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

[Kieran]

. . . Eh, close enough. *Shrugs*

If you really don't know, I suppose you'll just have to wait and be surprised.

[Xamusel]

...not to sound utterly impatient, guys, but when's the next planned update supposed to be? It's like everything slowed down to a crawl here.

[RanmaBushiko]

...not to sound utterly impatient, guys, but when's the next planned update supposed to be? It's like everything slowed down to a crawl here.

I'll TRY to have mine done by tomorrow. I have one partially written, and one interlude that needs to be rewritten a bit before posting. It's a touch bit too meta as of right now, to really work. Most importantly, real life interfered for us, though.

Kieran tends to have a slower writing speed, because of issues, to be honest. On top of that, our DM for D&D had to QUIT, so we've been making new characters for a new game on the side on top of what we've been doing to write. Add in real life, work, etc. and we just had to slow down a bit this week. Sorry.

[Arbitrarity]

Hah, it hasn't even been a week. I expect they had a lot of immediate fervor after having discussed things for so long, and probably a fair amount of already sketched-out story. Things slow down a bit once that initial burst is gone.

...Not that I'm not checking the thread on a daily basis.

[Kieran]

I'll TRY to have mine done by tomorrow. I have one partially written, and one interlude that needs to be rewritten a bit before posting. It's a touch bit too meta as of right now, to really work. Most importantly, real life interfered for us, though.

Kieran tends to have a slower writing speed, because of issues, to be honest. On top of that, our DM for D&D had to QUIT, so we've been making new characters for a new game on the side on top of what we've been doing to write. Add in real life, work, etc. and we just had to slow down a bit this week. Sorry.

^ What he said. If it helps, we do have a general "timeline of events" sketched out by now - it's just a matter of filling in the details, and getting it all written.

Hah, it hasn't even been a week. I expect they had a lot of immediate fervor after having discussed things for so long, and probably a fair amount of already sketched-out story. Things slow down a bit once that initial burst is gone.

Also true. I don't think we've quite hit that point yet, but maybe?

...Not that I'm not checking the thread on a daily basis.

And we appreciate the interest and enthusiasm. We really do.

[Xamusel]

Okay, good point, you guys. I'll keep that all in mind for now... did I just say that out loud?

[RanmaBushiko]

Chapter 10: Origins, Travels, and Plans, Part 2

June 23rd

8:00 PM

I sigh, leaning against my wife, as we finally just take a break to relax. That girl, Olga, was exhausted from flying over, even if her... Magical Sapphire, helped her. Mash, on the other hand was rather interested in everything.

Especially our history. The Titans, what happened to the Titans that left us fleeing our home universe, everything.

"Miss Mash?" I finally speak up after giving her a half hour to think over things, after getting some water in me. Even Gods need to eat and drink, after all.

"Yes, Sir?" She studies me.

"I know enough to know that you saved a version of the world, though not the specifics. Would you and Olga be willing to sign Geas contracts, that you two can't talk about my history with the mages association, barring your... Sempai?"

She pauses, blinking repeatedly, before looking a bit thoughtful.

"I can't speak for my master, I'll admit, but I'd be willing to hear why you're asking..."

"What little we know about the Mages Association leaves us to believe that they'd likely DISSECT us if they got their hands on us. Olga's father works for them, correct? He'd be pressured to give us up to them if he learns of us, with the possibility of them hurting Olga if he refuses." I sigh, softly, at her look of slowly dawning horror.

"Yeah. I think you get it now, Miss Mash. If she doesn't sign, her very family could be a risk to her health, with her not even realizing. Let's face it. She seems rather young for her age. I suspect she's rather sheltered, possibly even naive. Wouldn't that be right, Magical Sapphire?"

"Eh?! HOW DID YOU SPOT ME?!"

"Sealed. God. As I just finished telling Miss Mash, here."

"Ooooh. Right. Yeah, I'll get Mistress to sign, for as long as you're in this universe. Ah... keep in mind that my creator might want to have words with you down the road, if you don't retrieve the Heart of Winter post... maybe July 3rd? 5th? Somewhere around there."

I pause, then nod to the flying stick.

"You've got a lot of functions most can't use, huh?"

"Yup! Mistress can't unlock any yet. She hasn't figured out that we literally need our users to imagine new functions for them to work."

I just rub my forehead, then think.

"Telepathy one of those things?"

"No....? Sorry, but Zelretch hasn't made that for us yet. Doesn't really know how to, unfortunately. I'm still the first version of myself that he's created, after all. He'd like at least 108 different extra functions before moving to the Mk. 2 production line."

I can't help but smirk, before slightly altering my voice to sound like an honest salesman.

"How about a few unspecified major favors in the future, maybe some trade deals, and I give him the technology, as well as working with him with future technology developments?"

"I think I could probably work that out with him, in the future..."

"Perhaps if I threw in me analyzing what he makes for flaws, as well?"

"Ooh, he'd LOVE that! Really has issues with things blowing up, or cracking on him out of the blue too much!"

I smile, and nod, while trying to not grin widely.

"Well, Magical Sapphire. My goggles here, let me AND ONLY ME see all weaknesses and flaws in objects for roughly... 8 minutes a day? Then I get a migraine."

"What."

"It also lets me see how to FIX those flaws and weaknesses, in what I'm looking at. As long as there's nothing between me and it in the air. Like glass, or walls..."

"I think my Creator is going to fall in love with you. Platonically."

"And I think we'll have a wonderful business relationship together!"

"Indeed! I think I'll go check up on Mistress, though. Make sure she sleeps soundly. Have a nice night, sir!"

I sigh, after a long moment, then look over at Mash.

"Want something to drink? Alcoholic? Perhaps water?"

She blinks at me, repeatedly, before slowly shaking her head.

"Pity. Well, one of my Legion of Coal can help you find your way to one of the guest quarters, Miss Mash. Or if you get lost, and can't spot them, you can always ask the Scylla. Scylla's hooked up to the communications system. If you've seen Star Trek: The Next Generation, the Scylla can act like a computer from that show, when you want directions to somewhere."

She blinks more, then slowly nods.

"It's just... all so BIG! Please, though, call me Mash, sir."

"Only if you call me Erik, and my wife Tamamo." I grin at her blinking, then sigh.

"If you want to ask me anything, go right ahead. I'll be here to talk."

She nods, grabs a glass of water, then heads off.

Cute girl. Not my type, and far too young for me, but cute, nevertheless.

June 24th

After making a hearty breakfast for everyone, using some leftover food, as well as camp food supplies Mash and Olga bought for themselves, I settle down to let them look over the Geas to sign.

After making an oath to let Fenris eat me if I'm lying to them about the contracts, as well as letting them read it over. With Magical Sapphire, it might be added, scanning it with dozens of spells, attachments, and add-ons, only to find nothing whatsoever... they sign the papers.

"Erik?"

I blink, then look up at Mash, studying me.

"Yes, Mash?"

"Why are you helping us?" She tilts her head, studying me.

"Well. I'll be honest. My wife and I have always enjoyed the thought of kids, and we've done our best to help others be safe and prepared, in case something happens. I have no clue what you two are looking into dealing with, except for some vague 'Holy Grail War' scenario, which could be anything, from my bare bones understanding of things."

She blinks, even as Olga perks up while helping Tamamo make hot cocoa for everyone, from some packets Olga brought with her from her home.

"Furthermore, I may have been the Norse God of Paranoia before winding up here, as well as several other fields... but I've never wanted humanity to be HURT. I always viewed it as a way to lead humanity to a better age. Perhaps with a meritocracy, like my mentor would have wanted... or perhaps not. But I wanted to uplift humanity, let humanity be better than they are right now."

"May I ask exactly what you planned on doing that with?"

I just chuckle, and lean back into the couch a bit.

"I did. I helped spur on innovation and invention. I became the first person to make a Mech, like out of Gundam, and make it work. I rode that same mech against a dragon of legend, Fafnir, who'd faked his death against Sigurd, along with Tamamo, and several others..."

For one long moment, I close my eyes, letting memories overtake me.

"I fought, and fought, and fought more. Because as a Weak child of the Gods, then later, a Demigod, I was nothing to the other Gods, at first. But fighting let us grow, stronger and stronger, until we could fight at the peaks with them. Legends like Surtr, we took down, in the Mark 2 version of that war machine, as well as several others, pushing him back until he could be sealed. We killed Jormungandr, myself being the one to deal the finishing blows to that monstrous snake. I singlehandedly took Japan and the United States, and built them up into world powers, admittedly with the sneaky trick of selling them technology that wouldn't work well for conquering, only for defending."

I can't help but chuckle at them both blinking.

"Would you like to see the Mark 3 model of that machine, by any chance?"

They perk up, and nod, almost in unison, with little Fou nodding soon after.

"Fou! Foukuku!"

I just chuckle, and finish my cup, while leading them on towards the lower hangar bay.

"Could you tell me why Daddy and I saw you on Mars, Mr. Erik?"

I glance back at Olga, then nod.

"As I told Mash last night, you may have heard in your ancient history books about beings that preceded Gods, known as Titans. Gaia being one example, a Titan that represented Earth."

She pauses, blinking, then slowly nods.

"In our history that we're from, they were very much real, and the Lesser Titans, were beings such as Surtr, or Gaia, who were avatars for a much greater realm the size of the Earth, holding thousands, millions, or more creatures. Gods, like us, were descended from them, but grew to realize that Humans, emotions... being happy, all were good things, not bad things that should be shunned."

"Oooh! I see!"

I chuckle, and nod towards her.

"I'm glad you do. We traveled on a long journey to save the Fenris Wolf from being left chained up. It would be like if Fou here was constantly in pain and hurting. You wouldn't want that, right? Even if Fou could be dangerous according to some people?"

Mash pauses, blinking at me for a moment, before moving to catch up. Hmm. Maybe Fou IS dangerous? Interesting. Irrelevant, but interesting.

Olga looks deep in thought, though.

"After sealing Surtr, we had to kill Jormungandr, but when that happened, history was bent a bit. When we freed Fenris, history was altered drastically, and in doing so, the Titans were freed from their ancient prison as he was unsealed, even as Ragnarok was undone, the doom of the Norse Gods."

She pauses, blinking, then goes wide eyed.

"Really?! You stopped it for your version of history?!"

I laugh, and nod, then reach down, patting her head.

"We did. Myself, my darling wife, a fellow named Lucas, originally, but changed it when he became a God, and Kieran, who also went by the name of Galen."

I chuckle at her wide eyed look, then tap the elevator key. It's not much more time before we reach the hangar bay.

Then, I turn on the lights, and let them see Metal Gear Rex Mk. 3 in all it's glory.

They both stare, stunned, wide eyed at the massive titan of metal that stands before them.

"Wow, Mr. Erik! That's incredible! Mash, have you ever seen anything that big before?!"

Mash stares, then thinks. "Not including Noble Phantasms, no..."

"Wow! That's even more incredible! It can fight, too?!"

I pat Olga's head, then move, easily launching myself up to it's cockpit.

It's the work of seconds, before my armor interfaces with it, and the massive engine above goes from silence, to a dull throbbing roar.

"I swear, Dear, if you make that thing roar in here, with the hydraulics, you're going to sleep on the couch for a month!"

I can't help but laugh, before massive spotlights go on, including around the mouth of the cockpit, before I move the head forwards instead, so they can see within.

"It's neat, isn't it? Relatively simple controls, but ones I'm a master of."

They nod, and move forwards to run their hands along the sides of the cockpit.

"Wow! It's so amazing! It's so neat! This is what technology can become?"

I smile, then nod, before gently letting them get in, so they can try some of the seats themselves.

"It's so comfy, too, isn't it Mashy Mash!"

"Director..." I can hear Mash sigh, then nod.

"It really is, I have to admit. Spacious and roomy. But with a huge arsenal, too, it looks like."

After an hour of showing them through the paces of the machine, albeit without any weapons fired, they're taken out.

"As I said, Director! We're in a giant ship, made of metal. If the weapons were fired, then we'd be punching holes through all that metal, and letting water in. Do you WANT an icky, nasty bath with oil and who knows what else that can hurt your skin, involved? That's how you get one!"

"Oooh, sorry Mashy Mash!"

I share a look with Tamamo, while trying to not laugh my ass off.

"Mr. Erik? What are you going to be doing?"

I reach over, and ruffle her hair.

"Well, originally, I was going to just set things up so that my Wolf Home colony would be safe... but now, I think I want to check out what happens with your Holy Grail war, and make sure you come out of it safe, Olga."

She blinks up at me, in surprise.

"Magical Sapphire, would you be willing to communicate with your creator that I'd like a face to face meeting with him?"

"Sure thing! You don't mind, right Mistress? It'll just need a phone call... do you have a way to call, in here?"

I nod, then point to a phone, before settling myself against a wall to study them.

"Wait, you'd like to help?"

"I'd rather not see you dead, either of you. Besides, you're the first group that wanted to come onto my flagship, and be here. Well, besides Nestor, that is, and he's my captain for this ship."

Olga blinks up at me, before I sigh.

"It relates to how I saved Fenris, Olga. After that happened, the other Pantheons of Gods, or tribes, or nations, or whatever you wish to call them, eventually realized that I was the reason why the Titans were out. Even though I saved the Norse Gods, it was at the expense of a restarted war. So they wanted to come after me, and hurt me. And before that could happen, I left. With my Wolfen here, as well as a giant base, Wolf Home, we headed to colonize Mars... and for 25 years, it worked well."

I study them. Mash knows what will happen, but Olga doesn't.

"At the end, it all went wrong. We were asked to send troops and support back to Earth, to help stop a Titan incursion, just as many of their children attacking indiscriminately, as they did when they first broke free. Almost an endless horde to fight. All the while, the Titans snuck to free Surtr from his new jail, that I helped put him in... and then the world ended. Something went wrong, and made all the titans, and their greater bodies... fuse, Olga. Into one massive monstrous purple thing that slowly ate the Earth. Barely touching it reduced Tamamo and Fenris from full fledged Gods, to being not even Demigods. Effectively Godly children, once again."

I pause, studying her.

"Earth was gone within 6 months. With Tamamo being reduced from a Goddess to nearly mortal standards, her Domain was missing, meaning all the resources we had stockpiled, and the only person that could make plants work in Martian atmosphere was effectively sidelined. We went from having a good chance of making Mars another planet like Earth, to no chance at all. So we had to cancel the colonization efforts, for what few people we had left... and then whatever the Titans became, started coming after us. We made a device, a machine that could let us move from one universe to another, then left, while ensuring the device would be melted down afterwards."

I just sigh, and pat her head. She's shivering a bit.

"The rules are different here. I can't tap into my full strength here, for some reason. That doesn't mean I'm weak, it just means I can't fight, or invent, at the levels I'm used to. But I won't let what happened to my own version of Earth, ever happen to this one. Okay, Olga?"

She smiles up at me, then nods at me.

"Okay, Mr. Erik!"

Now, let's see what we have as transport options...

"Tamamo? What would you suggest for us traveling to this Holy Grail War's location? The Truck of doom, perhaps?"

"Why not show off your divinity a bit, dear? Use Mechanical Panoply to make a van, or... hmm... ooh, ooh! I know! Dear! Make the Mystery Machine from Scooby Doo!"

I chuckle, then walk forwards to show them how it's done.

Ice moves, metal moving and shaping along with the Ice, forming a framework of metal, almost like a 3d printing machine. Rapidly, a van forms, flowing into proper shape as tires form from spare rubber, the engine rapidly forms, and even some entertainment in the shape of TVs and video games form for them to enjoy while we have a road trip.

Before long, the Mystery Machine, in all it's Scooby Doo glory, exists before them. I wipe a bit of sweat off my forehead, then chuckle.

"Impressed, you two?"

They rush forwards, to put their hands against the metal, and see if it's real.

"I never get tired of seeing that, dear."

I turn to kiss my wife, then just hug her while watching them.

"What do you two want to see of the world?"

"Ah! Mistress! My creator wants to meet Erik in Paris in 3 days! Could we manage that?"

I nod at Olga, before she shouts a "Yes, we can, Sapphire!" back to her kaleidostick.

June 25th

Day 1 of the Road Trip

"Erik, you're wanting me to go with?"

I nod at Fenris, and smile.

"That armor Tamamo enchanted looks like it will work for you, and even fit. I say you come with. Giant German Shepard or not, you'll be fun to have along."

"Fine, then. Just make sure I get plenty of meat for this. I'm getting hungrier than normal."

I nod, then give him a hug, before we move to get the armor on.

However, once it's on him... I can't help but do my best to not laugh my ass off.

"Erik? Why are you trying to not laugh?"

I can't help but stare at Fenris, and do my best to not smile, or laugh my ass off.

"Seriously. Erik. Why are you trying to not laugh? Did Tamamo do something?"

I shakily nod, then point towards a mirror. Fenris rapidly moves in front of it, then stops, simply staring.

He looks remarkably like Scooby Doo, right now.

"She planned this, didn't she?"

I can't help but nod, even as I stare at a rather pissed off Fenris.

"Likely, considering she got me to make a copy of the Mystery Machine yesterday."

Fenris scowls.

"I swear, if she tries to make me act like that damned dog from that show, I'm going to bite her tail. Or mix her toothpaste with California Reapers."

I wince, but chuckle.

"At least it wasn't malicious, right?"

He growls, then storms off towards the van.

Later that day...

So. You ever see a coffee addict get an expresso from Italy after having gone mostly cold for 25 years?

I turn, watching my wife, as her tail sticks up and waves, even as she looks jittery.

Yes. My wife has discovered coffee jitters once more.

"More, dear, more! I need more coffee! It's so tasty and good!"

"Mr. Erik? Why does she like coffee?"

I glance at Olga through the rear view mirror, from where she's been discovering the joys of Scooby Doo cartoons.

"As adults grow up, their taste buds like different things to what kids like to eat. So you'll find you actually enjoy vegetables, instead of hating them, for example. But once you get to a certain point, you may need coffee to help you wake up if you have a lot of studying to worry about later. It's pretty tasty with hot chocolate powder mixed with some cinnamon, Olga."

I chuckle as she blinks.

"Really? It's good?"

"It helps you wake up, and it's tasty! Try hot cocoa with cinnamon, sometime. You'll probably like it!"

I pause, then blink at my sunglasses lighting up.

"Hmm. Legendary artifacts... the hell am I even looking at? Anyone mind a side drive while I explore some legendary artifacts real quick? Could be in a museum..."

After expressions of "Nope! We're fine!" and the like coming out of the back seat, I glance over the maps, then drive.

It takes a couple hours of driving and pinpointing, but we eventually find a small hill. Most wouldn't realize anything is off about it, but my skills with Earth let me know that it's hollow, and likely used to be a volcano, if the technique I'm using to act like sonar for dirt is any indication.

After making sure no one's looking, or will mind us, I just casually un-sling my laser rifle and step out of the van for the first time, ready to fire.

It's hard to walk on the ground, like something's looking at me, and trying to send me somewhere. With a jerk of power, I free myself from it.

Looks like every time I'm walking, or outside the van, I'm going to be drained slowly. It's less than what I generate, but every little drain counts, now. I shake my head, then focus on my aim, then fire, making a steadily larger circle in the earth as I carve a hole in.

It's rather quick work, until I reach some sort of chamber within. I casually let it cool, then walk in, before pausing.

A skeleton is within, as well as several dresses, and a magnificent red sword. It looks like my laser carved through the bulk of the dresses, however. There ARE some writings, but I can't really make it out.

Mash's gasp, when she comes in, though, makes me blink.

"That's... Nero's sword! Nero, the emperor of Rome! She helped me out over my journeys, more than once!"

I pause, picking it up, then study it. It looks like the dresses are nothing but ash, and odd thread, though...

Even still, Tamamo might make sense of the thread. So I carry that, and the scrolls as well, anyways, wrapping an illusion around all but the sword so they don't appear if others look at me. Ahh, illusions, how handy you can be sometimes.

It's quick work for us to return to the van, before we drive off.

June 26th

Day 2 of the Road Trip

I'm pretty cheerful today. We've made much better time than I thought we would, and we're closing in on France already. Admittedly, with Tamamo getting a bunch of coffee, us stocking up on groceries, and a few Mk. 1 lasers sold.

Ahh, money. How I love you. Especially with ensuring stealth rockets will be launched to the moon, sending them supplies soon. Gotta love my Legion of Coal's efficiency, compared to how they started out.

50,000 units? They can produce 50 cubic yards of steel, via mining, a day. Not including all the other stuff they mine from that. And considering how many are working to ensure the Wolf Home, and Wolf Home MK2 both get the supplies they need so Wolf Home can survive a trip back to Earth... well, things are going fast.

I pause, then blink, as I glance out the window, before going wide eyed. I can see, for one full minute, on my sunglasses, the location of the Heart of Winter, before it fades. Doing some calculations... it's in Romania?

Hmm. Little far off, but doable. I suppose it's a trip to there, next.

Olga and Mash have both discovered the joys of playing video games together, and are currently playing Sonic the Hedgehog 2. Ahh, the joys of kids having fun.

Well, may as well kick back, continue to drive, and relax.

I ignore how the back of my left hand is starting to itch a bit, and just focus on driving. Damned Mosquitoes. Better not scratch, or else it'll itch WORSE.

June 27th

Day 3 of the Road Trip

"Dear? Before we meet with this Zelretch person..."

I glance at Tamamo, while listening. We're finally in France, fairly close to the Eiffel Tower, too. Just a few more hours to go.

"Yes, dear?"

"Could you try to use the Yata no Kagami to contact my mother? I'd like to see if she has a counterpart here, and to get some answers for what's going on with Gods here."

I pause, thinking, then nod. "Yeah, sure. Next time we take a rest break."

She smiles, and nods.

It takes a while, to find a secluded park for us to stop at. But when we do so, I take her mother's mirror from her, and focus, trying to contact her mother.

For one brief moment, I see the face of a wide eyed massive woman, with tails the size of mountains, staring through the mirror. Then everything glows red under me.

"Greetings! I am Servant Alter Ego, commonly known as Tamamo Vitch! But please, do call me Koyanskaya..."

"MOTHER?!"

"Well shit. Posing as one of my reincarnation's tails doesn't work so well when you have a daughter... wait. I have a DAUGHTER?!"

Author's Notes:
In order, when in contact with the Earth, Erik is drained approximately up to 2 legend a day to touch the ground. Gaia does not like him much for being a God, and is very confused as to why Erik isn't obeying Gaia's orders yet.

Without the 9, you would have never seen the Heart of Winter hit Romania, either.

As for Amaterasu posing as Koyanskaya, that came from a reddit thread that pondered if Tamamo Vitch/Koyanskaya was Amaterasu possessing her reincarnation.

https://www.reddit.com/r/grandorder/...ut_koyanskaya/

Thus, this interesting servant plan. One of Tamamo's tails, possessed by dear old mom/last life. Might be a lot of spoilers for F/GO, so read at your own risk.

That gives us an interesting cast list of

Godafrid summons Mysterious Heroine XX (Beep boop? -. --- / ... .--. --- .. .-.. . .-. ... / .- .-.. .-.. --- .-- . -.. .-.-.-)
Erik Ulricson summons Amaterasu possessing Tamamo Vitch/Koyanskaya (I HAVE A DAUGHTER?! WHEN THE HELL DID THIS HAPPEN?!)
Shirou Kotomine summons Semiramis (Where are all the people I'm supposed to be helping Shirou subdue right now?)
Olga Marie Animusphere summons Mash Kyrielight (He has a mech. I don't think I'm going to survive that if I fight him. Or that flying airship battlefortress thing of his. Still, he seems NICE...)
Rin Tohsaka summons EMIYA (WHY DOES SHE KNOW WHO I AM?!)
Kairi Sisigou summons Mordred (Oh food! Sweet! I wonder if I can get one of those lasers from that commercial they've been watching off and on...)
Touko summons/recruits Scathach (For the beer! I've been stuck without alcohol for 2,000 years! I hope this Dwarven stuff is as good as Zelretch said it would be...)

I've still got SOME road trip to cover, but I'll be honest with you. I'm tired. I've been writing off and on most of the night. And I need sleep. So enjoy!

Roll if Erik chooses to search for legendary artifacts on the way:
1D2 => 2
Yes, he's searching for them on the road trip. Mostly to see if legendary forging for weapons is DIFFERENT in this new universe, but he's still doing it.
Roll if Erik spots legendary weapons.
5D10E8 => 2 | 10s: 2
4 successes. Adding in automatic epic successes... 15 successes. Adding in Telescopic Senses, and Sunglasses of Analysis... pass for finding relics
Rolling for number of successes past 10, for legendary artifacts...
1D5 => 5
Rolling for if any of them are something Erik will want, that isn't in part of a museum...
1D5 => 5 (What the?! Twice? Rolz.org, how are you giving me such good rolls here?)
Okay...
Rolling for QUALITY per artifact.
1D10 => 9
1D10 => 1
1D10 => 1
1D10 => 2
1D10 => 6
Well, I can work with THIS quite well indeed.

[Arbitrarity]

Ohhhh, Foushadowing. A War does sound like a bad situation for it. I'm a bit surprised Erik is jumping in primarily to assist Olga/Mash, but I guess he needs some sort of motivation. The Mystery Machine is a nice touch, though I'm not sure that the characters map at all (but Fenris, so it works).

I wonder if this is post-Lostbelts Mash? Considering we don't know the contents of the others, it seems doubtful, but it would probably make relations with Koyanskaya different (though in what way, I don't know). Seems unlikely, given that she still seems to have normal access to Lord Camelot. Actual Amaterasu is INCREDIBLY powerful, so she'll presumably not be operating at full capacity as a Servant.
Nero's sword is interesting. Not sure what that thread is, but presumably it will be more used for crafting than as catalyst. How that relates to the Heart (since you mentioned the 9, and it seems to be in artifact quality) I have no idea. Gaia exerting a sort of geas effect on Gods is interesting. I would have expected a general pressure from it to remove Erik's existence, since the Age of Gods is over, though his status being that of an avatar might reduce the impact a bit.

[RanmaBushiko]

Ohhhh, Foushadowing. A War does sound like a bad situation for it. I'm a bit surprised Erik is jumping in primarily to assist Olga/Mash, but I guess he needs some sort of motivation. The Mystery Machine is a nice touch, though I'm not sure that the characters map at all (but Fenris, so it works).

I wonder if this is post-Lostbelts Mash? Considering we don't know the contents of the others, it seems doubtful, but it would probably make relations with Koyanskaya different (though in what way, I don't know). Seems unlikely, given that she still seems to have normal access to Lord Camelot. Actual Amaterasu is INCREDIBLY powerful, so she'll presumably not be operating at full capacity as a Servant.
Nero's sword is interesting. Not sure what that thread is, but presumably it will be more used for crafting than as catalyst. How that relates to the Heart (since you mentioned the 9, and it seems to be in artifact quality) I have no idea. Gaia exerting a sort of geas effect on Gods is interesting. I would have expected a general pressure from it to remove Erik's existence, since the Age of Gods is over, though his status being that of an avatar might reduce the impact a bit.

It was more for Tamamo's prank on Fenris than anything else, to be honest. Let's face it. Kitsune are pranksters at heart. Making Fenris look like a famous talking dog from cartoons? Since he's a talking wolf? Yeah, she'd be all over that sort of a prank.
Amaterasu is going to be there just to mess with everyone, but is drastically weakened, yes. She possessed one of her daughters servant bodies to see who the hell was trying to MESSAGE her, after all. Of course, now that she's staring at a daughter she KNOWS she shouldn't have, she's definitely freaking the fuck out.
As for Mash, you'll find out.
Let's see now... Nero's sword is definitely for Erik to realize the difference in crafting Relics and equipment from one universe to another. There's reasons for that, that Amaterasu will be going into detail with with Erik, down the line.
The Heart of Winter was spotted across several small countries worth of distance. He's a demigod right now, but he can't normally detect stuff that far.
As for the Heart of Winter, in Scion: Ragnarok, if the Frost Giants got their hands on it, they could drain it nearly dry to summon a 3 mile wide chunk of ice to start up Ragnarok. Again. 3 mile damned chunk of ice, as a stupidly massive comet. That's an extinction level event right there.
The titans wanted to use it to resurrect Ymir, or force Erik into Ymir's place, as you might recall with his prologue. That means a lot right there.

There's REASONS why Erik removed it from the sword. One being that "Having a Knockoff of EA that makes horizontal blizzard tornadoes instead of energy tornadoes like Ea does at it's weakest, is absolutely overpowered, and he'd curbstomp everything and everyone in Fate/Anarchy OTHERWISE". You can thank me for ensuring Erik used it to nuke the abomination the Titans became, instead.

As for why Erik's having problems with Gaia, that's for the third part of this. He's going to have a lot of talking to do with this version of his mother in law, after all. Plus, with those rolls... *chuckles*

Suffice to say that Erik will finally get a new ability at the end of the next chapter for the road trip. He finally figured out something new, due to her pointing out the stupidly obvious. Though, that roll was stupidly lucky.

[Kieran]

Ohhhh, Foushadowing.

*Chuckles* Nice one.

A War does sound like a bad situation for it. I'm a bit surprised Erik is jumping in primarily to assist Olga/Mash, but I guess he needs some sort of motivation.

He'll have more once he figures out certain things, but yes.

The Mystery Machine is a nice touch, though I'm not sure that the characters map at all (but Fenris, so it works).

True.

I wonder if this is post-Lostbelts Mash? Considering we don't know the contents of the others, it seems doubtful, but it would probably make relations with Koyanskaya different (though in what way, I don't know). Seems unlikely, given that she still seems to have normal access to Lord Camelot.

It's a bit tricky, as RB is playing the NA version of the game (and therefore, hasn't actually gotten there yet), but knows bits and pieces of what follows. If we look at "Servant Mash" as being the crystallisation of the legend of the "Servant Who Saved the World," then it's entirely possible that she can use Lord Camelot, in much the same way that, say, Neoptolemus could use Herakles' bow and hydra arrows as an Archer, having inherited them as part of his own story.

Actual Amaterasu is INCREDIBLY powerful, so she'll presumably not be operating at full capacity as a Servant.

Naturally - it's primarily the personality that we wanted, anyway.

Nero's sword is interesting. Not sure what that thread is, but presumably it will be more used for crafting than as catalyst.

Personally, I know what's been discussed, but I'm not wholly sure myself . . .

How that relates to the Heart (since you mentioned the 9, and it seems to be in artifact quality) I have no idea.

*Chuckles* Oh, you'll see . . .

Gaia exerting a sort of geas effect on Gods is interesting. I would have expected a general pressure from it to remove Erik's existence, since the Age of Gods is over, though his status being that of an avatar might reduce the impact a bit.

Funny story: RB actually posited Erik's "showing off" in-story for a bit - accessing a flash of his true Godly might. I pointed out that in Scion, the World literally throws Gods into the Overworld as a reaction to that level of power; here, where Gaia is a hell of a lot more active . . .?

"How badly do you want to be sent to the Reverse Side of the World, immediately?"

. . . As it is, Gaia is actually trying to do exactly that, but Erik's version of a God is a bit more independent of the planet than the locals. So far, he's successfully resisting.

[RanmaBushiko]

It's a bit tricky, as RB is playing the NA version of the game (and therefore, hasn't actually gotten there yet), but knows bits and pieces of what follows. If we look at "Servant Mash" as being the crystallisation of the legend of the "Servant Who Saved the World," then it's entirely possible that she can use Lord Camelot, in much the same way that, say, Neoptolemus could use Herakles' bow and hydra arrows as an Archer, having inherited them as part of his own story.

Exactly this, to be honest. As "Someone who became a legend by using Galahad's shield", post ascension to become a Servant (Because seriously, there's no way in hell she DOESN'T after all the stuff she went through)... she has to have the ability to use it.

Naturally - it's primarily the personality that we wanted, anyway.

Personality, knowledge... the freakout that "OH GOD, I SUMMONED MY MOTHER IN LAW! WHY ME?! Hey, maybe she could give me tips...? She's BOUND TO KNOW things..."

Personally, I know what's been discussed, but I'm not wholly sure myself . . .

Well, Erik's lost the Sword of Mars. He needs SOME form of melee weapon that won't automatically carve through things like a hot knife through butter like his laser sword will. More importantly, Erik is probably the best, craziest student of Wayland Smith, also known as Volsung, that guy who forged GRAM. The same crazy fellow that made himself metal wings to fly with and escaped.

Funny story: RB actually posited Erik's "showing off" in-story for a bit - accessing a flash of his true Godly might. I pointed out that in Scion, the World literally throws Gods into the Overworld as a reaction to that level of power; here, where Gaia is a hell of a lot more active . . .?

"How badly do you want to be sent to the Reverse Side of the World, immediately?"

. . . As it is, Gaia is actually trying to do exactly that, but Erik's version of a God is a bit more independent of the planet than the locals. So far, he's successfully resisting.

Pretty much this in a nutshell. Erik has a 2 legend per day drain when he's touching Gaia now. Relics that rely on runes, rather than just crafted materials or effects, now have issues, because Gaia's going "Oh, hey, a Demigod escaped it's prison! GET BACK IN THERE NOW! I said... hey, why isn't this one going back in? Go. Shoo. Get in already. You all made that place as a sanctuary for yourselves, you can rot in there. Or break Rhongomyniad to break the sanctuary already! Of course, that would likely kill all of humanity, but I DON'T MIND ONE BIT! Go do that for all I care. But your position needs to be THERE, not here."

There ARE other reasons for why Erik isn't likely to pop over, but I'm not revealing them yet.

Now, for what I was getting ready to post, before I decided to reply... have a surprise interlude, everyone! With pretty much no meta, this time.






Interlude 1: Of things that COULD Be, MAY Be, and MUST NOT BE

1000 AC (After Cataclysm)

From space, you can see the world, right? You've seen it, in pictures, or videos from orbit.

This is different. This is a world, of three forces constantly fighting. Massive polar glaciers, extending down from the poles to engulf massive parts of the planet. No signs of modern civilization, except for several cities, brightly lit up at night. All with walls just as big as the Great Wall of China.

If you look closely, or had a before and after picture, you'd realize that two thirds of the planet is covered in ice.

Zoom in. You can see a massive city, gothic in architecture.

Zoom in more. A metal tower at it's center, towering far above everything else, as thousands upon thousands arm the walls of the city fortress, all armed with guns and cannons. All sorts of guns. Machine guns, gatling guns, even some few lasers, though those are few and far between.

Yet the tower is even more armed. It is what remains of the Wolfen, now a massive, kilometer tall tower of metal, rather than something that can ever fly again. One remodeled over a thousand years, to be a true fortress.

Zoom in more, at the room in the highest part of the tower, where Erik Ulricson is inside.

"Erik! It's been so long!"

Shirou Kotomine grins, walking into the room. "It's been at least a hundred years since I've last seen you and your lovely wife, Erik! Sorry for not visiting sooner."

Erik, now an older looking man with a long beard sighs, then gets up to meet his guest.

"Yes, it has. Finally come back to visit after you pissed my wife off the last time, have you? A century of being female stop you from deciding to piss her off anymore? Or do you want her to make it permanent so you can marry?" There are no signs of amusement on Erik's face. Just irritation and grim lines that were never there before. Erik, in truth looks old. Rather than the handsome man with somewhat silver-blonde hair like before, he now has massive white streaks in his hair.

Shirou winces, then sighs. "I come bearing gifts, and apologies. Our few kingdoms in the East have managed to send us the supplies you wanted, letting me bring authentic sake for her."

Erik sighs, and nods. "Very well, then. But don't ever do it again. Apothosis may have changed you, letting you become an equal to us, but considering the circumstances, we all have parts to play, and nowhere near enough time to do them in."

"Yes, I hear that perfectly. My armies have worked well against our Great Foe, after all."

"So have mine."

"Dear, what's this about a visit... ah. You. Come to apologize then, for pissing me off the last time?"

"I've come bearing apologies AND gifts, my lady."

Tamamo Ulricson pauses, then sighs softly. "Oh, very well. You get off light this time. Piss me off again, though, and you'll have to sit to pee forever. It's a pity Semiramis didn't survive like you did, I'll admit. She was a good influence for you."

Shirou cringes, then nods, before bowing at the waist, and offering a huge barrel of sake.

"Sake, from Japan's holdings, for the lady goddess, and my deepest apologies."

"Accepted. Who brewed it?"

"Ah... Oni, I believe."

Tamamo sighs, studying it, then nods. "Very well, then. I'll leave you two to talk, while I get food made."

Erik smirks, a smile with barely any humor in it, before sighing.

"We've lost another 25 of our kids to the Great Enemy, Shirou Kotomine."

Shirou flinches, then nods. "Most of the legendary warriors I've been creating to counter that have slain them. They've been jumping sides in larger numbers, or some of them have recently had children, though. There was a lot more than 25 that my own people have killed."

Erik winces, softly, before sighing.

"Yeah. The Titans always WERE good at smooth talking innocent kids into doing something stupid. The children of Gods, especially. Since he can't make his OWN army, he's trying to subvert MINE."

Shirou sighs, then nods. "I hear you all too well. And then yours come to massacre in my own cities, and make a mess of everything."

They both sigh, in unison.

"Still. My Ichor projecthas been working well in making Godly Ichor bullets infued with quicksilver to properly shoot. We've actually made ichor infused cannonballs, and those hurt the bastards something good."

"And my own work to ensure my divine fires never fade has worked well, by the sacrifice and rebirth of those that enter them to recharge them freely."

Shirou just chuckles, then sighs.

"Seriously, though. Cyberdragons? I can get those Thunderbears, with their damned amplified roars and electrified claws. I can even understand Velociraptors with Lasers strapped to their heads. But Cyberdragons?"

"To be fair, I had the idea after we killed Fafnir, once upon a time. I just could never find a dragon to do it with. It was a bitch to catch one after our Great Enemy destroyed Rhongomyniad and droppped all those phantasmic beasts back into the overworld. To get it's children, as well? Well, that was even more irritating. Still, I've managed to ensure they can breathe plasma, too!"

"Just... give me a few, will you? I could use the firepower for when things start to really go to hell. Our Great Enemy's newest troops have hung back and forged weapons for his abomination armies, and it's been irritating."

"Sure, sure. Just don't go start calling one Kalameet, or Seath, will you? So, on a different note. I noticed your cities are named after cities from Dark Souls?" Erik chuckles at that point.

"And yours is named Yharnham. After that Hunters Dream VR simulation, I presume?"

They both chuckle, if darkly, at each other's point.

"Speaking of which, how does your Hunters Dream AI simulation go?"

"It gives them the will to increase their divine powers, and the Scylla DOES pose as the Moon Presence at the end of it. Plus, they feel the pain they suffer in the simulation, so they grow instinctively. Most that make it to the end are demigods, at the least. Those that defeat the Scylla, tend to become full fledged Gods. We still only have 22 full fledged ones, though."

Erik chuckles, grimly.

"The Scylla's grown to become a God of sorts, itself. One of Virtual Reality, Domains, and Reality Marbles."

A low, long whistle comes from Shirou Kotomine.

"I'm surprised. My kingdoms aren't fairing nearly as well, though we do get the occasional heroic spirit summoned for things. Jeanne is... surviving, as always, leading the Firekeeper legion to lead my Ashen. My Ashen, on the other hand... well, they do good work, and aren't able to be altered, or tricked like yours."

"At the price of power, them never becoming Gods to rival you, and them being far more spread out."

"Of course. But they need something to worship, don't they? It works well enough, in the end."

"Does that have anything to do with how you got that newest Kingdom of yours, based off of Astoria, to all act like Solaire, Shirou?"

"Well, I mean, if they're going to ASK to worship the sun, rather than Jesus, who am I to not give them a method, Erik?"

"Especially since Amaterasu still exists, if greatly weakened from everything? I suppose you're RIGHT, Shirou. I just don't like most of this shit. It's exhausting, if nothing else."

Both pause, at a distant shout of "Frostspawn at the gates! To arms, men! KILL THE MONSTERS AND BEASTS! KILL THEM ALL!", followed by the loud cracks of rifles and machine guns being fired in the distance.

Erik sighs, then gets up, moving to a machine gun. "Guess that's the meeting for now. Let's see who can get the larger kill count before Tamamo's done fixing dinner, huh?"

Shirou laughs, darkly. "Indeed. My flames versus your ice and machines. It should work well enough."

Fade Out

[Xamusel]

What did I just read?

[RanmaBushiko]

What did I just read?

What you just read? "An interlude, one of three, of WHAT Zelretch saw, and WHY Zelretch is stacking the deck for this grail war". More specifically, "What happens if Caster of Black succeeds in using the Heart of Winter as a catalyst for his noble phantasm".

As it said. After Cataclysm. There's no simpler way to say it. As for WHY it happened, you'll likely find out later in the story. Or in Interlude 3. Depending on which comes first.

99 percent of humanity is dead. Shirou Kotomine leads a legion of humanity, hoping to become Heroic Spirits to be summoned, or people wishing to join his Ashen armies. Those willing to sacrifice themselves to empower his flame, and somehow are reborn after their sacrifice. Erik, on the other hand, has made something like a Nervegear copy of bloodborne's "Hunter's Dream" to help his descendants become Gods in and of themselves. They may not DIE from it, but they'll feel every death, and either man up, or go insane. Those that go insane, don't leave, but become monsters for their siblings to hunt.

Also, Fenris is missing. For reasons. You'll see why by Interlude 3...

Consider this, as well as the next two interludes, as a "After the BAD END" for this story. One that, without Zelretch interfering, is 100% going to happen. With him interfering... maybe not so much, but there's still a small chance.

[Kieran]

An unspecified future time







Despite never having played Fate/Grand Order, Frid was familiar with its mechanics - after all, the various character art was half the fun of the game, and probably more than half the reason for its popularity.

As such, he was more than aware of the fact that Mysterious Heroine XX's armour retracted as she began to trust her Master; the combat value of the swimsuit, he doubted highly, but it was a decent gauge, he thought, of how well they were getting along in how much of herself she was willing to reveal. And that it had taken so long was a bit disturbing - along with several oddities in things she'd said or done, but there was a certain satisfaction in her statement that she was finally willing to disarm herself.

Half-closing his eyes kept Frid from being blinded as her armour didn't so much retract, like Mordred's, as much as it vanished in a *flash* - but his eyes bugged out as he beheld the result.

















"AHA!" cried the girl, a devilish smile on her lips. "You thought it was Arturia - but it was me, BB-CHAN, all along!"

". . . What," Frid said flatly.

[Arbitrarity]

Gosh darn it BB.I really need to play/watch someone play CCC sometime, I understand the broad strokes, but don't know much about BB herself. Also, that suddenly reminds me that MHXX is an Artoria, and on the same team as Mordred, which will probably be weird.

Future interlude was definitely interesting. Makes sense that Shirou would be non-hostile if thwarted and a world-shattering threat appeared. Training your gods in VR simulation is exactly the sort of hack that Erik would create, though translating between actual godly powers and results in VR seems like it would be an interesting problem. How do you know someone should have that power, and how does using it in VR compare to real-world? I suppose Scylla would be intelligent enough by then to handle it, what with becoming godly.

[RanmaBushiko]

Gosh darn it BB.I really need to play/watch someone play CCC sometime, I understand the broad strokes, but don't know much about BB herself. Also, that suddenly reminds me that MHXX is an Artoria, and on the same team as Mordred, which will probably be weird.

Future interlude was definitely interesting. Makes sense that Shirou would be non-hostile if thwarted and a world-shattering threat appeared. Training your gods in VR simulation is exactly the sort of hack that Erik would create, though translating between actual godly powers and results in VR seems like it would be an interesting problem. How do you know someone should have that power, and how does using it in VR compare to real-world? I suppose Scylla would be intelligent enough by then to handle it, what with becoming godly.

*chuckles* I'll agree on that, Arbitrarity. CCC is something I need to go through myself.

As for the interlude? It's a clusterfuck, pure and simple. A clusterfuck with a thousand years to take. A clusterfuck with an ending that's already been worked out, even! But since all the reasons for it, and why things go the way they do, are massive spoilers for the end of the story, only Kieran and I know WHY exactly it happened.

It's pretty much, that the rules in Scion are as such: "To increase your Legend, you have to make yourself into a legend. To make yourself into a Legend, into a God worth worshiping, you have to fight, and fight, and fight more, until all those that would kill you are dead. If you stop fighting, stop working to be strong, you grow weaker over time once more."

Erik very much dodged this last one, by fighting to ensure his colonists would survive on Mars, not physically, but metaphorically throwing him into his work.

With the Scylla not having a body of it's own, it's very hard for it to grow. In the Future Interludes however, you're seeing Erik having had a thousand years to work things out and work out how to make the Scylla become a proper god. IF BARELY.

But with a VR simulation with equipment like a Nervegear out of Sword Art Online... it's a much different story. A nastier one. Imagine the built up trauma of thousands upon thousands of deaths. All the trauma building up, from feeling it every single TIME you die. Over time, that would make the body think "Oh fuck, we're really in a lethal scenario! That nearly killed me that last time!" over and over and over, until the body starts producing more legend to counter it, letting you progress through the "game" until you're strong enough to see the end.

And with the Scylla acting as the "Final Boss" and fighting countless times against Erik's kids... he's grown just as much as they have.



As for my next chapter? It's roughly half done. Ever tried to make a smiling Zelretch somewhat menacing, without making him into a God-like Mary Sue? I think I've done a pretty good job of showing him as a joking prankster who can be somewhat disturbing when he wants to be. But just as willing to make jokes.

[Kieran]

Gosh darn it BB.I really need to play/watch someone play CCC sometime, I understand the broad strokes, but don't know much about BB herself.

*chuckles* I'll agree on that, Arbitrarity. CCC is something I need to go through myself.

Likewise - I've seen some of CCC, but not enough of it.

Basically, BB's general personality is "cute little devil," (she describes herself as a "last-boss kouhai") with her original programming being "helpful medic." Since F/GO lists her as "Chaotic Good," I'd be inclined to write her that way - so, a teasing little sadist with genuine affection for her "Master" . . .

As to why the joke? Because, really, almost anyone could be inside that armour - and wouldn't it be just my luck that it isn't who Frid thinks it is?

Also, that suddenly reminds me that MHXX is an Artoria, and on the same team as Mordred, which will probably be weird.

Oh, yeah.

Future interlude was definitely interesting. Makes sense that Shirou would be non-hostile if thwarted and a world-shattering threat appeared. Training your gods in VR simulation is exactly the sort of hack that Erik would create, though translating between actual godly powers and results in VR seems like it would be an interesting problem. How do you know someone should have that power, and how does using it in VR compare to real-world? I suppose Scylla would be intelligent enough by then to handle it, what with becoming godly.

As for the interlude? It's a clusterfuck, pure and simple. A clusterfuck with a thousand years to take. A clusterfuck with an ending that's already been worked out, even! But since all the reasons for it, and why things go the way they do, are massive spoilers for the end of the story, only Kieran and I know WHY exactly it happened.

*Chuckles* And it all started when I remarked that the Fire Keeper from Dark Souls III looked like Jeanne . . .

It's pretty much, that the rules in Scion are as such: "To increase your Legend, you have to make yourself into a legend. To make yourself into a Legend, into a God worth worshiping, you have to fight, and fight, and fight more, until all those that would kill you are dead. If you stop fighting, stop working to be strong, you grow weaker over time once more."

Erik very much dodged this last one, by fighting to ensure his colonists would survive on Mars, not physically, but metaphorically throwing him into his work.

. . . Well, it's not all combat-focussed, but yeah - performing feats of legend is what makes your Legend stronger. And admittedly, killing monsters is a good way to do that.

As for my next chapter? It's roughly half done. Ever tried to make a smiling Zelretch somewhat menacing, without making him into a God-like Mary Sue? I think I've done a pretty good job of showing him as a joking prankster who can be somewhat disturbing when he wants to be. But just as willing to make jokes.

. . . And as I noticed when writing myend, it's way too easy to go overboard with him.

[RanmaBushiko]

Chapter 11: Origins, Travels, and Plans, Part 3

June 27th, 2004

3 Hours Later

We have Amaterasu settled in the back, with Olga, Mash, Fou and Fenris. Fenris leaves her looking a bit rattled, since she can obviously TELL who he is, but she seems to not be running in fear. Then again, Servant.

"So, we've told Mash and Olga about everything. Dear, could you talk with this version of your mother and explain things?"

Tamamo pauses, then looks at me for a long moment, before sighing, kissing me, and turning to talk with Amaterasu.

"Maybe introduce her to the game Okami afterwards? She might like that one, dear!"

Tamamo laughs, even as she explains to Amaterasu our origins, and what happened to her in our own timeline, as I drive.

After a couple of hours, we've arrifed to the Eiffel tower, and to find both dinner, and Zelretch.

Amaterasu seems too busy, playing Okami with Mash and Olga, to join us though. Which, to be honest, is rather fine. It might be one player, but with how they're cheering her on to beat the game as a puppy version of herself, it's honestly too adorable for words.

While on the other hand, Tamamo has gotten her hands on more coffee. Somehow. At this rate, she's going to have her blood be more caffeine than blood.

That isn't exactly a BAD thing, but it's still tiring.

"Ooh, ooh! Mr. Erik! Sapphire says we're here!"

I blink, then look for a place to park, calmly. It doesn't take long, before we've parked. I'm ready for this meeting, whatever it may bring. Fenris moves, according to my hearing, to follow me, while Tamamo moves to the back to play games with her mother. Maybe they'll turn on Mario Kart 64? Or Double Dash?

Nah, they'll stick with Okami, just to make Amaterasu see exactly how much her people still love her.

"Hey, Olga. I'm going to need Magical Sapphire to talk with her creator about stuff involving upgrades. Mind handing her over?"

"Oh, sure! Here you go! Take good care of her for me, will you? Sapphire has my diary built in now!"

I just chuckle, and nod, before moving in towards where she's subtly guiding me, subtly using skills to simply blend in with the croud.

I walk into the meeting place. It's quite a large building. All over, there's signs of frequent use, but what smells faintly like mostly not recent, except for one corner. There's a table with food in there, as well as several chairs. I move closer to them, then pause. I can smell a man that smells of blood, and... that same odd smell I got between universes, now that I think of it. I never had a word for it before. But now that I can smell him, I can tell what it smells like.

"Sapphire's creator, I presume? You don't smell like a human."

The man studies me, with red eyes, grey hair and a massive grin on his face.

"Imagine my surprise when one of my creations called me to let me know of a business opportunity! Especially from someone I was thinking about dealing with due to their mistakes in arriving."

A threat, hmm? Still, I can't tell how strong he is... I'll play it safe, for now.

"Pardon me for having to INVENT the damned technology to get here, and it being hard as hell, then."

He shakes his head, his smile never leaving his face.

"It's more your screwup with that... blue gem thing."

I can't help but wince, then sigh.

"Well, to be fair, I didn't even know what it was when I first got it. I'd heard a legend of it from some friendly frost giants, and when I discovered they put a fourth of their annual income into finding the damned thing, I worked to find it myself, first."

He pauses, blinking.

"Oh? Why keep it?"

"Mostly because the Heart of Winter is one giant battery I'd rather see powering my stuff instead of theirs. Damned thing probably had some sort of failsafe activate with what happened back there... Sapphire, I'm presuming you've briefed your creator on most of what I've told Mash and Olga?"

"Yes I have!"

The old man's grin never fades, as he studies me.

"To be fair, my good... vampire, I suppose? If you had the option of stealing a rock that's able to summon a 3 mile chunk of ice in an attempt to wipe out all life on earth, or leave it for the frost giants who were getting damned close to claiming it, which would you choose?"

He flinches at that, even as I nod.

"Yeah. I thought that would be your reaction, too. Damned thing had to have a failsafe built into it. It was supposed to be one of the Greater Frost Titan Ymir's most treasured artifacts. Considering he was dead for several millennia, and still had that thing strong enough to likely pull off a 3 mile wide extinction event?"

I just sigh.

"Yeah, that's why I'm doing this. So. Erik Ulricson. Nice to meet you, Mister..."

I move my hand up, to shake.

"Zelretch. Kischur Zelretch Schweinorg, but most just call me Zelretch." He takes my hand, and firmly shakes it.

I sit, across from him, and study him.

"Sapphire mentioned she's got issues, huh? If you don't mind, I'll look your stuff over, and give you tips on how to repair it."

He blinks, and grins widely. "A free consultation?"

My grin matches his. "That, and ensuring I'm useful enough for you to want to keep around. Former Norse God of paranoia, and innovation, amongst other things."

He pulls out a sword. It's a thing of beauty, to be honest. I study it closely, then pick it up, testing the weight, and abilities, before pulling my goggles down.

3 small issues appear in my sight. I casually pull out paper and a pen, then draw the issues, before pulling the goggles back up.

"Looks like you've got three small issues, for these three... chunks, here, here and here. If I could still grow crystals, like I did before, I would replace them for you to enchant, but since I can't... well, they'll break on you if you use it in combat more than..." I pause, thinking over the numbers.

"I'd say 38 strikes worth of use, where you actually hit something. Pretty sure you don't actually use it to HIT something, but if you do, keep in mind you have a time limit before those three break."

He chuckles, then settles back. "Just as Sapphire told me. Weakness detection, hmm?"

I nod, and study him.

"Indeed. Now, would you like me to examine Sapphire, or bring up equipment my own technology can do to upgrade her, alone?"

He blinks, looking almost pensive. "Hmm. Well, I've had problems with duplicating her systems for the Mark 2, and I still can't get half the systems to work like I did with her and the first Ruby. Certainly. If you see more than a few issues, and can fix them, I'll go into a partnership with you."

I grin, then nod. "Fine by me. Keep in mind, my limit is 8 minutes a day with my goggles, though."

He nods.

"Sapphire. Unshift yourself from a dimensionally anchored wand point, into the machine you are."

I watch, as space distorts, unfolding as Sapphire goes from a wand, to something nearly the size of the room. Massive panels opening up, everywhere to let me look inside. Then, I pull the goggles back down.

Lines are everywhere for her. Lines showing weakness, flaws, issues. I draw them like a madman with one hand, as I study things with my eyes, moving as fast as I can without damaging the massive supercomputer that Magical Sapphire seems to truly be.

7 and a half minutes later, I pull my goggles back up, then sigh.

"483 issues, Zelretch. It looks like you accidentally, or on purpose, let a giant 3 foot diamond fall in that was enchanted with something... and it's been pulling everything else together so it works. I give it until Olga's 16 or 18 before Magical Sapphire fails, as she is right now. But... most of the issues seems to be crappy hardware store parts."

He looks rather dismayed, until I mention the parts bit.

"Most modern parts are built to need to be replaced within a few years, and she's a symptom of that. If you want her to truly last and grow... you'll need parts made by my people. I can have a facility for constructing replicas of her, without... 90% of all the issues, done in 3 hours, after the Wolfen's complete."

He stares at me, just blinking.

"As for repairs to her NOW... I'll need to bring her back to the Wolfen, to build and replace those parts for her from scratch. Should upgrade her lifespan to a couple thousand years before she starts failing though."

"Is all your technology so good?"

I just chuckle at his words. "Norse God of Innovation, Paranoia, amongst other things, remember?"

He grins.

"I think we'll have a very long, profitable deal then. Sapphire, you can go back to normal, now, but log him as a maintenance worker, please."

I smile as I nod, before we get down to business, in working out how to make this profitable for us both. In the corner of my eyes, I can see Sapphire shrinking back to a normal size, as well.

A couple hours later...

"So. In full, the deal is as such: You, Zelretch, ensure that my colonists survive the trip back to earth on the Wolf Home, and work to ensure they survive until I can be united with them, even if it requires dropping them into a new universe for me. You also do the same for my Legion of Coal, unless it humors you to leave them with whatever they're up to. You also work to aid me, warn me of issues, and help ensure my business interests go well. In return, I help you with mechanical issues involving your... Kaleidosticks, and offer a list of inventions that they'll find useful."

He nods, smiling.

"Indeed. Fair?"

I nod, then shake his hand.

"Perfectly fair. I'll give you the old commercial for the Laser Rifles to be sold."

He nods, thinking.

"Erik. Let me warn you of things, then. The Holy Grail War has become, here, a Grand or Great Grail War. One where all, or nearly all the masters on one side, are united in ensuring their side gets the Grail. This results in a second side being formed, to counter it. I'll send a few people to back you up, but I'll suggest you get to your Wolfen as quickly as you can, taking only a day or two to stock up from here. Furthermore, I will get some people sent over to deliver supplies to where you need them to go, to send them to your Wolf Home."

"Why to my Wolfen, Zelretch? What are you seeing that..."

"We have between July 3rd and July 5th, before Caster of Black tries to activate his Noble Phantasm, some sort of Golem, using that Heart of Winter as it's core. The ensuing shockwave of power will claim the Holy Grail's core, the Greater Holy Grail, and use all the Servants it can reach as a catalyst to cover most of the entire planet in ice, as well as birth some unpleasant things out of some of the creatures. I can't tell you more than that, but I've seen the results to come if you fail to kill that fellow and claim it. It's not going to go well at all, Erik Ulricson."

I pause, then nod. Damn.

"Road trip to the Wolfen, then. Thank you sir."

He smiles, then nods.

"With your help, Erik, the Mark 2s for the Ruby and Sapphire lines shall be better by far. I'll be grateful if you give my ungrateful apprentice, Rin Tohsaka, the same aid you'll be giving Olga, however."

It takes me a moment to decide, before I nod.

"Will she be in this?"

He laughs, a lot. It's honestly a nice laugh, too.

"And on your side, as well! Enjoy meeting my ungrateful apprentice! It should prove... amusing."

He pauses, before smirking.

"You mentioned that cloning stuff, didn't you? Offer her servant a new body, if he helps you figure out why your relics are failing so much. Well, if your servant doesn't help you figure it out, first, at least."

I pause, then nod.

"Sure. Sounds good. He famous?"

"If you've seen Fate/Stay Night, or read the Visual novel."

I pause, then slowly glance back at him, still grinning.

"So, which one?"

"His Aria makes you wonder why he says 'Bone of my sword'. Does he mean he's popping a boner to swords? Or perhaps is it that his skeleton is made out of swords, rather than bones?"

I can't help but snort. "That counter guardian then? Ah... Emi... what was it..."

"EMIYA. Pronounce the capitals, Erik. EMIYA."

"Yes. That. Thank you."

I write down a note for him, on what to buy for Wolf Home, so they'll survive.

"It'll come out of the profits you'll get from the lasers, until they're paid off, Erik. Good luck, and fare you well for the trip! You're going to need it, for the trip to Trifas, Romania."

I nod.

"Thanks, and the same to you. I'm sure those ungrateful apprentices could use a road trip through Wolf Home sometime, just to really mind fuck them, too!"

He laughs, even as I exit, Fenris and Sapphire in tow.

June 28th, 2004

Day 4 of the Road Trip

After a long day and a half of touring Paris, we've contacted the Wolfen. It's moving towards southeastern France, back from where they'd built a hidden base underwater. One that Zelretch apparently showed up to, to verify the location of, before leaving. Somehow. Better to not have him as an enemy if he can pull crap like that off so often. I'm rather glad I didn't make him mad, now.

On other matters... we've got plenty of wineries to tour if we want to see one. Mash has learned to enjoy a glass of wine with dinner, as well. Honestly, it makes me smile to see her enjoying life. I've promised her we'll work to find her Sempai, once the war is done. At least, if she's still around. The whole "cloning" bit has made her quite interested to see if she can come back to life and live again.

That, and apparently she wants to have a better life that lets her spend time with her Sempai. She giggles a lot at that. I suspect she might be interested in her Sempai, whoever it is, romantically.

Heh. Not like I'd step in between someone and the person they love. That's not me at all. So I'll see if I can't help her have a chance with this version of him. Or find a way back to her version.

July 1st is on Thursday, and today is Monday. We've got time to get there to spare, if just.

I glance back through the rear view mirror at Amaterasu, Olga, Mash and Fenris, all playing what sounds like Mario Kart 64.

"I'll talk with you about certain things once we're on the Wolfen, Amaterasu. Including your abilities, if you don't mind."

She perks up, then nods at me.

"Why not sooner?"

"I need to get us to the Wolfen, before we can seriously talk about what Zelretch mentioned to me."

She pauses, then nods.

"Feeling paranoid?"

"As the Norse God of Paranoia, now demigod for it? Yes."

She nods.

I can hear someone go "HAH! Eat Triple Red Shells!" back there, as I resume focusing on the drive.

It's late when we finally arrive at the beach. Late, dark, and cold. In the distance, I can make out the ripples the Wolfen leaves in the air, just above the water.

I wave, then smirk, as the tow cable reaches out, grabbing our van, then pulls us in. Amaterasu's screaming curses at me, because she didn't have her seatbelt on like everyone else did, too.

"Where the fuck are... what. Erik. What the hell are we in?"

"My flagship. The Prototype Aerial Battleship, Wolfen. It's a pity that Wolf Home's back on Mars, or else I'd be able to show you that personally, and really awe you. It's the size of a rather tiny moon, after all."

I glance back at her. She's gone still, and wide eyed.

"How big is this thing? It feels... I can feel the engines on this, producing unimaginable amounts of power."

I smile at her, and nod.

"16 nuclear reactors, and one prototype fusion reactor. 2 nuclear ones, as well as the fusion one is normally enough to power it, but when we're in gravity we need the rest on to power the inverted gravity production systems for flight. As for the size, it's a kilometer in size."

She goes still, for one long, wide eyed moment, just studying me.

"A kilometer, huh? It'll be fascinating to see, that's for sure!"

I just nod, and grin.

"I'll be giving you some training, as well as Tamamo, for some of the equipment, Amaterasu. I think you'll find it fascinating. Though... I'll need to know what skills you can still use."

She glances at Mash, who just blinks, before blushing.

"Ah, sorry. Should I go then? I know that's supposed to be private..."

I pause, then shake my head.

"Nah, you're too adorable. I wouldn't mind having you help her, anyways. Your shield stopped the Wolfen in free fall, after all."

She blushes more, and nods.

"Well, Erik... Son in Law? Master? I'm still not sure what to call you... Tamamo Vitch, my... reincarnation's aspect, normally can be summoned as an Assassin. However, she was getting summoned as some sort of more... alien entity, when I stepped in. Something called an Alter Ego? I've never heard of it before, though I'm not particularly familiar with Servants to begin with, except for the various incarnations of this universe's version of... my daughter? Descendant? Reincarnation? So I could be missing a lot."

I think, then nod.

"So presence concealment?"

"And a nifty ability to tap into the real me for most of my power, rather than you. Most of the drain you're getting is from my always on Noble Phantasm."

Raising an eyebrow, I study her for a long moment, giving her a Spock look.

She giggles, along with Mash and Olga at my face. Guess I did it wrong.

"My Noble Phantasm is such: I can revive a person repeatedly, with a fraction of their strength being lost each time, as long as you have the power for it. As a guess... you'd have maybe 6 shots of that. I have a minor ability to also augment attributes of the sun, though it's rather minor compared to my normal body. My incarnation never trained that skill like I did, so though I know it, it's a matter of skill."

That's... actually USEFUL.

"You know what? That skill's perfect for my technology!"

I grin widely at her.

"Wait, really?" She's blinking at me.

I pause, then guide us to an armory, humming a happy tune.

"How much do you augment the power output, and can you do it for nuclear material, since the Sun is one giant nuclear explosion?"

She blinks, then thinks. "Depends on size, I think. Something small, maybe one and a half times? Big, like one of those machines we just passed would probably give me more like two times if it's armed with something unique. Why?"

I pull down a clawed gauntlet, then toss it to her, to try on.

"This is a little something I made, called a Radiant Wave Surger. What it really is, is a nuclear pulse emitter that destroys most things it touches, when it's turned on. It also has a wonderfully overpowered ability to destroy any projectiles it touches if you can activate it between you and a projectile smaller than your hand."

She stares at it, blinking.

"I think you're going to be my favorite Son in Law, ever. Oh, it makes me feel TINGLY to think of using something like this! Though... I'm better with ranged, and I'm not sure how to USE this."

Mash is staring at it.

"Don't worry Mash. She won't use it on you. You're too cute for that. We'll figure out how to get you a new body, and a way to be with your Sempai after all this, so you can date him or her. Sound good?"

She blinks up, then looks at me, before nodding.

"Fou, too?"

I nod, and smile, even as we go to the main bridge.

"Fou, too."

She smiles, as they all follow. Olga is trailing behind them while yawning, though.

"We'll get you to a bed soon, Olga, and Mash can tell you about what we talk about when you wake up. Okay? I know you're tired, but you'll want to see us lift off, don't you?"

She perks up.

"Of course! That sounds wonderful to see! I've never seen anything this big fly, anyways!"

Her voice makes me smile, so I reach back and ruffle her hair gently.

"You're adorable, Olga."

I can hear her skipping now, even as we reach the bridge, before settling myself back into one of the seats.

"Status, Nestor?"

"All systems ready, sir."

The Scylla speaks up next, with a grin in it's voice.

"A chimpanzee and two trainees could run it."

"Star Trek: The Search for Spock much, there?"

They both laugh.

"You missed the showing we played about it, boss!"

I sigh, then nod.

"Take us up, Nestor. Full speed at stealth for Trifas."

I can see Nestor's grin, as the Wolfen's lighting brightens, before slowly fading back to normal levels, as reactors come online, only to direct their power directly into the artificial gravity systems. Olga rushes forwards, to watch as we slowly rise up.

It's not long before she's yawning, though, and a Legion of Coal unit escorts her to a bedroom to sleep in, while we sit. It gives me time to think, as massive propellers start up, slowly pushing us towards Trifas.

"So. I met with one Zelretch the other day. He's some sort of ancient vampire, who... I'll be honest, scares me. Made some deals with him, and worked things out with him."

I can see everyone else perking up at my words.

"The Heart of Winter wound up in a Servant's hands, in Trifas. We have between July 3rd and July 5th, to go to Trifas, and kill the Caster of Black... before it accidentally wipes out most of the human race. The idiot's linking it up to some sort of giant golem of sorts as it's power source, and since it seems to be having some form of failsafes governing it's current actions..."

I sigh.

"We're going to have to go to war, as much as I dislike it. It looks like the family itself doesn't know what their Caster is up to, but that doesn't make much of an excuse."

Pulling out my flask, I sip on some alcohol, while thinking.

"In return for him helping with the colonists, as well as ensuring the business starts up for selling lasers as well as he can, I'll be upgrading his... Magical Sapphire, and Magical Ruby models for him, as well as making production lines for both. It's not too bad a deal, to be honest."

Nestor grins.

"Glad to hear we got away with such a deal, Sir."

I nod at him, then sigh. "Indeed. It's worth it. Now..."

Looking over them, I think, before nodding.

"Tamamo? Could you teach this version of your mother how to use some of the mecha? I'll be working on ensuring the production lines and upgrades to Magical Sapphire happens tonight. After that, I'll be studying the sword, to figure out why relics don't fail here, like ours have been."

Amaterasu blinks, then studies a giggling Tamamo.

"Tamamo helped test pilot a lot of my early machines. She can teach you how to get a feeling for piloting them, while I whip up equipment that'll let you control it as if it was part of your own body. But first, you have to get used to them enough for it to work. Then after she's done, I'll upgrade the machine I'll be letting you use for your own use. With some suggestions from myself, if you don't mind..."

She smiles, then nods.

"As for you, Mash, would you rather I work to clone a new body for you and Fou NOW, or would you rather wait until later?"

She thinks, for a long moment.

"I'd say now, so it's ready for later?"

I nod, before pulling myself up.

"Meeting adjourned, then. I'll get to work."

July 1, 2004

1 PM

Ah, my personal workshop. It's warm, and comfortable here. All leather chairs, with plenty to spare for me to relax in while I work. Massive Ash desks, with Metal desks here and there, the original blueprints of my successful machines taped to the walls, showing my progress as I became a God... it's mine, and I love it.

I glance back, hearing my door open to my workshop. Amaterasu is in the doorway, studying my workshop.

"Ah, come in, I wanted to talk with you. You're a version of my mother in law, and I wanted to settle down and finally get answers on what's going on with this universe, compared to our original one."

She nods, walking in, then sits, adjusting herself.

"I read your journals when I wasn't learning how to pilot those mecha of yours. They're quite fun to use, I'll admit. The Valkyrie Veritech seems to be closest to my style, though. I'm guessing the Dragon one and the... giant bipedal THING are yours?"

I chuckle, and offer her the schematics.

"The Rex line was based on a Tyrannosaurus Rex, from ancient history. The Veritech Valkyrie test type is meant for less people to ride than those are. I trust the Rex line for surviving armies or heavily armored enemies, while the Fafnir line is for aerial combat with a chance of combat on the ground, if need be."

She nods, settling down.

"It's all quite fascinating, I'll admit. Now, what did you want to ask me and talk with me about, Son in Law?"

"Relics... divine weapons and equipment, seems to be forged differently here. I'm still not sure HOW they're keeping the charge, though. Why do they keep the charge while mine don't?"

She picks up the relics I leave for her to study, as well as Nero's sword, so she can see the difference. It takes her a while, as she mutters the entire time. Finally, she looks up, and studies me.

"You don't have legend imbuement, it seems. Was things truly so different?"

"Considering the constant threat of the Titans, and how they manipulated one of your children to steal the Yata no Kagami, and rebel against you? Yes."

She flinches, then sighs.

"I can see why you're having problems. If you push your legend into these grooves here, you can attune it to your own legend, but your... capacity, for lack of a better term, shrinks a tiny bit each time you do it. At the same time, it makes the relic Permanent. Fully stable, for lack of a better word. Something that won't be wiped out by the planet, or other Gods."

She pauses, then sighs.

"Once, I had my pantheon with me. Learning, growing with me. Then we all realized that we'd grown permanently weaker each time it happened, with each new artifact we made. I chose to try and reincarnate to figure things out, while the others refused, not seeing any problems with it. In doing so, I found my capacity... was... increased. Additively, as my next incarnation became a God in it's own right. More specifically, it was like 1 + 1 = 2. My capacity was increased by their full Godly capacity, minus the capacity they'd spent to make their own Artifacts, or Relics."

I nod, while writing this down.

"Eventually, my pantheon failed to be strong enough to even be considered Demigods. They were too weak to really do anything but give advice, not being able to reincarnate themselves... so they did something rather stupid, and chose to become one with my own divinity, in an attempt to piggyback on my reincarnation cycle, and take it over. Possibly to take over my body? I'm not sure. But it left me in a tough position... where they literally became a part of me from there on in, for the ones that chose that route."

She pauses, sighing, then shakes her head before continuing on.

"So I hunted down other Pantheons, and learned about their own situations. We were all in pretty dire straights by that point. With all the worship I gained from the others, I could hold on, but the other pantheons failed to hold on, for all but their strongest. So when I found them, they were on the verge of dying... so I went to try and fix it. This world of technology, is like a weave, a tapestry, woven by the Gods over reality in truth, forcing it to be a safe haven for Humanity, while us Gods would recover in the reality we'd carved into nature itself..."

She looks down, then away, before speaking up once more.

"At least, we planned on recovering. At the moment we'd finished, Gaia, the will of the planet, not the Titan Tamamo mentioned, struck. It began slowly. If we'd realized, perhaps we could have stopped it. But... no, it was better for us to recover. At the same time..."

She sighs, rubbing her forehead, even as I listen, studying her intently.

"Let me start that again. Gaia struck, and subtly made it so Gods were more inclined to be in the place where all the animals that preyed on humanity, as well as all their Gods, now were stuck in. So it would be harder for Gods to leave. Slowly altering the concept of the place from 'A haven for Gods to recover in', to rather be 'A prison that Gods can never escape from without killing most of humanity'."

I wince.

"It turned it from a hospital into a prison, huh?"

She nods, and sighs.

"Exactly, and now we're stuck in it, except for you. If we break the seals, we'll kill too many people. We'd drop thousands upon thousands of monsters that humanity simply can't easily kill anymore on defenseless populations, and entire continents would likely die."

"Well, shit."

She nods, rubbing her forehead.

"By the way, I noticed that revival skill of yours might be helpful as a one shot healing technique for people on the battlefield. Do you think there's a runic pattern we could figure out, involving it?"

She pauses, blinking, then moves over to look at what I'm talking about, before pausing at spotting most of what's on my desk, even as she passes by the clock. It's July 2nd, 2004, it seems.

"Cloaked firing, Son in Law?"

I pause, then nod.

"I just can't quite figure out what I've got wrong. I use illusions to keep the Wolfen from being noticed by others, but if we shoot things, or launch things, I have to reform the cloak. Before, it wasn't too bad a drain, but now it takes about 1/6th of my capacity to reform the cloak illusion."

She pauses, then blinks.

"Why not enchant the ammunition so that it reinforces the cloak long enough for you to re-form the illusion properly? It would only need to boost the cloak for 3 seconds..."

I pause, just... blinking.

"It was seriously THAT simple?! All this time, I just had to have the ammunition refresh the cloak long enough for the cloak to be brought back up?!"

She nods, trying to not smile.

I turn, and work. Most of the weapons won't work for this. The only thing that logically can give us a good punch would be the spinal rail gun. Still... I've been working on this for how long with no success? I may as well TRY today...

After a few moments, and an incredible leap in logic, I stare at a completed runic design schematic. It can't work for anything but the spinal railgun. Everything else is too small, robust, or intricate. But it will work.

"Hehehehehe..."

Amaterasu blinks at me.

"Hahahahahahahaha!"

She's raising her eyebrows, studying me now, even as I just let myself laugh.

"MWAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHA! YES! YEEEES!"

Now she's backing away a bit. I don't care, though. I HAVE IT!

"WE HAVE CLOAKED ARMAMENTS! REJOICE, MY PEOPLE! WE CAN NOW FIRE WHILE CLOAKED! AFTER 25 DAMNED YEARS OF TRYING TO FIGURE IT OUT, I HAVE THE DESIGN!"

Clinically, in some part of my mind, I take note of Amaterasu just blinking at me, even as the entire ship's crew lets out a long, hearty cheer. Even if she doesn't know why they're cheering, she seems to respect the accomplishment, at least. The rest of me is too overjoyed to give a damn.

"WE SHALL PREPARE CLOAKED ARMAMENTS! THEN WE SHALL MARCH ON CASTLE YGGDMILLENIA! PREPARE FOR WAR, MY LEGION OF COAL!"

I just laugh, long and hard, as my ship, my people laugh with me.

Rejoice, Yggdmillenia. For you shall have the war you wanted, if not the way you wanted it in.

Let's see you get a load of THIS.


Author's Notes:

Trust me when I say that the abilities for Amaterasu took a long time to figure out for something that would be rational and effective, as well as not be too much of a stretch from Koyanskaya, for what I've found of her.

Let's be honest, nearly nothing is known about her, or her skills or abilities. Add in Amaterasu is doing a direct possession, and some attributes and skills are different, too.

Amaterasu's Class Sheet:
Strength: C
Endurance: E
Agility: A+
Mana: EX
Luck: C
Noble Phantasm:
Revival of the Fallen:
A spell that revives a person, healing them up to continue even if they've fallen or been hurt a lot, at a hefty price of power. Approximately 10 legend cost per revival, and the person involved loses a tenth of their strength for the rest of the day, unless supernatural healing is used to counter this cost.
Attributes:
Illusions A: Able to alter all five senses with little to no issues, Amaterasu's illusion skills are top of the line.
Divinity A++: Amaterasu is a Goddess, and thus, harder to kill, as well as hitting harder with anything she uses. This allows her to break through the Faith of others that believe in different Gods, and hurt them irregardless.
Independant Manifestation A: "Hey, me? I could use some extra mana!" "Of course, mini-me! I'll be glad to give you some! Just make sure to last as long as you can!" "No problem, me!" Aka "Gods who still exist are bullshit with this".
Presence Concealment A++: "They never look up. Illusions especially help here, though. Oh yes, Illusions, how I love thee and thy saving grace for all my little mistakes!"

Skills:
Sun Augmentation (C): Normally a passive skill capable of amplifying the sun's abilities, it's been reduced from a Noble Phantasm to a skill she has to use, since this isn't her body, but the body of a reincarnation's. Who never trained in it before she died.

Amaterasu, as possessing Tamamo Vitch/Koyanskaya, is very much a glass cannon. However, she is a stealthy pain in the ass glass cannon, which is hard to find. Considering she knows how to operate modern firearms, as well?

This makes her abilities effectively insane for assassination, but not nearly so clear cut when fighting a normal Servant.

Rolls for if anyone bothers Erik about the games being played or not:
1D2 => 1
Huh. Erik got lucky for a change. Either that, or Tamamo and Amaterasu already dealt with the would be thieves themselves...
Rolling in case there ARE bodies to deal with:
1D2 => 1
Nope! They were completely unharassed the entire time. Well, that's a change, I'll admit.

Rolls for the Cloaked roll
A backstory on the cloaked roll... it originally had a DV of 60. One that was brought from several thousand over the years Erik's put into studying this, and banging his head against the wall nearly daily for it.
He's also been rolling religiously for it ever since the start, taking a daily cost of 5 legend for it.
With Amaterasu telling him exactly what he was missing involving it and illusions, he realized he was overlooking the blinding obvious, but I thought there was no way Erik would get it. He'd still need a 50, and he was rolling an average of 35 up until now.

I was planning on one last couple of rolls and then quitting.

UNTIL THIS ROLL HAPPENED AT LEAST:
53D10E8 => 19 | 10s: 11, ones: 2 = 50

So. Erik now has cloaked, stealth firing. You may all shudder in terror now, since now his list of "big projects" are down by one, and he can now pull a Battle of Camp Khitomer style fight.
For reference... that fight can be found here.

[Arbitrarity]

Cloning is... interesting. Apparently Erik has the mental transfer stuff worked out? Especially weird since Servants aren't really physical humans, and Mash wasn't human to begin with (kinda). Hopefully EMIYA cares more about continuity of his instance's experience, because that's not getting him off the Throne. On the EMIYA note

"And on your side, as well! Enjoy meeting my ungrateful apprentice! It should prove... amusing."

He pauses, before smirking.

"You mentioned that cloning stuff, didn't you? Offer him a new body, if he helps you figure out why your relics are failing so much. Well, if your servant doesn't help you figure it out, first, at least."

It's VERY unclear here who "he" is, because Zelretch was last referring to Rin. I assumed this was EMIYA on reading, because aptitudes and applicability of getting a new body, but I read over it about 5 times to figure out if there was any way to reasonably attach that. "Offer her Servant a new body" would be much easier to connect.

I do wonder what sword that is. Probably not the Jeweled Sword, because I'd expect a bit more fancy description of that, so probably just something for evaluating if Erik can actually do what he says he can. Upgrading/mass producing Sapphire sounds fun.

Ouch, permanently reducing legend capacity to craft relics. I'm guessing it's a maximum point of pool (depending on power of the relic, perhaps), and once you drop below maximum for the next tier down, you effectively lose a dot of legend? Reincarnating resulting in composite summation of divinity makes some sense, since you're effectively "combining" your legends. That makes Erik able to craft up to 14 relics kinda safely (depending on actual pool shrinkage) while acting as a demigod before he diminishes, I'd assume?

I'm a bit uncertain about whether or not Amaterasu's sun power should work with the Radiant Wave Surger, depending on how it works. Sun is all fusion power, no fission, so her solar augmenting should only work with fusion.

What is that dice notation? I'm guessing... 22 auto successes from Epic Intelligence 7, 1 freebies from 10s (less 2 from 1's, so 9 net), and 19 successes generally, which totals 50. You're using Mechanical Panopoly for... small machine, so 8 Intelligence, 3 Occult, 7 craft, 9 science (engineering type), total 27 dice? Man, 13 successes on 27 dice (your average roll) still seems quite above average, unless the 5 points of legend are used for automatic successes. 11 10s on 27 dice is just stupid lucky though. You weren't kidding about Kieran's powers.

[RanmaBushiko]

Cloning is... interesting. Apparently Erik has the mental transfer stuff worked out? Especially weird since Servants aren't really physical humans, and Mash wasn't human to begin with (kinda). Hopefully EMIYA cares more about continuity of his instance's experience, because that's not getting him off the Throne. On the EMIYA note



It's VERY unclear here who "he" is, because Zelretch was last referring to Rin. I assumed this was EMIYA on reading, because aptitudes and applicability of getting a new body, but I read over it about 5 times to figure out if there was any way to reasonably attach that. "Offer her Servant a new body" would be much easier to connect.

I do wonder what sword that is. Probably not the Jeweled Sword, because I'd expect a bit more fancy description of that, so probably just something for evaluating if Erik can actually do what he says he can. Upgrading/mass producing Sapphire sounds fun.

Ouch, permanently reducing legend capacity to craft relics. I'm guessing it's a maximum point of pool (depending on power of the relic, perhaps), and once you drop below maximum for the next tier down, you effectively lose a dot of legend? Reincarnating resulting in composite summation of divinity makes some sense, since you're effectively "combining" your legends. That makes Erik able to craft up to 14 relics kinda safely (depending on actual pool shrinkage) while acting as a demigod before he diminishes, I'd assume?

I'm a bit uncertain about whether or not Amaterasu's sun power should work with the Radiant Wave Surger, depending on how it works. Sun is all fusion power, no fission, so her solar augmenting should only work with fusion.

What is that dice notation? I'm guessing... 22 auto successes from Epic Intelligence 7, 1 freebies from 10s (less 2 from 1's, so 9 net), and 19 successes generally, which totals 50. You're using Mechanical Panopoly for... small machine, so 8 Intelligence, 3 Occult, 7 craft, 9 science (engineering type), total 27 dice? Man, 13 successes on 27 dice (your average roll) still seems quite above average, unless the 5 points of legend are used for automatic successes. 11 10s on 27 dice is just stupid lucky though. You weren't kidding about Kieran's powers.

It's still something that he needs to have tested. However, considering Servants can likely jump OUT of them, he has a perfect set of test subjects. And yes, it was EMIYA. I will change that.

It IS A jeweled sword, or more specifically, one of his backups for it. To be fair, do you really think he fully trusts Erik yet at this point?

As for the permanently reducing legend capacity, it's small. 1 point of legend capacity. But you have to remember, that most Godly Weapons have a tendency to get broken against monsters, and giant beasts, unless they were produced by legendary blacksmiths. Add in that the Gods in question would rather replace their weapon with another just like it, or repair it rather than lose it permanently, and you have the problem most faced.
It's just like magical weapons in most games. Have you ever HEARD of a rusty magical sword, for example? Not likely, unless you count Derflinger from Summoner of Zero. They get used, and they get used HARD, constantly being used against massive dangers that could break or shatter them. And divine weapons are used even more than that. Godly politics, godly feuds, Gods fighting over which mortals belong to whom, Gods saving their mortal followers from monsters, Gods helping their followers forge legendary weapons, the list goes on, and on and on for issues Gods have, and thus, their weapons can get broken to.
Seeing as your legend multiplied by itself is how much legend capacity you have, that adds up quick for lowering your effective abilities. You'd keep legend LEVELS, but... once you're down below 50 legend in capacity, you're having huge issues with mustering power, because even if you're still a high level god in terms of LEGEND, if you don't have the power to pull out the strongest SKILLS... is it worth it to have the nifty toys?

Amaterasu kept reincarnating herself, in Fate canon, and this really does explain why perfectly well. If every time she reincarnated, she added another 144 maximum legend to her capacity, minus whatever godly things she made in the process... she figured out one hell of a loophole, didn't she? You could see others wanting in on the gravy train, so to speak, only to accidentally merge with her instead, too. Unfortunately, Gods can really be stupid sometimes. They're STRONG, definitely. But even Erik's pushed the "Idiot who forgot something" button in the story so far.

However, this also means she tended to shatter most of her enemies weapons in combat, from how much more skills she simply had access to.

For Amaterasu's abilities... you're honestly likely right, that it's fusion, not fission. It's still nuclear, however, so she'll get a bit of a boost from it. Lasers, on the other hand...

I accidentally didn't copy it fully, for the dice, and I'll change it in a bit.

53 dice, not including the 22 automatic successes, to be rolled. More specifically...

22 to add on in the end, from Epic intelligence, so that leaves rolling for Legend (8 right now), Intelligence (Sealed to 8 as well), Science, for 3, Science (Engineering) for 9, Science (Nuclear) for 5, Science (Electricity) for 5, Science (Airships) for 5, Science (Submarines) for 5, Science (Space) for 5. That's 53 maximum dice for science.

It's still rare, considering the second highest number I got was towards the beginning for a 42. I just didn't anticipate a 50 outright popping up at the end, RIGHT when Erik needed it.

In Scion, 8s and 9s count as a 1 for the successes, while 10s count as a 2, and 1s count as a -1.