Quest of Fate - Apocrypha Universe Grail War

[Ayr]

1

[Bird of Hermes]

A little earlier…

Hiro Nomikata
Fuyuki Church Graveyard
Health: Superb
Mana: Superb

[BGM]

It is close to dawn. Kiritsugu Emiya is one of the most methodical people a person could meet, to the point of being able to perfectly time shooting down a plane with ending a conversation with his old mentor. No one would ever mistake him for ‘sloppy’ but a man is still emotional whether he shows it or not. As the haggard, ageing man strode across the field, he was not yet aware of just how many eyes were watching him. If he were wise, he would be cautious and fearful. But in his eyes was the white hot fury of a widow whose wife and daughter’s eternal rest had been disturbed.

Though he was not screaming like a drunken hooligan, Kiritsugu was murderously angry.

He’ll be sloppy. Hiro smiled to himself, it had been a little while since he had a workout.

As Kiritsugu arrived, he found his final opponent awaiting him standing among the gravestones outside.

“Mister Nomikata, I presume?” Kiritsugu spoke as plainly as he could, but it was through gritted teeth. His eye was twitching, trigger finger itching to act on its impulses. “So, you’re the man behind the curtain?”

Hiro allowed himself to chuckle.

“Puppet master, mastermind, head of the conspiracy, forgemaster, melder of souls… and father of the year according to Morgan. Poor thing, their standards were so low when we met that less than the bare minimum felt like worship to them. But yes, I am him. You may refer to me as a he with a capital ‘H’ but that is your prerogative.”

Kiritsugu’s hand was trembling with a barely concealed rage as if his body was about to be ripped asunder by his emotions. It was all the former mercenary could do to hold it all together.

“What. Have. You. Done. To. My. Family.”

Hiro smiled a deliberate and cruel smile as he stepped to the side to reveal what was behind him. “This is the true side of Illya, Irisveil, and even Darnic that you have not seen. With them all dead and merged, the Holy Corpse is ready to birth the Final Greater Grail of Fuyuki.”

The mercenary shuddered and covered his mouth to stifle his screams and vomiting.

What Kiritsugu saw was an abomination he could not bear to witness, the final defilement of the family he chose and swore to cherish with what was left of his black heart. For the first time since the death of his wife and daughter, he shed tears.

And Hiro smiled at it.

And Kiritsugu reached for his gun; he immediately busts out the Calico M950 submachine gun and goes to shoot point blank-!

[BGM]

His feet rooted on the ground, Hiro’s upper body moves at impossible speeds, swaying left and right leaving overlapping afterimages, evading the bullets like they were branches on an idyllic stroll. However with the sound of metal clanging into place - a bullet entering a chamber, his eyes widened in momentary alarm, this was merely a distraction - what came next was a legendary weapon.

Kiritsugu’s trained eyes focused, even without usage of his magecraft he had trained to battle magi and could deal with exceptionally fast foes, it was a matter of knowing their speed, motions and aiming for where they would be!

With a snarl, Hiro flipped his entire body in a handspring backwards the moment he heard the noise of that mage slayer being loaded with ammunition, with the click of the trigger he cartwheeled off to his right side.

An erratic movement that saved the villain, the change in body motion meant Kiritsugu had to adjust his aim. On a three point landing, Hiro examined his coat. Not even a superficial scrape, only a tear at his sleeve. As he turns around and rises, Hiro sees the former mercenary draped in black dart around the corner into a hallway.

The smile turned to a smug grin, from a smug grin to a wide baring of teeth that merely resembled a smile. His heartbeat had quickened for just a moment. Hiro was excited. Hiro was hunting. “It’s a shame you have left the arena of mercenary work, your tricks have become public domain, everyone figured them out while you ran and hid away!” Hiro boastfully called out to Kiritsugu whom he knew would still be able to hear him. “If you used your Time Accel you could have hit me and you would have had no reason not to…”

This was true, in a moment of accelerated time, Kiritsugu would have been able to better adjust and perfect his aim. No matter how great a man was, a bullet to the head was still a bullet to the head.

“So you can’t use your magecraft! It’s been a while since I’ve had some exercise so I’ll face you without magecraft as well. Let us fight like men, and know that what comes to you next will be with my bare hands.”

Hiro began to approach the hallway, cautiously yet purposefully. His eyes saw the haggard middle aged man stumble across the corner right into a blind spot. Being lured into a corner was too predictable. Hiro knew that Kiritsugu was no fool and knew that Kiritsugu knew Hiro’s intellect. There must have been an additional layer to the trick, so rather than relying on his eyes, Hiro opened up his ears.

A shimmer and glint, metal removed from a sheath...

A knife behind him!

As if from nowhere, Kiritsugu emerged from behind Hiro having seemingly fallen for the bait! The blade thrusts forward aiming to embed itself in Hiro’s spine. Predicting the attack, Hiro twists with a natural speed that surpasses the reflexes of man and parries with his left arm

“Kuh-”

Taking the hit to his limbs and feeling his bones begin to crunch from the single impact alone, Kiritsugu allows the weight of the blow to carry him. His momentum re-accelerated, Kiritsugu to twist to Hiro’s blind spot and drive his elbow right to Hiro’s liver!

Hiro keeled over and staggered as his entire right side convulsed in excruciating pain! Blunt trauma to the largest gland organ, and a centre of blood circulation, and causes the victim to lose focus and drive, and can cause a breathless feeling in the victim. His vision blurred, his skin suddenly felt cold and started to sweat. Any lesser man would have been rendered unconscious by such a tactical blow.

Hiro refused, he was mighty.

As the former mercenary began a barrage of carefully aimed slashes and stabs with his knife, Hiro dashed back a step and with a flick of his strong legs and matched killer instinct struck at the handle - knocking it out of Kiritsugu’s hand! Hiro struck with godspeed, again at Kiritsugu’s other hand armed now with the Calico in hand and snatched it out of his grasp.

“Time Alter: Double Accel!”

As Hiro flicked his wrist and a barrage of bullets, Kiritsugu’s internal time bled faster, his heartbeat increased, blood flowed faster, his senses heightened, in a desperate attempt Kiritsugu dived behind the same corner and ran - for a fact this instance.

Hiro gave a cold smile again. “Not bad for an old man. Keep running,” Hiro continued to stroll, now on his way to the courtyard of the church. And…

“Feh, obvious.” Hiro raised his arm, aimed the submachine gun toward the box and unloaded the entire clip. Bullets blared out, shredding it to pieces. He let out a despondent sigh, knowing what was to come. The cardboard box tilted, then fell to the side revealing it was empty. He would not attempt the same trick twice, therefore the rafters of the courtyard…


Battle is all about rhythm, if you can pick up on certain rules and signs you can leave your body to the rhythm and simply let yourself dance to it.


And Hiro sighed, he had hoped for more. Kiritsugu was slower, more predictable in his movements to the older and more experienced combatant.

As decided, Kiritsugu throws a knife from the shadows in the rafters as he emerges, leaping arms outstretched - Hiro raises his hand with the Calico in hand and allows it to act as a shield - the sharpened blade pierces the housing, destroying the gun.


Hiro’s body flowed in a singular fluid motion with the fury of a raging ravine, swiftly moving to grab Kiritsugu’s throat and before twisting on heel and slamming down!


“Kah-!”


The ground cracked under the impact of Kiritsugu being chokeslammed by Hiro as the older magus loomed over him, a murderous smile etched across his face.


“Slow and old.”


[BGM]

Kiritsugu could have allowed himself the privilege of smiling, Hiro had forgotten about his third weapon.

Hiro was gagged and silenced when Kiritsugu shoved the Thompson Contender with an origin round loaded into Hiro’s mouth.

“...!”

Even with the speed to evade a shotgun at point-blank range, not even Hiro could evade with the gun barrel in his mouth. But even so - with the motivation of the devil himself - !

The gunshot echoed throughout the night sky!

Hiro’s body reeled backward, stumbling aimlessly to the left and right before falling flat on his face completely motionless.

Blood spilled out of Hiro’s mouth and into the flooring below.

Dead.

Kiritsugu was never one for one liners and likewise felt no need to say anything. Before he could so much as breathe a sigh of relief that the threat to his family was gone, Kiritsugu keeled over in pain clutching at his chest.

His heart was racing and each beat felt as it it were being stabbed, his head felt light and was sweating almost as if he were about to pass out, there was a numbness in a single arm…

All it took was that single use of Time Alter, Kiritsugu was having a heart attack and he knew it. There was nothing he could do to stop it.

[BGM]


Falling to his knees, he was utterly dismayed when he looked up.

The body before him placed its palms on the floor and brought itself to do a handstand, a god damn handstand, before pushing itself off the ground and springing up to flip and land on its feet.

Hiro had that murderous grin on his face. His gums were bleeding and canine teeth cracked, the Origin Round had been caught in his teeth. The magus crunched down on the bullet before spitting it out to the side with blood.

Kiritsugu was close, he had been so fucking close.

“Now I don’t make a habit of killing for fun, if you never came here I would have left you alone.” Hiro declares. The monster approached menacingly, each footstep seemingly causing the ground to shake. Kiritsugu’s body tensed in pain, it was all he could do.

“Now I don’t make a habit of killing for fun, if you never came here I would have left you alone. But after I kill you, I think I might pay a visit to your son and his paramour.” Hiro continues, his arm outstretched and his palm open, pointed toward Kiritsugu’s face, as it his intent were to crush his skull and brain in his hand.

Weakly, Kiritsugu fumbled at his belt before feebly flicking a single grenade toward his foe.

As naturally as breathing, the fiend caught it in his ready hand.

“Insolent-”

A hiss emanate from the grenade as a yellow, brick-like thick gas burst from the container and quickly enveloped Hiro’s figure. It was a weapon meant to destroy the body and mind, one specifically selected for Hiro.

“MUSTARD GAS!” Hiro shouted in a fearful, panicked yell.

Kiritsugu could not see the man but he knew fear when he saw it and just below where Hiro’s feet would have been seen, Kiritsugu heard a violent retching as vomit, bile and blood was vomited out.

KIritsugu moved with as much haste as he could muster, stumbling to load the bullet in his gun. The body acts on instinct and fear, much like how a body tenses when someone swings a punch, Hiro Nomikata would have his magical circuits activated, he would be more vulnerable than ever!

Hiro leapt out of his own personal hell, eyes filled with unrestrained rage and hatred.

Kiritsugu aimed his gun.

The father and the devil made their declaration in unison.

“DIE!”

The bullet ripped through the heart of Hiro Nomikata.

…

But that did not impede the monster.

With a horrifying squelch, Hiro’s fist impaled the stomach of Kiritsugu Emiya, piercing flesh and crushing blood and his organs alike.

Kiritsugu’s body went cold as he slumped onto the shoulder of his enemy, no, his murderer.

Hiro grunted, his body heaving with effort as he held up his victim's body. Breathing deeply, he steeled himself. He was Hiro Nomikata, creator of the anchor, recreator of the Grail via utilisation of the holy corpses, the best and worst of humanity, despised by every god whether it be Zeus whom he openly blasphemed… and hated even by Ishtar herself.

"If you were ten years younger and I was ten years older, I confess you probably would have had me there. If you had full access to your magecraft, you certainly would have as well. But you got old and weak." Hiro said in a decidedly neutral tone. He was not bragging, lamenting, mocking or criticising. He was merely stating the facts.

Ripping his hand out of Kiritsugu’s chest, the Magus Killer fell to the floor. Hiro Nomikata buttoned up his coat, took out a wetwipe to clean the blood off himself and walked away.

“But worry not Magus Killer, when you get to hell... tell them to make room.”

Character Status Update

Kiritsugu, in his grief, went to face Hiro alone. He received no backup. With none to stand by his side, he has been mortally wounded. Now it is up to fate to determine if he dies.

Hiro, as a result of being hit by an Origin Round, has lost the ability to cast spells with his magic circuits.

Three Command Seals Remain until Berserker is unleashed.

- - - Updated - - -

Quest Masters Note: Apologies for the delay, updates will likely be bi-monthly for the foreseeable future. The economy is bit a mess meanwhile I am looking to change jobs cause mine is depressing and doesn't pay enough especially with the cost of living swelling and i'm looking to buy an engagement ring to propose to my partner of the last 8 years so it's a bit of a mess. I was originally planning to finish this story by new years but next june is more likely with my speed of writing.

In addition, the OP has glitched so i can no longer update the table of contents or character index over there.

Also, to all you Kiritsugu fans, i'm sorry but this hurt me just writing this so know that i am In Pain as well.

[Bird of Hermes]

‘Save a Victim? Don’t make me laugh, they’re the perpetrator.’

Seigi Nomikata
Fuyuki Temple

Ignoring the constant pain, every nerve and receptor screamed out in a futile agony, a voice called out to me. A voice I knew that had been tethered to me since before he drew his first breath.

My sister.

“Aoi, leave me be.”

All I heard was a disgusted scoff in my… our head.

“Why are you even hesitating?”

“Is it not obvious-?” I spat back, I had hoped the elder who had watched me my entire life had picked up on why I acted the way I did.

“-Elaborate.”

I could practically feel her eyebrows raise, her lips twitch, her neck click… It appeared that snark was a genetic disposition.

“Hiro happened to them. They’ve been used by him, groomed into being this highly dependent sociopath and-

I was cut off with an indigent wave of pure rage, the sudden surge of emotion made me stagger. Hot, boiling hot.

“Excuse YOU?! Which one of us was murdered? Who had their head held in his hands and twisted till the neck snapped! Which of us got to live a life while the other is nothing more than a sentient fucking BRAIN TUMOR!”

I swallowed a wave of guilt over her words. She was not wrong and so I had nothing to reply with. Still seething, the eldest of the Nomikata children spoke to their only living sibling. “Look at them, they may have been led down this path but it does not change the fact they sprinted down without looking back! Look at Morgan, they’ve jumped at the chance to become the worst possible version of themselves. Think of Risa! Lancer! Morgan enables Hiro and goes out of their way to make everyone miserable!

I shuddered at the thought once Aoi mentioned Lancer. My lips curled as I muttered, “Are we so differ-”

The surge of my siblings' rage caused me to fall onto my knees, I winced as my palms and knees scraped against the ground, not caring that the borrowed clothes I tried to preserve had been ruined.

“Oh fuck no, little brother. You do NOT get to pull the ‘we are not so different’ card. This isn’t about Morgan this is about your damned saviour complex and your need to help everyone you judge important so you can justify your existence at the expense of Jin, me and all the other graveyards that have been filled while you get to mope in the corner about how bad you have it!”

There was no rage, no guilt, no smug witty one-liner.

“So eager to forget you have your own family that you’ve chosen for yourself, your own support, a number of people who would call you friend, family, lover… Well then little brother, if you won’t act to save the people you love, then I will.”

A single tear trickled down our cheek and spattered pathetically onto the rubble

“No… You won’t have to, Aoi.”

“Not alone, remember?”

“Yeah…”

…

Slowly but surely, Seigi and Aoi rise to their feet and begin to approach. Striding with determination, each step with purpose.

For the first time, Seigi saw fear on Morgan’s face. They scrambled across their frame, trying to find something, only to pull out a card and gesture toward him

“Insta-”

Before they could even finish the sentence, the card faded away, dissipating into blue light.

“H-how? You didn’t just destroy it, these codes don’t just break?!”

With Seigi’s voice, Aoi spoke.

“Metsu - Conceptual destruction. When we battled the child, he played with his deck - we erased it and from that the foundation has fallen.”

“Y-You eradicated an entire form of magecraft in a single stroke?! That’s not even possible!!”

Aoi just laughed in response. Seeing one who stood so proud now so pitiful, it was the only reasonable response.

“Poor Morgan, abandoning everyone and everything for what they thought power was and using it to force themselves. You think shoving an old relic in your body and calling yourself a divinity makes you one? You are no sibling of ours, but you’re the heir of Hiro that is for certain.”

The brother and sister looked down at Morgan's face as they now stood above, pale white with disbelief and horror. And… oh, a single tear welling up in their eye.

The well of empathy had run dry.

“Shin Nigredo.”

A wave of magical energy surged through Nomikata’s circuits like electricity. A fist closed.

And plunged into Morgan’s stomach.

They couldn’t even scream. The silent prayer as a sudden flash of red light emanate from Morgan’s hand.

“Arch - er - Lan - cer. Save. Me.”

Archer's Final Ascension

Archer's Final Ascension

A concussive wave of force knocked Seigi & Aoi back, upright and dragging their heels into the ground as Archer stood in front of Morgan.

“Hehe,” he chuckled to himself. “I know you would have preferred the living weapon but, I’m all ya got.”

His eyes looked up to match the Nomikata siblings' shared body, then over to Risa tending to Rin’s wounds off in the middle-distance. Just over her shoulder I see light materialise over her shoulder, gently as if she were descending from heaven I see Lancer appear before Risa.

“I ask you, are you my master?”

They embrace and the siblings can see the whole world stop for them for just a moment before Risa returns to helping Rin while Lancer kneels and helps guide her hands from behind. If it were not so morbid it would be a truly beautiful moment for the two women.

“It seems your woman has won ownership of Lancer. Keep slipping and she will be king of the harem and you her concubine.”

Then Archer has to stick his nose in it. Seigi knew it was on purpose but every word spoken had made him violently angry. Seigi was their fury. Aoi was also their fury. They were two people screaming in unison.

But he felt her influence, her rage made his fire feel like mere embers.

Let me be the angry one, I’m the eldest, it’s my responsibility to care for you.

Archer paid no mind. “Atsusui, I shall recklessly keep the warrior, the brat and everyone else busy. Do me a favour and make sure my master, lousy excuse for a god they are, doesn't bleed out.”



Almost as if she were a tutoring sculptor aiding an apprentice in the most morose way possible, Lancer supported Risa in treating Rin’s wounds. The new master over the heroic spirit let her remaining magical energy surge as Rin’s injuries slowly knitted themselves back together.

A Curse of Restoration. In nature, nothing healed faster than the body itself but through a magical malediction, more energy would be produced from the body, allowing for enhanced regeneration. However it was very much a curse in regard, recovering from a wound like this would shave a couple of years off Rin Tohsaka’s lifespan, if she were lucky she might reach 80 years but that was better than dying here.

A bloody finger stroked Risa’s cheek as Lancer gently whispered to her.

“You’re doing spectacularly, let me help you.”

From just a simply touch, the excess magical energy that had been impeued into Lancer from her former master was transferred over to Risa, the floodgates opened and all the power flowed through her like electricity and lady Tohsaka’s injuries were stitching themselves closed before her eyes..

Embracing and kissing once again, the moment was spoiled by the thundering footsteps of one York Lancaster.

“Babe, are you ok-” York did her best to hide her emotions, alas for Yorkie, she was as subtle as a sack of potatoes. “Oh, it’s you I’m… I’m sorry I’m-”

Fortunately for the freelancer, the hero of the past had little time for apologies and pulled her into a spine correcting bearhug.

“We will take time to see eye to eye, but thank you for protecting her for me.”

“C-can’t… breathe…”



The frail pale-haired young man nodded before scampering up from the sidelines and began dragging Morgan away. Atsusui heaves with great effort as a trail of blood is left behind as he tugs on the false gods body.

Opening their mouth to speak, their speech is racked with a hideous horrendous coughing. Morgan looked up at Atsusui and asked one simple question. “Why? Why are you helping me?”

There was no answer for a number of seconds as Atsusui bit his lip. Confusion? Resentment? Only he knew.

“You’re no God, Morgan.” He replied, not bringing himself to look at their face. He took a breath and steeled himself before he continued.

“There’s only one and you look nothing like him…” he paused for a moment to let himself chuckle. It was a meak laugh but a genuine one. “Truthfully? I have no idea what I want but it seems I’ve been pulled into the side of the villains here after being conned by a simple kindness… When you have nothing it is easy to take even small gestures at face value but my present company has been a quick sobering realisation. Morgan, consider this my debt repaid.” Having successfully dragged their heavy body all the way to the steps at the foot of the temple, he stopped.

“All I ask is this, why did you start following Hiro?”

Morgan pauses.

“There was… someone I was supposed to protect…

…and I abandoned them…

… I really am a bad person, aren’t I?”

Atsusui unceremoniously let go and Morgan fell face first onto the stone steps. It was a pathetic display. Unnaturally pale with their veins black as oil and bleeding from the mouth, eyes and excessively from the fatal blow they had received, this chapter of Morgan’s life was coming to a close and it seems like it was the last.

Closing their eyes, they tried to remember the face of the person they did all this for.

To achieve the grail and be free from this life, the mystery, the backstabbing, the death… it had brought Morgan no peace. They were happy living a simple happy life with the person they loved.

“What was her name…? I don’t remember…”

Morgan could, or would do nothing to stop the loss of blood.

Whether they lived or not from this, Morgan knew they deserved worse.

- - - Updated - - -

Quest Master's Note: Apologies for the delay, mental health took a downturn as ya boi hit a depressive burnout. Been at a new job that is significantly less miserable and doing much better. Most recent months have been focused on family and picking an engagement ring. Sorry for the 4 month long hiatus, I'd say it won't happen again but I can't guarantee anything. If I am anything I am consistently inconsistent. I hope you're all having a wonderful day.

Morgan's sheet on The Conspiracy and Lancer's status sheet have been updated. Archer's sheet will be updated shortly. You will need to scroll to the front cause the OP is still busted.

[Bird of Hermes]

This project has been cancelled.