Deviox's Orphanage of Snippets (Mostly Wrom Crossovers, now featuring Touhou!)

[Deviox]

2011/4/10​

Taylor grumbled as she woke up. She felt a drop of water land on her head, stirring her out of her daze. The wet pavement beneath her told her a storm had just passed. Another drop of water urges her to get up faster. With a groan, she pulled herself to her feet, looking around. Her most recent memory was defeating the Primordial Darkness, and having some kind of conversation with Xion, though she couldn't remember… any of it.

It took her a few moments to finally get her mind in a good enough place to start guessing where she was. The weathered brick walls of an alleyway gave Taylor a few guesses, most of them were good, though she had no idea how she could have ended up here.

Her thoughts were forced to a halt when she saw a snow-white figure lying down as well. "Matoi!" Taylor called out, hurrying over to her friend. The fresh, powered-up outfit the Technique-wielder had been wearing had returned to her regular uniform. Taylor quickly inspected her close friend, letting out a sigh of relief when she saw that she was unharmed and was likely just knocked out.

With a bit of effort, Taylor rested Matoi against the wall before she tried using her communicator, trying to get into contact with Arks, only to be met with dead silence. Not unexpected. She knew most Arks stationed on Earth got recalled to Oracle to deal with Shiva, possibly all of them for the final push. Instead, she tried to radio the Mother Corps, only to get more silence. Taylor's brow tightened as she tried Earth Guide next, only to be met with more silence. Lastly, she tried to call Enga's personal phone, just to be met with nothing but radio silence.

Either her communicator was dead, Aether communicators were dead worldwide, or something else was at play. All three were distinct possibilities. While not entirely visible, she didn't come out of the fight with the Primordial Darkness entirely unharmed. While all of her systems appeared to be fully functional, she couldn't fully verify it until she got back into contact with the Arks fleet. The Luminmech rampage across Earth could have easily damaged or destroyed the Aether communication network, though given that the attack was more of a mindless rampage, she had her doubts about that as well.

Which left the unknown factor being the most likely one. The most she could do was activate her SOS Transponder and wait for rescue.

Taylor looked at Matoi, smiling at just how peaceful the albino looked before securing her onto her back, and walking out of the alleyway. As she exited, she saw an ocean, which greatly narrowed down just where she was. She took in the view for a few moments, only to notice something she thought she'd never see again.

The Rig.

---

Hitsugi grunted as she heaved the massive rifle. She's back in her school uniform now. "Mind telling me why you're a gun now?"

"It's rather complicated," the gun said, its center orb lighting in synch with its speech.

"Harriet, we've got time," Hitsugi replied. "Aether communications aren't working."

The gun sighed. "You remember meeting Lisa on the Arks ship, right?"

"The… creepy cast girl, right?" Hitsugi said in thought.

"That's… not wrong," Harriet said with a light sigh. "Just know that I was sealed inside her."

"That doesn't sound all that complicated," Hitsugi said.

"The full story isn't one to be shared on the streets. Or without my partner's consent." Harriet said.

"...and if you see any of those kids on the floor…"

"Hitsugi, hide!" Harriet said in a loud whisper. Hitsugi was quick to follow her companion's advice, diving behind a dumpster.

"Shoot them in the head. Twice." Hitsugi managed to catch a glimpse of a really big burly man wearing a dragon mask. Despite the cold weather, he was shirtless, showing off the tattoos that covered his body.

"Yakuza," Hitsugi whispered in disgust, her katana formed in her hand.

"While I would normally support your efforts to defend those kids…" Harriet whispered, "I doubt you're at your best right now. Are you sure your phone isn't working?"

"Definitely," Hitsugi replied, her school uniform disappearing, being replaced with her avatar form.

"Very well. Set me aside for now. While I'm dead weight to you, I'm still a Cosmogenic Arm. No regular user could hope to use me."

"That's a relief to hear," Hitsugi said as she rested the gun against a dumpster she was hiding behind.

Hitsugi then took a deep breath, stepping out from behind the dumpster and staring at Lung as she stepped into clear view, her katana resting on her shoulder.

---

Taylor wasn't too sure how long she stared at the Rig, but it was definitely until she felt Matoi stir on her back. Taylor secured her a bit more tightly as she slowly awoke.

"Mmm, Taylor?" Matoi said, looking around and rubbing her eyes a bit. "Where are we? Earth?"

"Yes and no," Taylor replied. "We're on my Earth."

"Your Earth?" Matoiasked, slowly piecing together what Taylor just said. "Wait, your Earth? Earth Bet?" She said with a bit of excitement. I had told her stories of my home in the past.

"You bet," Taylor said with a light smile. "See that building in the ocean? With the big shield? That's the Rig I've told you about."

"Oh! Didn't you say it had a light bridge?" Matoi asked.

"It's probably turned off right now. Light complaints I bet."

"I see." I kneeled to let Matoi off of my back. "Did you see Hitsugi or Harriet?"

"I didn't. Hitsugi isn't patched into our coms, and if you've returned to your normal form…" Taylor started.

"It's likely Harriet returned to being a gun," Matoi finished.

"Provided that-" I was cut off when I heard a loud draconic roar, a ball of fire suddenly visible in the night sky. "Dragon, dragon, dragon…" Taylor said, something tickling at the tip of her memory.

"Your home city had a dragon?" Matoi said in a bit of surprise. "Is it friendly?"

"No, he wasn't…" Taylor said, her eyes lighting up in a bit of worry. "Lung!"

"Lung? Like the organ?"

"No, I think it comes from his native language, but that's not important right now," I said. "We have to stop him," I said taking off in a run towards where I heard the fire.

"If Hitsugi is fighting Lung, do you think she'd win?"

I racked my head for a few long moments. "Probably? It's been over 10 years since I've been here, but I remember Lung being a big deal. However, Hitsugi did help against both Deus ESC-A and Primordial Darkness, so…"

"Let's hurry just to be safe. Even if she could handle him, she might still be exhausted from earlier." Matoi said, starting to move towards the action. It was at least a few blocks away, but at the very least, we'd run into familiar faces.

Perhaps this would be a good chance to battle-test that new class?"

---

Emergency Code: Duel!​

Hitsugi ducked under the swipe of a claw. "Tch, why can he turn into a dragon?" She said as she heard the man-turned-dragon roar. She's already incapacitated the mooks, keeping her katana in its sheath to avoid fatally harming them.

And for her troubles, the big beefy man with dragon tattoos was now a big growing dragon. She had originally considered hit-and-run tactics, however, when he showed not just the ability to regenerate but also the ability to spray fire at her, she quickly changed her mind and opted to just continuously pressure him, hoping to overwhelm his healing factor.

However, Harriet's warning was proving to have been worth listening to. She was getting exhausted, not just from fighting the Profound Darkness earlier, but the near-endless waves of Luminmechs from before that. Something the dragon seemed to notice as he pressured her more and more, forcing Hitsugi on the defensive.

She sucked on her teeth as she sidestepped the dragon man's downward swipe, trying to use the opening to slice his arm off, only to need to leap back to avoid a gust of flames.

It was becoming clear to Hitsugi that the dragon man wasn't just strong, but also experienced. Experienced enough that even if she wasn't as exhausted, she'd still likely be on the back foot. To add to her worries, the dragon still seemed to be getting bigger. Big enough that Hitsugi was realizing that she'd need to force the fight onto the streets soon.

Then, she saw a Falspawn Scorpion come out of nowhere and slam Lung in the face, with a swarm of Hornets following soon after. The next thing she felt was getting picked up by someone from behind and dropped on her back onto a nearby roof.

"Are you okay? Sorry if I was a bit rough there." the voice of a masked girl with gorgeous red hair said.

Spoiler: Author's Notes

Yay, got something out again! This time, I went and gave that PSO2 Snip a follow-up. Not too sure I like the theme chosen for Hitsugi vs Lung, but it should be fine. That said, I do suppose I should explain that...

In PSO2 (Classic), Emergency Codes are events that can occur randomly while on a quest. These events can range from defeating a boss (Duel) to defeating a group of elite mobs (Attack), to collecting or mining resources (Collect), defending a point (Protect), and so on and so on. For those familiar with FFXIV, they're basically FATEs. I will likely be repurposing some Emergency Codes for something else (IE Disaster will become the Endbringer code). Sadly, New Genesis lacks any real variety with its Emergency Codes, but that's a discussion for another time.

As for the fic itself, I currently don't plan to give this its own thread for the time being unless it starts to get rather long. For now, I just plan to make this the first snip series on the thread and just see how it goes.

 

[Deviox]

"I'm sorry if the tea isn't up to your standards," Rin said to her guest. "Had I been expecting you, I'd have gone out of my way to get some higher-quality tea leaves."


Their guest simply chuckled. "Don't worry about it. I'm not even at your house," he said, taking a sip of his tea. "It is better than many who are aware of my arrival."


Rin blinked a few times. "I am… admittedly not sure if I should be humbled or not." It was a well-known fact that their guest had some enemies. Clocktower politics was an… interesting game to say the very least.


The guest simply chuckled. "Take it as a compliment," he said right before taking a sip. "Gather the rest of your friends. What I'm here to discuss involves them as much as it involves you."


Rin nodded, leaving the room to do as their guest asked. Said guest took another sip of his tea. "This is some good tea."


Less than five minutes later, Rin returned with her friends. "Shirou and Sakura; meet Kisschur Zelretch Schweinorg, Wizard Marshal and wielder of the 2nd Magic."


"Please, call me Zelretch." The Wizard Marshal stated, taking another sip of his tea. "Feel free to show yourself, Rider. What I'm here to discuss will greatly involve your Master. I'm sure your Master and her friends would appreciate your input."


There was a long pause of several long seconds before Rider revealed herself, materializing in a blue shine. "Your reputation proceeds you."


"It takes little thinking to figure out that you'd be here," he declared, "After all, I am from the Clock Tower. And naturally, many within the Clock Tower want your heads for how the Grail War ended." He stated with an exasperated sigh.


Everyone seemed to stiffen. "I take full responsibility for what happened," Rin declared.


Zelretch sighed at Rin's declaration. "A noble sacrifice, but a pointless one. We've already concluded that the corruption of the Grail predates yours and even your father's birth. The issue at hand isn't so much the destruction of the grail," Zelretch paused, taking a sip of his tea.


Rin took the hint. "It was that a path to the root was cut off."


"Indeed," Zelretch said, placing his now empty cup down. "Ultimately, I believe what you did was completely necessary given the situation at hand. However, many senior Clock Tower Magi simply do not care. What they see is a unique, once-in-a-millennium opportunity being completely and utterly disrespected and thrown in the garbage."


The locals all flinched at Zelretch's declaration. What they had just been told completely and utterly demolished them. They all looked at each other. Rider's stance tightens.


Suddenly, Zelretch took a sip of his tea, the cup now filled with the same black tea that had been in it earlier. "Under normal circumstances, I would be able to use Rin's capability to replicate, even in a temporary and limited capacity, my Jeweled Sword would be enough for me to take her on as my apprentice, ultimately leading to the charges being dropped." He glanced towards Sakura. "In such a situation, while there would be some Magi willing to learn more about the long-term effects of a Servant's existence, we both understand what might happen if such a situation would occur."


However, such a declaration made it clear that these weren't normal circumstances. "Shirou's the complication, isn't it?" Rin declared. Everyone's gaze fell upon the diminutive silver-haired girl, though said hair had been steadily turning from its almost perfect silver color to a more pinkish shade.


"Indeed. The Eizenbern's alone are more than enough to cause issues in this situation." Zelretch explained. "However, an almost perfect replication of the 3rd True Magic is almost enough to overshadow the forced closing of the Path to the Root."


"Thus, politics," Rin stated.


"Exactly." Zelretch nodded. "However, there is one method available to me," Zelretch took another sip of his tea.


"You use your second magic to send us another world." Rin quickly figured out. "However, I doubt I doubt you'd just send us to any world."


"More than that." Zelretch declared. "It's a world that's stuck with a ticking time bomb. One that could reach out across the Kaleidoscope."


That was… more than a worrying picture for everyone involved. "Wouldn't Alaya or Gaia deploy the Counter Force or even Counter Guardians in that case?" Shirou asked. He, no, she was still getting used to their new voice, made clear by the somewhat inconsistent pitch.


"It's being suppressed."


"Huh?" That was a surprise to everyone present.


"How is that possible?" Rin said, deep in thought.


"That's what I need you to figure out," Zelretch stated. "I've already discovered a means to neutralize the timebomb. It's simply a matter of waiting for the right opportunity to use it." Zelretch declared, finishing another cup of his tea. "However, discovering how the Counter Force of not just Gaia but Alaya too are being suppressed is equally as important. Doing so would allow us to develop countermeasures, and potentially allow us to better deal with Types in the future."


"That's… quite the important task. Are you sure that what we uncover won't also be used by other Magi?"


"I doubt that they would be capable of utilizing it. Aliens are involved in this situation."


"Aliens?" Shirou and Sakura asked in worry.


"Are they Types?" Rin followed up.


"Thankfully, no. However, there is the possibility that they could rival a Type." Zelretch said.


The silence was deafening but did better put into scope the task that they were being given. Go to another world to assist in developing a countermeasure to an alien race that could rival Types in terms of strength. More specifically, to develop a countermeasure to Counter Force Suppression.


"That's quite the task you're putting us up against," Rin stated.


"I am aware. As such, I've come prepared with additional compensation," Zelretch said, pulling out a pair of glasses, seemingly out of thin air. "First, for Rider. Mystic Eye Killers potent enough for your particular eyes." He set them down and slid it across the table. It rested for a few long seconds a Rider stared at it, before picking it up and inspecting it. Then, the blindfold hiding her eyes fell off, revealing her closed eyes as she placed the glasses on, opening them soon after.


"They work," Sakura said with a smile.


"For you, Shirou," He then pulled out the empty sword scabbard. "It was left behind in your previous body." Shirou held it, inspecting it.


"I…" Shirou looked at it and examined it closely. Only when she began to perform a Structural Grasp on the scabbard did his eyes shoot wide open. "I had Avalon inside my body?" There was a mass scramble as everyone but Zelretch tried to get a better look.


"That's…" Rin quickly took a thinking pose.


"That must have been the catalyst to summon Saber," Sakura put together.


"Clearly," Rin said, spending a few more moments thinking as Zelretch smiled. Just as Shirou was pressing Avalon against her body, Rin grabbed her arm. "Wait. Avalon must have been what saved your life during the Fire. A fire that no doubt burned away your Element and Origin." Rin hummed for a few more seconds. "And your father likely decided to hide it within you to hide it, right?"


"The Eizenbern clan hired Shirou's father to serve as their representative in the 4th Grail War," Zelretch stated, helping to confirm Rin's theory.


"Then that's likely the case. And when he saved you, since you lacked an element or origin at the time, your soul instinctively reached out for something new to grasp onto," Rin continued.


Sakura's face lit up in realization. "Turning his Element and Origin into Sword."


"I don't recommend putting it back in your body just yet," Rin stated. "We still haven't determined if what Illya did to you had an effect on your Element or Origin, and with your soul likely still settling into its new vessel, it's likely that Avalon could have a similar effect again."


Shirou looked at Avalon a bit, before nodding, putting it on her lap. "Probably a good call."


Zelretch let out a hum. "You know, I had glossed over that little detail myself. If you want, I could take it back and return it to where Excalibur rests."


"Are the Fae impatient to get Avalon back?" Shirou asked.


"No. If anything, they seem… happy that Avalon is still out there." Zelretch said, stroking his beard. "A curious thing to say the least. I have some ideas as to why, but that's not for this discussion."


"Then I'll remain its… keeper for now." Shirou decided.


"Very well. For you, Rin, I have two gifts." Zelretch then pulled out a heavy-looking cloth bag. "First, a surplus of gemstones, many are already charged." He stated. Rin's eyes lit up as she eagerly grabbed the bag, and opened it up. Within were a wide range of gemstones. "Second, however, is my offer of mentorship."


"Wait, really?" Rin said in shock. "I mean, uh,"


Zelretch chuckled. "It would be a waste to see such talent go to waste," he declared with a smile.


"I am honored to be your student then." Rin finally declared.


"Good. I'll get started on your lesson plan then," Zelretch stated. "Lastly, for you Sakura." He revealed a thick book, on top was a replication of Sakura's own Command Seal. "A method to restore Command Seals. It can only store 3 Command Seals, and takes about a month to restore one when placed in ideal conditions."


"Like on top of a major Layline?" Sakura said, pulling the book towards herself, and looking at it.


"Indeed. However, do not expect the process of transferring a seal from the book to yourself to be painless." The Wizard forewarned.


"I will keep it in mind," Sakura stated.


"I will give you a week to decide on my offer," Zelretch said, standing up. "Afterwards, I'll give you one more week to get your affairs in order. Should you accept, I will have one more gift prepared before I transfer Rin's mansion, not your home Shirou, to a location I have prepared. Any longer than that and even I will be powerless to stop the wheel of politics."


"I see, thank you, Wizard Marshal," Rin said.


"Think little of it, Rin." The wizard said before leaving.


The next week, Zelretch returned, and the girls accepted his offer.

---

On the day of the transfer, Zelretch appeared in the living room of Rin's mansion with his final gift in hand. On the table was a kettle filled with tea. "I would thank you for the hospitality, but today is pure business," he said, politely declining what he knew would be some really good tea. "First, my last bit of assistance." He said, setting a stack of large cards down. On top was a painting-style picture of a knight with a sword. Under it, written in stylized but very clear English was the word 'Saber.'


The group stared down at them, closely inspecting them. Shirou picked up the top card, revealing the second card in the same art style as the Saber card, but with a bowman aiming towards the sky instead and labeled Archer.


"They're named after the Classes of the Holy Grail War," Sakura said, picking up the Archer card to reveal the Rider card.


"Naturally," Zelretch said with a grin. "These are the Class Cards and were used as an alternative to the Servant system in an alternative timeline." He bent over, fanning out the remaining cards, showing off the rest of the classes from the Grail War. "They come in two use cases. Include and Install. Include grants you limited access to the Servant's Capabilities, typically just their weapon of choice. Install grants you full access to a Servant's capabilities, but is extremely strenuous on your body. Without the use of a capable Mystic Code, it can easily be lethal." Zelretch then took the two class cards from Sakura and Shirou and restacked the cards, turning his attention to Rin. "Ruby in particular is highly capable of utilizing them."


Rin's face paled at that declaration. "I see." She said, dread apparent in her voice. "I'll have to keep that in mind, but it's… good to know we already have a capable Mystic Code."


Sakura took a few steps closer to her sister before whispering in her ear. "What's Ruby?"


"I'll explain later," Rin whispered back.


"However, as they are now, they're blank. Any use of a Blank Class Card is often lethal." Zelretch warned. "They won't start seeking a Servant until they arrive. If Alaya or Gaia have any capability to act, they will likely attempt to interact with the Class Cards in some way, either speeding up the seeking process or ensuring a particular Servant ends up on the card."


"Or both," Rin said with a nod. "Assuming no Counter Force interference, how long do you expect the cards to be ready?"


"I can't say," Zelretch said. "There's plenty of unique circumstances that are all occurring at the same time that makes it difficult to give a proper estimate."


"So simply look for anything suspicious in the cards?"


"Correct." Zelretch placed the deck of cards on the table. "Lastly, upon arrival, there will be plenty of files explaining your new identities in that world. As you already know, that world does have programs in place to support the dimensionally displaced, however, they are meant to tie you down to the government."


"Something we don't want," Shirou stated, folding her arms.


"Exactly," Rin stated.


"I wasn't able to perfectly replicate the history for all of you. You were particularly difficult, Shirou, so be sure to carefully read your new profile."


"Gotcha," Shirou said.


"Any final questions?" Zelretch stated, looking around. After a lack of a response, Zelretch let out a hum, summoning the real Jeweled Sword Zelretch. "Let's begin then." He said, pointing the tip of it into the floor, thrusting it down. Then, in a singular instant, the windows outside changed from being the dead of night to a bright morning. "Welcome to Brockton Bay of the planet Earth Bet."

---

Rin finished reading her profile. It was a simple one, but one easy to work with. Ultimately, she had been a rich family from Japan living in relative isolation until the endbringer Leviathan sank Kyushu, and in turn Fuyuki. Ultimately, she was the last surviving member of her family.


Sakura had a similar story, though less rich and more well-off. Dead family, the works.


Shirou, on the other hand… "Emilya von Einzbern," she stated, not sure what she should even think about it. She was from Germany but spent much of her life in Japan after the murder of her family, then further sought refuge in the States following Kyushu's sinking.


Elsewhere, a young Taylor Hebert was still sleeping off a slumber party with her bestest friend ever. As she slept, she dreamt of cards.

Spoiler: Author's Notes

It's been a, uh, little while since I last posted anything. While my muse hadn't entirely been on vacation this last... *looks down* 4 months, what it has been working on is, once again, not fit for Spacebattles.

I still have ideas on what I want to do for a part 2 for the PSO2 snip, but I can't really seem to get it off the ground in a way I like, so it's effectivly been shelfed. I do have plot points in mind for the a part 2 of this, but if that'll get off the ground is another matter entirely. That said, I feel like I should explain where this little snip came from.

TLDR; I want to see more Heaven's Failure Shirou/Emilya. However, I havn't seen too many fics involving the idea. As I let the idea brew some more, I ended up giving Queen of the Cards a reread made me want to have a Magus!Taylor.

On a seperate note, you'll notice that Zelretch isn't (too much of) a troll here. While it's ultimetly come to my attention that he isn't offically a much of a troll, he will enjoy a good gag. He know's of Rin's problem's with Ruby, and while his decision with the Class Cards wasn't particularly fueled by that, he dose get a bit of a laugh out of it..

As for the Class Cards themselfs, I do have some idea on who I want in them, but I've also got some rules I'd want to follow. Having a Japanese and a Germanic represenative are both musts. I'd like to have a PArahuman, but that would likely limit me to just Hero and Khipri. I'd also like a Counter Guardian that's not an Emiya but that's a tall task. And naturally, we need a Knight of the Round in there somewhere. Avoiding any 5th War Servants would be nice but not needed. More importantly however, I'd want minimial overlap with the Prisma Taylor fic.

Not too sure why I'm revealing my Class Card rules, just something I want to get off my chest since I'll probably never get this out. I do have the thought of having Musashi in Saber, but eh...

Lastly, my full sized fics. I do have something in the works for Old World Collapse, but getting things to flow toghether nicely is a pain in the ass. Blazing Phoenix is, in all likelyhood, offically dead. Twilight of the Abyss is something I want to work on, but my muse is having fun with other ideas.

Now then, to finish this boring ass double shift locked away just making sure there's no god damn fire.

Edit: Forgot to shill my Discord Server.

 

[Deviox]

And that's the last of the fics from the Spacebattles form. Going forward, I plan to cross post my snips both here and on Space Battles. I'll likely start crossposting my other fics tomorrow.

 

[Deviox]

Taylor tossed and turned in her bed. "I know you're awake," she heard her mom. Taylor only let out a moan. "You know you start boot camp today, right?" The 12-year-old only let out another moan from under her blankets. "Remember, we agreed that it was this instead of summer camp," One more moan was heard under the blankets. "Okay, that's it. If you're not out of your bead in 10 seconds, I'm resealing-"

Taylor was bolting out of bed before her mom had finished that sentence. Only then did she get a look at the clock. 6 in the morning. "Ugh, mooooom, doesn't it start at 8?" Taylor bemoaned as she rubbed the sleep out of her eyes, no longer acting as tired as she was just a few moments ago.

"Rin agreed to give you breakfast if you came early. And you agreed to that, remember?"

Taylor thought on that for a few moments, before her eyes lit up! "Wait, you hypnotized me into-"

"That means you need to work on your resistance to it," Annette said with a kind yet cruel smile. "Now get dressed. You remembered to pack your things, right?"

"Yes Mom," Taylor groaned, finally willing to admit she'd lost.

"Good. Remember that you're staying the week at Rin's place."

"I know Mom," Taylor droned on.

"And that Dad thinks you're still going to summer camp."

"I know."

"Just wanted to make sure." Her mom teased with a grin on her face. "Be down quickly or I'm really going to reseal-"

"I will, I will!" Taylor almost shouted, throwing a pillow at her mom. The throw landed straight at the body as the mother retreated. Taylor sighed a bit as she put on her Mystic Eye Killers. She didn't exactly need them anymore, but she kept a habit of leaving them on anyway. They didn't quite have the money for surgery, so suddenly appearing without them could cause more questions than she knew she could answer.

That, and she hated hypnotizing people. Especially Emma.

10 minutes later, Taylor stepped out of her room in a simple short-sleeved shirt and a large bag filled with clothes and other travel supplies rested on her shoulder. "I'm ready."

---

"Annette, I've been tutoring Taylor for over a year now. I know you don't like the idea of the examination, but if I'm going to put together a proper lesson, I need to see it for myself. It's long overdue."

Taylor peeked around a corner as she heard her mom and Rin get into a minor argument.

"I know, it's just…"

"Look, she'll be fine. I've had to do the process several times over the past year. She won't even feel it after a full day, I promise."

The mother sighed, rubbing the back of her head. "You asking me is more of a courtesy, isn't it?"

Taylor could hear Rin smile. "Yep."

Taylor saw her mom look at her, causing the young Magus to flee. "Fine. Like you said, it's long overdue. Just make sure you do not tell anyone about her Origin. Not even Taylor."

"Okay," Rin said, shrugging off the comment about Taylor's Origin. It wasn't uncommon for a magus to keep an Origin from themselves under the right circumstances. "And just to make sure, you don't have a family crest, right?"

"None," Annette said. "I had fallen out with my family long before the Clocktower Bombing."

"And had no way to recover the crest." Rin followed up.

"You know Crest Extraction from a corpse requires specialized skills. And after the Bombing," Annette started.

"Any surviving Magi with the skill was in high demand," Rin finished with a sigh. A loud growl then echoed in the room, causing Annette to blush. "Come, you can join us for breakfast. Emilya should be done soon."

"Thank you."

The two left for the dining room, finding Taylor seated, humming a tune as she waited. "Oh, now that I think about it, neither of you have been here for a meal yet, have you?" Rin then realized.

"Nope," Taylor said, popping the P.

"You're going to love it then," Rin said with a smile. Then a short pink-haired lady walked in, carrying a massive stack of pancakes. Taylor's eyes lit up like a Christmas tree as Sakura followed behind Emilya carrying enough plates for everyone; including Rider who turned a corner and took a seat at the table.

Breakfast began surprisingly quietly. "So, Taylor," Rin eventually said between bites, causing the youngest girl to look up, cheeks stuffed with delicious pancakes. "I'm going to be performing a thorough soul examination. After we do some physical training." Taylor blinked, looking at her mother.

"Yes, I've given Rin permission to look at your soul." The mother said, drawing the child's attention for a moment.

"You're going to be here for a month, Taylor. I need to know what exactly I'm looking at." Rin explained, getting Taylor's attention again. "But we won't start right away. We'll start with some physical training with Emilya's help. Afterward, just before lunch, we'll conduct the examination. Depending on how your soul reacts to the examination, we'll either end for the day there or conduct a lecture. Later tonight, we'll go through what chores you'll be expected to do while you're here."

"Chores?" Taylor bemoaned.

"You're going to be living under their roof." Annette followed up, taking a bite of her pancake. "Oh, this is really good."

"I know!" Taylor managed to say right after swallowing a big bite.

"Emilya is a monster when it comes to Western food," Rin explained with a smile. "But yes, you're going to learn how to help out around here, much like you do at your own house." Rin took a bite of her pancakes. "However, because everyone here knows about Magecraft, you get to use it to help you with your chores."

Taylor's eyes seemed to light up at that idea. She had to be very stringent with using her magecraft whenever she was home. In short, absolutely no magecraft was to be done when Dad was around. Ultimately, she's never been given a good opportunity to do magecraft for chores since he could walk in.

Annette finished her pancakes first. "Just remember to keep it discrete when we get home," she warned as she stood up. "I need to get going. I need to be at the university soon."

Everyone nodded. "Bye, mom!" Taylor said, everyone else sharing their farewells.

Breakfast ended soon after, with Sakura taking most of the dishes away for washing as Rin and Shirou led Taylor to the dojo to begin her training for the day.

---

Taylor rushed down Emilya with a barrage of jabs and hooks. Her body was reinforced to make her faster and stronger. However, despite the raw barrage of blows she Taylor pushed out, it was rarely both fists. The barrage would be oppressive to many Magi, yet Emilya managed to comfortably weather the storm, a pair of gloves granting him the knowledge needed to handle it.

It had surprised Rin when she realized that Emilya hadn't been given full knowledge of Archer's fighting style. There were too many variables at play to rule out what it could be, but she did know one thing: Emilya did gain all of Archer's traceable weapons. Enough for the former male to forge her own path in combat, rather than just borrow from Archer. However, if anything, Emilya was more willing to borrow more from others, focusing on borrowing skills from everyone rather than just mastering a single set with a single set of skills. It was an interesting arrangement, though Rin noticed Emilya had settled into a few favorites.

Rin's attention then focused on Taylor. If Rin had to describe the 12-year-old's combat style, it was similar to a boxer. Going in and hitting as hard as she could while trying to use her overwhelming offense to let her stay in. Of course, that was rarely ever the full story when it came to one's magecraft. If anything, Rin almost applauded the 12-year-old's little bit of sleight of hand. Right as Emilya was about to leap away, a stone wall ripped up from the ground, cutting off Emilya's escape, letting Taylor finally land a single solid hit straight into Emilya's gut.

Rin then let out a clap. "And that's the round." She said, declaring the round of combat over. Taylor returned the wall of rock to the earth and Rin returned the dojo to its original condition. "Okay you little rascal, I've been meaning to ask. Where'd you get the idea to do magecraft like that?"

"Oh, I got the idea from a TV Show called Avatar," Taylor stated. "See, in it, there's these people that can bend the elements using martial arts, and-"

"Okay, I think I get the idea," Rin said, not wanting to get Taylor's blabbermouth going.

"We could watch some later," Taylor offered.

"That'll depend," Rin said, not wanting to watch it, but also willing to admit that it would give her some idea of where Taylor wanted to push her combat magecraft. "Emilya, you didn't need to throw the round like that."

Emilya rubbed the back of her head slightly. "I know, but I wanted to try this out," Emilya raised the gloved fist.

"I'm surrounded by idiots," Rin sighed massaging her forehead. She then looked at the clock on the wall. "I'd say use a real weapon next round, but it's time for Taylor's examination. Rin then walked away from the arena, pulling out a towel and tossing it to Taylor. "Towel yourself off then meet me in my workshop."

A few minutes later, Taylor was knocking on Rin's door. "Come in," Rin said. Taylor let herself in, finding that Rin's typical work table had been cleared off, and on it was a series of removable chair cushions. "Strip then sit on the table."

"I know," Taylor said with a light sigh. "I get to keep my underwear on at least, right?'

"You can," Rin said getting something out of her drawer and beginning to prepare it. Taylor simply stripped her clothes off, leaving her undergarments on as she sat on the table. Rin then presented Taylor with a small gem. "Swallow then lay face down."

Taylor grabbed the small gem, swallowing it down like a pill before laying down like asked. She felt her body start to feel an intense burn start to build up soon after. Taylor winced a bit, but it wasn't anything Taylor hadn't dealt with before.

"Okay, let's see what we've got here." Rin pressed her fingers against Taylor's back. "50 Circuits total, most of good quality. No Crest. Earth element. Wait, is that…" There was a long pause as Rin ran her fingers up and down it. "That doesn't…"

"Is something wrong?" Taylor managed to ask.

"I'm not too sure," Rin asked as she stared intently at Taylor's back. Suddenly, Rin had a sudden epiphany. "Have you been having any strange… visions or dreams or anything in that nature?"

"Uh, I guess I've been having weird dreams. I remember seeing…" Taylor tried to think through the pain she felt.

"Tell me after I'm done examining you," Rin said, examining more of Taylor's soul. The examination lasted several more minutes as notes started to get written down. Eventually, Rin finished, snapping her fingers. The intensity of Taylor's pain started to faid, leaving behind aches all across her body. Taylor let out a groan as she started to roll onto her back, letting out an aching moan. "So, those dreams?" Rin then asked.

"Right." Taylor moaned out, trying to compose herself as she stood back up. "Well, in one dream I remember a girl dressed in black using a bunch of floating guns. Another one had a pink-haired boy dressed as a girl on a griffon. One more had had this man turn into a dragon surrounded in flames…"

"Is there anything linking these dreams together?" Rin interrupted.

"Yeah," Taylor said, sitting up with a groan. "They all had a weird focus on a singular card."

Spoiler: Author's Notes

So, this chapter ended up going a good bit longer than I expected it to do. It doesn't help that I ended up dumping the original version of this chapter as well. I'll probably upload that to Scraps at some point this week. Not too sure I like how I characterized Rin here. Sakura was a good bit too quiet too, but she wasn't meant to be a focus in any regard either, so I'd like to think that gets a pass.

But yeah, there are more than a few things likely to get changed should I change this into a full-sized fic. Taylor's having Mystic Eyes is the first thing likely to get axed. It just seemed like a fun idea to have Taylor's glasses be Mystic Eye Killers instead of actual eyeglasses. Another is both Taylor's element and pre-Ruby fighting style. Might just be me wanting to do a bit of merging of a Melee fighting style and Cagliostro (from GBF) to make something work. The Avatar stuff was mostly just an excuse for something Taylor could have seen.

In other news, I might have slightly lied about saying I've finalized my cast of characters. In short, I had realized I might be leaning in too heavily from a single Fate Entry, so I'm still floating a few ideas around there, but it largely just boils down to Saber and Lancer getting changed around.

Anyway, discussion makes OP happy and all that jazz. Chapter 3 will either take place between 1 and 2, or touch upon other plot ideas I might want to tackle in the full fic. Not 100% sure yet.

 

[Deviox]

"Okay, let's review what we know and our immediate goals." Rin declared, unfolding a map on the table, Sakura, Rider, and the newly christened Emilya (formally known as Shirou), circled it. "Our first goal will be to settle in. Brockton Bay doesn't have a Second Owner. After the British Museum Bombings, the number of Magi have plummeted."

"Sounds like any practicing Magus could be targeted," Emilya pondered.

"That's possible. However, Zelretch found out that the Mages Association in this world went by the Sorcerer's Federation." Rin said, tapping her fingers on the map in irritation. "What the hell kinda name is that? Sorcerer's Federation? Why the hell Federation?"

"We'd probably need to find a Magus from this world and interrogate them," Rider suggested.

"We're going to question them, not interrogate them, Rider." Sakura chided

"Good news on that front at least," Rin said, scratching her head as she tried to burn out the irritation she felt. "Zelretch inspection of the city indicated that there's a Magus population of some sort."

"But no Second Owner?" Sakura followed up.

"Could be that they simply don't have the tools to operate, don't want the responsibility, don't want to deal with the PRT Presence, or the British Museum Bombings were more of a decapitation strike than I currently suspect," Rin suggested.

"Speaking of the PRT," Emilya spoke up. She had mixed feelings about them at the moment. Hell, on the whole, she had very mixed feelings about the super-powered nature of this world. Generally, Emilya was in support of the PRT. "We're likely going to have a run-in with them at some point," however, she knew her stance on Heros as a whole had been broken, and this world very much needed more than one. "What's going to be our stance with them?"

"As of now, bare minimum cooperation," Rin stated. "The US's handling of law enforcement is dramatically different compared to Japan's. I'll need to put something comprehensive together in the future, but just know that our rights when facing or under arrest are dramatically different. Just Plead the 5th and shut up where appropriate."

"The 5th?" Sakura asked.

"The right to prevent self-incrimination." Rin clarified. "It's part of their constitution. As I said, I'll need to come up with something more comprehensive in the future. That said, our stance will likely change as we get more settled in." She then straightened up. "Back to the matter of the local Magi, Our first few weeks will be doing a few things, in particular building wards, surveying the land, and finding the local Magi. I do not want another Shiou situation."

"You want to become Brockton Bay's Second Owner?" Sakura asked, ignoring her sister's brief glare at Emilya.

"In practice even if not in name," Rin declared, leaning back on the table. "This is our home now. We'll need to properly set ourselves up. Being Second Owner could give us plenty of connections."

"And plenty of responsibilities." Emilya followed up. "I still want to help as many people as I can, but we need to be certain what we're committing to before we pull the trigger."

"I would advise caution before committing to becoming the Second Owner as well," Rider warned. "Like you said before, there's been a rapid decline in the number of Magi. They could be targeted. Becoming Second Owner could put a target on our backs."

Rin straightened up, tilted her head down, and closed her eyes. She then folded her arms and repeatedly tapped her finger on her arm in thought. "Fine, we'll decide on that after we have a better grip on the Magi situation. The initial plan still stands though."

"Setup wards, survey the lands, find a local magus," Sakura repeated.

"And hopefully they'll have contact with the remains of, ugh, the Federation," Rin followed up, "I plan to mimic the layout of the wards of my mansion, removing some of the redundancies that built up over the generations. Thankfully, plenty of the wards carried over during the transfer, so we'll mostly just need to set up the ones outside."

"In short, the least powerful ones," Sakura figured.

"Exactly. I want you and Emilya to join me for it. Consider figuring out where you stand with your Magecraft training Sakura, and a general lesson for you Emilya."

The two other girls nodded in confirmation

"Onto the matter of surveying the city," Rin then said, pointing at the map. On it were various blue lines, with a few blue dots, both differing thicknesses. "Zelretch already mapped out the layout of the Ley lines. However, he didn't conduct a full survey of them. Unless Emilya has something that can do a ley line survey," Emilya shook her head, "I'll put together a mystic code for ley line surveying. Thankfully, Zelretch seems to have put us on top of a good ley line access point, though we won't know how good until we do that survey."

"He didn't conduct a full survey?" Emilya asked out of curiosity.

"It's not as uncommon as you'd think," Rin explained. "Oftentimes, different families have different ways of categorizing the info about a city's ley lines. So if a new Second Owner moves in…"

"It's common for them to conduct their surveys."

"Exactly." Rin then pulled out the Class Cards. None of them have had a Heroic Spirit tied to them yet. "While I'm building the Mystic Codes, I want you two to do some local research. It's still too early to tell if the Counter Force can interact with the cards yet, but if they can, I'd be willing to bet that they might tie a Heroic Spirit unique to this world onto one."

"Feels like a good expectation," Emilya said, rubbing her arm. The same arm Archer's had occupied on her old body.

"I see," Rin said, rubbing her chin a bit as she saw Emilya's tell. "I'll handle the situation when we discover a local Magus. Neither of you trained in Magus politics." Rin then looked around. "That should be everything for this meeting, any questions?"

Emilya raised her hand. "Money."

 

[Deviox]

Preface: This takes place long before Chapter 2 would. And would be a few days or weeks after the Scrapped chapter.


Rin stuck the probe into the dirt, pressing further and further down until only the gemstone on top was sticking out of the ground. Rin soon let out a sigh of disappointment when she didn't get the result she wanted out of it. With a bit of a grunt, she started to pull the probe out of the ground, before turning her attention to the location of her current ire. Brockton Bay University.

It was rested on top of a minor, but important, Ley Line. One important enough to be worth surveying. However, two things stopped her from going in for the survey. The first was that it was in the middle of the day, and given the distance between her and her mansion, it wasn't remotely feasible to come here in the middle of the night. Not that she even had a driver's license. And given she was trying to maintain as low of a profile as possible right now, doing as much as she could by the book was important. And with most of the buses not running after midnight, it made any late-night trips difficult.

However, that issue only just exacerbated the real problem: The University had a Bounded Field protecting it. She could tell it was a low-powered one, so it likely operated more like an alarm system alerting its owner to any intruder, but it wasn't any kind of risk she wanted to take. She was already closer to the field than she'd like.

"And what do you think you're doing here?" A firm voice warned her from behind. Rin could sense a spell being built up behind her, no doubt a warning not to move.

This is the part where Rin wishes she brought Emilya or Rider along.

Rin held her hands up, making sure the staff-like probe was on full display. "Just doing a little survey of the Ley Line." She said, giving the staff a light shake. "My apologies if you're the Second Owner. It was hard to find if there was one here."

The woman scoffed, snatching the Mystic Code straight from Rin's hands. There was a brief inspection when the woman let the spell fizzle out. "If you keep your human experimentation to just the gang's, you're free to take it."

Rin released her breath, dropping her hands and turning around. "Rin Toshaka. A Magus from Japan."

"Annette Hebert," she said, holding out her hand. Rin looked at it for a moment before shaking. The foreign magus could tell that Annette was carefully analyzing her. Eventually, Annette released Rin's hand. She then pulled out her phone and pressed a speed dial number. "Hey, Taylor. Yes, it's safe to bring down the wards. I'll be there soon. Love you too." Annette then snapped her phone closed. "We should talk in my office."

Rin sighed, collapsing the Mystic Code to an even smaller size before stuffing it into her pocket. "We should."

---

"Most Magi would look at you like an alien if they saw you using modern technology like this," Rin said as she sat down, watching Annette place down a recording device and start up her computer. Little Taylor had already left the room, directed to go to the library. Rin could only guess what the child was going to do there, but it was ultimately unimportant compared to the situation in front of her.

"Good," Annette said. "Now then, what's a Magus like you doing here in Brockton Bay?"

"That's rather complicated, but are you familiar with the 2nd Magic?" Rin followed up. She figured any play at deception right now would do more harm than good.

"The operation of parallel worlds? I know of it, but it's been long lost." Annette said.

"Lost? That would explain a few things." Rin said, stroking her chin.

"I do get what you're coming from. You had some incident experimenting with the 2nd in some capacity and ended up here." Annette then started logging into her computer.

"No," Rin said. "On my world, Kishur Zelretch Schweinorg, the founder of the Second Magic and Master of the Kaleidoscope, still lives."

"Still lives? What year was it for you?"

"2004."

"2004? He should have been long dead, but…"

"He found a way to extend his life."

Annette sighed. "True Magic is bullshit." She typed a bit more on her computer.

"That sounds like some kind of a joke," Rin admitted.

"It's related to the Parahuman culture here," Annette explained. "Am I right to assume there were no Parahumans on your Earth?"

"Correct."

Annette let out a hum in acknowledgment as she typed away on her computer. "Back to the main question: Why are you here? You're not here by some kind of accident."

Rin mulled over how to answer that question. Eventually, she decided to take a gamble. "My group is tasked with uncovering the reason behind the suppression of the local Counter Force."

The typing stopped as Annette processed what she was told. "Would you be restoring the Counter Force?"

"It's something I'd consider doing if possible. However, me and my group are still settling in. Any leads you have would give us somewhere to start, however." Rin offered, finding an opportunity.

Annette glanced towards the clock. "I don't know much more than what the average Magi knows, as few of us as there are now."

Rin wasn't surprised by Annette's choice of words. While Magecraft was a dying art in her world, there was still plenty of life in it. Here tough? There was no Clocktower to provide some form of unity anymore.

"Was the British Museum Bombing really that bad?"

"It was brutal," Annette said, leaning back in her chair in thought, looking at the ceiling. Rin kept quiet as she let the woman in front of her gather her thoughts. "Brutal enough to effectively be a decapitation strike."

"Decapitation? Really?" Rin was skeptical but deferred to the local magus.

"That's right, you probably don't know," Annette said, leaning forward, arms now resting on the desk. "I probably need to paint a timeline for you. First, I know that some Magi had taken notice of the influence of the Counter Force weakening before I was born. It was a topic of discussion, but ultimately it went nowhere."

"That far back? Do you know how they discovered it?" Rin said, mentally running through some testing methods.

"No idea. Ultimately, the Association decided not to act on it. Especially since no Divine Spirits returned."

"That sounds…" Rin wasn't sure what to think of it.

"As far as I know, the issue kept getting thrown around as being someone else's problem," Annette explained.

"But why would-" Rin's eyes shot wide open. "Without someone like Zelretch to force the issue, they decided to just ignore the issue since it ultimately had no impact on their studies."

"I'll assume you're correct," Annette stated, shrugging. "It was before I was born anyway. What I do know is that the issue got brought up again once the Golden Man, Scion, appeared. However, he proved to be much too… public to deal with through normal means."

"And when Parahumans started appearing shortly after, you started using them as a proxy?" Rin figured.

"Not me specifically, but the other Magi did. However, I don't know anything about their findings."

Rin hummed in thought. "But what does all that have to do with the British Museum Bombing?"

"Likely everything," Annette explained. "See, the bombings happened a month after Parahumans went public. Even back in 1987, there were simply too many for the Clocktower and Church to keep them under wraps."

Rin's eyes widened. "Going public must have sent the Clocktower into a panic."

"Exactly. I had already fallen out with my family back then, but the entire magecraft world lit up. They set up a massive meeting on how to address the situation."

"All of their years of inaction caught up with them," Rin muttered.

Annette nodded. "And with the promise of so many families sharing all of their research on Parahumans…"

"Everyone ran to the meeting like moths to a lamp."

Annette nodded. "I don't know what happened at the meeting beyond the massive explosion that vaporized both the museum and the surrounding buildings."

Rin leaned back in her chair as she digested what she had just been told. A decapitation strike was definitely the right word to describe what happened. There was no way the Magic Association could survive such a strike. "How many?"

Annette shook her head. "I don't know, but chances are, if they had a Crest, they were there."

Rin stayed silent for several long minutes. "I see." She eventually said. "I… I suppose I owe you a favor."

"Then I have something I'd want in return. Knowledge of knowledge" Annette said.

Rin's eyes narrowed. "What would you want?"

"Can your group mentor my daughter in Magecraft? I'll even sweeten the deal and put you into contact with the few people that could help."

Rin saw this request in several different ways. The most obvious was to use her daughter to keep an eye on her. However…. "Before I accept that, I'd need to talk that over with my group."

Annette relaxed slightly. "Very well."

"However," Rin saw an opportunity to press into something that had been nagging at her in the back of her mind. "You seem to trust me far too much."

Annette blinked a few times, before chastising herself with a shake of her head. She then pulled up the same hand she used to shake Rin's hand. On it was a marriage ring. "This mystic code lets me know a lot about a person. Like their moral compass."

Rin stared at it, quickly figuring out what had happened before letting out a light chuckle. "Of course."

"Now then," Annette grabbed a piece of scrap paper and started writing on it before handing it to Rin. "That's my personal number. Contact me when you've made your decision."

"Uh, right," Rin said, taking the phone number before pocketing it.

"For now, I'll take you to the best place to get your Ley Line readings then show you out."

Spoiler: Author's Notes

Nice to finally have this out. I wanted to get something out last week, but the muse decided to take a surprise trip to NSFW land. Ultimately, I ended up typing most of the 2nd half of this snip on my phone bored at work. Overall, I've got 2 more little bits for this I want to do before I either call it quits with this little series or convert the idea into a fic that'll die an ignorant death after a few months. That said, I'm not too sure I can make them a good length, but we'll see when it happens. That said, if anyone has a good Servant sheet for Caster Morgan le Fay, do let me know.

On a separate note, I was playing some Fate CCC (before hitting the Passionlip wall with Caster) and Extilla and it kinda wants me to do something with the Mooncell. Not too sure what exactly. My first thought goes to a global Grail War on Earth Bet for the Regalia, but I'm more than open to thoughts.

Also, have a link to my Discord.

 

[Deviox]

Taylor fiddled with the lockbox that Rin had given her. Her Magecraft teacher was out of the country working on a long-term project, leaving Taylor both the mansion to house-sit and the lockbox in her hand as a form of homework.

Overall, the assignment was simple. Open up the lockbox with as little prana as possible. Once opened, any of the goodies inside were Taylor's to keep. However, apply too much Prana, and the box was set to destroy what was inside.

The difficulty was in execution. Taylor was accustomed to brute forcing her way through most of her Mysteries. Be it her Rock Armor, the walls she throws up to separate or entrap her opponents, or even dealing with Hypnosis. Her 50 circuits were often more than enough to help her overcome most of her shortcomings in finesse.

Taylor squinted her eyebrows as she poured a bit more Prana into the lockbox, carefully manipulating the lock. She could feel the amount of prana starting to brush against a limit, but she could also feel herself getting closer and closer to getting something to give way.

And right as she was about to pull back her prana, her phone started ringing! The surprise noise from such an intense degree of focus caused Taylor to dump Prana directly into the lockbox! However, instead of destroying its contents, the box swung wide open! Out flew 7 golden cards. Taylor could hardly make out any of their details as they all scattered about, catching a glimpse of one or two of them phasing through a wall.

By the time all the action stopped, all that was left in the box was a pink and gold wand with a wand in the center and unease in her heart. Taylor's phone rang again, distracting Taylor again as looked at it before answering. "Hey, Emilya."

"Hello, Taylor. Just checking in before we get on our flight. We didn't forget to tell you anything, right? I know this is your first time housesitting for us," the pink-haired girl said over the phone.

"Uh, doesn't look like it," Taylor said, gently closing the lockbox. It didn't seem to lock back up thankfully.

"Good. Remember that there are some leftovers in the fridge. It won't stay good the entire time we're gone, but it'll be good in a pinch."

"I know," Taylor said.

"Any luck with the lockbox yet?" Emilya said, causing Taylor to straighten up.

"Uh, a bit of luck I think. I'm still working on it" Taylor lied through her teeth.

"Good, I'd hate to see you miss out on what's inside. We all worked hard on it." Taylor heard some background noise on Emilya's end. "Okay, that's our flight, I've gotta go."

"Have a good trip!" Taylor said with a smile.

"And have fun sitting the house, bye." Emilya hung up moments before a loud digital-sounding yawn echoed out as the lockbox was suddenly swung open. The wand from before started to float out.

"Mmm, Sorry master. I know I shouldn't be asleep when you open up the box, but there's nothing to do in there." The wand somehow made an expression akin to wiping the sleep out of its eyes. It didn't even appear to be as remotely bendable as it was making itself move!

"Uh, you are…?" Taylor asked, carefully approaching the wand.

"Hmm, Oh! That's right, you're my new master! Rin hadn't told you about me, did she?" The wand seemed to puff up. "I am the great and powerful Kalidostick Ruby! Created by the master of the 2nd True Magic, Kischur Zelretch Schweinorg! Guardian and wielder of the 7 Class Cards!" Ruby then looked around, before seeming to take a peak into the lockbox it had come out of. "Uh, speaking of, where are the Class Cards?"

"The, uh, Class cards?" Taylor said, having a sneaking suspicion, dread slowly filling her form.

"Yes, the 7 Class cards. Golden Cards holding the Heroic Spirit of 7 legends throughout history. Those 7 Class Cards."

"Uh, yeah… About that…" Taylor glanced sideways, trying not to look at Ruby.

"...You don't have them, do you?" Ruby deadpanned.

"I mean, uh, they kinda just… flew out when I opened the box," Taylor explained.

"They… fley out? Wait, so we have an actual Magical Girl arc ready to go?" Ruby said almost excited.

"Huh?"

"Simple! We form a Contract and we hunt down the cards!"

"Wait wait wait, didn't you already call me your Master? Why would-"

"Minor details!" Ruby said, interrupting Taylor. "You're unofficially my Master until we make that Contract and you officially become my Master!"

"Hold up! Shouldn't you be worried about-"

"I am as worried as I need to be! I just need to guilt trip you into finishing the contract." Ruby said.

"Wait, guilt trip?"

"Yep! You're the one who opened up the box and let the cards fly out! It's your responsibility to get them!" Ruby said. Taylor groaned. She already knew she couldn't let the PRT chase after them. And letting just random Mystic Codes float about can easily spell disaster, especially if the PRT's advice on random Tinkertech was to be believed.

"You know, you typically don't need to say that part out loud," Taylor muttered. Still, it was her fault that the cards broke out like they did. And she didn't want to let Rin know this happened either. She took several more seconds to try to convince herself against agreeing but only came up with more reasons to agree. "Okay, what exactly does this Contract entail?"

"Simple! You become a magical girl and fight in the name of justice!" Taylor stared at the wand some more.

"...Contracts are never that simple." She said, starting to glare more and more at the wand.

"Ehh, it's all semantics. Do you want to get those cards or let poor, innocent people get hurt!" Ruby said, holding out its stick part for Taylor to grab.

Taylor felt one of her eyes twitch, her hand gripping and unwrapping itself. Now it was going through with its plan to guilt trip her, and Taylor knew she didn't have a good counter for it. "Fine, by the moment we get the cards, we're going over that damn contract again," Taylor said, grabbing the stick.

"Fine fine, now I'll just need a little bit of blood."

"Wait bloo- oww!" Taylor said, feeling a prick through her hand.

"Contract established! Beginning transformation sequence!"

"Wait wait wait!" Taylor's pleas went unanswered as her clothes dematerialized around her and her body was enveloped in a bright light. Then, one by one, new pieces of clothing started appearing, starting with a series of Maroon-colored sleeves, then a similarly colored dress. An array of white and light green frills soon followed, ending with Taylor's hair getting put into a high ponytail.

All told the entire sequence played out in about 30 seconds.

"Gah! Did we need to do that right away?" Taylor said, having only briefly looked at herself before turning her attention to the wand in her hand.

"Yep! I needed to get a good look at your outfit!" Ruby said, "Hmm, Could have done with a gem in the chest now that I think about it. Eh, we'll fix it later."

"Shouldn't we focus on function over form?" Taylor quickly tried to argue. "I mean, I don't have any protection!"

"That's what the barriers are for. All magical girls have barriers to protect them."

Taylor wasn't so easily convinced, but at this point was figuring it was easier to just go with the flow. "Okay, can we at least start hunting down the Class Cards then?"

"You bet! I think there's one in… That way!" Ruby said, practically dragging Taylor away.

---

"Have a good trip!" Taylor said over the phone

"And have fun sitting the house, bye." Emilya followed up, closing the phone with a sigh. "You know how much I don't like this." She then said, glancing towards Rin as she turned off the phone to begin boarding.

"I know," Rin said with a sigh, stepping on the boarding path. "I don't particularly like it either, but it was the best plan Zelretch and I came up with. And with everything lining up how it is…"

Emilya echoed Rin's sigh. "I know," the pinkhead said with a light groan. Important windows for their investigation were opening as quickly as they were closing. An investigation that's been hammered with delay after delay. Not just from setting into a new world, but from simply finding any sort of credible lead. Annette, rest her soul, had helped them get their feet steady on the ground and reach out to her old contacts, but didn't want to get involved beyond that.

And given what Rin found out about anyone who dug deep enough, she didn't blame the college professor.

"That makes it all the more important that Taylor's capable of defending herself. So many points of no return are approaching. Not just for us, but for the world as a whole." Rin reminded Emilya.

And Emilya knew why. She knew that they were going to be poking the boogyman soon. And Taylor was someone liable to get caught in the crossfire. "I just hope our training holds up." Emilya eventually said as they boarded the plane.

Rin smiled. "It should. Come, Sakura should have saved our seats."

Spoiler: Author's Notes

Not too sure how much I like this little chapter. Overall, it's fine. Ruby was a treat to write, even if I don't think I particularly nailed her personality. That said, I haven't read or watched Prisma and Chloe makes it a slippery slope I'm weary to go down.

But yes, a chapter akin to this would likely be one of a few options for an opening chapter to a proper version of this fic. I do have one more idea for a scene in this series, but I do have other ideas I want to write, and said scene likely wouldn't be too long anyway. If I do write it, I might put it into side stories.

As for the chapter itself, we have a Magical Girl plot underway! 7 Dangerous Card MacGuffin's have been scattered across the Bay! And Taylor is the only one remotely qualified to retrieve them. I did want to try to have Taylor put herself on a 1-month long time limit since that's how long the Stay Night crew would be away for, but couldn't get it to play out. Also wanted to do a bit where Taylor panics more heavily, but Ruby just ended up being her own little storm.

In other news, I did some more research into some servants and realized that Nobu is far more bullshit than I initially gave her credit for, but that's for another time. For now, I'ma go to sleep.

 

[Deviox]

I dropped my bag as I just ran full bore down the hall. A glance behind showed the pink-haired girl effortlessly striding over my bag as she got closer and closer. Then, she suddenly blurred from my vision and suddenly appeared in front of me.

I tried to stop, only to find myself skidding on the floor! Did they wax the damn floor over the vacation? I skid into her large, white, furry cloak. With a smug grin, she lifted me up by the throat and pressed me against the wall. "It's a shame you rejected my Master's gracious gift."

What the fuck was she talking about, the locker? I grabbed onto the woman's fingers, trying to peel them off of my throat.

"Aww, you're trying to free yourself?" The woman said, her grip holding me up like steel. "Go ahead and keep trying," She then squeezed a bit tighter, before leaning in with a breathy voice. "I love it when people play hard to get~"

It was getting harder and harder to breathe under this tighter grip as I started to kick back at her. However, much like with her fingers, every time I kicked her, it felt like kicking hard steal. Nothing I seemed to do even phased this woman!

Eventually, though, she decided to drop me. The drop caught me off guard as I failed to get any footing and instead slid onto my ass. I leaned forward as I coughed up a storm, desperately trying to regain my breath, only to find myself getting pinned against the wall once again. This time by the woman's boot.

"Hmm, you are putting up a decent fight for what you are I suppose. No Cú Chulainn, but you're not a warrior, so I suppose I'll give you a passing grade." The woman said as something suddenly lifted my chin to look at her. Here, I get to see the woman in what was close to her full glory. Her large white, furry cloak opened to reveal what I think was some kind of a leotard and a skirt. She was using some kind of a stiff whip thing. "Hmm, I bet with the right training, you would have made for a fine warrior. I think I know what my Master sees in you."

Who was this Master this woman was referring to? The sudden application of pressure to my chest, however, stopped me from pressing further into it as I let out a cry of pain.

"Hmm, my Master did say not to do any lasting damage, so I shouldn't break or crack any ribs." the woman said as she stopped applying more pressure. "Still, you do deserve some more punishment." She said, putting a finger to her cheek as she looked up a bit.

With her focus elsewhere, I tried grabbing onto her furry boot in a desperate attempt to unbalance her. However, much like the rest of her body, it was held there like pure steel.

"I know! I'll-" The woman said as she was suddenly cut off by a bright light coming from the back of my left hand. A searing pain came from the exact same spot as I let out one more cry of pain. "I'm not doing that." She said as her eyes widened open.

Then just as the light on the back of my hand faded, another light lit up to my right, wind kicking as a magic-like circle appeared! A young, black-haired woman then started to materialize out of that circle, dressed in a black uniform with golden decorations, a katana at her side, and a red cape that fluttered in the wind. As she finished materializing, a demonic aura started to blast out from her, almost warping her appearance into a demon.

"Shit!" The pink-haired woman said in a panic as she narrowly dodged a series of sword slashes from the newcomer. "And a Saber too?" She seemed to curse between her teeth.

The black demon only seemed to press her advantage harder as the pink-haired woman somehow used her whip to defend herself. I used the opportunity to finally get away, gripping my chest as I slowly stumbled away. I could finally take a chance to look at my surroundings, only to see everyone in the classroom just peeking through the windows.

Bastards. Even when that bitch was visibly torturing me in the middle of the hallway, they didn't do anything. I felt my free hand grip in rage as I just tried to get to my bag, the sounds of the fight raging behind me for a while longer before a lull suddenly rang out.

"Tch, of course, she had to summon a Saber." I heard the pink one's panic and anger echoing in her voice.

"Oh? And what makes you so sure of that? I could be a Rider, or a Caster, or even a Berserker."

"I'm a Rider. I doubt the Mooncell would drop two Riders so close to each other." The woman rebuked. "You're not casting any magic, so you're clearly not a Caster. And you're far too sane to be a Berserker."

"Tch, I guess you've got me figured out." The black-haired woman said in a bit of anger before suddenly closing in on her again.

Before the swordswoman could close the gap, a decorated and lightly armored bull suddenly appeared, filling the hall with its presence, and started charging down the hall, ripping into the wall! "That said, my Master decided to call me back. Ta ta~" She said, leaping down the corner of the hallway.

The black-haired woman let out a loud cry as she was slammed into by the boar, sending her flying down the hall. After launching the black-haired woman away, the boar skidded to a halt, mere inches from my face. It let out a huff before vanishing just as quickly as it appeared.

I let out a deep sigh of relief as I rested against a wall, slumping down to the ground. Thank god it was all over. The lady in black started to approach me from down the hall, no longer carrying that oppressive aura about her. "Well, Master. Introductions would normally be in order, but we should probably save it for where there aren't any peeping eyes."

"Master?" I said. The pink-haired woman used that term repeatedly, and so was this woman now aswell.

"I am a Servant and you are my Master. We can go into details after introductions." She said, bending over and helping me on my feet. "We should get you home first and foremost." I then lean onto her, one arm around he neck as she starts to guide me.

"Not a hospital?" I asked.

"Nope, Home. Too many prying eyes at a hospital. Besides, most of your injuries appear to be around your chest. You should be able to shake it off in a few days." She then began to guide me to a set of stairs.

"Wait," I said, pushing off of her. "My bag," I said, pointing towards the said bag. She glanced towards it before letting out a light chuckle.

"Yes, Master."

---

Class: Saber?
True Name: ???
Master: Taylor Hebert

Parameters:
Strength: C
Endurance: B
Agility: C
Mana: B
Luck: B
NP: ???

Class Skills:
Magic Resistance: B
Independent Action: B

Personal Skills:
Strategy: B
Unifying the Nation by Force - Innovation: A
Demon King: A

Noble Phantasms:
???

Click to shrink...

Class: Rider
True Name: ???
Master: ???

Parameters
Strength: E
Endurance: E
Agility: B
Mana: C
Luck: EX
NP: ???

Class Skills:
Riding: A
Magic Resistance: B

Personal Skills:
???

Noble Phantasms:
???

Keywords:
Cú Chulainn: Ireland's child of light and faithful guard dog. Considered by many to be Ireland's Heracles. Rider seems to view Cú as a sort of target.

Click to shrink...

Spoiler: Author's Notes

Well, I'm surprised to have this out so quickly. Still, I've half been wanting to take another shot at a Grail War fic, so here we are. I've got plenty of ideas for where I could go with this. Many of them I've discussed over on my Discord Server.

I'm sure you already know who the Servants in question here are, which really just begs the question: Who's Rider's Master? And what's this talk about being 'a' Rider, or 'a' Saber about? Well, I'm sure the title almost gives it away, but I'm sure it'll be revealed in a follow-up chapter soonish.

Still, consider this little snip subseries a good way for me to practice a bunch of action scenes. Something I know I need to work on. On a separate note, I'm getting close to the end of my... first playthrough of Samurai Remnant and Iori just revealed his own trump card, which was a treat. Once I'm done with that, I'll have 2 more playthroughs for the other endings. Fun. Might just do some Extilla between playthroughs, not sure. Depends on how NG+ works.

 

[Deviox]

I opened up the door and asked my Servant to just dump my bag wherever. It was still packed with all of my heavy text books and I didn't want to deal with that for now. My Servant was kind enough to do just that, throwing my bag to the side. I took off my coat, resting it on a nearby hanger before just dumping my body on the sofa.

"Okay, so, introductions," I grumbled, finally getting to learn the identity of my mysterious savior. "I am Taylor Hebert."

"And you can call me Archer, though in public, at least for a while, call me Saber." My savior said.

"Uh, why?" I asked. As I said that, the TV Suddenly turned on, On it was a white noise background and an icon of a 5 petal flower spinning with the word 'Now Hacking' under it.

"Perfect timing. I guess that means everyone's been summoned then." Archer said as she looked at the TV aswell.

Soon, 'Now Hacking' was replaced with 'Hacking Complete' which then disappeared, and the words BB Channel appeared on the screen!

Then, some very fake-looking newsroom appeared with a rather endowed lady with ankle-length purple hair and a red ribbon on its side standing at its center. Her white shirt offset the rest of her black outfit which I could best describe as something you'd expect from a female vampire. "Welcome to the first edition of the BB Channel citizens of Earth Bet! I am your wonderful host, BB. I'm streaming live to almost all 6,811,597,272 humans around the globe in your native language! That's a good 431,709,207 short of what that number should be. For shame, you humans need to do some more breeding! You're 5 years behind schedule!" She pulled out a baton of some sort, repeatedly taping it in the palms of her hand like some old school teacher about to beat a student.

"Is this seriously who the Moon Cell put in charge?" Archer said. I could practically see her eye twitch at what BB was saying.

"Though, I suppose that's to be expected when Aliens begin a covert invasion of a world, and you've got a group of idiots with too much power more than willing to help. Sadly, I'm still on probation, so the adorable BB can't go down and personally punish those morons," the latter half was filled with more malice. "However, I'm sure I'll be able to send some of my Sakura Five after them later on~"

BB then began to circle her office a bit as I processed what was happening in front of me. "What the fuck is going on?" I asked Archer.

"Just watch," Archer instructed.

"However, I didn't steal all of your soap operas and fake court shows just to tell you about my gripes about a group of stupid humans. Nope! I'm here to announce to the world the beginning of the Grand- Nope, not allowed to use the word Grand, the Global Grail War! Brought to you by the Moon Cell!" A little picture appeared much like a news anchor would have one, this time showing a weird cube with a cube appearing underwater.

"Now, most Grail Wars are kept a precious little secret from the general public. Though, given that the last one happened in 1970 and led to the end of most Magecraft, the reward here is a biiiiit different."

The picture of the moon cell transitioned to that of a ring. "The Moon Cell Regalia." It was a surprisingly simple ring. A simple silver band with a blue crystal. However, that simplicity made it appear more beautiful. "The Regalia is much like a crown or scepter for a kingdom. It makes you its monarch. Naturally, that would make you ruler of the Moon Cell! Access to all but the Moon Cell's dark, corrupted sectors! Oh, and it's core."

BB then leaned forward with a playful little smirk. "Of course, why would little ol' you want to be the ruler of the Moon Cell? After all, it's just a supercomputer on the moon. That sounds like diving deep into politics for no real reason. Well, for one, the Moon Cell is quite powerful! Capable of summoning hundreds of Servants. While some of you have already had a glimpse at your Servant's capabilities, I think you should see what a Servant is truly capable of."

The news box then changed to a picture of The Simurgh in orbit. "I'm borrowing this little camera from Dragon. She's been observing this particular thorn in your sides for a while." The camera then seemed to zoom in closer. BB then seemed to frown, turning to look at the picture, and squinted her eyes. "Hmm, that video quality won't do at all! Not even in 4K." The slightly blurry picture then suddenly sharpened, me the best view of the Simurgh I never wanted.

---

A blocky, blue plane began to form under the Simuragh. The Endbringer began to uncurl itself from its feathery ball and look around. While its facial expression was utterly neutral, anyone who had seen how the Simurgh had acted in the past could tell its movements were in confusion.

Then on the platform, a blond lady with both a bob cut hair and a long braid that reached down to her legs began to materialize. She was lightly armored, holding a pike-tipped flag that flapped in the non-existent winds of space. "So, you are the Simurgh, the false angel." She said, looking at the endbringer before her before briefly closing her eyes, holding her free hand up to her chest. "Beloved, do not believe every spirit, but test the spirits to see whether they are from God, because many false prophets have gone out into the world."[1]​ She opened her eyes, now glaring at the Endbringer, the Endbringer looking back. "I am Jeanne d'Arc, and you shall fall like the false prophet you all!"

It was barely a fraction of a second between Jeanne's declaration and her charging down the angel! And as quick as her declaration was, she was above the Simurgh, its emotionless face somehow showing surprise as Jeanne kicked the angel, the impact slamming into the angel causing the entire platform to shake as Jeanne lept off Simurgh's face.

She turned around with a slide, making sure to keep her eyes on her target as she lunged at the angel, making several swings at the angel, each one cutting straight into one of her wings. The Simurgh let out a loud cry as if trying to sing like it normally does whenever it descends. Jeanne simply scoffed, her numerous resistances rendering her immune to the angel's corruption. After a few more swings of her flag, the first wing of the Simurgh's 6 wings had been cut off.

Jeanne quickly glanced towards it. "Not there," she muttered, returning her attention to the Simurgh, just in time to see it swinging its hand down. However, Jeanne effortlessly parried it away with her flag pole, leaving another large gash in its wrist! Jeanne continued to press her advantage, slicing off another one of the Simurgh's wings.

As the 2nd wing came off, Jeanne appeared to have a revelation. "It's not in your wing." She said, looking directly at where its heart would be if it were a human. "Very well, I'll end this quickly then." She then leaped back up in the air again. However, when she slammed into the Simurgh this time, several things happened all at once.

First, Jeanne's flagpole, with its flag wrapped around it, dug deep into Endbringer. Second, the Simurgh's song turned into a singular Eldrich cry that would have shattered windows had there been any. Lastly, the entire platform the fight had been taking on shattered, sending the two of them plummeting down toward the earth.

Jeanne repositioned herself on the Simurgh such that the Endbringer was little more than a heatshield for her plummeting down towards the earth's surface. As they fell, Jeanne dug her spear deeper and deeper into the Endbringer's chest. However, the endbringer didn't offer any further reaction.

Eventually, she crashed down on the surface, landing in the middle of an empty forest, the impact created a powerful, fireless explosion. Then, when the dust began to settle, a crater could be seen, with Jeanne walking out of it.

---

"Bravo! Good show!" BB said, clapping as she took back control of her show. I was left flabbergasted at what I just saw. Did… Did one person just come along and kill the Simurgh? And… She just ripped the Simurgh apart like it was nothing. I glanced toward Archer, who had a smug grin on her face as she kept her arms folded.

"Now that you know what a Servant is capable of, you might have noticed how Jeanne announced herself," BB then iterated before giggling. "That's because every Servant that can be summoned is normally ​a historic figure!" Why did she almost whisper normally there? "From Joan of Arc to King Arthur and everywhere in between. And you're not just limited to warriors either. I'm sure Shakespeare is down there, writing… something," BB waved one of her hands in a show of disinterest.

"When summoned, their legends and perceptions shape how they appear. Napoleon could get summoned as a 3-foot-tall midget despite really being average height for his time." BB further explained. "However, just as likely as their known history can affect them, so too can the unknown parts of their story affect them." BB then stood straight, adjusting her glasses before putting her hands on her hips. Wait, when did she put on glasses? "So even if you somehow have a photograph of someone, don't expect them to look like that at all."

"However more important than their looks are their Classes." A board appeared behind BB as the purple-haired girl unfolded a collapsable rod. On the board was a series of old-style-looking pictures. "They can be put into one of Seven classes. Saber, Lancer, Archer, Rider, Caster, Assassin, and Berserker." She tapped each of the pictures as she mentioned them. "I won't go into details over them here, you should get the idea of what classifies as what based on their name, but I will warn you that the rules to qualify as a certain class are more guidelines than hard rules."

BB then flipped over a board, showing the picture of a sword. The first thing that came to mind when I looked at that sword was Excalibur. "More importantly, however, is a servant's Noble Phantasm. Think of them as parts of what truly made someone famous, such as," BB's stick then slapped the sword on the board, "King Authur's Excalibur." Wait, that sword really was Excalibur? "Noble Phantasms can take on multiple forms. While many are weapons, others can be key moments, strategies, or skills of one's legend, like Heracles' 12 Labors, Medusa's eyes, or Archilles' invincibility and heel. While most can be used in a limited capacity without tipping off what it is, if a Servant wants to unleash the true might of their Noble Phantasm, they will need to announce it."

"As you can imagine, keeping a Servant's identity a secret can be key to their success. After all, if you run into Achilles, and you know it's Achilles, well, his heel became famous for a reason" BB warned with an adjustment to her glasses. "As such, keeping your Servant's True Name hidden can often mean not fighting at your best capacity." BB giggled. "Such a tricky balance to maintain~"

"Of course, we can't talk about just the Servants, we need to talk about their Masters too!" The board was flipped again, this time featuring a small version of a girl in a school uniform with long brown hair and brown eyes, along with a picture of BB. Between them was a line that seemed to tie them together. Below the brown-haired girl was the word Master and below BB was the word Servant. "See, a Servant's existence," BB tapped the picture of herself, "is tied to their Master's life," She then tapped the picture of the Master. "Should my wonderful Master die." She then peeled the picture off the master off of the board. Seconds later, the picture of BB pealed itself off. "BB would die aswell!" BB then made a fake sob.

"Thankfully," BB suddenly perked back up putting the picture of her Master back on the board, "Since this war isn't happening within SE.RA.PH, the Servant dying doesn't mean the Master will die either." She tapped her master a few times with her stick. "So if poor little BB ever died, my wonderful little master would get to live!"

"Hmm?" BB then tilted her head as though she heard a question. "What's SE.RA.PH? It's not important right now." BB said, waving her hand dismissively. "BB's introduction to the Global Grail War is already pointlessly long as it is!"

"One more thing to go over. If you Masters could look at the back of your hands." BB paused for a few seconds as I then looked down at the back of my hands. On the back of one of them was a… well, I wasn't too sure how to describe its design other than both extravagant yet simple and broken into 3 clear segments. "Those are Command Seals. All Masters starts with three of them. For every 5 Servants your Servant eliminates, you get one more Command Seal." BB them hummed a bit. "Now, what can Command Seals be used for? Glad you asked. They can be used to give an Absolute Order that the Servant must obey. What does that mean? Well, you can treat them in two separate ways. Chains for a Master to keep their Servant in check, or Boosts to help a Servant win a difficult battle."

"Before we move on, there is one last matter to go over before we move on," BB said, fixing her glasses one last time before flipping the board over once again, this time revealing one more of the Class Icons as before. "See, little BB lied when she said there are Seven classes a Servant can have. In reality, there's an EEighth I hope you can forgive poor little BB." She said, looking downcast as she pouted, rubbing her two fingers together. "Oh? You'll forgive BB if she tells you about that class! Very well!" BB said, perking right back up. "The eighth class is Ruler. They serve as overseers for the conflict and can intervene as needed, ensuring the less hard-coded rules are followed." BB then nodded with a hum. "While BB is acting as a pseudo-overseer, she's on probation and cannot leave the Mooncell. She can send out her wonderful little Sakura Five after anyone who breaks those rules! However, the rest of the overseers for this war will be a Ruler class. They don't have a Master to answer to and instead answer to the Moon Cell directly. Jeanne is one such Ruler. And she won't be the only one either."

"Of course, if overseers are making sure the less hard-coded rules are being followed, what are those rules?" BB then asked, tilting her head and placing a finger on her cheek. "Well, BB's glad you asked!" She then giggled with a grin. "Thankfully, there's only a few rules. First, no unnecessary slaughter. That means no turning your Assassin into a Serial Killer." BB then leaned forward. "However, I said no Unnecessary slaughter. Naturally, Masters are fair game for the killing. But if you're being confronted by a big bad meanie," BB's grin then turned dark and savage, "Then feel free to reduce him to a pile of red goop." So that rule seems to boil down to 'Thou shalt not Murder' instead of 'Thou shalt not Kill.' "In addition, I'm sure you can imagine fights between Servants involving loads of collateral damage. Naturally, you don't need to worry about such collateral." She then let out a hum as she strolled away from her board. "However, keep in mind that many Rulers won't look kindly about using civilians as hostages and view it as breaking the Unnecessary Slaughter rule."

"Next, is a rule not just for the Masters of the Grail War, but also those not chosen." BB then leaned forward and glared at the TV. "No forced alliances. Much like the no Unnecessary Slaughter rule, no threatening a Master or Servant into joining you." She then let out a hum, straightening back up. "I believe you like to use the word 'gang press.'"

BB then did a fake cough into a fist. "Likewise, a non-master cannot pressure a Master into a War-related action, such as forcing them to drop out or otherwise working for them. Trying to circumvent this rule by, let's say making their life unnecessarily difficult, would be met with similar retaliation." BB then smiled. "Or in more normal speak, Masters cannot be punished just for being a Master. There needs to be an actual reason to punish a Master. If you're wondering if your action would count, just text the number on screen~" On screen, the number 1-800- 6666-2355. That was… longer the a normal phone number. "That said, to keep everything simple, we suggest Masters keep their participation a secret where possible."

Well, my cover was probably blown after that pink-haired woman attacked me. I think Archer called her a Rider. Actually, since Archer wants me to call her by her class name, I should refer to that pink-haired girl as Rider.

"That said, those are all the rules involved! Additional rules may be added or modified as the Global Grail War progresses. There are just a few last little things to do. First, a tool for every Master." A blue glow on the sofa grabbed Taylor's attention. There, a light blue smartphone began to materialize. "A special phone for all of the Master! Filled with all sorts of unique functions and, most importantly, a direct line to the Moon Cell." The phone then began to start up. And it started up fast. It already seemed to be set up, only requiring that I set up a password. "With it, you'll be able to keep track of everything that's happened to you during this 700-man worldwide murder death kill!"

---

Class: Saber Archer
True Name: ???
Master: Taylor Hebert

Parameters:
Strength: C
Endurance: B
Agility: C
Mana: B
Luck: B
NP: ???

Class Skills:
Magic Resistance: B
Independent Action: B

Personal Skills:
Strategy: B
Unifying the Nation by Force - Innovation: A
Demon King: A

Noble Phantasms:
???

Click to shrink...

Class: Ruler
True Name: Jeanne d'Arc
Master: None

Parameters:
Strength: B
Endurance: B
Agility: A
Mana: A
Luck: C
NP: A++

Class Skills:
Magic Resistance: EX
True Name Discernment: B
God's Resolution: A

Personal Skills:
Revelation: A
Charisma: C
Saint: B

Noble Phantasms:
Luminosité Eternelle: A
La Pucelle: C/EX

Click to shrink...

[1]​1 John 4:1

Spoiler: Author's Notes

Whoo boy, that was much, much longer then I expected it to be. Still happy that I managed to get this out in only a couple of days. In fact, I think this is the longest single chapter I've ever written. Still, I am very excited to start writing a Grail War. Again. (If you go digging, you might notice an old quest I effectively abandoned involving a Grail War where I was originally going to have Nobu as Taylor's Archer choice, but decided against it and went for EMIYA. Small mistake there that I decided not to repeat here.)

But yep, we have a 700-man battle royale on our hands. I was originally going to go for 128 like what's in the original Fate Extra, but I ultimately decided against it, feeling like it was too small for a war of such a global scale. Naturally, there will be plenty of eliminations that'll never be mentioned. I've been thinking of further Servants for Taylor and Archer to fight. Plenty of which we'd likely love to get beaten into a pulp, and others might be a slight surprise. But yeah, this Grail War is set to take a long time to complete. I'm imagining at least 6 months. This war is set to be a massive marathon.

Ultimately, this snip series has a pretty good chance to actually get converted into a proper fic. I do still want to get to 5 chapters in length, but I've just about hit what I consider the 'It deserves its own thread' milestone of 5k words. Thanks overly long 3k length chapter. Going over things most readers here already know. Ugh, with this done, I'm just going to take a break and relax. Perhaps finish Samurai Remnent or something. I don't need to 100% it on my first run-through. Of 3. After almost 30 hours of playtime.

 

[Deviox]

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♦ Topic: Global Grail War, Brockton Bay
In: Boards ► United States ► North East ► Brockton Bay
Bagrat (Original Poster) (Veteran Member) (The Guy in the Know)
Posted On Jan 4th 2011:
Okay, so after having all of my devices hijacked by that purple haired girl, I figured I'd get started on a quick and simple thread to discuss what the fuck was announced.

And before you all start asking "Why here and not the global board?" Well, I've already got some fresh info for you. My sources have found what are likely a couple of Servants (no, not the maid kind) getting into a scuffle at Winslow. Yes, the shithole Winslow.

From what I know, one Servant was beating a student before the student summoned their own Servant to free them. Beyond that, any details I can dig up is scarse.

I'm no Mod, but I think I'm going out on a limb to say that the Unwritten Rules should apply to at least the Master for now, so no names.
[Mod Edit: Agreed. No discussing a Master's or Servant's identity.]

Also, keep the Simurgh's death to it's own thread.

Edit: Both Global and ENE have released statements on the Global Grail War announcement.

​

(Showing page 1 of 5)

►XxVoid_CowboyxX (Banned)
Replied On Jan 4th 2011:
Holy crap, so that pink-haired beauty was a Servant? Dose that mean she's going to die during this? I mean, it's a shame but at the same time... She looked very much into BDSM

►Moradi_The_Sufferer
Replied On Jan 4th 2011:
You're kidding me? Void was there? So many of his patterns suddenly makes sense.

►Brocktonite03 (Veteran Member)
Replied On Jan 4th 2011:
We figured Void was a student at Winslow ages ago. What I'm wondering is why is he on PHO now? Shouldn't you be at school?

►XxVoid_CowboyxX (Banned)
Replied On Jan 4th 2011:
Computer Class is so boring. Just more 'Here's how to use word.'

►Moradi_The_Sufferer
Replied On Jan 4th 2011:
And they don't block PHO on the computers there? Hell, I'm surprised you even get internet on those computers.

►Valkyr (Wiki Warrior)
Replied On Jan 4th 2011:
Void, what did the two Servants look like and do? Braggart's description was pretty vague.

►XxVoid_CowboyxX (Banned)
Replied On Jan 4th 2011:
No websites are blocked here. I think some guy a few computers down is watching porn.

As for what I saw, well, I saw [Deleted] getting chased down by some girl wearing a bunch of white furry clothing. [Deleated] then tried to trip them up only for the mystery girl to then catch her and started torturing her. I think she had a whole BDSM thing going on after she pulled out some kind of lash. She was only stopped when another Servant appeared and beat her back with a Katana. This one had long black hair and wore some kind of old military uniform. The fancy kind. I thought [deleated] triggered, but with this whole War thing, I think they were Servants.

[Mod Edit: Braggart explicitly said no names. Enjoy a ban until this whole War thing is over.]

►Answer Key
Replied On Jan 4th 2011:
Ha! I was wondering how many more times he was going to get banned until they decided for something longer then a month.

►Bagrat (Original Poster) (Veteran Member) (The Guy in the Know)
Replied On Jan 4th 2011:
Hey, my sources just got to me saying that the PRT plans to release an offical statement soon. Turns out they had hints about this happeneing before that hijacking broadcast.

​

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(Showing page 2 of 5)

►BB (Moderator) (Holy Grail War Overseer) (Girl in the Know) (Bestest Kohai)
Replied On Jan 4th 2011:
Oh my, you really are quite well connected. How do you feel about having one more connection?

►Bagrat (Original Poster) (Veteran Member) (The Guy in the Know)
Replied On Jan 4th 2011:
How on earth do you... You know what you turned every monitor around the world to your little show and hijacked Dragon's camera. I shouldn't be surprised you gave yourself mod.

As for that connection... Check your DMs.

►BB (Moderator) (Holy Grail War Overseer) (Girl in the Know) (Bestest Kohai)
Replied On Jan 4th 2011:
Pleasure doing busness with you!

►Answer Key
Replied On Jan 4th 2011:
Oh great, Bagrat's information network just went global.

►Char
Replied On Jan 4th 2011:
Is no one really talking about the implications that this little 'war' can have? I mean, we've got 700 little Endbringers running around the globe eager to kill each other!

►Moradi_The_Sufferer
Replied On Jan 4th 2011:
700 little Endbringers that at the very least seem to have a human mind behind it. We should be able to reason with them.

►Char
Replied On Jan 4th 2011:
Reason with them? Do I need to remind you about The Nine and the Fallen? Oh god, how is the fallen going to react to their prescious Endbringer getting killed?

►BB (Moderator) (Holy Grail War Overseer) (Girl in the Know) (Bestest Kohai)
Replied On Jan 4th 2011:
Don't worry about the Fallen or Slaughterhouse 9. Once they get out of line and start breaking the rules, one of the Sakura Five will be eager rip them apart! Little BB is already struggling to keep her lovely children at bay.

►Char
Replied On Jan 4th 2011:
That still doesn't avoid the fact that there's at least 700 mini-endbringers roaming around! Forgive me if I'm worried about the collateral damage from at least two of them are in the Bay.

►Moradi_The_Sufferer
Replied On Jan 4th 2011:
Not an unwarranted concern, but if you paid attention to the fight, you'd have noticed how Jeanne's attacks seemed to ignore whatever durability bullshit Simurgh had. I'm betting
that Servants just happen to have something to let them counter that bullshit.

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(Showing page 3 of 5)

►Char
Replied On Jan 4th 2011:
Are you really willing to stake that theory on a city with Lung in it?

►Nineball
Replied On Jan 4th 2011:
Look at what's going on in the Simurgh thread. Everyone there agrees that whatever bullshit Jeanne had countered the Endbringer's durability.

►Bagrat (Original Poster) (Veteran Member) (The Guy in the Know)
Replied On Jan 4th 2011:
Okay, so I just finished talking with BB. She sent me a video of the fight and... Well, let's just say I'm surprised the school decided to keep trucking on with the day.

The fight ripped apart one of the hallways. Not enough to be unrepairable, but definitely enough to close a few classrooms.

Also, BB was kind enough to show how some Noble Phantasms could play out. Let's just say that if they decided to use one, the school wouldn't be standing anymore. And we'd probably know who the Servants involved were.

TLDR; Two Servants fighting could easiely become a Lung vs Lung throwdown.

►Nineball
Replied On Jan 4th 2011:
...Shit.

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■​

Spoiler: Author's Notes

Not too sure how much I like this. I threw this together on my phone when bored at work. In particular, I don't like how it doesn't quite feel like a bunch of dudes talking on the Internet. Leaving this in Sidestores because I may leave it or scrap it and mark it as non-canon. Depending on how things go tomorrow, I should have way too much time on my hands to finish the next chapter.

In other news, finally finished the first ending to Samurai Remnent. They seemed to have fixed the issues they had with pre-rendered video on the Steam deck, which is nice. I'll probably play through some more of Extilla before diving in and getting the other two endings for FSR.

 

[Deviox]

Danny relaxed on the sofa, wishing the glass of water he was holding was a bourbon. He took a deep sigh, thankful that his daughter had gone to bed. "I know you're there, Servant." He eventually said, taking a sip of his drink.

"How'd you know?" The black-haired woman said as she appeared.

"I saw the Command Seals on the back of her hand," Danny said with a sigh, taking another long gulp. "Damn it."

"Can't drink any alcohol?"

"No, I need to be sober for this," he practically hissed out. "What class are you?"

"Archer." She said, taking a seat on the sofa next to her Master's father.

He nodded, keeping silent for a few seconds. "You know, my old man summoned an Archer for the Final Grail War."

"The Final Grail War?" Archer asked.

"It was called the Third Londinium Grail War when it was happening," Danny sighed. "Originally, my old man was going to start teaching me Magecraft when he came back. Instead, he said that something happened and Magecraft was going to die out. Never bothered teaching me then."

"Huh." Archer brewed on it. Turns out that getting into Grail Wars ran in the family. "Did your old man choose to join the war, or…"

"No, he chose to take part. I learned later on he both regrets and is proud of his decision." Danny took one last swig of his water before leaving it on the table. "Of course, right after he comes back, all magecraft begins to break down."

"Break down?"

"I never learned the details, but from what I've heard from my old man's friends, Mana around the world started to drain up. Then Circuits and Crests stopped functioning. Then finally, all Mystic Codes were rendered inert." Danny explained. "All within the span of ten short years." Danny then chuckled. "Countless generations of research and progress, go in just then short years. Practically an instant." He couldn't help but chuckle at the absurdity. "I might have hated my dad for going back on his word, but now… Now I think I should be thanking him for it."

"So, why are you telling me this?" Archer asked, knowing there had to have been some point to it.

"Three reasons. One, to let this aging man ramble." He said with a chuckle. "Two, to check a theory with you," he said, getting up and leading Archer towards the basement.

Dust filled the air as the dying basement light went on. Danny poked around a few boxes until he found one particularly moldy-looking box. However, when Danny opened it up, it revealed an old musket. It was littered with dust and had a bit of rust on it, but its etchings on it were clear as day.

"This is what my old man used as a catalyst to summon his Servant. Recognize it?"

Archer grabbed it, holding it in her grip with a surprising degree of ease. Then, she inspected the marking. "No doubt about it. This was my personal rifle." She said in a bit of awe. "I guess… I guess I never won then?"

"I don't know. My old man refused to say if he won or lost." Danny explained. "Or even if anyone even won." he let out a sigh. "Given how he was the only surviving Master, he's the only one that could know the truth."

Archer looked at the father before removing her hat for a few moments before rubbing her head. "In short, that Final Grail War is some big black box mystery."

"I'm surprised to see you use that word, but yes," Danny explained with a sigh.

Archer looked at her old rifle some more, before handing it back to Danny. "What was this third thing?"

Danny let out a light smile. "You're going to try to convince my girl to remain in the fight, right?"

"Right." Archer nodded. "If she bows out, my chances at getting my wish vanish."

Danny nodded with a hum, returning the rifle to the box and pulling out a fingerless glove. "Shortly after my old man passed away, a group claiming to be from the Atlas Institute reached out to me looking for him." He squeezed the much too small glove onto his hand. "In short, they wanted to get the opinion of someone not familiar with their research to try a new kind of Mystic Code."

He held his hand out with a finger. He changed his will into it as a dark crimson dot started to appear. "Gandar," he declared, said dot shooting out and splashing harmlessly against the wall.

Archer's blinked as she saw what happened. It was a contradiction to everything the man had said before, about Magecraft being gone. "How?"

"I don't understand the details myself, but as I understand it, this new kind of Mystic Code functions by using something called Spiritrons instead of Prana." All of those words went over Archer's head as she was handed it to her. "I want you to give this to Taylor tomorrow. With any luck, it'll let her defend herself."

Spoiler: Author's Notes

A very non-canon omake idea my muse had and refused to let go. As such, here it is. In all of it's written on a phone glory. Still, nice to get this fun little idea off my chest. Naturally, this would have taken place after the end of Day 1, something we're nowhere near. Still, there's a non-zero chances I'll takes bits an pieces of this and make it cannon. Oh, and the Final Grail War takes place in 1970, when Mana in the Extraverse began to fade.

 

[Deviox]

I decided not to make any decisions until some Tylenol kicked in. It was something I should have done before BB hijacked the airwaves. "So, this is generic pain medication?" Archer asked as she inspected the red bottle.

"Yeah," I hissed in pain.

"Interesting. I would have paid a King's ransom for something like this in my time," Archer returned the medication bottle to the medicine cabinet.

"I don't know when or where you're from, but didn't you drink a lot of alcohol in place of drinking water?"

"Not in total place, but it was regularly used."

"Yeah, a lot of modern medicine doesn't play well with alcohol," I explained.

"Hmm, I see," Archer said with a light shrug. "Feeling better?"

I relaxed a good bit longer on the sofa before sighing. "I suppose." I straightened myself up. "The pain isn't as bad as it was before."

"Good. I suppose the most immediate question would be if you want to truly take part," Archer explained.

"I… don't have much choice in the matter, do I?" I asked.

"Remember when BB was talking about Command Seals? They are very potent, and can very much be used to tell me to kill myself," Archer explained.

My eyes widened in horror at the implications. I looked at the markings on the back of my hand again. "I… I really don't want to make you just… Kill yourself." I said as I tried to digest what she just told me.

"Not only that, but I wouldn't recommend backing out until at least Rider has been dealt with," Archer said.

"Rider, why-" I cut myself off as I remembered the Master and Servant dynamic. "You think Rider's Master is a student in the school?"

"Or a teacher," Archer added.

"...Shit." No matter how much I wanted out of this, Rider would probably continue to harass and abuse me. I sank back on the sofa in a mix of shock, frustration, and worry. I couldn't back out yet, could I? At least not until Rider has been… dealt with in some way.

I was still wary about killing anyone. Master or Servant. But at the same time, I likely needed Archer as some kind of deterrent at the very minimum.

"If you want out of the War," Archer then began to stress, "You'll need to eliminate Rider. Assuming there aren't any other Master's at the school." She then moved in closer. "Master, if you're thinking of us as 'alive' in some way, you're wrong. We're all already dead. We all joined this Grail War with the expectation that we'd die. For the one in a seven hundredth chance that we'd win."

I blinked as I took in what Archer just told me. With a sigh, I think I started to accept the fact. "Very well. Is everyone a historic figure?"

"Historic or Mythological," Archer said.

"Historic or Mythological…" I pondered.

"Already getting your head in the game?"

"If I'm going to try to get out of this, then my best bet is getting rid of that pink-haired girl, Rider."

Archer grew a very savage grin. "Good to know my Master isn't some spineless coward."

I glared at Archer again before sighing. "Look, I just… I just don't want to die myself."

"We'll just have to cross that bridge when we get to it then," Archer said with a light shrug. She seemed adamant about keeping me in the war without pushing me too hard. Still, she made too good of an argument.

As long as Rider was around, her Master would likely keep sending her after me until I was in the hospital or worse. With a groan, I continued to think. "Historic or Mythological…" Taylor pondered to herself. "So Hercules can show up along with George Washington?"

"Exactly," Archer explained. "So, much like what BB said, finding out a Servant's True Name can be the key to taking them down."

"Like figuring out about Achilles' heel," I said, repeating what BB explained.

"Right," Archer said. "So far, all I know about Rider is that she is likely associated with boars in some way. From when she threw a boar at Archer to run, that's right. "If Rider said anything to you that could help narrow down who she is, that would go a long way to developing a countermeasure."

"To find their Achilles' heel," I muttered to myself. Alright then. I wasn't particularly eager to mentally relive that abuse, I could feel my ribs flare up a bit just thinking about it, but I needed something to remember. The first thought went to rejecting her Master's 'gift,' whatever that was. Could be useful for finding out her Master, but not the Servant.

Next off was the fact that she… complimented me. In some sort of a backhanded way. Not useful, but- Oh shit.

Archer seemed to have caught onto my realization. "She said something?"

"She mentioned Cu Chulainn. He's a mythical figure from the Ulster Cycle, and is considered by some to be the Irish version of Hercules," I explained. "And I think she mentioned him with a degree of familiarity."

"Meaning that whoever she is was familiar with him," Archer said with a savage grin. She looked eager to rip Rider apart.

"Exactly," I said in excitement.

"Any way to narrow it down to the individual?" Archer then asked.

"I'm not too familiar with the legend," I'd admit. I might be the daughter of a literature professor who loved her old legends, but I wasn't super familiar with much outside of Greek or Roman mythos. I'd have been more helpless if it was a historical figure. "But I know a good place to start looking," I said, bolting up to my feet, only to wince as I felt my ribs flare up again.

"Woah, easy, easy," Archer said with a light chuckle. "We've got a good lead though. I guess we're going to the library and start digging through some books?"

"Yes and No. We're going to use something better. What do you know about the Internet?" I said a grin on my face.

---

"Wikipedia?" Archer said in my head. She had astralized. A benefit to being dead, I guess, meant she could become a proper ghost whenever she needed to. Normally, you should see a doctor or the PRT if you start hearing voices in your head, but Archer told me this was a common feature between Servant and Master.

Thankfully, figuring out how to replay was easy. "Yes, Wikipedia. An online resource that anyone can add to or edit." I explained as I tried to spell out Cu Chulainn's name. "For research papers, any teacher will rip your paper to shreds if you cite it as a source, but it's amazing for just about anything else."

"Surely with it being a public forum, it's subject to vandalism?" Archer inquired.

"That's precisely why you can't use it as a primary source in research papers." I followed up. "However, Wikipedia will often be littered with sources and citations if you need to dig deeper."

"Useful," Archer muttered to herself. "I expect we'll make extensive use during the War?"

"Probably," I admit. "Everyone likely will. Hell, I'm willing to bet people will go digging through footage to play a game of 'Guess that Servant' or something online."

"So we might be able to get others to do the hard work for us?" Archer followed up.

"Possibly, but finding where people would share their guesses would be a problem," I admitted. It makes me wonder just how many Servant's identities have been uncovered already. "There we go," I said, finally getting the spelling right after relying on Google to fix it. And the summary already had a bunch of names belonging to female figures. Scathacha, Medb, Deichtine, Emer, and Aife.

I immediately discard Deichtine, his mother, and Emer, his wife. Rider spoke of Cu for his warrior feats, not for his… package. Worst case, I'll double back to them later. Aife and Scathacha I put aside. Possibilities but they primarily used a spear, with Archer hinting they fit Lancer far more than Rider. That left Medb.

Initially, research into Medb was a mixed result. However, the more I looked into it, the more the nuances seemed to fit. To say she slept around would be an understatement. History only seemed to mark a few of her 'exploits,' but it was more than enough to likely earn her several Noble Phantasms related to whom she slept with.

"Remember, the App suggested that Riders often have a wide range of Noble Phantasms, with the average being 3 or 4." Archer hinted. She was right. A deeper dive into the nuances of the class did suggest that too. Both high speed and loads of Noble Phantasms.

"That doesn't help us confirm…" I paused as I suddenly had an ephomy. Sure, Riders 'tended' to have several Noble Phantasms, but you still needed to ride something to earn the Rider class. "The Chariot she rode in when invading Ulster." AKA Cu's home.

"That would do it," Archer said. I couldn't see her, but I could practically hear her grin. "How sure are you that it's her?"

"I'd want to double-check everyone else, especially for mentions of a boar, but unless something else comes up, I think we've found our girl.

"Perfect."

Class: Rider
True Name: Medb
Master: ???

Parameters
Strength: E
Endurance: E
Agility: B
Mana: C
Luck: EX
NP: A+

Class Skills:
Riding: A
Magic Resistance: B

Personal Skills:
Golden Rule (Body): A
Queen's Discipline: A
Alluring Ephony: C

Noble Phantasms:
Chariot My Love - Anti-Army: B
My Red Mead - Anti-Army: C
Conhobar My Love - Anti-Unit (Self): C
Fergus My Love - Anti-Army: A+

Click to shrink...

Spoiler: Author's Notes

Not a huge fan of the first half of this. It's a bit too all over the place. At the same time though, I think that bit of it being 'all over the place' should hopefully let me better contrast things later on in the war when Taylor is much more experienced.

But here, we see what will likely be Taylor's strength as a Master here: Her ability to discover a Servant's True Name. With little more than Cu's name, she managed to (with the help of Wikipedia) pull out Medb's true name. Hopefully, I didn't make it seem like too much of an ass-pull here. I guess being the daughter of a literature professor comes with plenty of perks.

That said, I have gone and made a few minor changes to Chapter 1. Nothing worth rereading over, but I've generally changed how Servant Sheets get updated. In short, I've changed it so that discovering one's Class will reveal their Class Skills. Seeing a Servant in person would be required to see one's Parameters. A Servant actively utilizing a Personal Skill or Noble Phantasm will reveal it, and finding a true name will reveal the entire sheet.

I also added the NP's Type to Medb and will be going back soon to fix Jeanne's sheet. That said, I've got a good part of the Brockton Bay section of the war figured out. And I've figured out some fun things to happen during it. It's not fully outlined, but it's done enough for me to push forward... Ish. Figuring out how long it should take is really the final step here.

It should also be mentioned that since I'm not particularly familiar with FGO's Servants, I'll largely be relying on Wikis to help me fill in the gaps there. I've tried to get into FGO several times, but... Well, Septem and Okianos just can't hold my attention for a decent amount of time. And I play FFXIV, I know all about needing to get through the Trash to get to the good stuff. Probably if I could easily transfer between my Phone and PC Emulator... Thoughts for another time though.

Lastly, I want to get one or two more proper chapters done before I give this its own thread. That said, I'm almost definitely going to give this it's own thread in the future. I think I just want enough content up there to give it a proper release.

 

[Flamerai]

Time to make a bullet made out of cheese.

 

[Deviox]

"So, we need a battle plan to fight Medb," I mentally spoke to Archer as I took a seat on the bus. "Let's start backward and work from there. Medb died to a piece of cheese."

"Are you serious?" Archer was in clear disbelief, and I honestly couldn't blame her.

"A small part of me wishes I was," I replied, scrolling through Medb's Wikipedia article on my new phone. It was going to take some getting used to. Thankfully, it had everything you'd expect from a Dragontech Phone, including internet access. If anything, it loaded content faster than the computers at the library did. "Are you serious?"Still, that does give us a potential Achilles' heel to exploit." Archer was in clear disbelief, and I honestly couldn't blame her.

"Master, are you seriously considering throwing… cheese at her?" Archer said, the disbelief evident in her mind.

"Yes, I am," I said; my voice was entirely serious.

There were a couple of seconds of silence before Archer burst out laughing. It didn't sound like the mocking kind of laugh though. "Looks like I've been given an interesting Master. I like it, I like it!"

"Really?" I replied.

"Press any advantage you can. Medb likely has a weakness to cheese you say? Then let's press that pain point as hard as we can," Archer said.

"Aren't you Samurai types typically all about honorable battles?" I asked.

"Oh? Already figured out I'm a Samurai?" Archer asked.

"I mean, you've got that Katana."

"Fair." There was a pause as Archer seemed to consider her words. "But a Samurai's perception of what was honorable is dramatically different compared to what pop culture seems to have spread. Winning was honorable. Losing was dishonorable. That simple."

"Really?" I blinked in surprise. Was that going to be something I'd need to research?

"In my era, it was that simple," Archer said. "You did anything you could to win. Anything." Archer let out a light sigh.

"Including pillaging?"

"Everyone did pillaging. From what I've heard from tourists visiting Japan during my time, even the Europeans did it," Archer coldly explained.

I winced a bit. I mean, she wasn't wrong. Sure, history might treat it like the honorable knights didn't do any pillaging, but they very much did it. I sighed, deciding to just push that worry away for now. Archer knew it was something frowned upon today, even if she did it back during her time.

"I think our stop is next, Master," Archer then said, forcing that thought out of my mind as I turned my attention to the window. I hummed, requesting the next stop.

---

Archer reappeared once we stepped back inside. I hung my jacket on the nearby coat rack as I worked on getting us situated back inside. I led us back to the living room, dropped back on the sofa, and turned on the television

"-had recalled all Wards to the Rig once we had discovered the start to the Global Grail War." the spokesperson on screen said.

"Who's speaking?" Archer asked.

"I think it's a PRT Spokesperson," I answered. They were wearing a PRT Uniform but weren't heavy or female enough to be the current director, Piggot.

"Hmm, the keepers of the peace."

"Thus far, the only instance of Servant combat he have within Brockton Bay is a scuffle within the halls of Winslow High School. Damage from the minor scuffle wasn't considered enough to warrant closing school for the day. However, the PRT is preparing for the possibility of a gang war breaking out between Empire 88 and the Azn Bad Boys."

"Do… do one of the local gangs really call themselves the Azn Bad Boys? With a Z?" Archer said in disbelief.

"They do."

"Master, can we hunt down and eliminate them?" Archer said, clearly disgusted by the name.

"No. Remember the rules BB laid out? No unnecessary slaughter."

"Tch." Archer sucked her teeth, not liking the answer but deciding to accept it.

"If it makes you feel better," I decided to ease the wound. "Lung, their leader, has a reputation for ignoring many rules people force on him."

"Lung? Did he name himself after the Chinese word for Dragon?" Archer scoffed. "Quite ballsy for him to do that."

"I mean, his superpower is to transform into a Rage Dragon, so it fits," I explained.

Archer grumbled, deciding to simply concede it in annoyance.

"-won't be any questions right now. Thank you." the press speaker on TV said, stepping away from the podium, the sounds of several cameras flicking with the occasional flash as they walked away.

"What about the other gang they talked about? Empire 88," Archer asked.

"Empire 88 is a… Well, you know Nazis? They're basically Nazis," I explained.

Archer blinked. "And your government is fine with letting a previous war enemy entrench themselves on your soil despite their defeat?"

I sighed. "They're not, but the movement is homegrown," I said with a light sigh. "There's a lot of nuances to the issue I'm not clear on, but one thing I do know is that-"

"Oh to hell with any of that!" Archer grumbled. "They're lawless criminals entrenched in your city. Why are they allowed to continue to live, let alone operate?"

I winced under Archer's declaration. "Their leaders are parahuman, which makes it a PRT issue," I said.

"Look, I understand defending your government," Archer said, standing up in anger. "But why are you willing to let the PRT get so many damn free passes."

"Because we're left with no other choices," A new voice rang out. Archer turned around where my Dad stood. "I see you've been… drafted into this grail war, Taylor," Dad said with a sigh.

"Uh, hi Dad," I said, scratching my cheek.

"As for you, Miss Servant," Dad said, "They get so many free passes because the alternative can be much worse. Africa has all but devolved into constant Warlords vying for territory." He let out a sigh. "And the reason they don't just kill them is the fear of escalation. Once a Parahuman is marked for death, they have no reason to play nice." Dad sighed as he scratched the back of his head.

"Uh, Dad…"

"Later Taylor," Dad said as he left the living room towards the kitchen.

I slumped forward, pressing my hands into my head. "How the hell am I going to explain this to Dad."

---

Dad decided not to cook dinner tonight and instead ordered some pizza for delivery. When Archer was asked what topping she wanted, she decided to defer to Dad's judgment. So we were having some pepperoni pizza tonight.

"So, you've been chosen to take part in this Grail War." Dad eventually said while on his second slice.

"Uh, yes," I said.

"And since you still have your Servant, I assume you want to compete in it?" Dad then said.

"Not… exactly," I said.

"When I was summoned, an enemy Servant was attacking your daughter, Mr. Hebert," Archer explained. "Your daughter has decided to stay in as long as that Servant remains."

"Attacked by… Wait, you mean my daughter was at the center of that fight that happened at Winslow?" Anger was creeping into my Dad's voice.

"She was," Archer said. I lowered my eyes, avoiding Dad's glare.

"Have you figured out who it was?" Dad's calm anger was palpable.

"We've figured out who the Servant was. Medb," Archer explained.

"That means you know how to deal with her?"

"Kill her, yes."

Dad took in a deep breath. "I don't think I'll ever get used to this idea of a death-ridden battle royale."

"I told this to your daughter earlier, Mr. Hebert, but every Servant joined with the expectation that they'd die," Archer reiterated.

Dad grumbled. "Once the Servant that attacked my daughter is gone, I want her out of this damn war."

"Mr. Hebert, from what I've recently found out, Brockton Bay is a gang-infected hellhole. There's a solid chance that the gangs already know your daughter's a Master."

"Your point?"

"My point is that eliminating Medb may have several knock-on effects that could make her desirable for, I believe the modern term is gang press."

"Didn't that broadcast say gang pressing was against the rules?"

"Against the rules for Masters," Archer began tapping the table. "Fact is, once you lose your Servant, you're no longer a Master."

My eyes widened at Archer's declaration. So, even eliminating Rider could mark me as someone desirable for gang pressing? Was I just, going to be stuck in this war no matter what?

"Are you implying that my Daughter might be pressured to join a gang if she were to bow out?" Dad said, a mix of fear and rage in his voice.

"To me, it seems likely," Archer implied. "And with how public this Grail War is, I wouldn't be surprised if a bunch of different factions tried to force their way into this war."

"How sure of that are you." Dad then said, his voice firm again.

Archer closed her eyes in thought, before looking towards me. "Honestly, I can't say," Archer stated. "However, eliminating Medb could easily be viewed as a declaration to actually partake in the war."

Dad sat there for several long moments. I just tried to digest what was being said, and how it all related to me.

"To hell with that damn declaration!" I shouted, slamming my fist on the table. "I don't want this! I don't want any of this shit!"

"Taylor!" Dad said.

"Don't you 'Taylor' me! Do you think I want to risk my goddamn life for… for a stupid goddamn ring!" I then said, gritting my teeth in anger, turning my gaze onto Archer. "And you didn't think there would be a good time to tell me that before?"

"It wouldn't have changed the fact that we need to deal with Rider, with Medb, before you could even think about returning to your life," Archer said. "Yes, eliminating Rider could be viewed as a declaration to take part in the war, but losing your Servant, losing me, is just as important to stay in the war. Lose me and you're no longer in the war."

"So I just use my command seal to order you to kill yourself right after we kill Medb, then I'm free from this?"

"You can, but you can be damn sure I'll resist it." Archer declared, glaring at me. "You are my one chance to get a damn wish."

There was a lull of silence, with only the idle sounds of the clock being heard. BB's broadcast didn't mention what the Servants summoned got in return, but… Well, it made sense that they got something in return for fighting this war.

Eventually, Dad sighed, looking at the clock. "You have school tomorrow, right?"

I blinked, looking at the clock, surprised at just how late it was. "Yeah, I do."

"How about you go to bed early tonight? Assuming you'll need to fight Medb tomorrow, you should be, well, at your best."

I thought about it for several more seconds, before eventually conceding. I think I get what Dad was trying to do. Calm down and just sleep on the situation rather than make any rash decisions now. Dad got up and gathered my plate as I went up to my bedroom to get ready for bed.

Spoiler: Author's Notes

Probably a weaker and longer chapter than I'd like. That said, I don't have too much to talk about here without spoiling what's coming up next. That said, the next chapter will probably be in its own thread, rather than here. Speaking of the next chapter, it'll be an interlude chapter, and possibly a shorter one. The chapter's more abrupt ending should better fit in once the Interlude is published.

That said, I don't have too much more to say before bowing out. Nice to see you all starting to guess the Master. That said, there will be several original Servants and Masters thrown into the mix. Anyway, I want to get started on the Interlude sooner rather then later, so I'ma dip for now and get started on that. Expect an Informational threadmark when that chapter goes up with a link to it's thread.

 

[Deviox]

I've gone and turned that little snip series into a fully-sized fic. Here's a link to the most recent chapter! It's currently exclusive to Space Battles, mostly because I don't want to go through the effort of crossposting it.

 

[Deviox]

"Once again, thank you for having me," Rin said, bowing briefly. The light of a projector shone some simple words on the wall. 'The theoretical means to suppress the Counter Force.' "It's an honor to give a lecture to the various Lords in attendance today." She then raised back up into a straight stance. "I am Rin Toshaka, native to this world but at the behest of Zelretch, I've been conducting research on a world that has had its Counter Force Suppressed. Both Alaya's and Gaia's."

Rin then bent over, picking up a stack of papers. "This lecture is, by and large, an abridged version of what's in this paper. Whatever I don't go over here, you will hopefully find within the full document. Due to current events in my current world of residence, I will not be able to stay here for questions. Zelretch has offered to forward any questions you might have."

"Sadly, the document is less comprehensive than I would like. This is largely due to the state of the Magus Association, or rather lack thereof. For that, I would like to open up with a brief history lesson of the world I currently reside in, Earth Bet."

"First, the mundane version the average person would know." The projector behind her flashed, showing the picture of a Golden man floating above the ocean. "On May 20th​, 1982, the golden man, Scion, appeared floating over the Pacific Ocean. About two years later in 1984, humans with Superpowers started appearing, though the general public wouldn't be aware of them until three years later in 1987."

The picture then showed a massive crater in an urban setting. "A few short months later, the British Museum was vaporized in a mysterious bombing. One so powerful it left nothing behind." Rin let the implications of what she just said set in before changing the picture again.

This time, a picture showing various Capes in costumes appears, earning more than a few scoffs from her audience. "What follows after is what people of that world would call the 'Golden Age of Parahumans.' It's a general era of peace and prosperity where good regularly triumphs over evil. Things you'd expect to see straight out of a comic book."

The picture changed again, this time showing a 32-foot tall monster, earning more than a few gasps from the audience. "And like all golden ages, it would come to an end with the first appearance of a creature known as Behemoth." The picture changed again, showing two more creatures. "Later two more creatures, Leviathan, and The Simurgh, would appear." The picture would then change, showing all three of them. "They would each take turns attacking various cities. Normally, they could be considered to be Phantasmal Creatures of some sort, but I am hesitant to use that term for several reasons. Reasons largely unrelated to the core of this lecture. Collectively, they are known as The Endbringers."

The picture then changed to show what could best be described as some bastardized version of a Werewolf. "Lastly, are what are officially called Case 53's, casually known as Monstrous Capes. They started appearing in the year 2000 without any memories and all branded with a strange upside-down Omega symbol. They are believed to have come from another world, and are all Parahumans of some sort."

"Of course, that's what the layman of that world knows. What about the Moonlit world?" Rin changed the picture back to the picture of Scion. "For one, it's known that the influence of the Counter Force had been weakening before the Golden Man's Appearance. My current information indicates that it likely started in the mid-1960s, but I have not been able to find any records confirming nor denying this."

The picture then changed to a picture of the British Museum. "From what I've dug up, while there was some initial push to investigate the weakening of the Counter Force, efforts all but ceased once it became clear that the weakening Counter Force wouldn't lead to a return to any Divine Spirits or Phantasmal Species." The picture then changed back to the Golden Man once again. "There was a very brief push after Scion's appearance, but nothing seems to have come to it."

The picture then changed to a grayed-out picture of the Wizard Martial. "The team concludes that without Zelretch, who had passed away long before these events, to rally or force the issue, no real actions were ultimately taken until it was too late."

The slide then changed to a picture of the public reveal of Parahumans. "While attempts were made to study the Parahuman phenomenon once they appeared, their public reveal sent the Clock Tower in a panic."

The picture then changed to feature the Lords of the Clock Tower."In a panic, they called a massive meeting, with the willingness to share any information they had acquired on the Parahumans. Anyone and everyone within the Moonlit World was invited. And one month later, when everyone was gathered…"

The picture then changed to reveal the crater that was once the British Museum. "A massive explosion happened. One that vaporized everything and everyone within. Not even a single Magic Crest remained."

Rin let the silence hold for several seconds before changing the picture to the Vatican. "These days, the Moonlit world is largely upheld by the Church. There is an open secret of a secret society there, however, anyone who has dug too deep has found themselves dead and their research destroyed. Everyone suspects they have something to do with the Boston Museum Bombing, along with the appearance of Case 53."

Rin sighed, the picture then changing to show a picture of the Earth. "Ultimately, we are still conducting our research on how the Counter Force has started to fade. That isn't to say that we've been idle though."

The picture then changed back to Scion. "As many of you have suspected, Scion is an Alien, and one of great power." It then changed to show a picture of Scion casually blasting Behemoth. "Initially, we had labeled him as a Type. One behind the appearance of Parahumans, and our early research into Parahumans indicated as such. This includes a link that ultimately ends in the same location in the Kaleidoscope. However…"

The picture then changed to show that of the same twisted Werewolf as before. "That changed when we had a chance to study Case 53. While its nature was similar, with changes that could easily be attributed to the Parahuman's twisted nature along with others… Well, let's just say other indications. There was one major difference. Their connection ended in another part of the Kaleidoscope. Or in short."

The picture shifted to show the darkened silhouette of Scion. "There's a second Scion."

Rin let the statement sit for several long seconds before Continuing. "If there is some amount of good news, it's that this second Scion doesn't appear to be active, or at least awake. We are hesitant to dig any deeper than that, however, given their likely connection to Case 53s. It is this reason, and this reason alone, that we're not calling Scion, nor its partner a Type on that technicality."

Rin sighed, and the picture then changed to show various Parahumans once again. "Of course, what does all this Parahuman nonsense have to do with the weakening Counter Force? In all likelihood, the method by which these alien creatures keep the Counter Force suppressed."

"The logic here is fairly simple. As alien beings, they naturally bring their Alien Order with them. By gifting powers to humans, they muddy the waters of the Human Order, thus weakening the Counter Force. And while one or two won't do much, what about a few hundred? Thousands? Millions? Add in the fact that this world is losing humans faster than they're being produced only further weakens the Human Order."

The picture then changed to show the earth. "As for Gaia, outside the presence of Mana, we haven't noticed its influence. It's entirely possible that it's either uncaring of the current situation, or that it's in a state similar to Alaya with its Order being muted by that of the Aliens."

"Still, this brings us to the question of how to restore Alaya's presence." The picture changed to show Scion once again. "Typical logic would dictate the elimination of the source would thereby eliminate the powers on offer, but given what appears to be the inactive nature of one of the two beings, this might not eliminate the source of the power. Another option could be the deaths of all humans granted powers through this means but given how even an inactive Alien is giving powers, we're unsure if this is truly achievable without the Counter Force."

"This leads us back to figuring out what caused the Counter Force to weaken to begin with. While all evidence currently points towards it being caused by the Aliens, it's not impossible that the Aliens merely took advantage of a weakening Counter Force to begin with and merely exacerbated an already bad situation." If it wasn't caused by the Aliens, dealing with the source could enable the Counter Force to begin fixing itself."

"While one might think that at least eliminating the Aliens involved would at least stem the metaphorical bleeding, there are several reasons to avoid this." The picture then changed to show Scion attacking one Behemoth once again. "Namely Scion's raw strength. It's likely a fight with him could easily end all life on the Earth well before any real damage could be done against it. Remember, we're talking about a being that's not a Type solely on a technicality. Finding some alternative method to kill him is a must, and relying on him to accidentally grant a power that could counter him would be the height of stupidity."

"That leaves us to our current situation, and where our research goes from here. While we're currently at a host of dead ends in our investigation, we are not without options." The picture then changed to once again show a picture of the small European city. "First, there is a Holy Grail still active in Romania. It's the same Fuyuki Holy Grail that appears to have been relocated during the Third Holy Grail War. Our group has a pair of Catalysts that could be used in said Ritual should we take part. However, we would need to forcibly dismantle or destroy said Holy Grail should it be in a state similar to the one here." Rin didn't mention that she planned to do it regardless of whether it was corrupted or not given the risks it held without a Counter Force.

The picture then changed to show one of the Class Cards. "Second, there's the status of the Class Cards the Zelretch had given us before our departure. It appears that Alaya has chosen a wielder for those cards that are native to that world. Thankfully, we do have the chosen under our influence. We've already identified some Heroic Spirits tied to them. Should we identify more, we hope to use that information as some sort of clue to restore Alaya's presence, and in doing so gain information on what caused its strength to disappear in the first place."

The picture then changed to show that of "Thirdly, we can search the Workshops of the Magi that died in the Museum Bombing for some information on the decline of the Counter Force. While there was a lack of research done, there was definitely some research done. Data about the Counter Force's status at its time Naturally, that comes with the challenge of actually gaining access to said Workshop."

"Lastly, there's the secret society." The picture changed to a silhouette of three random people. "We've already concluded that they likely do not have access to any Magi. Gaining some amount of access to whatever information they hold could be the missing pieces we need to figure out what caused Alaya's presence to weaken. We already have suspects on some people involved, but approaching them or getting them to approach us is a separate matter."

The picture then changed once again, this time just saying the word Recap. "So, to quickly recap. The planet I'm currently residing on, Earth Bet has a weakened Counter Force presence. While the cause for its beginning is currently unknown, it is being propped up by several Humans being given Alien powers, thus diluting the Human Order and allowing the Counter Force to continue to be suppressed. Discovering and dealing with this initial cause will be the top priority of our team going forward, not the Aliens granting said powers."

Rin then bowed. "This concludes my presentation on this matter. Once again, while I am unable to take questions at this time, you will likely find most questions you have inside the 105-page document I have provided. Failing that, you may forward any inquiries you have to Zelretch who offered to forward any questions you might have to me and I will send a reply back as soon as I am able to. Thank you."

Spoiler: Author's Notes

I'M ALIIIIIVE. AGAIN!

So yeah, *cough* I'm, uh, not dead. And not a necromancer, I swear. Largely, I slapped this together after I realized that I'm probably never going to come back to this story. I didn't exactly want some of the hopefully cool ideas I had in mind for this to be trapped in my head for all eternity. I am still working on some bits and bobs for my other stories, but my muse keeps going back to horny ideas that don't belong here.

While I'm on this subject, I did have some other cool ideas come to mind that wouldn't exactly fit into a snip. In particular, Rin finding Earth Bet's Jeweled Sword of Zelretch and (Dark) Sakura's Magecraft completely ripping apart all Projections and Endbringers like butter. After all, why limit Shirou Emilya and Taylor to being ridiculously powerful within Worm?

Anyway, I hope to have the other bits and bobs written to be done with at... some point in time.

 

[Indra2003]

Aggh cauldron again. Seeing those guys ruined my whole day