Quest of Fate - Apocrypha Universe Grail War

[Pastykake]

Yeah, Sigmund.

[Bird of Hermes]

Day 09(?)
An Indefinite Location


[BGM]

Ota reached out her hand towards her beloved Yamato Takeru. Lancer takes her palm in her own and almost trembles at her touch again. Quelling any tears before they arise, she lets her wife lead her through the palace so familiar and yet completely alien to her.

The walk is efficient and no stops are taken and many fantastical sights are given attention only in passing or completely ignored. After many, many flights of stairs time flies by and before the warrior can process it, the two women are sitting inside garden of cherry blossoms, kneeling on a spread as Ototachibana-hime was proceeding with a tea ceremony. In her first life Lancer usually had little time and patience for this but this time watched with curiosity.

After Ota bowed before her, there was the cleaning and preparation of the utensils, the boiling, the mixing… It was all a foreign language to her. Lancer’s only true failing was a lack of domestic skills, after all she had a spouse and servants to wait on her hand and foot, she was never taught these skills or would be expected to use them either

“This is terrible.”

Her wife gave a knowing nod, it seemed that she already knew what her answer would be and yet she had served the beverage anyways for some reason beknown only to her.

“Of course, it is terrible my beloved. Can you determine why?”

Lancer paused and looked into the cup and swirling mixture within that did not deserve the name ‘tea’. Indeed, that coffee maestro from Risa’s country would use this as an example of why coffee is the superior drink.

She had witnessed the ceremony, granted Lancer did not understand what it was that Ototachibana-hime had done in the ceremony but she had faith in her wife’s talents – the supreme housewife would not fail at something as simple as this like Lancer would.

Lancer closed her eyes and inhaled through her nose, letting the aroma overwhelm her senses and overwhelm them they did. It had little baring at first but now it seemed almost overpowering. It almost reminded her of the dinner that she had with Risa and Seigi.

It was a sublime act of kindness that was wholly unnecessary. Servants did not need to eat food yet they insisted on preparing a meal from their native land for her to join them as equals. She was not a servant, she was not a weapon, she was just a girl. A girl they wanted to be friends with. Those two young magi anticipated her most secret, repressed, most lurid desire and provided it out of the goodness of their own hearts.

Yes, that was when she fell in love with them.

Although that memory had certainly etched itself onto her saint graph and would return to the Throne of Heroes upon her demise, the meal, though filled with love, was not to her particular pallet.

With that she knew what the tea was missing.

“This has all the necessary ingredients and procedure into it but it lacks balance.”

Ototachibana-hime nods her head.

“This tea is much like your path, it remains clouded.” Her voice is perfectly flat as the cherry petals flutter by free on the wind.

“This isn’t the path? I don’t understand! Then you must show me the way!”

“I cannot. It is not for me to show you, your path.” Her wife now instead shakes her head. Ota’s graceful posture and gentle words does not match her intensity.

Before Lancer can answer, her vision is blocked by a wave of petals completely masking the world around her in a harsh gale before settling just as quick as it arose. The red-haired warror now was greeted with the sight of opulence and magnificence. Indeed an orgy of precious metals and jewels decorate the vast throne room, large enough for her cry of shock to echo throughout the halls.

The heat of the palace intensified as Lancer realised she was sitting on the throne in full imperial regalia while her wife Ototachibana-hime now lay draped across her lap dressed in clothes befitting not the empress but a whore who was a part of her imperial majesty’s harem.

Lancer’s discomfort was obvious.

“Is there a problem my beloved? Is this what you want?”

The fake emperor’s grunt, facial expression and inability to meet the fierce blue haired woman’s gaze said everything.

“Have I ever shown interest in the inane political affairs of people?” Lancer speaks after a moment. “I was placed on this earth to do one thing and one thing only – !”
Lancer’s voice catches in her throat as the smell of rotting flesh and iron reach her. She looks out into the throne room they reside in to see it is filled with bodies, all viciously dismembered.

Solders of the old and new era. All people who had been slain by Yamato Takeru.

It was a gory vision that would shock even the boldest of sadomasochists bar perhaps Daji, the great fox of China: Crushed skulls, eviscerated torso’s with organs spilling free, intestines stuffed into people’s mouths, eyes gouged out, a man stabbed through the heart clutching at a wooden sword stuck in its sheath, various impalement, decapitations, bisections, poison, burned alive to a crisp. However, at the front of the mountain of meat was a dry blood carpet wrapped up. She knew what, or rather whom the remains secured within was.

After all, her brother was the first person she had killed at her father’s command.

“…No…”

Lancer’s voice was weak at the sign of this. It was so… uncharacteristic of her.

“You said you were put onto this earth to do one thing did you not?” Ota accused Lancer, “Is this who you are? One who slays? One who subjugates humanity? A great beast who exists only to consume?”

“No!”

Lancer’s outcry was far bolder now. A shout of rebellion against the inhumane order of things.

“I may be born broken but I did not freely murder! It was my gods-damned duty! The masses, the gods, even my own fucking brother. I was told to kill them by imperial decree. To do anything less would bring shame, invalidate the sole reason on my existence as the arm of the emperor and his greatest weapon!”

“What kind of man sees his own daughter as just a means to an end?”

“The man whose daughter killed his favourite son.”

“Then why cling to what other’s expect of you when you know your own needs differ from the demands of others.” Still draped across Lancer’s lap, Ota rolled onto her front so that she sprawled out more like a cat than a courtesan. “Do you really believe you are unworthy of affection? That all you are is an automaton? That your base function is all you deserve?”

Lancer gritted her teeth. After all of this she was beginning to finally lose her patience.

“Oh, have you forgotten now?” Lancer accused back.

[BGM]

As the world rushed up to meet them, the intensity vanished of the corpse-mountain vanished with the environment swirling around them both now as the married women stood upon the edge of their former residence, looking out to a large grassy plane. However, the scent was odd, a mixture of dew, freshly cut reeds and the smell of burning off in the distance.

A night both women remembered all too well.

“The night your father sent warlords to assassinate you.” Ota said. “This was the night the violence within did not fulfil you, you realised you were alone-”

“Except for you.” Lancer interrupted. “Despite me pushing you away at every available opportunity, doing the bare minimum to keep you quiet and sated and you still stood as my wife.”

“As you did your duty as a warrior, I did mine as a wife. Although you felt nothing for me, I still loved you.”
Lancer rolled her head and chuckled, a trait she had borrowed from an alchemist and a fellow redhead.

“No Ota, this was the night I fell in love with you. I could forget the Emperor; I could forget the Prince. I had found a new family and that was you.”

[BGM]

Ota walked up to Lancer’s side and gently reached out and took her hand, interlocking her finger with her own. She was delighted, all the woman had ever wanted was for her spouse to be happy but the whole world seemed to stand against her, to hate her. When the great Yamato Takeru was freed from the Imperial family, she was still hated as she still hated herself, denied herself her true desires. Now a new priestess of Amaterasu, Ototachibana-hime looked back as she desperately tried to fill the void in Takeru’s heart and… almost managed. But when the god of the seas rampaged in Takeru’s absence, she could not pacify the misbehaving wretch through arms so she did the only thing she could to save her country and love. Through the given divine providence of a Goddess truly worthy of the title she had watched her beloved struggle in her first life and this new one. Through the combined relentless efforts of two young idiots, the magi completed her work.

On the other side of the burnt grassfield, the two women saw four figures emerge from the shadows into the moonlight. Walking across the field and oblivious to the world around them

One was almost identical to that of Lancer albeit older by a few years. There were bags under her eyes and a few strands of grey in her hair. She was wearing clothing of the modern era. Two of the others were the redhaired boy and pink haired girl, unlike the heroic spirit these two looked about a decade older. All three were a joint unit, walking hand in hand with each other. The fourth however was a young girl with pink hair matching the tome magus but bore resemblance to both red haired individuals.

“Hey, Bess! Where are you running off too?”.

The girl filled with the energy of youth ran ahead so the older Seigi raced after her before catching up and lifted his daughter up to sit on his shoulders before walking back. The older Risa took her daughter down and carried her in her arms. The family all spoke amongst each other, smiling and laughing. The three parents all kissed each other with their daughter giving the overly dramatic false gag that children do when watching others be intimate before the four of them walked off into the void.

Whether it was a gaze through the window in a world that could be or a fantasy was irrelevant. The former living weapon’s eyes welled up as she choked back tears before she let go of her wife’s hand and wiped her face clean of the continual tears of happiness. In spite of everything she saw a world she was happy.

This-

This was Lancer’s wish.

Lancer turned and pulled in her wife close and embraced her. Her voice was soft in Ota’s ear, giving a secret that only she would hear.

“Before you my darling, I was alone. You were all I had, if not for you I would not have survived my youth, without even knowing it you were the only one I could live for… My own kin used and abandoned me; you were my true family. You always were, my love.”

As Lancer pulled away, Ota reached up and stroked the taller woman’s hair. Lancer dipped her head into her wife’s hand, savouring every second of contact, even giving the palm a soft kiss before continuing her confession.

“When I couldn’t save you from the greed of the Heavens, I abandoned my weaponry and fought against the God of Mount Ibuki and his kin with nothing but my hands. I couldn’t stand to live without you so I chose death in combat. My so-called swan song of combat was nothing but an elaborate suicide note.”

The tears now slowly began to subside with Ototachibana-hime stroking the last of the water from the warrior’s face.

“But now I have a new family. People who love me and I love them but I couldn’t face failing them as I failed you. I wasn’t strong enough to save you, I wasn’t good enough as a person to save you-”

“You have always known which path is right and which path is wrong. There is no need to doubt yourself.”

Ototachibana-hime was happy and content.

The Centre of the Palace

[BGM] [SFX]

---A sudden backward motion.

As both women closed their eyes, Lancer felt an odd motion. A thin veil of fog, bumping into a wall of water like a sunshower – like awaking from a dream, or perhaps falling into a dream within a dream.

An unknown feminine voice called out, loud, powerful, beautiful. It held all the grace of a courtesan and the sheer dominating presence of an emperor who compelled others to bow before them.

“Oho, I see. So, this is the one you deem worthiest-of-worthies my new priestess? Hmph, if this is what draws the warrior here then so be it.”

Blinding light crushes the eyes. It’s too dazzling to even consider opening one’s gaze and yet the atmosphere is now damp with sunlight flickering through veils of the mist.

“Wake up little insect. You hear me? Being in front of me shouldn’t you beg for your life?”

Lancer’s eyes are narrow but this almighty voice that is hauntingly familiar. With either the light diming or getting used to it already, she felt tempted by that voice. Not to beg but to open her eyes.

Beast of Humanity
Divine Spirit Amaterasu
===




“Hoh, so you finally opened your eyes? Now let me see that face. That life of yours may vanish depending on my mood so you better pray for the best.”

Lancer’s eyes must have been lying to her, the scene was unreal. She wanted to raise a hand to pinch her cheek but such an action was not to the whims of the Sun Goddess and therefore not allowed. She could not even blink.

In the inner most sanctum of the Imperial Palace where the living sun resided the atmosphere was filled with True Ether completely alien to the magi of the modern day. Even Lancer who was by no means a wielder of magic could comprehend this.

This so-called palace was nothing but a cannibalistic temple for a demon who had made her beloved wife nothing but her envoy after death.

“Ah, so bold and yet so dim.” The goddess continued, Lancer now standing before the deity fully upright and ready for whatever may come. “If you didn’t wake up, I would have just eaten you. Come now, aren’t you going to take advantage of my good mood and flee? It will all be the same, if you turn your back, I will burn you to cinder, do anything stupid and my breath will blow you to a hundred pieces. If you cannot stand against my wrath, how will you oppose the King of Outlaws who wields the Demonic sword of the Sun?”

Wise Up!

Correct!
Saber’s true identity is Sigmund, King of Outlaws.

Amaterasu, the divine ancestor of the imperial bloodline… She was a titan with a power matching the sun. Such an overwhelming presence disoriented her since of distance. Although she looks gigantic, it is now clear that the goddess is still very far away from her. A beautiful woman with a fierce face that high lit her grace.

Lancer could see a vortex of magical energy made manifest on her back emitting golden light of the sun and waving like tails. She could not move and the Goddess’s presence felt like her whole body was at risk of suffocating and expiring.

Amaterasu was not a Heroic Spirit like Lancer but upon closer observation not quite ‘just’ a Divine Spirit. She was something infinitely more fiendish, a pure enemy of humanity. Lancer observed that just being in her sight at full power could probably kill her.

“Oh my, so much paler than you were before. You are not speaking or moving either, have you already given up on your life?”

A final test of her resolve, it seemed the gods wished to toy with her even more than they already had. Ruining her life once over simply was not enough for them.

“You… Bitch!”

The goddess smiled at the response and an eyebrow was raised, increasing her punishment. Lancer’s knees began to weaken. This was it, Amaterasu herself decided to strike her down herself before she could save Risa and Seigi.

This could not stand.

This could NOT continue.

This was overpowering, the Goddess’s full might lived up to legend, every inch of her body wanted to simply fall apart under the golden fox’s gaze. This was it, after finding the resolve, her peace would be taken away from her. It was agony, trapped between the grasp of the ultimate unrelenting force, Lancer…

Critical Choice!

…does the following:

1. Charges forward, using the radiance against itself
2. Holds the line and resists the divine power
3. Flees until the pain goes away. Unacceptable!

…while shouting as loud as possible:

1. “Why the hell did anyone worship someone like you?”
2. “Are you trying to disobey your master?!”
3. “FUCK OFF.”
4. “I think it’s time I killed a god…”
5. Write-in.

[Spartacus]

Oooo
wasn't expecting her to appear...

[34]

what a wild ride

2
3

[Bird of Hermes]

Good to see ya again o7

[Spartacus]

2

not sure with the second choice... "FUCK OFF!" is cool and feels in character, but I don't really have a clue in Ammy's character to know is this a good thing or not.

[King Prussia]

2.
5. " If I defeat you then you must marry my wife and me ! "

I'm here to make memes a reality, don't mind me.

[SleepMode]

2
3

”Fahk off”
~Lancer

[zikari8]

2.
4.

[Pastykake]

I'm too lazy to do proper research. What's this about Takeru being Amaterasu's master?

[Bird of Hermes]

Hanging Gardens of Babylon, Trifas, Transylvania
Three years before Quest of Fate



2004, The Great Holy Grail War.

A great time of chaos. 60 years prior close to the second world war, the “Eight-Forked Tongue” himself Darnic Yggdmillennia had participated in the third Holy Grail War of Fuyuki, summoned Fionn Mac Cumhaill, allied with and betrayed the Nazi’s and stolen the Greater Holy Grail.

Since then the Yggdmillennia clan had struck independence from the Mage Association, dug their heels in and dared them to steal the grail. What had resulted was a battle between factions, each side summoning seven heroic spirits from the past in a grand melee.

There was no rest for the wicked and Hiro Nomikata was a very busy individual.



[BGM]

The magus had made a point to travel this deep into eastern Europe for this meeting on ‘Neutral’ grounds. He lives a double life of sorts now. Mostly, he is simply another magus. Noted as a prodigy despite the generations only being as long as Lord El Melloi II, he lacked the legend and bloodline the eugenic worshipping fools obsessed over he wasn’t antiquated with many important names in person albeit for a few exceptions. If anything, he seemed more obsessive than others were about grooming and melding his heir to take his place.

On the other hand, known to a select number of individuals, Hiro had acquired “connections” as he phrased it to the Typhon Lodge multinational conglomerate. A zaibatsu that consisted of tech companies, broadcasting & entertainment firms a private military company and smaller organisations built for the purposes of holding blackmail on political leaders and tax evasion. Having accomplished his goal in creating an Akashic Anchor, he now obtained tangible power for himself, sabotaging the various Subcatagory Holy Grail Wars that took place across the globe and cannibalising the remnants for everything he could, wealth, lost magecraft, Noble Phantasms and even servants to maintain for his own sake for when it was time to awaken the anchor.

This so called ‘Great’ Holy Grail War proved little more than a noisy slog fest and outside the tightly-knit unit that was the infamous mercenary the Einzbern’s hired, the two mother and daughter homunculi that accompanied him everywhere and the Saber class servant, this farce was positively boring outside the occasional fireworks. He was quite genuinely disappointed in what the patriarch of the Yggdmillennia clan had mustered. Decades of planning and he kept falling at every hurdle close to the finishing line.

For a multitude of reasons, Hiro had decided to offer them a lifeline. They were blind to it but Yggdmillennia was soon to collapse. Thus, he had made an arrangement with his most powerful “friend” on a neutral ground. Neutral however was a rather strong word. It was the territory of an enemy servant. Hiro had said he would guarantee passage however.

Flying his personal private jet to the ‘Aerial Garden of Vanity’ a giant floating fortress which the “Red Faction” uses for their main base in the Great Holy Grail War, it was a peculiar sight with the architecture having a worthy sense of being a grand wonder of humanities achievements but also utterly ridiculous and absurd.

After landing on a provided runway, Hiro walked into the flying fortress alone through until he arrived at the agreed upon meeting room and the sentries kept their distance – his reputation having only grown in the last decade since the misadventure in Sicily.

It was here Hiro saw him. The living legend who had recently attained the pinnacle title of Grand, the most infamous magus in all the world.



“Ah, Hiro Nomikata as I live and breathe. You’ve aged gracefully.” Darnic Yggdmilennia himself called out to him from the other side of the hall. Walking over, Hiro saw a fine mahogany table, a decanter set with drinks and two chairs. One comfortable looking yet well worn ‘commoners’ chair and a literal throne that Darnic had selected for himself.
Darnic was as grandiose as ever but is voice seemed a little off. More tired, almost desolate even.

“The years have been more gracious to you though; you look younger than when I last saw you!”

The lip service was there but kind formalities were a necessity with men like Darnic and although appearing to be, it was not a compliment but a factual observation. Darnic did indeed look more youthful than ever.

The spell Hiro had assisted him with that turned the souls of others into nourishment, although a form of curse that was exceedingly close to being taboo was certainly effective. It is common knowledge among the Clock Tower that Darnic had fused his soul with that of an infant to acquire longevity at least once. Hiro himself had been called upon to be present all three times to provide emergency support if it was needed.

“Why would you ask me to meet… here of all places?”

“I am owed many favours by many people. Leave it there”

Hiro was growing tired of all the pretences already, the only one in the world who he would entertain the notion for was not here but Hiro was used to being childless. The two had been taking care of themselves for a number of years.

“So,” Darnic enquired curiously “What is it you wished to ask of me? You would not provide the information via the telegram.”

“Perhaps firstly I could help you relearn your manners. You are the host are you not currently and you have not offered to take my coat or pour me a drink have you not oh Grand Darnic Yggdmillenia?”

Darnic’s crocodile smile twitched for a moment before it relaxed into that of a true con-artist. Hiro may have arranged the meeting but it was not his household and he made sure Darnic arrived first.

“Of course, my apologies. I am here alone and I usually have our homunculi take care of such frivolities. Come, let me pour you some wine.”

Darnic took a hold of the decanter on the table and poured Hiro a less than generous glass. Hiro took a swirl and a sniff before taking a sip. He instantly realised that this was a prized sample of Boërl & Kroff Brut 1996. Inspired by the greatest red wines of Bordeaux and Burgundy, this stellar specimen was is composed of 90% Pinot Noir, 7% Chardonnay, and 3% Pinot Meunier with the average price of the bottle being close to € 2,000. The flavour was bold, acidic and fizzy. There were other more expensive and famous brands and Hiro admittedly had a weakness for the ‘Old Fashioned’ cocktail for his personal tastes but this was a firm favourite when it came to wines.

“You have incredible taste Darnic.”

“I know good ser, I know.”

Hiro pondered to himself if Darnic sprained his shoulder with how often he pats himself on the back. If this was how the woman saw him, he could not help but wonder how she did not kill him after knowing him for the first five minutes.

“So--” Darnic began, eager to lead the conversation and outstretching his arms like an orator dictating the masses. “How have you witnessed my work? They are calling this the ‘Great Holy Grail War’ with the forces of my clan facing off against the united front of the Mage Association!”

Hiro restrained himself from rolling his eyes but was no less blunt and heavy with his words.

“Truth be told, a little disappointed.”

Darnic chuckled at the insult.

“I must beg your pardon Mister Nomikata. How do I disappoint you?”

Hiro took the time to take a sip of the excellent wine that Darnic had procured before giving his lecture.

“The united front of the Mage Association’s ‘Red Faction’ as some of you call it is precisely that. United. All of the servants with the exception of one are all lead by a member of the church I believe, Shirou Kotomine I believe. His brother Kirei has relocated to London as an ambassador to the association. Aside from the Saber of Red, they are a part of a cohesive unit acting as one body and mine. Yggdmillennia is not so blessed.”

Hiro paused for breath and another sip of wine before swirling the liquid in his hand. He made sure to smile as he lectured, people were so difficult to handle after all.
“I know Holy Grail Wars, when you rig the game you must ensure the ENTIRE deck falls to your plans, not just first few hands of cards. I will not deny you have summoned truly fine examples of Heroic Spirits but summoning the strongest servant does not prevent your death. I saw death to a number of fools in Sicily who believed that.”
Darnic sneered at the response, of course he would, but allowed the independent mage to continue.

“Gordes Musik Yggdmillennia was a proud man but a half-hearted coward. He alienated the Saber of Black until he set free some Homunculi you use as batteries and ripped his own heart out to save it.”

The head of Yggdmillennia did not openly agree with the statement, but likewise he did not disagree.

“Secondly was the disaster that was Assassin of Black, Jack the Ripper. Her would-be master was weak and instead of an asset you could use to kill Kotomine and single handily wipe out most of your enemies, she became a wild dog who had to be put to sleep by the Ruler of the conflict.”

Hiro shook his head as he listed Yggdmillenia’s failings.

“Celnike Icecolle Yggdmillennia and her servant Rider, the paladin Astolfo who coincidently cannot shut up to save his life by the way. They were fundamentally incompatible from the start. Either summoning an individual suited to her whims would have worked better or simply not having her as a master but an independent agent would be more effective instead of that tome-wielding pink haired girl. If you hadn’t lost your prime-model homunculus, your Caster wouldn’t have considered using his own master as a power core for his construct.”

Darnic dismissively waved his hand at Hiro’s claims

“Is there a point to all this?” he scorned.

Hiro helped himself to refilling his glass of wine fist before resuming himself.

“Darnic, Yggdmillennia is strong but it is mismanaged. Your efforts are falling apart at the seems and is about to be shredded. Take you as an example of its strength. You arranging your clan and calling forth Vlad III the great Impaler himself in his homeland as a Lancer was a genius move. I am more partial to Berserker’s myself; it is more to my style to have a powerful and yet highly dependent drone that relies upon you. You struck the balance between independence and power. However, in this war, only you and a few others are carrying all of Yggdmillennia. I am here to make you an offer you cannot refuse.”

“Hoh? And what would that be?”

“Simple, wedding our houses together.”

Darnic knew what this meant. If he agreed, then Hiro would no longer be an independent consultant he had spoken to in the shadows but an ally and brother in arms. This changed the attitude of Darnic, interest had turned to attention.

“I see,” Darnic pondered, gazing into his glass as hundred of thoughts passed through his head. “So you wish to take a fine maiden of Yggdmillennia as your new bride after almost two decades then?”

Hiro scoffed at how ridiculous that was, when things were that absurd all he could do was laugh.

“Hardly Darnic, you may not look it as much as I do but we are of a similar age. I am certainly far to old for the women of your clan and besides, those days are behind me. My son on the other hand you will find to be far more eligible.”

Thus, began the next ‘Magician Raising Project’.

Darnic took a drink before smiling and leaning back in his chair. Before magecraft and warfare, Politics was his element and he was about to swim in it.

“Oh, you want to marry your boy off to one of my girls? I’ll have to ask them; this is entirely their decision with how important true love is~”

Hiro buried his furrowed brow in his palm, sighing deeply at the highly unconvincing act.

“Let us be honest with each other. Neither of us is going to win ‘Father of the Year’ are we? Drop the attitude and stop pretending you actually care about them.”

The fake smile faded from Darnic’s face. The lies had ended and business began.

But what was business and negation if not just one highly elaborate lie?

“How old is your welp?” Darnic asked, his demeanour quickly changing to that of an interrogation.

“Sixteen years.”

“Hmph” Darnic made a very visible sign of his displeasure. Hiro knew he was being dismissed but could not help but smile himself, Darnic was usually such a word-weaver so his change in attitude was something to be noted.

“I suppose couple arrange him to marry Celenike. She like her men cute and young. From what rumours the children whisper around clock tower, your son is currently in a relationship with a freelancer senior to him so a decade should not be much of an issue for him correct? Her curses using living sacrifices should be a natural integration into your magecraft which will only make your combined crest all the greater regardless.”

Hiro did not see fit to grace Darnic with a response.

“Of course,” Darnic continued “I assume you’d want him to live past his honeymoon.”

Hiro nodded. Celenike’s sadistic tastes were hardly a secret. Darnic however slouched in his chair and waved his hand dismissively as he rested his face on his fist. His patience was clearly shorter than it once was

“Well then Nomikata, how about you stop wasting both our time and tell me who you actually want your son to marry.”

“Fiore Forvedge Yggdmillennia” Hiro answered without a beat.

Darnic gazed blankly at the other magus blinking his eyes surreptitiously.

“Did I stutter old man?”

Darnic answered by spitting on the floor.

“Impossible.”

Hiro raised an eyebrow at the Nazi defector’s defiance. He had expected barter and manipulation, not outright rejection. This would make things interesting.

He paused for a moment, letting the silence sink in.

“Explain.”

Darnic wasted no time in beginning a monologue.

“Our Fiore is the pride of Yggmillennia. A desirable batchalorette across the whole world of magecraft, beautiful, intelligent. Your son however-”

“Is earnest, loyal, affectionate, diligent, handsome and a highly charismatic individual who is the heir to my power.” Likewise, as Darnic listed Fiore’s qualities as a magus, Hiro had listed Seigi’s as a human. “I know that the last one is all you care about, I know you see my magecraft as the final ingredient to achieving true immortality, little snake. However, I know that Fiore’s defective magical circuits have left her crippled and changed her goals as a magus. A marriage between both our heirs would make for a happy pairing for your little girl and benefit us both.”

Hiro had revealed his initial play. He knew Darnic’s goal and he knew ‘undesirable’ drawbacks to Darnic’s prized barter. The Darnic however cared little for the negotiations.

“-Is a baby.”

That was an unexpected response, one that actually caught him by surprise.

“I… beg you pardon. What?”

“You heard me. He’s a baby. Green. Inexperienced with the dealings of magi. Dealing with a loose alliance of the new, the weak, and the dying makes me something of an expert on the subject. Is he even able to sire a bloodline of his own? Your little boy up to the task or are you too ashamed in his dalliances?”

Ah, a typical move. If you cannot increase the value of your own bargaining chip, you would resort to weakening your opponent. Hiro knew Darnic cannot compromise his son’s capabilities as a magus simply due to not having the information at hand so Darnic had opted for character assassination.

“And shame?” Hiro shook his head. “My stomach is quite strong thank you.”

Darnic bit his lip for a split second, rethinking his assault.

“Are you quite certain? I hear some of his nightly excursions are not limited to just the older airhead who’s tail he’s chasing but also men as well. You should hear what they say about him and the Corvella heir. Are you certain he is capable of performing his duties? Why would I put our prized magus with someone who cannot give her an heir? The bloodline would die after all?”

A small smirk began to rise on Darnic’s lips, more strikes at the character.

“Do you not find it at all shameful?”

Hiro looked in his drink for the whole counter argument, swirling the mixture in his glass before casually taking a sip. The Association was quite conservative and still held its prejudices, not just towards the races and cultures of the east. Of course, being mixed of both English and Japanese descent that angle would have not worked on the Nomikata’s.

“I don’t deny it at all.” Hiro raised his glass, almost as in commemoration “Some people in the east call it 'Ryoutou' (両刀), or ‘two swords’. Someone who is equally proficient in two different ways.”

Hiro recalled that Morgan found that euphemism amusing when they first heard of it. Darnic also smiled though, it seemed that he was measuring his opponents and at least did not seem to believe in the same rhetoric.

“Now Darnic, you are intelligent enough to know all the unpleasant rumours around me. You are also wise enough to know that I simply do not care what others think of me. I deal entirely with this physical world and the undeniable facts. A lion concerns himself not with the opinion of the sheep and neither do you, forked-tongue snake.”

“Eh hehe, as an authority on myself I must disagree with you.” Replied Darnic giving a fake laugh before both men drank in silence.

Even since Sicily a decade ago the previous statement was very true to Hiro, Darnic held no idea that those events even happened which was another hidden card the man would soon play. Having made these observations, Hiro decided to change the topic.

“You seem slower Darnic, not eaten enough souls to sustain yourself?” Hiro inquired, raising a glass to his lips. “As a fellow individual who is living past a century now, I know your pains but I will say you’re doing better than Aedel is.”

Darnic almost snorted.

“Not exactly a high bar when you compare me to a living corpse.”

Hiro clicked his tongue. To his dismay, the Blytheseel family were his most well-known associates even though outside of one secret select member of that family, they were no longer on speaking terms. Just as well, he hated them all bar-Morgan for the same reasons he hated himself. They were one of those families that keeps a cautious distance from the Clock Tower. As long as they do not risk the secrecy of magecraft and offer lip service every once in a while, the Association does not ask many questions. The second born was the girl Pussett was the first to actually attend lectures and do research in the Clock Tower proper, and that obviously was just to approach him.

The first was his now private student and so much more. If Seigi was his completed work then Morgan was the closest thing he had to a true heir, learning his magecraft and combining it with the radiance their grandfather claimed to have mastered to make something all their own.

It was a strange sensation these days, pride in someone else.

“On the subject of those cannibals,” Hiro continued nonchalantly, he was irritated with how Darnic had conducted himself and how he looked down on his son. He took time to draw his breath and look upon the fellow magus who had lived far longer than he belonged upon the earth either.





[BGM]

“I believe you’ve met with his teacher, around sixty or so years ago if I recall correctly? It was during the time you slapped a swastika on your arm and goose stepped around the place.”

Hiro was of course referring to Darnic alliance with the Nazi’s at the time of the Third Holy Grail War. Granted that Hiro had his own reasons to detest them and knew he was anything but a paragon of virtue, no matter how much society had degraded at least people could all agree that Nazi’s were scum. Well, most people at least.

“Tell me, do you still have nightmares of ■■■■■■?”

Hiro was utterly delighted as he saw the colour drain from Darnic’s face. Hiro liked to keep his own capabilities secret from Darnic but he knew the overwhelming power and near infinite knowledge that she possessed utterly eclipsed them both.

“S-so that’s who she-! How the blazes do you know about her?!” Darnic hissed, his eyes widened and fist suddenly seizing up and shattering the decanter in his hand, driving the glass into his hand.

The independent agent smiled; he had won.

“Why, we met around a decade ago in Sicily! It was during the Subcatagory Holy Grail War when all the Magi attempted to summon Heracles and all killed each other before a single Heroic Spirit was summoned, wasn’t the last conflict I tampered with either.” Hiro replied with his face not betraying his emotions like Darnic did, as he calmly brushed stray glass of his figure. “Experiencing each other’s company wasn’t a pleasant experience for either of us but I came into a position of great knowledge and affluence afterwards. That woman however got to meet my son so it was a fair exchange.”

Darnic had no idea if Hiro was making a joke or being dead serious.

“Listen Darnic, she may consider me one of the worst humans she has met in her lifetime but the woman… well, let us simply call her ‘The Maid’ certainly appears to be most fond of the boy indeed. Or at the very least as fond as she can be of human beings. The two will not harm each other.”

“Then why not sell him off to her and ensure our safety?!”

“And give away my greatest shield from her? Is your once keen wit slipping in your old age? Once all the bonds between me and the boy are severed, there is nothing stopping her indulging weakness and having vengeance upon me.”

During his time with The Maid, Hiro did little else but insult, demean and betray her. The woman had shown truly remarkable restraint given her true nature. He was fortunate that he had met the only form of that Maid with any sense of self control, otherwise she simply would have killed him and taken the boy for her own. His own plans for creating a vessel with an accessway to The Root to use for himself would have been destroyed and the greatest masterpiece this modern world of magi had seen would end up becoming her adopted child or consort depending on her whims.

But back to the matter of Darnic.

“That fetish-uniform wearing bitch could jeopardise decades of my operation with her presence alone! Do, you not think it would be apt to counsel me of this?”

Hiro placed the half-empty glass on the table and stood up, slowly walking around the table and stood by Darnic’s side, watching him squirm in his gratuitous throne.

“I am counselling you now, boy.”

“The king of Yggdmillennia has many important matters to attend. You think I can spare the time to crawl to your backwater, you should know coming to me should be your first priority.”

Hiro walked to stand behind Darnic’s throne and placed his hand on the sitting man, a firm and ice-cold grip on the shoulder said everything, but just in case he allowed a decade of stored up venom to slowly seep out.

“I could arrange to have you carried. Little Darnic, little parasite who just delights in making noise and pretending. Pretending that he is important.”
There, that seemed to do.

“Besides, little Darnic, she has more important things to do than deal with the cack-handed mess you have made for yourself. You are fortunate my schedule has opened up to toss you this lifeline. Marrying Fiore off to my son is the only way the magecraft of Yggdmillenia will survive.”

This final insult to Darnic’s pride was the last straw as he spun around and stormed upwards to match Hiro’s judgemental glare with his own snakelike eyes. While Hiro had done well to continue to hide his true opinion, Darnic was letting it all out.

“Yggdmillennia is more that one man, one family! Selling off our greatest asset to some no-named child killer who lives in the shadows will not save us! Likewise, it will not be you or her who destroys us. You think I have not planned for you turning on me? If The Maid were to cross the land and seas to try and destroy me?”

“You are hardly the first one to have a contingency plan for The Maid. Likewise, in obtaining a Heroic Spirit suited to combat her kin, I am moulding my heir and they should one day able to combat her should the time arise.

“You mean for your Seigi to kill that monster?”

Hiro chuckled to his amusement and ignored the spittle from Darnic’s mouth.

“Given the right circumstances and timing it is a possibility, albeit incredibly faint so it is unlikely to even be worth entertaining the notion. However; your ears are clearly failing you. I said my heir not my son.”

Darnic did not need to know who his secret student was, but revealing the existence of a weapon that remained unknown was another.

“You know she will destroy you. Concern yourself not with The Maid, who has made up her mind about wiping Yggdmillennia of the face of the earth but instead with me who is mulling over whether to let you live or not.”

The eight-forked tongue, for better or worse, had his defiance still. Hiro saw so much of himself ten years ago in Darnic, always so clever always so wilful always having to have the last damn word.

Hiro knew that man was as pathetic as he once was.

“Yggdmillennia will survive, we always have. We will fight and we will win. I have survived not because I am the strongest but because I am the smartest, swindling others, how to use people is my greatest asset. I assure you, that when we have acquired the grail the first thing that I will do is to kill you but not before I extract your crest, Noble Phantasms and take your model of Humbaba for Yggdmillennia. Heh, who knows? Maybe I will let Celenike break him! She does love them cute and breakable after all! When he’s begging for death, then I’ll eat his soul and live for another century.”

[BGM OFF]

With that, Hiro’s mind had been made up.

The once great mastermind had dug himself too deep, was too full of himself and did not realise when to fold. He had no idea that the fake priest of the other faction had spent the last sixty years to punish the magus for his sins. Every countermeasure would fail, victory would turn to ash in his mouth. Yes, much like how Hiro was years ago the man lacked perspective and self-awareness. A man who demanded nothing less than the world bowing to him and refusing compromise.

How pathetic it was.

There were a few gems in Yggdmillennia he wished to claim for himself but he had meddled in Trifas enough and this so-called ‘Great Holy Grail War’ was infinitely more trouble than it was worth.

“I believe negotiations are at an end.”

“You are going to die tomorrow Darnic.” Hiro looked down and took one last sip of wine before walking back around the desk and placing his cup down before giving the snarling magus a cold glare and turning his back to him. “Sweet dreams.”

Thus, Hiro Nomikata would not provide assistance to Yggdmillennia instead allowing it to fall, Fiore would ironically end up abandoning the path of the magus all together and the Greater Grail would slip from the world. Darnic’s plans failed and a girl who threw away the name Yggdmillenia was the only one to witness before running away with the family of an enemy. The whole venture proved to be a waste of time.

The wine was good though, Darnic did certainly have good taste.

Quest Masters Note

Aside from this and one key difference, the events of Fate Apocrypha remain mostly the same. As for that difference... You won't find it here!

"Hermes you cheepskate, is the Apocrypha DLC or Patreon exclusive content?" I hear you ask and the answer is no.

See, on the server we have some exclusive quest content, art but also crossovers and the like. The completed compendium for Hermes' Apocrypha content will be one of them. If you want to see when the rest of this will be uploaded on there and other goodies then you'll have to come on board.

Also, voting for Lancer's previous choice is still open if you want to hop onto that.

[Bird of Hermes]

The Centre of the Palace



[BGM]

The solar flares emanating from the Goddess and Lancer leans forward to resist the winds, threatening to keel her over.

She cannot possibly give up.

A soul that begged for mercy would not relent, trapped in the domain that belonged Her, all she wanted to do was curl up and let it end. All Lancers’ life she was in pain, she just wanted the pain to end.

“I refuse!”

When the world is cruel, to be kind is defiance. When the world demands apathy, to care and to love was defiance. And sometimes when the weight of the world bore down on your shoulders and everyone demanded that you move, sometimes all you needed to do was to dig your feet in and say ‘no, you move’.

In a world that demanded your death, to live and love was the ultimate act of rebellion.

But to live was to endure suffering.

Every gale of wind sliced to her bone, the photons of light was a divine spear piercing through her frame, the radiance made her… less. Reducing her frame, dimming her light. It is as if all of Yamato Takeru will fall asunder.

Amaterasu was a Goddess, no it was more than that, she was a Beast. Death would be merciful compared to what the fox had in store for her. Indeed, as the pressure increased tenfold as the Sun Goddess exerted her Divine Authority upon the human.

Lancer does not scream, aloud. She does not give that monster the satisfaction.

To err was human, to look at impossible abserd and even idiotic challenge and think ‘you know what? I’ll have a go at that.’ That was human. To love was human. To overcome that impossible challenge was human too. In this modern Age of Man with magic and divinity a bygone an unnecessary product of the past, the gods were just another obstacle to be overcome by a human.

“FUCK OFF!!”

Blasphemy was human too.

Further winds were called forth but rather than the solar tides that came from the Goddess, Lancer was the source rather than the target. Cold thunderous storms met against searing heat, clashing and nullifying each other. The redirection cousing the diving swirling light to return to the Goddess and lash against her face, almost pushing her back-!

The Goddess is entertained by the willful defiance of her great descendant. A hungry smile stretches across her face eager to see the fruit that would spawn of this

“Such a sharp tongue, now there is some ambition! It pleases me. However, there is no power in that. You are about the size of my fingernail so-”

“I wouldn’t be so certain of that, prissy little madam.”

The cold winds of

Ame-no-Murakumo-no-Tsurugi

Heavenly Sword of Gathering Clouds

was the most famed weapon of Yamato Takeru, even in her summoning as an ill-fitting Lancer class, she still held a portion of its power within her.

“H-wha? T-that… is the Authority of Susanoo-no-Mikoto? The God of the Storm and my impetuous little brother?” The expression fades from Amaterasu, the simple act of smiting a mortal had failed and looks almost confused. “Yes… I see you wielded my spear and his sword; you are a vessel for both our divine powers. You humans are so troublesome~”

Lancer snarled in response more animalistic than the fox-girl, it she could drip venom she would.

“I don’t care about whatever you have to say. Explain and then move. Or you will be moved.”

Amaterasu raised a great eyebrow quizzically in an almost smug and sarcastic way if she were capable of such things as if to mock her challenge. Lancer replied with a cold steely glare.

‘Try me, bitch’.

This defiance… entertained the goddess.

“HAHAHAHAHA. So naïve, better of a warrior than an emperor!” The thunderous echo of hideous laughter echoed through out the chamber threatening to burst one’s eardrums, but Lancer stood firm, her patience for the whims of selfish gods was running dry. However, Amaterasu then clapped her hands together. “Very well. I will explain. I am indeed the Goddess of the Sun. This is an era long before yours, let alone the time you walked the Subcatagory Holy Grail War. When I slept, I saw the stupidity of one of my descendants. This got me angry so I summoned them here.”

Lancer dismisses the seriousness of the response with a cold reply of her own. That of the desolate warrior.

“Tch. So, you pulled me into the past? I understand no one else could do that but don’t you care about the ramifications on others?”

“Ah such praises <3.”

Why of course the likes of Amaterasu would take that statement as a compliment, it was more of a scathing enticement of on who would care so little for others they would endanger all of existence.

“Now I simply I couldn’t believe what I saw when I gazed upon my descendant. She was betrayed by humans and continues to serve them in her first life and even her temporary existence as a ghost liner. She did not learn from her mistakes; she made the same mistakes over again. Now I fully intended to kill you right then and there but I wanted to see something for myself.”

Lancer took in a deep breath through her nostrils before slowly exhaling. She would clutch her head at the incomprehensible nature of Amaterasu’s statement.
“Here me little one,” the Goddess continued to monologue. “Good and Evil, Law and Chaos, Weak and Strong. Violator and Victim. That is all irrelevant to me, I exist as humanities evil much like how divine spirits across the world exist as phenomina, even the curiosities of the Machine Gods in the cradle of the west and pathetic squabbling children of Ea at Mesopotamia. In times of peace we let humans prosper. In times of war, we let them slaughter each other. Demands of the Gods change on the era but you… You keep falling for humans in spite of their failures. You can continue to love their betrayal, to make peace with the monster within that craves violence?”

Lancer gritted her teeth, she understood her ancestors’ point of view, her reasoning.

‘You will die anyway so I will kill you here.’

Lancer’s divine ancestor, her own source and origin was that of a supreme divine harlot. Everything that Lancer herself could be, an Ultimate Life Form that had an entire civilisation build around her at the centre.

“Of course, you idiot Goddess. I will be with them till the day I die because we have faith in each other. If I must separate then it will be on my terms. Not forced by an incomprehensible being in an incomprehensible place like this.”

It was a monument to everything that she rejected.

“Even if the world betrays me, I will stay with them till the end. I have people who love me for who I am and I love them. Do you?”

Amatarasu does not reply.

One second becomes a minute.

A minute becomes an hour.

An hour becomes an eternity.

And the goddess… smiles - upon the warrior.

“Do you forget who gave you your weapon in the first place, Little girl?”

Indeed, now prompted Lancer could recall the incident that the Goddess was referring to. After Lancer was exiled by her father Emperor Keiko and ordered to quell rebellion in the east Yamato Takeru met her aunt Princess Yamato-hime, the highest priestess of Amaterasu at Ise Grand Shrine Princess Yamatohime-no-mikoto showed compassion and lent her a holy sword. Of cause in some cultures, a priestess is the envoy of her deity, enacting their will.

“My aunt, Princess Yamato-hime actually did resemble you… Not as tall and her hair was like mine though.”

So, Amaterasu herself had placed the Kusanagi in Lancer’s hand to prepare herself for what would come. Mayhaps that was Amaterasu showing love for her child in the only way she could. Lancer actually smiled to herself with that thought.

“Hoh, I see. Foolishness worthy of an almighty fool but your last question…”

Amatarasu gazes off into the middle distance for a while pondering secrets and thoughts privy only to her

“Very well, if the world were to turn against you, you would kill everyone to protect those two?”

“Of course. I would fight as I always had.”

“If they were to die before you, you would end your own life?”

“I did the same with my wife. I could not bare life without her so I challenged a God and purposefully left my weapon behind. It was nothing more than elaborate suicide.”

A beat.

“And if they were to turn against you, you would let them strike you down?”

“Without a second though.”

Another pause.

“And if I though you weren’t worth the time and effort. If I decided to kill your magi now, what would you do?”

“I would shove your spear up your big round ass sideways.”

The goddess laughed once more.

“You have the makings of a Kami to be sure. Walk forward with my blessing for now proud warrior.”

The light gets stronger, no weaker – as the consciousness of Yamato Takeru is returned to what she perceives as the ‘present’ day.

[BGM OFF]

***

“Heh, I see why you were so enamoured with her.”

In a glimmer of light, the goddess called forth Ototachibana-hime and the priestess lowered herself onto her knees and bowed reverently.

“T-Thank you my goddess. I’m glad you approve.”

A wicked smile glimmered on Amaterasu’s sword-like teeth.

“A pity that you two did not have children

Ota looked up to gaze upon her goddess, looking not like a loyal and devout priestess but instead an embarrassed schoolgirl.

“If you so desire, I could call her back and give her a divine endowment worthy of the Sun Goddess, then you two could breed and have that family~”

Truly she was a Beast of Humanity.

“EEEHHHHH!? MY GODDESS PLEASE! MY HEART CAN ONLY TAKE SO MUCH!”

Fuyuki City – Einzbern Castle Ruins

“Yes. You’re right. You always have been my darling.”

As the visage of her beloved vanished, Lancer wiped the tears from her eyes and nodded.

“I couldn’t protect you but this time it’s different.”

She plants her feet firmly on the ground, as if to strongly feel the presence of the earth beneath the wrecked concrete. Her sword points towards the sky, as if it could become an antenna for the blessings of the heavens. And her eyes look towards the frozen sea, the name of the primordial one she must beseech.

“I’M NOT LETTING THEM DIE!”

Some would have called it ‘magical energy’, others would call it ‘aura’ or ‘ki’. Others still call it melam.

Burning fires consumed Lancer’s figure and exploded from the ground like a geyser of flame. The unrestrained godly power in her possession for these precious few moments scarred the earth as the blazing divine radiance coalesced. Lancer’s weight grew or rather her overwhelming presence shattered the earth, causing her to sink into the ground as the land shattered and was scattered to the winds. The blazing authority spread and now the entire forest was consumed in solar fire.

“Divine spear, unlock restraint.”



“Awaken

Amaterasu

Ancestor

, I call upon your authority!”

[Pastykake]

Liiiiit.

[Bird of Hermes]

Quest Master’s Note

Taking a short break after this one to do some server exclusive stuff and recharge the creative batteries before continuing. The big updates for the Servant sheets and various NPC’s will come later this week unless I am lazy or otherwise forget. I’ll be honest, I am not quite happy with this one admittedly but after a few rewrites and a month of zero updates, this was the best that I could come up with and part of the reason I will be taking my little reprieve.

Thank you for reading Quest of Fate.

Above Fuyuki



[BGM]

The monster shaped like a man that is Hiro Nomikata, the mastermind of this war was the first to notice what was about to happen in the comfort of his airliner.
He had been a witness to true divine power before and although this originated from a different pantheon entirely, it had the same presence. The heroic spirit that he had allowed his son to summon was about to unleash her full power against Saber. He had prepared for this, no he had waited for this. This was a key moment as his plan now stepped into the next phase.

Morgan Blytheseel was proving to be a capable to his will, they would ensure the next vital steps would go ahead without fail. Archer had fallen victim to his own ego and would be punished for certain but Hiro was content. York Lancaster had been a useful tool but was now a liability, a loose thread that needed to be cut. Hiro had told Morgan before they left that the boy needed to live but they had permission to do away with the others. Reiner, the fool that called himself ‘Justice’ and their servants had played their roles without even knowing it and could be terminated at their leisure but were low priority targets.

The only individuals that Hiro would have to deal with personally except maybe the boy would be Baba Yaga and the former mercenary the rogue daughter of Yggdmillennia had latched onto. If necessary, he could use his Berserker to break the Rider servant but the mastermind knew that Kiritsugu was a broken shell of the man he once was, he was older, slower and after the deaths of his wife and daughter that Hiro had allowed the killer to run away with to start… Kiritsugu had taken on emotional wounds.

Furthermore, without his adopted son or the son’s master Rin Tohsaka, the new matriarch of the Tohsaka family, Hiro knew that if he and Kiritsugu Emiya came to blows he would kill the broken man.

The man chuckled to himself, letting Darnic die three years prior seemed to work out in his favour after all. Many would die tonight and the torment would begin.

“Ah, where are my manners. I brought you here for a reason but here I am ignoring you.”

Master of Caster

Atsusui Kishitoba was a native to the land and a stranger not only to the Holy Grail War but to mystery as a whole and even the extravagance of the plane, sitting awkwardly in the corner of the room. He was unable to even look Hiro in the eye.

“I-I’m fine, just giving me some clothes was more than enough thank you.”

Indeed, the pale white-haired boy was no longer squatting in destitute buildings wearing rags. A life of poverty had not been kind to him.

Made him easy to exploit.

“Come now, you are my guest. Is there anything else you would care for that I can provide? A drink perhaps.”

Atsusui hastily shook his head.

“No thank you, I’m not opposed to alcohol but I can’t stomach it. I can get you a refill though.”

The young magician reached out towards the empty class that Hiro held in his hand.

“50ml bourbon, ice, 5ml 2:1 sugar syrup, 2 dashes Angostura bitters…”

Hiro looked down and saw the empty glass slowly refill itself trickle by trickle over the course of a minute as a new ‘Old Fashioned’ cocktail presented itself. A quizzical Hiro took a sip and was unable to tell the difference between this one and the other he had consumed prior. Atsusui cringed and clutched his chest in a pained expression once it was done.

“Most impressive young one. You are very talented”

Atsusui looked to the side and blushed.

“Simple chemical structures I can actually do quickly, besides you’re a magus right? You’re all supposed to be super-powerful beings, right?”

A disappointed Hiro tutted in response.

“Magecraft is a science with laws. You see child, thaumaturgy is the ability to bring about what is possible through science with supernatural means; although the process is considered a miracle, the result is not. You just created matter from nothing. You broke the first law of thermodynamics.”

“I don’t get it.” The young master scratched his head in confusion as he asked the wiser man. “What’s the difference between what you can do and what I can do?”

“Yours is what people call True Magic. The highest level of mystery that can be commanded, doing the impossible, genuine miracles. To create something is to deny the concept of nothingness. That is what yours is. The Denial of Nothingness. My own magecraft is an imitation of the Third Magic.”

Atsusui stroked his chin for a moment and stroked his chin.

“So, I’m stronger than you?”

A younger Hiro would have been offended. Here, he grinned instead.

“Strength is relative. Diamonds are just carbon and that is something you can easily make. Why are you homeless instead of a millionaire?”

The budding smile disappeared from Atsusui’s face.

“I can make carbon no problem, pressurising it to form diamonds is another matter. Making food can be hard enough at times.”

The magus nodded to the magician.

“See? Strength is relative, you could potentially be the strongest wielder of mystery in the world but without control-”

Hiro sat down, placing the filled class on the side and opened his palm. Faint whispers echoed throughout the cabin which turned to muted moans and screams as a misty red skull temporarily manifested in Hiro’s hand before he crushed it in his iron grip, returning the cries to nothing.

“Without a keen mind to hone and use it, strength is worthless.”

“I see, like how it doesn’t matter how good a sword is if the person who wields it doesn’t know what they’re doing…”

Hiro clapped.

“Exactly that! Now you understand.”

Atsusui sunk back down into his chair and stared into his own hand utterly transfixed upon the extremity.

“It’s almost funny, I’ve been able to do this since I was a kind but no one has ever been around to teach me any of this. Not even the servant I ended up summoning could teach me this.”

“Walk with me.” The magus gestured for the young man to rise and he did so, placing a hand on his shoulder to make Atsusui follow him. The hold is far from painful but he feels that he cannot deny him.

It was all he could do to not shudder

“Remind me boy,” Hiro asked “How did you come to this place?”

Atsusui knew that he had told Hiro multiple times so knowledge wasn’t what was lacking here. He knew the older man had something in the works but he had so many questions, he couldn’t cut off his only source of knowledge on a failed insight check.

“When I was a little kid, around four I think, my family got hit by a car or something. I don’t remember much of that or anything before then but ever since then I’ve been able to use my gift. I barely made it but no one else did. I ended up living with some relatives who spent all the inheritance money in a few weeks or something because after I stopped making them money…”

Atsusui clutched his chest again. Hiro could put two and two together.

“So, I ran away across the country from city to city with nothing to my name. Bumped into some vampires or Dead Apostles or whatever they are called. When I got to this city a red mark appeared on my hand and then Caster appeared. You know the rest.”

Atsusui’s abridged monologue is cut off as the whole plane begins to rattle and shake with turbulence.

“The hell is this!” The white-haired boy howls pointing to the newborn star above the city covered in an unnatural night. “What in gods name is that thing?!”

“That is the power of the Gods, Specifically the Goddess of the sun herself. You get used to it boy.”

While Atsusui looked in equal measure awe and horror, Hiro was indifferent.

“You will never see power like this, true genuine authority. Believe it or not there is even more to come.”

“M-More than this?!”

“Did I stutter boy?”

Atsusui squirmed in his place like s child being scolded by a stern parent.

“Child, if this is too much for you, call forth your Caster and follow your orders now. The boy is free and will make his move. You must pre-empt this.,” continues Hiro. “After all, I have given you shelter, food and clothing as an act of kindness. Complete your end of the bargain and I can introduce you to people in the west you were kin with generations ago. Fail me however and I can retract my kindness.”

Biting his lip not being able to look at the almighty display, Atsusui jerked away and walked out the door.

Not that Hiro bid him attention, transfixed upon the tainted horizon.

“Everything is moving towards the desired conclusion Rei.” Hiro smirked and looked out the window at the spectacle of what was to follow before raising a class to commiserate the dead. “All according to plan…”

Fuyuki City – Proximity to the Church



“Pitiful”

On the rooftops of the Church, Archer was slumped on his side, clutching his wounds. He looked more annoyed with himself than in genuine pain. When he heard Morgan’s voice, he swallowed his pride and rose to his feet to see them with their master’s blade in hand.

“So, what’s your excuse Archer?” they asked.

“Honestly, I ain’t got one. I let my guard down and she got in a cheap shot.”

“Illusionists are exploitative tricksters.” The voice called out. “I get being distracted by the beauty of women and all but there’s a time and a place, this is on you.”

“So, are you going to heal me then?”

“No.”

That was to be expected from Hiro Nomikata’s chosen heir. Hedonism aside, they had his attitude.

Arisen, Archer scanned the environment. No sign of the living monstrosity around him. Perhaps they were hear and yet not? Apparently, their guardian growing up had a similar trick.

He was a hero damnit! He should not be made to feel unsettled by an entitled brat.

“Well Morgan-”

“Call me Assassin for now. After this display you need to earn the right to call me by my name.”

Well that was one way to rub salt in the wound. Aside from the cries of chaos around him, the church grounds were silent. If Morgan was a servant all along then their Presence Concealment would keep them hidden until the instant they went to attack.

He wouldn’t know where the new Assassin class servant was until they let him.

And as if on cue, a collection of black mists materialised atop the stone crucifix of the church.

Assassin of the Conspiracy

Archer moved to nook an arrow only at the dark misty void ahead of him only an acidic chain to shoot out and catch him. Archer squirmed and writhed as the chain around his arm grasped tighter and almost seemed to burn.

Morgan was just as strong as he was.

“You are forgetting your place. You are a servant, here to fight and die on the whims on your master. Lazlow has fled, now dog – someone stronger has come to grasp your chains.”

That was true, Lazlow was a child exposed to darkness to soon and well in over his head. It only made sense someone else would show.

“A heroic spirit-!”

Morgan laughed.

“Is nothing to me!”

Resentfully, Archer nodded. He knew Morgan’s true nature.

“Very well. What’cha going to do?”

Morgan again gave a cold laugh as if it was an absurd question that chilled Archer to the bone.

“I’m going to kill Lancer; I’m going to take the Anchor for myself and my mentor. If anyone gets in my way, I will end them. As is my divine right. But first however boy. need to make you mine, servant.”

“Wh-”

“I will take you under contract, your consent is not required.” A myriad of chains emerged from Morgan’s shadowy figure, encasing Archer entirely within their grasp. “Then I have more important things to do.”


Fuyuki in Flames – Einzbern Castle Ruins



[BGM (Please Loop)]

“The gods reside in Izumo. True and beautiful, they breathe life into the soul."
"Amaterasu in the mountains, rivers and watery heavens.”

Servant Lancer, the heroic spirit known as Yamato Takeru reverts to her primal self. Taking one last breath of her own volition she feels the conceptual weight of the sun, not the imitation wielded by the sky-bound lycan. Sigmund – the King of Outlaws, may wield the mightiest of demonic swords but he was defeated by Odin. To ensure his defeat, Lancer reaches out towards the stars and consumes their power, pulling the weight and authority into herself as the Goddess of the Sun took a hold of her.

To consume the star and hold its power for her own. She held a core of the divinity in her hand, once Amaterasu explained what she it, it was a simple enough matter of doing the same once you understood the concept.

Thoughts become simple. Her vision tunnels through to look upon her target, one simple human to be subjugated. She does not feel, Lancer’s skin does not burn under the intense heat that surrounds her. Broken bone, torn muscle and haemorrhaging mana could no longer be perceived as they were mere limits of humanity. Lancer was now a vessel for humanity’s destruction.

“I am… Golden… White Face. The almighty… Amaterasu-Takeru!”

The will of the goddess was asserting direct control over Lancer’s spiritual core, a Pseudo-Servant possession phenomenon. Lancer struggled to speak when it was not her own words that left her lips. She felt what the Goddess allowed her to feel, spoke what the Goddess desired her to speak. She was blind to the entire forest consumed in the fires of the demonic and divine, all that existed was the maelstrom of the stars. The human civilisation in proximity did not exist to her.

The heavens, the earth, the underworld. Atop it all was the great

Amaterasu

Goddess of the Universe

Shining on Heaven. This was the decree of Shinto, for She was above all. Above the heavans, above the underworld, above the mortals, yokai, oni and all other Kami.

The cracked and scarred land now splits entirely. Shattered earth now rotating around Lancer, trees uprooted and pulled into the blazing vortex. The world becomes fuel for the

fire

sun

, increasing its heat and gravitational pull. The superior star is now self-perpetuating.

“Know the law of Heaven – the pillar of light cast by the sun, the spear of the beast that devours humanity!”
In this precious moment, Lancer’s form unveils – wrapped in golden divine radiance with three fox tail-like protrusions forged of holy light sprouted from the small of her back not too dissimilar to her

Master’s

Emperor’s

own multi-armed form.

“Worship me and die!”

Fuyuki City – Tohsaka Residence



“Sigmund you silly little boy, is this how far you are willing to go to get what you want?” muses Rider to herself, sitting atop the Tohsaka’s family mansion as a witness to the chaos around her as it should be.

The arrangements were simple, a simple case of using the ancient language to implement a suggestion to the latent spirits of the land and those without innate resistance (magic circuits) began to drop one after another. Some instances were simple to see, some acted like self-aware children slumping off to the sides before wrapping up as unconsciousness took them, others collapsed face first into the concrete floor below landing with all the grace of lousy drunkards. Collisions between automobiles were inevitable and quite amusing.

Rider herself chuckled as a small sports convertible driven by what appeared to be a man in a mid-life crisis with a mistress old enough to be his daughter collided at full speed with a school bus. Quite amusing indeed but unfortunately there weren’t enough and what few there were, were not interesting enough to provide entertainment.

She swung her legs across to cross them and glanced briefly at the bottle in her hand once again speaking to none but herself.

“Honestly poor child, if you wanted to die could you not just fall on your sword?”

Reiner Corvella and Corrin were a safe distance away. Surely they would be involved in the killing to come later but she did not desire that to meet their end being burned to cinder by standing too close to this. Her two boys were growing well. Her young master had learned through repeated humiliation the ability to respect and rely upon others.

Under different circumstances tutoring him directly could have yielded different results but that was not her role to play in this story where she was not a main character to any story but her own.

The witch however could not help but sigh and lament at Saber and his master. The warrior was another passionate battle idiot. He could not change, he wanted this. Despite the servant’s best efforts, his master was a lost cause.

Her maternal worry for her master and his attendant, her desire for chaos and regression in this hideous modern world. All of these were side-lined by the might of waring gods beyond the horizon as typhoon of solar flares that pierced the black skies matched the false sun in wrath.

No, surpassed it.

Rider tossed the almost-empty bottle of Tohsaka wine to the floor. She was transfixed on something worthy and did not want to miss a second of it.

The dark skies were painted red already, adding her own dye to the mix would hardly change anything. It wasn’t as if she would dare interrupt the duel to the death Saber clearly desired, she had her manners after all…

“Come my sweet

Chudo-Yudo

Great Dragon of Fire and Thunder

, it will be time for you to awaken soon.”

Fuyuki City – Miyama Town Roads

Character Status

Health: Normal
Magical Energy: Good >> ???
Access to The Root: Level 1

Magic Circuits forcibly activated and pressured!

“Seigi!”

“EYES ON THE ROAD WOMAN! EYES ON THE ROAD!”

I am struck with sudden and terrible weakness and go limp, the world around me is chaos as I struggle to survive as Risa’s passenger. In my daze the outside world is a blur. I can’t drive but this woman is breaking every traffic law I can imagine possibly imagine -!

“Why did that damn bus come at us?!”

“Probably because you’ve ran thirteen red my dear-”

“Well I’d like to see you get us there in time, honey!”

In our moment of bickering we fail to see the van come up from the side and speed out right in front at the last second. Time slows down as the hood crumples before us, sheets of metal folding like a plastic bag. The car rolls upwards suspending us upside down in the air, saving Risa from having her face smashed against the wheel as the airbags fail to go off!

I do not hear the squealing tires or the glass windscreen shatter into shards. I simple do what I was born to. Break the world around me-

Divine

Analyse

Destroy

Invoking Nigredo I reach out destroy the car we are in. Metal is strong but of a simple alchemical structure. In my heightened state, it is easy enough to break the rivets and the chaos of my inherent wind element generates a discharge to reduce the car to scrap metal and send its remains flying around the place.

Circuitry still active. I grab Risa and pull her close as if to carry her bridal-style, switching the magecraft to Reinforcement my lower half hardens as I twist in mid air and land on the earth in a three-point landing.

The steel frame carcass of the car falls backward on the other side of the van and detonates.

“Ah fuck, Kiritsugu’s gonna kill me for trashing his ride…” Risa mumbles in my arms

And like that the moment is ruined.

I stand up and gently let her down as I look back on the van that hit us.

“He’s fine, no real injuries.” Risa says after rushing up to inspect the driver. Quickly glancing around at the horde of collapsed people in the city, Risa makes an instant deduction. “Rider’s… Everyone in the city is falling unconscious so there’s no witnesses to magecraft!”

So… this means that I could get us there under my own power then. Say, Aoi used her multi-arm form to fly or something right, could I pull that off?

The train of thought is interrupted by the sight of an oil tank truck billowing towards us from the other side of the road. Horn blaring, I can see the driver is still lucid at the wheel and an insignia on the head of the vehicle.

‘Typhon’

“Someone’s coming right for us!”

That person’s awake. The charge is deliberate. Someone is trying to kill me again. Someone’s always trying to kill me!

I hit my limit. The blood boils and I let out a murderous roar. In my rage, I follow my instinct I didn’t know I had. The desire to hurt someone. I feel the blue energy envelope me, and run for Risa. After that it all becomes something of a blur and I become deaf to Risa’s cries.

“Are we fucking flying?!”



Fuyuki in Flames – Einzbern Castle Ruins





Miles in the sky within his artificial sun, Saber called out to the Human/Goddess below him. Fiercely and decisively, he held the blade above his head that was the heart of the faux-star. He was calling upon every shred of Divinity in his body and blood to withstand this and not be torn asunder. Meanwhile many whirlwinds wrapped against his once broken foe facing him with nothing less than righteous indignation.

“You magnificent woman! One last stand against me, no fear going against the inevitable with your indomitable will! A climactic showdown!”

He had nothing but praise for her. A warrior to surpass Odin.

Closing his own eye’s, he begun to invoke the true name of his Noble Phantasm.

“The evil dragon shall fall; the earth will see it’s twilight…”

Saber felt the vast amount of magical energy spiralling around, slowly condencing and retracting to the singular point, the tip of Gram where the power magnified.

The converging light, it’s might is comparable to no other blade.

In his hands…

Yes, he is the strongest swordsman.

Bolverk Gram

Heaven’s Wheel of Destruction

The name is cast and, in that instance, the stratosphere itself burns!

A comet sweeps down. Even after it becomes falling star, Saber still pushes onward. There is only one target. He will destroy his enemy along with this whole cinder coated serene forest.
A Noble Phantasm bears a miracle that is released by casting its true name… And if a miracle is a disaster that should not occur in this world

The two magi of Lancer that now reside hidden in the ash who escaped a mediocre death now bear witness to the end of the world.
-A storm rises before Seigi and Risa’s eyes.

The pillar of death descends bearing down upon its target, but Amaterasu-Takeru, although she is the target, does not move.

“Lancer-!”

[SFX]

She does not have time to invoke the full name of the Noble Phantasm. So; the world slows, the pillar stops, ash floating in the gales is suspended. She grabs hold of the gears of time and stops them grinding.

She speaks the name.

Time flows once again and oblivion sings.

Eight-Arms-Length-Spear

The Spear that Shines Beyond the Stars

[SFX]

It is literally a pillar of light.

It is a blade of light that slices everything it touches.

It slices Saber with one blow, soars up into the night sky, cuts through the clouds, and disappears.

“I think…”

If that thing were used on the ground, a great disorder in the land would remain and never disappear.

“You’re pretty good…”

Before being consumed and torn apart on a molecular level, all the recent anger? It washed away. Yes, a warrior’s death.

A noble, dignified end-

This was good.

Wasn’t it?

Saber smiled and cried tears of joy, his wish had finally been granted.

[BGM OFF]



“You were pretty good yourself. Goodbye Sigmund.” Muses the beautiful warrior/goddess out loud, standing in what appeared to be a semi-active volcano. Waiting for the winds to settle and witnessing the broken blade of Gram snapped into fall from the sky and piercing the ground beside her before fading away in particles of golden light.
Slowly, her feet rose off the ground as she levitated into the air, rising out of the destroyed earth before slowly lowering herself onto the craters edge in the centre of the clearing and still-burning forest.

She walked the land, with long slow strides, examining the place.

Mediocre, even by the standards of the humans. Amaterasu had a suitable vessel for now, all she would have to do is secure a suitable mana supply and she could do as she wished to any and all of these fools.

Tamamo had an affinity for killing, Takeru was brutal, Daji relished in the pain caused. All aspects of the Beast. However, across the horizon, she saw two heads poking out of the ash, a redhaired boy and a girl in pink.

A yes, them. They would do for her purposes or at least until she found a superior anchor and they they’d be food, a suitable punishment for spoiling her progeny. She was a Goddess, they were humans – made to serve and then be devoured.

“You two pitiful huma-”

[BGM]

And-

A smile stretched across her face, a warm beam that should not have belonged to the Beast of Humanity. A smile that was besmirched with tears, warm tears that flowed freely from Lancer’s face. Her heart was racing, her cheeks flushed and everything seemed that much brighter! Joy, because her heart was so full of love. Such a uniquely… human emotion. The Goddess was feeling what her vessel held in her heart.

The grace of godliness slipped away and Amaterasu-Takeru stumbled back, resting her hand on her generous bosom.

“This is the very feeling you besmirched me for, you useless goddess. You’re now feeling what I feel every moment I’m with them now. Can you do it now? Can you bring yourself to hurt the people you love now?”

“N-No! Shut up! I don’t love them! It’s you, you stupid child – infecting me, corrupting me with your human weakness!” The goddess clutched her head and shook it, trying to shake that awful voice out. It was so much! It was too much! “So, this is what it feels like…”

“You’re right, this is what it feels like. You can’t bring yourself to hurt the people you love. You’re a goddess, you have people worship you, you possess and use them. Now you’re thinking like we do, feeling like we do.” Lancer laughed haughtily at the foolish Goddess “Now you won’t dare harm a hair on their head now… I want what is best for them, I want them to be happy and cherish every second with them. Now so do you.”

And the tails of light vanished into thin air and the deity let go of all sense of control and left her descendant to those two idiots. She knew what love was to humans now, Amaterasu left Yamato Takeru to her man and her woman.

But; Lancer’s frame seemed that much weaker now, frailer. As if she too was about to burst into light and return to the Throne of Heroes.
Not now, not when she was so close.

That would be too cruel.




And after all this talk on my importance as the Akashic Anchor?

Whatever I am, whatever I am about to turn into… it is nothing compared to what I just saw. That was the Authority of the Divine. Nothing mankind can accomplish can come close. This is the limit of what can be done, it’s the only way I can perceive this.
Those fox tails just now? That had to be Amaterasu. An actual goddess, my beautiful… darling Lancer is an actual radiant goddess.
I knew she transcended humanity but I… Words fail me.

In this moment, she is pure perfection. As a human, as a warrior, as a wielder of mystery.

But I still have fear in my heart, I am an alchemist first and foremost and our sacred law is that of equivalent exchange. Lancer, my Yamato Takeru, she took the power of a goddess for herself. She had to sacrifice something of equal measure. What could she have done to obtain that?

She cannot die for me, enough people died to bring me into this world and so many more have suffered with me as the cause, indirect or other.

I could not be worth this?

Please do not tell me what you gave up for me! You’re too important to sacrifice yourself for me, your smarter, stronger, better!

But out of the corner, I hear Risa. My sole companion for all of this torment.

“I think I love her…”





“Me too…”

*** ***

SERVANT SABER – DEAD
SERVANT LANCER – ???????
SERVANT ASSASSIN – ???????


*** ***


Warning!

This is a Save Point.

If your quest reaches a Dead End, you may choose to resume it from this point.


*** ***

Unfair Choices

Seigi Nomikata will…

1. Surrender to exhaustion and Rest.
2. Stay by the forest and protect Risa.
3. Run out and hold Lancer one last time.
4. Write in!

Yamato Takeru will…

1. Run to the two idiots she loves.
2. Give into the pain and let go.

One Command Seal Remains!

Save?

Note, this will lock the choice you made regardless, purposefully trying to kill Seigi to come back here will achieve nothing!

• Yes
• No

[Spartacus]

4. CS to Lancer so she can stay alive.
Lancer 1.

[the god of world-0]

4. CS to Lancer so she can stay alive.
Lancer 1.

+1
I mean, if there is anytime to do it...

[SleepMode]

4. CS to Lancer so she can stay alive.
Lancer 1.

[Pastykake]

4. CS to Lancer so she can stay alive.
Lancer 1.

....^

[Bird of Hermes]

Fuyuki in Flames – Einzbern Castle Ruins



The goddess Amaterasu was gone, the temporary equalisation of Human and God had ceased. Lancer had learned the sheer authority and scale of the divine, likewise the sun deity had experienced human’s capacity for love; how much love Lancer held in her heart for those two, loving humans as people of equal value.

One learned how small she was in the cosmos, the other could finally comprehend how alone they were.

Now standing in this ruined land, her form was diminished. The people she loved were just out of reach and once again she would die without holding them one last time. Once again, she could not tell the people she loved how important they were to her. She did not possess the strength to move and they could not reach her in time.

Not only did time not heal the wound but surprisingly it was even worse this time around than before.

“I don’t want to die alone again.”

Lancer placed a hand on her heaving chest, understanding her lot in life. As salty tears began to well up and trickle down her face, they dropped onto her hand. Opening her palm her own body was now translucent as she was fading out of existence, breaking up into tiny spheres of light.

Any second now, she would disappear and cease to exist.

“I’m sorry I failed you my beloved. I am so sorry I failed you again.”

She could barely let the words pass out of her mouth, she was choked up and spluttering it out now.

The Holy Spear vanishes from sight.

Lancer’s magical energy was depleted. She could not longer stay in a world she was never meant to be more than a visitor for. If she could – she would like to see her Seigi and Risa, to embrace them and see what awaited them in the end. She could see in her minds eye the future that they could have. It was a future she longed to be a part of, family of blood had failed her so finding her own family and creating a home with the, to take them as husband and wife, to raise children with them…

The clock was ticking its final few seconds to an end that never belonged to her.

“You do not need me anymore.”

Nothing short of defying the will of fate would change her end and Yamato Takeru was always a slave to the whims of destiny.

But…

Telling wanking fate to go bugger itself was the whole damn point of a fucking protagonist.

Character Status

Health: Normal
Magical Energy: ???
Access to The Root: Level 1

Magic Circuits forcibly activated and pressured!

[BGM]

“I refuse.”

Risa and I see Lancer flickering in-and-out of existence and without saying a word we come to a perfect understanding.

'We CANNOT lose her!'

She pushes me forward and a break out into a sprint as far and as fast as my body will allow. My drum of my heart beats out of my ears, my muscles burn, sweat breaks out, the feeling of an inhuman observer presence vanishes from my being.

The bond and contract that Lancer and myself share was interrupted upon summoning and further weakened on my kidnapping to where it was almost severed entirely. I was never able to even fully supply mana or fully unlock her parameters.

I murdered Lazlow, I murdered a child who never got the opportunity to learn any better.

I couldn’t save Risa and broke her heart when I was taken.

I almost killed a woman I was once in love with.

A dozen children were murdered by my father in order to bring me into existence.

I claim to be both a magus and a human being. To be a magus is to walk with death, this is a warning that all those who practice our craft run the risk of dying but our world is poison. Magecraft is in decline and everyone does what they can to desperately cling onto what they have and claw at remnants of the past and call it ‘innovation’. They lie, they cheat and the kill. All I have wanted to do was to help, to make a difference.

Yet hear I am unable to protect those I love, no matter what I do I just hurt people. Especially those I care about. To this day I still hate myself for every sin I have committed. I am fighting and killing just to survive. Lancer was sacrificing her last chance at happiness all for my sake and what have I ever done to deserve this from her? She deserves so much better than this, so much better than !

So many people, too many people have suffered and had their lives taken just to give me life and what do I have to say for it? That like my father I have murdered children? That the people I love, that they would be better off having never met me?

But that’s fine, I got Risa and Yorkie out of those situations! Sure, I traumatised them, but that’s okay I can just keep screwing up and ruining people and then I can fix it in my own incompetent way!

I…

I haven’t learned a thing from my problems.

They’ve just made me a worse person.

So, for the first time in my life I pray. I pray openly to any and every deity that will listen to the desperate cries of the lowest of scum. The living filth that I am who poisons everything he touches, who's presence alone makes the world a worse place because he is fundamentally a bad person.

Please, let me do one thing right.

Please let me justify my existence.

Just

This

Once.

“Lancer!”

I call upon my command seal, the last one I possess. A claim of absolute obedience and signifying my existence as a master in this Holy Grail War. Without this I lose all authority and right to call myself a master, to take part in this battle. This is one single thing… it’s loss would forfeit my position, my chance to attain the Grail and have my wish granted.

Fuck the grail.

Just as well I’m losing my chance at it, I don’t deserve the thing anyways.

“Don’t die!!!”

With a final flicker from my outreached hand, it fades into nothing.











I have lost the holy grail war.

- - - Updated - - -

Quest Master's Note:

Lancer's profile has received a minor update.

- - - Updated - - -

Hiatus isn't properly over btw.

[Bird of Hermes]

Fuyuki in Flames – Einzbern Castle Ruins
Day 09, Afternoon – 05



As the three all embrace each other in love and tears, a figure shrouded in a cloak of darkness waits, sitting on the branches of the few remaining trees that have not yet been destroyed in the fire. Their presence is utterly alien to this foreign land, and yet they feel at utterly home. The land and leylines though now utterly ravaged call out to them, kneeling before them. It is so much simpler, the natural state of things, the unspoken truth of both humanity and the world that they utterly crave subjugation. Though mankind now serves themselves the fact remains that they were created to serve. Mad scrambles to identity, for power, for the great betrayal that is the concept of ‘love’… once you take that away, mankind then has peace of mind, they will always kneel.

The land cries out for them and Morgan Blytheseel breathes it all in, not caring for alerting the Second Owner of this city. After all, the destruction of several landmark of magical and cultural significance to this city in such a short amount of time has already given them an aneurism. Prudence, after all, was for people who were content to waste the time walked on the earth. Even the years deceased corpse of the Lesser Grail hidden away called out to Morgan, it now having taken in a portion of the energy required to truly manifest.

Morgan however does not focus on beautiful corpses, wish granters or even their own endgame desires of vengeance. Morgan’s own secret apprenticeship under their grandfather’s rival was fruitful and feeling had only festered, resentment, jealousy, rage, righteousness and more.

On that fateful day, if our positions were switched, perhaps I would live your life, and you to mine?

Yet perhaps… Morgan could not help but feel an affinity to the son of their mentor. After a moment pondering upon fifteen years prior, they finally spoke.

“… let’s see what the perfect woman saw in you, little boy.”

Maintaining the power limiter of the Assassin class card in hand, they resumed their work. The task one Morgan would both relish and despise. A suitable contradiction of one who had not fully lost the great contradiction of humanity.





With the fires simmering down and the cacophony of explosions ceased, despite being in the embrace of the people I love, the only thing I can hear is a buzzing.

An awful incessant buzzing-

I feel a sudden ache that leaves as quickly as it comes across my head. Through interference and distortion in my head I receive a vision, or rather I recall something, a fragmented shard of a memory years and years ago.

A hideous alleyway.

A warm heat.

A woman, more beautiful, more intelligent and more brilliant than I can define in spoken or written language.

A wave of emotion that I had never felt before.

Her voice speaking out like divine radiance.

“A long, long time ago, when humans were still learning to extract the bounty of the earth and cities were a rare new thing; when the oldest kings were writing the oldest laws, and the magic that your father must keep hidden was commonplace; in those truly distant, ancient times, to seize flies and claim ownership over them was strictly forbidden.”

“Like I said earlier, flies are everywhere, especially in the warmer climates of what humans now call ‘the Middle East’. Therefore, the people of that era believed that flies were the familiars of the gods, and that, through their eyes, the gods kept constant watch over humanity.”

I cannot recall the time, location, or even what the woman looked like. The harder I focus the blurrier it becomes. This repressed memory triggered somehow; it tells me one thing.

[SFX]

Someone is watching.

Someone is coming.

And I don’t even have the chance to say anything.

[BGM]

A rattling of chains and both Lancer and Risa are wrapped and constrained in chains and pulled away into the air.

Emerging from the shadows of the woods is a female presenting individual wearing a skeletal mask and worn black cloak with a series of animated chains emerging from their back, holding both Risa and Lancer aloft in the air some 20 foot in the air halfway between this person and I.

This person… Feels so familiar and yet so unfamiliar.

But I don’t care. They have Lancer and Risa in their grasp. This I cannot allow.

“Hello little wildflower, it’s been so long.” A voice smooth like silk and as manufactured as plastic speaks out to me. “I must say as far as man go you’ve bloomed into a very handsome man and it is so nice for you to bring me presents for our little reunion.”

“I- wha. No- ”

This person is going to kill them. Risa and Lancer, two women I have sacrificed for and have sacrificed in turn for my sake. People who I’ve struggled with, grown with, fought with, shared a home with… I cannot process words. This person this situation, Lancer and Risa being snatched away just as we meet again. I cannot find the strength of will or rationality to speak.

All I can do is reach out and begin to step forward.

“Ah, but where are my manners?” the person chuckles before raising their fingers to their lips “It has been so long and you were so young you must have forgotten all about me.” They continue giving a bow. “Greetings Seigi Nomikata. I have assumed the title of the Assassin of this fourth Holy Grail War but my true name is that of Morgan Blytheseel apprentice of your father and to be the inheritor of the Nomikata family crest.”

I keep walking.

“You think I care about the crest? About this war? Let them go. NOW!”

“I don’t think I will, after all you should check your hand.”

Yes, my hand. The place where my command seals are imprinted upon my- I stop walking and look down, there is nothing but faded red markings. There is no claim of Master and Servant. Though jammed by anger and emotion the gears in my head continue to spin in spite of my heart and I see what their point is.

“We’ve been watching this whole time; did you really think we would let you get away? That all this we did not orchestrate from the start?”

My heart stops.

“What the fuck have you done?”

They gleefully laugh again. It’s beautiful. It’s hideous.

“Manufacturing conflict, forcing you to expel your command seals, to protect yourself, to save your girlfriend and to save the women who has the misfortune to be in love with you. Now by eliminating my co-conspirator, I took the opportunity to take Lazlow’s command seals and take the child’s servant as my own.”

The cloak unfurls and the mask melts away into puffs of white smoke revealing a familiar set of red eyes and an exaggerated curvaceous figure. In one hand they hold an oversized sword that looks to be equal part iron slab and semi-organic material and in the other I see a red insignia.

Morgan’s own command seals-!





“Now I must thank you for selflessly throwing away your last command spell to preserve your servant’s life at the cost of both your wishes for the grail, I happen to still have all of mine. Now that we allowed that idiot to throw away Saber’s life away to make Lancer use every drop of mana to slay him, she can’t stop me imposing a contract upon her.”

As if to taunt us, they raise Lancer even further into the air and release pulse of golden light through the chains that hold Lancer and she screams helplessly. It kills me.

“No. Don’t you dare. Don’t you fucking dare you filthy little cunt!”

They’re going to steal Lancer’s autonomy and free will from her, after she has given up everything to help me, a stupid, useless boy I am failing her in the worst possible way. My own incompetence has is hurting her even more than if I even let her die. Even when I try to save people, just so I can justify my existence, I still ruin it!

How fucked up is that, I’m a fraud.

She fought for me because she loved me and I’m killing her all over again.

My striding walk breaks out into a sprint. I can’t let her mind be violated, all for the sake of me!

“Yamato Takeru, the great brave of Japan and one of the mightiest servants had we not interrupted your summoning of her. Risa Cadmus Yggdmillennia, one of the last practitioners of the Greek hero Cadmus’s preserved Phoenician mystery by tracing magecraft into the written word for one’s own use and a survivor of the Great Holy Grail war... ”
Another smile
“Stop.”

They tap the floor with their heel and a flash of golden energy lauches forward in a circular wave, a massive wall of radiance, hitting me with the impact of a speeding truck send me spiralling backward like a rag doll backwards face first in the dirt.

Status update

Health: Normal >> Poor

My whole body cries out, every bone feels cracked and each muscle feels torn. A simple gesture and I’m nothing.

“You should listen to me, my little wildflower.”

I feel a pull to them as I even wonder why I didn’t even listen to Them. I do not even wonder why I am not moving, why I continue to lay in the dirt as I look up before the visage of my better. And that name, Wildflower. I like it and they’re right, I should listen.

“Good boy well behaved and dutiful as all mortals should be.” Morgan chuckles, in no way bothered by the attempted defiance. “Now, you little Risa didn’t tell you that tasty little bit of information earlier? That she was of Yggdmillenia? Such a naughty little girl.”

I hear the sounds of chains tightening.

“Yggdmillenia, now you’ve heard of them. An alliance of the weak, the frail and the dying. Do you know what happened to them?”

I do not rise, for I have not been given permission.

“They stole the Holy Grail back in the Third Holy Grail War, Darnic Yggdmillenia worked with Nazi’s then betrayed them. Three years ago in 2004, the Great Holy Grail War happened. It was a battle between two factions, Yggdmillenia and the Clock Tower. The true Greater Grail vanished and Yggdmillenia was destroyed, aside from the Forvedge family all the Yggdmillenia participants died.”

Morgan claps applauds me.

“Good boy. Now, why do you think Fiore is open about her former family while Risa Cadmus Yggdmillennia here hid in plain sight under an assumed name?”

I shake my head in the dirt. I cannot communicate, I cannot even scream and shout. Morgan does not allow me.

“Of course, you do not, for she has lied to you, same as everyone else has.” Morgan finishes for me as they approach, the sound of footsteps cracking open dead earth resonates though out the forest.

“You see Risa here, pretty little thing she is and ever studious worker, was only ever second favourite to dear old grandad Darnic. No matter how hard she worked herself, training till her circuits could crack, constantly living to please someone else, she was never good enough. Fiore was still the golden child and when the time came, Risa was denied a title of masterhood. She managed to obtain a catalyst of her ancestor in magecraft to summon Cadmus but that was destroyed by Yggdmillennia. ‘Lest it fall into the hands of our enemies’ they claimed.”

I acknowledge muffled cries of protest as the chains continue to squeeze both women and silence them. Still I can’t move, I can’t talk, I can’t protest… and I continue to feel the desire to bow, to rejoice. All I must do is face Them and devote myself.

“See, despite working her whole life, Risa was denied. So, she betrayed Yggdmillenia. She let Darnic die and ran away with a mercenary who helped murder him. The mercenary settled her and Risa went off to clock tower under a stolen surname. A paper-thin disguise but all that, a change in wardrobe and wearing a mask of an assumed personality so long her face changed to fit… Devious little minx she is let everyone else do the hard work for her.”

“I see…”

It makes sense, she was always cagey yet resented being alone, that she would accept coming along with me and my father… Why else would she be here if not for personal gain?”

“You should be proud of this, their sins against their betters are at hand and you have a chance at salvation.

Be proud… of others suffering?

“See Wildflower, both these people are lying to you, using you for your own happiness.”

I look up at Morgan. I am greeted with warmth, as if it is the familiar embrace of a loved one that I have not seen for years welcoming me home as they lower Themselves to my level and offer a hand.

“I offer truth.”

However, in that sentence, I receive clarity.

“I don’t care…”

In defiance of the rules of nature, in defiance of Them… No, just them, I press my hands to the ground and force myself up. Gravity itself feels intensified, demanding I bow and beg for my life. I do not take Morgan’s hand.

I refuse.

“I don’t believe you, and even if Lancer is using me as a replacement for her own wife, even if Risa only sees me as a damn meal ticket,” I raise a foot and even though I cannot raise my head, I slowly force myself to elevate, not quite reaching my full height but to Morgan’s eye level. “I couldn’t care less. See, I put on a show of a stereotypical gentleman but don’t care about myself.”
I raise myself higher still.

“You were right about the whole ‘Face changing to fit the mask’ thing, I only ever began acting the way I do by pretending to be something I’m not, because I think I’m worth nothing. Less than nothing. Because I’m insecure. Because I hate myself. See, the only difference between us is that I have never loved myself, not for one second of my life. But them…”

I look upon Morgan’s face, the smile is genuine now.

[BGM]

“I won’t let you hurt them!”

I raise my fist and swing it towards Morgan’s face.

Divine, analyse, destroy.

I channel my Nigredo, with intent to decomposition upon Morgan, to break their body down into nothing!

My fist flies-

Into nothing, Morgan stops my fist mid-flight with just a single outstretched finger. Nothing happens.

“I see.” Morgan tuts softly, a brisk change to their demeanour earlier the smile is gone and I see a look identical to that of Hiro, rigid and resigned disappointment.

“You have the desire to protect others, but not the will to live the way normal humans do… I’m more human than you and that’s saying something.”

They bring back their head and drive it forward. Even though I’m prepared and roll with it, my brain dazes with concussion and my nose explodes in a fountain of blood as I fall back ass-first into the ground.

“I guess I’ll have to teach you fear, install a desire to live in that stupid little head of yours. Oh, second coming of Humbaba, vessel of souls and Akashic Anchor. You will lean to fear the Soul-Recycling Unit.”

They push forward and a concussive force knocks me back once more this time a solid twenty feet, dragging my ankles into the floor I remain standing but it feels as if all the wind has been knocked out of my lungs.

It hurts but I don’t care. I’m too angry.

“What gives you the right?!” I shout back at Morgan. “Who do you think you are?!”

“God.”

And golden divine radiance wraps their form as if Morgan were engulfed in flame as they put the mask back on.

I am scared, but not for myself as I look back to Lancer and Risa held aloft in Morgan’s grip. The two scream out in unison as the chains squeeze and bind them. I remember that it doesn’t matter if I die, I couldn’t care less but them, I need to do something!

“I shackled Archer to me, and Lancer would be far more powerful under my grasp than yours… but making your woman mine would also be good, if she survives the process that is.”

The gap between the two of is too immense. Morgan not only possesses the abilities of a servant but with a tiny gesture unleashed a wave of power that overwhelmed me utterly, not even something the likes of Reiner did at his full power.

But that light, that golden light is pouring out of the chains and into the girls.

I don’t have the power or the time.

I can only save one.

DANGER! Fatal Choice!

With all command seals expelled, Seigi is no longer a master in the Holy Grail War. Morgan has taken a hold of both Risa and Lancer and forcibly contract them. Help will not arrive in time.

1. Save Risa (Lancer will become Morgan’s servant)
2. Save Lancer (Risa will die)
3. Try to kill Morgan (Consequences are unknown)

Activate ‘False Bodhisattva’ transformation?

1. Yes
2. No

Try to tap deeper into The Root for more power?

1. Yes
2. No

Quest Master's Notes

I'll update the stuff for the servants and NPC's later but before the next update.

Also, I'm back.