Fate/Lone Fragment

[UNKNOWN01]

???,???,???

Inside a mansion somewhere, there had been a party.

It had been one for rich people.

Regardless, it had been a joyous occasion.

The guests were having spontaneous and happy conversations between each other.

There had been drinks and food and music!

Some children were brought into the party by their parents and they been making friends with each other.

Stories and tales had been brought into it, too.

Some of the guests were talking about their new acquired possessions, some of the travels they had been in.

In short, the kind of situation where hedonism and bragger thrived in the hearts of Man, just like it will always do.

But among all the other guests, there had been one in special that we shall talk about now—

He, for starters, was a Gentleman above anything.

He was smooth when it came to swaying others.

He was always polite talking with others.

He was a person who looked to be in his late forties to fifties, and he whore an impeccable black dress suit, with a simple yet elegant white tie.

He appeared, in almost every sense of the word, a perfect Gentleman.

This Gentleman wasn't alone I this party, of course.

He had a few associated which had decided to come with him in this party.

Together, they numbered among 20 people.

Despite their remarkable manners, they were getting antsy, 'why?' you may ask.

Because for them, this wasn't the party they were expecting, no, the party they were expecting would start at 11PM.

And thus, this group of associates had to go through the entire party, appearing to be calm, instead of their almost palpable and uncontrollable impatience they were feeling.

But it will all be worth it.

Because the moment the clock marked the 11, the associates could barely stop themselves from jumping with joy.

That was the moment when their party started.

With a supernatural coordination, all of them started enjoying themselves more than before.

The music from before had stopped, in its place was the now their favorite song, a beautiful melody for them.

The wine from before had been tossed aside for new, more exciting and tasty drinks for their exquisite sense of taste.

Sadly for them, every party had to end, and theirs ended at 12PM O'clock.

The music had stopped, replaced by silence.

The buffet was gone, replaced by leftovers.

The drinks were gone too, replaced by thirst.

But they didn't minded, because—

They had a job to do.

In what used to be the main hall of the mansion, all of them were making sure their little project was perfect.

Once they were sure, The Original Gentleman took off one of his gloves, the one in his right hand, to reveal to the world three beautiful markings in his skin.

With the form of their project completed, and with it completely spilled in their drinks, it should be able to function at its best.

And thus, The Gentleman stated speaking—

Fill, fill, fill, fill, fill!

Repeat Five times. But destroy each when filled.

Let the silver and steel be the base.

Let the stone and the archduke of contracts be the foundation.

The ancestor is my great master, Schweinorg.

Let us build a wall against the wind that shall fall.

The gates in four directions close.

Form the Crown, come forth, and follow the three-forked road that leads to the Kingdom



Then I propose.

Through your body, I embody Will

Through my body, you embody Fate

Abiding by the call of the Holy Grail,

If you choose to abide by this Fate, this Will, Then answer!



Hereby I swear,

I will become all the good in this world

I will slain all the evil in this world

​

The chant was going normally, as it should, but—

Let your Resentment and Rage Salt the Earth,

Let your Hatred become Power

And with my body as your anchor—

​

That chant shouldn't had happened, that chant shouldn't been possible, that chant shouldn't be able to call upon anyone, but—

From the seventh heaven, heed my call and come forth,

O', Keeper Of Balance!​

Light covered every inch of the lustrous hall.

In middle of the summoning circle, there was a figure—

"I am Servant Avenger,

Answering your call—

Are you my Master?"
​

The man instead of feeling fear, repulsion or even the sightless nerves…

He only smiled and went to introduce himself to his new Servant, after all—

He was a Gentleman before anything.
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Spoiler: Author's Note

And with this, the bomb is dropped.

The second Interlude is here, and with that the next update will be the story-proper vote.

Please, let me know your thoughts about this, I wish to know what you thought about these two Interludes, both of them if you can, before I start making more of these.

Anyways, Thanks for reading!

 

[UNKNOWN01]

I started reading everything I could about my Servant.

'His Parameters are actually pretty good for a Caster…'

'He actually seems like a pretty decent fighter, 'Eye of the Mind' is at B Rank, which means that he must had some experience in an actual battle…'

I kept reading until I reached the NP's he has—

'Unlimited Blade Works…?' I read the NP name and his description.

'A Reality Marble...'

A Reality Marble, one of the closest things to sorcery to exist, and my Servant has one of those…

It may be nothing worth thinking about, after all, the Throne of Heroes gives the [Heroic Spirits] their Noble Phantasms based on how those represent the Hero's legend.

It could just be that my Servant has been given a Reality Marble by the World because it fitted better with his legend, but still, that doesn't sound like any legend I have read about…

Anyways, that wasn't the most surprising thing I read—

'..Excalibur Image!? '

I had made my investigations before I entered the Holy Grail War; I knew about Excalibur and how powerful a sword likes that must be, being widely known around the world—

And my Servant had that same sword as a Noble Phantasm.

'How…?'

I started considering the idea of asking Caster about it, but…

We literally met just an hour ago, after my little outburst when he revealed that he lacked a name, he decided to wait in the living room (unknown to me, another reason Caster wanted to be in the living room was because of the proximity to the kitchen.), and I was in my own room trying to read my Servant's Parameters (Which to my surprise, in a good way this time, were actually quite decent, even more for his Class.) and trying to make sense the day I had.

The question I should ask myself now is—

Should I question Caster about his Noble Phantasms…?

…

[] I need to know everything about my Servant before I can trust him, I must ask him; who is he exactly?



[] No, this is a bad idea, later, when we have trust in each other I will, but for now, I will wait until Caster himself tells me.



[] Write in?

…

Regardless, I start thinking about my alliance with Sakura...

About how she now knows that I'm destined to die if I don't get the Grail.

About how her eyes softened when I started speaking about it.

About how her eyes became slightly brighter when she heard that I wouldn't have to fight her, at least, not now.

And about how she was going to summon her Servant tomorrow and she wanted me to come to her house to see it.

I sighed, this is how my Holy Grail War begins, and there is a lot more to come.

'But…'

If this is my only chance to live, then so be it.

I was going to fight in this Grail War—

And I was going to win, at any cost.

Deciding that I had been in bed for long enough, I raised from the inviting softness of my mattress, into the corridor and down stairs into the living room where Caster—

Was making food in the kitchen?

"…Caster?"

Sensing me coming, Caster turned to see me from the open-kitchen alongside the living room.

He had taken off his cloak, and also seemingly made appear a simple white shirt from thin air.

[Heroic Spirits], the most powerful humans (And not-so Humans) that had ever existed, with legends that can date from centuries of antiquity—

And one of those Heroes was now making food in my kitchen with a tranquil smile in his face.

…It was a surreal scene without a doubt.

"You were really stressed when you go upstairs, so I decided that a good way to clear the ambient would be to at least make you a little bit more comfortable."

It was a perfectly reasonable argument, a good way to calm my nerves before doing any decision.

But alas, I was still flabbergasted at the image of my Servant making food for me to think about the reasons why, so I just sit down on the dinner table and started eating.

…

After what could easily be called the best meal of my entire life, Caster and I were now facing each other in opposite sides of the table, both of us wearing serious expressions.

Caster was the one to break the silence—

"Is there something I should know before we start discussing our plans, Master?" He asked in a serious tone "Identities of the Masters or Servants, if you had been attacked, anything suspicious?"

I clear my throat before starting.

"I have made an alliance with a fellow Master, her name is Matou Sakura, she comes from one of the three founding families."

Caster seemed surprised by this.

"I… didn't expect you to be able to form an alliance this early in the War; do you know if she's trustable?"

Perception VS Deception : 4d6 + 1d6=4, 4, 6, 6 + 1 = 21 VS 6d6=1, 4, 6, 2, 1, 2 PASS!

There is clearly more to it for the way he seems surprised and even a little uncomfortable with the name I just spoken, these little signals would have been missed by many others, but not me—

But for now I have no choice but to let it slide, for now.

"She is a childhood friend I know since we were 9, I believe she is."

With that, Caster seems to relax, but—

"Caster," Even if I won't be asking him about his NP, there is something I must ask—

…

[] What is your wish for the Grail? (If I know his wish, I will be able to shed some light about the type of person he is)

[] How is your fighting style? (It is imperative for me to know how he fights before being forced to fight enemy Servants.)

[] Write in?

…

After my discussion with Caster ended, I decided to head to sleep and let for tomorrow the idea of making more complexes plans after we meet with Sakura and she has summoned her Servant.

Before I'm able to do so, though, I notice that there is a message in the phone of the household, which is in one of the corners of the living room.

Making my way to it, I looked over to see who from who was the message…

…

[] Pierce-san, my legal guardian…



[] Sakura… it must be something about our last conversation…



[] From the church… Kotomine-san must be asking me about my summoning…

…

And finally, after the call is dealt with, I'm finally able to go to my bed…

'Ah… I didn't realize I was this tired…'

With the day I had, it was obvious that I was extremely tired, and that is without considering the fact that I haven't accustomed to the feeling of supplying Caster with Mana.

'Tomorrow will be another day…' it's my last thought before darkness consumes my consciousness for what remains of the night…

1st​ Night End.
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Spoiler: "Author's Note"

And that's it, we end our first night without (too many) issues.

I have one more thing to ask:

I had been making some rolls for Sakura about her Servant and I somehow managed to get her a Catalyst.

The Catalyst in question is a fragment of the round table which, if used, will summon Berserkerlot (Aka: Berseker Lancelot)

But at the same time, I tought on giving Sakura a nother Servant, a Lancer Medusa

No, not that one, but this one:

Spoiler: Appearence

If somone has a less evil Image for her, or finds themselves capable of making one, then do it because this is a little too... evil-ish for what I had in mind, but it should suffice for now.

I didn't wanted to give Sakura Lily!Medusa because I didn't felt it right, so I decided to make this proper Lancer!Medusa a more mature one (Older than Ana, but younger than her Rider self, and with the skills altered to make her be at least somewhat different from her Lily self).

Not because I dislike her desing in her lancer form, quite the opposite, I find her adorable and a prime candidate for best daugtheru! But I feel that she would not fit as much as it should in this Quest, so here we are with Sightly more mature Lancer!Medusa.

I have many plans for both of them, so I want you to choose, I have some old acquaintances for Lancelot to meet and at the same time I have some 'Plans' with Medusa, and also I may have or not had seen some time ago a Rider/Archer fanfic and I found myself liking this pairing.

So now, here is your turn to vote about this, please make this independent of the other vote, a few lines below if possible, also, vote by task in this one, regardless, here is the vote:

[] Lancer!Medusa.

[]Berserker!Lancelot.

So that's all, you know the rest, comment about what you liked about this, I'll be happy to take some suggestions and advise, and please vote.

Thanks for reading!

 

[UNKNOWN01]

'At least I don't have to worry about enemy Masters here…' I thought to myself as I approach Homurahara's front gate.

'Oh?' I can hear Caster talking to me inside my head 'Why do you think so, if I can ask?' There is amusement in his voice; his reasons why are unknown to me.

'Masters can't fight each other in broad daylight,' I start 'to do so would risk the exposure of Magecraft and Thaumaturgy to the world, thus it is forbidden to do so during the Grail War.'

'You should by know that many Magi wouldn't care about those,' Caster starts chastising me 'the Association wouldn't care if this entire town is burned to the ground as long as Magecraft remains hidden; don't let your guard down in any moment, we don't know who may be a Master, it may even be one of your classmates' He says the last part almost as if talking from experience.

'…Wouldn't it be too much of a coincidence that three Masters attend to the same school?' I say, trying to not make my disbelief too evident in my voice, but I think I failed that check…

'You could be surprised,' says Caster, seemingly finding my disbelief rather amusing 'I have seen weirder things happen'

After this, he sighs 'Just be careful, it wouldn't be fit for a Hero the idea of failing to save someone just because they were too trusting in an open battlefield.'

His words bring me back to my last night conversation with Caster…

…

"—How is your fighting style, Caster?" I ask, I need to know the way he fights before fighting against another Servant.

Caster seems taken by surprise at my question, but answer anyways. "I am able to recreate any weapon that I have seen, including Noble Phantasms. It's my specialized type of Magecraft, I called it 'Tracing' and as you can guess, that's the reason I was able to become a [Heroic Spirit]."

That… was something unexpected.

"You… are able to recreate any Noble Phantasm you have ever seen?"

"—not only recreating them, I am able to also reproduce the skills of the original user as long as I have the traced copy in my hands. I'm also able to call upon a Noble Phantasm 'True Name', even more; my traced copies are built into a foundation different than Gaia's one, so the World doesn't attempts to erode the mysteries that I create.—

I'm a capable sword fighter, I favor double wielding in combat and I prefer to use a bow and striking from the distance. Is that enough for you, Master?"

That was it.

The capability to create mysteries that Gaia's influence doesn't' attempt to erode was the moment I decided to ask him about his Noble Phantasms, the rest of what he said only cemented my opinion.

But—

I don't want to force him to tell me, it would surely damage our relationship if I decide to do that. I didn't want to start our relationship with me forcing him to tell me about his past.

"…Caster," He then was paying attention; I knew that "Could you tell me about your Noble Phantasms, about you?" Then I added "I'm not going to force you to anything, if you don't want to talk, then its fine"

Caster stared at me with an intrigued gaze, he was curious about me, I could see that.

"…Well," Then he started speaking "It's not like I was attempting to hide them for you or anything," He then started scratching the back of his head, obviously uncomfortable with the situation "What do you want to know, then?"

…It kind of dawned on me that maybe I could have just asked in a more polite way. Maybe, with the Grail War going, I'm acting a little too paranoid.
(Trait revealed! Inquisitive)
Ignoring the fact that I may have just made my relationship with my Servant a lot more awkward, I decide to start questioning his NP's.

…

After a little while, I was able to obtain enough information about Caster's Noble Phantasms and a little more about his story.

"…So you were able to develop a natural Reality Marble." It was something unbelievable; to develop a natural Reality Marble while as a human it's something so statistically improbable that it might as well be impossible—

But that could also be said for the Servant Summoning System that the Holy Grail uses… And also, The Grail itself can easily be counted as that.

What truly is almost completely unbelievable is the fact that he is not only a modern hero (something almost completely impossible for this day and age), but that he also came from an alternate timeline—

'What is this? Some kind of visual novel plot!? '

Unaware or unbothered by my completely understandable reaction, Caster speaks once more "My Servant during my Holy Grail War was King Arthur as a Saber, in my timeline King Arthur was a woman named Artoria Pendragon"

I nodded. As unbelievable this whole situation was, I decided to trust Caster's words for the moment.

"To resume, the Grail ended up being corrupted by an evil entity called Avenger, an incarnation for the Zoroastrian representation of evil, Angra Mainyu, All The World's Evil's, was summoned as a Servant during the 3rd​ War and proceeded to infected the Grail's Systems allowing for the summoning of Anti-Heroes, and no matter what wish was made to the Grail, it would be twisted into a way to grant the wish but doing so in a way that would cause calamity.—

At the end of the War, Saber and I managed to discover the Grail's corruption and managed to destroy it."

'Avenger…' A Servant that was able to infect the Grail to twist the wish of the winner. 'I should do some research on this…'

Leaving that aside for now, there are some things that I would like to clarify about Caster's history—

"While I understand that your Servant in your Grail War was King Arthur, I don't think that would have been enough to make you obtain a sword like Excalibur as a Noble Phantasm, even as a degraded copy."

At this, Caster started scratching his cheek while laughing in an awkward way, "Ah, that, you see, when I got caught in the fire that ravage my home, I was dying, I was seeing Angra Mainyu's cursed flames devouring every one that I saw, the lingering curses were affecting the air, sapping the life out of anyone that could have survived the flames, sapping the life out of me, damaging my soul itself, I believe.

In the end, I was ready to die after running for what felt like hours, though probably were no more than minutes, until I saw the person that would end up becoming my father, he implanted King Arthur's sheath, Avalon, inside of my body in its spiritual form—

That's how I survived, by having Avalon inside of me, it completely healed my injuries, and the one's it couldn't heal, like my fading soul, and it remade them, changing my Origin into 'Sword'.

Years will pass without me even knowing that Avalon was the thing that healed me," At this point, I can't help but be completely engrossed by Caster's story; I can notice that his face betrays nostalgia, sadness… and guilt. "I would only discover it years later after the end of the Holy Grail War; you could call it a 'happy little accident'."

At this point, Caster sighs and seemingly decides to end his tale, I can feel that there is more, but this is far more than I expected to get out of this conversation.

"—Now, Master," He starts speaking once again, "Since I have answered your questions, I think it's only fair for me to have mine answered, isn't it?

I nodded, Caster has told me what I wanted to hear, I'm basically bound now to answer his questions.

He looked straight into my eyes, and he made his question known, "Master, what is your wish for the Grail?"

I sighed; fortunately, this was an easy question for me to answer.

"I want to live"

Caster raises an eyebrow before my unexplained wish.

"—I was born with a degenerative condition in my brain, actually, I only managed to stay alive after birth due to an emergency surgery to save my life only two years after I was born.

I'm diagnosed that my condition is only going to go worse; the first true symptoms should be a slow but constant loss of my motor functions, followed but a constant loss of memories during random stretches of time, similar to the Alzheimer, after that, I will start losing the rest of my mental capabilities and, finally, my brain will have deteriorated enough to be considered 'Brain Dead'—

Have I mentioned that up until the third step I will be mostly conscious of what is happening to me? Not that it matters at the fourth one, that's it…" I let out a mirthless chuckle; I only wanted to be able to live my life, I may not have any special plans about how, but…

"—so, "I recomposed myself, it was not the time to think about it, it was not the time for weakness "Once I learned about the Holy Grail War, and the Command Seals appeared in my hand, I decided to put my own life in risk… for the sake of saving my own life." It was a contradiction, fighting in a lethal tournament with barely any rules being actually respected, where most of its previous participants had died, being a way to preserve one's own life? It was ridiculous!

… And it was what was happening right now.

"…So when the time came to summon my Servant, I asked to the Grail for a Hero. I asked the Grail to give me someone who would be willing to help me in my goal, to send someone… that was willing to fight by my side, as my Hero…!" I exclaimed with a voice higher than I originally intended, but what was done was done.

I didn't dare to look into Caster's eyes, preferring to keep my gaze in the ground.

I gulped, it was now or never… "With you knowing that, I ask of you Caster—

Are you willing to be my Sword, my Hero, for the rest of the Holy Grail War?"

The seconds felt like hour to me, and then—

I felt someone ruffling my hair, at the same time that he chuckled.

"Are you really that hopeless as a Master?" He asked in an amused voice, "I already forged my contract with you, and unless you really were someone which objective would be the suffering of all mankind or something like that, I will stand by our contract until this Grail War ends—

After all, I am the Hero that you asked for, didn't you?"

I was stunned for a moment before moving to remove his hand from my hair; still, I was completely sure that I wore a smile on my face on that moment.

"I…Thank you, Caster."

He sighed one last time before he started speaking once more, "What I am going to do with a Master as hopeless as you? I can see that look in your face that says me that you are going to do something stupid even without a Servant to protect you. If you end up doing something potentially lethal, then I'll better be here if I am here to make sure you manage to survive"

His words were harsh, but I was able to feel that he meant what he said.

"—But before anything, I have to ask you," he looked to me once again, "Are you willing to trust me, Master?"

It was a simple question, with a simple answer. I immediately straightened myself up, and answered with all the confidence I was able to muster.

"For now, I do. Let's work together then, Caster."
(Caster Bond up!)
…

Now I was able to see that Caster seemed more at ease with me around, I guess we are now a true Master and Servant team.

Thinking about last night, I remembered something important—

'Caster, if I send you to investigate the Grail's state, would you be able to find anything wrong with it if there were something going on with the Grail's System?'

'I could, but it would take me time, and I would be able to do so with more efficiency if I had my 'Workshop' active and in connection with the local leylines, but as you can understand, that would take me even more time, and besides, remember that with the Matou Master without a Servant, both of you would be an easy prey for any enemy, Servant or Master, that was able to identify you both as Masters without their Servants close.'

So it was between investigating now, but with fewer resources to do so. Laying the foundations for a future investigation, but not doing it right away, and neither of at least until Sakura summoned her Servant…

…Which option should I choose?

[] Investigate the Grail's Systems right away (DC 50/70/90, you are left defenseless until Sakura summons her Servant, will roll 1d100 on encounter.)



[] Tell Caster to set up his Workshop before anything (You will not investigate this turn. Caster now has a Workshop active, which will allow him to extract the Mana from the local leylines and will allow him to start with using his Item Creation Skill, you are left defenseless until Sakura summons her Servant, will roll 1d100 on encounter.)



[] Wait until Sakura summons her Servant (You will not investigate this turn. Caster is still without a Workshop. You are protected by Caster; events will go on normally until Sakura summons her Servant.)

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Spoiler: Author's Note

Well, this went on for far longer than I thought it would do.

At first, when I was making the Caster scene, I wanted it to be a quick thing so I could move on to Kotomine and Hakunos's relationship.

But then, without any warning, the electricity in my house and neighborhood went down (truly, living in a southamerican country is a unique experience).

Now this would be a problem only because of time lost and some boring time, but the thing is...

When the electricity wwent down, it also went my computer. Which is where I write. Which I hadn't save since the begining.

See the problem?

So, when electricity came back, I had to write everything all over again, which may also be a good thing, because I managed to come with some ideas as for how the conversation will go, so it was all nice and fine.

When I was writing this today, lights whent down again.

At least this time I did saved the file...

Anyways, moving from that and into the chapter.

I decided to cut it into to parts, which the next one should come tomorrow, if nothing goes wrong.

About Caster's decision and Hakuno's paranoia about his new Servant, I had some ideas about how to handle this, so from all the others, I decided for this one.

Why? pretty easy, I couldn't find any reason for Nameless to hide his True Name and history, which to make things clear, he didnt say anything about neither Sakura, nor Rin, nor Illya.

He didn't even mentioned the name of Fuyuki, just about the fire, Avalon, the Holy Grail War itself, and about Artoria. Nothing more, he isn't going to completely trust Hakuno with those things yet.

And about Hakuno's paranoia.

Here's the thing, he is now basically in a Murder-Death-Kill tournament where the more renow your Servant has, the more powerful is going to be.

And what he gets is literaly the one Servant that doesn't even have a name, has crazy NP's that shouldn't have, and reacts in strange ways to ceirtain suspicious mentions, furthermore, he doesn't has any idea of who his Servant actually is, which would calm his nerves with the feeling of knowing who is the guy whom he will inevitably trust his life to.

Add this his normal upbringing as a Magus (were betrayal and secrecy between 'allies' is as common as breathing, and you have a ticking time bomb ready to explode.

It was a really good write in. If you had went for any of the other options, there would had been some penalties from any of the two.

Onto the vote between Pierce (The final boss of EXTRA), Kotomine (Do I need to say anything about him?) and Sakura (Which some of you seem to already start waifu-ing).

If you ad went with Pierce, you would had obtained some basic Healing Magecraft, C Rank at most, and some more 'Investigative-y' Magecraft, for example, a spell that I shamelessly stealed from MAGUS Quest (down on my sig) called Nullification, and finally an useful B+ Rank Mystic Code.

With Sakura, you would have practiced basic Magecraft with her since you revealed yourself as a magus, ending with her teaching you some Elemental Manipulation, D To C+, and some more knowledge about the Matous and their Magecraft, which would have given Hakuno some ideas, and finally some Rune knowledge at D+ To C+.

And finally, Kotomine, as you can see in the Character Sheet in the 'Skills' section recently integrated, has started you in the beatiful art of the 'Super-Bajiquan' and some 'Breathing and Walking' knowledge that may come handy in the future, and for last you can decide to have some Spiritual Healing training, D To C, or some little orthodox healing Magecraft, E+ To D+.

And that should be all, so, please post if you notice something that could have been done better, vote and... Um, that should be all I guess?

 

[UNKNOWN01]

'—Caster, how much do time it would take you to set up your Workshop?'

Caster seems to muse about you question for a moment before answering, 'It should take me at least six to eight hours for my Workshop to be in a fully linked state with the Grail's Systems for me to be able to look into their condition, but on the other side, it could also give me the capability of discovering which Servants have been summoned—

In normal circumstances, it would only take me at most three to two hour to be able to work at maximum capacity. Keep in mind that what you are asking me is something that the Grail will see as an intrusion in its Systems and will doubtlessly attempt to not only slow me down but to stop me from even looking into it, so it may take me more time.'

…It was almost six o'clock in the morning, so assuming that he would only be away for 'only' six hours that should mean that he should be back at 1 p.m., at most…

'…Caster,' with my choice made, I addressed my Servant 'set up your Workshop before anything, I want to be able to have a full image of the Grail's status. And besides, we will need you at full power as soon as possible.'

Caster listened to my instructions before speaking inside my mind again, 'If you think that's the best choice… Be careful' …and with that, I could feel his presence starting to move away from.

I sighed, I could only hope that Caster's warning were wrong, if only because, otherwise I may have made a fatal mistake…

Once I reached the main gates of Homurahara, I attempted to pass under the radar, as I always did, but alas, as always, it would be impossible for me—

"Senpaiii~!"

In a sing-song voice, Homurahara's Purple Devil made act of appearance.

"There you are, Senpai~!" She was quick to take notice of me, latching onto my arm.

This was almost completely normal, this was almost a daily routine at this point, this was nothing outside of the usual… except for—

'Keep walking—'the look in her eyes told a different history.

And so I kept on walking, under the jealous stares from the male half of the student body present in the main gates—

('This is guy for real!?' shouted a random jealous student.)

('Why do we are without girlfriends and that guy's is the one with a childhood friend!' said another student, one which will probably end up becoming a Buddhist sage… with the pace he was going, not even Mara nor a certain lewd nun would be able to help him.)

('Wait guys! Isn't she like the super sadistic school idol!?' said one well-informed NPC in the background.)

('What, seriously!? Tch! Is he a masochist or what!?' that last one deals a critical hit against Hakuno's Hp)

…Ignoring the jealousy-infected students, I kept walking alongside Sakura until we reach a less crowded place.

"—I am going to summon my Servant today after school and I wish that you are present when I do that" Without wasting any time, once we are sure nobody can hear us, she drops her request onto me.

To do that would mean to go to the Matou mansion, a home for another Magi bloodline…

I look to Sakura's face, she is clearly trying (and failing) to look stern but I can clearly see nervousness filtering through her façade', she is clearly aware of what she is asking…

I sigh; there is only one answer when she is like that…

"Alright, I'll be there," Her entire form immediately relaxes as she breathes a sigh of relief "But after that, could we go to the church? Kotomine-san asked me to come there before the sun sets to properly register myself as a master, he also mentioned something about a gift…" I say, remembering Kotomine's call before I went to sleep.

Sakura perks up at the mention of the man, "Kirei-san? Did he know about you being a Master too? And he didn't told me!?" Sakura suddenly shouts about the 'unfairness' and 'betrayal' of Kirei Kotomine—

'I almost forgot that these two are almost best friends at this point…' Was this an anime, I would have sweat dropped at this situation…

Of course, this wasn't an anime, so I didn't.

Finally she calms down, as she mutters in a low voice 'he is the overseer, it can't be helped…' and while she is clearly annoyed by this, she seems to have accepted it.

"Anyways, do you have any idea about what does Kirei-san wants to give you?" She asks.

"I have no idea what could it be, but he was a friend of my parent's, so I guess it may be something related about that?" What I do is less answering her question and more asking a question myself.

Without any answers, she then decides to end our conversation, "I guess we should start moving to our classrooms, the bell must be about to ring and it would be better for us to be there when it happens…" I agree with her suggestion. "…Thank you for agreeing to come to my home, Senpai. I know how bad it must sound the idea of going into another Magus residence, so I thank you for trusting me." She then proceeds to show a tiny smile and then gives a quick bow before going towards in her classroom's direction.

With Caster's words still in my head, I can only hope that today is a quiet day…

Encounter: 1d100 = 22

…Against my original expectations, the day was mostly quiet and peaceful.

Once the final ring sounded, I found myself at Sakura's side in direction to her home.

It would be fitting to call the Matou residence a mansion due to her size, a two -storey European styled manor with access to a basement and an attic, with architecture with gothic inspirations, it resides in the foreigner's district of Miyama town, close to my own house, which was close to the border between two districts.

As I approach I can feel myself entering a bounded field which is probably made to make intruders and normal thief's stay away.

Just as I get to the door, Sakura then turn around with a simple greeting, "Welcome to the Matou residence, Senpai." It's at this point that she seems to realize something, and, with a sly, teasing smile on her face, decides to go for the kill "Ne, Senpai~? Have you noticed how does this looks~? "She then decides to make a dramatic pose, with the back of her forearm covering a part of her face, and makes a loud, dramatic sigh.

"I, the beautiful Kouhai, have invited you, the masculine and masochistic Senpai, to my humble home for a 'special event' inside my house, but will end with you finally snapping and confessing your deep buried feelings for me~"

"Not happening-Wait a minute, what do you mean by 'masochistic'!?" I, as expected, have an outburst the moment she mentions the masochistic part.

"—But Senpai~! You always go to Kirei-san's church just to be plummet to the ground~! And you always enjoy doing any sorts of degrading task for me~! But don't worry, I love you just like you are, and if you want that type of relationship, I'll happily accept my role as the one who has to say all sort of hurting words to my beloved to make him feel like a dirty and lowly worm~!"

…Stunned beyond words, I attempt to make sense of what my Kouhai has just said.

"I-Don't-I," After attempting to come with words to answer to such a claim, I just resign myself to stopping trying to counter her words, because that way lies madness and I would like to have a decent amount of SAN when I get back home "…Let's just enter for once."

Sakura flashes a victorious smirk, as she opens the door to the Matou manor.

"I'm in home!" Sakura announces to the individual who passes the majority of his time inside the residence.

A voice answer Sakura's announcement. "Ah, Sakura, you took your time in coming home today!"

The door that leads to the dining room opens, and with it appears a figure with white hair, wearing a casual outfit of a grey sweater and some comfortable black pants behind a beige long coat, which while he looks in almost his sixties, he's far younger than that. "Ah, Hakuno-san, you're here too?" He asks in a curious, yet pleased way.

I greet the figure with a respectful bow, just before I answer—

"Yes, I am came here with Sakura today, Kariya-san"

The figure, now identified as Kariya Matou, starts walking in my direction, supporting the weight of his own, clearly falling body, with a walking stick.

Wearing a friendly smile, the older Matou starts speaking "It's good to see you, Hakuno-san, I haven't see you for quite a while," but then his smile falters, his face making clear that he is remembering something "but I would wish that it was in better circumstances…" He then takes my bandaged hand, with his abnormally wrinkled ones for someone of his age, and reveals the Command Seals below the bandages. "Sakura wouldn't have taken you home today if it wasn't because you are involved in this…"

"You knew?" I am not surprised because he was able to tell, I am surprised that he was so quick about it.

"I know how to recognize a Master when it comes the time for a Grail War, I was in one myself." I find myself surprised by his proclamation, and even more for his next words "After all, how do you think I ended up like this?" he says, pointing to himself.

Sensing the atmosphere, Sakura quickly intervenes "We will have the ritual in an hour, this way I should be at my best in mana capacity."

Kariya-san and I nod at this; "I will prepare my suitcases, tomorrow I will be gone from the city" After he says this, he then looks to me with worry clear in his eyes, "Hakuno-san, I'll told you the same I told Sakura… be careful, I don't want to come back and discover that you died in this madness." And with that, the older Matou retires back to his chambers.

Sakura then looks to me, "I'll be preparing myself for the ritual, if you need me, I'll be in the basement." And with that she goes her ways too.

A few moments after that, I can feel Caster talking to me through our bond 'Master, I have already set up my Workshop, in the basement where you summoned me, and connected it to the Grail Systems, Has anything happened?"

I mentally shook my head 'No, nothing has happened Caster. Can you come to where I am?'

'I'll be going then.' And with that, the communication is set off.

Now I have an hour before the Summoning begins…

What should I do…

(You have four (4) actions)

[] Speak with…
- [] Kariya-san
-- [] About His Holy Grail War.
-- [] About his state.
-- [] Write in?
- [] Sakura
-- [] About the summoning.
-- [] About her Wish.
-- [] Write In?

[] Spend time in the Matou Libraries.
- [] Read about..
-- [] Runes
-- [] Elemental Manipulation
-- [] Formalcraft
-- [] Familiar Magecraft.

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Spoiler: Author's Note

And with that, we meet with the older Matou.

I'm sure many of you guessed before this chapter, but I'll clarify a little:

Yes, Zouken Matou is dead, outgambitted (thought not outsmarted) by Darnic during the Third Holy Grail War.

I wanted to focus a little in Sakura during this chapter because I felt that I hadn't made her as much justice as I could in previous chapters.

I kinda wanted her to be less of 'Real life BB' that only has one mode, and more of a composite version of many of her appearences during the series (with a little of Kama and Pravarti sprinkled in it).

Anyways, in the next one Lancerdusa is summoned, we do some things arond the Matou household, and we set on our way to meet with YOROKOUBE and get a nice perk (And ending what I call the 'Character Creation' section of this quest, with the last bits of available backstory of Hakuno are revealed)

I will roll an E- to C+ Rank for any magecraft you decide to focus on.

And with that said, please give me your opinions and sugerences about how to be better at writing if you can!

Thanks for reading!