-related storylines tended to work . . .?

Honestly, if you knew anything about the Fate series and its branches, then that wasn’t even a question.

And given both his luck, the “Fateful Aura” that Scions generated in general, and this particular crew, the Sword was liable to have landed somewhere on the Moon—where the impact would’ve caused it to physically penetrate the Moon Cell’s makeup, and allowed Altera to escape the Zero Dark in full Sefar mode. Because with the once and future Darnicula to deal with, and the unholy spawn of Kotomine and EMIYA’s Evangelion rip-off plan, the only possible way to make things worse would be to unleash a surprise planet-devouring Titan as an unexpected final boss . . .

Heck, if this was a normal (tainted) Grail we were dealing with, I could even see it logically doing that as a means of fulfilling Shirou’s wish. The easiest way to end humanity’s suffering is to end humanity, after all.

Regardless, Frid knew too much about how this kind of thing usually went down—a “normal Holy Grail War that turned into something strange” really was normal for Holy Grail Wars, after all. As such, he felt it best to try and get ahead of things, for a change, and track the relic down before it caused problems, rather than trying to improvise or brute-force a maybe-solution at the last second.

(Not his normal modus operandi, admittedly—or that of anyone he worked with, come to that—but who knew? It might catch on.)

And the fact that it helped to keep his mind off of what he’d learned from XX—or Tori, when he wanted a rise out of her—was just a bonus. Really, it didn’t bother him all that much . . . Frid sighed.

OK, even he didn’t believe that one.

The problem, though, was twofold; first, as he was frequently reminded, Frid didn’t have the genius-level intellect and absurdly powerful intuition and deductive capacity he’d had as Kurai, which meant he got distracted much more easily. A lot more easily, in fact, when he leaned on his out-of-context knowledge—magi did have training for this sort of thing, after all, but the man in Godafrid’s skin wasn’t nearly so disciplined. And especially when consulting things that no one born in this world ought to know, it was that man who was in charge.

Secondly was the fact that, for all that XX bore a striking resemblance to Taiga Fujimura in how she was acting right now, and that her earlier incarnation was your typically blockheaded shonen anime protagonist, Artoria Pendragon wasn’t actually stupid. She was impulsive, absent-minded, hotheaded, sometimes lazy and with a certain level of artless naïveté, yes—but not stupid. Nobody capable of learning how to do things she did really could be; and while he thought it unlikely that she’d made calculated “slips” in her responses to his questions, she had done so in a way that they didn’t really answer anything at all . . .

He didn’t show his age, she’d said. That wasn’t unexpected, since he’d been almost forty before showing genuine changes from his sixteen-year-old appearance; a time when he’d occasionally been assumed to be in his mid-twenties. But the way she’d said his appearance didn’t mean anything when he was “undercover” . . . That implied significant disguise and/or infiltration experience, possibly so far as to mean illusion or shape-changing ability—neither of which he had, now.

I could’ve done it as Kurai—between the wild shape and timeless body abilities, I could appear almost any way I wanted to, and never look older than a certain point in my “native” form regardless—but that’s gone . . .

. . . Isn’t it?

It had to be—no D&D druid would be able to do half the things he’d already done in a world like this and retain their powers; it was against their faith. As he’d already considered when he was Kurai, a twentieth-plus-century Earth was very much a hell to them. And while they’d already proven time travel was involved with Artoria’s relationship to him, Frid couldn’t figure out how he’d have somehow managed to meet her as Kurai before that mission to Spira—not and not know it, at least. But beyond that extremely unlikely possibility, they were very few ways or means for him to gain a similar set of abilities that would let him do and be as she described.

. . . Though one of them, admittedly, was to be a Scion; either one with a hefty investment in the Illusion Purview (which, he abruptly remembered, Krampus had had, to a point), or a Greek one under Scion Second Edition rules, which allowed them to shape-shift outright—

Realisation struck suddenly. Oh, bloody hell—that’s what’s wrong with Erik and Tamamo’s powers: they’re caught between editions!

Making a mental note to discuss it with the Demigods when they had a moment, and tabling that part of his thoughts, Frid returned to analysing Artoria’s statements, if only so he could hopefully close that line of thought and refocus his attention on finding the Sword . . .

I wear a ring—either habitually or because it’s special—but not where it would be out of place. A wedding ring is the obvious conclusion and Fiore the obvious reason; but much as I’m finding I like her, I don’t think of TYPE-MOON Earth as a place I want to live, and I wouldn’t want to take her away from her world . . . Not that she’d want to leave Caules behind, either—and that’s if she’d even have me, if she knew the truth about who I was.

What does that leave? A Power Ring? Really, the only one I could see taking me would be a Red Lantern Power Ring—and they’re mindless berserkers, for the most part; not exactly someone who Artoria could hold a conversation with . . .

And let’s be honest: all the rings belonging to the good colours of the Emotional Spectrum would go to the other Works members.

After all, the wielder of a Reality Marble had to have enough willpower to be a Green Lantern; and if not (somehow), no one inspired hope like Shirou—one only had to look to Rin, Sakura, Ilya, Arturia, or himself. Aside from those, Frid wasn’t really compassionate enough for an Indigo Power Ring, unless it was in “punishment mode” (not necessarily a bad thing, in his opinion, but . . .). And even with the instability issues that came with the Star Sapphire Corps’ ring, he wasn’t deluded enough to think he could compete with Shirou’s harem when it came to love . . .

(Really, Sakura was the ideal candidate for a Star Sapphire—and given how wrong things could go with Violet Light exposure using even the relatively restrained ring-and-lantern system as opposed to the raw gemstones that was a spectacularly Bad Idea. . . And now that he thought about it, there were at least three different power-sets in the DC Comics multiverse that would give him shape-changing abilities like Artoria implied, but since he had no desire to take a chemical bath that might turn him into Plastic Man, Metamorpho or Clayface, it would probably be best to avoid missions from anywhere near there altogether.)

Otherwise, in terms of special, non-wedding-related rings, though, that pretty much left Sauron’s One Ring as far as he knew—and nothing would induce him to go anywhere near it.

Shaking his head, Frid tabled that line of thought, too, and went back to the footage . . .

Unfortunately, while his Mystic Eyes allowed him to see the Sword fall out, and even track it until it left the frame, Frid didn’t have the mathematical ability to figure out its speed or trajectory beyond that point—or the technical skills to get a computer to do it for him. Caules might, possibly, but getting him to do it was the next best thing to impossible at this point. That left someone like Erik—who was, again, busy. And, if Frid’s guess was right, might not have that ability for much longer: Epic Intelligence and Wits weren’t a thing in Second Edition rules yet . . . And he was getting sidetracked again.

Frid sighed, cupping his head in one hand and rubbing his temples. If he didn’t have ADHD, he didn’t want to know how bad it was to people who did . . .

XX is off trying to perform reconnaissance on the Hanging Gardens—and likely doesn’t want to talk to me right now, anyway, given our last conversation. It’s also unlikely that my Yoseigan—and damn the Naruto series for getting me into this habit!—can penetrate Jack the Ripper’s Information Erasure Skill, so I’m no use there . . .

Calling Fiore, even just to hear her voice, was tempting, but ultimately counterproductive since it risked his “cover,” and he wasn’t sure that everyone in the Red Faction would accept an “open” double agent as passively as XX or the Scions seemed willing to. And given Rin and EMIYA’s dispositions, he was loathe to give them teasing ammu—

Once again, he was struck blind by the obvious.

“If you need a trajectory calculated, ask an Archer, you IDIOT,” he groaned to himself.

. . . But maybe he’d try a few mental exercises, first—try to slip back into “the magus Godafrid’s” mindset. It certainly seemed, based on the mess of impulses, that he could use the discipline.








Bucharest, Romania
July 3, 2004








Gordes Musik Yggdmillennia was not a happy man.

This was not really that remarkable; indeed, to many people, it appeared to be his default state. It was, perhaps, understandable—from most perspectives, the middle-aged, overweight man was hardly the picture of health or attractiveness; and to a magus’ perspective, he was from a minor bloodline whose achievements in alchemy were constantly overshadowed by the more illustrious Einzbern family. Coupled with his current family association as a member of the “rogue” Yggdmillennia faction, many magi would understand his frustration.

. . . They wouldn’t care, of course, but they would understand it.

(Of course, to a very few, Gordes’ attitude was more understandable by virtue of his perhaps being at least subconsciously aware of his cosmically-ordained role as “comic relief.” Others might argue that said attitude was what brought about said role—but whatever the truth, like the aforementioned magi, their understanding would not evoke sympathy.)

In any case, to say that he was highly displeased with the current state of affairs would be a laughably understated way of describing the situation. Not only had the Yggdmillennia suffered a massive loss despite the intervention of several Servants (including his own), he now had to wander around looking for their wayward Assassin. This was menial work, better suited to the homunculi—that was why they existed, after all . . . !

But no, it couldn’t be assigned to those literally born to handle it, because Saber couldn’t venture so far from his Master—none of the Servants, save perhaps Archer, could. And Archer, like many others, was presently in no shape to do so . . .

And so, he was walking—walking, as though he was some mere plebeian—through the streets of the last location Fiore had reported losing contact with their agents, seeking to find some trace of magecraft which did not belong.

Saber, of course, was astralised; he would attract far too much attention, otherwise—and whatever Yggdmillennia’s opinion of the Association, they agreed with the general rule of having magecraft and the like kept out of the public consciousness, for multiple reasons.

The magus grumbled under his breath. This was not what he’d expected of a “Great Holy Grail War.” As Lord Darnic had described it, he’d anticipated contests of strength and strategy, pitting the power of Servants and the cunning of their Masters against one another in battles for supremacy. Instead, they had been ambushed by a Servant insane enough to claim to be a Master—one powerful enough to overwhelm multiple Servants—and lost their Caster before the War even properly began. And now, it appeared that their Assassin was a traitor . . . Which left him walking around, like some sort of hunting dog!

Gordes could understand Lord Darnic’s wanting him to oversee things, of course; Celenike might be family (by adoption, thank heavens!), but the woman was hardly the most reliable sort—and the less said about her Servant, the better. Rider’s assets in this kind of task were greater range and mobility; when it came to bringing a potential rogue Servant to heel, however, Saber was undoubtedly the wisest choice.

If only our access to the homunculi tanks hadn’t been subsumed, the magus mused. Saber could’ve had sufficient prana to conduct the search on his own, rather than my presence being necessary—or my close proximity to Celenike.

Honestly, Gordes was uncertain which he found more disagreeable: his open presence rendering him vulnerable to the Red Faction’s attacks, or his current association with the sadistic, curse-happy woman. Finally, after much musing, Gordes decided it was the latter; the Red Faction was liable to merely kill him, after all, and Celenike—well, she had talent, yes, but was otherwise a thoroughly disagreeable sort of person, even for a magus.

And he was liable to see the Red Faction’s attacks coming, since their Assassin was likely compromised, as well . . .

That, Gordes admitted to himself, was a stroke of luck, both in the information itself and in the obtaining of it. It wouldn’t have occurred to him to place a mole in the Red Faction’s ranks; it hadn’t occurred to Lord Darnic, either, or Gordes had no doubt that he would have done it. It was proof positive that Fiore was the proper choice as Yggdmillennia’s heir, and far more than just the lovely young lady she appeared to be—even if her choice in agents was less than ideal.

Saber’s unspoken question —in the physical realm, at least—prompted the magus to elaborate on his thoughts.

Fiore’s Irish lad was, in Gordes’ opinion, an arrogant, insolent and uncultured hothead with more than a few hints of psychopathy. He was in no way a suitable match for such a fair and aristocratic girl like Fiore—and the Mystic Eyes of his bloodline be damned . . . But at the same time, to give the proverbial devil his due, he was highly competent—one did not utterly destroy a noble family like the Sophia-Ri, even crippled as they had been, simply through chance. After much consideration and a discussion with Lord Darnic, Gordes had seen the strategic advantages, as well—most threats would focus on Fiore’s vicious, notoriously hair-trigger guard dog, allowing her the freedom to plot and act unnoticed.

Which, Gordes admitted, this very stratagem proves is a terrible mistake . . .

He still didn’t like the boy, or the way that Fiore seemed wholly infatuated with him; honestly, Gordes would sooner see him courting Celenike, who seemed far more his type—

. . . No, on second thought, that way laid nightmares and madness. He’d do his very best to drink the memories away, when he got somewhere more suitable. Though he did amuse himself briefly, however, with the likely violence that would erupt if the two ever did come into contact and idle ponderings over what outcome he’d prefer to see—

Master, Siegfried’s mental voice interrupted his thoughts. I detect the presence of a Servant.

Gordes frowned. It was unlikely to be Assassin, as Presence Concealment was a Class Skill—and even at the lowest ranks it was capable of allowing them to conceal their supernatural natures.

Servants of Red, most likely, Gordes concluded. Are they hunting Assassin as well, I wonder, or simply using this location as a staging ground?

Whatever the truth of the matter, the magus was looking forward to this. Finally, there was a chance to engage in a proper battle for the Holy Grail, even if the location wasn’t as ideal as Trifas had been designed to be.

But on the other hand, if it was that odd Caster, Rider, or whatever it was, then the chance of catching him outside of his strange battle machine was simply too good to pass up . . .








Writer's Notes: What he said, regarding the delay - sorry.

[Xamusel]

I can understand what you guys need help with... making sure the content comes out on time. Still, at least you guys are ready for working on the next pair of chapters.

Also, how goes your rehab?

[RanmaBushiko]

I can understand what you guys need help with... making sure the content comes out on time. Still, at least you guys are ready for working on the next pair of chapters.

Also, how goes your rehab?

*Laughs*

Honestly? I get that about "making sure the content comes out on time", but in the case of that Mordred scene, I rewrote it 3 times, for major chunks. After that, I had MORE issues with writer's block over the Testing facility scene. Badly so.

Add in one fellow already getting their first character killed in the RPG game on Fridays, and the DM asking me for help for backstory for several sections involving where my character comes from, it's slowed me down a bit.


At the same time, I'm over a third of the way through my next chapter, and Kieran's post has some interesting tidbits that you may have missed over, on the first glance.

*chuckles* Some food for thought for you, there.

[Xamusel]

Yeah, I get the idea, to be honest... and I should get back on track with my sleep for tonight. Why the heck am I not tired yet?

[Kieran]

It's going around, I swear . . .

And for the curious - yes, my thought process does work like that, when I'm running things in my head. Jumps around a lot, eh?

[Arbitrarity]

Double update, nom nom nom.

In approximate order:

I wonder if you're misgendering Mordred, given that they earlier wanted to be referred to as male. I guess Mordred can't misgender themselves. Lovely catharsis here.

But he himself could not understand humanity. He himself was too inhuman to really guide me with things."

I feel like the "he himself" repetition doesn't really work here as dialogue. Feels more natural as "But he himself could not understand humanity. He was too inhuman to really guide me with things.". The sentiment definitely fits with what we know about Merlin's nature from FGO (I was going to say that not having him, I don't know about interlude, but he doesn't have one, so moot point)

“Sorry to cut this short, Father, but I need to tell Erik about what I managed to remember. My Master ordered me to remember what I'd forgotten, that I was so desperate to remember... which MOSTLY covered what we just talked about, Father. But I did get hints on something involving the war.... Feel free to listen, though. Maybe you can see what I haven't...”

Feel like the second Father in here is a bit awkward. Also, "which mostly covered what we just talked about" doesn't seem quite accurate, it seems more like a "which was mostly what we just talked about".

Mordred's choice of words "already caught all the Masters of Red" is interesting. I might have gone for "gathered all the Masters of Red before he had the chance to catch them".

I'm not entirely sure what Archer and Rin have to talk over... I guess they just had several pieces of information revealed, so they might want to coordinate on it, I'm just not sure what, or if it's enough that Emiya wouldn't want to go look at labs, even possibly destroyed ones, unless Erik is just strongly hinting at him that he doesn't want him there. Particularly since Rin and Archer should be able to communicate telepathically if it's REALLY boring.

Missing an open quote on the "It was part of a game series involving a humanoid bunch of animals" paragraph. An interesting application for artificial gravity is in reducing G-force in acceleration. Didn't think of that before, hm.

Mash-assisted turning sounds like an amusing idea. Scary, but amusing. I don't really see it working in an urban environment (like where Assassin of Black probably is), but I guess we're primarily in countryside here.

I'm not sure Mordred should have the engineering background to build trucks from just Grail downloads, but I guess they'd be starting simple.

“You're going to need to be on the look out for both Servants of Black, Assassin of Black, as well as Assassin of Red, and her Master.”

The "both" there feels weird without an and. I might have done "You're going to need to be on the look out for Servants of Black, especially Assassin of Black, plus Assassin of Red and her Master." or your version, but "for both known Servants of Black, and Assassin of Black, as well as..."

I was briefly surprised Kairi wasn't in the truck, then remembered that he's working on cloning technology with Erik later. I do wonder what Scathach is up to, but eh.

On to Kieran's chapter!

I'm kind of amused that Chiron considers a piloted machine more? impressive than a completely autonomous one. I guess piloting typically means more dangerous, because the driver can adapt better than a program, but even with magic, it feels like making something piloted should be easier than making something reasonably intelligent and autonomous. Then again, mages would very rarely make something to pilot like that, barring unusual circumstances (like Fiore's Mystic Code). Actually, since he's Fiore's Servant, you'd think he'd be aware of those.

The sound of the room’s door opening caught his attention, and the time it took to do so adequately for the opener to enter allowed him to deduce that it was his Master on the other side of it.

Okay, I managed to parse this, but it's still kinda confusing, because "the time it took to do so adequately" initially read like it was referring to the act of catching his attention, which made no sense. "and the time the door took to open enough for the opener to enter" isn't good, because too many "open"s. "and the time it took before the opener could enter" kinda works, but isn't clear about the detail that the door is opening very slowly. Maybe something like "and the amount of time the door spent moving before it was accessible to the opener", but that's still really awkward. "and the time the door took to open before it was entered"? Ugh. That's a tricky one.

“I would hope that his has served him better than yours, Master,” Chiron said shamefully.

Shamefully definitely seems like the wrong word here, since it implies that making the statement is shameful, not that he feels remorseful about what he's talking about. Ashamedly, remorsefully, or abashedly (or even something like guiltily) might work, but feel a bit awkward somehow. I think remorsefully is the best choice of those.

Since Frid saw the Sword of Atli go flying inside the Fate universe, does it look like the Scion version's sword, or Altera's sword? Also, I would/will be greatly amused if/when we encounter BAD CIVILIZATION.

I'm expecting Frid to somehow end up with Scion powers, given

"Still, if there's a divine spark in me somewhere, I haven't found it yet... ” His head whipped around to stare at his Servant. “Did you just COUGH—again?"

I'm a bit surprised that Erik/Tamamo are getting edition-shifted (assuming Frid is correct), since they seem to be represented consistently in 1E rules, albeit with reduced power due to losing domains and thus needing to be avatars, but now that I look at the timeline of second edition coming out, it looks like that's literally happening in the last month. On the other hand, the edition shift could be what was destroying the original Scion universe, and thus, what weakened Tamamo/Fenris. Since 2E Scion seems to only have Origin/Hero thus far, God/Demigod-level powers probably aren't covered yet, so that makes it even weirder. He could just be completely wrong, though.

Ah, Gordes. You... do you.

Feels weird that Mordred can go hunting for Assassin without her Master without a big prana battery, while Siegfried/Astolfo can't. Perhaps Mordred has more internal capacity, since Artoria certainly has a lot.

one did not destroy both the line and legacy of a noble family like the Sophia-Ri, even crippled as they were, by chance.

The first part of this makes it seem like he's being merciful or considerate of magus standards (mostly due to the italics on destroy) if you miss the "by chance", like you could do "one did not destroy [Sophia-Ri], even crippled as they were. That just wasn't done.". I would have found something like "one did not destroy [Sophia-Ri], even as weak as they had been, by chance" a bit easier to read.

Poor Gordes, imagining the Celenike x Godafrid. Please do us all a favor and do not write that as an omake.

I wonder if a truck is about to run into Gordes. Since Siegfried said "the presence of a Servant", I'm thinking no, but at the distance they're at (presumably the edge of his perception), maybe they register as one.

Missed you guys! Glad to see you're back. I also was not doing much sleeping over the weekend, too busy speed-reading >.>

[RanmaBushiko]

Double update, nom nom nom.

In approximate order:

I wonder if you're misgendering Mordred, given that they earlier wanted to be referred to as male. I guess Mordred can't misgender themselves. Lovely catharsis here.



I feel like the "he himself" repetition doesn't really work here as dialogue. Feels more natural as "But he himself could not understand humanity. He was too inhuman to really guide me with things.". The sentiment definitely fits with what we know about Merlin's nature from FGO (I was going to say that not having him, I don't know about interlude, but he doesn't have one, so moot point)



Feel like the second Father in here is a bit awkward. Also, "which mostly covered what we just talked about" doesn't seem quite accurate, it seems more like a "which was mostly what we just talked about".

Mordred's choice of words "already caught all the Masters of Red" is interesting. I might have gone for "gathered all the Masters of Red before he had the chance to catch them".

I'm not entirely sure what Archer and Rin have to talk over... I guess they just had several pieces of information revealed, so they might want to coordinate on it, I'm just not sure what, or if it's enough that Emiya wouldn't want to go look at labs, even possibly destroyed ones, unless Erik is just strongly hinting at him that he doesn't want him there. Particularly since Rin and Archer should be able to communicate telepathically if it's REALLY boring.

Missing an open quote on the "It was part of a game series involving a humanoid bunch of animals" paragraph. An interesting application for artificial gravity is in reducing G-force in acceleration. Didn't think of that before, hm.

Mash-assisted turning sounds like an amusing idea. Scary, but amusing. I don't really see it working in an urban environment (like where Assassin of Black probably is), but I guess we're primarily in countryside here.

I'm not sure Mordred should have the engineering background to build trucks from just Grail downloads, but I guess they'd be starting simple.



The "both" there feels weird without an and. I might have done "You're going to need to be on the look out for Servants of Black, especially Assassin of Black, plus Assassin of Red and her Master." or your version, but "for both known Servants of Black, and Assassin of Black, as well as..."

I was briefly surprised Kairi wasn't in the truck, then remembered that he's working on cloning technology with Erik later. I do wonder what Scathach is up to, but eh.

In this case, Mordred is still female, however much she might be either mentally Transgender, in Denial, or hiding it because of how crappy women's lives generally WERE back then. Erik's more than polite enough to not call her on it, or harass her about it, though. So she's very much aware she's female. It's a delicate balance, showing that part off.

I did fix the dialogue lines you pointed out, as well.

Archer and Rin need to settle down, and collectively figure out what the hell they've gotten into. They also need time to work out how to cope with the Fenris Wolf being on board, and eyeballing them as possible food if they don't keep the crew's secrets safe.

Yeah, Erik went over a stupidly large amount of crazy bullshit science, thus worked out mostly how to get artificial gravity to reduce G-Force in acceleration. That doesn't mean it worked very well.

As for Mash assisted turning? You get to see that next chapter. Mwahaha. And no, it's generally just about as destructive as you can imagine it would be, considering the last known position of Jack the Ripper is in Buchapest, Romania.

As for Mordred having no engineering background? No, Mordred doesn't. At the same time, Mordred's happy to learn and study things from the ground up, and Erik's really noticed that.


As for Kairi, you're going to see him more once this next bit is finished, and see what the hell's been happening with him, his daughter, Scathach, and Touko. Loosely putting it, though, medical issues constantly showing back up, and them getting help from whatever they can take, to keep his daughter from dying a second time.

Effectively, his daughter rolled a 1, on a 1d100, for health levels. She's not that well off. At all.

It's mitigated by him having both Touko Aozaki, and Scathach with her legendary skill with runes backing them up to ensure his daughter lives, but Touko's understandably freaked out and working to save his kid, HE'S stressed to the point of nearly no functionality, and they're all rushing to keep her stable long enough to have time to talk with Erik about the cloning technology.

On to Kieran's chapter!

I'm kind of amused that Chiron considers a piloted machine more? impressive than a completely autonomous one. I guess piloting typically means more dangerous, because the driver can adapt better than a program, but even with magic, it feels like making something piloted should be easier than making something reasonably intelligent and autonomous. Then again, mages would very rarely make something to pilot like that, barring unusual circumstances (like Fiore's Mystic Code). Actually, since he's Fiore's Servant, you'd think he'd be aware of those.



Okay, I managed to parse this, but it's still kinda confusing, because "the time it took to do so adequately" initially read like it was referring to the act of catching his attention, which made no sense. "and the time the door took to open enough for the opener to enter" isn't good, because too many "open"s. "and the time it took before the opener could enter" kinda works, but isn't clear about the detail that the door is opening very slowly. Maybe something like "and the amount of time the door spent moving before it was accessible to the opener", but that's still really awkward. "and the time the door took to open before it was entered"? Ugh. That's a tricky one.



Shamefully definitely seems like the wrong word here, since it implies that making the statement is shameful, not that he feels remorseful about what he's talking about. Ashamedly, remorsefully, or abashedly (or even something like guiltily) might work, but feel a bit awkward somehow. I think remorsefully is the best choice of those.

Since Frid saw the Sword of Atli go flying inside the Fate universe, does it look like the Scion version's sword, or Altera's sword? Also, I would/will be greatly amused if/when we encounter BAD CIVILIZATION.

I'm expecting Frid to somehow end up with Scion powers, given


I'm a bit surprised that Erik/Tamamo are getting edition-shifted (assuming Frid is correct), since they seem to be represented consistently in 1E rules, albeit with reduced power due to losing domains and thus needing to be avatars, but now that I look at the timeline of second edition coming out, it looks like that's literally happening in the last month. On the other hand, the edition shift could be what was destroying the original Scion universe, and thus, what weakened Tamamo/Fenris. Since 2E Scion seems to only have Origin/Hero thus far, God/Demigod-level powers probably aren't covered yet, so that makes it even weirder. He could just be completely wrong, though.

Ah, Gordes. You... do you.

Feels weird that Mordred can go hunting for Assassin without her Master without a big prana battery, while Siegfried/Astolfo can't. Perhaps Mordred has more internal capacity, since Artoria certainly has a lot.



The first part of this makes it seem like he's being merciful or considerate of magus standards (mostly due to the italics on destroy) if you miss the "by chance", like you could do "one did not destroy [Sophia-Ri], even crippled as they were. That just wasn't done.". I would have found something like "one did not destroy [Sophia-Ri], even as weak as they had been, by chance" a bit easier to read.

Poor Gordes, imagining the Celenike x Godafrid. Please do us all a favor and do not write that as an omake.

I wonder if a truck is about to run into Gordes. Since Siegfried said "the presence of a Servant", I'm thinking no, but at the distance they're at (presumably the edge of his perception), maybe they register as one.

Missed you guys! Glad to see you're back. I also was not doing much sleeping over the weekend, too busy speed-reading >.>

Let's see now, on my end for this?

I agree on the Chiron bit, but considering how backwards most technology was back then, with very few people skilled enough to make clockwork? It makes sense that he'd see something magical being nigh-impossible to control that would be that massive.

Kieran'll look over things more for your stuff on the wording.

Godafrid has interesting times ahead for him, that's all I'll say. In the Chinese sense of the word. Mwahaha.

As for Edition stuff, I'll cover that later with Kieran. Too complex for right now, in my opinion.

Yeah, Gordes is... interesting for this one, I'll admit. And the Celenike x Godafrid pairing will never be written as an Omake, except in a "Oh, HELL NO!" sort of way.

Mordred, on the other hand, has barely seen any action, and it's shown in Fate/Stay Night that Servants can fight while in a distance from their Masters. It's just easier to give them orders up close and personal. So she's operating off a mostly full gas tank, so to speak.

As for what Gordes is seeing? You'll see, by my next chapter.

Also, yeah, sorry for it taking so long. I just wanted that first scene perfect between Mordred and Arturia.

[Kieran]

Double update, nom nom nom.

Part of the reason the updates come in twos is because we have to spend a lot of time coordinating - making sure that events happen in the right order, and that the characters we need aren't somewhere else at the time, in-story.

Sure, Wolverine can pull off being in about five places at once (depending on how many titles he's in at the time), but he's the best there is at what he does . . .


In approximate order:

I'm kind of amused that Chiron considers a piloted machine more? impressive than a completely autonomous one. I guess piloting typically means more dangerous, because the driver can adapt better than a program, but even with magic, it feels like making something piloted should be easier than making something reasonably intelligent and autonomous. Then again, mages would very rarely make something to pilot like that, barring unusual circumstances (like Fiore's Mystic Code). Actually, since he's Fiore's Servant, you'd think he'd be aware of those.[/QUOTE]

It's the scale and the rarity. As noted, Greek mythology has any number of automatons, but those are just "snap fingers, and full sentience and soul exist" - Talos, Galatea, and so on. The only sort of war vehicle built like that that I recall is the Trojan Horse, and it wasn't really built to do anything but sit there. The idea of a piloted war machine, particularly one that can be that effective against Servants, is a novelty.

. . . You are right about Fiore's harness, but the scale comes into play, there - it's more along the lines of a personal weapons system.

Okay, I managed to parse this, but it's still kinda confusing, because "the time it took to do so adequately" initially read like it was referring to the act of catching his attention, which made no sense. "and the time the door took to open enough for the opener to enter" isn't good, because too many "open"s. "and the time it took before the opener could enter" kinda works, but isn't clear about the detail that the door is opening very slowly. Maybe something like "and the amount of time the door spent moving before it was accessible to the opener", but that's still really awkward. "and the time the door took to open before it was entered"? Ugh. That's a tricky one.

Sorry about that - despite its placing, it was the last scene I wrote, and by then I was so eager to get it finished and up that I was admittedly cutting corners. Hopefully, the revised version reads a bit easier?

Shamefully definitely seems like the wrong word here, since it implies that making the statement is shameful, not that he feels remorseful about what he's talking about. Ashamedly, remorsefully, or abashedly (or even something like guiltily) might work, but feel a bit awkward somehow. I think remorsefully is the best choice of those.

Mostly agreed, and fixed - thank you.

Since Frid saw the Sword of Atli go flying inside the Fate universe, does it look like the Scion version's sword, or Altera's sword?

You'll see . . .

Also, I would/will be greatly amused if/when we encounter BAD CIVILIZATION.

It is tempting - but despite the story's title, I think there is a limit on the crazy we can introduce before it becomes ridiculous.

(. . . Of course, if that one "end battle" scene I came up with does make it in, I'll be a liar and a hypocrite at that point. )

I'm expecting Frid to somehow end up with Scion powers, given

It is a possibility; I currently have other plans, but it's an idea that nags every once in a while - partly because in ways, it would be simpler . . .

I'm a bit surprised that Erik/Tamamo are getting edition-shifted (assuming Frid is correct), since they seem to be represented consistently in 1E rules, albeit with reduced power due to losing domains and thus needing to be avatars, but now that I look at the timeline of second edition coming out, it looks like that's literally happening in the last month. On the other hand, the edition shift could be what was destroying the original Scion universe, and thus, what weakened Tamamo/Fenris. Since 2E Scion seems to only have Origin/Hero thus far, God/Demigod-level powers probably aren't covered yet, so that makes it even weirder. He could just be completely wrong, though.

Yeah - my thinking is that the "reset event" is what Erik witnessed; many mythologies, including the Norse, work on cycles, after all. And there might be an omake explaining that coming up this weekend . . .

Ah, Gordes. You... do you.

As I said, TYPE-MOON comic relief character.

The first part of this makes it seem like he's being merciful or considerate of magus standards (mostly due to the italics on destroy) if you miss the "by chance", like you could do "one did not destroy [Sophia-Ri], even crippled as they were. That just wasn't done.". I would have found something like "one did not destroy [Sophia-Ri], even as weak as they had been, by chance" a bit easier to read.

Agreed, and fixed. Again, thank you.

Poor Gordes, imagining the Celenike x Godafrid. Please do us all a favor and do not write that as an omake.

If I was doing a Hellraiser crossover, maybe - as it is? Not only no, but HELL, no.

Missed you guys! Glad to see you're back.

Nice to hear, thanks!

And again, part of that is timing, the rest is health or actual time - sorry.

I also was not doing much sleeping over the weekend, too busy speed-reading >.>

As I said, seems to be going around . . .

[Xamusel]

I honestly wish I had something constructive to say about the story so far... sorry about that.

I guess, now that we have more information on the situation, that the rules being shifted is what's causing the Gem to crack at a faster rate?

[Kieran]

I honestly wish I had something constructive to say about the story so far... sorry about that.

No worries - I'm just glad you're commenting at all.

I mean, I can see the view counter, and even the count when people are "in-thread," but sometimes it seems like we're writing for an audience of two. I mean, I'm delighted we have readers, I just wish they'd feel comfortable enough to say something.

I guess, now that we have more information on the situation, that the rules being shifted is what's causing the Gem to crack at a faster rate?

From what I remember of RB's plans, that sounds at least partially right.

[Xamusel]

You raise a good point, Kieran... thanks for that, man.

Hmm... I guess I'll have to wait for him to confirm it later. If he had it in mind that I'm actually wrong, then no skin off my back. If I'm somewhat right, that's good.

[RanmaBushiko]

No worries - I'm just glad you're commenting at all.

I mean, I can see the view counter, and even the count when people are "in-thread," but sometimes it seems like we're writing for an audience of two. I mean, I'm delighted we have readers, I just wish they'd feel comfortable enough to say something.

From what I remember of RB's plans, that sounds at least partially right.

I'll agree on being glad that we have readers, and wishing more would speak up.

You raise a good point, Kieran... thanks for that, man.

Hmm... I guess I'll have to wait for him to confirm it later. If he had it in mind that I'm actually wrong, then no skin off my back. If I'm somewhat right, that's good.

Yes, you are correct, on both accounts for questions about the Gem of Power. Both Gaia, and the Rules shift have been chipping away at it, trying to force it to work on Second Edition Rules. Thus me quoting Obi Wan Kenobi on you the last time you had a theory involving it.

However, here's the real question. Can you guess why? Trust me when I say that this is a major part of Erik's plot for his future, one that he hasn't quite exactly realized yet.

I will admit, since you've guessed at it, Fenris and Tamamo have both been affected by effectively an Edition Shifts, from Scion 1.0 to 2.0. So if you're keen enough, you may figure out what exactly is going on. And, there IS enough hints that you might be able to guess what exactly is the situation, if you re-read everything involving Erik's chapters...


I'll tell you what. If you, or anyone else, figures it out, PM me your guesses. If you guess right, I'll write ONE side story involving one character, for this story, per correct guess. It could be about Kairi's current situation, or Touko Aozaki's situation, or anything.

Each of you reading can have 3 guesses to PM me before we get the next chapter out, for why this is happening to Erik's Gem of Power. Yes, that means every reader with an account on here.

And the PM bit is so that no one is spoiled on the guesses in the story, proper.

[Xamusel]

Mission Accepted.

...guess where I got that line from.

[Arbitrarity]

I have a guess, though there are a couple of places where I just go "ehhh, it's one of these 3 things". The important part, however, I'm reasonably sure about.

[Kieran]

It was a dream—Godafrid knew that, but knowing didn’t affect the dream itself. And he had no idea what portion of his imagination had conjured this up.

It was an odd sort of place: a mountain village, above a large portion of the cloudbank level, but not quite in reach of the sun, somehow. A cool gloom permeated the air, and it made him uneasy. Not least because it felt unsettlingly familiar, somehow—

“Because all mountains, no matter how high they go, have their foundations within the earth,” answered an icy, imperious voice behind him, “Their roots lie within the darkness—and this one, more than most.”

“Indeed?” Godafrid asked, struggling to put a name, or a face, to the voice he knew, but was equally certain he had never heard before. “And why would that be—Milady?”

The form of address was added hastily, because the tone used by the speaker behind him implied that she was unused to being addressed as anything less than that, and would not take it in stride.

“Because you stand upon Helgafjell, the Holy Mountain for those who died hastily, before the Norns had truly finished weaving the pattern of their skein—a place of rest, though not peace, for the dead who are neither virtuous nor damned, merely . . . Unjustly so.” He could somehow hear the lips behind him pulling into a wicked, self-satisfied smile. “And where else would such a mountain arise from, save for Helheim itself?”

“. . . I don’t recall reading about that in Norse mythology, Lady Hel,” Godafrid said carefully, even as he turned slowly, keeping his eyes lowered.

Partly because the Queen of the Damned was not the sort of person to tolerate disrespect, and had a myriad of ways to prove it, and partly because he was honestly afraid of what he might see. Marvel Comics’ bout of artistic license aside, the vast majority of descriptions and depictions of Hel were far from flattering.

(Still, at least it explained the familiarity of her voice: it was the same one he’d always heard in his head when reading the dialogue of Mab, Queen of the Winter Court of Faerie, in Jim Butcher’s “Dresden Files” novels.)

Unaware of his thoughts (presumably), Hel replied, “The idea existed, though the concept was never popular enough to truly gain a hold in Legend.” The almost offhanded way she did so was creepy, and her following statement brought it to an entirely different level of unsettling. “The duality of paradise or damnation is so much more appealing to the human mind, I suppose.”

“And yet, it’s here?” The question slipped out before Godafrid could stop it.

“The cycle is ended, and like all cycles, begun anew,” Hel proclaimed gravely—and with a lady like her, that meant something. The words produced a chilling rattle in his bones.

“But such is the Fate of all things bound to story and Legend, that the retelling is never quite the same,” the Goddess continued, and an odd note crept into her voice as she added quietly, “And likewise, knowing something is not the same as seeing it for oneself—as I understand far better, now.”

“I’m afraid I don’t, Milady,” Godafrid said.

“. . .” In anyone else, he would’ve labelled Hel’s silence as hesitation—but no incarnation of the deity he had ever encountered in myth or entertainment could be accused of being the type.

She said at last, with the tone of one who was chewing ground glass—no, diamonds was more accurate, “. . . In cycles past—even the last such . . . I would not have cared that you would not deign to look upon me.”

The snap in her voice evoked the memory of minus-forty wind chill—the winter cold which felt as though it was flaying the skin from your face simply by being—and it would take someone far more oblivious than even Godafrid not to recognise the anger in that statement. Whether it was at him for his action, at the weakness in her for reacting to it so, at the whole situation or at all of the above, he couldn’t say . . . But he did recognise that her statement was as much a command as it was a complaint, and raised his head accordingly.

Mythology had Hel as being “half dead, and half alive,” and with the exception of Marvel’s wholly-living version, that had actually led to a fair number of different renditions. Some of them depicted her as half-skeletal, or half-rotting, others half-cyanotic blue, or black, to depict her necrotised half. The picture of her in Scion: Ragnarok had followed the half-skeleton template.

The woman before him, on the other hand, looked like Cate Blanchett as the Marvel Cinematic Universe’s Hela—to start with, at least. Unlike her film counterpart, this Hel was, as more mythically depicted, bisected, with the other half more resembling one of those display mannequins of the human body, with the skin cut away to show what lay beneath.

It wasn’t rotted, precisely, but it was unsettling— in the sterile way that something made of plastics and glass instead of meat and bone was. And because, at the same time, there was a sort of macabre beauty to it, in the aesthetic sense: in the same way such a mannequin might such a thing when one considered the level of craftsmanship and precision applied to the details of its making. Hel did not seem half-dead so much as it seemed that half of her had never been alive in the first place—and that alien beauty complimented her living form as much as it contrasted it.

“La belle dame sans merci . . .” Godafrid muttered, understanding the poem’s choice of phrasing far better now than he ever had.

“Pretty words,” Hel spat icily. “I had no appreciation for such, before—and I do not like having such now. I am Hel; my bed is Sorrow itself, Hunger my knife, and all manner of pain and torment are at my command—what need have I of such things?”

“And yet, Baldur . . .?”

Even in this life, it seemed, Godafrid’s mouth could move faster, and independently, of his brain. But that was all right, in some respects--if nothing else it allowed his brain to focus more attention on the bony, glacial fingers which suddenly locked around his windpipe.

“You were never worthy to speak his name—and at least you knew that, once,” she hissed.

“Sorry,” he tried to utter—it came out more as a choked gurgle, really.

She stared at him through glowing slits, one eye a glossy white marble, and the other a truly icy blue.

“. . . Changed from what you were, but still who you are,” she muttered, throwing him to the ground with a motion that somehow managed to be as nonchalant as it was vindictive.

“I don’t—understand . . .” Godafrid choked out, trying to funnel air down a half-crushed windpipe.

“You would not—you cannot,” Hel answered. “It is not you who were given claim and dominion over those who fell without battle, as the Norns did not . . . ” In a bitter tone, she muttered under her breath, “Not even the so-wise All-Father saw that coming, I expect—though I dread to consider what he might have done to me if he had.

“But though an unexpected harvest,” she admitted, “the bounty of it has proven to be . . . Enlightening. I can walk through dreams, such as this—for what is sleep, if not the closest the living can come to my hall without actually making the journey? And I can follow the thread of those whose patterns were once woven in the Norns’ designs, even if they have managed to since escape the tapestry.”

Godafrid stared. If he was parsing her roundabout manner of speech, she was at least implying that—

“I am Hel,” the Goddess repeated fiercely, “and only one might I accept as the Lord of my hall; you are not, and neither were or will be, he. But never has Sorrow seemed so cold or deep, now that I recall what it is to share it, even with a lesser choice.”

“. . . I’m sorry, Milady.” It was pitiful, weak, and absolutely the wrong tack to take with this particular lady—she mocked the damned for a living, after all . . . But it was all he had.

“In many ways,” she agreed icily. “My consort you are not, nor likely to be again—and though Baldur he was not, he was a balm, of sorts. So in memory of he who meted justice against those who earned it, there is Helgafjall, for those who had none, or did not. And for what remains of him . . .”

The armlet was dead-black, and barbed, as though formed of wrought-iron thorns. What powers the Relic might contain, he could only guess—though that it was a Relic, and therefore did, was obvious.

“A memory of your own, to carry with you beyond this dream: the wisdom that Hel does not surrender easily that which is hers . . .”

Mission Accepted.

...guess where I got that line from.

RB's second-favourite Gundam anime, that I haven't seen in roughly 20 years?

[RanmaBushiko]

Mission Accepted.

...guess where I got that line from.

Gundam Wing. *Chuckles* I own the box set of dvds.

I have a guess, though there are a couple of places where I just go "ehhh, it's one of these 3 things". The important part, however, I'm reasonably sure about.

It was a good first try, and you're CLOSE, but not quite there yet, as I said in the email. You missed one tiny thing in the early chapters with big consequences. With that write-up, though, you're DEFINITELY on the right track.

[Xamusel]

Kieran, question... what would it possibly take to make that omake canon to the timeline, buddy?

[Kieran]

Some rethinking on my part, and a lot of rereading - but mostly, reader interest.