A crossover between JoJo's Bizarre Adventure part 5: Vento Aureo and the Fate/Stay Night half of the nasuverse, starting in zero
Index:
Fanfiction.net version
Chapter 0
Chapter 1
Chapter 2
A crossover between JoJo's Bizarre Adventure part 5: Vento Aureo and the Fate/Stay Night half of the nasuverse, starting in zero
Index:
Fanfiction.net version
Chapter 0
Chapter 1
Chapter 2
Last edited by 400PercentSync; October 26th, 2015 at 09:50 AM.
Okay, here's what I got just from reading Chapter 0.
You mix up your tenses on occasion, particularly in the first chapter. Some sentences are in present tense, and others are in past tense. You'll want to pick one and stick to it. It seems like you're going for past tense, so look over your sentences and make sure they match up.
Second, the "stats" portion of the fic is unnecessary. They are a purely external invention to the actual Nasuverse. They're rarely mentioned in-universe.
From what I recall Heroic Spirits aren't exactly conscious while in the Throne of Heroes. They're held in a sort of stasis while their souls are copied to create Servants. Giorno wouldn't be able to do much at all.
I do have a few more miscellaneous nitpicks as well. Your grammar and prose are solid enough, but some sentences are structured rather awkwardly. I recommend going over everything you write and reading it out loud to be sure it flows properly.
Also, we tend to like it when the author posts chapters directly on the forum rather than linking to ff.net. It's not a necessity, and if you're just planning on a quick stop here there's not much reason to, but if you're considering a longer stay it might attract more readers if you post the chapters in this thread.
Thanks for the reply and very helpful critiques, this is exactly the kind of comment I was lacking on ff.net.Originally Posted by Bloble
Most of the issues, like tense and awkward sentence structure should have hopefully been fixed in later chapters. Chapter 0 is admittedly very weak and could do with an overhaul, but it wasn't super important to the fic besides establishing it, so it was just posted at the same time as chapter 1, which is a good deal better in my opinion.
My nasu lore is a tad rusty, so that stuff about the stats and the throne of heroes was very informative, if I ever go back and fix chapter 0 I'll be sure to keep those in mind.
As for posting chapters to this thread, I'm not sure how long I'm going to be here, I just wanted a bit of constructive criticism and ff.net's reviews tend to amount to "this was cool" or "I liked it", which isn't very useful. I will consider posting the chapters here in the future, but I need to think about it.
thanks again for the help, I really appreciate it.
----:Chapter 0:----
Prelude
In an instant everything was taken from him, everything he had worked his entire life to achieve was shattered completely. He watched as the world spun out of control around him but he could do nothing to stop it, the world and everything in it was reset. A new universe was born, one similar to his old world, but lacking anything he truly recognized. Except for him, Giorno Giovanna would not be defeated so easily, his Requiem wouldn’t allow it.
His dream to be a gang-star was stolen from him, but there was no enemy to fight in this new world, and no gang for him to oversee. He was no longer the boss, he was nothing. He didn’t even know what had happened to the world - his world.
He had tried, tried with all his might to adapt to this world, but it was impossible. There was nothing here for him, neither friends nor enemies to surround himself with, only a feeling of emptiness. And no matter how hard he searched he could find no way to return to his world, his resolve began to weaken, was he doomed to die a failure here?
“So this is the fate of the one who stole the King’s throne huh? I’d never have expected this…” He laughed and fell to the ground, his arms outstretched. In the end he found no salvation in this world, his strength finally leaving his body. He was a broken man who had burned out the remainder of his life searching for something that didn’t exist, he closed his eyes and finally let go.
Giorno Giovanna died. An outsider unknown to this world, having never made a mark in its history. He would have given anything to become a gang-star again, to reunite with his comrades one more time. He died with his original dream in his thoughts, a dream he would have done anything to achieve.
No, he would achieve this dream! Even in death his spirit couldn’t be extinguished, but there was no longer anything he could do, his requiem couldn’t undo his death. But his will was strong, strong enough to affect something. The world felt his strength of will, the power of his soul, and it took him into it.
The Throne of Heroes; a place that existed outside of time and space. Where the souls of legendary heroes were removed from the cycle of reincarnation. Even in this world, where he had no legends and no achievements to his name , he was brought inside it.
He wasn’t conscious, at least not in the traditional sense. He became more like a database in a computer, his knowledge was accessed by the world, and information flowed through him freely. Unable to truly think made time irrelevant, and prevented him from contemplating any of the concepts that had been added to his soul.
An indiscernible amount of time passed, days, months, perhaps millennia with no change. Then suddenly, the throne shifted and Giorno Giovanna awoke into an unknown location. Floating in a dark void, an understanding of his situation flooded into his now active mind.
The Holy Grail, which was where he was at present, had pulled him into itself to await a summoning. An enemy presented itself to him, a new battle, one that offered him a chance of redemption. If he could win this ‘Holy Grail War’ he would be granted a wish. It seemed this is what he was woken from his eternal slumber for. A strange feeling filled him, an unknown energy that pulled at his soul, and the summoning began.
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Standing above an intricate spell circle, Tokiomi Tohsaka prepared to do what he had been born to do. His heritage had led him to this moment and he would not fail, he would summon the most powerful servant. The room filled with an unnatural light as he began his chant, he felt the flow of prana through his body.
“Ye first, O silver, O iron. O stone of the foundation, O Archduke of the Contract. Hear me in the name of our great teacher, the Archmagus Schweinorg.”
Something felt wrong, Giorno who had no understanding of the mechanics of this world and no knowledge of magic felt it was wrong. He had no idea why or how, but something was incorrect. But he couldn’t do anything about it, he was powerless.
“Let the descending winds be as a wall. Let the gates in all directions be shut, rising above the crown, and let the three-forked roads to the Kingdom revolve. Let it be filled. Again. Again. Again. Again.”
He felt himself being pulled, dragged out of the grail into the world. He steeled his resolve; anything that happened after this point was nothing more than a casualty of war. He would win and retake his position as the boss, no matter the cost.
“From the Seventh Heaven, attended to by three great words of power, come forth from the ring of restraint, Protector of the Balance!”
As his connection with the magus Tokiomi formed, he realized why he felt the summoning was wrong, it wasn’t meant for him. Mistakenly called from the Throne of Heroes, Giorno Giovanna was not the intended servant at all, but rather another blonde man; one clad in golden armor.
It was did not matter any longer, the summoning was finished and the contract completed. In place of the servant it was made to summon, a strange hero knelt in the magic circle, clad in flamboyant clothing inscribed with a pattern of ladybugs and butterflies.
He stood up to his full height, looking like a bizarre version of the famous statue of David. He locked eyes with the magus before him, his unchanging expression staring right at him.
“I ask of you, are you my Master?”
Tokiomi Tohsaka had never been nearly as confused as he was right now, and he felt his hope of winning quickly fade before his eyes.
________________________________________________
Giorno flexed his hand, tightening it into a fist. This would do, it had to. His mind will still filling itself with new information, magic? This world had actual, honest to god magic? It was going to take some time for him to adjust to that knowledge.
It seemed that as he was summoned as something known as a ‘heroic spirit’, any ability he had access to in life was assumed to be directly his own. This had resulted in a strange change in his powers, his Stand was gone, but its power remained within him.
You could say he had become an amalgamation of his Stand and himself; he also appeared to have become much younger than he was at his time of death, how peculiar...
This would have to be enough, he didn’t know what he would face in this new world, but he once again felt a faint glimmer of hope, this war held his salvation. He would fight, and he would win.
Victory was the only path he could take.
________________________________________________So, after deciding I was dissatisfied with the original fic, I started rewriting it and posted a few chapters on fanfiction.net, but of course fanfiction's community is terrible and unhelpful, so I return to beast's lair to hopefully get some sort of constructive criticism. This prelude is very short but the other chapters of the rewrite got crazy too long at points (got 4 chapters up on fanfiction.net, but I'll post them here too.) At the very least, I think the problems pointed out in the original first chapter are sorted out.
But you should be very concerned with making your first installment as strong as it can be.
It is the very first impression a story will make on its reader, so what incentive does the audience have to continue if Chapter 0 is so dull that they never get to Chapter 1, even if it is better? You've already lost a good chunk of potential readers.
I completely agree! The main reason I started to rewrite it is because I noticed most of the views were only on the first chapter. Since posting the rewrite, the numbers have evened out significantly. And with your post I'm now able to post chapter 1 here! I have the first 4 or so chapters done, so updates will be faster now and then probably slow down quite a lot, I should have been posting these rewrites here from the start but frankly... I forgot!
________________________________________________
----:Chapter 1:----
Butterflies
How had it all gone so wrong? Every part of his plan was laid out in meticulous detail, but still he stood here, looking at the most flamboyant man he had ever seen in his life. Surprising a magus was no easy feat; the association was no stranger to its share of eccentrics after all. He had meant to summon the King of Heroes from the oldest of legends, but instead he had called forth an unknown entity.
Quite a few things about this Servant struck him as odd; the most obvious one was his outfit. A blue suit with an opening at the chest in the shape of a heart, covered in a pattern of butterflies with several large ladybug shaped brooches. First of all, what kind of Heroic Spirit wears a suit?
The next thing that was bothering him was that this Servant was young, most likely a teenager around seventeen. The stone faced boy stood motionless across from him, unmoving from the summoning circle. He caught a glimpse of the boy’s eyes and almost faltered in his calm posture. What he saw was no child’s eyes. This boy had the eyes of a killer, someone who had seen more horror than even a Magus would be expected to see.
His goal was seeming quite distant now, had he summoned the King of Heroes as intended the war would be as good as won, but he had no way of knowing if this hero could live up to those expectations. No matter, he was a Magus; setbacks were commonplace in his work. He would win the war and reach the Root of the World, with or without his intended servant.
It quickly became apparent the Servant wasn’t planning to say anything and Tokiomi was starting to get frustrated, but he couldn’t let it show on his face. If he showed weakness now his relationship with the Servant before him would surely be ruined from the start. The servant motioned with his eyes towards Tokiomi’s apprentice and partner in the war, Kirei Kotomine. The Tohsaka head finally realized why the servant had said nothing since his initial summoning.
“Kirei, would you please excuse us, I would like to have a word with my Servant in private.” Dismissing the former Priest with a wave, he exited the study promptly and without a word. “Now then, I assume you don’t wish to speak in front of Kotomine, though I assure you he’s an ally to our cause.”
The fabulous Servant nodded silently and remained quiet; Tokiomi didn’t know how much longer he could stay patient in this situation. He had to break the stalemate of conversation, so perhaps a simple question first?
“What is your name?”
“…” The Servant just stared at him, remaining completely silent, his face locked in the same stoic expression as always. Tokiomi immediately began to worry. Had he offended him? Many Heroes were quite arrogant, did he speak too bluntly?
“I am Tokiomi Tohsaka, head of the Tohsaka household and overseer of this land.” He bowed deeply, hoping to alleviate any offence he may have caused to the Heroic Spirit. “If we’re to work together in this grand ritual it would benefit me greatly if I knew which Hero I had called forth, would you do me the honor of knowing your name?”
“Sorry, whatever hopes you’re still holding onto about my identity are wrong.” The mysterious servant replied, his tone blunt and serious. “I’m not a hero.”
“Not a hero? Surely you jest, it’s impossible to be summoned by the Grail without being within the Throne of Heroes!” Agitation began to seep into his tone with each word; he was losing his cool faster by the second, why did this have to happen to him? The Archer class held the skill ‘Independent action’, and it was showing already in his Servant’s unwillingness to cooperate.
“Alright, I’m Giorno Giovanna, the Boss of Passione.” In Tokiomi’s recollection there were no Italian heroes under that name, and he had definitely never heard of whatever Passione was meant to be.
The full weight of Tokiomi’s confusion came crashing down on him when the strange servant in contemporary dress began to pose. One hand outstretched and the other tugging on the heart shaped opening of his shirt, his legs spread wide. He also couldn’t understand why his long blonde hair was flowing out to the side; there was no wind inside his study to speak of. What the hell kind of Archer was this anyways?
He had definitely summoned the Archer class, he could feel it from his connection, had something gone that wrong as to place an unsuitable spirit in the Archer class? As the servant continued to pose he felt a strong resistance to letting him anywhere near his daughter, he wouldn’t let this man influence her young impressionable mind.
His shoulders slumped; the summoning was turning out more taxing than he anticipated, though it was more of a mental exhaustion than a physical one. Having not looked into his connection with the servant before him too deeply, he took this chance to assess the abilities of the man he had summoned. He almost cried out in shock from the results, refusing to believe them until he checked again.
Archer was one of the three Knight classes; the servants summoned in said classes were stronger than the others on average. And yet this servant of his was weak, having abilities that were closer to the assassin class than the Knight classes. Had he not clearly seen them in his mind he wouldn’t have believed them; his connection as a magus translating the abstract concepts of ability into a graded lettering system his human mind could process.
“Archer, could you enlighten me as to why your skills and abilities are all well below average for your class,” unable to comprehend it on his own, he was forced to take the worst possible action and ask the servant themselves. “Yet you possess Agility and a Noble Phantasm that exceed the limits of my understanding as a magus?”
The servant stared at him for a time, was he angered or simply forming a response? His level of agility wouldn’t be too mismatched with his class, but to possess a Noble Phantasm of that rank without being an easily recognizable Hero was unheard of. After several minutes of this he was starting to lose his patience, when the boy finally spoke up.
“Archer? I don’t think I ever used any bows in my life,” The servant said something unbelievable, it was impossible for Tokiomi to have failed so much that he’d summoned a spirit into the wrong class. That was a mistake a novice would make, he couldn’t accept that!
“The grail would not have placed you in that class if you weren’t a fit for it, surely you’re only joking?” His words came out strained; this bizarre servant was chipping away at his ability to remain collected. “Your legend must be connected to some form of ranged combat; it need not be an actual bow.”
“You asked me to explain my power, yes?” The young servant’s body shifted, he leaned in towards Tokiomi and placed his hand on one of the ladybug shaped brooches on his suit. “But expressing it in words is…difficult. So witness for yourself the power of my Stand.”
A warm golden light flowed from his hand into the broach, and in an instant it was gone, a butterfly in its place. The butterfly flew, exactly as a real butterfly would, dancing around the room and the servant. Tokiomi’s stunned expression was written all over his face, not even a magus of the highest caliber would be capable of such a stunt.
“Y-Your ability is to make things into butterflies? Or do those broaches posses the ability to shift into animals, perhaps?” He tried to rationalize what he had seen, his mind filled with utter confusion.
“Close, but it’s nothing as simple as that.” The butterfly landed on his suit and transformed back into a lifeless broach in the shape of a ladybug. “Even I don’t know the limits of this ability, but it’s one I’ve possessed since I was born.”
“You can’t possibly be telling me that you… can transform any object into a living construct at will?” If that were true, it would certainly be fitting of such an absurd ranking. But it couldn’t possibly be that unless this Servant was an actual divine being, which seemed quite unlikely.
“I don’t know what you mean by living construct, but my ability is one to create life. I can breathe life into any object, and it becomes a living thing that is just as real as any other.” Reaching behind him he took a book from the shelves of Tokiomi’s study and in an instant, a tree had sprouted from its pages. “Anything I create is under my direct control as well. Well, does this help you understand my power?”
“L-Life? Absurd, not even true magic could create life so easily! You are not a divine existence; your powers shouldn’t be able to go against the laws of the world like this!” Tokiomi couldn’t believe it, he wouldn’t believe it, this was an absurdity far above anything even a heroic spirit should posses.
“I don’t follow your world’s rules,” with a simple statement, the servant bluntly refuted everything he had just said.
At this moment Tokiomi felt as if the servant was standing in absolute defiance of everything he knew about the world, his shock completely paralyzing him. He had thought that he understood everything, that nothing could surprise him anymore. He was wrong.
“Well master, are you convinced, or do you need to see more?” His servant’s words pierced through his frozen mind, the thought of witnessing more of this terrified him. But at the same time, his curiosity as a magus was beginning to get the better of him. In the end he nodded in agreement to the young servant.
“Show me the extent of your power.”
________________________________________________
An hour passed, and Tokiomi was again and again stunned by his servant’s sheer power. Life of all shapes and sizes were born from his hand; frogs, rats, plants, and even a disembodied human hand all appeared before him. And as easily as they appeared, they returned to the objects they once were.
Tokiomi examined a small white mouse that had been born from one of his magical jewels; it was without a doubt a living thing, completely indistinguishable from a real mouse. No, it was a real mouse. It was an ability without peer, surpassing true magic and entering the realms of the gods. He had intended to summon a demigod, but he instead brought forth something indescribably more powerful.
“This power of yours, your ‘stand’ as you called it…” Tokiomi placed the mouse down and it returned to its creator, becoming a small ruby once more. “It’s marvelous! Never in my life did I expect to see anything like this, even in the Holy Grail War!”
This power was indeed incredible, but he was unsure if it was one that could win the war, as his servant’s physical abilities outside of it were not whole impressive. A strong servant would have no trouble avoiding a few animals on their way to attack him directly, a troubling matter indeed. He became quiet for a time, plans on how to use this power in the war effectively forming in the back of his mind when his servant spoke again.
“If you’re wondering how this ability could be used in combat, you should know one more detail of my creations.”
“There’s even more to it? I can’t believe what I’m hearing! This must be the end of your powers, what else could you possibly be withholding!” On the surface his voice was angered, but in carried a hint of curiosity, he wanted to know the full depths of this Servant’s Noble Phantasm. What other wondrous powers could it hold?
“Should one of my creations be attacked, the damage it would receive will be reflected back on the attacker instead.” The Servant leaned against the wall of the study, crossing his arms. “I also possess another ability, though I’m slightly unsure if it still exists within this body as my powers seem to have become somewhat… altered by this Throne of Heroes, Although I don’t see why I wouldn’t still possess it.”
Another ability? Tokiomi’s head began to spin with the possibilities, if the first power he displayed was creation of life itself, his unknown second power could be nearly anything imaginable. Tokiomi was once again filled with excitement, his doubts about being able to win the war melted away.
“Show me this ‘other power’ of yours then, I doubt it’ll be more impressive than what you’ve shown me already however.”
The servant nodded and stopped leaning against the wall, he headed towards the door and turned his head back to the magus. Tokiomi quickly realized he wanted him to follow, and so he let himself be led out of his mansion by the golden haired boy.
“I wouldn’t be able to show you this power here, not the full extent of it anyway…”
Twenty minutes passed and they finally found themselves in a secluded location of a nearby park, trees surrounded them on all sides, blocking them from unwanted viewership. The servant flexed his hands and took up a combat stance, Tokiomi’s body stiffened; did his Servant intend to betray him here?
He almost used a command seal on instinct before his servant spook up.
“I won’t attack you; actually it’s you who needs to attack me.”
“Are you mad, why would I attack my own servant? That’s it isn’t it; you have no second power and are simply making fun of me now, am I correct?”
“Attack me, preferably with your strongest possible spell, and then see for yourself.”
Tokiomi fought off all his instincts to run, forcing himself to begin chanting a spell. His magic circuits fired at once, releasing their maximum output in an instant. He traced a complex magic sigil in the air before him with his staff, aiming at the servant that had gained some distance from him.
A raging sphere of fire burst from his staff, sending the burning sensation of using magic down his spine. It flew through the air and engulfed the servant, who didn’t even move to dodge. But then from within the fire, he heard his servants voice, a shout that cut through the air.
“Gold Experience Requiem!”
________________________________________________
After having left his instructor and partner in the war’s study, Kirei Kotomine headed to where he had been going often for the past few months. He arrived shortly at an old warehouse on the edge of town, and after he passed through the bounded field set up around it, its true form was revealed. His Servant’s workshop, filled with endless scraps and parts of various styles of construct, looking like a twisted graveyard of puppets. Golems, magical creations in the form of humans, almost like robots created through magic.
“Caster, I’ve returned from Tokiomi’s. The servant he summoned was… unexpected.” He addressed the darkness as he descended a set of stairs into the warehouse basement, but there was no reply from his Servant but the sounds of his work.
Tokiomi had wanted him to summon Assassin, so that he might serve as a scout for the war effort without drawing attention to Tokiomi himself. This plan was ruined by the whims of the grail, which placed the Servant of Magic, Caster, into his hands. Tokiomi had seemed on the verge of exploding with rage that day, but he had soon calmed down when he learned of the servant’s abilities.
The master of golems, Solomon Ibn Gabriol. The skill at which he worked was unparalleled in modern magecraft, creating golems of higher quality than anything imaginable, and in a fraction of the time as the magi of this era. In only a few months he had created enough golems to fend off an army, though none of them could match the more powerful servants and hope to win, several were on par with the expected strength of the servant Assassin.
Tokiomi had formed a new plan around this servant, a plan only possible due to his partnership with Kirei and his father, Risei. None suspected that the church's official overseer would have joined forces with one of the participants, an alliance that would allow him to manipulate the information flow of the war to his team’s advantage.
For his plan to work he required the real Assassin to not be present, but his intel thankfully pointed to Assassin and it’s master both being uninterested in the grail. Kirei looked over the golem that was to be the lynchpin to the plan, its lifeless body seemed unimpressive to the former priest, could this really fool anyone?
He looked at Caster, who was as always at his desk in his workshop. The Servant was quite obsessive, barely speaking or paying any heed to his master. The only thing that mattered to him was his work, more and more golems were created with each passing day, but none of them seemed to satisfy the servant.
Suddenly, the servant stopped what he was doing briefly, wrote something down and handed it to a golem by his side. The golem moved to Kirei and handed him the scrawled note, written on it were only two words, “They’ve left.”
Kirei knew immediately what it meant, he’d had the servant’s familiars watching the Tohsaka mansion in secret for some time, and Caster must have just detected them leaving the building. He had no idea where he could be going at this time of night; this wasn’t a part of the plan.
“Caster, I’m going to follow, do you know where they’re going?” the masked servant nodded, the golem that handed him the note started to leave the workshop. He quickly followed his guide out, and they rushed towards the Tohsaka head and his strange servant.
It wasn’t long before they had caught up to them in the Fuyuki Park, Kirei and his golem escort arrived outsize a grove of trees just in time to witness it. The cry of “Gold Experience Requiem!” reached his ears, but he could hardly hear it. His ears were buzzing as if his head was full of static, it may have been the result of witnessing that boy’s power.
“Caster, you saw it too… right?” he turned to the golem, speaking through its link with his servant. The golem nodded and replied with a blunt “affirmative.”
“What… was that?” he had thought himself to be quite understanding of the world of magi, having studied under Tokiomi for quite some time, in a wide range of subjects. But nothing he had learned had prepared him for what he had just seen. He was forced to turn to his servant for understanding, but it seemed he was at an equal loss.
“I know not, Master. It would appear the servant Archer has done ‘nothing’, but that is impossible.” The Caster class spoke, more words than he had said in weeks to Kirei, it seemed he was much more talkative when not directly doing so. “More information is required for me to make any assumptions.”
The corner of Kirei’s lips curled into a slight smirk, something he himself did not yet realize was happening was taking place within him. The life he found so utterly dull and boring was starting to brighten up before his eyes; something about that Servant awakened his inner desires at that moment.
“Caster, keep a closer watch on them from now on, but don’t let your eyes be seen, I need to know more about this Archer.” The golem bowed and silently disappeared into the shadows.
Numerous new thoughts swirled through his head as he quietly exited the foggy park, had his Teacher or Servant noticed his presence they hadn’t showed it, the inner workings of Kirei’s own plans continued in silence.
________________________________________________As the fireball had swallowed his servant Tokiomi’s heart was gripped with fear, had the servant’s ability failed? But then he was staring at his servant as if nothing had happened, they only thing remaining from the mock battle was the sound of his servant calling forth the name of his second Noble Phantasm. Gold Experience Requiem, the name alone brimmed with power, a power he could barely understand.
But the realization of what happened slowly dawned on him, and all reason within the Magus drained away. He started to laugh, to laugh at the absurdity of his servant. Every time he thought it was over, this strange unknown hero brought out another trick from his sleeve. Everything seemed to click into place, he had won. The war had yet to officially start, but he had already achieved victory with this.
No one could beat this servant, it was inconceivable. No servant summoned by another party could ever hope to match his Archer’s level; they would have to be a true god to even come close! The servant looked at his master, who was still uncontrollably laughing like a madman, with his emotionless visage. His face unchanging, he spoke to his master.
“Are you satisfied with my level of power now? Or do you require another demonstration?”
Finally managing to calm his laughter, Tokiomi faced his servant and smiled. What he had initially viewed as a failure on his part was truly a blessing in disguise. His gripped his staff tightly; his heart beat faster at the prospects of winning. Everything might not have gone as planned, but it didn’t matter as long as the result was the same.
He would achieve his ambitions, no matter what.
“Archer, I think it’s time to begin this war. Follow me; we’ll discuss the plan on the way.” The elder magus smirked and strode out of the park, each step filled with determination. The stoic servant followed behind him without a word, listening to his Master’s plan to start the war.
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“We’ll have plenty of time to deal with the true Assassin of the war later, for now this small misdirection will serve to show your power and throw off the plans of the other masters.” The Tohsaka head’s explanation finished as they arrived back at his mansion, he left the servant to his own devices and entered the building in order to contact his apprentice.
Giorno wasn’t sure about his master’s plan, but he nodded in agreement anyway. It was best to play the part of loyal servant right now, even if he didn’t feel much towards his ‘Master’ he wasn’t about to stab him in the back.
The plan was a simple one, since the Tohsaka head had aligned himself with the master of Caster and the Church’s overseer of the war, they would use both to their advantage. With Risei’s aid, they obscured the master of Assassin, who helpfully showed no signs of revealing themselves in the war at this time. Then, they spread misinformation that Kirei was in fact the master of Assassin and not Caster.
What followed was a simple deception that would fool none who saw it in person, but those watching via familiar would at least be temporarily tricked. Kirei would stage an attack on his master, pretending to betray him, and use a specially designed golem for the job. The golem was based on the recorded appearances of the Assassin classes from previous wars, a lanky humanoid figure clad all in black besides from a pure white mask in the shape of a skull.
He waited in standby on the roof of the manor, hidden in his spirit form. They would enact this plan tonight, though Giorno thought it was wholly unnecessary, he could defeat the other servants straight up if he had to. But his master was determined to take this course of action.
Giorno looked over his master’s garden; it was far too standard an affair to really interest him, though it did show at least some consideration for the plan behind its layout. More interesting to him however, was the layer upon layer of magical security spells placed around the area. As a spiritual entity it was quite easy for him to see the spells, Tokiomi had called them Bounded Fields. They were quite an interesting sight, though they couldn’t prevent an intruder and only alerted them of the enemy’s presence, so why did he have so many of them?
His master’s over the top levels of magical security aside, it was time for the show to begin. Slinking through the shadows was what outwardly appeared to be the servant Assassin, on the apparent mission to eliminate the Tohsaka head from the running early on. Giorno mentally sighed at the thought of this farce, but it didn’t show through his stony exterior.
“To waltz into my Master’s territory so brazenly… you must be the enemy!” He materialized on cue, following his script to the letter. One of the main purposes of this event was to draw attention away from Kirei so he could act in the shadows, but another was born out of Tokiomi’s arrogance at seeing his Servant’s power firsthand. He wanted the other masters to see and fear his servant, a mental warfare only someone with no doubts about winning would employ.
The ‘Assassin’ looked at him, seemingly afraid and startled at the sight of him; it added a nice touch to the affair. The real servant struck a pose, his right hand pointed towards the golem-assassin as he leaned to the left, his other hand resting on his thigh. To those curious onlookers spying on the events, the servant before them seemed completely out of place and ridiculous. Were it not for the second part of this act they would likely think he was a worthless servant not fit to be an enemy, but his power would show them otherwise.
Giorno Giovanna leapt from the rooftop and landed with a loud crash on the ground below, the area around him erupting in a bright golden glow. Countless thorn covered vines ripped out of the dirt all around him and stuck for the golem, twisting like tentacles to ensnare their target.
The golem-assassin’s right hand stuck out with a short knife and sliced one of the vines clean through. What no one expected, not even Kirei Kotomine, was for the vine to appear fine a moment later. The golem’s right arm exploded with blood-like oils, sliced down the middle in the same pattern as the vine had been a moment ago.
The golem staggered backwards, and without any hesitation Giorno commanded his vines to bind the fake servant. They wrapped up the golem completely aside from its head; it struggled in vain to escape as the gold haired boy slowly walked towards it. Giorno cracked his knuckles as gold energy surrounded his fists, but the show wasn’t over yet. He lessened the vines grip on the golem ever so slightly; none would know he had even done it.
The golem wrenched itself free, numerous wounds appearing over its body from the backlash of damaging Giorno’s vines. As a golem it felt no pain however, and continued its attack unimpeded. It leapt forward and stabbed its knife at his throat. Expressionless, Giorno raised his hands and readied his attack. He waited until the last second before the golem’s attack connected, then his arm moved faster than even a servant would normally be able to.
“Muda muda muda!” with a shout his fists crashed into the golem nearly at the speed of sound, a massive barrage of punches aimed at every part of its body. In an instant the golem was rendered a pile of scraps, completely torn apart in midair by his attack. “Muda muda, someone on your level couldn’t even scratch me.”
Giorno turned away from the defeated golem, its body enchanted to disintegrate on death to mimic a servant’s spiritual body fading away. Giorno wiped artificial blood from his face as he left the garden, his vines fading out of existence at his command. He hoped his performance had been worth it; surely revealing his powers unnecessarily was unwise? Oh well, what’s done is done, he entered the Tohsaka household intent on removing the blood from his precious clothing before anything else.
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“So, Assassin was killed already… Disappointing,” A beast of a man said to the other figure in the room, a much smaller man than the first. “I was hoping to at least test my skill against them, though I doubt they’d give me much of a challenge!”
The large, boisterous man sat cross legged on the floor of the room, his hands busy with a guidebook of the local area. He flipped through pages, his eyes never leaving the page as he conversed with the young magus.
“So how’d it happen, eh? What of the Servant who killed Assassin, you got a good look at them didn’t you?”
“Eh? Uhh, yeah. I saw him…” The boy faltered even though it was a question he should have anticipated, he was unable to answer for longer than he expected. “Tohsaka’s Servant… it has to either be Archer or Caster, but the way it created those vines seems to rule out the former.”
“Oh? A summoner is he? That’s quite a high class magecraft; he should be an entertaining opponent indeed!” The man laughed, his deep voice bouncing off the walls of the small room. “No wonder he defeated Assassin so easily!”
“R-Rider! I told you not to be so loud at night; you’ll wake up the neighbors!” The young magus’ plea would likely fall on deaf ears once again, this Servant was helplessly unable to listen. “T-Tohsaka’s servant might have used summoning, but I’m not sure he was really a summoner.”
The unreal sized man looked at his Master with a puzzled expression, putting down his book of maps.
“A Magus who defeats his opponents by summoning can be nothing but a summoner, what else could he be?”
“That’s just it, he didn’t use summoning to beat Assassin, he used… he used his fists.” The boy nearly fell down from the force of his servant standing to his full height in an instant. Rider’s eyes shined with excitement and he slapped his master on the back with a massive hand nearly the size of his head.
“All right, I’m fired up now! Let us go find our enemies before anyone else gets taken out like that Assassin! The Servant nearly dragged his Master out of the house they were using as a base, a look of terror frozen on the boy’s face. Unknown to them however, the true Assassin still stalked the streets at that very moment.
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In the dead of night, a hunter stalked her prey. Her petite body was completely at odds with what she was- what she was doing. Two murderers slipped through the shadows, rapidly nearing the climax of their night. They had no idea what was about to happen, how could they?
The killers stopped, the young girl silently signaling to the older man to hold back. He looked somewhat disappointed, but he shrugged and agreed. The young girl’s barely clothed body moved, so quiet it was almost as if a ghost was gliding across the ground.
In her hand was a lantern, had it always been there? An old lantern that looked straight out of a museum, the flame inside was unlit.
The woman in front of the pair was still unaware of their presence, the lantern was likely unnecessary. But her master would like it; he enjoyed the spectacles she could perform. She reached into the open lantern, a flame bursting to life inside it from an unknown source. From the flame billowed endless amounts of blackness, a smog of miasma unlike anything the man had ever seen, the alleyway quickly filled with the smoke-like fog.
The fog was unnatural outside of its appearance as well; it twisted and contorted like a living creature. It writhed around the young girl who remained inside of it, never once actually coming in contact with her. She approached the woman who had stopped at a door and was struggling to find something in her purse, most likely her keys. Her frail, pale hand grasped the handle of one of the strangely shaped knives strapped to her waist.
The fog surrounded the woman; she didn’t even have time to react before its effect took hold. Its poison seeped into her skin, filling her lungs with its toxic smog. The mists of death, one of her two powers as the Servant class Assassin, an average person would be knocked unconscious instantly. It seemed like her master had picked his prey well, as she was still standing after inhaling the fumes. Good, it would be too boring if she had passed out right away.
Moving faster than the human eye could see, the child Assassin appeared behind her target. The woman’s eyes were locked in an expression of pure terror; she couldn’t possibly have known what was happening to her after all. If it weren’t for the fog constricting her breath she might have screamed when she hear the voice behind her whisper in her ear.
“I’m so sorry, forgive me…” She held out the blade, a strange mockery of a medical scalpel. Its metal edge gleamed in the moonlight, it would surely be the death of this woman before it, just one swipe would end it… But the servant wasn’t done yet; she turned away from the woman and called her weapon’s name, activating the curse that was placed on the knife.
“Maria the Ripper…” her soft voice barely reached her master, as she evoked her Noble Phantasm a tear ran down her eye.
Unable to scream, the woman’s face merely contorted in even greater horror. Blades ripped her apart with no warning, slicing her to pieces from the inside out. The young woman’s body fell apart in a bloody mess, never even seeing the face of her attacker. The man ran over to the young servant, his face filled with childlike glee.
“Awesome, you’re awesome! That was totally brutal, I love it!”
The man’s praise fell on deaf ears, the servant Assassin had turned back to the body of the woman she had killed and knelt down next to it. She pulled a part of the victim’s body out, possibly her spleen, and pressed it against her face. Every time the same ritual, her master didn’t fully understand, but he let her do it anyways. She cried uncontrollably and rubbed the organ against her face, staining her white body red.
Her ritual complete she stood up and returned to her master, her face and hair covered in fresh blood. The man placed his head on top of her blood-soaked head, almost appearing like a father praising his daughter were it not for the true context. She smiled softly as he patted her head.
He would freely admit that he found the site of this young girl covered in blood quite attractive if he was asked, thankfully nobody had. The pair of murderers silently left the alley, no trace of them having been there outside of the newly added corpse. This murder would probably be on the news tomorrow; he could only imagine what kind of headline such a horrible killing would receive!
The young Assassin turned to her Master; her innocent looking eyes seemed so pure they could only be fakes, an illusion. “There’s fighting nearby…” he didn’t know what she meant at first, but quickly worked it out. He didn’t know much about this war he had been pulled into, and he just wanted to experience more and more interesting deaths.
“Hm? That Holy Grail thing’s started then? It doesn’t really interest me, but you want it right?” His Servant nodded her face just like a child who wanted a new toy for their birthday. “If you want to go, I won’t stop you. Just make sure you come back safe so you can show me more interesting deaths!”
Assassin jumped to the top of a nearby building at his words, she disappeared into the darkness with inhuman swiftness. Her master might not have a wish for the grail, but she did, and it was the most important thing to her. She couldn’t win the war if she didn’t at least see the powers of the other Servants, so she would go and observe the fight.
The fatigue from his day was starting to catch up in to him. He sighed and fell into a chair in his study, exhausted. Tokiomi Tohsaka had a headache, but he had made it through the first day. If he didn’t learn to cope with his Servant he could end up dead for reasons unrelated to the battle at hand, a disheartening thought. He reached over to his desk and took hold of the glass on its edge, bringing it to his lips. The strong smell of alcohol assaulted his senses; he didn’t often drink, but today seemed appropriate.
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A golden haired boy appeared before him, materializing from his spiritual form. He looked at his master, saw the drink in his hand, and spoke.
“Celebrating our ‘first’ victory of the war, Master?” His voice was as collected as always, but Tokiomi could only feel that his Servant was mocking him. The servant folded his arms over his chest and leaned against the wall. “Well Master, was the show entertaining?”
“Yes yes, very impressive. The other masters should be at least a little concerned with confronting you; they won’t go out of their way to start a fight with us now, as according to the plan.” Tokiomi took another sip of his drink and placed it down again, his eyes focused on his Servant. “And now that nobody is looking for Assassin, we can eliminate them at our leisure. I’ll have Kotomine’s golems search the city for them, even the real thing will be no match for you.”
“I’m glad you think so highly of me, but I’m not so sure a real fight will go as you expect, no offense Master.” His Servant brushed his golden hair back with one hand, looking more like a fashion model then a legendary hero. “Though we may find out sooner than I’d thought, I suppose you can’t feel it yourself, but there seems to be quite a scene unfolding not far from here.”
Giorno’s eyes looked towards the presences’ he was sensing, as if he was able to see straight through the walls of Tokiomi’s study.
“The rest of the participants seem to be having a party without us, Master. I can sense, four, no, five servants headed to the same location.”
Five Servants gathered at the same place? Such a battle royale of heroes would be rare even in the age of gods, and was completely unheard of in this Holy Grail War. Tokiomi saw a flash of inspiration at this; he bolted out of his chair and quickly approached his Servant.
“Archer, if things go our way this could be a chance to nearly end the war in one night. Go there but remain in spirit form for the time being, observe the others and wait to see if an opportunity arises to engage.”
“Understood, I’ll gauge our enemy’s strength, but won’t engage in a battle I can’t win.” Nodding, the servant turned away from the Magus and started to walk out of the room. “Although I’ve never been great at following orders…”
Without another word, the unusual Archer vanished from the room, heading for the other Servants gathering at the downtown dock warehouse. A sudden pang of dread gripped Tokiomi’s heart, why did he have to summon the Servant Class with the highest potential for Independent Action? He suddenly needed another drink, taking the glass from his desk once more. This was going to be a long night.
Last edited by 400PercentSync; October 24th, 2015 at 02:01 PM.
I think you should space out the paragraphs so that they work better. Edit it so that I can read this please.
Arashi's guide to writing the characters of Tsukihime:
I'm really sorry about that, how embarrassing! I'm still getting used to formatting for this site as apposed to fanfiction.net. Thanks for pointing that out, I've fixed it now.
Yeah, I figured that would happen. You have to be careful about posting things on this website. Try using the "Preview" button whenever you post something.
Now to read your story...
Arashi's guide to writing the characters of Tsukihime:
I am so confused.
On one hand, I do hope you convey Tokiomi a bit better. You seem to be doing a good job at his character so far, but try to keep the explosive outbursts to a minimum, at least in front of other people. You see, the essence of him is someone who wants to appear in control at all times, even when he is not. He is arrogant, manipulative, and coldly polite to just about everyone, yet also cares greatly for his family deep down (he even proudly proclaimed that he thinks that Rin or Sakura would be able to become greater mages than he is). In essence, he is also Kariya Matou's opposite in every way; where Kariya is someone who sees magecraft as something causes suffering and mages to be cold-hearted monsters, Tokiomi thinks of mages as being noble seekers of knowledge and those who turn away something like that to be ungrateful and irresponsible. Still, I thought his awe at his Servant's ability was rather in-character, as would be his desire to show it off. However, he is about as cautious as he is arrogant, so try not to have him go overboard.
And why is there two Assassin-class Servants? While Jack the Ripper and Uryuu do make an interesting pair, I just have to wonder how there can be two of the same class in a normal Grail War when such a thing is inherently impossible.
You seem to have good characterization so far. Maybe this fanfic could be one that focuses on Tokiomi and his Servant, something that happens only rarely.
Arashi's guide to writing the characters of Tsukihime:
I reformatted the posted chapter 0, i just completely forgot to reformat chapter 1 despite knowing I needed to do it
I did probably go a little far with trying to show Tokiomi's reactions to Giorno, but since Giorno is a character from an extremely outlandish series, I figured his early reactions would be a bit off from his usual composed persona. it's toned done much more in the later chapters, but it's definitely good advice, thanks!
As for the two assassins thing, I really thought I was being clear about it but I guess not. In the context of this fic, Kotomine's Servant is Caster of Black from Fate/Apocrypha, who has essentially crafted a golem with the outward appearance of a traditional Hassen, in order to facilitate a ruse that makes Kotomine appear to be assassin's master and out of the war, when in fact he's caster's master.
I appreciate the feedback and will keep all of this in mind as I continue, I'll post the next chapter here sometime tomorrow, since I've already got the next few finished.
Last edited by 400PercentSync; October 24th, 2015 at 06:54 PM.
From what I have seen, in this universe at least, Angra Mainyu's corruption has broken the system to the point where the Servants that are summoned are not based on a catalyst, but on pure chance?
Arashi's guide to writing the characters of Tsukihime:
That's a pretty good explanation, I think I'll steal it! :v This entire fic started with me thinking Gilgamesh and Giorno Giovanna were similar characters. and then, after starting it, my friend who co wrote the original version with me (rewrite posted here is all me.) and I were talking about ideas and got kind of obsessed with Ryuunosuke summoning jack the ripper, which obviously means Kotomine can't have assassin, and we didn't think canon zero caster fit him very well, so we ended up with caster of black. so to be honest, we didn't think it through very well at the time but liked the results so we just rolled with it.
But yeah, since the grail is messed up enough to summon a character from a different universe, into a class he's ill suited for, all because he sort of looks like Gilgamesh, something has gone wrong. Your reasoning is a good as any.
There might be repercussions to this - specifically, someone could possibly catch on that something is wrong with the Holy Grail earlier. Always a possibility.
Arashi's guide to writing the characters of Tsukihime:
I won't rule it out as a possibility ;v
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He had promised not to start a fight he couldn’t win. This was of course an empty promise, he refused to even imagine failure. Any battle he got involved in would end in his victory, there was no other way. The only way to achieve his goals was to win, the Grail had to fall into his hands or it was all for nothing.
----:Chapter 2:----
Experience
Remaining in spirit form he headed to the dock warehouse, the location of an unusual gathering of servants. Depending on their strengths he could potentially end the war tonight, though he suspected dealing with so many legendary heroes would be more troublesome than that. He was confident in his powers, with his Requiem he would be unbeatable, he would have to be.
He leapt onto a nearby shipping crate and crept towards the sounds of battle. He had been expecting a fight between Servants to be quite a spectacle, but nothing prepared him for what he saw. Two armored figures, one clad in blue and the other green, clashed with a ferocity that even made him take a step back. The Servant in green’s twin spears spun around him like whirlwinds, but each strike was parried by the other Servant’s ‘weapon’.
Judging by the woman clad in blue armor’s movements, she was wielding a European style longsword. She must be the Saber Class, then. As for why her sword was invisible, it must be the same reason Lancer’s spears were hidden underneath cloth wrappings, one’s signature weapon as a renowned hero could easily give away any of the Servant’s weaknesses.
The fight raged like a storm, neither side getting any advantage on the other. The surrounding crates were quickly reduced to rubble around the combatants. Giorno doubted if he could even interfere with this fight without being instantly struck down as he approached, even with his Stand’s agility. He didn’t find the concept likely, but there was a possibility one of these Servants possessed a power that could defeat his Requiem, he would have to wait and see what abilities they wielded.
After another exchange of blows, both servants backed off. Giorno could feel the tension in the area; in silence they stared at one another. Giorno’s eyes darted around the battlefield, taking in every detail he was unable to see while observing the fight. He caught sight of a woman behind Saber, presumably her master. In the corner of his eye there was something unexpected, he twisted around to face the distance.
On the edge of a pier, standing perfectly still but completely exposed, was a young girl. Her short white hair fluttered in the wind as an unnerving fog rolled in, almost as if it was emanating from the girl. His back turned from the fight he was watching, Giorno lost sight of the two dueling Servants and focused on the new addition to the scene.
Unmoving, the scantily dressed girl watched the fight; her eyes seemed more focused on Saber than Lancer however. Giorno could feel it, she had the same aura as the others; this girl must be a Servant. She was alone with no master in sight, an opportunity he wasn’t going to miss.
He heard the fight behind him resume, but he ignored it and rushed forward still in spirit form. If the small Servant had noticed, she showed no sign of it as he approached. He materialized behind her, an action he immediately regretted. The fog seeped into his body almost instantly and he found himself struggling to breathe, was this fog her Noble Phantasm?
“Sneak attacks won’t work very well on me… mister,” an innocent, childlike voice filled his ears, completely at odds with the killing intent he felt from the tiny girl. She spun around and leapt at him, a strange knife gripped reverse style in her bandaged right hand. He moved to dodge; an attack at that speed was nothing he thought, but then a silver flash cut into his neck.
“…!” He rolled out of the way and clasped his hand against the shallow cut, another second and he would have suffered a severe blow. That attack was fast sure, but it shouldn’t have been anything he had to worry about. He quickly retaliated with a fast jab, but his hand sluggishly moved through the air. The girl easily dodged his attack, a new cut appearing on his wrist. He refused to flinch, this level of pain was nothing he couldn’t handle, but he had to admit it was fairly deep.
Something was happening; in another life he would have called it the work of an enemy Stand, but no such enemies existed at this point. The remained only one answer, this slowness was caused by this girl’s power as a heroic spirit, her Noble Phantasm.
Careless, utterly careless, how had he walked right into its effects without realizing. Confident he could win any battle, he hadn’t thought anyone could touch him. But his stand didn’t protect him from the effects of this, whatever it was. He leapt back from another slash, narrowly avoiding lethal damage once more.
If he hadn’t been unnaturally slowed down, this fight would be over in an instant, her speed was nothing against his normal agility. He had no choice but to retreat, he punched his hand into the ground, a tree rapidly sprouted beneath his fist, propelling him into the air.
“…!” like a living creature, the smoke-like fog lashed out at him, following him into the sky. As soon as his feet hit the ground he was in an all out sprint, the writing mass of fog chasing closely behind him. Damn, he didn’t have any opening to counterattack with this thing on his back.
The fog chased him across the pier, and soon he was surrounded again. Its poison sunk into his body once more, and he felt himself slow down. Not long after he had been taken in by the mystical fog again, the small frame of the real Assassin of the war dashed past him, releasing two quick slashes aimed at his vital points.
Damn, he wasn’t fast enough to dodge these last blows. As he expected, a fight against a real servant was nothing like the mock battle from before. The blades were within an inch of taking his life; his Gold Experience couldn’t revive the dead, so he couldn’t rely on that here.
“F-Flowers?!” alarmed, the young girl Assassin jumped back and disappeared into the fog. Her blades had failed to hit their mark, stopped at the last moment by vibrant purple flowers that seemed to be growing out of her target’s body. “Cool trick big brother, are you a magician?” She giggled like an innocent child, but her words carried an unnatural malice with them.
Giorno couldn’t see anything though this smog, and it was getting harder to breathe by the second, he was running out of time. With no way of knowing what direction she would attack from next, it seemed hopeless, his quick use of Gold Experience had saved him this time, but could he do it again? Giorno calmed himself and steeled his resolve, he couldn’t lose yet, he wasn’t even close to attaining his dream, he wouldn’t fall to his first opponent. Closing his eyes, he focused all his senses on the sounds around him, if he couldn’t see her, he’d just have to hear her!
“What?!” he let out a rare show of emotion in his voice, as the Assassin dove past him, her blades connecting with his flesh. The middle and ring finger of his right hand were cleanly severed as he desperately moved to block a cut to his neck. It was impossible; she had moved completely silently, the air pressure around them hadn’t even changed. He had no way of detecting her direction of attack until it was almost too late, but there had to be an out for him, and if there wasn’t he would just have to make one himself!
He ran through the fog, not knowing what direction he headed in, but it was all he could do. At least if he was on the move he would make a slightly harder target, even if she was faster than him while they were in this fog. Her voice echoed through the cloud of miasma; a twisted child’s laugh more fitting an urban legend than a heroic spirit.
“It’s no use big brother; you can’t escape my mist that easily!” He didn’t listen to her, he just continued to run, it was all he could do now, it had no choice but to work! With every step his plan grew closer to completion, but would he make it in time? The next moments were critical; he slid to a stop within the fog and waited.
“Found yo~u!” Assassin’s playful tone bounced around him, proving utterly useless in tracking her position, but it didn’t matter anymore. He might be in check, but he still had one move left.
A golden glow surrounded his fists, but he still held them loose at his side, taking no stance. He waited, a single second stretched on for what seemed like forever, had he returned to the throne of heroes? No, this was the real world, and he wasn’t planning to go back to that place any time soon. Now!
“Muda!” he spun to his right, throwing a left straight punch into the seemingly empty air. The sound of bones breaking accompanied the feeling of the impact; he didn’t have time to worry about whose bones it came from. An unexpected metal clatter followed the sound of Assassin’s body hitting the pier, and the smog began to fade away, revealing the truth of what had happened.
“You might be accustomed to fighting in the fog, but it doesn’t mean you can see clearly in it.”
Giorno posed as he spoke, his confidence returning with his victory over the fog. “I could tell by the way you moved against me, you couldn’t tell exactly where I was, just the general idea.”
The pier was covered in flowers and other plants, vines and grass that hadn’t been there before surrounded the two Servants. The Girl-Assassin held her chest with one hand, her breathing ragged. It was obvious now that had happened, the Servant with power over life itself created plants with every step as he ran, creating a ‘Barrier’ of flowers. Because of his link to the life he creates, he could feel the change in the plants as she ran through them, and used it to track her when both sight and sound failed him.
Panting heavily, the servant Assassin clenched her teeth and jumped back, grabbing an antique lamp from the ground before returning to spirit form and vanishing from his sight. With a body that small even a Servant should feel some serious damage from his punch; she must have retreated for now, even so it was his victory. He’d learned firsthand the power of the Assassin of this war; he wouldn’t let her get away again, she was no longer any match for him.
With a flash of gold the blood dripping from his missing fingers reconfigured into the form of his lost digits, as if they had never detached. A non lethal blow against him would only be a temporary hindrance as long as he had Gold Experience. He flexed his repaired hand to check if it worked properly, then returned to spirit form and headed back to the duel between Saber and Lancer, which sounded to be going on still.
The battle between the two servants was as fierce as it had been before he left, as if nothing had changed in the time during his encounter with Assassin. The swordswoman in blue and the spearman in green fought evenly, invisible blade against concealed spears. Lancer moved like a whirlwind, his two polearms dancing around him as if they were his own arms. Even with his enhanced reflexes Giorno found it hard for his eyes to follow them, as expected of a battle between legendary heroes.
Two quick thrusts shot towards Saber, but she easily deflected them, her expression unchanging. The determination in her eyes looked like his own just then, someone who held a strong resolve to fight for their own desires. All the servants in this war were summoned because they had a wish they wanted granted, she was no exception, but Giorno would crush the other six dreams before him and claim his prize.
“That’s enough, Lancer…” a voice cut through the fight, and the Servant in green leapt back. An arrogant voice that likely belonged to Lancer’s master, who was nowhere to be seen, with a cold tone befitting a coward who hid himself from the fight, continued to speak. “Your playtime is over. End this fight now; I give you permission to use your Noble Phantasm.”
“As you command, master…” Lancer dropped the short spear in his left hand and began to unwind the wrappings on his long spear, so that was his main weapon was it? The purple cloth fell away to reveal a shining red spear, its form creating a striking contrast with the surrounding area. Lancer charged forward with an increased vigor, so swiftly he almost appeared to teleport. The fight that had once been an even matchup had now become wholly one sided; Saber was pushed back with every strike of Lancer’s fury, his spear cutting through the darkness in a blur of crimson.
She had dodged all his attacks, she was obviously wary of the power of his revealed Noble Phantasm. Giorno’s eyes struggled to even keep up with their movements now, it was nothing like before. Giorno, who was accustomed to fights where a single blow could end the fight, wasn’t used to prolonged exchanges of blows, even with his speed a fight with either of these two wouldn’t be easy. Saber was pushed back even farther, almost reaching back to where her master stood in silence.
A thrust of the crimson spear shot through the air like lightning, and Saber who now stood in front of her master couldn’t dodge and place her master in harm's way. The spear impacted against her invisible sword, a flash of gold appeared for a moment before it returned to being invisible. Saber jumped back but the spear continued to chase her, crashing against her invisible sword again and again.
“That should about do it, Saber.” Lancer began to speak; he adjusted the grip on his spear. “I’ve memorized the length and shape of your blade, its invisibility is no longer an advantage for you!” He rushed back in, his spear moving even more skillfully than before; did this servant have no limits to his prowess in battle?
Saber attempted to dodge a strike against her body, possibly intending it to deflect off her armor harmlessly. The sound of a blade cutting into flesh and a splash of red though the sky, the spear of his struck her in the right side of her body. There were no gaps in her armor there, what a powerful spear to punch right through her steel plate like it was nothing. No, something isn’t right about that, but what? Giorno quickly realized what it was when the two servants backed off, Saber's armor was undamaged. It cut through the spell that turned her sword invisible and bypassed her armor completely, Giorno likely figured out the answer at the same time that Saber had.
“Your spear… cuts through magic, yes?” Saber returned to a fighting stance while her master began to cast a spell on her wounded side, presumably for healing purposes “Since my armor is formed from my prana, it’s nothing by a hindrance against your Noble Phantasm.” After she stopped talking, Saber’s armor started to glow, and vanished.
She was putting everything on her next strike, even Giorno could tell from where he was standing, without armor she would take severe damage if he landed a blow against her. A bold move to be sure, one she likely wouldn’t even think of doing if she didn’t feel backed into a corner. With a burst of energy, Saber dashed forward with inhuman speed she hadn’t shown before in this fight. An upward slash robbed Lancer of his spear easily, he leapt back to avoid her follow up blow, but she kept running in. As she approached the unarmored Lancer once more, a slight smirk appeared on his face. Having noticed this, she moved to escape but wasn’t quite fast enough. Lancer kicked the ground below his feet, the short spear he’d dropped before landing effortlessly in his hands, and with a swift movement the golden spear dug into Saber’s right hand.
In the time it took Saber to retreat, Lancer had regained possession of his long spear and now wielded both spears, their forms exposed. Saber’s right hand hung loose against her side, bleeding heavily. Had she not removed her armor that attack wouldn’t have been possible, what a careless move.
“Irisviel, please heal my hand” she called out to her master through her strained expression, the composure she had before cracked under the pressure of her current situation.
“I-I’m trying, it should have healed by now!” her master however, seemed even more desperate than her servant’s. Giorno didn’t blame her either; the fight had turned completely in Lancer’s favor. When Saber realized her hand wasn’t healing, she seemed to realize something, her eyes locked on Lancer’s.
“I should have known, how foolish of me to not recognize you from the start, Diarmuid Ua Duibhne,” She spoke a name Giorno didn’t recognize, she must be referring to Lancer.
Giorno didn’t know much about history or myth, so the name was meaningless to him, perhaps Tokiomi would know? More important to him however, was the Servant’s abilities; Giorno began to weigh the possibilities of this Diarmuid’s powers being a threat to him. One spear cuts through magic, but did his Gold Experience count as magic? The other spear seemed to inflict wounds that don’t heal, would he be unable to repair damage to himself with his Stand after that? There were too many questions, but the answer for the moment was this Lancer was not an opponent he should take lightly.
“I don’t deserve the honor of being recognized by name by the King of Knights themselves, but it changes nothing, I must defeat you for my master.” The Servant in green bowed to the blue clad Saber and readied his spears, clearly intending to continue the fight. Everyone froze at that moment, even Giorno, as a blast of thunder rocketed across the dock. Giorno glanced over towards the sound and saw an unexpected sight, a massive chariot flying through the sky towards them, pulled by bulls.
For a moment he doubted what he was seeing was even real, the chariot raced through the sky on a road formed out of lightning. Its giant driver hollered out as he rode towards the fight, aimed for the space where the two Servants had been locked in battle moments before.
“Make way, make way!” his deep voice boomed with confidence as he neared the fight, he must have been one of the other Servants Giorno had felt headed this way, that just left one more unaccounted for. “You two, lay down your arms, a King approaches!”
The larger than life chariot practically crashed into the open space beside the other servants, coming to an abrupt halt with an impact that rivaled the thunder it had created on the way. The giant of a man behind the reigns of the chariot was an equally impressive sight, towering over everyone around him; he looked more like a statue than a real person. The new servant raised his fist into the air and shouted, his powerful voice echoing across the dock.
“I am Iskander, the King of Conquerors! In these times you might know me by the name ‘Alexander the Great’, and I’m participating in this war as the Rider class!”
Giorno wasn’t sure if he should be impressed with the way he brazenly revealed himself, or if he should consider him a fool for doing so. Revealing one’s name as a Heroic Spirit could allow the other parties to learn your weaknesses easier. Giorno would have no problem with that as an unknown entity of this world, but even he knew who Alexander the Great was. Next to the giant Rider, cowering in fear was a very small man; probably around the age Giorno’s body was currently in, what a contesting master compared to the Massive Iskander.
“R-Rider! What are you doing, you i-idiot!” The diminutive master pleaded with his Servant to no avail, he didn’t seem to be in very good control of the situation. “D-Don’t just tell them your name, didn’t you understand anything I told you!”
“Waver Velvet, is it?” Lancer’s unseen master laughed, but remained in hiding. “I wondered who would be stupid enough to steal my summoning catalyst, but I never expected it would be you, you seemed far too much of a coward to enter the war.” The master of Rider, now identified as Waver, lost his composure even more at the sound of his voice; his face lost whatever remained of its color from Rider’s stunt.
“Shall I give you another lesson my poor misguided student? How about some first hand training in the terror of a fight between Masters in the Holy Grail War? Understand the terror of being outclassed and regret the path your life took to this moment!” Lancer’s Master’s voice seethed with rage, his arrogant words completely ignoring everything but the young boy they were directed at.
His expression was unwavering, but his emotions had begun to stir inside himself, Giorno Giovanna was reminded of his previous life by this Master. An arrogant ‘master’ who refused to show his own face, the controller of Lancer had no right to be saying these words to anyone, Tokiomi was going to be quite upset with him for what he was about to do.
“Those are strong words for someone who won’t even show his own face, Master of Lancer.” Giorno materialized on top of a nearby shipping crate and jumped down to ground level. All the other servants froze at his entrance; guess they weren’t expecting any more guests, or maybe they knew of his ‘demonstration’ from before. “A master who chooses to ride with his Servant despite his own fear is far braver than you, who can’t even show his face behind his own servant. Maybe I should give you a lesson in ‘terror’ as well.”
“My thoughts exactly, Tohsaka’s Servant took the words right out of my mouth!” The beast of a man let out a bellowing laugh, turning to face the direction of Lancer’s Master. “Only a master who can ride into battle with me is worthy of commanding the King of Conquerors!”
“Looks like we had more of an audience then I realized, Saber. I’m honored.” Lancer turned to face the new Servant. “So, what brings you here, Servant of Tohsaka I believe?”
“Caster here has clearly witnessed and understood my power and will come to join me in conquest, am I wrong?” Rider practically leapt out of his chariot, a large cloud of dust exploded around him from the impact of his landing. “An offer I would like to make to you two as well, join with me and we can easily take control of the entire world!”
The looks on the faces of all those involved were all various levels of shock, sans Giorno and his stony exterior. Waver looked like he was about to pass out at any moment, and even the stoic Lancer and Saber were showing signs of surprise. No one moved for over a minute, they just stared at the eccentric servant. Lancer was the first to regain his composure and break the silence.
“My apologies, King of Conquerors, as I have already pledged myself to my Master and cannot betray that trust.” He bowed respectfully to the statuesque man and took a few steps back, distancing himself evenly from all three of the other servants.
“I cannot become your subject, Iskander,” Saber spoke up next, not wanting to be shown up by Lancer. “I am after all, a king myself; to bow to another king is out of the question.” Having been shot down by two of the three, Rider looked to Giorno, his eyes almost pleading with him to say yes.
“Sorry, I don’t think I can agree to it either. I served a ‘King’ once, and I don’t plan to ever be in that position again.” Giorno struck his signature pose as he spoke, an act more startling to the other servants then Rider’s actions it seemed, based on their faces. There was something bothering Giorno, it was something Rider had said that he hadn’t really let sink in until now. “Rider, I’m afraid you’ve also got it wrong, I am not the ‘Caster’ of this war.”
“D-Don’t be ridiculous!” Waver, who had probably meant to stay out of the conversation, clasped his hand over his mouth at his words and shrunk back into the chariot.
“I have to agree with my master here, do you claim to be the Archer class then?” Rider turned to Giorno, a smile crept across his face. “An Archer who fights with summoned plants and his own fists? Interesting! I look forward to the day we’re locked into glorious battle, but are you sure you won’t join me?”
“Quite sure, I wouldn’t be the ‘Boss’ if I bowed to anyone, so I’ll have to refuse.” Giorno’s hair fluttered in an unnatural wind, his face and pose unfaltering as he spoke. “My name is Giorno Giovanna, the Boss of Passione. Knowing my name will be no help in defeating me, so I have no problem telling you this much.”
His actions were similar to Rider’s, but everyone witness to them could feel the difference of their words. Rider revealed himself to attempt to use his fame to sway the others and not for a belief that he could win even when his name was known. Giorno wasn’t like that, he knew his name carried no meaning in this world; his declaration was that of confidence, a bold claim to victory from the start. This strange man in contemporary dress, who had an unrecognizable name, was saying his victory wasn’t a question but a logical outcome. The lighthearted tone that Rider had brought to the scene was shattered by the cold gaze of the golden haired boy.
“Giorno… Giovanna?” Lancer spoke slowly, likely deep in thought over the name. “I don’t know any heroes by that name, nor any of your… description”
“I’d be surprised if you had. To be fair, I don’t recognize your name either, Diarmuid.” Even with his emotionless tone, his words seemed to carry a strong malice behind them; Lancer unconsciously took a step back. Giorno Giovanna had no desire to fight these heroes, but his goal sat beyond them, everyone in this war is an obstacle in the way of his dream. It was unfortunate, but his only option was to crush those who got in his way.
“I’d say you sound overconfident, boy… But you are the only one here to have already attained a victory in this war, even if it was just Assassin.” Rider put his hands on his hips and smirked. “And what a victory it was! My Master said you destroyed them utterly in mere moments, impressive, very impressive!”
Despite Rider’s personality, the tension on the docks was thick enough to cut with a knife. Four Servants stared each other down, all waiting to make a move after the others. Giorno wondered if Tokiomi was watching this. If he was he was probably about to have a heart attack at his Servant’s actions. Giorno was getting tired of this stalemate however, and was prepared to make his move. He knew the most about Lancer’s powers, so he’d take him down first, Saber and Rider would come later.
His entire body tensed up instinctively, something felt wrong. An immense bloodlust filled the surrounding area, but it wasn’t coming from any of the present servants. His eyes shifted towards the new feeling, and he saw it. A knight clad head to toe in armor, the form of which was obscured by an unnatural aura that wrapped him like black flames. Just looking at the servant was enough to tell exactly what it was, a form driven by hatred and instinct, Berserker.
“Looks like we have an uninvited guest,” Giorno turned to the Berserker, his fists clenched. A Servant class that focused entirely on raw power had no chance against him, what was about to happen wouldn’t even be able to be called a fight, at least that’s what he thought. Before he took a single step towards the mad knight, he had been sent flying.
“..!”
What just happened? He must have been hit, but that Berserker shouldn’t be able to match his speed. Damn, he got overconfident. He crashed into a nearby shipping crate, a cloud of dust billowing out from the impact and obscuring the new battle.
“Well, King of Conquerors, looks like you have another potential recruit.” Lancer’s sarcasm cut through the air almost as sharply as his spears, aimed at the red headed giant.
“This one doesn’t seem like he’d take well to negotiations, damn, and I was doing so well with the other too!” Rider seemed completely unfazed by Giorno’s rejection of his previous offer, seemingly disappointed that his prospective recruit had just been smashed to pieces in an instant. “So Assassin was just a fluke, huh? How disheartening, I thought he would make a fine general in my army!”
“I wouldn’t be so sure, Rider.” This time the one to speak was Saber, who had been the most silent since this scene had begun. She didn’t let her guard down, but her face seemed to relax somewhat as the focus shifted towards the new fight and off her. “His presence hasn’t vanished yet.”
As the dust cleared, Giorno’s form came back into view, standing atop the rubble of the metal crate. He seemed no worse for wear, a few minor scratches but nothing to imply he had taken the slightest bit of serious damage. Golden energy wrapped his arms within its warm light, and he thrust his hand into the side of another crate. The servants and masters who had their eyes locked on him bore witness to his power, as what was once a crate charged towards Berserker in the form of an elephant.
“Not just plants, but animals too? This power would suit my army perfectly!” Rider let out an impressed whistle and laughed at the thought of this ‘Giorno Giovanna’ joining him in conquest, together they could be unstoppable.
The elephant rushed towards its target, fully under the control of the young Servant. Even if Berserker could react in time to counterattack, the fight was over when his power ‘damage reflection’ took hold. A servant of the Berserker class wouldn’t be smart enough to dodge out of the way either, he had won. Berserker’s black clad arms thrust out and took hold of the charging elephants left tusk, and with an inhumanly strong swing hurled the beast into the sea behind him. With a crack, the beast’s tusk had been torn off its body and now resided in the hands of the Berserker. Blood exploded from within the mad Servant’s helmet, but the damage didn’t seem to bother him.
“Impossible… did he resist the ‘reflection’?” Giorno’s stone like exterior seemed to harden even further, and he walked towards the new Servant with an intense determination. Too many things were odd, Berserker hadn’t taken the full damage from the reflection, nor had he acted like a mindless brawler. No, that was the action of a well trained fighter, how was that possible? Berserker rushed in, the tusk of the elephant turned black in his hands as he wielded it like a massive club.
“Muda muda muda!” Giorno’s fists lashed out, aiming for Berserker’s vital points, but each of his blows was blocked by the tusk club. He jumped back to Avoid berserker’s mad swing; the air pressure from the blow alone was enough to rip his suit, if that had hit him… Giorno had to get rid of that weapon; he’d smash it to pieces with his next attack. A kick aimed with all his strength at the tusk, golden energy flowing from his leg as he impacted the improvised weapon, but it wouldn’t shatter.
“▂▂▃▃▄▄▅▅！” Berserker roared; an incomprehensible, inhuman sound. Berserker wasn’t as fast as Giorno was, but he made up for that with pure skill, a level of skill Berserker shouldn’t be able to use. But the contradictory Berserker wouldn’t let up his relentless attacks, it was everything Giorno could do to avoid the hits, he didn’t even have enough time to use Gold Experience. The full force of Berserker’s next swing hit him in the arm and he went flying, the feeling of his bones cracking soon followed.
Giorno thoughts were a jumbled mess of emotions, a fight against such a simple minded opponent should have gone smoothly, but he was being pushed back. He was angry, his emotions would not show on his face, but this mad dog was filling him with rage. But was the rage truly directed at Berserker or at himself for failing to win as easily as he wanted? He didn’t have time to contemplate it as berserker rushed in once more, he was on the ground, and he had no time to escape this blow, we this as far as his resolve could take him?
“It’s not over yet!” Giorno’s unbroken arm glowed gold and touched the ground next to him, a tree rapidly sprouting underneath him and throwing him into the air. His escape was short-lived however, as Berserker leapt into the air to follow him, how annoyingly persistent. Giorno deflected Berserker’s flying strike with a swift kick, propelling him away from the raging knight. They landed at nearly the exact same time, and Berserker took no time in returning to the fight, preventing Giorno from healing his arm once again.
“So that’s what it is…” Lancer spoke softly as he analyzed the fight going on before him. “That tusk has become the madman’s noble phantasm.” Saber and Rider both seemed surprised by this, but they couldn’t deny that it was extremely possible with the way berserker was handling it. Giorno would have come to the same conclusion if he wasn’t in such a desperate situation.
He wouldn’t run, he didn’t need to retreat yet. Giorno ran towards the charging Servant instead, his unbroken arm pulled back to strike. Berserker swung at him from the left, and he dodged it at the last possible second. Kicking off the ground, he launched himself into an uppercut. Golden energy swelled from his hand as his fist smashed into Berserker’s helm, sending the servant staggering back. When Gold Experience touches something without life, that thing becomes alive, but it had a different effect on those already alive. Berserker’s mind should now be overflowing with ‘life’, paralyzing his actions for a short time.
“▂▂▃▃▄▄▅▅！” The defiant servant roared, its madness was too strong to be overcome by Giorno’s Stand. For a beast fighting with nothing but rage, being unable to think was already its normal state of being. The black knight kicked Giorno with one of its armored legs and sent him flying; he crashed into the ground and rolled to a stop before he even realized what happened. Would he have to use ‘that’? Was he truly forced so into a corner as to bring out his trump card already, in his second real battle of the war? He had hoped to hold onto that secret for a little longer, but it wasn’t looking like he would be able to.
The turn of the battle suddenly changed however with the thunderous roar of a chariot’s wheels, Berserker was sent rolling by Rider’s reckless charge, one that seemed to greatly upset his master. He stopped between Giorno and the Berserker and leapt out of his chariot, drawing a Greek style short sword in one hand.
“Looks like you could use some help, Archer-who-uses-his-fists. Besides, I can’t let you have all the fun can I?” Rider laughed, his cape flapping in the wind behind him as he approached the downed Servant.
The berserker lunged at the new opponent, a massive swing that could easily kill a normal human in one hit. Rider didn’t falter however; he stepped into the range of the swing instead, his Sword clashing against the tusk in a shower of sparks, deflecting the attack off course. With a fury rivaled only by Berserker, he went on the attack, the fight quickly turned into a blur of the two servants, their trade of blows reaching an absurd speed.
Giorno didn’t like it, but he had to admit Rider’s intervention had saved him. He wasted no time and got back on his feet, placing his hand on his wounds, a golden light covering him. The bones that had been broken were mended, or rather, they had been replaced by his power. The broken fragments transformed into whole bones in an instant; healing himself with his power was extremely painful as it wasn’t its intended use, but he didn’t let it show on his face. He wouldn’t have had time to heal without Rider, but he wasn’t about to let his victory be stolen from him, it was time for him to get serious. Rider had stepped back from the fight for a mere moment, but it was enough time for him, he rushed back in.
“Gold Experience!” Out of habit he called out the name of his stand, but of course no golden figure appeared behind him, those days were long passed. From the ground below his feet a tangle of vines shot forth, wrapping Berserker in their binding hold as he approached. With all the strength he could muster, he unleashed a barrage of punches at the black servant, all aimed at its stolen weapon. “This doesn’t belong to you.”
His flurry ended in an instant, and with a final kick the tusk shattered completely, unable to withstand the assault any longer even with Berserker’s power within it. The bound Servant struggled against the vines, but the more it ripped or tore at them, the more damage it took instead. Giorno didn’t even acknowledge Rider’s involvement, he just walked towards the Berserker, his pray.
He would end it now and claim the first real victory of this Holy Grail War; he would be one step closer to his dream.
Berserker’s body strained against the vines restraining him, blood dripped through every crack in its armor, but it didn’t stop. Slowly, painfully, the vines no longer restrained the mad dog’s arm. It grasped the vines in its armored hands, the plants turning black from its touch; they became the servant’s new Noble Phantasm. At the same time, Giorno felt his control over the plants vanish; the Berserker’s ability could steal his life from him so easily, Heroic Spirits were nothing to underestimate it seemed. Berserker lashed out with the vines like whips, aiming for Giorno. A flash of red cut through the air in front of him, and the whip vine fell to pieces before his eyes.
“You may be my enemy, but right now he’s more of a threat to my master if left unchecked!” Lancer stood between Giorno and the Berserker, his twin spears crossed. The fight was quickly escalating into an all out brawl, certainly not what Giorno had expected. Lancer’s smirking expression was short lived however, as his body froze completely right when he went to attack the black knight.
“What are you doing, Lancer?!” His master’s voice cried out from the darkness once more. “This is a perfect chance, aid Berserker and take out that insolent Blonde brat!” But Lancer refused to move, a strained look on his face. To go against his master is the biggest sin of a knight, but he couldn’t agree with him here, he wouldn’t help this rampaging monster! “Have it your way, Lancer. By order of the Command Seal, join Berserker in this fight and kill Archer.”
A flash of light from the distance signaled the activation, and Lancer unnaturally twisted around where he stood and thrust his spear towards Giorno. Giorno smoothly jumped back and avoided the deadly spears; he definitely didn’t want to find out what effect Lancer’s Noble Phantasm held against his Stand, not yet at least. The situation was getting rather dire, if Tokiomi was watching this fight he would be extremely unhappy with him, how annoying.
Despite being a raging madman, something within Berserker recognized that Lancer had joined his side, as it made no moves to attack the spearman as it advanced on Giorno and Rider. He raised his hands and readied to strike back at whichever servant chose to come out him first, when Rider stepped up next to him. Rider looked at him and nodded, then raised his sword towards Lancer. Rider ran in and skillfully parried all of Lancer’s strikes; he quickly forced him away from Giorno, who had resumed his original fight.
Giorno danced around the mindless Servant, using everything in his power to defeat it. He ran in, dodging through the remaining vine whips as he approached. It was nothing to him, his agility was far higher than Berserker, and now that he was serious the fight was all but over. He created a tree beneath his foot and used it to propel himself forward into a massive leap, his other leg launched into a spinning kick aimed at the knight’s head. Berserker’s upper body twisted around and swung the vine whips in its hand into Giorno, stopping his flying kick prematurely. But this was fine; Giorno rapidly adjusted his plan and took hold of the ends of the whips. As soon as he landed back on the ground, Giorno pulled the whips with all his strength. Berserker being the kind of Servant it I had no regard for its own footwork, making the next action easy even for a weaker servant like Giorno; he yanked the knight off its feet with a swift movement.
“Muda da!” As soon as Berserker tried to stand back up, Giorno’s gold clad fist smashed into its faceless helmet, sending the Servant back to the ground with one blow. He struck out with a rapid flurry of blows against the still prone Berserker, ending with a final punch that smashed the Servant’s head hard into the concrete below. Even a mad dog wouldn’t get up after that, surely rage can only let you ignore so much damage. He had underestimated his opponent, a mistake he seemed to be repeating today, he still didn’t know enough about this world to accurately plan for its challenges.
Giorno was wrong yet again, as Berserker proved even more tenacious than he anticipated. Two metal hands clasped around his throat before he hand time to react, damn it all, this guy was strong! Giorno didn’t have the strength needed to break the vice grip around his neck, nor was there anything he could transform with gold experience within his grasp. The mad servant roared as it lifted him off the ground and tightened its hold on the golden haired boy’s neck. Of all the things to be carried over into his new body, one of the universal weaknesses of Stand powers had to be one of them. He couldn’t breathe, and with that his stand power began to fade, he probably couldn’t even use his Requiem in this state now.
His vision had started to blur, was he really going to fall here, like this? He tried to kick the Berserker, but he legs no longer held any strength. He had failed, this Berserker is just too ridiculous, how could anybody hope to kill this thing? But his salvation came unexpectedly, and from someone not even involved in this fight. He heard it, inside of his head as if he was right next to him, the voice of his Master. Tokiomi’s voice filled his mind with a single thought, and he hadn’t even have to figure out the meaning of it, he knew instinctively.
“Return to my side this instant” and in a flash of blue light, Giorno Giovanna disappeared from the battlefield, for the magic of the command seal was able to create minor miracles. With an absolute order even actions that should be physically impossible, like teleportation, became realities. Giorno found himself back in Tokiomi’s study, but before he could truly get his bearings after the shift in location, he collapsed.
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Kirei Kotomine’s role in his master’s plan was to run surveillance from the safety of the church, feigning a defeated participant who took asylum with the overseer. This was, in his opinion, a criminal misuse of his and his Servant’s skills. Kirei could, if required, take out the other teams on his own, using his training as a church executor to assassinate the other masters. Likewise, his Servant’s golems were far more suited to be fielded as an army rather than a spy network, but Tokiomi was deadlocked on his own plan.
The fatal flaw of the traditional magus, were that they’re far too set in their ways and unable to see a different course of action. Too determined to win the war through standards means he wouldn’t even consider using underhanded tactics, aside from his secret alliance that is, what a joke. Kotomine picked up a bottle of wine from his personal collection in his room at the church and walked over to a nearby chair; he uncorked the bottle and poured a glass before sitting down next to a strange device that looked like a phonograph.
He would never understand why that magus insisted on using this archaic means of communication, a phone would be far more convenient for relaying information, and only one of the known master’s would likely know how to tap a phone line. On that thought, he picked up a folder on the table before him and flipped it open, various scraps of information were revealed to him once more as he dove into the mystery. Why was he so fixated on this Master, this Kiritsugu Emiya? Was it because they seemed similar, or was it something else? He couldn’t answer that question, so he continued to search for the answer in this collection of intel, hoping to unravel his own thought process.
A humanoid golem created by his Servant, Caster, sprung to life from its seated position in the couch across from his chair. It resembled a man only in the most basic of ways, the rest was obvious machinery. Its artificial body made strange noises as it moved and approached him, a pad of paper in one hand and a rapidly moving pen in the other, as this golem lacked the ability to speak. It handed him the note and froze in the spot, waiting more instruction from its controller, Caster.
Kirei looked over the note and nearly sighed as he imagined the conversation he has to have with his foolish master. He took a sip of his wine and placed it down on the table, he didn’t really have any feelings for alcohol, but he continued to drink it for reasons unknown even to him. He turned and activated the magical device next to him, then awaited his master’s answer.
“Kirei, what is it? I said to only report urgent information, if you recall?” The voice of his master from the magical phonograph sounded extremely annoyed already, and possibly slightly intoxicated. Only the fight day of the war and already this frustrated? His master had more to worry about then the enemy at this rate.
“Of course, Tokiomi, I have a report from the battlefield.” He didn’t show any emotion in his voice, much like a certain golden haired servant he had been observing behind his master’s back. He had taken an interest in that Servant, why he had he couldn’t say “It seems Archer has engaged Berserker, and isn’t doing well from the looks of it.”
“That damn… I told him not involve himself in a fight he couldn’t win!” The sound of a glass shattering echoed through the magical communication device, adding extra impact to Tokiomi’s strained voice. “Why did I have to summon the class with the highest potential for independent action?”
The golem before Kirei began to write again, quickly scrawling out another note that it handed to him without pause. Things went from bad to worse it seemed, Kirei mentally sighed and turned back to the phonograph.
“Master, it seems that Archer is about to… well, die.”
“What? That foolish Servant, why did I have to summon Archer of all the classes?” He could hear the annoyance in his master’s voice from here, even if Tokiomi was trying to mask it. “Fine, I’ll just deal with it myself.”
With his last word the device stopped transmitting sound, and Kirei fell back into his chair, he picked up his glass of wine and took another sip of the red liquid. Dealing with Tokiomi was becoming increasingly more tiring, though he did wonder what he meant when he said he’d deal with it himself; he’d find out soon enough however.
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Tokiomi had woken up with a splitting headache; perhaps he had overdone it the night before. He awoke up hunched over his desk, an empty bottle of brandy laying on it’s side next to a half full cup, one day into the war and he had already been reduced to an alcoholic. That damn Archer, what was he doing to him? He groaned and stood up, his body hurt, his head hurt, he felt like he had been the one in a fight with servants the night before and in a way, he was. He glanced down at his hand, he sighed when he saw his command seal, one of the three red markings missing from the back of his hand.
“Archer, show yourself, now!” Tokiomi was impatient, and barked his order to the air around him, he winced at his own volume and pinched his forehead, he should really lay off the drinking if he wants to survive this war. “As your Master, I demand an audience!”
The odd Servant materialized in his signature pose, his hair flowing unnaturally in a non existent wind. Once fully formed, Giorno slowly walked over to his master and took a seat on a nearby chair; he crossed his legs and linked his fingers together in front of his face. His posture was very evidently dominate, despite his seated position placing him lower than his Master, was he trying to intimidate him?
“What do you need, master?” though his voice was the same as always, Tokiomi could only imagine the sarcasm and disrespect behind his words; was he being mocked? He was almost ready to use a second command seal to make his servant obey him better, but he held off for now.
“Archer, I remember explicitly telling you not to get involved in a fight you couldn’t win, and yet here we are. And I was forced to use a command seal to save you from your foolish mistakes, no less!” He started to reach for a bottle on his desk but stayed his hand, doing that would only make things worse. “Your powers are impressive, but it doesn’t mean you can underestimate other Servants, especially those with unknown abilities!”
“I’ll admit, it wasn’t my finest hour.” His expression unchanged, he continued to stare at Tokiomi as he spoke, and his eyes seemed to pierce right through him. “Your rescue was quite well timed I must say, the power of those ‘command seals’ aren’t something to be taken lightly for sure.”
Tokiomi slumped back into his chair and sighed loudly, if only he had summoned an easier servant to work with, like Saber… But there was no point dwelling on what could have been, he’d just have to work harder to turn this situation around. He turned back to his Servant, a serious expression spread across his face, time to stop playing around.
“Archer, tell me the details of your fight, what have you learned about the other servants?”
“Berserker is a serious threat, he seems somewhat resistant to my abilities, and he can steal control of the ‘life’ I create.” Giorno crossed his arms and leaned back in his chair. “now that I have a better grasp on his powers, I should be able to handle it better next time, though I’m not sure I could guarantee a win without having to use my ‘Requiem’. He might be an opponent better left for the others to deal with, Lancer perhaps.”
“And why would Lancer be a better fit against Berserker?” He wouldn’t admit it, but that got him somewhat intrigued. If Berserker could push his own servant back that much, what hope could a lesser servant like Lancer have against them?
“Lancer possesses a Noble Phantasm that can cut through prana, it was easily able to break through Berserker’s own power. I’m not about to test it’s effectiveness against my own ability any time soon, either.”
That did certainly sound like a strong Noble Phantasm, if this overconfident Servant of his was weary it was worth taking note of, looks like this war wasn’t going to be as easy as he hoped. But if he followed his Servant’s advice and allowed the others to defeat each other, things might go smoother.
“The only other Servant whose powers I was able to gain an understanding of was Assassin” Giorno stood up as he spoke and turned away from his master. “I wasn’t expecting Assassin to be so… strangely dressed.”
“Assassin? Kirei didn’t say anything about Assassin, when did this happen?” was that apprentice of his playing some kind of game, purposely leaving out vital information? “Please, tell me about Assassin if you would.”
“I’m sure Kotomine didn’t inform you as it happened a ways away from the main battle, and was over almost in an instant. They managed to escape, but I won’t lose a second time, their strength is no match for mine.” He turned to face his master again and posed both hands on his hips and his upper body twisted to the side. “As for their appearance, Assassin was female, young, and… quite underdressed.”
“Hmm, a Female Assassin you say? Up to this point every Servant Assassin has been Hassan-i-Sabbah, said to be the only heroic spirit fit to be summoned as that class, though it is a shared name of many individuals I doubt there were many, how unlikely...”
“You said that the golem I destroyed was based off the shared look of the Hassen tribe, yes?” Giorno interrupted his master quite bluntly, but he carried on like nothing had happened. “Well, this Assassin did not wear a mask at all, or a black cloak like that fake you prepared.”
“An Assassin who is not a Hashashin? That should be impossible.” This was certainly unexpected; an assassin who was not one of the nineteen leaders of the original clan of assassins was unheard of, a complete wildcard. Before things complicated anime more he should eliminate them before they get a chance to become a nuisance; when this conversation ended he would set Kirei on the task of locating them. “But if you say you can defeat them easily, I’ll believe you, when I know their whereabouts we’ll launch an attack, remain here on standby until then.”
Giorno nodded and swiftly exited the room, turning into spirit form when he reached the hallway. He had to make up for has failures in the last fight, losing again wasn’t an option, he would erase anyone in the way of his dream no matter what.
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