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Master of Heroes (MHA/Fate/Grand Order)
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Chapter 1
ThatOnePsycho
Tilting his Vanes and Ennobling His Spires
So, for those of you who read Red Owl and remember I said I hoped I didn't jinx working on Dragoon? Yeeeaaah, I jinxed working on Dragoon.
Also, Advance Warning, There are going to be spoilers for up to the fifth Lostbelt in this story. Some in this chapter even, if you want to experience them unspoiled, this is your chance to get off the ride.
And yes, Izuku is slightly out of character this chapter. He's all business this one, he'll be more mellow after coming out his coma.
---
Izuku emptied the box of cigarettes, pulling out a bundle of sugar sticks with his other hand and slid them into the box. Stopping at the knock, he spoke, "You can come in, Mash. I'm decent."
The door of the Shadow Border's captain's bathroom swung open, letting the pinkish-purple haired demi-Servant in. Immediately, without breaking, Izuku continued, "Can you bring those to Kiritsugu? They're his favorite-"
"Kiritsugu isn't on the ship, Senpai."
Izuku stopped, closing his eyes and breathing in, "Right. It's time?"
"Yes."
Izuku turned on his left heel, moving towards Mash and leaning around her to grab the phone connected to the Shadow Border's PA system, "King Hassan, Lord Tepes, Scáthach, Sage-King Gilgamesh, King Arthur, Atalante and… King Iskander, begin prep. Count of Monte Cristo, report to my quarters. Detective Holmes… I'd ask you to prepare yourself, but knowing you, you're already ready. Da Vinci, Sion, Captain, Gray… please prepare to release the missile's restraints when I give the word."
"Iskander?" Mash asked after Izuku hung up, "I thought we were bringing Drake?"
"We have firepower for days," Izuku said as she let him past, "If Melammu Dingir, Phoebus Catastrophe, Kazikli Bey, Excalibur, Enfer Château d'If and the Black Barrel aren't enough to win this fight, the Wild Hunt won't do it, and we're gonna need men."
"A good point," the Cavern King said, stepping into the room and walking towards them, "Go prepare yourself, Shielder. I'll help Izuku."
"Go," Izuku said, sitting on his bed and giving a sigh. Mash hovered beside him for a moment, his eternal guardian, even in the safest place in the world…
Chaldea had been the safest place in the world too, supposedly.
Finally, Mash bowed out of the room, leaving Izuku and the man who had once been Edmond Dantès alone. The Count walked over to Izuku, crouching so he was even with the Master, "Are you alright?"
"Another Lostbelt," Izuku said with a sigh, running his Command Spell marked hand through his hair, "another timeline dead."
"It needs to happen," The Count said.
"I know," Izuku sighed, "it doesn't make it any easier. Help me up?"
The Count reached down, letting Izuku wrap an arm around his shoulder and helped the Master stand and move around the room. Izuku loaded the Model 686 he kept in the gun case, not that he often had any reason to use it, between the Servants and what little Magecraft he was capable of.
"Izuku," the green haired teen stopped, looking towards the Count, "What are you going to do when this is over? With the damage you've taken over the years… being a Hero might be impossible."
"...I'll deal with that when the time comes, Edmond," Izuku said, quite a bit harsher than he had meant… and the Cavern King's eyes flashed, but he didn't verbally respond to the use of his name. Izuku breathed in, closing his eyes and pressing his arm against the glass, "I'm sorry. That was out of line. I'm sure you can all help me, King of the Caverns."
The Count nodded, "Ever and always, my friend. An army of heroes and villains would sally forth to act as your scourge at your word."
"An idea that isn't completely and utterly terrifying," Izuku joked, picking up a bottle of alcohol and pouring two shots, handing one to the Count, "To our victory."
"And to you not acquiring any more injuries," the Count said, before the both downed the drink. The deep voiced count boomed as Izuku slammed the shot glass down, gagging violently, "Still as intolerant to alcohol as ever, my friend?"
"I don't get how you can drink this," Izuku coughed, left leg giving out on him as he forced himself to not retch up the liquid.
"When water was not healthy, even by the standards of the time," The Count said, helping Izuku stand and bracing the younger man against, "You were safer drinking the rum. Do you have everything?"
"Yes," Izuku said, nodding.
"Then let us finish this."
---
Mash Kyrielight walked alongside the heroes and did her best to not show the weight waying down on her. Even compared to other days, other battles, this one had legends that would dwarf her no matter what she did with her life.
It wasn't every day the King of Knights, King of Conquerors and Sage-King of Heroes sallied out alongside the First Old Man of the Mountains, the Warrior Queen of Dún Scáith and the Lord Impaler of Wallachia. In any other circumstances, it'd be overkill of the highest level.
But today was not most days, and the Servants assembled were going to have to give it their all to buy time for the plan Senpai had devised to go off. Because today they were fighting a Grand Servant and had to make it look convincing for Senpai's plan to work. A pinnacle of humanity who should have been fighting beside them to return the true Human History to its place, standing above regular servants like regular servants did to humanity. And that was assuming their plan failed.
Senpai reached up, pressing his finger into his earpiece, "Are you in position? …Good, wait for my signal before you release everything, we can't afford them to know you're here before they're ready."
His hand dropped, his eyes, normally so kind and happy were like steel as he pulled out one of the fake cigarettes and a custom lighter, sucking on the sugar stick, "Come on, let's do this."
It didn't take them much longer to find the servants, Senpai let go of The Count, leaning against a tree, "Daybit."
"Midoriya," Daybit turned to face them, looking around, "You're pulling out the stops, huh?"
"Can't afford not to," Senpai said, flicking open the lighter, "A Beast is enough of a problem, a Beast that's also a Type? That's a problem bigger than anything. You mind if I light up?"
"I'd say you're a bit young to be smoking," Daybit drawled, "But since when have we cared about stuff like that?"
"Exactly," Senpai said, flicking the lighter… and tendrils of white flames leapt from it, circling around Daybit in a cage before launching inwards, "Hell's Spider!"
"Berserker," Daybit said, a servant appeared in a flash, grabbing his master and smashing through the flames before turning towards them, "Did you actually think that would work?"
"Can't blame me for trying," Senpai shrugged with a smile, before it dropped, "Assassin, Lancer, Saber, Berserker… engage him."
Each of the servants Izuku listed prepared themselves in minute ways, Saber's foot shifted a few centimeters, Assassin's eyes glowed brighter in his skull helm, Lancer twisted her grip on Gáe Bolg a bit, Berserker grinned a bloody grin… and then they moved faster than Mash could keep up with. But the Berserker, the Grand Berserker, deflected the strikes with a pair of macuahuitl. He wasn't moving like a frenzied beast, or even with the savagery of the Impaler.
"Archer," Izuku ordered, crunching the candy in between his teeth now that it had served its purpose, "Caster, would you please keep an eye out for the other servants?"
Each of them nodded, before vanishing into the trees in their own ways.
"Mash, you're running interference," Izuku said, "If an attack comes my way…"
"I'll stop it," Mash nodded.
"Ruler, you'll stay by my side to coordinate and advise me. Avenger, you'll be supporting. If one of the four engaging Grand Berserker has to fall back, you'll take their place, but if Archer and Caster can't eliminate the other four, you'll engage before they can disrupt the melee," Senpai ordered, eyes still steely as he continued his orders. This is where he really shined, he wasn't an amazing Magus in skill or Magic Circuits (he was below average, in fact), but he could make plans on the fly and generate loyalty in even the blackest of hearts, "Rider, you'll be doing the same, with the added caveat that if Daybit somehow has some non-Servant agents, you'll use your chariot to break their ranks."
Everyone nodded, and prepared for the fight ahead.
---
Artoria Pendragon, better known as the Once-and-Future-King of Britain, King Arthur, swung her legendary sword up, hiding the growl of irritation as the Grand Berserker dodged it despite the sheath of air hiding the blade from the world. But immediately after, the Old Man on the Mountain rushed forward, blue fire burning along his blade as he came close to taking off their opponents arm.
Unfortunately, as the saying went, close only counts in horseshoes and hand grenades. They weren't any closer to killing the Grand Servant.
Their Berserker slammed his left hand, which had spontaneously manifested stigmata and bloody wounds up it into the ground, "Now you die!"
Seconds later, spikes of wood, blood, bone, shadow and other assorted viscera erupted from the ground, lashing towards Grand Servant. But without an invocation of the true name, the Bloodstained Demon King was much weaker, and Grand Berserker shattered them without breaking stride. Lancer lunged forwards, one of her twin spears angled for the heart while the other was spun around deft fingers, aiming to cleave the arm off the Servant.
It, like everything else, failed, both attacks being deflected. Izuku's mad plan better work, or they were...
"Tch," Scáthach clicked her tongue as she slid back to be even with the other servants, "Berserker, they say."
"Madness taketh many forms," the Old Man of the Mountain said, "his may be more insidious than can be understood with thine eyes. A rabid dog is easily put down, but a violent one that knows how to act as if 'twas normal may yet live it's entire life without facing the headsman."
Saber nodded, shifting her sword as the Old Man drew the nameless blade from the ground and then, as one, they rushed forward, the Assassin using his larger height to swing over her head as she swung low. The Grand Servant caught each of the blades with one of his macuahuitl, the B ranked strength of each servant being stopped dead.
But the Lancer appeared behind him angling her spears to go up through the ribcage and pierce the heart at the same time Berserker rushed forward, his own spear pointing towards the throat. Grand Berserker gave a unholy roar, the sound of which was enough to force all four servants back.
And then it launched towards Artoria, swinging in a frenzied hurricane of blows that she barely deflected, her arms protesting the abuse despite her prodigious strength. Assassin appeared behind him without a sound, his sword swinging to take the head of the Grand Servant. In the wake of the blade, death followed. The air it's becoming stagnant and dead…
And still Grand Berserker managed to dodge the attack, rushing to his Master as Izuku launched another Hell's Spider at Daybit. Izuku aborted the attack, not flinching or moving as Grand Berserker cleared the space between them in a second.
And then Lord Camelot, the ever reliant shield of Galahad, blocked the attack without budging an inch, resolve burning in Mash's eyes.
---
Most people would have reacted with some amount of fear as a Grand Servant without a single stat below "B" barrelled down on them. Izuku had stopped being "most people" sometime between working with Jekyll and Hyde in London and running a gauntlet through half of the Knights of the Round Table in Camelot. He just stood with unwavering certainty that Mash would, without question, intercept the blow before it hit home.
And yes, that had backfired on him before, but that had heen because Mash hadn't been there to take the blow in the Shinjuku and SE.RE.PH Pseudo-Singularities. Not once had he ever been hurt while she was around.
Sure enough, Mash blocked the attack with Lord Camelot. Izuku's grin became positively sharklike and nasty, as he reached up and pressed his hand to the earpiece, "Now!"
Lights flashed in the distant north and south, nearly a kilometer out while The Count rushed behind Grand Berserker, blasting him with the flames of Monte Cristo Mythologie. The Grand Servant howled, and Izuku barked, again, "Now!"
"The Evening Bell tolls thy name, god of the Discordant North!" King Hassan said, drawing his sword and beginning to move towards the Grand Servant as Scáthach rushed forward, both Gàe Bolg's bared. The barbed head of the first punched through his chest and dug into the ground, stopping him dead. Then she kicked back, spinning the spear in a half circle so she was holding it in a throwing position, "The feathers that foreshadow thine end are those of-!"
"Gàe-!"
"Azrael!"
"-Bolg!"
The air crystallized around the two sure kill techniques, before the Soaring Spear and Angel of the End struck at once, killing the Divine Spirit Tezcatlipoca. Izuku glanced at Where Daybit was standing, blood pooling from his lips as two swords skewered him front to back and back to front. He glanced down at them with something resembling confusion before giving a chuckle, "You tricky son of a bit-!"
And then, just to make sure, Kiritsugu's sniper round hit home, a spray of pink mist punctuating the last Cypher's life. Daybit fell, thudding into the ground as Izuku lifted up his lighter and set the body burning.
"Think it was enough?" Izuku asked Holmes, before the ground started shaking and a golden rainforest began to rise, Beast Seven appearing above it.
"This isn't my most astute observation, but I do believe it was," the Great Detective said.
"Right then," Izuku said, holding up his hand where the Command Spells glowed as the Seventh Beast descended, "Let's hope this is enough. Shielder! Deploy the Black Barrel at full strength!"
The first Command Spell burned out as Lord Camelot changed and the targeting visor above Mash's face lowered. Pain spiked through Izuku's body as the gun prepared itself, but he continued on.
"Assassin! Rider! Release the restraints!"
At the Shadow Border, the Captain and and Gray did just that, the weapon howling like it had never stopped spinning. And finally…
"Archer! For the first and last time I order you, Great King of Heroes! Release Ea!"
A kilometer away, Gilgamesh drew the Sword of Rupture from the Gate of Babylon.
Izuku looked up at Type-Oort as Beast VII merged with it, gritting his teeth, "Now."
"Black Barrel-!
"Unrestrained Fang of the World's End-!
"Enuma-!
-Firing!"
-Rhongomyniad!"
-Elish!"
Izuku watched Beast VII's new body be disintegrated by the two EX level attacks and the Anti-Aristoteles weapon hammered home. Then, with as much dignity and grace as he could muster, which was to say "None", Izuku promptly and unashamedly fell forwards and was caught by Mash and The Cavern King.
"That's gonna hurt for a couple of months," Izuku tried to say, but it came out as the more mumbled and jumbled, "at's ann rt fer a c'ple o' mnths."
And then, finally, mercifully, he blacked out.
---
The Cavern King rested Izuku on the bed, nodding to Mash, "He'll be fine. Now I need to go prepare."
Mash nodded, beginning her silent vigil over Izuku as he stepped out of the room and looked towards the Captain, "Do you think you can make the voyage?"
"I can try," the Captain said, "But I'm not sure how the logistics will work out once we get there."
"But we should try," The King said, "The Clock Tower will continue to not trust Chaldea. And Izuku has given everything for them. It's time to return home."
"Then I'll go prep the ship for departure," the Captain said, turning and walking away.
---
Izuku Midoriya
Magic Circuit Rating: C
Number of Magic Circuits: 15
Element: Fire, Air, Ether.
Origin: REDACTED
Master-Servant connection: 100%
Preferred Servants: The Cavern King (Avenger), Mash Kyrielight (Shielder-Launcher).
Strategics: A+.
Natural Enemy: Those Who Would Endanger Human History, Beasts.
Likes: Katsudon, Heroes, Mash, Fou.
Dislikes: Beasts, Beryl Gut, Alcohol, Cigarettes.
---
You hear that? That was the sound of people who didn't listen to me's brain malfunctioning at the revelation there's a Type-Oort and Mash gets the Black Barrel.
Also, Advance Warning, There are going to be spoilers for up to the fifth Lostbelt in this story. Some in this chapter even, if you want to experience them unspoiled, this is your chance to get off the ride.
And yes, Izuku is slightly out of character this chapter. He's all business this one, he'll be more mellow after coming out his coma.
---
Izuku emptied the box of cigarettes, pulling out a bundle of sugar sticks with his other hand and slid them into the box. Stopping at the knock, he spoke, "You can come in, Mash. I'm decent."
The door of the Shadow Border's captain's bathroom swung open, letting the pinkish-purple haired demi-Servant in. Immediately, without breaking, Izuku continued, "Can you bring those to Kiritsugu? They're his favorite-"
"Kiritsugu isn't on the ship, Senpai."
Izuku stopped, closing his eyes and breathing in, "Right. It's time?"
"Yes."
Izuku turned on his left heel, moving towards Mash and leaning around her to grab the phone connected to the Shadow Border's PA system, "King Hassan, Lord Tepes, Scáthach, Sage-King Gilgamesh, King Arthur, Atalante and… King Iskander, begin prep. Count of Monte Cristo, report to my quarters. Detective Holmes… I'd ask you to prepare yourself, but knowing you, you're already ready. Da Vinci, Sion, Captain, Gray… please prepare to release the missile's restraints when I give the word."
"Iskander?" Mash asked after Izuku hung up, "I thought we were bringing Drake?"
"We have firepower for days," Izuku said as she let him past, "If Melammu Dingir, Phoebus Catastrophe, Kazikli Bey, Excalibur, Enfer Château d'If and the Black Barrel aren't enough to win this fight, the Wild Hunt won't do it, and we're gonna need men."
"A good point," the Cavern King said, stepping into the room and walking towards them, "Go prepare yourself, Shielder. I'll help Izuku."
"Go," Izuku said, sitting on his bed and giving a sigh. Mash hovered beside him for a moment, his eternal guardian, even in the safest place in the world…
Chaldea had been the safest place in the world too, supposedly.
Finally, Mash bowed out of the room, leaving Izuku and the man who had once been Edmond Dantès alone. The Count walked over to Izuku, crouching so he was even with the Master, "Are you alright?"
"Another Lostbelt," Izuku said with a sigh, running his Command Spell marked hand through his hair, "another timeline dead."
"It needs to happen," The Count said.
"I know," Izuku sighed, "it doesn't make it any easier. Help me up?"
The Count reached down, letting Izuku wrap an arm around his shoulder and helped the Master stand and move around the room. Izuku loaded the Model 686 he kept in the gun case, not that he often had any reason to use it, between the Servants and what little Magecraft he was capable of.
"Izuku," the green haired teen stopped, looking towards the Count, "What are you going to do when this is over? With the damage you've taken over the years… being a Hero might be impossible."
"...I'll deal with that when the time comes, Edmond," Izuku said, quite a bit harsher than he had meant… and the Cavern King's eyes flashed, but he didn't verbally respond to the use of his name. Izuku breathed in, closing his eyes and pressing his arm against the glass, "I'm sorry. That was out of line. I'm sure you can all help me, King of the Caverns."
The Count nodded, "Ever and always, my friend. An army of heroes and villains would sally forth to act as your scourge at your word."
"An idea that isn't completely and utterly terrifying," Izuku joked, picking up a bottle of alcohol and pouring two shots, handing one to the Count, "To our victory."
"And to you not acquiring any more injuries," the Count said, before the both downed the drink. The deep voiced count boomed as Izuku slammed the shot glass down, gagging violently, "Still as intolerant to alcohol as ever, my friend?"
"I don't get how you can drink this," Izuku coughed, left leg giving out on him as he forced himself to not retch up the liquid.
"When water was not healthy, even by the standards of the time," The Count said, helping Izuku stand and bracing the younger man against, "You were safer drinking the rum. Do you have everything?"
"Yes," Izuku said, nodding.
"Then let us finish this."
---
Mash Kyrielight walked alongside the heroes and did her best to not show the weight waying down on her. Even compared to other days, other battles, this one had legends that would dwarf her no matter what she did with her life.
It wasn't every day the King of Knights, King of Conquerors and Sage-King of Heroes sallied out alongside the First Old Man of the Mountains, the Warrior Queen of Dún Scáith and the Lord Impaler of Wallachia. In any other circumstances, it'd be overkill of the highest level.
But today was not most days, and the Servants assembled were going to have to give it their all to buy time for the plan Senpai had devised to go off. Because today they were fighting a Grand Servant and had to make it look convincing for Senpai's plan to work. A pinnacle of humanity who should have been fighting beside them to return the true Human History to its place, standing above regular servants like regular servants did to humanity. And that was assuming their plan failed.
Senpai reached up, pressing his finger into his earpiece, "Are you in position? …Good, wait for my signal before you release everything, we can't afford them to know you're here before they're ready."
His hand dropped, his eyes, normally so kind and happy were like steel as he pulled out one of the fake cigarettes and a custom lighter, sucking on the sugar stick, "Come on, let's do this."
It didn't take them much longer to find the servants, Senpai let go of The Count, leaning against a tree, "Daybit."
"Midoriya," Daybit turned to face them, looking around, "You're pulling out the stops, huh?"
"Can't afford not to," Senpai said, flicking open the lighter, "A Beast is enough of a problem, a Beast that's also a Type? That's a problem bigger than anything. You mind if I light up?"
"I'd say you're a bit young to be smoking," Daybit drawled, "But since when have we cared about stuff like that?"
"Exactly," Senpai said, flicking the lighter… and tendrils of white flames leapt from it, circling around Daybit in a cage before launching inwards, "Hell's Spider!"
"Berserker," Daybit said, a servant appeared in a flash, grabbing his master and smashing through the flames before turning towards them, "Did you actually think that would work?"
"Can't blame me for trying," Senpai shrugged with a smile, before it dropped, "Assassin, Lancer, Saber, Berserker… engage him."
Each of the servants Izuku listed prepared themselves in minute ways, Saber's foot shifted a few centimeters, Assassin's eyes glowed brighter in his skull helm, Lancer twisted her grip on Gáe Bolg a bit, Berserker grinned a bloody grin… and then they moved faster than Mash could keep up with. But the Berserker, the Grand Berserker, deflected the strikes with a pair of macuahuitl. He wasn't moving like a frenzied beast, or even with the savagery of the Impaler.
"Archer," Izuku ordered, crunching the candy in between his teeth now that it had served its purpose, "Caster, would you please keep an eye out for the other servants?"
Each of them nodded, before vanishing into the trees in their own ways.
"Mash, you're running interference," Izuku said, "If an attack comes my way…"
"I'll stop it," Mash nodded.
"Ruler, you'll stay by my side to coordinate and advise me. Avenger, you'll be supporting. If one of the four engaging Grand Berserker has to fall back, you'll take their place, but if Archer and Caster can't eliminate the other four, you'll engage before they can disrupt the melee," Senpai ordered, eyes still steely as he continued his orders. This is where he really shined, he wasn't an amazing Magus in skill or Magic Circuits (he was below average, in fact), but he could make plans on the fly and generate loyalty in even the blackest of hearts, "Rider, you'll be doing the same, with the added caveat that if Daybit somehow has some non-Servant agents, you'll use your chariot to break their ranks."
Everyone nodded, and prepared for the fight ahead.
---
Artoria Pendragon, better known as the Once-and-Future-King of Britain, King Arthur, swung her legendary sword up, hiding the growl of irritation as the Grand Berserker dodged it despite the sheath of air hiding the blade from the world. But immediately after, the Old Man on the Mountain rushed forward, blue fire burning along his blade as he came close to taking off their opponents arm.
Unfortunately, as the saying went, close only counts in horseshoes and hand grenades. They weren't any closer to killing the Grand Servant.
Their Berserker slammed his left hand, which had spontaneously manifested stigmata and bloody wounds up it into the ground, "Now you die!"
Seconds later, spikes of wood, blood, bone, shadow and other assorted viscera erupted from the ground, lashing towards Grand Servant. But without an invocation of the true name, the Bloodstained Demon King was much weaker, and Grand Berserker shattered them without breaking stride. Lancer lunged forwards, one of her twin spears angled for the heart while the other was spun around deft fingers, aiming to cleave the arm off the Servant.
It, like everything else, failed, both attacks being deflected. Izuku's mad plan better work, or they were...
"Tch," Scáthach clicked her tongue as she slid back to be even with the other servants, "Berserker, they say."
"Madness taketh many forms," the Old Man of the Mountain said, "his may be more insidious than can be understood with thine eyes. A rabid dog is easily put down, but a violent one that knows how to act as if 'twas normal may yet live it's entire life without facing the headsman."
Saber nodded, shifting her sword as the Old Man drew the nameless blade from the ground and then, as one, they rushed forward, the Assassin using his larger height to swing over her head as she swung low. The Grand Servant caught each of the blades with one of his macuahuitl, the B ranked strength of each servant being stopped dead.
But the Lancer appeared behind him angling her spears to go up through the ribcage and pierce the heart at the same time Berserker rushed forward, his own spear pointing towards the throat. Grand Berserker gave a unholy roar, the sound of which was enough to force all four servants back.
And then it launched towards Artoria, swinging in a frenzied hurricane of blows that she barely deflected, her arms protesting the abuse despite her prodigious strength. Assassin appeared behind him without a sound, his sword swinging to take the head of the Grand Servant. In the wake of the blade, death followed. The air it's becoming stagnant and dead…
And still Grand Berserker managed to dodge the attack, rushing to his Master as Izuku launched another Hell's Spider at Daybit. Izuku aborted the attack, not flinching or moving as Grand Berserker cleared the space between them in a second.
And then Lord Camelot, the ever reliant shield of Galahad, blocked the attack without budging an inch, resolve burning in Mash's eyes.
---
Most people would have reacted with some amount of fear as a Grand Servant without a single stat below "B" barrelled down on them. Izuku had stopped being "most people" sometime between working with Jekyll and Hyde in London and running a gauntlet through half of the Knights of the Round Table in Camelot. He just stood with unwavering certainty that Mash would, without question, intercept the blow before it hit home.
And yes, that had backfired on him before, but that had heen because Mash hadn't been there to take the blow in the Shinjuku and SE.RE.PH Pseudo-Singularities. Not once had he ever been hurt while she was around.
Sure enough, Mash blocked the attack with Lord Camelot. Izuku's grin became positively sharklike and nasty, as he reached up and pressed his hand to the earpiece, "Now!"
Lights flashed in the distant north and south, nearly a kilometer out while The Count rushed behind Grand Berserker, blasting him with the flames of Monte Cristo Mythologie. The Grand Servant howled, and Izuku barked, again, "Now!"
"The Evening Bell tolls thy name, god of the Discordant North!" King Hassan said, drawing his sword and beginning to move towards the Grand Servant as Scáthach rushed forward, both Gàe Bolg's bared. The barbed head of the first punched through his chest and dug into the ground, stopping him dead. Then she kicked back, spinning the spear in a half circle so she was holding it in a throwing position, "The feathers that foreshadow thine end are those of-!"
"Gàe-!"
"Azrael!"
"-Bolg!"
The air crystallized around the two sure kill techniques, before the Soaring Spear and Angel of the End struck at once, killing the Divine Spirit Tezcatlipoca. Izuku glanced at Where Daybit was standing, blood pooling from his lips as two swords skewered him front to back and back to front. He glanced down at them with something resembling confusion before giving a chuckle, "You tricky son of a bit-!"
And then, just to make sure, Kiritsugu's sniper round hit home, a spray of pink mist punctuating the last Cypher's life. Daybit fell, thudding into the ground as Izuku lifted up his lighter and set the body burning.
"Think it was enough?" Izuku asked Holmes, before the ground started shaking and a golden rainforest began to rise, Beast Seven appearing above it.
"This isn't my most astute observation, but I do believe it was," the Great Detective said.
"Right then," Izuku said, holding up his hand where the Command Spells glowed as the Seventh Beast descended, "Let's hope this is enough. Shielder! Deploy the Black Barrel at full strength!"
The first Command Spell burned out as Lord Camelot changed and the targeting visor above Mash's face lowered. Pain spiked through Izuku's body as the gun prepared itself, but he continued on.
"Assassin! Rider! Release the restraints!"
At the Shadow Border, the Captain and and Gray did just that, the weapon howling like it had never stopped spinning. And finally…
"Archer! For the first and last time I order you, Great King of Heroes! Release Ea!"
A kilometer away, Gilgamesh drew the Sword of Rupture from the Gate of Babylon.
Izuku looked up at Type-Oort as Beast VII merged with it, gritting his teeth, "Now."
"Black Barrel-!
"Unrestrained Fang of the World's End-!
"Enuma-!
-Firing!"
-Rhongomyniad!"
-Elish!"
Izuku watched Beast VII's new body be disintegrated by the two EX level attacks and the Anti-Aristoteles weapon hammered home. Then, with as much dignity and grace as he could muster, which was to say "None", Izuku promptly and unashamedly fell forwards and was caught by Mash and The Cavern King.
"That's gonna hurt for a couple of months," Izuku tried to say, but it came out as the more mumbled and jumbled, "at's ann rt fer a c'ple o' mnths."
And then, finally, mercifully, he blacked out.
---
The Cavern King rested Izuku on the bed, nodding to Mash, "He'll be fine. Now I need to go prepare."
Mash nodded, beginning her silent vigil over Izuku as he stepped out of the room and looked towards the Captain, "Do you think you can make the voyage?"
"I can try," the Captain said, "But I'm not sure how the logistics will work out once we get there."
"But we should try," The King said, "The Clock Tower will continue to not trust Chaldea. And Izuku has given everything for them. It's time to return home."
"Then I'll go prep the ship for departure," the Captain said, turning and walking away.
---
Izuku Midoriya
Magic Circuit Rating: C
Number of Magic Circuits: 15
Element: Fire, Air, Ether.
Origin: REDACTED
Master-Servant connection: 100%
Preferred Servants: The Cavern King (Avenger), Mash Kyrielight (Shielder-Launcher).
Strategics: A+.
Natural Enemy: Those Who Would Endanger Human History, Beasts.
Likes: Katsudon, Heroes, Mash, Fou.
Dislikes: Beasts, Beryl Gut, Alcohol, Cigarettes.
---
You hear that? That was the sound of people who didn't listen to me's brain malfunctioning at the revelation there's a Type-Oort and Mash gets the Black Barrel.
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Chapter 2
ThatOnePsycho
Tilting his Vanes and Ennobling His Spires
So, I'm not going to do this quietly, but I retconned in Izuku having an alignment to Ether, it made sense to me, since it's used in the binding of Spirits to physical forms. The stat sheet for him at the end of the last chapter has been updated to account for this.
---
"Majin" Okita Souji, Counter Guardian of Alaya and the potential fate of Okita Souji, first captain of the Shinsengumi if she had survived the tuberculosis that had claimed her life at the age of twenty five at the cost of a pact with Alaya and being summoned at her prime of eighteen, stepped into the room without a noise, missing both her signature boots and odatchi, Rengokuken. Finally, after a few minutes of watching the other girl nodding off, she spoke, "You know he wouldn't want you to neglect your health for him."
Mash span, eyes growing wide as she reached for a shield that wasn't there, nearly throwing herself between Souji and Izuku and preparing for a fight, before blinking and tilting her head, "What happened?"
Souji cracked a smile, reaching up to tug on the normally white hair on top of her head, which was currently black with soot, "The Casters and a small amount of other Servants have entered a small war in the workshop over Izuku's new cane. They're essentially incapable of agreeing on anything other than it enhancing his fire and air magic as far as it could go, to the point that some particular… endeavoring members of the group believe they should attempt to recreate the Monte Cristo Mythologie. Or perhaps more insanely, attempt to transfer part of the Crest to Izuku."
"Helena?"
"And Edison and Tesla," Souji added, "though don't tell them that I said they were agreeing on anything. It's almost assuredly going to fail, they wouldn't be able to do it without a vivisection of Dantès, and even if that was physically possible, given Enfer Château d'If, Izuku would be very unhappy when he woke up. But on the slightly more reasonable side, and I do mean 'slightly', the other Casters cannot agree on what form the cane should take, or if it should even be a cane. Several hold out for a staff, and even those cannot agree on how the staff would look. So yes, we're dealing with a minor war. Let us hope the Bounded Fields hold. The ones in here are doing their job well, luckily."
Said job being to mute out noise from outside and within the room. Several people (Souji included, if she was truly honest) had held out hope that that had meant Izuku intended to take a lover… but instead it turned out he didn't want the numerous, and incredibly varied noises that having a few hundred Servants within the confines of the Shadow Border, even expanded as it was by the numerous Bounded Fields created by the greatest mages in human history, to distract him when he was creating one of his madcap plans.
"I'll take over for you," Souji said, stepping around the giant wolf laying at the foot of the bed and sitting across from Mash and taking Izuku's hand, "I love him just as much as you."
"What if I killed him?" Mash asked weakly, "What if I used too much energy in that shot and-?"
"Our Master is a fighter," Souji stopped Mash dead, "He always was and always will be, Mash. If Lobo breaking his leg didn't stop him, if impaled by Sut-Typhon didn't stop him, if fighting Gut didn't stop him… this won't stop him either. We can be sure of that. He may be taking longer to recover, but he will recover. That's just who he is. So long as there is evil in… well, the world we're journeying to now, he will work to stop it."
"But if I-"
"If you did," Souji said, silver eyes fixing on Mash, "which you didn't, because Midoriya Izuku will not rest until he has saved as many people as possible, it is who he is… then Izuku died doing exactly that. He died stopping a Beast, saving the entirety of the Proper Human History. But you didn't. Go get a warm meal, take a shower, sleep for a bit, Mash. Lobo and I will hold the vigil until you return, and if he should wake before then, you will be the first to know."
"Thank you," Mash said, standing up and rubbing her eyes below her glasses, "I just… I don't want to lose him."
"None of us do," Souji said, smiling at Mash, "the Caster War would not be happening if they thought it was a possibility. Go."
Souji waited for Mash to step out of the room before quietly pressing her lips to Izuku's hand, murmuring quietly, "Please do wake up soon, Izuku. Despite the chaos, it feels empty without you here to head it off."
---
Philippus Aureolus Theophrastus Bombastus von Hohenheim, or, as he was more commonly, and preferred to be known as, Paracelsus stepped out of the workshop and headed towards the mess hall. His work wasn't getting anywhere with the loud and violent arguments tearing the workshop to smithereens.
Stepping into the innocuous doorway down the hall from where he had started, Paracelsus pressed a button and crossed his arms behind his back as he waited for the elevator that shouldn't have fit within an APC turned ship like the Shadow Border to travel up more floors than logic dictated should exist, otherwise known as "Two cramped ones". The wonders of Magecraft going as far back as the Age of the Gods.
It also made different depths of the Border have different layouts, designs and cultural styles. That was made obvious as they stopped on one floor and it opened to an Egyptian palace. Paracelsus quietly bowed his head to Cleopatra, before they continued up.
"Going to join Asclepius to check on Master?" Cleopatra asked.
"Yes," Paracelsus said, keeping his eyes up to avoid catching sight of the Last Pharoah's underwear through the slit in her white dress, "it's time for his daily examination, and even if I can't do much for accelerating his recovery from using the Black Barrel, we can at least monitor his leg."
"Do you have any idea when he'll wake? Lord Rameses has been disappointed to not have him around to drink and play senet with. He was actually speaking of going down to help with the design for the Mystic Code you were working on. Who better to help forge a weapon of fire than the Sun Himself?"
Given worries Izuku had expressed to Paracelsus, Asclepius and Leonardo during his last physical, he highly doubted Izuku would have been missing the first one even if he had been conscious. Not that he would ever admit it to the many Servants who felt drinking with their Master was a good way of bonding. Only the first Old Man, Paracelsus, Leonardo, Asclepius and Dantès knew of Izuku distaste for alcohol, as far as the alchemist knew. And as for the second part of her statement… well, Paracelsus was going to reposition his workshop to Asclepius's room as soon as he was done with Izuku. If the so-called "King of Kings" was going to descend to the workshop, it wouldn't bode well for anything, and he didn't want the supply of klironomia he had gathered prior to the collapse of the Olympic Lostbelt to be destroyed.
"Within the month, likely," Paracelsus said, "So by the time we surface, should we surface, he will have awoken."
"Go-" Cleopatra's eyes widened as the elevator stopped, letting her see someone in the mess hall, "I'll speak to you more on this later. Mash!"
Paracelsus blinked as he saw Mash sitting at one of the tables, sighing in relief as he watched her be pulled into a hug by the Pharaoh. Well, he doubted Izuku was alone, but at least someone had got her to rest. She had a weak enough constitution when she wasn't drawing upon Galahad as it was.
---
James Moriarty stopped in the doorway of the room, coughing into his hand as politely as possible. When Mash looked up, he gave her a small smile, "Do you mind if I come in, my dear?"
"No," Mash said, shaking her head. If it had been nearly anyone else, James would have suspected she had meant "Yes, I do mind", but Mash was quite intelligent and far too kind for her own good. He nodded, resting his cane against the wall and sitting down across from her.
His eyes jumped down to the far too large wolf laying at the foot of the bed before offering him a smile, "So this is where you went, Lobo?"
"My child is hurt," the wolf growled, only James's skill as an animal whisperer letting him understand the wolf, I will protect my child until they're better.
"Something I'm sure he'll be thankful for when he wakes," James said, before glancing at Izuku. An intravenous drip had been brought up from the medical ward, alongside several other monitoring devices. His heart rate was steady, which was good, and his oxygen levels were also fine and-
Good God, becoming close to Izuku was one of the most hare brained schemes he had ever devised and that was including the Reichenbach Falls incident. Merging with Max the Freeshooter hadn't been the flaw in the plan, it had been deciding to befriend a boy who seemed supernaturally skilled at worming his way into people's hearts.
"I wanted to let you know that we're making good progress," James said, "though I worry that Young Voyager may be picking up some… less than admirable language from Captain Drake, if you'll pardon the pun. It turns out that all you need to make such an insane voyage is four Servants with rankings in Voyager of the Stars."
"I'll send Atalante to stop it," Mash said, standing up and picking up the phone, hesitating for a long moment. James stood, gently taking the phone from her hands.
"Atalante," James said, "if you would be a dear and report to the Captain's Quarters when you have the time, if would be greatly appreciated. Thank you."
"Thank you," Mash said, face bowed, "I… Senpai is normally the one who uses that."
"And if there was anyone he would want to speak with his authority," James said, laying a gentle hand on her shoulder, "it would be you, my dear. If you'll excuse me, I'll take my leave now and return to the bar. I'm sure someone is already considering pilfering it in my absence."
"Yes," Mash said, nodding, "Thank you, Professor."
"And if you need me," James said, adjusting his coat and opening the door, "I'm a call away, or, if you're feeling up to it, at the bar. We could do some lessons in Maths or Physics."
"I need to watch Senpai," Mash said, sitting down and taking his hand.
"Then call me if you need me," James said, slipping from the room and towards the elevator as Atalante stepped out, her green eyes watching him warily.
"Why did you call me, Moriarty?"
"Mash wanted you," James said gently, "but couldn't bring herself to use the PA. You'll forgive me?"
"If she gives the same story," Atalante said, before stopping James with a held out hand, "Where's your cane?"
"I seem to have misplaced it," James said, "Quite unfortunate, but far from prohibiting for a Servant. May I go?"
Atalante nodded, letting him enter and hit the button leading to the bar. When the doors opened, he only had one patron.
"Give me a moment," James said, taking off his overcoat and hanging it before cracking his fingers.
---
Izuku sat across from the member of NFF, drumming his fingers on the table and checking the watch on his communicator in boredom. They had been like this for a couple of hours, and it wasn't likely to stop anytime soon. He wondered of they would let him get away with calling Ma-
The door swung open, and his interrogator turned around speaking in English, "Hey, did you- who the hell-!?"
The man fumbled with the gun at his hip, only for his head to snap back with an quarrel lodged in his eye, a black clad man wearing a bird mask holding a compact crossbow in one hand and a hatchet in the other. They raised the hatchet, stepping towards Izuku. He pushed back, the chair grinding against the metal floor as the hatchet sank into the table.
An image of a piece of flint sparking flashed as Izuku angled his thumb at the black clad… (man? Woman? What were they?) thing and breathed out, "Jetburn."
A small beam of blue flame, less than a dozen millimeters across, launched from the space between the second knuckle of his thumb and first joint of his index finger and through the head, dropping them a second later. Well, at least they didn't have Magic Resistance…
Izuku forced himself to stand using the chair as a brace, limping towards the entrance and with a stifled hiss of pain, lowered himself to draw the gun of the dead NFF member, a revolver, and slipping the bandolier off and around his shoulders. Gun laws be damned right now, they were in the Antarctic anyways…
Stepping out of the room, Izuku tensed as several identical black clad men came. With one hand, he aimed the gun while pulling his other arm back with splayed fingers. Flint sparked, and Izuku barked, "Hell's Spider!"
Blue flames slashed across the charging figures' chests before winking out. Yeah, he figured it was a bit much to hope that one would work. Gritting his teeth, Izuku breathed in and made his decision, "Edmond, I need you!"
Suddenly, the Cavern King appeared between Izuku and the quarrels being fired towards him. The Count's golden eyes raked the bird masked men, before Monte Cristo Mythologie ignited along his arms and he kicked off towards them. Izuku reached up and pressed his communicator band, "Mash? Da Vinci? Are you there?"
"Yes," Mash said, as Izuku turned around spreading his fingers as more of the bird men approached, "Senpai, what's going on?"
"Jetburn Five Count!" Izuku barked, small beams searing through the skulls as Edmond continued to rip through the enemies behind him, "We're under attack, I don't know who's doing it, but they're killing the NFF. Are you alright, Mash? Da Vinci?"
"We're fine," Mash said, "I was with Da Vinci when the attack happened, getting a medical check up. Da Vinci is just busy fighting these enemies."
"You three," Izuku blinked as Holmes's voice came out of the communicator, "I'm sending a location to your communicators, come meet me there."
"How are you-?"
"I deleted all recordings of my Saint Graph precisely if something like this happened," Holmes said, "There's no time to waste."
"I need to get my crutch and lighter," Izuku said, "Then me and the Count will be right there."
"Don't take unnecessary risks, Izuku," Holmes warned, "You are still history's last master."
"I'll do my best," Izuku said, turning towards the Count, "Help me get to it?"
"Of course," the Count said, wrapping one of Izuku's arms around his shoulders, "Let's get those and get out of here."
---
In a lot of ways, James thought as he stepped behind the counter, almost nothing he had seen or done in his life was as surreal as seeing Edmond Dantès sitting at the bar alone. Few people knew anything about the Avenger class Servant, and one of those things that was unknown was where he went when Izuku didn't need him.
But when Izuku did need him, Dantès was a consistently present shadow of the Master of Chaldea. If Mash Kyrielight was the bulwark that stood in front of him, the equivalent of Svalinn from Norse Mythology, the shield that guarded the sun (though admittedly, Svalinn kept the sun from damaging the planet while Izuku… well, he was far too good natured for that), then Edmond Dantès was the shadow cast in its wake.
In James's mind, they had become very nearly synonymous. It wasn't Izuku Midoriya, Mash Kyrielight, and Edmond Dantès. It was Izuku Midoriya and Mash Kyrielight and Edmond Dantès. It was like rain and lightning and thunder or fire and ash and smoke. You could have the second and third without the first, but it was a rare occurrence, it was much more common to see the first without the other two.
"What do you want?" James asked.
"Rum," Edmond said, "or brandy or gin. I'll take any of them."
James nodded, pulling a bottle of rum off the wall and stopping at the icebox, "On the rocks?"
Edmond shrugged, and James added a few cubes to the glass before pouring more than a healthy dose of rum into the glass and handing it to the Cavern King, who nodded quietly and murmured out a thanks, beginning to drink.
"You seem a bit lost," James finally said, sitting on the stool behind the bar. Edmond shrugged again.
"I guess you could say I am," Edmond said, "There's no innocents to avenge in the Imaginary Numbers Sea, Izuku has no need for me in the state he's in… I have no idea what I should be doing."
James could understand that. Avengers were defined by, at the risk of stating the obvious, their need to Avenge, it was burned into their Saint Graph. Their namesake Class Skill made them stronger when they were doing so their second, Oblivion Correction, meant that they would never forget a grudge once one was created and their last, Mana Replenishment, allowed them to sustain themselves so long as they had a grudge to avenge.
And so, it went without saying that the Heroic Spirit of Vengeance was lost when there was no vengeance to be delivered. And unlike the other Avengers on the Shadow Border (or, as it was at the moment, the Storm Border) Edmond Dantès didn't have something to draw his attention away from that fact, nor was his hated rival on the ship with them.
"Well then," James said, drawing an two expensive bottles, one of cognac and the other of gin from under the counter and beginning another drink, "If you wouldn't mind, I would like to drink with you until another patron arrives. To Izuku's health."
Edmond nodded, taking the offered bottle and raising his glass, murmuring the same toast.
---
Izuku limped into the room with his cane and lighter, grabbing both as he heard the Cavern King slaughtering more of the black clad soldiers behind him. Latching the forearm crutch around the arm on his good side, Izuku stepped out into the hall as yet more of the black clad men to the Count's assault, holes ripped through them as fire burned their skin. Izuku turned to the other side, leaning on the crutch and flicking open the lighter that had been a gift from him.
"Jetburn!" In his mind, the flint was sparked, this time accompanied by the same happening in real life, the alchemical symbols for fire and air flashing on the lighter. Compared to the small blasts that had come before, the new one was a torrent of white flames, tearing through the men like chaff paper, "Avenger! We're leaving!"
The Count nodded, landing next to Izuku as the Master began to move towards the area Holmes had designated, each using their respective fire magecraft to burn away the black clad men. Finally, they stepped into a hallway covered in hoarfrost, and Izuku's eyes landed on the platinum blond haired girl standing and staring at them, several of the men impaled on ice spikes the size of trees.
"An?" Izuku said, breathing a sigh of relief and rushing towards the shorter girl, reaching out to touch her shoulder, "What are you-?"
Viy appeared suddenly, the shadow rearing back it's hand as a spike of ice formed and-
Izuku was grabbed by the Count, carried backwards in a burst of speed that should have snapped his neck as the spike ripped through the air where he had been. The teen girl hissed in a voice like ice, "Who granted you permission to touch me, peasant?"
Izuku's hair stood on end, and he used his crutch to stand, "You're… you're her."
Izuku woke in the middle of the night, eyes jumping to the door as it shook. Nobody tried to break into his room anymore. They knew it was a good way to make him less likely to listen to any request they had, so…
"You're gonna have to pick the lock yourself," Izuku said, "I'm not getting u-"
The door swung open, and Izuku blinked as he watched Anastasia Nikolaevna Romanova stand in the doorway, her familiar Viy hovering around her with glowing blue eyes before vanishing and leaving the teen Servant alone… shaking and alone.
That wasn't good.
"An?" Izuku said, sitting up and swinging his leg off the bed so he could force himself to stand. He stepped towards her, only for her to rush forward and tackle him to the bed, burying her head into his chest and bursting into tears. That wasn't good, not at all. She had been conscious through the Reds' executing her, cutting her to pieces and burning the pieces so anything that was distressing her this much… "Hey, hey… what's wrong?"
"I… I had a dream," Anastasia said, voice shaking, "There was another me, and she was killing members of Chaldea and… and… and YOU. It was wrong, so wrong, just… it wasn't right, it was-"
"Hey," Izuku said, taking her shoulders and offering her a smile, "If Sut-Typhon didn't stop me, an Alter version of you won't. I promised I wouldn't leave you, and I don't plan to."
"Promise?" Anastasia repeated.
"I'd kneel and do it, Tsarina," Izuku said, "but my knee makes that a bit difficult to do."
"Don't call me that," Anastasia said, rubbing her wet eyes, "I never got a coronation, father abdicated the throne and the Russia I would have ruled if I had survived is gone. I'm just the Grand Duchess, Tsarevna. Can I stay with you tonight?"
Oh, son of a gun, "Yeah. But just for tonight, we don't want any of the other Servants getting the wrong idea. Come on."
Anastasia climbed onto the bed, and Izuku began to sweat bullets. If anyone came in, there was no way this wasn't going to explode into a massive rumor about how History's Last Master had taken the Grand Duchess as a lover. And there was no way he would ever manage to stamp those rumors out.
"You're the other Anastasia," Izuku said, forcing himself up as Da Vinci and Mash rushed up behind him. The Command Spell shaped like a shield emblazoned with a sun glowed, and he growled out, "Servant Galahad, Rise to the Siege Perilous and deploy."
The first layer of the shield flashed, and Mash's outfit switched to the one she had when she was a Demi-Servant, an armored leotard and Lord Camelot slammed down in front of her. Mash immediately gripped the shield.
"All three of you," Izuku said, eyes blazing, "Engage."
---
The Viy doll Anastasia had given Izuku for Valentine's Day moved it's head, taking a moment to glare at its mortal enemy, Mini-Cu, before continuing on to stare at Izuku with a little urging of the Contractor. Out of the corner of their vision, Viy saw Mini-Cu give it a shark-like grin and spin his small replica spear once before planting it on the desk.
As soon as the Contractor's Contractor woke, their clash would be the calamitous event mortals wrote Epics about. Worlds away from this one would hear the destruction they wrought!
Viy, the Contractor sighed and Viy crawled towards the bed where the Contractor's Contractor lay, but not before making a facsimile of a rude gesture towards Mini-Cu, who returned it with his hands (Why couldn't the Contractor given him hands?). Standing in front of it, blocking it from sight was the female non-contractor with green hair and feline ears talking to the pink one. Ears twitched in his direction before the cat one pointed at him, and he froze as the pink one stood and… picked him up?
"Does Anastasia want to see Izuku?"
Viy knew those names! They were the Contractor and the Contractor's Contractor! He nodded, and the pink one walked over and plopped him on the nightstand next to the bed. Viy cracked open his eyes a tiny bit more, barely paying attention to the conversation happening next to him.
"I'll- -before Drake corrupts him," the cat one said, "-if Izuku wakes?"
"Of course," the pink one said, and the cat one left the room.
It's closer to lilac, Viy, the Contractor said, voice tinged with sadness as they looked at the Contractor's Contractor. He was clearly recovering from something, the strange devices the humans used surrounding hi-
Viy blinked as a spear punched through his chest, just once, before he slowly turned to look at the grinning face of Mini-Cu. He… had stabbed him.
After they had made a covenant of non-aggression until the Contractor's Contractor was recovered. He had violated the covenant.
He had violated the Covenant!
MINI-CUUUUUU!!!!!
Viy ripped himself off the spear, whirling in place as his eyes snapped open as wide as they could, the lids scraping across the floor and tackled Mini-Cu off the bedside table.
---
Anastasia stifled a sigh as several Servants stopped in front of a line of howitzer in Sumerki Kremlin, walking around the center of her Noble Phantasm. A silent will sent the guns going off, scattering Cú Chulainn and Geronimo, as they dodged the attacks while Circe threw up a shield and Ozymandias… didn't even bother with that, just weaving around the shots fired at him with a look of, at best, bored indulgence on his face.
Well that wasn't fair at all! Izuku was her Secret Agent, she should be the one who got to make him a new cane! She already had to share him for literally everything else!
And besides, fire was goddamn hot! They could use his affinity to do the other half of the thermodynamics and make webs and spears ice!
And of course Viy decided to get into a fist fight with that stupid doll at the most inopportune time possible. It had been funny before now, but now? Now she needed Viy and they weren't gonna be there!
Anastasia grumbled under her breath, the howitzers reloading themselves as they went. She wasn't going to be out of the running for making it yet! They were going to have to tear her kicking and screaming from the fortress before she gave up!
---
"Detective Holmes?" Izuku said into his communicator, staring down the dark clad figures and flicking open his lighter.
"You're going to tell me I need to come to you, aren't you, Izuku?" Holmes said.
"Yeah," Izuku said, "Sorry."
"It's fine," Holmes said, "It's fine, I was prepared for this eventuality, of course. Send me your location and be ready with Mash and Da Vinci."
Izuku glanced at the fight behind him, watching Mash pant for air. Was Galahad… was he seriously!?
"Understood," Izuku said, "Midoriya out."
"And don't take unnecessary risks," Holmes said, "We need you, Izuku."
Well, that didn't bode well for anything… yeah, it was nice to imagine he was needed, but there were plenty of Servants he had summoned who couldn't use their most powerful Noble Phantasms because his output of Prana was too low… by several orders of magnitude.
Izuku tightened his grip on the lighter, igniting the flame and hardened his heart, "Hell's Spider!"
The flames flashed across the space between them, enclosing into a cage around the black clad men and collapsed inwards along the thin lines of Ether, slicing them to pieces and searing those pieces to ash. As more approached, he snapped the lighter again, only for nothing to happen. Izuku stared at it in horror, snapping it twice more before glancing back at the Other-Anastasia, hoarfrost cracking around the neck of his shirt. His An couldn't do anything that strong…
"Detective," Izuku said into the communicator, hiding the fear in his voice, "I hate to say this… but if you don't get here very soon, I don't think you should bother coming…"
"Very well," Holmes said, "Count, I would suggest grabbing Izuku and moving as far away from the fight as possible for a moment."
"Viy," Other-Anastasia said, and a shadowy hand reached out for the Count, only for it to be pulled back with a roar of agony as Monte Cristo Mythologie blasted the hand and seared away the smoke, and Izuku was lifted away from the battlefield in time for a man to step into the hall. That… that wasn't Holmes.
The man had long brown hair and was wearing a pastor's garb, one arm crossed behind his back and the other held out in front of him.
"You're late," Other-An said.
"My apologies," the pastor said, "I had to deal with some… loose ends, let's say. Shall I-?"
"Deal with the Castor," Other-An said, "I can deal with the one with a shield."
"Edmond," Izuku hissed, struggling against the iron grip around his torso, "put me down."
"And let you get yourself killed?" The Count of Monte Cristo retorted.
"The master is right there," Izuku snapped, swinging his hands and creating wires of ether around the priest's neck, igniting them and pulling tight…
Only to fall silent as the wires snapped against his neck like a guitar string against scissors. Oh, cr-
Izuku didn't have time to blink before the man was on Da Vinci, punching a hole through her and clutching, "No!"
More Ether wrapped around the hand, and it was all Izuku could do to keep him for crushing Da Vinci's core, gritting his teeth, he ordered with a flash and the burning of a second of his Command Spells, "Edmond Dantès! Use Monte Cristo Mythologie on these!"
"I would have done it if you just asked," The Count said, before igniting the Ether and leaving the Priest Heroic Spirit in an unenviable position of having the fires of hell rushing straight for him. The Priest took the message, dropping Da Vinci's core and letting Mash grab it as she rushed away and Izuku let go of the lines, barely avoiding having his fingers incinerated by the same flames.
"Incoming," Holmes said, before a APC smashed through the wall and forced Other-An and the Priest back, a door swinging open, "Come on!"
"Where did you-?" Izuku started, only to be hoisted up into the vehicle by the Count as in began to reverse, falling back through the hole it had entered through.
---
I did not enjoy writing that last part. It was completely unpleasant for me to write, so if it feels a bit rushed, that's why.
Also, that Goddamn Hot joke is going to make NO sense to most readers if they don't keep the Big Lipped Alligator Moment of Anastasia randomly showing up during this year's summer event to only yell those two words and then promptly drop off the face of the event the same.
And yes, I do enjoy making Izuku suffer, could you tell from him sweating bullets?
---
"Majin" Okita Souji, Counter Guardian of Alaya and the potential fate of Okita Souji, first captain of the Shinsengumi if she had survived the tuberculosis that had claimed her life at the age of twenty five at the cost of a pact with Alaya and being summoned at her prime of eighteen, stepped into the room without a noise, missing both her signature boots and odatchi, Rengokuken. Finally, after a few minutes of watching the other girl nodding off, she spoke, "You know he wouldn't want you to neglect your health for him."
Mash span, eyes growing wide as she reached for a shield that wasn't there, nearly throwing herself between Souji and Izuku and preparing for a fight, before blinking and tilting her head, "What happened?"
Souji cracked a smile, reaching up to tug on the normally white hair on top of her head, which was currently black with soot, "The Casters and a small amount of other Servants have entered a small war in the workshop over Izuku's new cane. They're essentially incapable of agreeing on anything other than it enhancing his fire and air magic as far as it could go, to the point that some particular… endeavoring members of the group believe they should attempt to recreate the Monte Cristo Mythologie. Or perhaps more insanely, attempt to transfer part of the Crest to Izuku."
"Helena?"
"And Edison and Tesla," Souji added, "though don't tell them that I said they were agreeing on anything. It's almost assuredly going to fail, they wouldn't be able to do it without a vivisection of Dantès, and even if that was physically possible, given Enfer Château d'If, Izuku would be very unhappy when he woke up. But on the slightly more reasonable side, and I do mean 'slightly', the other Casters cannot agree on what form the cane should take, or if it should even be a cane. Several hold out for a staff, and even those cannot agree on how the staff would look. So yes, we're dealing with a minor war. Let us hope the Bounded Fields hold. The ones in here are doing their job well, luckily."
Said job being to mute out noise from outside and within the room. Several people (Souji included, if she was truly honest) had held out hope that that had meant Izuku intended to take a lover… but instead it turned out he didn't want the numerous, and incredibly varied noises that having a few hundred Servants within the confines of the Shadow Border, even expanded as it was by the numerous Bounded Fields created by the greatest mages in human history, to distract him when he was creating one of his madcap plans.
"I'll take over for you," Souji said, stepping around the giant wolf laying at the foot of the bed and sitting across from Mash and taking Izuku's hand, "I love him just as much as you."
"What if I killed him?" Mash asked weakly, "What if I used too much energy in that shot and-?"
"Our Master is a fighter," Souji stopped Mash dead, "He always was and always will be, Mash. If Lobo breaking his leg didn't stop him, if impaled by Sut-Typhon didn't stop him, if fighting Gut didn't stop him… this won't stop him either. We can be sure of that. He may be taking longer to recover, but he will recover. That's just who he is. So long as there is evil in… well, the world we're journeying to now, he will work to stop it."
"But if I-"
"If you did," Souji said, silver eyes fixing on Mash, "which you didn't, because Midoriya Izuku will not rest until he has saved as many people as possible, it is who he is… then Izuku died doing exactly that. He died stopping a Beast, saving the entirety of the Proper Human History. But you didn't. Go get a warm meal, take a shower, sleep for a bit, Mash. Lobo and I will hold the vigil until you return, and if he should wake before then, you will be the first to know."
"Thank you," Mash said, standing up and rubbing her eyes below her glasses, "I just… I don't want to lose him."
"None of us do," Souji said, smiling at Mash, "the Caster War would not be happening if they thought it was a possibility. Go."
Souji waited for Mash to step out of the room before quietly pressing her lips to Izuku's hand, murmuring quietly, "Please do wake up soon, Izuku. Despite the chaos, it feels empty without you here to head it off."
---
Philippus Aureolus Theophrastus Bombastus von Hohenheim, or, as he was more commonly, and preferred to be known as, Paracelsus stepped out of the workshop and headed towards the mess hall. His work wasn't getting anywhere with the loud and violent arguments tearing the workshop to smithereens.
Stepping into the innocuous doorway down the hall from where he had started, Paracelsus pressed a button and crossed his arms behind his back as he waited for the elevator that shouldn't have fit within an APC turned ship like the Shadow Border to travel up more floors than logic dictated should exist, otherwise known as "Two cramped ones". The wonders of Magecraft going as far back as the Age of the Gods.
It also made different depths of the Border have different layouts, designs and cultural styles. That was made obvious as they stopped on one floor and it opened to an Egyptian palace. Paracelsus quietly bowed his head to Cleopatra, before they continued up.
"Going to join Asclepius to check on Master?" Cleopatra asked.
"Yes," Paracelsus said, keeping his eyes up to avoid catching sight of the Last Pharoah's underwear through the slit in her white dress, "it's time for his daily examination, and even if I can't do much for accelerating his recovery from using the Black Barrel, we can at least monitor his leg."
"Do you have any idea when he'll wake? Lord Rameses has been disappointed to not have him around to drink and play senet with. He was actually speaking of going down to help with the design for the Mystic Code you were working on. Who better to help forge a weapon of fire than the Sun Himself?"
Given worries Izuku had expressed to Paracelsus, Asclepius and Leonardo during his last physical, he highly doubted Izuku would have been missing the first one even if he had been conscious. Not that he would ever admit it to the many Servants who felt drinking with their Master was a good way of bonding. Only the first Old Man, Paracelsus, Leonardo, Asclepius and Dantès knew of Izuku distaste for alcohol, as far as the alchemist knew. And as for the second part of her statement… well, Paracelsus was going to reposition his workshop to Asclepius's room as soon as he was done with Izuku. If the so-called "King of Kings" was going to descend to the workshop, it wouldn't bode well for anything, and he didn't want the supply of klironomia he had gathered prior to the collapse of the Olympic Lostbelt to be destroyed.
"Within the month, likely," Paracelsus said, "So by the time we surface, should we surface, he will have awoken."
"Go-" Cleopatra's eyes widened as the elevator stopped, letting her see someone in the mess hall, "I'll speak to you more on this later. Mash!"
Paracelsus blinked as he saw Mash sitting at one of the tables, sighing in relief as he watched her be pulled into a hug by the Pharaoh. Well, he doubted Izuku was alone, but at least someone had got her to rest. She had a weak enough constitution when she wasn't drawing upon Galahad as it was.
---
James Moriarty stopped in the doorway of the room, coughing into his hand as politely as possible. When Mash looked up, he gave her a small smile, "Do you mind if I come in, my dear?"
"No," Mash said, shaking her head. If it had been nearly anyone else, James would have suspected she had meant "Yes, I do mind", but Mash was quite intelligent and far too kind for her own good. He nodded, resting his cane against the wall and sitting down across from her.
His eyes jumped down to the far too large wolf laying at the foot of the bed before offering him a smile, "So this is where you went, Lobo?"
"My child is hurt," the wolf growled, only James's skill as an animal whisperer letting him understand the wolf, I will protect my child until they're better.
"Something I'm sure he'll be thankful for when he wakes," James said, before glancing at Izuku. An intravenous drip had been brought up from the medical ward, alongside several other monitoring devices. His heart rate was steady, which was good, and his oxygen levels were also fine and-
Good God, becoming close to Izuku was one of the most hare brained schemes he had ever devised and that was including the Reichenbach Falls incident. Merging with Max the Freeshooter hadn't been the flaw in the plan, it had been deciding to befriend a boy who seemed supernaturally skilled at worming his way into people's hearts.
"I wanted to let you know that we're making good progress," James said, "though I worry that Young Voyager may be picking up some… less than admirable language from Captain Drake, if you'll pardon the pun. It turns out that all you need to make such an insane voyage is four Servants with rankings in Voyager of the Stars."
"I'll send Atalante to stop it," Mash said, standing up and picking up the phone, hesitating for a long moment. James stood, gently taking the phone from her hands.
"Atalante," James said, "if you would be a dear and report to the Captain's Quarters when you have the time, if would be greatly appreciated. Thank you."
"Thank you," Mash said, face bowed, "I… Senpai is normally the one who uses that."
"And if there was anyone he would want to speak with his authority," James said, laying a gentle hand on her shoulder, "it would be you, my dear. If you'll excuse me, I'll take my leave now and return to the bar. I'm sure someone is already considering pilfering it in my absence."
"Yes," Mash said, nodding, "Thank you, Professor."
"And if you need me," James said, adjusting his coat and opening the door, "I'm a call away, or, if you're feeling up to it, at the bar. We could do some lessons in Maths or Physics."
"I need to watch Senpai," Mash said, sitting down and taking his hand.
"Then call me if you need me," James said, slipping from the room and towards the elevator as Atalante stepped out, her green eyes watching him warily.
"Why did you call me, Moriarty?"
"Mash wanted you," James said gently, "but couldn't bring herself to use the PA. You'll forgive me?"
"If she gives the same story," Atalante said, before stopping James with a held out hand, "Where's your cane?"
"I seem to have misplaced it," James said, "Quite unfortunate, but far from prohibiting for a Servant. May I go?"
Atalante nodded, letting him enter and hit the button leading to the bar. When the doors opened, he only had one patron.
"Give me a moment," James said, taking off his overcoat and hanging it before cracking his fingers.
---
Izuku sat across from the member of NFF, drumming his fingers on the table and checking the watch on his communicator in boredom. They had been like this for a couple of hours, and it wasn't likely to stop anytime soon. He wondered of they would let him get away with calling Ma-
The door swung open, and his interrogator turned around speaking in English, "Hey, did you- who the hell-!?"
The man fumbled with the gun at his hip, only for his head to snap back with an quarrel lodged in his eye, a black clad man wearing a bird mask holding a compact crossbow in one hand and a hatchet in the other. They raised the hatchet, stepping towards Izuku. He pushed back, the chair grinding against the metal floor as the hatchet sank into the table.
An image of a piece of flint sparking flashed as Izuku angled his thumb at the black clad… (man? Woman? What were they?) thing and breathed out, "Jetburn."
A small beam of blue flame, less than a dozen millimeters across, launched from the space between the second knuckle of his thumb and first joint of his index finger and through the head, dropping them a second later. Well, at least they didn't have Magic Resistance…
Izuku forced himself to stand using the chair as a brace, limping towards the entrance and with a stifled hiss of pain, lowered himself to draw the gun of the dead NFF member, a revolver, and slipping the bandolier off and around his shoulders. Gun laws be damned right now, they were in the Antarctic anyways…
Stepping out of the room, Izuku tensed as several identical black clad men came. With one hand, he aimed the gun while pulling his other arm back with splayed fingers. Flint sparked, and Izuku barked, "Hell's Spider!"
Blue flames slashed across the charging figures' chests before winking out. Yeah, he figured it was a bit much to hope that one would work. Gritting his teeth, Izuku breathed in and made his decision, "Edmond, I need you!"
Suddenly, the Cavern King appeared between Izuku and the quarrels being fired towards him. The Count's golden eyes raked the bird masked men, before Monte Cristo Mythologie ignited along his arms and he kicked off towards them. Izuku reached up and pressed his communicator band, "Mash? Da Vinci? Are you there?"
"Yes," Mash said, as Izuku turned around spreading his fingers as more of the bird men approached, "Senpai, what's going on?"
"Jetburn Five Count!" Izuku barked, small beams searing through the skulls as Edmond continued to rip through the enemies behind him, "We're under attack, I don't know who's doing it, but they're killing the NFF. Are you alright, Mash? Da Vinci?"
"We're fine," Mash said, "I was with Da Vinci when the attack happened, getting a medical check up. Da Vinci is just busy fighting these enemies."
"You three," Izuku blinked as Holmes's voice came out of the communicator, "I'm sending a location to your communicators, come meet me there."
"How are you-?"
"I deleted all recordings of my Saint Graph precisely if something like this happened," Holmes said, "There's no time to waste."
"I need to get my crutch and lighter," Izuku said, "Then me and the Count will be right there."
"Don't take unnecessary risks, Izuku," Holmes warned, "You are still history's last master."
"I'll do my best," Izuku said, turning towards the Count, "Help me get to it?"
"Of course," the Count said, wrapping one of Izuku's arms around his shoulders, "Let's get those and get out of here."
---
In a lot of ways, James thought as he stepped behind the counter, almost nothing he had seen or done in his life was as surreal as seeing Edmond Dantès sitting at the bar alone. Few people knew anything about the Avenger class Servant, and one of those things that was unknown was where he went when Izuku didn't need him.
But when Izuku did need him, Dantès was a consistently present shadow of the Master of Chaldea. If Mash Kyrielight was the bulwark that stood in front of him, the equivalent of Svalinn from Norse Mythology, the shield that guarded the sun (though admittedly, Svalinn kept the sun from damaging the planet while Izuku… well, he was far too good natured for that), then Edmond Dantès was the shadow cast in its wake.
In James's mind, they had become very nearly synonymous. It wasn't Izuku Midoriya, Mash Kyrielight, and Edmond Dantès. It was Izuku Midoriya and Mash Kyrielight and Edmond Dantès. It was like rain and lightning and thunder or fire and ash and smoke. You could have the second and third without the first, but it was a rare occurrence, it was much more common to see the first without the other two.
"What do you want?" James asked.
"Rum," Edmond said, "or brandy or gin. I'll take any of them."
James nodded, pulling a bottle of rum off the wall and stopping at the icebox, "On the rocks?"
Edmond shrugged, and James added a few cubes to the glass before pouring more than a healthy dose of rum into the glass and handing it to the Cavern King, who nodded quietly and murmured out a thanks, beginning to drink.
"You seem a bit lost," James finally said, sitting on the stool behind the bar. Edmond shrugged again.
"I guess you could say I am," Edmond said, "There's no innocents to avenge in the Imaginary Numbers Sea, Izuku has no need for me in the state he's in… I have no idea what I should be doing."
James could understand that. Avengers were defined by, at the risk of stating the obvious, their need to Avenge, it was burned into their Saint Graph. Their namesake Class Skill made them stronger when they were doing so their second, Oblivion Correction, meant that they would never forget a grudge once one was created and their last, Mana Replenishment, allowed them to sustain themselves so long as they had a grudge to avenge.
And so, it went without saying that the Heroic Spirit of Vengeance was lost when there was no vengeance to be delivered. And unlike the other Avengers on the Shadow Border (or, as it was at the moment, the Storm Border) Edmond Dantès didn't have something to draw his attention away from that fact, nor was his hated rival on the ship with them.
"Well then," James said, drawing an two expensive bottles, one of cognac and the other of gin from under the counter and beginning another drink, "If you wouldn't mind, I would like to drink with you until another patron arrives. To Izuku's health."
Edmond nodded, taking the offered bottle and raising his glass, murmuring the same toast.
---
Izuku limped into the room with his cane and lighter, grabbing both as he heard the Cavern King slaughtering more of the black clad soldiers behind him. Latching the forearm crutch around the arm on his good side, Izuku stepped out into the hall as yet more of the black clad men to the Count's assault, holes ripped through them as fire burned their skin. Izuku turned to the other side, leaning on the crutch and flicking open the lighter that had been a gift from him.
"Jetburn!" In his mind, the flint was sparked, this time accompanied by the same happening in real life, the alchemical symbols for fire and air flashing on the lighter. Compared to the small blasts that had come before, the new one was a torrent of white flames, tearing through the men like chaff paper, "Avenger! We're leaving!"
The Count nodded, landing next to Izuku as the Master began to move towards the area Holmes had designated, each using their respective fire magecraft to burn away the black clad men. Finally, they stepped into a hallway covered in hoarfrost, and Izuku's eyes landed on the platinum blond haired girl standing and staring at them, several of the men impaled on ice spikes the size of trees.
"An?" Izuku said, breathing a sigh of relief and rushing towards the shorter girl, reaching out to touch her shoulder, "What are you-?"
Viy appeared suddenly, the shadow rearing back it's hand as a spike of ice formed and-
Izuku was grabbed by the Count, carried backwards in a burst of speed that should have snapped his neck as the spike ripped through the air where he had been. The teen girl hissed in a voice like ice, "Who granted you permission to touch me, peasant?"
Izuku's hair stood on end, and he used his crutch to stand, "You're… you're her."
Izuku woke in the middle of the night, eyes jumping to the door as it shook. Nobody tried to break into his room anymore. They knew it was a good way to make him less likely to listen to any request they had, so…
"You're gonna have to pick the lock yourself," Izuku said, "I'm not getting u-"
The door swung open, and Izuku blinked as he watched Anastasia Nikolaevna Romanova stand in the doorway, her familiar Viy hovering around her with glowing blue eyes before vanishing and leaving the teen Servant alone… shaking and alone.
That wasn't good.
"An?" Izuku said, sitting up and swinging his leg off the bed so he could force himself to stand. He stepped towards her, only for her to rush forward and tackle him to the bed, burying her head into his chest and bursting into tears. That wasn't good, not at all. She had been conscious through the Reds' executing her, cutting her to pieces and burning the pieces so anything that was distressing her this much… "Hey, hey… what's wrong?"
"I… I had a dream," Anastasia said, voice shaking, "There was another me, and she was killing members of Chaldea and… and… and YOU. It was wrong, so wrong, just… it wasn't right, it was-"
"Hey," Izuku said, taking her shoulders and offering her a smile, "If Sut-Typhon didn't stop me, an Alter version of you won't. I promised I wouldn't leave you, and I don't plan to."
"Promise?" Anastasia repeated.
"I'd kneel and do it, Tsarina," Izuku said, "but my knee makes that a bit difficult to do."
"Don't call me that," Anastasia said, rubbing her wet eyes, "I never got a coronation, father abdicated the throne and the Russia I would have ruled if I had survived is gone. I'm just the Grand Duchess, Tsarevna. Can I stay with you tonight?"
Oh, son of a gun, "Yeah. But just for tonight, we don't want any of the other Servants getting the wrong idea. Come on."
Anastasia climbed onto the bed, and Izuku began to sweat bullets. If anyone came in, there was no way this wasn't going to explode into a massive rumor about how History's Last Master had taken the Grand Duchess as a lover. And there was no way he would ever manage to stamp those rumors out.
"You're the other Anastasia," Izuku said, forcing himself up as Da Vinci and Mash rushed up behind him. The Command Spell shaped like a shield emblazoned with a sun glowed, and he growled out, "Servant Galahad, Rise to the Siege Perilous and deploy."
The first layer of the shield flashed, and Mash's outfit switched to the one she had when she was a Demi-Servant, an armored leotard and Lord Camelot slammed down in front of her. Mash immediately gripped the shield.
"All three of you," Izuku said, eyes blazing, "Engage."
---
The Viy doll Anastasia had given Izuku for Valentine's Day moved it's head, taking a moment to glare at its mortal enemy, Mini-Cu, before continuing on to stare at Izuku with a little urging of the Contractor. Out of the corner of their vision, Viy saw Mini-Cu give it a shark-like grin and spin his small replica spear once before planting it on the desk.
As soon as the Contractor's Contractor woke, their clash would be the calamitous event mortals wrote Epics about. Worlds away from this one would hear the destruction they wrought!
Viy, the Contractor sighed and Viy crawled towards the bed where the Contractor's Contractor lay, but not before making a facsimile of a rude gesture towards Mini-Cu, who returned it with his hands (Why couldn't the Contractor given him hands?). Standing in front of it, blocking it from sight was the female non-contractor with green hair and feline ears talking to the pink one. Ears twitched in his direction before the cat one pointed at him, and he froze as the pink one stood and… picked him up?
"Does Anastasia want to see Izuku?"
Viy knew those names! They were the Contractor and the Contractor's Contractor! He nodded, and the pink one walked over and plopped him on the nightstand next to the bed. Viy cracked open his eyes a tiny bit more, barely paying attention to the conversation happening next to him.
"I'll- -before Drake corrupts him," the cat one said, "-if Izuku wakes?"
"Of course," the pink one said, and the cat one left the room.
It's closer to lilac, Viy, the Contractor said, voice tinged with sadness as they looked at the Contractor's Contractor. He was clearly recovering from something, the strange devices the humans used surrounding hi-
Viy blinked as a spear punched through his chest, just once, before he slowly turned to look at the grinning face of Mini-Cu. He… had stabbed him.
After they had made a covenant of non-aggression until the Contractor's Contractor was recovered. He had violated the covenant.
He had violated the Covenant!
MINI-CUUUUUU!!!!!
Viy ripped himself off the spear, whirling in place as his eyes snapped open as wide as they could, the lids scraping across the floor and tackled Mini-Cu off the bedside table.
---
Anastasia stifled a sigh as several Servants stopped in front of a line of howitzer in Sumerki Kremlin, walking around the center of her Noble Phantasm. A silent will sent the guns going off, scattering Cú Chulainn and Geronimo, as they dodged the attacks while Circe threw up a shield and Ozymandias… didn't even bother with that, just weaving around the shots fired at him with a look of, at best, bored indulgence on his face.
Well that wasn't fair at all! Izuku was her Secret Agent, she should be the one who got to make him a new cane! She already had to share him for literally everything else!
And besides, fire was goddamn hot! They could use his affinity to do the other half of the thermodynamics and make webs and spears ice!
And of course Viy decided to get into a fist fight with that stupid doll at the most inopportune time possible. It had been funny before now, but now? Now she needed Viy and they weren't gonna be there!
Anastasia grumbled under her breath, the howitzers reloading themselves as they went. She wasn't going to be out of the running for making it yet! They were going to have to tear her kicking and screaming from the fortress before she gave up!
---
"Detective Holmes?" Izuku said into his communicator, staring down the dark clad figures and flicking open his lighter.
"You're going to tell me I need to come to you, aren't you, Izuku?" Holmes said.
"Yeah," Izuku said, "Sorry."
"It's fine," Holmes said, "It's fine, I was prepared for this eventuality, of course. Send me your location and be ready with Mash and Da Vinci."
Izuku glanced at the fight behind him, watching Mash pant for air. Was Galahad… was he seriously!?
"Understood," Izuku said, "Midoriya out."
"And don't take unnecessary risks," Holmes said, "We need you, Izuku."
Well, that didn't bode well for anything… yeah, it was nice to imagine he was needed, but there were plenty of Servants he had summoned who couldn't use their most powerful Noble Phantasms because his output of Prana was too low… by several orders of magnitude.
Izuku tightened his grip on the lighter, igniting the flame and hardened his heart, "Hell's Spider!"
The flames flashed across the space between them, enclosing into a cage around the black clad men and collapsed inwards along the thin lines of Ether, slicing them to pieces and searing those pieces to ash. As more approached, he snapped the lighter again, only for nothing to happen. Izuku stared at it in horror, snapping it twice more before glancing back at the Other-Anastasia, hoarfrost cracking around the neck of his shirt. His An couldn't do anything that strong…
"Detective," Izuku said into the communicator, hiding the fear in his voice, "I hate to say this… but if you don't get here very soon, I don't think you should bother coming…"
"Very well," Holmes said, "Count, I would suggest grabbing Izuku and moving as far away from the fight as possible for a moment."
"Viy," Other-Anastasia said, and a shadowy hand reached out for the Count, only for it to be pulled back with a roar of agony as Monte Cristo Mythologie blasted the hand and seared away the smoke, and Izuku was lifted away from the battlefield in time for a man to step into the hall. That… that wasn't Holmes.
The man had long brown hair and was wearing a pastor's garb, one arm crossed behind his back and the other held out in front of him.
"You're late," Other-An said.
"My apologies," the pastor said, "I had to deal with some… loose ends, let's say. Shall I-?"
"Deal with the Castor," Other-An said, "I can deal with the one with a shield."
"Edmond," Izuku hissed, struggling against the iron grip around his torso, "put me down."
"And let you get yourself killed?" The Count of Monte Cristo retorted.
"The master is right there," Izuku snapped, swinging his hands and creating wires of ether around the priest's neck, igniting them and pulling tight…
Only to fall silent as the wires snapped against his neck like a guitar string against scissors. Oh, cr-
Izuku didn't have time to blink before the man was on Da Vinci, punching a hole through her and clutching, "No!"
More Ether wrapped around the hand, and it was all Izuku could do to keep him for crushing Da Vinci's core, gritting his teeth, he ordered with a flash and the burning of a second of his Command Spells, "Edmond Dantès! Use Monte Cristo Mythologie on these!"
"I would have done it if you just asked," The Count said, before igniting the Ether and leaving the Priest Heroic Spirit in an unenviable position of having the fires of hell rushing straight for him. The Priest took the message, dropping Da Vinci's core and letting Mash grab it as she rushed away and Izuku let go of the lines, barely avoiding having his fingers incinerated by the same flames.
"Incoming," Holmes said, before a APC smashed through the wall and forced Other-An and the Priest back, a door swinging open, "Come on!"
"Where did you-?" Izuku started, only to be hoisted up into the vehicle by the Count as in began to reverse, falling back through the hole it had entered through.
---
I did not enjoy writing that last part. It was completely unpleasant for me to write, so if it feels a bit rushed, that's why.
Also, that Goddamn Hot joke is going to make NO sense to most readers if they don't keep the Big Lipped Alligator Moment of Anastasia randomly showing up during this year's summer event to only yell those two words and then promptly drop off the face of the event the same.
And yes, I do enjoy making Izuku suffer, could you tell from him sweating bullets?
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Chapter 3
ThatOnePsycho
Tilting his Vanes and Ennobling His Spires
Don't expect a response to comments for at least a couple of hours, I sleep now.
---
Atalante moved through the halls of the Shadow Border at a clipped pace, heading towards the cockpit. It was lucky that the space between Izuku's room and there was so shor-
"Buggery!" Drake's voice hit the lion ears on top of Atalante's head, the voice growling. It hadn't finished echoing in her head before, another voice, more soft spoken, calm and, almost paradoxically, deep, spoke.
"That's the sixth time you've said that in five minutes, Drake," the Captain said.
"Not BLOODY now, Nemo!" Drake snarled.
Atalante supposed that putting the privateer of the British Empire, the woman who had been vital in it becoming such by Setting the Sun, in close proximity with the east indian prince who had lost his home to the same empire was inevitably going to cause some antagonism. She just wished they wouldn't do it near a Heroic Spirit who was by all standards, a young boy.
Stepping into the cockpit, she raked her eyes across it. The submersible had changed significantly since it's time as the Shadow Border, the fusion with the Nautilus and the Hephaestus Klironomia having upgraded the cockpit. Submerged in a sensory deprivation tank below the Paper Moon that made their travel through Imaginary Number Space possible, though ironically she could probably see more in it than she could outside of it, was Da Vinci Lily.
"Hello!" The console closest to Atalante chirped happily in the voice of the younger Da Vinci, while the older one looked up and offered a smile before continuing to type into the console.
"Here to stop Drake and Abby from corrupting Voyager's ears?" Da Vinci asked.
"Is Abigail also being a problem?" Atalante asked.
"Not as frequently as Drake," Da Vinci said, "but when she is, she's putting her to shame."
Drake and Nemo were as far away from each other as possible… or rather, Drake and the real Nemo were. There were several members of the Nemo Marines manning consoles between them, while below them Voyager stood on a stool to reach the console he was sharing with Tesla, humming one of the songs recorded on his golden record without a care in the world. And in front of them, staring out of the front of the ship and skin the palid tone she used when she wasn't hiding her existence as the Silver Key, the bandages over her keyhole shaped third eye removed and staring out into Imaginary Number Space, was Abigail Williams.
"Fu-" Atalante rushed forwards, clapping her hands over Voyager's ears, "-ck! Hard left or we're going to get caught in a current!"
Why was it that the girl responsible for triggering the infamous Salem Witch Trials apparently swore? It didn't make any sense at all!
"Do you require him?" Atalante asked Tesla, who shook his head as an alert went off on the holographic device next to his hand, which he grabbed and glanced at, before typing something into it. Atalante took Voyager's hand, "Come with me, we're going to visit Erice."
"Ok?" Voyager said, tilting his head and following her as Atalante walked out of the room as quickly as possible.
---
A pair of swords clashed in an explosion of sparks, identical blade meeting identical blade before both swordswomen pushed back. Each of them shifted, and preparing to rush forward, aiming for first blood. The preferred method of sparing on the Border.
Souji stared at Okita, waiting for the other her, the "real" her, to blink and fully aware she was doing the same. Finally the Saber class Servant closed her eyes, and the Alter Ego rushed forwards, her katana about to hit Okita before the other blade lashed out on instinct and deflected the sword.
Okita stabbed forwards as Souji stepped to the side, dodging the attack and nicking her… older? Younger? Non-Altered equivalent's cheek. A drop of red liquid slid down, and Okita sighed, sheathing her blade and stepping away to cough into her hand, flecks of blood mixed with the saliva.
"May I face you?" Souji turned, watching the woman with a disturbing resemblance to her, despite the fact that they had lived on opposite sides of the Eurasian world at different times, step into the ring holding a simple longsword. Her armor had been abandoned, as was also standard for the spars. Souji lifted the katana so it was even with her face, and Artoria Alter prepared her sword.
This wasn't going to be easy, the Tyrant King of Knights had a higher Strength and Endurance Parameter than Souji, though admittedly a far lower Agility one. So she was going to need to use lightning speed to win this fight.
They both tensed, and then moved. Souji appeared behind Alter, only for the sword to flash up and deflect the attack. Alter span in place, slashing for Souji and forcing the Counter Guardian back.
"We don't normally see you out of your chambers," Souji said, conversationally. Said chambers were as far away as physically, as much as "physics" applied to the Border anymore when it came to her floors and layout, from where the Knights of the Round Table made their home. They didn't exactly get along with the changed form of their king, and the feeling was fairly mutual. The only person who regularly visited was Iz-
Oh, no.
Was that why Izuku didn't invite anyone into his bed? He was sleeping with her behind everyone's back!?
She needed to talk to An about this, quickly, because that wasn't anywhere on the plans-
No, no, she was being ridiculous. Izuku visited tons of Servants, and it didn't mean he was sleeping with them! It was probably nothing.
But just in case…
"What are you doing out here?" Souji continued on, punching for the Alter's head. She dodged it, swinging for Souji who dodged in turn.
"The Casters wanted to ask me something about Izuku's new staff," Artoria Alter said, conversationally, "and I decided to stop by this area of the ship before departing for the Mess hall. I was hoping, perchance, that one of the other me's Knights were here."
They hadn't asked her or Mash about the staff, as far as she knew…
She definitely needed to talk to An about this.
---
"Eli?" Elizabeth looked up from the tea she was sipping, meeting the eyes of Jack the Ripper. The diminutive Serial Killer was wearing the more… appropriate clothes, Puppy had bought her during the year between the end of the Human Order Incineration Incident and the beginning of the Crypter War, "Where's Mama?"
Elizabeth knew this question was going to come eventually. She had known it from the minute her and Marie had been asked to play with the three children… but that didn't make it any easier. She locked up, swallowing. And then Marie stepped in, sipping her tea before putting it down, "Your Mama has been sick, Jackie. He's staying in his room until he feels better."
"Père's ill?" Jeanne Alter Santa Lily, "Jasl" asked, looking up. Her golden eyes were immediately filled with worry, "How?"
"He took a rather bad injury in the final Lostbelt," Marie said, smiling at them as her hand shook, just enough for Elizabeth to notice, "He's… he's doing his best to recover."
"Can we go see him?" Elizabeth breathed in at the words from Nursery Rhyme. The white haired Reality Marble-Servant sipped her tea, "he'd probably be-"
"No," Elizabeth said, sharper than she meant to by far, before breathing in, "Puppy… he doesn't want you to worry, so he said you shouldn't come by. He'll come back to the tea parties when he's feeling better, we promise… I, I need a minute alone, excuse me."
Elizabeth stepped out of the room, breathing in and closing the door, she sank to the ground. She ppushed the button on her communicator, waiting for the girl she was calling to pick up. Finally, Mash answered, "Hello?"
"Hi," Elizabeth said, tail trailing as she hesitated, "...How's Puppy?"
"Senpai is… Paracelsus says it might take longer for him to wake up then he expected. The graft was more strain than they were expecting," Mash said.
Elizabeth's stomach dropped at that, "How much longer?"
"A week or two," Mash said, "Asclepius is preparing some form of medicine to slow the muscle atrophy."
"Ok," Elizabeth swallowed, "Ok… I- hey!"
Elizabeth looked up as her arm was pulled up as Jeanne Alter grabbed the arm with her communicator and forced it up, literally lifting the smaller and (unfortunately) weaker Servant off the ground by the arm, gripping one of the katanas she had taken to carrying below the blackened and twisted form of the sword of Saint Catharine, "Then why the hell didn't they wait until he was awake to do it?"
"Ja-?" Mash started, before answering the Question, "Senpai blacked out for a few days the last time they did it. They hoped by doing so while he was unconscious, they could avoid it… it didn't work."
"Obviously," Jalter spat, dropping Elizabeth and stomping away, "I'm coming to see him."
"Are you-"
"I'm coming to see him, Mash!" Jalter barked, before turning the corner.
"Sorry," Elizabeth said.
"It's fine…" Mash sighed, "I'll leave you to get back to the tea party."
"Yeah," Elizabeth sighed, only to meet Jasl's eyes.
"Père's hurt, isn't he?" the smaller form of Jeanne Alter asked, blinking back tears, "He's not sick, he's hurt again…"
"Yes," Elizabeth admitted quietly, "Yes."
She caught the hug from the chil Servant seconds later.
---
Jeanne Alter stepped out of the elevator, moving to shoulder her way past the Servants standing in her way, ignoring Fuuma Kotarou and Katou Danzo as they stepped into the elevator and descended away. She stormed towards Asclepius, who just gave her an exasperated look as she came closer, "Before you strike me, it wasn't my idea."
Jalter stopped, her grip on the Sword of Saint Catharine not letting up, "Then whose was it?"
"The original contingency was put into place by Izuku himself," Asclepius said, "and a vote from the other members of the newly instated quadrumvirate outweighed my protests two to one. So the surgery was done despite me disagreeing with it. You can step in and see him, if you wish."
Jalter did just that, walking in and towards Mash and Izuku. Her grip on her sword tightened as she looked down at the unconscious Master. He looked so weak, his left leg propped up on a pillow and medical supplies hooked up to him.
She reached out, touching the muscles of his upper body and tracing them carefully, hand stopped over the scar on his right side from where Sut-Typhon had run him through.
"He's an idiot," Jalter choked out, sitting down.
"He wants to be able to help us," Mash said.
"That doesn't make him any less of an idiot," Jalter said, "I'm going to stay here and watch him for a bit. Go grab some food."
"Are you-?"
"Go!" Jalter barked, before breathing in and waiting for Mash to leave. Once she was gone, Jalter let tears prick her eyes.
What the hell was she supposed to do, with Izuku gone? Who was she supposed to watch anime with, and laugh at how similar things at Chaldea were at times?
---
Anastasia stopped watching Skadi take her turn carving runes into the golden branch the Sage-King of Heroes had supplied… after some half hearted grumbling. As he had admitted, the trees it had been taken from had been far more massive than anything that existed in the modern day, and he had plenty of it.
But he had to keep up appearances, and that meant complaining about giving up a piece of his treasury even if he didn't actually care all that much. A small gift to one of the King's most valuable subjects wasn't anything of note, considering Izuku didn't ask much of him often.
They were each taking turns carving incantations of fire into the wood, starting with the most recent languages at the center and getting older and more esoteric as you got further down the weapon. Which meant, as a recent Caster, her version of Russian was very nearly in the dead center. She tried to console herself with the fact that that would be almost assuredly where Izuku would grip it. Finally, Sherlock Holmes's voice came over the intercom, "If the Okita Soujis, Utsumi Erice, Artoria Alter, Jeanne Alter, Mash, Edmond Dan- fine, the Count of Monte Cristo, Anastasia Nikolaevna Romanova, Atalante and Ereshkigal would report to the briefing room, it would be deeply appreciated."
Anastasia glanced at the group, before gently sheathing the tanto she had been using Viy to scrawl words into and standing up. The call had sent all the Casters into a flurry of muttered confusion. One cut off as Da Vinci II came on after him, "Everyone, we have a lock. Prepare for surfacing from the Imaginary Numbers Space within the hour."
A silence like a bomb fell across everyone as they breathed in. Anastasia felt Viy rise up around her for a second, his Mystic Eyes opening a fraction of an inch. She pushed him back down quietly, and began walking towards the elevator. Stepping in, she petted her doll's head as it ascended.
Slowly, everyone joined her in the elevator, though Souji was giving Artoria a strange look, before the door opened and they stepped out on the first floor, walking into the briefing room where Sherlock was holding his head with his remaining arm, Avicebron fiddling with the prosthetic he had made.
"I'll get this back to you within the day," Avicebron said, stepping out of the room. Sherlock looked up, offering them a smile.
"Please, sit down. We have a fair bit to discuss."
---
Mash watched Sherlock rub his eyes again, "Are you alright, Detective?"
"Just a migraine, my dear," Sherlock said with a smile, "say what you will of the King of Gods, but he was nothing if not through when he cursed someone. For each one Medea Lily breaks, two seemingly benign enchantments are triggered and reveal themselves to be curses and we must use Pain Breaker again. She believes we're starting to reach the end of them, but it's been like that for weeks now. Anyways, let's get to business, shall we?"
"Yes," Artoria Alter said, rapping her fingers on the hilt of Excalibur Morgan, which lay next to her seat, "Why did you call us here, Holmes?"
"I would hope I didn't need to say that," Sherlock said, tapping a button on the table with his good arm. As much as keeping his Saint Graph off the record had helped, it also hindered him to some extent as they couldn't risk trying to re-summon him. And that meant they had to remove the curses that Surtr and Zeus had inflicted upon him the old fashioned way. A holographic timer appeared, less than an hour hovering in the air and ticking down, "This is the approximate time before we translate out of the Space and back into real space. We have managed to lock onto a signal to allow us to so. If I had to guess, the most likely subject is Izuku's mother, Inko, followed by his father Hisashi, then All Might…"
"And then?" Alter drawled, resting her head on her fist. Sherlock had definitely sounded like he was going to carry on.
"...No, it's not important," Sherlock said, shaking his head, "As I was going to say… We need a team of you to exit the Border when we arrive."
"Detective?" Mash blinked. What… Why?
"We need to find a convergence of Ley Lines," Sherlock said, "and you're either closest to Izuku and know the most about this world, capable of supplying your own mana until you find one, or both."
"So a team of four?" The Count said, leaning against the wall, "Mash, Alter, Jeanne and I?"
"Hey!" The Okitas cried as one.
"What about me?" Anastasia said.
"You can't supply your own mana," The Count said, "it's nothing personal, but we're less likely to strain Izuku if we exit the Border than you."
"He has a point," Atalante said, nodding.
"I… Yes, he does," Ereshkigal said.
"But I want to see the world," Anastasia whined, though Mash was sure she would deny it if accused.
"And I want to stay with Senpai," Mash said, only for Anastasia's head to snap towards her.
"I can stay," Anastasia said.
"But you-" Mash started, before Sherlock coughed into his hand.
"Mash, you're the one person who it wasn't optional," Sherlock said, "You're the closest to Izuku, and know the most about the world. We need you to go."
Mash bit her lip, wanting to refuse anyways, before nodding, "Alright."
"Then I'll trust you four," Sherlock said, "And Anastasia, Okita, Souji, Ereshkigal… I'm sure Izuku will have time to show you the world once he wakes. Now, if you could each step out so I can continue the briefing, it'd be appreciated."
---
The Count leaned against the wall as those not going on the mission filtered out. Finally, once they were out and the door shut, he spoke, "You think there's a real chance we're going to have to fight."
Holmes curved one eyebrow, looking like he wanted to tent his fingers if he had both hands, "What makes you think that, Dantès?"
The Count starred at him, eyes flashing and Monte Cristo Mythologie burning along his arms. Holmes sighed, "Count?"
"The Servants I listed aren't necessarily those closest to Izuku," The Count said. He wasn't going to admit it in front of them, but he was of the opinion that Izuku was closer to Anastasia and either of the Okita Soujis then he was to either of the Alters in the room. He was probably closer to Ozymandias, in his opinion… though he might be a bit biased, "They were the four Servants who could engage in combat without straining Izuku before we got access to the Ley Lines. Mash's Magic Circuits, Alter's Draconic Core, and Jeanne and I's Mana Replenishment, on top of Monte Cristo Mythologie in my case, means so long as we don't resort to Noble Phantasms-"
"Monte Cristo Mythologie is a Noble Phantasm," Jeanne Alter said.
"And one that lets me draw Mana from the world," The Count said without breaking stride, "I was speaking of Enfer Château d'If for myself. If we don't resort to those, we shouldn't strain Izuku even if we must engage someone. So you suspect that we will have to."
"I wouldn't take it that far," Holmes said, "but Izuku's comments on his world haven't made it sound overly hospitable. It's certainly no Singularity or Lostbelt, but the world has active clashes between men and women as strong as Magi near constantly… and that's not including other factors."
"Like?" Jeanne said, her hand gripping the sword of Saint Catherine and carefully thumbing the pommel.
"Izuku has Magic Circuits," Holmes said, "How can we say with absolute certainty that the world doesn't have others who have gained the ability to use them?"
"Magi," Artoria said.
"Magi," Holmes agreed seriously, "they may take exception to you attempting to access the Ley Lines. Disabuse them of that notion, preferably peacefully… but Izuku and Chaldea are relying on you."
Izuku first, the Count noted. Holmes clearly knew where Artoria, Jeanne and his priorities were.
"And try to get a basic lay of the land while you're out," Holmes said, "We don't know how much has changed while Izuku was gone.
---
Anastasia practically glided over the floor, ice forming in front of her and then shattering behind her as she headed towards Izuku's room. Behind her, she heard Souji easily keeping pace, "We need to talk."
"About what?"
"Alteria."
"...Who?"
"Artoria Alter?" Souji offered.
"We're not using Alteria," Anastasia said, "it sounds too close to Altera."
"Good point," Souji nodded, "...So, why was she asked about Izuku's staff… and when did it change from a cane to a staff?"
"When Ozymandias decided to get involved," Anastasia grumbled, "and we were asking her if we could-"
"You should kiss him," a familiar, annoying voice said from Izuku's room. Souji and Anastasia shared a look, before throwing open the door to the room. A girl about Anastasia's age was shaking a metal cage with one hand, sending a small box within flying. The box was yelping, "Hey, Hey! I was joking Gray! It was a joke!"
"It wasn't funny," Gray said, dropping Add onto the desk and shifting Izuku so his head was in her lap… and picked up a brush. Oh, well that wasn't worrying. Someone needed to take care of Izuku's hair if they didn't want to shave it off when he woke, and Gray was good at taking care of other people's hair.
The girl with grey hair mixed with blond locked up as she noticed them, before pulling up her hood and steadfastly refusing to look at Souji. They looked nearly identical, and almost everyone on the Border was aware that Gray was self conscious of the fact that there were so many people with almost the same face as hers…
Especially when there had been a time where her face wasn't near identical to that of the King of Knights. Izuku not paying attention to that had probably earned Gray's loyalty.
It didn't matter who you were or how you had lived, if you hadn't harmed children, Izuku was willing to offer you a chance. Maybe it was because of his Origin, and maybe it was slightly inhuman, but it was who Midoriya Izuku was.
Anastasia glanced around the room, eyes skipping over the gun case with an uncomfortable shifting before locking onto the three maps on the wall over his desk. Two of them were of the entire earth, and one of those was marked with seven red circles for each Lostbelt, dates and locations next to each one, an X through all but the last. Grabbing a red marker, Anastasia carefully scored through the South American Lostbelt while Souji took a seat next to Gray. The second map of the world had red push pins across it, with a few blue ones. Hawaii, Las Vegas, Ireland were blue, and red…
Paris, Moscow, New York, Rome, Venice, Tokyo.
Places to see with Mash, was scrawled under it in katakana.
Anastasia bit her tongue, trying to fight the cold jealousy. Mash had been Izuku's first friend in Chaldea, had known him for longer than anyone among the Servants, but that didn't make Anastasia particularly happy about the place Mash held in Izuku's heart at times.
The third map was one of Italy, a single point in the Tyrrhenian Sea.
Back to the Beginning with the Count. Summer after we beat B VII? Plenty for everyone to do in Italy and France.
Anastasia tore her eyes away, sitting next to Izuku and settling down to watch him with Gray and Souji.
---
Ramesses stepped into his temple, sighing as he settled into one of the thrones and gesturing for Nitocris to sit in the less resplendent one across from him as he placed the pieces on the board for a game of senat.
"My Lord?"
"Yes?" Ramesses promptly, moving a piece.
"Why did you decide to help craft Izuku's Mystic Code?"
Ramesses stood on his chariot, staring out over the parted red sea. For a single moment, Moses glanced back and their eyes met. His grip on his staff tightened.
Amun-her-khepeshef...
He wouldn't want this, would he? He wouldn't want his father and uncle devolving into a cycle of retaliation and vengeance.
"We return to Pi-Ramesses!" Ramesses ordered.
"My Lord?"
"Do you think the sorcery that is being used to split the sea cannot be undone?" He said, "If they're willing to risk our mages, risk myself, doing it to leave, they are in all likelihood willing to undo the spell themselves to take us with them if we followed! Let them go."
Ramesses met Moses's eyes for the last time, and inclined his head. Moses gave a wide smile and bowed his, and then turned and led his people across the Red Sea. Ramesses watched as they split apart, hiding his feelings.
How had it ended like this?
"If I didn't know Izuku better, I would think he believes I'm blind," Ramesses said.
"My Lord?"
"He's too kind for his own good, sometimes," Ramesses continued, "I offer him wine every time we play senat, and I always wonder if it will be the time he turns me down. He has little stomach for it, I know… but he worries that refusing my offer would offend me, so he takes it nonetheless. My honor means I cannot not offer a guest, a king in all but name, and a loyal servant refreshments, and it would stain it even more to offer him anything less than the best I have. So I offer, and always expect him to refuse… but he never does."
Moses had been much the same, before their falling out.
"So you decided to help as payment?"
"Payment is a bit much," Ramesses said, "but it is a gift he will actually use, even once he recovers. He humors me, so I will give him something in return, that is all."
---
Mash swallowed as they landed, hand brushing the Sword of Strange Hangings. The wall in front of them swung open, letting the team that was leaving the Border onto a beach that looked more like a dump.
"Ready?" The Count asked.
"I wish Senpai was here," Mash said, "He deserves to be the first person to step on his home again."
"We all wish he was better," the Count said, eyes jumping back into the confines, "let's get this over with quickly, so we can see as much of this for the first time with him.
---
Thoughts, questions and opinions? Good? Bad? Meh?
---
Atalante moved through the halls of the Shadow Border at a clipped pace, heading towards the cockpit. It was lucky that the space between Izuku's room and there was so shor-
"Buggery!" Drake's voice hit the lion ears on top of Atalante's head, the voice growling. It hadn't finished echoing in her head before, another voice, more soft spoken, calm and, almost paradoxically, deep, spoke.
"That's the sixth time you've said that in five minutes, Drake," the Captain said.
"Not BLOODY now, Nemo!" Drake snarled.
Atalante supposed that putting the privateer of the British Empire, the woman who had been vital in it becoming such by Setting the Sun, in close proximity with the east indian prince who had lost his home to the same empire was inevitably going to cause some antagonism. She just wished they wouldn't do it near a Heroic Spirit who was by all standards, a young boy.
Stepping into the cockpit, she raked her eyes across it. The submersible had changed significantly since it's time as the Shadow Border, the fusion with the Nautilus and the Hephaestus Klironomia having upgraded the cockpit. Submerged in a sensory deprivation tank below the Paper Moon that made their travel through Imaginary Number Space possible, though ironically she could probably see more in it than she could outside of it, was Da Vinci Lily.
"Hello!" The console closest to Atalante chirped happily in the voice of the younger Da Vinci, while the older one looked up and offered a smile before continuing to type into the console.
"Here to stop Drake and Abby from corrupting Voyager's ears?" Da Vinci asked.
"Is Abigail also being a problem?" Atalante asked.
"Not as frequently as Drake," Da Vinci said, "but when she is, she's putting her to shame."
Drake and Nemo were as far away from each other as possible… or rather, Drake and the real Nemo were. There were several members of the Nemo Marines manning consoles between them, while below them Voyager stood on a stool to reach the console he was sharing with Tesla, humming one of the songs recorded on his golden record without a care in the world. And in front of them, staring out of the front of the ship and skin the palid tone she used when she wasn't hiding her existence as the Silver Key, the bandages over her keyhole shaped third eye removed and staring out into Imaginary Number Space, was Abigail Williams.
"Fu-" Atalante rushed forwards, clapping her hands over Voyager's ears, "-ck! Hard left or we're going to get caught in a current!"
Why was it that the girl responsible for triggering the infamous Salem Witch Trials apparently swore? It didn't make any sense at all!
"Do you require him?" Atalante asked Tesla, who shook his head as an alert went off on the holographic device next to his hand, which he grabbed and glanced at, before typing something into it. Atalante took Voyager's hand, "Come with me, we're going to visit Erice."
"Ok?" Voyager said, tilting his head and following her as Atalante walked out of the room as quickly as possible.
---
A pair of swords clashed in an explosion of sparks, identical blade meeting identical blade before both swordswomen pushed back. Each of them shifted, and preparing to rush forward, aiming for first blood. The preferred method of sparing on the Border.
Souji stared at Okita, waiting for the other her, the "real" her, to blink and fully aware she was doing the same. Finally the Saber class Servant closed her eyes, and the Alter Ego rushed forwards, her katana about to hit Okita before the other blade lashed out on instinct and deflected the sword.
Okita stabbed forwards as Souji stepped to the side, dodging the attack and nicking her… older? Younger? Non-Altered equivalent's cheek. A drop of red liquid slid down, and Okita sighed, sheathing her blade and stepping away to cough into her hand, flecks of blood mixed with the saliva.
"May I face you?" Souji turned, watching the woman with a disturbing resemblance to her, despite the fact that they had lived on opposite sides of the Eurasian world at different times, step into the ring holding a simple longsword. Her armor had been abandoned, as was also standard for the spars. Souji lifted the katana so it was even with her face, and Artoria Alter prepared her sword.
This wasn't going to be easy, the Tyrant King of Knights had a higher Strength and Endurance Parameter than Souji, though admittedly a far lower Agility one. So she was going to need to use lightning speed to win this fight.
They both tensed, and then moved. Souji appeared behind Alter, only for the sword to flash up and deflect the attack. Alter span in place, slashing for Souji and forcing the Counter Guardian back.
"We don't normally see you out of your chambers," Souji said, conversationally. Said chambers were as far away as physically, as much as "physics" applied to the Border anymore when it came to her floors and layout, from where the Knights of the Round Table made their home. They didn't exactly get along with the changed form of their king, and the feeling was fairly mutual. The only person who regularly visited was Iz-
Oh, no.
Was that why Izuku didn't invite anyone into his bed? He was sleeping with her behind everyone's back!?
She needed to talk to An about this, quickly, because that wasn't anywhere on the plans-
No, no, she was being ridiculous. Izuku visited tons of Servants, and it didn't mean he was sleeping with them! It was probably nothing.
But just in case…
"What are you doing out here?" Souji continued on, punching for the Alter's head. She dodged it, swinging for Souji who dodged in turn.
"The Casters wanted to ask me something about Izuku's new staff," Artoria Alter said, conversationally, "and I decided to stop by this area of the ship before departing for the Mess hall. I was hoping, perchance, that one of the other me's Knights were here."
They hadn't asked her or Mash about the staff, as far as she knew…
She definitely needed to talk to An about this.
---
"Eli?" Elizabeth looked up from the tea she was sipping, meeting the eyes of Jack the Ripper. The diminutive Serial Killer was wearing the more… appropriate clothes, Puppy had bought her during the year between the end of the Human Order Incineration Incident and the beginning of the Crypter War, "Where's Mama?"
Elizabeth knew this question was going to come eventually. She had known it from the minute her and Marie had been asked to play with the three children… but that didn't make it any easier. She locked up, swallowing. And then Marie stepped in, sipping her tea before putting it down, "Your Mama has been sick, Jackie. He's staying in his room until he feels better."
"Père's ill?" Jeanne Alter Santa Lily, "Jasl" asked, looking up. Her golden eyes were immediately filled with worry, "How?"
"He took a rather bad injury in the final Lostbelt," Marie said, smiling at them as her hand shook, just enough for Elizabeth to notice, "He's… he's doing his best to recover."
"Can we go see him?" Elizabeth breathed in at the words from Nursery Rhyme. The white haired Reality Marble-Servant sipped her tea, "he'd probably be-"
"No," Elizabeth said, sharper than she meant to by far, before breathing in, "Puppy… he doesn't want you to worry, so he said you shouldn't come by. He'll come back to the tea parties when he's feeling better, we promise… I, I need a minute alone, excuse me."
Elizabeth stepped out of the room, breathing in and closing the door, she sank to the ground. She ppushed the button on her communicator, waiting for the girl she was calling to pick up. Finally, Mash answered, "Hello?"
"Hi," Elizabeth said, tail trailing as she hesitated, "...How's Puppy?"
"Senpai is… Paracelsus says it might take longer for him to wake up then he expected. The graft was more strain than they were expecting," Mash said.
Elizabeth's stomach dropped at that, "How much longer?"
"A week or two," Mash said, "Asclepius is preparing some form of medicine to slow the muscle atrophy."
"Ok," Elizabeth swallowed, "Ok… I- hey!"
Elizabeth looked up as her arm was pulled up as Jeanne Alter grabbed the arm with her communicator and forced it up, literally lifting the smaller and (unfortunately) weaker Servant off the ground by the arm, gripping one of the katanas she had taken to carrying below the blackened and twisted form of the sword of Saint Catharine, "Then why the hell didn't they wait until he was awake to do it?"
"Ja-?" Mash started, before answering the Question, "Senpai blacked out for a few days the last time they did it. They hoped by doing so while he was unconscious, they could avoid it… it didn't work."
"Obviously," Jalter spat, dropping Elizabeth and stomping away, "I'm coming to see him."
"Are you-"
"I'm coming to see him, Mash!" Jalter barked, before turning the corner.
"Sorry," Elizabeth said.
"It's fine…" Mash sighed, "I'll leave you to get back to the tea party."
"Yeah," Elizabeth sighed, only to meet Jasl's eyes.
"Père's hurt, isn't he?" the smaller form of Jeanne Alter asked, blinking back tears, "He's not sick, he's hurt again…"
"Yes," Elizabeth admitted quietly, "Yes."
She caught the hug from the chil Servant seconds later.
---
Jeanne Alter stepped out of the elevator, moving to shoulder her way past the Servants standing in her way, ignoring Fuuma Kotarou and Katou Danzo as they stepped into the elevator and descended away. She stormed towards Asclepius, who just gave her an exasperated look as she came closer, "Before you strike me, it wasn't my idea."
Jalter stopped, her grip on the Sword of Saint Catharine not letting up, "Then whose was it?"
"The original contingency was put into place by Izuku himself," Asclepius said, "and a vote from the other members of the newly instated quadrumvirate outweighed my protests two to one. So the surgery was done despite me disagreeing with it. You can step in and see him, if you wish."
Jalter did just that, walking in and towards Mash and Izuku. Her grip on her sword tightened as she looked down at the unconscious Master. He looked so weak, his left leg propped up on a pillow and medical supplies hooked up to him.
She reached out, touching the muscles of his upper body and tracing them carefully, hand stopped over the scar on his right side from where Sut-Typhon had run him through.
"He's an idiot," Jalter choked out, sitting down.
"He wants to be able to help us," Mash said.
"That doesn't make him any less of an idiot," Jalter said, "I'm going to stay here and watch him for a bit. Go grab some food."
"Are you-?"
"Go!" Jalter barked, before breathing in and waiting for Mash to leave. Once she was gone, Jalter let tears prick her eyes.
What the hell was she supposed to do, with Izuku gone? Who was she supposed to watch anime with, and laugh at how similar things at Chaldea were at times?
---
Anastasia stopped watching Skadi take her turn carving runes into the golden branch the Sage-King of Heroes had supplied… after some half hearted grumbling. As he had admitted, the trees it had been taken from had been far more massive than anything that existed in the modern day, and he had plenty of it.
But he had to keep up appearances, and that meant complaining about giving up a piece of his treasury even if he didn't actually care all that much. A small gift to one of the King's most valuable subjects wasn't anything of note, considering Izuku didn't ask much of him often.
They were each taking turns carving incantations of fire into the wood, starting with the most recent languages at the center and getting older and more esoteric as you got further down the weapon. Which meant, as a recent Caster, her version of Russian was very nearly in the dead center. She tried to console herself with the fact that that would be almost assuredly where Izuku would grip it. Finally, Sherlock Holmes's voice came over the intercom, "If the Okita Soujis, Utsumi Erice, Artoria Alter, Jeanne Alter, Mash, Edmond Dan- fine, the Count of Monte Cristo, Anastasia Nikolaevna Romanova, Atalante and Ereshkigal would report to the briefing room, it would be deeply appreciated."
Anastasia glanced at the group, before gently sheathing the tanto she had been using Viy to scrawl words into and standing up. The call had sent all the Casters into a flurry of muttered confusion. One cut off as Da Vinci II came on after him, "Everyone, we have a lock. Prepare for surfacing from the Imaginary Numbers Space within the hour."
A silence like a bomb fell across everyone as they breathed in. Anastasia felt Viy rise up around her for a second, his Mystic Eyes opening a fraction of an inch. She pushed him back down quietly, and began walking towards the elevator. Stepping in, she petted her doll's head as it ascended.
Slowly, everyone joined her in the elevator, though Souji was giving Artoria a strange look, before the door opened and they stepped out on the first floor, walking into the briefing room where Sherlock was holding his head with his remaining arm, Avicebron fiddling with the prosthetic he had made.
"I'll get this back to you within the day," Avicebron said, stepping out of the room. Sherlock looked up, offering them a smile.
"Please, sit down. We have a fair bit to discuss."
---
Mash watched Sherlock rub his eyes again, "Are you alright, Detective?"
"Just a migraine, my dear," Sherlock said with a smile, "say what you will of the King of Gods, but he was nothing if not through when he cursed someone. For each one Medea Lily breaks, two seemingly benign enchantments are triggered and reveal themselves to be curses and we must use Pain Breaker again. She believes we're starting to reach the end of them, but it's been like that for weeks now. Anyways, let's get to business, shall we?"
"Yes," Artoria Alter said, rapping her fingers on the hilt of Excalibur Morgan, which lay next to her seat, "Why did you call us here, Holmes?"
"I would hope I didn't need to say that," Sherlock said, tapping a button on the table with his good arm. As much as keeping his Saint Graph off the record had helped, it also hindered him to some extent as they couldn't risk trying to re-summon him. And that meant they had to remove the curses that Surtr and Zeus had inflicted upon him the old fashioned way. A holographic timer appeared, less than an hour hovering in the air and ticking down, "This is the approximate time before we translate out of the Space and back into real space. We have managed to lock onto a signal to allow us to so. If I had to guess, the most likely subject is Izuku's mother, Inko, followed by his father Hisashi, then All Might…"
"And then?" Alter drawled, resting her head on her fist. Sherlock had definitely sounded like he was going to carry on.
"...No, it's not important," Sherlock said, shaking his head, "As I was going to say… We need a team of you to exit the Border when we arrive."
"Detective?" Mash blinked. What… Why?
"We need to find a convergence of Ley Lines," Sherlock said, "and you're either closest to Izuku and know the most about this world, capable of supplying your own mana until you find one, or both."
"So a team of four?" The Count said, leaning against the wall, "Mash, Alter, Jeanne and I?"
"Hey!" The Okitas cried as one.
"What about me?" Anastasia said.
"You can't supply your own mana," The Count said, "it's nothing personal, but we're less likely to strain Izuku if we exit the Border than you."
"He has a point," Atalante said, nodding.
"I… Yes, he does," Ereshkigal said.
"But I want to see the world," Anastasia whined, though Mash was sure she would deny it if accused.
"And I want to stay with Senpai," Mash said, only for Anastasia's head to snap towards her.
"I can stay," Anastasia said.
"But you-" Mash started, before Sherlock coughed into his hand.
"Mash, you're the one person who it wasn't optional," Sherlock said, "You're the closest to Izuku, and know the most about the world. We need you to go."
Mash bit her lip, wanting to refuse anyways, before nodding, "Alright."
"Then I'll trust you four," Sherlock said, "And Anastasia, Okita, Souji, Ereshkigal… I'm sure Izuku will have time to show you the world once he wakes. Now, if you could each step out so I can continue the briefing, it'd be appreciated."
---
The Count leaned against the wall as those not going on the mission filtered out. Finally, once they were out and the door shut, he spoke, "You think there's a real chance we're going to have to fight."
Holmes curved one eyebrow, looking like he wanted to tent his fingers if he had both hands, "What makes you think that, Dantès?"
The Count starred at him, eyes flashing and Monte Cristo Mythologie burning along his arms. Holmes sighed, "Count?"
"The Servants I listed aren't necessarily those closest to Izuku," The Count said. He wasn't going to admit it in front of them, but he was of the opinion that Izuku was closer to Anastasia and either of the Okita Soujis then he was to either of the Alters in the room. He was probably closer to Ozymandias, in his opinion… though he might be a bit biased, "They were the four Servants who could engage in combat without straining Izuku before we got access to the Ley Lines. Mash's Magic Circuits, Alter's Draconic Core, and Jeanne and I's Mana Replenishment, on top of Monte Cristo Mythologie in my case, means so long as we don't resort to Noble Phantasms-"
"Monte Cristo Mythologie is a Noble Phantasm," Jeanne Alter said.
"And one that lets me draw Mana from the world," The Count said without breaking stride, "I was speaking of Enfer Château d'If for myself. If we don't resort to those, we shouldn't strain Izuku even if we must engage someone. So you suspect that we will have to."
"I wouldn't take it that far," Holmes said, "but Izuku's comments on his world haven't made it sound overly hospitable. It's certainly no Singularity or Lostbelt, but the world has active clashes between men and women as strong as Magi near constantly… and that's not including other factors."
"Like?" Jeanne said, her hand gripping the sword of Saint Catherine and carefully thumbing the pommel.
"Izuku has Magic Circuits," Holmes said, "How can we say with absolute certainty that the world doesn't have others who have gained the ability to use them?"
"Magi," Artoria said.
"Magi," Holmes agreed seriously, "they may take exception to you attempting to access the Ley Lines. Disabuse them of that notion, preferably peacefully… but Izuku and Chaldea are relying on you."
Izuku first, the Count noted. Holmes clearly knew where Artoria, Jeanne and his priorities were.
"And try to get a basic lay of the land while you're out," Holmes said, "We don't know how much has changed while Izuku was gone.
---
Anastasia practically glided over the floor, ice forming in front of her and then shattering behind her as she headed towards Izuku's room. Behind her, she heard Souji easily keeping pace, "We need to talk."
"About what?"
"Alteria."
"...Who?"
"Artoria Alter?" Souji offered.
"We're not using Alteria," Anastasia said, "it sounds too close to Altera."
"Good point," Souji nodded, "...So, why was she asked about Izuku's staff… and when did it change from a cane to a staff?"
"When Ozymandias decided to get involved," Anastasia grumbled, "and we were asking her if we could-"
"You should kiss him," a familiar, annoying voice said from Izuku's room. Souji and Anastasia shared a look, before throwing open the door to the room. A girl about Anastasia's age was shaking a metal cage with one hand, sending a small box within flying. The box was yelping, "Hey, Hey! I was joking Gray! It was a joke!"
"It wasn't funny," Gray said, dropping Add onto the desk and shifting Izuku so his head was in her lap… and picked up a brush. Oh, well that wasn't worrying. Someone needed to take care of Izuku's hair if they didn't want to shave it off when he woke, and Gray was good at taking care of other people's hair.
The girl with grey hair mixed with blond locked up as she noticed them, before pulling up her hood and steadfastly refusing to look at Souji. They looked nearly identical, and almost everyone on the Border was aware that Gray was self conscious of the fact that there were so many people with almost the same face as hers…
Especially when there had been a time where her face wasn't near identical to that of the King of Knights. Izuku not paying attention to that had probably earned Gray's loyalty.
It didn't matter who you were or how you had lived, if you hadn't harmed children, Izuku was willing to offer you a chance. Maybe it was because of his Origin, and maybe it was slightly inhuman, but it was who Midoriya Izuku was.
Anastasia glanced around the room, eyes skipping over the gun case with an uncomfortable shifting before locking onto the three maps on the wall over his desk. Two of them were of the entire earth, and one of those was marked with seven red circles for each Lostbelt, dates and locations next to each one, an X through all but the last. Grabbing a red marker, Anastasia carefully scored through the South American Lostbelt while Souji took a seat next to Gray. The second map of the world had red push pins across it, with a few blue ones. Hawaii, Las Vegas, Ireland were blue, and red…
Paris, Moscow, New York, Rome, Venice, Tokyo.
Places to see with Mash, was scrawled under it in katakana.
Anastasia bit her tongue, trying to fight the cold jealousy. Mash had been Izuku's first friend in Chaldea, had known him for longer than anyone among the Servants, but that didn't make Anastasia particularly happy about the place Mash held in Izuku's heart at times.
The third map was one of Italy, a single point in the Tyrrhenian Sea.
Back to the Beginning with the Count. Summer after we beat B VII? Plenty for everyone to do in Italy and France.
Anastasia tore her eyes away, sitting next to Izuku and settling down to watch him with Gray and Souji.
---
Ramesses stepped into his temple, sighing as he settled into one of the thrones and gesturing for Nitocris to sit in the less resplendent one across from him as he placed the pieces on the board for a game of senat.
"My Lord?"
"Yes?" Ramesses promptly, moving a piece.
"Why did you decide to help craft Izuku's Mystic Code?"
Ramesses stood on his chariot, staring out over the parted red sea. For a single moment, Moses glanced back and their eyes met. His grip on his staff tightened.
Amun-her-khepeshef...
He wouldn't want this, would he? He wouldn't want his father and uncle devolving into a cycle of retaliation and vengeance.
"We return to Pi-Ramesses!" Ramesses ordered.
"My Lord?"
"Do you think the sorcery that is being used to split the sea cannot be undone?" He said, "If they're willing to risk our mages, risk myself, doing it to leave, they are in all likelihood willing to undo the spell themselves to take us with them if we followed! Let them go."
Ramesses met Moses's eyes for the last time, and inclined his head. Moses gave a wide smile and bowed his, and then turned and led his people across the Red Sea. Ramesses watched as they split apart, hiding his feelings.
How had it ended like this?
"If I didn't know Izuku better, I would think he believes I'm blind," Ramesses said.
"My Lord?"
"He's too kind for his own good, sometimes," Ramesses continued, "I offer him wine every time we play senat, and I always wonder if it will be the time he turns me down. He has little stomach for it, I know… but he worries that refusing my offer would offend me, so he takes it nonetheless. My honor means I cannot not offer a guest, a king in all but name, and a loyal servant refreshments, and it would stain it even more to offer him anything less than the best I have. So I offer, and always expect him to refuse… but he never does."
Moses had been much the same, before their falling out.
"So you decided to help as payment?"
"Payment is a bit much," Ramesses said, "but it is a gift he will actually use, even once he recovers. He humors me, so I will give him something in return, that is all."
---
Mash swallowed as they landed, hand brushing the Sword of Strange Hangings. The wall in front of them swung open, letting the team that was leaving the Border onto a beach that looked more like a dump.
"Ready?" The Count asked.
"I wish Senpai was here," Mash said, "He deserves to be the first person to step on his home again."
"We all wish he was better," the Count said, eyes jumping back into the confines, "let's get this over with quickly, so we can see as much of this for the first time with him.
---
Thoughts, questions and opinions? Good? Bad? Meh?
Interlude: Absolute Demonic Front I
ThatOnePsycho
Tilting his Vanes and Ennobling His Spires
Well, I'm starting to degrade in mental quality again. Should probably get this out before I trash it, so... here. I'll probably do more on this topic down the line, but for now.
---
Izuku opened the briefcase with a gulp, picking up the conceptual weapons hidden within. The set of eight ringed dirks glowed purple-black, and lifted off his hand and into the air. He turned, blinking as Leonidas offered him a spear.
"They're fast," Leonidas said, "Though I'm sure you alright know that. Hopefully your Magecraft will be enough, but if it isn't, use your spear to ward them off long enough for assistance to arrive."
Izuku nodded, taking the spear, "Thanks."
"It would not do well for Humanity's last Master to die," Leonidas said, eyes shifting towards the northern gate before he put on his helm, "Are you prepared?"
Izuku glanced at Mash, the Count, Shiki and Billy, before nodding, "Yes."
"...We'll see if you keep that," Leonidas said as the group gathered, walking towards the gate and calling, "Open the first gate!"
Izuku followed the Spartan, soliders gathering behind them. The first gate slammed shut, and the second opened, letting the rotation of men leaving the battlefield rush in, alongside six demonic beasts. Before they could attack a pair of men lagging behind and carrying a savaged soldier, Izuku, and his Servants, launched into action.
The Spiritfuge launched forwards, impaling one and locking it in place for a moment so Izuku could point his lighter at it, "Jetburn!"
Flames launched from the lighter in a wide spread, igniting the beast and causing a garbled noise of pain to echo from its mouth. The Count was on another in a second, Monte Cristo Mythologie burning them to the bone in the same time it took for Izuku to burn off the fur.
Billy's M1877, chambered in Colt .41 making it a "Thunderer" to the .38 "Lightning" and .32 "Rainmaker" hammered into one beast with six shots, the magical energy ripping through the uridimmu's skull and dropping it. He slid open the loading gate of the revolver, using the ejector rod to remove the empty casings and loading more brass rounds and the casings fell to the dirt and disintegrated into magical energy.
Shiki rushed at another uridimmu, slashing seemingly randomly as the outer edge of her irises turned blue and the inner turned kaleidoscopic. The beast fell into several neat pieces, blood raining from them as they crashed to the earth.
Mash slammed Lord Camelot into another, decapitating them with the edge of the shield and blocking the last from moving forward, where several men and women stabbed under the shield and pierced through the last uridimmu with their spears.
Behind them, the first gate opened, letting the men rush into Uruk before it shut. Izuku swallowed, before speaking up, "Right, you guys know what to do?"
"If it's four legged, angry and moves quickly it dies," Billy said, finishing reloading, "We know, Master."
"Alright then," Izuku said, drawing the Spiritfuge by the ring shaped hilts and setting them back to floating. He supposed it was bit much to hope they would have exorcised the "demonic" beasts, "Let's go."
---
It was a great day in Babylonia, the sun was shining like New Mexico and Henry "Billy the Kid" McCarty, Archer class Servant of Chaldea was doing his level best to keep goddamn hellhounds from tackling his Master and killing them. Yeah, yeah, they weren't hellhounds, they were uri-whatevers, but if they were red like a hellhound, burned with fire like a hellhound, and were demonic like a hellhound, they were hellhounds to him.
Time slowed as one barreled straight towards Billy, flames coiling around it. Swinging his Thunderer around, a loud clap echoed and the magical ammo ripped through the skin with as much ease as a normal bullet would through a rack of tanned leather. Billy adjusted his aim, and gunned down two more before they reached the phalanx protecting the gate. Izuku's dirks pinned one of the large ones in the air, and Billy hammered three shots into its torso before opening the loading gate of his Thunderer and beginning to reload it as quickly as possible. That alone made it so he had the second lowest kill count among the Servants.
Well, that and this being far from his preferred conditions. Night raids, hunting small groups, ambushes, that was what he was best at, not the all out war of the Absolute Demonic Front. But he was here, and Izuku was putting his trust in him, so he was going to do his damned best.
"Shiki!" Izuku said from his spot behind the shield wall, "Billy! There's a… a group of weird tentacled ones coming up on the righ- no, left, left flank! Atalante is about to fight some uridimmu on the walls, I need you to- to-!"
"We've got it," Billy said, smiling at Izuku as he finished reloading his Thunderer, "Right, Shiki?"
The handsome woman nodded, the blood splattering her body somehow only enhancing her appearance and they took off towards the direction Izuku had pointed. Once they were far enough away, Shiki said, "He's not used to this."
"What?"
"It's a frantic slaughter," Shiki said, "he's getting more information by the second than he can deal with."
"He fought two wars."
"This… this isn't a war, McCarthy, this is butchery."
Watching one man who had broke formation be grabbed by one the hellhounds and savaged, Billy couldn't find it in him to disagree. This wasn't like the Lincoln County War, a war of revenge, or even the North American Myth War. This was a struggle to survive, where each man who died was another blow against the Foundation of Humanity.
It was a war they had to win, where losing wasn't an option because the other answer was extinction… but the enemy was stronger, faster and near limitless. For every hound Shiki slashing to pieces and bathed in the blood of, for every one that ran up the wall only to fall down with a green arrow shaft embedded in their head, for every one that Billy gunned down, three more seemed to take their place.
And yet humanity fought like they always did when their back was against the wall. Ferocious, and showing the exact same amount of quarter the Demonic Beasts were showing them. Men and women who definitely deserved to be within the Throne more than a simple cattle thief fought and died, dragging as many beasts with them into the grave as possible.
---
Atalante drew back Tauropolos's bowstring, two arrows nocked and glowing. The moment the first pair of uridimmu crested the hill, she loosed the arrows, punching through their jaw and sending them plummeting back to the ground. Another arrow appeared, nocked and ready as she drew back the bowstring again. Without pausing to aim, she loosed the arrow through the brain of the beast that was charging her, dodging the frenzied strike from another and stomping on its neck, breaking the spine and kicking off so she could fire another arrow into the last of this pack of uridimmu.
Which was good, because six more packs were coming their way.
"Izuku," Atalante said, "I'm going to need to use it. I'm sorry."
"A-are you sure?" Izuku said, binding demonic beasts long enough for the Count to sweep over them and turn them to ash.
"There are six packs, led by a ugallu coming towards us," Atalante reported.
"T-then do it," Izuku said, swallowing audibly.
Two more arrows appeared as she drew back the bowstring again, two letters wrapped around them, "I respectfully ask for the protection of Apollo and Artemis. Phoebus Catastrophe!"
The arrows flashed green as they flew high into the sky, before vanishing. Seconds later, hundreds of arrows plummeted from the same spot they had vanished, ripping into the uridimmu and ušumgallu, sending them crashing to the ground where more arrows staked them to it.
A hiss came from the communicator on her wrist, and she glanced towards Izuku, who's magic circuits, the ones visible through the Chaldea Combat Uniform, were glowing like a fractal scar on his skin, teeth ground shut and eyes closed.
"We'll keep him safe," the Count said, landing next to Izuku and helping him stand, the now inert dirks of the Spiritfuge in one hand, "but don't do that again if you can avoid it, Atalante."
"Understood," Atalante nodded, even though she knew he couldn't see her. She hadn't wanted to hurt Izuku like that.
"Good," The Count said, incinerating two uridimmu that bounded over the shieldwall before either of them hit the ground.
---
After the Myth War, Izuku had been pretty certain he was a good strategist. His lessons with Lord El-Melloi II helped, and it was normally the only way he could really help his Servants unless they were fighting weak wraiths, animals or regular men and women.
The Demonic Front was putting that to the test, completely and utterly. The small terminal integrated into the Chaldea Combat Suit was projecting an approximation of the battlefield from the palm of Izuku's hand, hostiles marked in red dwarfing the blue friendlies by massive amounts. The Melammu Dingir firing above them blasting holes in the horde of beasts, only for more to charge over their dissolving bodies.
Desperate orders were stuttered out towards Mash and the Count, but even with Lord Camelot crushing them and Monte Cristo Mythologie burning them to ash as fast as they could move, Izuku didn't feel like they were making any gap in the demonic beasts. They were barely holding the line.
"Izuku," Atalante said, voice somber, I'm going to have to use it. I'm sorry."
Izuku swallowed, eyes flickering up to where the Chaste Hunter was standing on the precipice of the wall, "A-are you sure?"
"There are six packs, led by a ugallu coming towards us."
Izuku activated his Magic Circuits, marking spreading across his body from the center of his chest. He gritted his teeth, eyes locked on the beast he had pinned as the Count launched over it and incinerated it with Monte Cristo Mythologie, "T-then do it."
Izuku bit back the pain as his body and soul protested the drawing of the bowstring back, his Magic Circuits burning Od and Mana to accommodate the strain of the Noble Phantasm. His focus of the Spiritfuge broke, as did his assessment of the battlefield. It was only because of the times that Kacchan had underestimated the power of his explosions and burned Izuku that he wasn't completely blacking out from pain.
Finally, the bowstring snapped forward, the arrows launching into the sky as more magical energy burned. Izuku snapped, letting out a hiss as the arrows rained down, falling to his knees as his Magic Circuits heated his body up. Ow, owowowow…
Izuku watched the pair of uridimmu crest over the shieldwall, eyes locked on him. He raised the lighter Roman had given him, drawing more magical energy as he prepared for a Jetburn… only for them to both be submerged in a torrent of black fire as the Count landed in front of him, the Spiritfuge in one hand as he reached down to help Izuku stand, talking to Atalante through the communicators.
"Shiki," Izuku said into his own as he took the Spiritfuge from the Count, lightning a cigarette for the Servant in return, "Billy… how are things with you?"
---
"Well enough," Shiki said, cutting through several Mušḫuššu is a flurry of knife strikes, the bodies collapsing as blood rained down. Locking her eyes onto another, she lowered her body, ready to charge forward and-
"Good," Izuku said, "K- Get over here, now."
"What?"
"Please. Atalante! Go for the eyes, Mash-!"
"Look out!" Mash said, followed by a horrible roar.
Shiki shared a look with Billy, and then they both charged towards the gate, cresting a hill in seconds… and watching a giant green and black serpent try to drive its claws through Lord Camelot.
---
Izuku stared up at the bašmu that had burst from the ground at the heart of the shieldwall, trying to hide the fear hammering in his heart as Mash refused to give an inch against the attack that had come immediately after. He curled his hand around the Command Spells emblazoned on the palm of his hand. Should he use one, to help-?
Before he could finish considering that, the two closest ballistas atop the walls twisted to face the poisonous dragon. Magical energy welled up, and then exploded out in a burst of light, blasting holes into the scales of the dragon. It roared, breaking its attack to charge the wall, claws digging into the wall and beginning to force itself up in spite of the massive weight behind it.
"Count!" Izuku said, "I need you to-"
"Understood," the Count nodded, rushing up the scales of the bašmu, dodging the spines dripping with poison even as the dragon crested the wall, gas visible in its mouth as it looked down at the ballista. The Count kicked off, landing on the wall and blasting the weakened spot with Monte Cristo Mythologie.
Even the Magecraft of the Age of the Gods wasn't capable of instantly killing the child of Tiamat, but it did force the monster to stagger slightly, just enough for another Broken Phantasm to go off from the cannon and strike it in the throat, forcing it off the wall…
And right towards Izuku. Izuku clenched his teeth before Atalante scooped him up in a bridal carry and rushed under the long, serpentine tale, dodging the incredibly lethal poison and rushing up the wall before planting Izuku on the top of it. Billy, Shiki and the Count all landed seconds later, Mash not far behind.
"Thank you," Izuku said to the lion eared huntress, taking a moment to smile at her before glancing down at the dragon. This was worse than Fafnir had been in Orleans, the scales were already regrowing from where they had been blasted off, and even the flames of hell were struggling to outburn the regeneration.
"What do we do, Lord Midoriya?" One of the guards asked. Izuku grimaced at the phrasing, before coughing into his hand to hide it.
"We have a few ways to do this," Izuku said, "if we can land a pair of Broken Phantasms on the same spot, it might do it…"
"Or?"
"Or we blast through to a Line," Izuku said, "have the Count burn it to slow the healing long enough, and then have Shiki cut it to kill it… that would work right? You can see it's Lines?"
"If it's alive I can kill it," Shiki said, voice blaise, "even if it's a god. And this is definitely alive."
"Then we'll do that," Izuku said, "It's easier to land one shot before it can attack us back instead of two. Tell the men manning the ballista where to shoot. Billy, Atalante, I need you to buy time by destroying its eyes as many times as possible… y-you can do that, right?"
"Almost had it," Billy sighed, planting a hand on Izuku's shoulder, before glancing at Atalante, "Of course we can, Master. If you think we can do it, it'd make us pretty bad Servants to betray that trust you have in us."
---
Not the best, I know. Hopefully it did show Izuku's lack of confidence in ADF compared to where he is now.
---
Izuku opened the briefcase with a gulp, picking up the conceptual weapons hidden within. The set of eight ringed dirks glowed purple-black, and lifted off his hand and into the air. He turned, blinking as Leonidas offered him a spear.
"They're fast," Leonidas said, "Though I'm sure you alright know that. Hopefully your Magecraft will be enough, but if it isn't, use your spear to ward them off long enough for assistance to arrive."
Izuku nodded, taking the spear, "Thanks."
"It would not do well for Humanity's last Master to die," Leonidas said, eyes shifting towards the northern gate before he put on his helm, "Are you prepared?"
Izuku glanced at Mash, the Count, Shiki and Billy, before nodding, "Yes."
"...We'll see if you keep that," Leonidas said as the group gathered, walking towards the gate and calling, "Open the first gate!"
Izuku followed the Spartan, soliders gathering behind them. The first gate slammed shut, and the second opened, letting the rotation of men leaving the battlefield rush in, alongside six demonic beasts. Before they could attack a pair of men lagging behind and carrying a savaged soldier, Izuku, and his Servants, launched into action.
The Spiritfuge launched forwards, impaling one and locking it in place for a moment so Izuku could point his lighter at it, "Jetburn!"
Flames launched from the lighter in a wide spread, igniting the beast and causing a garbled noise of pain to echo from its mouth. The Count was on another in a second, Monte Cristo Mythologie burning them to the bone in the same time it took for Izuku to burn off the fur.
Billy's M1877, chambered in Colt .41 making it a "Thunderer" to the .38 "Lightning" and .32 "Rainmaker" hammered into one beast with six shots, the magical energy ripping through the uridimmu's skull and dropping it. He slid open the loading gate of the revolver, using the ejector rod to remove the empty casings and loading more brass rounds and the casings fell to the dirt and disintegrated into magical energy.
Shiki rushed at another uridimmu, slashing seemingly randomly as the outer edge of her irises turned blue and the inner turned kaleidoscopic. The beast fell into several neat pieces, blood raining from them as they crashed to the earth.
Mash slammed Lord Camelot into another, decapitating them with the edge of the shield and blocking the last from moving forward, where several men and women stabbed under the shield and pierced through the last uridimmu with their spears.
Behind them, the first gate opened, letting the men rush into Uruk before it shut. Izuku swallowed, before speaking up, "Right, you guys know what to do?"
"If it's four legged, angry and moves quickly it dies," Billy said, finishing reloading, "We know, Master."
"Alright then," Izuku said, drawing the Spiritfuge by the ring shaped hilts and setting them back to floating. He supposed it was bit much to hope they would have exorcised the "demonic" beasts, "Let's go."
---
It was a great day in Babylonia, the sun was shining like New Mexico and Henry "Billy the Kid" McCarty, Archer class Servant of Chaldea was doing his level best to keep goddamn hellhounds from tackling his Master and killing them. Yeah, yeah, they weren't hellhounds, they were uri-whatevers, but if they were red like a hellhound, burned with fire like a hellhound, and were demonic like a hellhound, they were hellhounds to him.
Time slowed as one barreled straight towards Billy, flames coiling around it. Swinging his Thunderer around, a loud clap echoed and the magical ammo ripped through the skin with as much ease as a normal bullet would through a rack of tanned leather. Billy adjusted his aim, and gunned down two more before they reached the phalanx protecting the gate. Izuku's dirks pinned one of the large ones in the air, and Billy hammered three shots into its torso before opening the loading gate of his Thunderer and beginning to reload it as quickly as possible. That alone made it so he had the second lowest kill count among the Servants.
Well, that and this being far from his preferred conditions. Night raids, hunting small groups, ambushes, that was what he was best at, not the all out war of the Absolute Demonic Front. But he was here, and Izuku was putting his trust in him, so he was going to do his damned best.
"Shiki!" Izuku said from his spot behind the shield wall, "Billy! There's a… a group of weird tentacled ones coming up on the righ- no, left, left flank! Atalante is about to fight some uridimmu on the walls, I need you to- to-!"
"We've got it," Billy said, smiling at Izuku as he finished reloading his Thunderer, "Right, Shiki?"
The handsome woman nodded, the blood splattering her body somehow only enhancing her appearance and they took off towards the direction Izuku had pointed. Once they were far enough away, Shiki said, "He's not used to this."
"What?"
"It's a frantic slaughter," Shiki said, "he's getting more information by the second than he can deal with."
"He fought two wars."
"This… this isn't a war, McCarthy, this is butchery."
Watching one man who had broke formation be grabbed by one the hellhounds and savaged, Billy couldn't find it in him to disagree. This wasn't like the Lincoln County War, a war of revenge, or even the North American Myth War. This was a struggle to survive, where each man who died was another blow against the Foundation of Humanity.
It was a war they had to win, where losing wasn't an option because the other answer was extinction… but the enemy was stronger, faster and near limitless. For every hound Shiki slashing to pieces and bathed in the blood of, for every one that ran up the wall only to fall down with a green arrow shaft embedded in their head, for every one that Billy gunned down, three more seemed to take their place.
And yet humanity fought like they always did when their back was against the wall. Ferocious, and showing the exact same amount of quarter the Demonic Beasts were showing them. Men and women who definitely deserved to be within the Throne more than a simple cattle thief fought and died, dragging as many beasts with them into the grave as possible.
---
Atalante drew back Tauropolos's bowstring, two arrows nocked and glowing. The moment the first pair of uridimmu crested the hill, she loosed the arrows, punching through their jaw and sending them plummeting back to the ground. Another arrow appeared, nocked and ready as she drew back the bowstring again. Without pausing to aim, she loosed the arrow through the brain of the beast that was charging her, dodging the frenzied strike from another and stomping on its neck, breaking the spine and kicking off so she could fire another arrow into the last of this pack of uridimmu.
Which was good, because six more packs were coming their way.
"Izuku," Atalante said, "I'm going to need to use it. I'm sorry."
"A-are you sure?" Izuku said, binding demonic beasts long enough for the Count to sweep over them and turn them to ash.
"There are six packs, led by a ugallu coming towards us," Atalante reported.
"T-then do it," Izuku said, swallowing audibly.
Two more arrows appeared as she drew back the bowstring again, two letters wrapped around them, "I respectfully ask for the protection of Apollo and Artemis. Phoebus Catastrophe!"
The arrows flashed green as they flew high into the sky, before vanishing. Seconds later, hundreds of arrows plummeted from the same spot they had vanished, ripping into the uridimmu and ušumgallu, sending them crashing to the ground where more arrows staked them to it.
A hiss came from the communicator on her wrist, and she glanced towards Izuku, who's magic circuits, the ones visible through the Chaldea Combat Uniform, were glowing like a fractal scar on his skin, teeth ground shut and eyes closed.
"We'll keep him safe," the Count said, landing next to Izuku and helping him stand, the now inert dirks of the Spiritfuge in one hand, "but don't do that again if you can avoid it, Atalante."
"Understood," Atalante nodded, even though she knew he couldn't see her. She hadn't wanted to hurt Izuku like that.
"Good," The Count said, incinerating two uridimmu that bounded over the shieldwall before either of them hit the ground.
---
After the Myth War, Izuku had been pretty certain he was a good strategist. His lessons with Lord El-Melloi II helped, and it was normally the only way he could really help his Servants unless they were fighting weak wraiths, animals or regular men and women.
The Demonic Front was putting that to the test, completely and utterly. The small terminal integrated into the Chaldea Combat Suit was projecting an approximation of the battlefield from the palm of Izuku's hand, hostiles marked in red dwarfing the blue friendlies by massive amounts. The Melammu Dingir firing above them blasting holes in the horde of beasts, only for more to charge over their dissolving bodies.
Desperate orders were stuttered out towards Mash and the Count, but even with Lord Camelot crushing them and Monte Cristo Mythologie burning them to ash as fast as they could move, Izuku didn't feel like they were making any gap in the demonic beasts. They were barely holding the line.
"Izuku," Atalante said, voice somber, I'm going to have to use it. I'm sorry."
Izuku swallowed, eyes flickering up to where the Chaste Hunter was standing on the precipice of the wall, "A-are you sure?"
"There are six packs, led by a ugallu coming towards us."
Izuku activated his Magic Circuits, marking spreading across his body from the center of his chest. He gritted his teeth, eyes locked on the beast he had pinned as the Count launched over it and incinerated it with Monte Cristo Mythologie, "T-then do it."
Izuku bit back the pain as his body and soul protested the drawing of the bowstring back, his Magic Circuits burning Od and Mana to accommodate the strain of the Noble Phantasm. His focus of the Spiritfuge broke, as did his assessment of the battlefield. It was only because of the times that Kacchan had underestimated the power of his explosions and burned Izuku that he wasn't completely blacking out from pain.
Finally, the bowstring snapped forward, the arrows launching into the sky as more magical energy burned. Izuku snapped, letting out a hiss as the arrows rained down, falling to his knees as his Magic Circuits heated his body up. Ow, owowowow…
Izuku watched the pair of uridimmu crest over the shieldwall, eyes locked on him. He raised the lighter Roman had given him, drawing more magical energy as he prepared for a Jetburn… only for them to both be submerged in a torrent of black fire as the Count landed in front of him, the Spiritfuge in one hand as he reached down to help Izuku stand, talking to Atalante through the communicators.
"Shiki," Izuku said into his own as he took the Spiritfuge from the Count, lightning a cigarette for the Servant in return, "Billy… how are things with you?"
---
"Well enough," Shiki said, cutting through several Mušḫuššu is a flurry of knife strikes, the bodies collapsing as blood rained down. Locking her eyes onto another, she lowered her body, ready to charge forward and-
"Good," Izuku said, "K- Get over here, now."
"What?"
"Please. Atalante! Go for the eyes, Mash-!"
"Look out!" Mash said, followed by a horrible roar.
Shiki shared a look with Billy, and then they both charged towards the gate, cresting a hill in seconds… and watching a giant green and black serpent try to drive its claws through Lord Camelot.
---
Izuku stared up at the bašmu that had burst from the ground at the heart of the shieldwall, trying to hide the fear hammering in his heart as Mash refused to give an inch against the attack that had come immediately after. He curled his hand around the Command Spells emblazoned on the palm of his hand. Should he use one, to help-?
Before he could finish considering that, the two closest ballistas atop the walls twisted to face the poisonous dragon. Magical energy welled up, and then exploded out in a burst of light, blasting holes into the scales of the dragon. It roared, breaking its attack to charge the wall, claws digging into the wall and beginning to force itself up in spite of the massive weight behind it.
"Count!" Izuku said, "I need you to-"
"Understood," the Count nodded, rushing up the scales of the bašmu, dodging the spines dripping with poison even as the dragon crested the wall, gas visible in its mouth as it looked down at the ballista. The Count kicked off, landing on the wall and blasting the weakened spot with Monte Cristo Mythologie.
Even the Magecraft of the Age of the Gods wasn't capable of instantly killing the child of Tiamat, but it did force the monster to stagger slightly, just enough for another Broken Phantasm to go off from the cannon and strike it in the throat, forcing it off the wall…
And right towards Izuku. Izuku clenched his teeth before Atalante scooped him up in a bridal carry and rushed under the long, serpentine tale, dodging the incredibly lethal poison and rushing up the wall before planting Izuku on the top of it. Billy, Shiki and the Count all landed seconds later, Mash not far behind.
"Thank you," Izuku said to the lion eared huntress, taking a moment to smile at her before glancing down at the dragon. This was worse than Fafnir had been in Orleans, the scales were already regrowing from where they had been blasted off, and even the flames of hell were struggling to outburn the regeneration.
"What do we do, Lord Midoriya?" One of the guards asked. Izuku grimaced at the phrasing, before coughing into his hand to hide it.
"We have a few ways to do this," Izuku said, "if we can land a pair of Broken Phantasms on the same spot, it might do it…"
"Or?"
"Or we blast through to a Line," Izuku said, "have the Count burn it to slow the healing long enough, and then have Shiki cut it to kill it… that would work right? You can see it's Lines?"
"If it's alive I can kill it," Shiki said, voice blaise, "even if it's a god. And this is definitely alive."
"Then we'll do that," Izuku said, "It's easier to land one shot before it can attack us back instead of two. Tell the men manning the ballista where to shoot. Billy, Atalante, I need you to buy time by destroying its eyes as many times as possible… y-you can do that, right?"
"Almost had it," Billy sighed, planting a hand on Izuku's shoulder, before glancing at Atalante, "Of course we can, Master. If you think we can do it, it'd make us pretty bad Servants to betray that trust you have in us."
---
Not the best, I know. Hopefully it did show Izuku's lack of confidence in ADF compared to where he is now.
Chapter 4
ThatOnePsycho
Tilting his Vanes and Ennobling His Spires
So, not to be a bummer and kill a joke, but there's an actual reason for Ishtar 'losing' the Bull of Heaven and it's a glowing example of a Cerberus Retcon from our pals at Type Moon.
---
Mash stood outside of the store, glancing at the Count, who was prowling in the shadows and occasionally throwing glares at people who got too close to take a picture of them. Golden eyes locked onto something around the corner, where he vanished for a second, "Keep an eye out, Mash."
"What are you-?" Mash watched the Count ram his hand into the side of a vending machine, knocking something loose before he reached down to grab it. He walked back into the street, unwrapping a pack of cigarettes as he did so and slid one from the package, "Count!"
"It'll be fine," the Count said, pausing, "I don't have a lighter…"
And Monte Cristo Mythologie's flames didn't play well with cigarettes, they had learned that a while ago.
"Excuse me," the Count said, walking towards a pretty girl with black hair in a ponytail and offering her a charming smile, "You wouldn't happen to have a lighter on you, would you? I left mine in my other suit like a fool."
"No," the girl shook her head, "I'm sorry."
"Ah," the Count said with a sigh, shaking his head, "Thank you, nonetheless. Would you happen to be able to spare some money so I could buy one?"
"Oh, yes!" The girl fished out a bill, handing it to the Count, "Please, keep the change. It's nothing, really."
"Thank you, my dear," The Count said, bowing and stepping back to let the girl carry on. Once she was gone, the smile slid from his face and he sighed, "Izuku would reprimand me for doing that. It was manipulative. Still, this will probably allow us to avoid whatever hairbrained scheme the Alters are plotting to get Artoria's food."
The Count led the way into the building, plucking a lighter from the stand and calling out in English, "We have some money. Pick ten items and leave the rest!"
Grumbling came from the aisle, followed by the rustling of plastic and bags, before Artoira and Jeanne stepped from it and put the food on the counter.
---
He walked through the tunnel, strange torches igniting in front of him, revealing a door etched with lettering. He had never seen the symbols before./So it was this
dream, then?
Gripping a pair of the rusted rings attached to the door, he forced the door open, walking into the chamber and scanning the room as more torches ignited.
Gold and Jewels. More of both than he had ever seen, hills towering to the massive vaulted ceiling glistened in the weak torch light.
And in the center of the chamber was a goblet hewn of pure crystal in front of a throne of gold. He stepped forward, settling into the seat and picking up the goblet with a hand as pale as the moon.
And then his muscles locked up as a queer black flame ignited in the goblet, his pale face reflecting horror for a moment./In what distant deeps or skies. Burnt the fire of thine eyes? On what wings dare he aspire? What the hand, dare seize the fire?
And then the pain started, beyond anything he had felt in Château D'If as the flames danced up his arm, along his back, and down the other arm./Only the pain Berserker of Saṃghāta Hell had inflicted came close to the pain. But it wasn't the first time he had felt this. It wasn't even the twentieth.
And it wouldn't be the last.
Edmond Dantès's fingers finally slacked from around the goblet as the last of the flames jumped up from it onto his arms. He convulsed in the throne as the flames continued to burn below his skin, his heart hammering in his chest a thousand times a minute.
And then it stopped. He stopped, falling back into the throne like a puppet with its strings cut. Dead.
And what shoulder and what art, could twist the sinews of thy heart? And when thy heart began to beat, what dread hand? And what dread feet?
Attendre, Espérer.
A ragged gasp for air spread from the body as it forced itself to sit up from its slouch. The heart began to beat again, newly golden eyes flitted open. His mind rushed as it took in a new addition to his body, across his arms and back. An instinctual burst of energy activated them, and the same flames from before burst into existence along his hand, but without the pain.
When the stars threw down their spears, And water'd heaven with their tears... Did he smile, his work to see? Did he who made the Lamb make thee?
This was the beginning of the Monte Cristo Mythologie. The myth of the King in the Cavern.
And the beginning of the end for Edmond Dantès.
---
Mash bit the inside of her cheek to keep from gaping as the man who looked like his skin was made of a layer of solid wood sent tendrils of it at a middle aged man with claws and fangs, pitch black eyes staring out from the scaled skin. Flames coiled from his mouth, and he charged the man.
It was only the Count's arm in front of her that kept her from lunging forward and manifesting Lord Camelot or the Sword of Strange Hangings. Golden eyes watched the fight warily, before flicking over to a rooftop. Suddenly, the shifting man was forcibly returned to a human state, a pained, confused whimper leaving his lips. Someone jumped off the rooftop, wrapping a white length of cloth around the man and smashing him into the ground with a heavy crack.
He was a scruffy man in a simple black outfit with yellow goggles over his eyes. Standing up, the man took his eyes off the unconscious man, Mash's enhanced vision catching pricks of red as he moved his head and-
"Look-!" Mash started as another man charged him, a bone spike bursting from his arm. Before she could finish, the first man span and sent out a log of wood, pushing him against the building and digging it into the wall, binding the man.
"Thanks for the warning," he said, eyes jumping as he waved at her, "but we're professionals, miss."
"Sorry," the Count said, taking on a more casual pattern of speech, "She gets a bit jumpy."
"No reason to apologize for that," he said, "makes it less likely you'll be put in a situation where a Hero needs to save you. Alright, everyone, clear the area! The police are coming in and they don't need to be-"
"Come along," the Count said under his breath, turning and heading down an alley before speaking into his communicator, "Da Vinci? Holmes?"
"Give us a second," Da Vinci said, "We're running it through some filters."
"Running what?" Jeanne Alter asked.
"The Mystic Eye effect that man had, presumably," Artoria said, unwrapping a chocolate bar.
---
"You noticed?" Artoria Alter scoffed at the question, and if they weren't focused on getting as far away from the fight she would have leaned on the wall.
She'd need to ask Drake to lend her some money to buy Llamrei III, now that they were in a city for the foreseeable future. She'd just take one but… well, she didn't need Izuku giving her a look like he was a kicked dog. He was too soft hearted for his own good.
"Of course I noticed," Artoria said, spreading her senses as far as they would go. That man seemed suited for ambushes, with the black clothes, acrobatic movements and lithe frame. She wanted to be certain he hadn't decided to follow them, "It's not like any of us are unused to seeing Mystic Eyes… though those goggles he wore were probably meant to hide them. Leonardo?"
"If you're not going to call me Da Vinci-Chan, at least call me Da Vinci," Leonardo huffed, "There wasn't any magical energy we noticed, but…"
Call her "Of Vinci"? Preposterous.
"Mystic Eyes are not always a Mystery based in Magecraft," The Count finished, "Asagami is evidence enough of that."
"Exactly," Sherlock said, "There's also the chance that whatever form of Mystery Quirks are, we're not currently calibrated to scan for it. We're still running off the calibrations we made to scan for large quantities of Ether. Continue your investigation as we compile data, please."
"Roger-" Mash started, before blinking at Jeanne marched towards something on a wall and ripped it off, staring at it for a long moment, "Jeanne-?"
"Things just got complicated," Jeanne said, thrusting the piece of laminated paper into the Count's hands. He glanced at it, eyes widening and cigarette falling from his lips before he stomped on it to snuff it out.
"What?" Artoria demanded, yanking the paper from his hand and staring at it for a minute alongside Mash. Staring back at them, the same nervous smile as the one he had when she had stuffed him in a dress and forced him to dance with her in Shinjuku, was a younger Izuku.
Izuku Midoriya.
Last seen June X, 20XX.
If found, please call XXX-XXXX.
"How long ago was this?" Artoria demanded.
The Count reached into his pocket, fishing out the receipt from his lighter and her food.
"Six months ago," The Count said.
This… this had just gotten a lot more complicated.
"Send us whatever it is," Sherlock said, "For now, you need to focus on getting us connected to the Leylines. The Grails will do the rest."
---
Knowledge rushed into Anastasia Nikolaevna Romanova's mind as she opened her eyes to smoke. The year was 2018, and she had been… not summoned for a Grail War? Was it the Counter Force then?
Viy formed around her, his eyes opening slightly so she could see through the smoke. Their sight immediately landed on her Master for the first time. And he was… he was a sorry sight.
That was rude of her, but she really didn't know how else to put it. His left hand shook like a leaf in the breeze, while his right was wrapped in a plaster cast in a sling. The sclera of his flickering eyes were staining red as blood poured down from his nose. Visible under the white jacket draped across his shoulders were several fresh bruises and burn marks, his neck, chest and arm covered in them, alongside vicious scratches.
And then he spoke, voice cracking from a combination of puberty and stress, "Roman… Roman… Is that you? Roman? Please?"
Roman? Who was that?
"No," Anastasia said, stepping through the smoke and letting Viy fade. He was only a few inches taller than her, "I am Anastasia Nikolaevna Romanova, the-"
"Princess during the fall of Imperial Russia," he said, bending one knee to touch the ground for a moment.
"There's no need for that," Anastasia said, "Though it warms my heart that you know my identity. I have been summoned as a Caster Class Servant, and this little one is Viy. And who are you, my Master?"
"I'm-" the boy stood, staggering and Anastasia moved to catch him in spite of herself, wincing at the pained hiss he gave out as her hand pressed against one of the burns, "I'm Midoriya Izuku… or, well, you'd call me Izuku Midoriya. I'm sorry I don't have time to show you around Chaldea right now, but I'm sure there's someone who can-"
"I can find my way around myself," Anastasia huffed.
"That's what everybody thinks," Izuku said, turning away and holding out his hand, before Anastasia could take a step, he started to chant… and Anastasia's gut dropped, "The alighted wind becomes a wall…"
"Master?" Anastasia blinked, turning towards Izuku, and noticing the eclectic mix of objects placed on the altar. Toys and confections.
"...The gates in the four directions close, coming from the crown, the three-forked road that leads to the kingdom circulate…" Izuku continued, staggering as more blood dripped from his nose, "Shut and Fill! Shut and Fill! Shut and Fill! Shut and Fill! Shut and Fill!"
"Master!" Viy formed around Anastasia, trying to drag Izuku back without harming him, but he merely dug his feet into the ground and continued.
"Repeat every five times! Simply, shatter once filled! I announce-"
"Izuku," Anastasia turned her head to a green haired Servant stepping into the room with a staff, "Take a break for a minute."
"What is it, David?" Izuku said, catching a tossed water bottle from the boy, "What-?"
"From Para," David said, "It'll help you out."
Izuku nodded, popping the top out and swallowed a mouthful before Anastasia could stop him, and immediately gave a shudder and staggered, "Wha- What's-?"
"It's gonna knock you out for a couple of hours so Da Vinci-Chan and Para can patch you up," David said, rushing forward as Izuku moved his hand towards his mouth and caught it, "Just let it work."
"But… but- I've got- I've got to get Roman-"
"Solomon's gone," David said, pulling Izuku into a light hug, "I'm sorry, but it's true. He's not coming back, and killing yourself trying to bring him back isn't gonna get anything. Hey, new girl… who are you?"
"Caster," Anastasia said.
"Not your class," David said, as Izuku slumped over, "Your True Name. I'm David of Israel. We're all friends here."
"You just poisoned my Master," Anastasia hissed, Viy rising up around her.
"I just knocked out our Master for a bit," David said, "I know it sounds weird, but Chaldea doesn't act normally. There's dozens of Servants here, all under one Master. Izuku. Help me bring him to the medical ward, would you? He shouldn't be up and about, we just got done a rough day."
---
Mash followed behind the Count as they weaved through the streets between them and the largest group of Leylines within traveling distance. Her eyes flickered to the building they were moving away from, large, looking almost like an H of glass from the angle they were at. Despite having never seen it before, the Demi-Servant instantly recognized it. How could she not?
It was UA Academy, her Senpai's dream school. The one all the greatest heroes in this world went to. They were in Mustafu… they were within walking distance of Izuku's home.
"Everyone," Mash said, voice shaking as she bowed her head. She clenched and unclenched her fingers, before swallowing and speaking as clearly as she could, "Everyone!"
"We heard you the first time," Jeanne said, before planting a hand on Mash's shoulder, "What is it?"
"I- I think we should go find Inko," Mash said, "She… if she's looking for Senpai, he'd… He'd want us to go see her and bring her to him! I know it goes against our-"
"I agree," the Count said.
"Yeah, that sounds about right," Jeanne added. Artoria didn't say anything, merely gave a small grunt.
"You do?" Mash said.
"Izuku has always maintained the importance of family," Artoria said, "he has never tried to dissuade Jeanne Lily, Jack or Leonardo Lily referring to him as a parent, or even Jack using the maternal. He supports Lancelot. Knowing him as well as we do, I suspect he'll be disappointed in us when he wakes up and we have not contacted Inko."
"Yep, yep!" Mash jumped at the voice of Da Vinci Lily coming from their bands, followed by a familiar hum, "Izuku would definitely be disappointed in you if you didn't try and meet her!"
"You were listening to us?" Mash asked.
"Yep, and keeping this conversation off the record for now!" Da Vinci chirped, "So go ahead and find the line, tap it, and then go find mamma Inko!"
"...Thanks, Da Vinci-Chan," Mash said.
"Any time!" the young Servant said, "Good luck!"
---
Sigurd breathed within his mask as he worked the metals for his Master's new blade, smog spreading through the smithy as he did. He didn't like this, it was a blade of fire, which humanity should be wary of, not wield… but he wasn't going to enchant that part, nor was he going to bear the blade.
But the 'ingredients', as it were, were a pleasure to work with, he wouldn't deny that. It was different from Gram, the opposite in so many ways… but nonetheless enjoyable.
He lifted the sword up, slipping the rapier forged from the broken daggers of the Spiritfuge into the rune marked container of oil. Flames exploded out as the heated blade ignited the oil. Drawing the quenched blade, he swung open the door… and promptly dodged the stab of the spear coming for his chest, as he had known it was coming, dropping the sword to manifest Gram's true, greatsword form and force the nameless spear into the ground. With his other hand he quickly undid the latch of his mask, letting it fall and fade as a pair of glasses crystalized on his face.
Then he reached out, catching the chin of the gorgeous teal haired woman staring at him with unsteady eyes and pressed his lips against hers. Bryhild's eyes flickered shut for a moment, and she let the heavy spear fall from her hand so she could wrap her arms around his neck. Sigurd astralized Gram, gently wrapping his arms around his beloved wife.
"I'm sorry," Bryhild murmured, breaking from the kiss to rest her head on his shoulder as he did the same, her hand finding the scar where her spear had found his heart in life, still burning with the flames.
"Don't be," Sigurd said, "The day you stop trying to kill me will be the worst day of my existence, and the day I let you kill me is the day I betray you again."
"I-"
"Not to break up the tender moment," Circe coughed into her hand, "and I do mean that, feel free to being all lovey-dovey after, it's sweet. But do one of you mind kicking the sword over this way so we can start working on that while you two do that?"
Sigurd did exactly that, and the winged Caster crouched down and grabbed the sword, waving at them and flying towards the other Casters, "Let's go to our room."
Bryhild gave him an honest, glowing smile, one that he returned. He could trust the others to finish the sword, he hadn't been with Brynhild for days.
---
Izuku used his crutch to stand up as the plane finally finished the ascent, walking towards Robin Hood as the red haired Heroic Spirit finished rolling a cigarette and lighting it for him, "Thanks, Boss."
"It's fine," Izuku smiled, turning and getting away from the smoke as quickly as possible, "Ibaraki, Ushiwakamaru, Mash, Jeanne, do you want something to eat?"
"Is that a good idea?" Mash asked, looking up from the window she was staring out of, watching Australia fly by under them with wide eyes, Fou in her lap, "We're going to be on this flight for hours, Senpai."
"They also stocked us up before we took off," Jeanne pointed out, reading a book and dogearing certain sections, "and we don't have the Black Hole with us. But I'm not hungry anyways."
"Don't call Artoria Alter that," Izuku reproached softly.
"You've seen her," Jeanne waved her hand dismissively, "if she was on board, we'd be out of food before we got done flying over Australia!"
"Do they have chocolate?" Ibaraki asked.
"I'll check," Izuku said, walking into the kitchenette and beginning to search it. Bottles of sake (that'd help if Ibaraki decided to get rowdy), oils, steaks, ice cream… there! "Dark, white or milk?"
"Don't care!" Ibaraki said, and Izuku grabbed several of the bars. Thank goodness this was on Chaldea's tab.
"Ushiwaka?" Izuku asked.
"Not at the moment, Lord Izuku," Izuku was glad he was still in the kitchen so she couldn't see the physical recoiling he did. At least she was calling him Izuku now, instead of Midoriya. But he still wished she would drop the lord bit. He wasn't… he was just a quirkless, barely baked Magus, not someone who deserved such a title from Minamoto no Yoshitsune, "Would you like to watch a movie with me? They have quite the selection, and the rest of you would of course be welcome to join too."
"Sure," Izuku said, making his way over to her, stopping to hand Ibaraki the 'small' stack of ten chocolate bars and then settled into the deep couch next to Ushiwakamaru, collapsing his crutch with one hand and gently reaching out to pet the top of her head. The samurai closed her eyes, leaning into the movement, "Pick whatever you want."
"Maybe one of those superhero movies?" Ushiwakamaru said, "They have a fair amount of interesting fights choreographed, and are within your interests."
"Sure," Izuku said, using the button to recline part of the couch and raise up his leg, "Mash?"
"I'll come over in a bit, Senpai," Mash said, continuing to look out the window, "Last time we were this high, I didn't have a chance to enjoy it."
Izuku hid the grimace that came with his stomach doing a loop at the mention of the Aresh Airlines flight in Camelot. Yeah, that had been… unenjoyable, even though it had been really, really necessary, "I can-"
"It's fine," Mash said, breaking from looking out the window to smile at him, "Spend some time with Ushiwakamaru. I'm just enjoying this. Is this your first time flying, Senpai?"
"That's a good question," Robin said, breathing out a puff of smoke where he was seated on the other side of the fuselage, staring at the large TV as Ushiwakamaru queued up one of the movies.
"No," Izuku said, "I flew to New York with my mom a couple of times to see my dad. It wasn't as nice as this, obviously, but it was still fun."
---
Jeanne Alter watched Mash crouch on the ground of the abandoned subway tunnel, using a piece of chalk to sketch out a ritual circle. No, Jeanne didn't know what type it was, that was Izuku's job as the party's mage, goodbye, carry on, the end. She was an Avenger… or maybe a Berserker? Hell, she didn't even know anymore.
Whatever, point was she wasn't a Caster, her knowledge with magic, despite her title of 'Dragon Witch', began and ended with La Grondement Du Haine and Völkermord Feuerdrache. Burning the crap outta people was what she did… Actually, that made her wonder if Izuku was a closet pyromaniac.
That was something to think about later, she guessed. Instead, she watched Mash put her artistic skill to work.
The first part was a circle so large that Mash literally made it by placing the chalk on the ground and spinning like a compass. Next, she drew seven circles the size of her fist within it, and then seven circles the size of her index finger in them with a thinner piece of chalk. She connected the circles into seven pointed stars within each larger circle, before standing up and beginning the process over again in another location.
Well, this was gonna be boring.
"Count," Jeanne said into her wrist band, "Ya mind switching with me?"
"Yes," the Count said, "By the time I get back, Mash will be done. It'll be fine."
Says him, "But-"
"Besides," the Count continued, "We're almost there."
Sonova- "Fine!"
Even as Jeanne spat out the word, Mash finished the second circle and moved onto the third. Sion and the brass better be thankful for this.
---
The Count didn't even pay attention as he turned off the communicator before looking at Artoria Alter. She nodded sharply, and the Count reached out to ring the doorbell while taking his hat off. Golden eyes faded to red as he deactivated the Magic Crest granted to him by the Treasure. Finally, the door swung open to let them see a woman only a few inches taller than Artoria and nearly a foot shorter than him, her hair a few shade darker green than that of her son, "Midoriya Inko?"
"Yes?" She said, looking between the two of them, "Can I help you?"
"Yes," the Count said, gesturing to Artoria, "This is Artoria Pendragon and I am the Co-"
Artoria shifted her foot, subtly crushing his toes between the toe of her heeled boots and the floor, "He is Edmond Dantès."
It took everything he had not to reactivate Monte Cristo Mythologie at the mention of the man's name. He started to crush the corner of his hat like it was a pale throat.
"I… see," Inko said, pursuing her lips, "And how can I help you two?"
"We're friends of your son," the Count supplied, "and we've come- ma'am?"
Inko's neck and face had started to gain a serious blush, and her grip on the door was tight enough that they could hear it shake, finally, she hissed out, "Is that supposed to be funny?"
"Excuse me?"
"You're friends of Izuku's?" Inko snapped, "and you're what, here to pay your respects?"
"No-"
"Then why are you here?" Inko's grip on the door grew tighter, before she continued quicker than the Count could respond, "I don't need this, goodby-"
Before the door could slam shut on them, Artoria swung one arm into the gap, the door and frame giving a nasty crunch and splintered as they were stopped by the flesh of the Servant. Artoria slid her other arm into the gap and forced the door open with barely an exertion of pressure, despite the fact that Inko was still gripping the door with both hands and clearly straining to keep it closed.
"I'm sorry about that," Artoria apologized coolly, amber eyes staring into green, "but Izuku wouldn't forgive us if we let you refuse to see him so easily."
"Refuse… to…?" Inko said softly.
"See him, yes," Artoria said, "That's why we're here. We came to bring you to him, Midoriya… ah, san?"
"You…" Inko said, hand rising to her mouth, "You know where Izuku is?"
"Yes," the Count said, coughing into his hand, "It's… it's complicated, and we only arrived in Mustafu a few hours ago, but we'd like you to come and see him."
Tears began to build in Inko's eyes, before seeming to fall from them like a waterfall, "I- I- Fine, but if you're lying, I will call the police for harassment!"
"Fair enough," the Count said, stepping back, "We'll wait out here for you to get ready."
Inko turned, not even bothering to shut the door as she rushed to put her shoes on. The Count took a moment to glare at Artoria and mouth "Really?"
"Your refusal to use your name would just have made things more suspicious," Artoria responded, "don't take it personally."
Oh, he was. He most definitely was.
---
"Well," Ushiwakamaru watched Izuku sighed as the movie ended, pressing the button on his crutch to extend in and latching it back onto his arm. He pushed himself up, smiling at Ushiwakamaru as she immediately lunged under his free arm and helped him stand the second he staggered, "Thank you."
"Ever and always, Lord Izuku," Ushiwakamaru said, returning the smile and helping him stabilize himself.
"Now, I'm gonna make something to eat," Izuku said, walking towards the kitchen and lighting another cigarette from Robin as he went.
"I'll help," Ushiwakamaru said.
"You know how to cook?" Robin said, before stopping, "Sorry, guess that was kinda rude. I mean, didn't expect a noble to know how to cook."
"It's fine, Sir Robin," Ushiwakamaru most certainly did not smirk as the man choked on his cigarette. That would have been unbecoming, "I'm the first to admit that I was not the best chef in life, but there was a summoning… will be a summoning?" She stopped to heave a sigh, "I do not claim unintelligence, but the way the Throne and reality interact is enough to stump even me. The summoning was in the future, but I have clear memories of it."
"It's alright," Izuku said, "That does sound confusing. So you learned to cook during that summoning? What was it like, and what was your Master like?"
"It was… an interesting world," Ushiwakamaru said, "Unlike any other. I wonder if Circe or Blackbeard would remember it. Everyone alive had a Servant, and a Holy Grail. The Grail War had ended, and in their place there were tournaments where Servants fought each other. I partook in them, because my Master loved them, but there wasn't the same thrill we have here and now."
"What do you mean?" Izuku asked, pulling out ingredients and tools.
"There was no chance of death," Ushiwakamaru said, "Not normally. It wasn't completely unenjoyable, to step into the arena and hear people cheer my name, to know that Minamoto no Yoshitsune was still on their lips a thousand years after my heart stopped beating… that was enjoyable, I will admit."
"And your Master?"
"We were very similar," Ushiwakamaru said, "Though she summoned me after I had been given my adult name, unlike here, so I suppose it would be more right to say she summoned Minamoto Kurou Yoshitsune. She was foolhardy, and always volunteering us for extra curricular activities to avoid her school work. She was… Rurihime was so very unlike you, Lord Izuku."
"Unlike me," Izuku blinked, "How?"
"You fight for others," Ushiwakamaru said, smiling at her Master, "You insist on standing far closer to a battle than is safe because you don't feel right sending us into battle without putting yourself in danger. Rurihime… she didn't know when to hesitate, the amount of times I had to carry her home injured…"
"I don't know," Izuku said, touching his leg, "I-"
"You've ordered retreats," Ushiwakamaru said, "You're a strange person, Izuku, because I can't say if you're an optimist or a realist. You want to believe in the best in everyone, but you've seen the worst enough that betrayal doesn't hurt you."
So unlike her, when Hitachibou had left her and Benki. When Yoritomo had betrayed her.
"It hurts," Izuku protested, "but I should give people a chance."
And that was why they loved him.
---
Inko took her eyes off the road long enough to glance at where the pale man, "Dantès", was glowering at the back of his companion's head as she gave Inko instructions. Clearly, some silent argument had taken place while she wasn't looking, as they hadn't said a thing since she had got back to them. But-
"Pull over," Pendragon suddenly ordered.
"Wha-?" Inko yelped as Pendragon grabbed the steering wheel, yanking it to the side of the road and opening the door to get out, "Mash! Witch! Over here!"
"The fu-?" A girl who looked nearly identical to Pendragon, though with her long hair flowing as opposed to the loose ponytail Artoria had hers in, stomped over, only to stop once she could see the inside of the car and turn, "Mash!"
Finally, a girl wearing a white and grey hoodie over a black dress and tights walked over, leaning into the car… and her eyes widened, a look of glowing amazement on her face, "M-Midorya Inko?"
"Yes?" Inko said, and the girl immediately bowed at the waist, the glasses on her face nearly flying off is not for her immediately pushing them up.
"My name is Mash Kyrielight," the girl practically babbled, reaching out to take Inko's hand, "It's nice to meet you. I'm… I'm your son's Kouhai. It's a pleasure to meet you!"
What.
"Kouhai in…" before Inko could finish, Pendragon had shoved Kyrielight into the seat she had been sitting in none too gently and hooked the lavender haired girl in before shoving the other girl, her sister, she presumed, into the back and dropping into the seat next to her, slamming the door shut.
"Da Vinci-Chan," Dantès said into a wrist mounted device, "Have the Border ready for when we get there. The fewer questions she needs to ask, the better."
"Mhh," A young voice came from the device, "Then hurry up and get here. Even with Mystic and conventional camouflage up, we can only comfortably stay above the surface for so long, you know!"
"Please continue driving," Dantès said, "We'll explain everything when we get there."
Inko's grip on the steering wheel grew tight. What if this was some elaborate prank? They had seen one of the fliers and felt crushing her hopes was funny?
But if there was even a one percent chance they were telling the truth, that Izuku was with them…
"Fine," Inko said, starting to drive.
...She had to take it, she wouldn't be able to live with herself if she didn't.
---
Less than half an hour later, Inko was stepping out of the car and towards an empty stretch of beach. A strange shimmer appeared for a moment before a giant ship the size of a nuclear submarine opened appeared for a moment, a door opening at the base. Inko's mouth fell open before she was quickly pushed in by Edmond, the door shutting behind them and the ship shaking.
"Welcome to the Storm Border," Kyrielight said, "Mobile Headquarters of the Chaldea Security Organization."
Count, Mash, Jeanne, Artoria, A man spoke over the PA, What did you do?
"Da Vinci-Chan Lily authorized this," Dantès said.
"Security Organization?" Inko said, "What do you mean, Security-"
She did, did she? Inko couldn't tell what was being said, she wasn't fluent in English, but she could hear the glare in the man's voice.
Eh, he, he…the door in front of them opened suddenly, Oops, my finger slipped!
You don't have fingers, the man said, I'm going to have to report this, you realize that, right?
"I expected as much, Captain," Dantès said, taking Inko by the arm and dragging her forward, "Come along, it's at the end of the hall- Asclepius."
The white haired man wearing a strange labcoat looked up from where he was crouched in front of a child who looked similar to Artoria and the other girl. He stood up, straightening the coat as he did so, "Count. Lady Pendragon, Jeanne Alter, Mash, I'd say it was good to see you all, but I was a bit busy. Young Jeanne wanted to see her père, but-"
"Stopping her is something Nemo Nurse could do," Dantès said, "But you weren't planning to stop her, were you."
"...A few minutes to see him wouldn't harm anyone," Asclepius said, voice brusk before he paused, looking Inko over, "Midoriya Inko?"
"Yes-"
"Hello," Asclepius said, "I am Asclepius, I have acted as your son's primary physician since I signed on with Chaldea. It's good to meet you, but if you don't mind me asking, where did you go wrong with that boy?"
Inko gaping at him, because starting to flush, "What is that supposed to-"
"He seems to be of the opinion," Asclepius sighed, pacing back and forth, "That my medical advice is an opinion rather than the ironclad order that it is. He is, far and away, the most frustrating patient I have ever had the displeasure of working with… no offense intended."
"More than a bit taken," Inko gritted out.
"Fair enough," Asclepius said, "Don't take it personally, ma'am. I speak my mind, and my job is to keep people healthy and alive. Your son, on a regular basis, seems to endeavor to make it difficult for me to keep him as both of those. But I do my best despite that, and until the day comes he no longer needs my services, which, seeing how stubborn he is, isn't likely to be any time soon, I will continue to do so. Would you like to step in with Young Jeanne here and see him?"
The girl in question was staring at Inko with wide eyes, "Are you… are you Père's Mère? Are you my Grand-mère?"
"I'm sorry, I don't speak…?"
"French," Dantès coughed.
"French."
"Are you Father's Mother?" Inko's mind ground to a halt, staring at the girl, "My Grandmother?"
"W-what?"
"It's a long story," Dantès said, "We'll explain after you see your son. Step inside."
Inko stepped in with Jeanne, eyes falling on Izuku for the first time in months. He had grown a lot since then, she could tell that, and his hair was starting to be speckled with gray.
"What happened?" She asked quietly.
"Sit down," Dantès said, sitting across from her with Kyrielight, "This is a long, long story."
---
So, other than the end, I think the part I'm least happy with is the Flashback to Anastasia's summoning. Not because I don't feel it's in character, but because it kinda flies in the face of the description of Ars Nova from the Materials (on the other hand, I find that description absurd to begin with, so...)
"There is no longer a need to defeat him, or rely on him. No longer, will anyone ask of him, or need to shoulder his death, and no further help or accomplishments from him will be sought. This means a disappearance from even the Throne of Heroes. A release from the duties of one's existence - a completion of all the tasks for one to do in this universe.
In contrast to the savior known as the only one among humanity to achieve enlightenment, the coward reached a different sort of "finality"."
The version of Ishtar summoned in Strange/Fake, who is a complete and utter bitch more in line with her portrayal in the Epic, summons Gugalanna from "A world not connected to anything (Read: Babylonia)" to kill Gil and Enkidu...
Also, Humbaba is True Berserker and I am kinda disappointed they didn't use them in Babylonia, since according to Nasu the real reason the Banana Oni went rogue was to keep them from attacking Babylonia (though to be fair, that would have spoiled the twist, since your supposed to think they're Thomas Mazda Edison).
Also, Humbaba is True Berserker and I am kinda disappointed they didn't use them in Babylonia, since according to Nasu the real reason the Banana Oni went rogue was to keep them from attacking Babylonia (though to be fair, that would have spoiled the twist, since your supposed to think they're Thomas Mazda Edison).
---
Mash stood outside of the store, glancing at the Count, who was prowling in the shadows and occasionally throwing glares at people who got too close to take a picture of them. Golden eyes locked onto something around the corner, where he vanished for a second, "Keep an eye out, Mash."
"What are you-?" Mash watched the Count ram his hand into the side of a vending machine, knocking something loose before he reached down to grab it. He walked back into the street, unwrapping a pack of cigarettes as he did so and slid one from the package, "Count!"
"It'll be fine," the Count said, pausing, "I don't have a lighter…"
And Monte Cristo Mythologie's flames didn't play well with cigarettes, they had learned that a while ago.
"Excuse me," the Count said, walking towards a pretty girl with black hair in a ponytail and offering her a charming smile, "You wouldn't happen to have a lighter on you, would you? I left mine in my other suit like a fool."
"No," the girl shook her head, "I'm sorry."
"Ah," the Count said with a sigh, shaking his head, "Thank you, nonetheless. Would you happen to be able to spare some money so I could buy one?"
"Oh, yes!" The girl fished out a bill, handing it to the Count, "Please, keep the change. It's nothing, really."
"Thank you, my dear," The Count said, bowing and stepping back to let the girl carry on. Once she was gone, the smile slid from his face and he sighed, "Izuku would reprimand me for doing that. It was manipulative. Still, this will probably allow us to avoid whatever hairbrained scheme the Alters are plotting to get Artoria's food."
The Count led the way into the building, plucking a lighter from the stand and calling out in English, "We have some money. Pick ten items and leave the rest!"
Grumbling came from the aisle, followed by the rustling of plastic and bags, before Artoira and Jeanne stepped from it and put the food on the counter.
---
He walked through the tunnel, strange torches igniting in front of him, revealing a door etched with lettering. He had never seen the symbols before./So it was this
dream, then?
Gripping a pair of the rusted rings attached to the door, he forced the door open, walking into the chamber and scanning the room as more torches ignited.
Gold and Jewels. More of both than he had ever seen, hills towering to the massive vaulted ceiling glistened in the weak torch light.
And in the center of the chamber was a goblet hewn of pure crystal in front of a throne of gold. He stepped forward, settling into the seat and picking up the goblet with a hand as pale as the moon.
And then his muscles locked up as a queer black flame ignited in the goblet, his pale face reflecting horror for a moment./In what distant deeps or skies. Burnt the fire of thine eyes? On what wings dare he aspire? What the hand, dare seize the fire?
And then the pain started, beyond anything he had felt in Château D'If as the flames danced up his arm, along his back, and down the other arm./Only the pain Berserker of Saṃghāta Hell had inflicted came close to the pain. But it wasn't the first time he had felt this. It wasn't even the twentieth.
And it wouldn't be the last.
Edmond Dantès's fingers finally slacked from around the goblet as the last of the flames jumped up from it onto his arms. He convulsed in the throne as the flames continued to burn below his skin, his heart hammering in his chest a thousand times a minute.
And then it stopped. He stopped, falling back into the throne like a puppet with its strings cut. Dead.
And what shoulder and what art, could twist the sinews of thy heart? And when thy heart began to beat, what dread hand? And what dread feet?
Attendre, Espérer.
A ragged gasp for air spread from the body as it forced itself to sit up from its slouch. The heart began to beat again, newly golden eyes flitted open. His mind rushed as it took in a new addition to his body, across his arms and back. An instinctual burst of energy activated them, and the same flames from before burst into existence along his hand, but without the pain.
When the stars threw down their spears, And water'd heaven with their tears... Did he smile, his work to see? Did he who made the Lamb make thee?
This was the beginning of the Monte Cristo Mythologie. The myth of the King in the Cavern.
And the beginning of the end for Edmond Dantès.
---
Mash bit the inside of her cheek to keep from gaping as the man who looked like his skin was made of a layer of solid wood sent tendrils of it at a middle aged man with claws and fangs, pitch black eyes staring out from the scaled skin. Flames coiled from his mouth, and he charged the man.
It was only the Count's arm in front of her that kept her from lunging forward and manifesting Lord Camelot or the Sword of Strange Hangings. Golden eyes watched the fight warily, before flicking over to a rooftop. Suddenly, the shifting man was forcibly returned to a human state, a pained, confused whimper leaving his lips. Someone jumped off the rooftop, wrapping a white length of cloth around the man and smashing him into the ground with a heavy crack.
He was a scruffy man in a simple black outfit with yellow goggles over his eyes. Standing up, the man took his eyes off the unconscious man, Mash's enhanced vision catching pricks of red as he moved his head and-
"Look-!" Mash started as another man charged him, a bone spike bursting from his arm. Before she could finish, the first man span and sent out a log of wood, pushing him against the building and digging it into the wall, binding the man.
"Thanks for the warning," he said, eyes jumping as he waved at her, "but we're professionals, miss."
"Sorry," the Count said, taking on a more casual pattern of speech, "She gets a bit jumpy."
"No reason to apologize for that," he said, "makes it less likely you'll be put in a situation where a Hero needs to save you. Alright, everyone, clear the area! The police are coming in and they don't need to be-"
"Come along," the Count said under his breath, turning and heading down an alley before speaking into his communicator, "Da Vinci? Holmes?"
"Give us a second," Da Vinci said, "We're running it through some filters."
"Running what?" Jeanne Alter asked.
"The Mystic Eye effect that man had, presumably," Artoria said, unwrapping a chocolate bar.
---
"You noticed?" Artoria Alter scoffed at the question, and if they weren't focused on getting as far away from the fight she would have leaned on the wall.
She'd need to ask Drake to lend her some money to buy Llamrei III, now that they were in a city for the foreseeable future. She'd just take one but… well, she didn't need Izuku giving her a look like he was a kicked dog. He was too soft hearted for his own good.
"Of course I noticed," Artoria said, spreading her senses as far as they would go. That man seemed suited for ambushes, with the black clothes, acrobatic movements and lithe frame. She wanted to be certain he hadn't decided to follow them, "It's not like any of us are unused to seeing Mystic Eyes… though those goggles he wore were probably meant to hide them. Leonardo?"
"If you're not going to call me Da Vinci-Chan, at least call me Da Vinci," Leonardo huffed, "There wasn't any magical energy we noticed, but…"
Call her "Of Vinci"? Preposterous.
"Mystic Eyes are not always a Mystery based in Magecraft," The Count finished, "Asagami is evidence enough of that."
"Exactly," Sherlock said, "There's also the chance that whatever form of Mystery Quirks are, we're not currently calibrated to scan for it. We're still running off the calibrations we made to scan for large quantities of Ether. Continue your investigation as we compile data, please."
"Roger-" Mash started, before blinking at Jeanne marched towards something on a wall and ripped it off, staring at it for a long moment, "Jeanne-?"
"Things just got complicated," Jeanne said, thrusting the piece of laminated paper into the Count's hands. He glanced at it, eyes widening and cigarette falling from his lips before he stomped on it to snuff it out.
"What?" Artoria demanded, yanking the paper from his hand and staring at it for a minute alongside Mash. Staring back at them, the same nervous smile as the one he had when she had stuffed him in a dress and forced him to dance with her in Shinjuku, was a younger Izuku.
Izuku Midoriya.
Last seen June X, 20XX.
If found, please call XXX-XXXX.
"How long ago was this?" Artoria demanded.
The Count reached into his pocket, fishing out the receipt from his lighter and her food.
"Six months ago," The Count said.
This… this had just gotten a lot more complicated.
"Send us whatever it is," Sherlock said, "For now, you need to focus on getting us connected to the Leylines. The Grails will do the rest."
---
Knowledge rushed into Anastasia Nikolaevna Romanova's mind as she opened her eyes to smoke. The year was 2018, and she had been… not summoned for a Grail War? Was it the Counter Force then?
Viy formed around her, his eyes opening slightly so she could see through the smoke. Their sight immediately landed on her Master for the first time. And he was… he was a sorry sight.
That was rude of her, but she really didn't know how else to put it. His left hand shook like a leaf in the breeze, while his right was wrapped in a plaster cast in a sling. The sclera of his flickering eyes were staining red as blood poured down from his nose. Visible under the white jacket draped across his shoulders were several fresh bruises and burn marks, his neck, chest and arm covered in them, alongside vicious scratches.
And then he spoke, voice cracking from a combination of puberty and stress, "Roman… Roman… Is that you? Roman? Please?"
Roman? Who was that?
"No," Anastasia said, stepping through the smoke and letting Viy fade. He was only a few inches taller than her, "I am Anastasia Nikolaevna Romanova, the-"
"Princess during the fall of Imperial Russia," he said, bending one knee to touch the ground for a moment.
"There's no need for that," Anastasia said, "Though it warms my heart that you know my identity. I have been summoned as a Caster Class Servant, and this little one is Viy. And who are you, my Master?"
"I'm-" the boy stood, staggering and Anastasia moved to catch him in spite of herself, wincing at the pained hiss he gave out as her hand pressed against one of the burns, "I'm Midoriya Izuku… or, well, you'd call me Izuku Midoriya. I'm sorry I don't have time to show you around Chaldea right now, but I'm sure there's someone who can-"
"I can find my way around myself," Anastasia huffed.
"That's what everybody thinks," Izuku said, turning away and holding out his hand, before Anastasia could take a step, he started to chant… and Anastasia's gut dropped, "The alighted wind becomes a wall…"
"Master?" Anastasia blinked, turning towards Izuku, and noticing the eclectic mix of objects placed on the altar. Toys and confections.
"...The gates in the four directions close, coming from the crown, the three-forked road that leads to the kingdom circulate…" Izuku continued, staggering as more blood dripped from his nose, "Shut and Fill! Shut and Fill! Shut and Fill! Shut and Fill! Shut and Fill!"
"Master!" Viy formed around Anastasia, trying to drag Izuku back without harming him, but he merely dug his feet into the ground and continued.
"Repeat every five times! Simply, shatter once filled! I announce-"
"Izuku," Anastasia turned her head to a green haired Servant stepping into the room with a staff, "Take a break for a minute."
"What is it, David?" Izuku said, catching a tossed water bottle from the boy, "What-?"
"From Para," David said, "It'll help you out."
Izuku nodded, popping the top out and swallowed a mouthful before Anastasia could stop him, and immediately gave a shudder and staggered, "Wha- What's-?"
"It's gonna knock you out for a couple of hours so Da Vinci-Chan and Para can patch you up," David said, rushing forward as Izuku moved his hand towards his mouth and caught it, "Just let it work."
"But… but- I've got- I've got to get Roman-"
"Solomon's gone," David said, pulling Izuku into a light hug, "I'm sorry, but it's true. He's not coming back, and killing yourself trying to bring him back isn't gonna get anything. Hey, new girl… who are you?"
"Caster," Anastasia said.
"Not your class," David said, as Izuku slumped over, "Your True Name. I'm David of Israel. We're all friends here."
"You just poisoned my Master," Anastasia hissed, Viy rising up around her.
"I just knocked out our Master for a bit," David said, "I know it sounds weird, but Chaldea doesn't act normally. There's dozens of Servants here, all under one Master. Izuku. Help me bring him to the medical ward, would you? He shouldn't be up and about, we just got done a rough day."
---
Mash followed behind the Count as they weaved through the streets between them and the largest group of Leylines within traveling distance. Her eyes flickered to the building they were moving away from, large, looking almost like an H of glass from the angle they were at. Despite having never seen it before, the Demi-Servant instantly recognized it. How could she not?
It was UA Academy, her Senpai's dream school. The one all the greatest heroes in this world went to. They were in Mustafu… they were within walking distance of Izuku's home.
"Everyone," Mash said, voice shaking as she bowed her head. She clenched and unclenched her fingers, before swallowing and speaking as clearly as she could, "Everyone!"
"We heard you the first time," Jeanne said, before planting a hand on Mash's shoulder, "What is it?"
"I- I think we should go find Inko," Mash said, "She… if she's looking for Senpai, he'd… He'd want us to go see her and bring her to him! I know it goes against our-"
"I agree," the Count said.
"Yeah, that sounds about right," Jeanne added. Artoria didn't say anything, merely gave a small grunt.
"You do?" Mash said.
"Izuku has always maintained the importance of family," Artoria said, "he has never tried to dissuade Jeanne Lily, Jack or Leonardo Lily referring to him as a parent, or even Jack using the maternal. He supports Lancelot. Knowing him as well as we do, I suspect he'll be disappointed in us when he wakes up and we have not contacted Inko."
"Yep, yep!" Mash jumped at the voice of Da Vinci Lily coming from their bands, followed by a familiar hum, "Izuku would definitely be disappointed in you if you didn't try and meet her!"
"You were listening to us?" Mash asked.
"Yep, and keeping this conversation off the record for now!" Da Vinci chirped, "So go ahead and find the line, tap it, and then go find mamma Inko!"
"...Thanks, Da Vinci-Chan," Mash said.
"Any time!" the young Servant said, "Good luck!"
---
Sigurd breathed within his mask as he worked the metals for his Master's new blade, smog spreading through the smithy as he did. He didn't like this, it was a blade of fire, which humanity should be wary of, not wield… but he wasn't going to enchant that part, nor was he going to bear the blade.
But the 'ingredients', as it were, were a pleasure to work with, he wouldn't deny that. It was different from Gram, the opposite in so many ways… but nonetheless enjoyable.
He lifted the sword up, slipping the rapier forged from the broken daggers of the Spiritfuge into the rune marked container of oil. Flames exploded out as the heated blade ignited the oil. Drawing the quenched blade, he swung open the door… and promptly dodged the stab of the spear coming for his chest, as he had known it was coming, dropping the sword to manifest Gram's true, greatsword form and force the nameless spear into the ground. With his other hand he quickly undid the latch of his mask, letting it fall and fade as a pair of glasses crystalized on his face.
Then he reached out, catching the chin of the gorgeous teal haired woman staring at him with unsteady eyes and pressed his lips against hers. Bryhild's eyes flickered shut for a moment, and she let the heavy spear fall from her hand so she could wrap her arms around his neck. Sigurd astralized Gram, gently wrapping his arms around his beloved wife.
"I'm sorry," Bryhild murmured, breaking from the kiss to rest her head on his shoulder as he did the same, her hand finding the scar where her spear had found his heart in life, still burning with the flames.
"Don't be," Sigurd said, "The day you stop trying to kill me will be the worst day of my existence, and the day I let you kill me is the day I betray you again."
"I-"
"Not to break up the tender moment," Circe coughed into her hand, "and I do mean that, feel free to being all lovey-dovey after, it's sweet. But do one of you mind kicking the sword over this way so we can start working on that while you two do that?"
Sigurd did exactly that, and the winged Caster crouched down and grabbed the sword, waving at them and flying towards the other Casters, "Let's go to our room."
Bryhild gave him an honest, glowing smile, one that he returned. He could trust the others to finish the sword, he hadn't been with Brynhild for days.
---
Izuku used his crutch to stand up as the plane finally finished the ascent, walking towards Robin Hood as the red haired Heroic Spirit finished rolling a cigarette and lighting it for him, "Thanks, Boss."
"It's fine," Izuku smiled, turning and getting away from the smoke as quickly as possible, "Ibaraki, Ushiwakamaru, Mash, Jeanne, do you want something to eat?"
"Is that a good idea?" Mash asked, looking up from the window she was staring out of, watching Australia fly by under them with wide eyes, Fou in her lap, "We're going to be on this flight for hours, Senpai."
"They also stocked us up before we took off," Jeanne pointed out, reading a book and dogearing certain sections, "and we don't have the Black Hole with us. But I'm not hungry anyways."
"Don't call Artoria Alter that," Izuku reproached softly.
"You've seen her," Jeanne waved her hand dismissively, "if she was on board, we'd be out of food before we got done flying over Australia!"
"Do they have chocolate?" Ibaraki asked.
"I'll check," Izuku said, walking into the kitchenette and beginning to search it. Bottles of sake (that'd help if Ibaraki decided to get rowdy), oils, steaks, ice cream… there! "Dark, white or milk?"
"Don't care!" Ibaraki said, and Izuku grabbed several of the bars. Thank goodness this was on Chaldea's tab.
"Ushiwaka?" Izuku asked.
"Not at the moment, Lord Izuku," Izuku was glad he was still in the kitchen so she couldn't see the physical recoiling he did. At least she was calling him Izuku now, instead of Midoriya. But he still wished she would drop the lord bit. He wasn't… he was just a quirkless, barely baked Magus, not someone who deserved such a title from Minamoto no Yoshitsune, "Would you like to watch a movie with me? They have quite the selection, and the rest of you would of course be welcome to join too."
"Sure," Izuku said, making his way over to her, stopping to hand Ibaraki the 'small' stack of ten chocolate bars and then settled into the deep couch next to Ushiwakamaru, collapsing his crutch with one hand and gently reaching out to pet the top of her head. The samurai closed her eyes, leaning into the movement, "Pick whatever you want."
"Maybe one of those superhero movies?" Ushiwakamaru said, "They have a fair amount of interesting fights choreographed, and are within your interests."
"Sure," Izuku said, using the button to recline part of the couch and raise up his leg, "Mash?"
"I'll come over in a bit, Senpai," Mash said, continuing to look out the window, "Last time we were this high, I didn't have a chance to enjoy it."
Izuku hid the grimace that came with his stomach doing a loop at the mention of the Aresh Airlines flight in Camelot. Yeah, that had been… unenjoyable, even though it had been really, really necessary, "I can-"
"It's fine," Mash said, breaking from looking out the window to smile at him, "Spend some time with Ushiwakamaru. I'm just enjoying this. Is this your first time flying, Senpai?"
"That's a good question," Robin said, breathing out a puff of smoke where he was seated on the other side of the fuselage, staring at the large TV as Ushiwakamaru queued up one of the movies.
"No," Izuku said, "I flew to New York with my mom a couple of times to see my dad. It wasn't as nice as this, obviously, but it was still fun."
---
Jeanne Alter watched Mash crouch on the ground of the abandoned subway tunnel, using a piece of chalk to sketch out a ritual circle. No, Jeanne didn't know what type it was, that was Izuku's job as the party's mage, goodbye, carry on, the end. She was an Avenger… or maybe a Berserker? Hell, she didn't even know anymore.
Whatever, point was she wasn't a Caster, her knowledge with magic, despite her title of 'Dragon Witch', began and ended with La Grondement Du Haine and Völkermord Feuerdrache. Burning the crap outta people was what she did… Actually, that made her wonder if Izuku was a closet pyromaniac.
That was something to think about later, she guessed. Instead, she watched Mash put her artistic skill to work.
The first part was a circle so large that Mash literally made it by placing the chalk on the ground and spinning like a compass. Next, she drew seven circles the size of her fist within it, and then seven circles the size of her index finger in them with a thinner piece of chalk. She connected the circles into seven pointed stars within each larger circle, before standing up and beginning the process over again in another location.
Well, this was gonna be boring.
"Count," Jeanne said into her wrist band, "Ya mind switching with me?"
"Yes," the Count said, "By the time I get back, Mash will be done. It'll be fine."
Says him, "But-"
"Besides," the Count continued, "We're almost there."
Sonova- "Fine!"
Even as Jeanne spat out the word, Mash finished the second circle and moved onto the third. Sion and the brass better be thankful for this.
---
The Count didn't even pay attention as he turned off the communicator before looking at Artoria Alter. She nodded sharply, and the Count reached out to ring the doorbell while taking his hat off. Golden eyes faded to red as he deactivated the Magic Crest granted to him by the Treasure. Finally, the door swung open to let them see a woman only a few inches taller than Artoria and nearly a foot shorter than him, her hair a few shade darker green than that of her son, "Midoriya Inko?"
"Yes?" She said, looking between the two of them, "Can I help you?"
"Yes," the Count said, gesturing to Artoria, "This is Artoria Pendragon and I am the Co-"
Artoria shifted her foot, subtly crushing his toes between the toe of her heeled boots and the floor, "He is Edmond Dantès."
It took everything he had not to reactivate Monte Cristo Mythologie at the mention of the man's name. He started to crush the corner of his hat like it was a pale throat.
"I… see," Inko said, pursuing her lips, "And how can I help you two?"
"We're friends of your son," the Count supplied, "and we've come- ma'am?"
Inko's neck and face had started to gain a serious blush, and her grip on the door was tight enough that they could hear it shake, finally, she hissed out, "Is that supposed to be funny?"
"Excuse me?"
"You're friends of Izuku's?" Inko snapped, "and you're what, here to pay your respects?"
"No-"
"Then why are you here?" Inko's grip on the door grew tighter, before she continued quicker than the Count could respond, "I don't need this, goodby-"
Before the door could slam shut on them, Artoria swung one arm into the gap, the door and frame giving a nasty crunch and splintered as they were stopped by the flesh of the Servant. Artoria slid her other arm into the gap and forced the door open with barely an exertion of pressure, despite the fact that Inko was still gripping the door with both hands and clearly straining to keep it closed.
"I'm sorry about that," Artoria apologized coolly, amber eyes staring into green, "but Izuku wouldn't forgive us if we let you refuse to see him so easily."
"Refuse… to…?" Inko said softly.
"See him, yes," Artoria said, "That's why we're here. We came to bring you to him, Midoriya… ah, san?"
"You…" Inko said, hand rising to her mouth, "You know where Izuku is?"
"Yes," the Count said, coughing into his hand, "It's… it's complicated, and we only arrived in Mustafu a few hours ago, but we'd like you to come and see him."
Tears began to build in Inko's eyes, before seeming to fall from them like a waterfall, "I- I- Fine, but if you're lying, I will call the police for harassment!"
"Fair enough," the Count said, stepping back, "We'll wait out here for you to get ready."
Inko turned, not even bothering to shut the door as she rushed to put her shoes on. The Count took a moment to glare at Artoria and mouth "Really?"
"Your refusal to use your name would just have made things more suspicious," Artoria responded, "don't take it personally."
Oh, he was. He most definitely was.
---
"Well," Ushiwakamaru watched Izuku sighed as the movie ended, pressing the button on his crutch to extend in and latching it back onto his arm. He pushed himself up, smiling at Ushiwakamaru as she immediately lunged under his free arm and helped him stand the second he staggered, "Thank you."
"Ever and always, Lord Izuku," Ushiwakamaru said, returning the smile and helping him stabilize himself.
"Now, I'm gonna make something to eat," Izuku said, walking towards the kitchen and lighting another cigarette from Robin as he went.
"I'll help," Ushiwakamaru said.
"You know how to cook?" Robin said, before stopping, "Sorry, guess that was kinda rude. I mean, didn't expect a noble to know how to cook."
"It's fine, Sir Robin," Ushiwakamaru most certainly did not smirk as the man choked on his cigarette. That would have been unbecoming, "I'm the first to admit that I was not the best chef in life, but there was a summoning… will be a summoning?" She stopped to heave a sigh, "I do not claim unintelligence, but the way the Throne and reality interact is enough to stump even me. The summoning was in the future, but I have clear memories of it."
"It's alright," Izuku said, "That does sound confusing. So you learned to cook during that summoning? What was it like, and what was your Master like?"
"It was… an interesting world," Ushiwakamaru said, "Unlike any other. I wonder if Circe or Blackbeard would remember it. Everyone alive had a Servant, and a Holy Grail. The Grail War had ended, and in their place there were tournaments where Servants fought each other. I partook in them, because my Master loved them, but there wasn't the same thrill we have here and now."
"What do you mean?" Izuku asked, pulling out ingredients and tools.
"There was no chance of death," Ushiwakamaru said, "Not normally. It wasn't completely unenjoyable, to step into the arena and hear people cheer my name, to know that Minamoto no Yoshitsune was still on their lips a thousand years after my heart stopped beating… that was enjoyable, I will admit."
"And your Master?"
"We were very similar," Ushiwakamaru said, "Though she summoned me after I had been given my adult name, unlike here, so I suppose it would be more right to say she summoned Minamoto Kurou Yoshitsune. She was foolhardy, and always volunteering us for extra curricular activities to avoid her school work. She was… Rurihime was so very unlike you, Lord Izuku."
"Unlike me," Izuku blinked, "How?"
"You fight for others," Ushiwakamaru said, smiling at her Master, "You insist on standing far closer to a battle than is safe because you don't feel right sending us into battle without putting yourself in danger. Rurihime… she didn't know when to hesitate, the amount of times I had to carry her home injured…"
"I don't know," Izuku said, touching his leg, "I-"
"You've ordered retreats," Ushiwakamaru said, "You're a strange person, Izuku, because I can't say if you're an optimist or a realist. You want to believe in the best in everyone, but you've seen the worst enough that betrayal doesn't hurt you."
So unlike her, when Hitachibou had left her and Benki. When Yoritomo had betrayed her.
"It hurts," Izuku protested, "but I should give people a chance."
And that was why they loved him.
---
Inko took her eyes off the road long enough to glance at where the pale man, "Dantès", was glowering at the back of his companion's head as she gave Inko instructions. Clearly, some silent argument had taken place while she wasn't looking, as they hadn't said a thing since she had got back to them. But-
"Pull over," Pendragon suddenly ordered.
"Wha-?" Inko yelped as Pendragon grabbed the steering wheel, yanking it to the side of the road and opening the door to get out, "Mash! Witch! Over here!"
"The fu-?" A girl who looked nearly identical to Pendragon, though with her long hair flowing as opposed to the loose ponytail Artoria had hers in, stomped over, only to stop once she could see the inside of the car and turn, "Mash!"
Finally, a girl wearing a white and grey hoodie over a black dress and tights walked over, leaning into the car… and her eyes widened, a look of glowing amazement on her face, "M-Midorya Inko?"
"Yes?" Inko said, and the girl immediately bowed at the waist, the glasses on her face nearly flying off is not for her immediately pushing them up.
"My name is Mash Kyrielight," the girl practically babbled, reaching out to take Inko's hand, "It's nice to meet you. I'm… I'm your son's Kouhai. It's a pleasure to meet you!"
What.
"Kouhai in…" before Inko could finish, Pendragon had shoved Kyrielight into the seat she had been sitting in none too gently and hooked the lavender haired girl in before shoving the other girl, her sister, she presumed, into the back and dropping into the seat next to her, slamming the door shut.
"Da Vinci-Chan," Dantès said into a wrist mounted device, "Have the Border ready for when we get there. The fewer questions she needs to ask, the better."
"Mhh," A young voice came from the device, "Then hurry up and get here. Even with Mystic and conventional camouflage up, we can only comfortably stay above the surface for so long, you know!"
"Please continue driving," Dantès said, "We'll explain everything when we get there."
Inko's grip on the steering wheel grew tight. What if this was some elaborate prank? They had seen one of the fliers and felt crushing her hopes was funny?
But if there was even a one percent chance they were telling the truth, that Izuku was with them…
"Fine," Inko said, starting to drive.
...She had to take it, she wouldn't be able to live with herself if she didn't.
---
Less than half an hour later, Inko was stepping out of the car and towards an empty stretch of beach. A strange shimmer appeared for a moment before a giant ship the size of a nuclear submarine opened appeared for a moment, a door opening at the base. Inko's mouth fell open before she was quickly pushed in by Edmond, the door shutting behind them and the ship shaking.
"Welcome to the Storm Border," Kyrielight said, "Mobile Headquarters of the Chaldea Security Organization."
Count, Mash, Jeanne, Artoria, A man spoke over the PA, What did you do?
"Da Vinci-Chan Lily authorized this," Dantès said.
"Security Organization?" Inko said, "What do you mean, Security-"
She did, did she? Inko couldn't tell what was being said, she wasn't fluent in English, but she could hear the glare in the man's voice.
Eh, he, he…the door in front of them opened suddenly, Oops, my finger slipped!
You don't have fingers, the man said, I'm going to have to report this, you realize that, right?
"I expected as much, Captain," Dantès said, taking Inko by the arm and dragging her forward, "Come along, it's at the end of the hall- Asclepius."
The white haired man wearing a strange labcoat looked up from where he was crouched in front of a child who looked similar to Artoria and the other girl. He stood up, straightening the coat as he did so, "Count. Lady Pendragon, Jeanne Alter, Mash, I'd say it was good to see you all, but I was a bit busy. Young Jeanne wanted to see her père, but-"
"Stopping her is something Nemo Nurse could do," Dantès said, "But you weren't planning to stop her, were you."
"...A few minutes to see him wouldn't harm anyone," Asclepius said, voice brusk before he paused, looking Inko over, "Midoriya Inko?"
"Yes-"
"Hello," Asclepius said, "I am Asclepius, I have acted as your son's primary physician since I signed on with Chaldea. It's good to meet you, but if you don't mind me asking, where did you go wrong with that boy?"
Inko gaping at him, because starting to flush, "What is that supposed to-"
"He seems to be of the opinion," Asclepius sighed, pacing back and forth, "That my medical advice is an opinion rather than the ironclad order that it is. He is, far and away, the most frustrating patient I have ever had the displeasure of working with… no offense intended."
"More than a bit taken," Inko gritted out.
"Fair enough," Asclepius said, "Don't take it personally, ma'am. I speak my mind, and my job is to keep people healthy and alive. Your son, on a regular basis, seems to endeavor to make it difficult for me to keep him as both of those. But I do my best despite that, and until the day comes he no longer needs my services, which, seeing how stubborn he is, isn't likely to be any time soon, I will continue to do so. Would you like to step in with Young Jeanne here and see him?"
The girl in question was staring at Inko with wide eyes, "Are you… are you Père's Mère? Are you my Grand-mère?"
"I'm sorry, I don't speak…?"
"French," Dantès coughed.
"French."
"Are you Father's Mother?" Inko's mind ground to a halt, staring at the girl, "My Grandmother?"
"W-what?"
"It's a long story," Dantès said, "We'll explain after you see your son. Step inside."
Inko stepped in with Jeanne, eyes falling on Izuku for the first time in months. He had grown a lot since then, she could tell that, and his hair was starting to be speckled with gray.
"What happened?" She asked quietly.
"Sit down," Dantès said, sitting across from her with Kyrielight, "This is a long, long story."
---
So, other than the end, I think the part I'm least happy with is the Flashback to Anastasia's summoning. Not because I don't feel it's in character, but because it kinda flies in the face of the description of Ars Nova from the Materials (on the other hand, I find that description absurd to begin with, so...)
"There is no longer a need to defeat him, or rely on him. No longer, will anyone ask of him, or need to shoulder his death, and no further help or accomplishments from him will be sought. This means a disappearance from even the Throne of Heroes. A release from the duties of one's existence - a completion of all the tasks for one to do in this universe.
In contrast to the savior known as the only one among humanity to achieve enlightenment, the coward reached a different sort of "finality"."
Izuku and Paracelsus.
ThatOnePsycho
Tilting his Vanes and Ennobling His Spires
Paracelsus stood in the holographic room with Izuku, roman gladiators flickering into existence across them. Crossing his arms behind his back, Paracelsus nodded to Izuku, "Remember, Izuku, the key to magecraft is that you must convince yourself that you can perform what you're trying to do. This is… especially hard for you, given your past, but I'm certain you can do it."
"Right," Izuku said, closing his eyes and breathing in, "Right.."
Magic Circuits activated across Izuku's upper body, from somewhere hidden in the white jacket of Chaldea, green lines glowed up his neck and face, and down his arms. Izuku began to mutter under his breath. Well, once they got to the point of teaching him high speed Incantation, that would come in handy.
"Focus," Paracelsus said, stepping around Izuku, "You don't need the circuits 'in' your face activated for this, and given your output, you shouldn't burn more Od then you need."
Izuku breathed in, and the circuits fled from around his eyes and neck, "Alright…"
"Try it," Paracelsus said, "remember, unlike with Formalcraft, the Incantation for this is based around what is important to you."
"Metatropí," Izuku started, holding out his hands. The air started to distort, wrapping around his fingers and the first hologram, "Kakuhenkan, Transmutatione, Kumonosu, Toile D'araignée, Istós Aráchni̱s."
Well, never let it be said that Izuku wasted words. The same word thrice over, in French, Japanese and Greek…
Izuku crossed his arms, pulling on an invisible force that pressed taunt on the skin of the hologram, "Enflammer, Anávo, Chakka Suru! Hell's Spider!
Red flames jumped from his fingers, following the threads and searing through the gladiator. Izuku slid down to his knees, his Circuits burning as he dropped his hands, sweat wetting his brow.
"Well done," Paracelsus said, offering Izuku a small smile and holding out a hand to help him up. With the other, he swung his sword wide and cut down the other two holograms, "but I don't think you'll be finishing the other two today. We're going to need to focus on your output."
Izuku nodded, pushing back his sweat soaked hair, "Y- Yes."
"And congratulations, Izuku," Paracelsus said, "I don't think we can say you're Quirkless anymore."
The wide, dawning smile that spread across Izuku's face made Paracelsus smile in turn.
---
Fuck, I'm rusty. This was harder to write than I expected.
"Right," Izuku said, closing his eyes and breathing in, "Right.."
Magic Circuits activated across Izuku's upper body, from somewhere hidden in the white jacket of Chaldea, green lines glowed up his neck and face, and down his arms. Izuku began to mutter under his breath. Well, once they got to the point of teaching him high speed Incantation, that would come in handy.
"Focus," Paracelsus said, stepping around Izuku, "You don't need the circuits 'in' your face activated for this, and given your output, you shouldn't burn more Od then you need."
Izuku breathed in, and the circuits fled from around his eyes and neck, "Alright…"
"Try it," Paracelsus said, "remember, unlike with Formalcraft, the Incantation for this is based around what is important to you."
"Metatropí," Izuku started, holding out his hands. The air started to distort, wrapping around his fingers and the first hologram, "Kakuhenkan, Transmutatione, Kumonosu, Toile D'araignée, Istós Aráchni̱s."
Well, never let it be said that Izuku wasted words. The same word thrice over, in French, Japanese and Greek…
Izuku crossed his arms, pulling on an invisible force that pressed taunt on the skin of the hologram, "Enflammer, Anávo, Chakka Suru! Hell's Spider!
Red flames jumped from his fingers, following the threads and searing through the gladiator. Izuku slid down to his knees, his Circuits burning as he dropped his hands, sweat wetting his brow.
"Well done," Paracelsus said, offering Izuku a small smile and holding out a hand to help him up. With the other, he swung his sword wide and cut down the other two holograms, "but I don't think you'll be finishing the other two today. We're going to need to focus on your output."
Izuku nodded, pushing back his sweat soaked hair, "Y- Yes."
"And congratulations, Izuku," Paracelsus said, "I don't think we can say you're Quirkless anymore."
The wide, dawning smile that spread across Izuku's face made Paracelsus smile in turn.
---
Fuck, I'm rusty. This was harder to write than I expected.
A Discussion About Weapons
ThatOnePsycho
Tilting his Vanes and Ennobling His Spires
"I understand your problem now," Izuku stopped the thrust of his spear, looking over at Scáthach. She was lounging on the ground of the simulated hill they were on. Slowly, she stood and stretched, walking over to him.
"A-About me using the spear?" Izuku asked.
"No," she said, "there's nothing you've done that Leonidas can't iron out. May I ask you a question, Master?"
"O-of course!" Izuku said, "You can always ask me anything, Se-"
"How many warriors are in Chaldea right now? If you had to estimate?" She asked.
"Well," Izuku worried his bottom lip, "I'd say, probably fift- OW!"
"Incorrect," Scáthach said from where she had "lightly" flicked the center of his forehead, which, with B-Ranked Strength, still stung like a hornet's sting, "Try again."
Izuku rubbed his forehead, frowning. He hadn't forgotten anyone. He was sure of that. So who… "I'm sure it's fifty six."
Scáthach sighed lightly, "and this is the problem. You care too deeply."
"What?"
"Look at this spear," Scáthach suddenly pulled a Gae Bolg from thin air, resting it gently on her hands, "Well crafted by the greatest weaponsmith of the Isle of Skye, scrimshawed by the greatest scrimshander. Beautiful, yes?"
"Yes?" Izuku repeated, still unsure of where this was going. Scáthach nodded, holding it put to him.
"Take it," Scáthach said, and Izuku did, the weapon sagging his arms. It was dense with magical energy, like all Noble Phantasms. So much that just trying to hold it was hard, "It was created in the Age of the Gods from the bones of a Sea Serpent called the Coinchenn."
"I know," Izuku said, "it died fighting-"
"-another, or so the story goes," Scáthach continued, "Hold it up higher, Izuku. The lesson I am about to impart will only make sense if you do so."
Izuku lifted up the spear with trembling arms… and felt his jaw drop as Scáthach manifested a red sword and brought it down on the spear, splitting it in two "Bwah?"
"Do you see?" Scáthach asked.
"That…" Izuku waved his hands as the two spear halves fell to the ground, "That spear had to have been thousands of years old!"
"Indeed it was," Scáthach confirmed.
"But- with all that history, why destroy it?" Scáthach didn't answer, just settling back down and watching Izuku, "I- I don't get what that was about!"
"That's because you're not ready to," Scáthach said, "but hopefully you'll learn it before it's too late.
---
Scáthach weighed the katana in her hands, drawing it and swinging it once. Very nearly perfect. Demonic, because a step further would have made it Divine.
"What are you doing here?" Her eyes flickered to Fuuma Kotarou as he stepped into the room, his haori hanging loose. She offered him the sword, which he grabbed like she had sullied it, a glare in his eyes before he picked up the sheath the blade belonged to and carefully, almost tenderly, returned it to rest and then placing it on the pedestal.
"I'll leave you to your rites," she said, taking a step back.
"You didn't answer the question," Evil Wind said, "You don't normally come here, so why were you here?"
"I was wondering if I should have perhaps been less obtuse in my lesson," she said, "Since Izuku clearly didn't take the point I was trying to make. Has there been a change in the fight between the Casters?"
"Of a sort," he said, "Midoriya Inko is on the Storm Border.
"A-About me using the spear?" Izuku asked.
"No," she said, "there's nothing you've done that Leonidas can't iron out. May I ask you a question, Master?"
"O-of course!" Izuku said, "You can always ask me anything, Se-"
"How many warriors are in Chaldea right now? If you had to estimate?" She asked.
"Well," Izuku worried his bottom lip, "I'd say, probably fift- OW!"
"Incorrect," Scáthach said from where she had "lightly" flicked the center of his forehead, which, with B-Ranked Strength, still stung like a hornet's sting, "Try again."
Izuku rubbed his forehead, frowning. He hadn't forgotten anyone. He was sure of that. So who… "I'm sure it's fifty six."
Scáthach sighed lightly, "and this is the problem. You care too deeply."
"What?"
"Look at this spear," Scáthach suddenly pulled a Gae Bolg from thin air, resting it gently on her hands, "Well crafted by the greatest weaponsmith of the Isle of Skye, scrimshawed by the greatest scrimshander. Beautiful, yes?"
"Yes?" Izuku repeated, still unsure of where this was going. Scáthach nodded, holding it put to him.
"Take it," Scáthach said, and Izuku did, the weapon sagging his arms. It was dense with magical energy, like all Noble Phantasms. So much that just trying to hold it was hard, "It was created in the Age of the Gods from the bones of a Sea Serpent called the Coinchenn."
"I know," Izuku said, "it died fighting-"
"-another, or so the story goes," Scáthach continued, "Hold it up higher, Izuku. The lesson I am about to impart will only make sense if you do so."
Izuku lifted up the spear with trembling arms… and felt his jaw drop as Scáthach manifested a red sword and brought it down on the spear, splitting it in two "Bwah?"
"Do you see?" Scáthach asked.
"That…" Izuku waved his hands as the two spear halves fell to the ground, "That spear had to have been thousands of years old!"
"Indeed it was," Scáthach confirmed.
"But- with all that history, why destroy it?" Scáthach didn't answer, just settling back down and watching Izuku, "I- I don't get what that was about!"
"That's because you're not ready to," Scáthach said, "but hopefully you'll learn it before it's too late.
---
Scáthach weighed the katana in her hands, drawing it and swinging it once. Very nearly perfect. Demonic, because a step further would have made it Divine.
"What are you doing here?" Her eyes flickered to Fuuma Kotarou as he stepped into the room, his haori hanging loose. She offered him the sword, which he grabbed like she had sullied it, a glare in his eyes before he picked up the sheath the blade belonged to and carefully, almost tenderly, returned it to rest and then placing it on the pedestal.
"I'll leave you to your rites," she said, taking a step back.
"You didn't answer the question," Evil Wind said, "You don't normally come here, so why were you here?"
"I was wondering if I should have perhaps been less obtuse in my lesson," she said, "Since Izuku clearly didn't take the point I was trying to make. Has there been a change in the fight between the Casters?"
"Of a sort," he said, "Midoriya Inko is on the Storm Border.
Chapter 5
ThatOnePsycho
Tilting his Vanes and Ennobling His Spires
"Fou! Fou!" Romani Archaman looked up from his parfait as Fou jumped up on the bed and began to tug at his lab coat.
"What's wrong?" Roman asked, lowering the treat, "Can't find-?"
"Fou!" Fou dug his teeth into Roman's gloved hand, tugging rapidly. Last time…
Roman's face grew dark and he dropped his parfait, standing up as Fou jumped off the bed and ran towards the entrance of the room. He swore to God, and he didn't do that lightly when he had received direct vision from Him, if that shit was trying to hurt Mash again he didn't care about the Sirius Light, he was going to throw him out of Chaldea by his ear and leave him to die in the Antarctic. Damn what Olga and Lev wanted.
Rushing down the halls after Fou, Roman began to curl his hands into fists at his side. Keep calm, Romani, keep-
Roman stopped as Fou jumped onto the boy collapsed on the floor of the hallway wearing a black school uniform. The small white… actually, what the hell was Fou and where had he come from? He just showed up one day, and since Mash had just unofficially adopted the little guy (which significantly helped her move beyond the Tabula Rasa that Maris had kept her as at a decade old), Roman hadn't really thou-
"Fou! FOU!" Fou whipped around, jumping on the boy's chest. Right, now wasn't the time for that, he'd ask around later, for now…
Roman rushed to the boy's side, noticing the purple gel in his mouth. Turning him over and prying open the jaw as gently as possible, the doctor set his own jaw in place and began to work the substance out of the mouth with one hand, with the other, he raised his communicator to his mouth, "Da Vinci-Chan?"
"What's up, Romani?" Da Vinci asked.
"Can you bring a cot and an oxygen canister to my location?" Roman asked.
"Is Mash alright?" Da Vinci's voice got serious.
"It's not Mash," Roman said, "Why-?"
"You sound serious, Romani," Da Vinci said.
"Someone's sick," Roman said, " A Master Candidate named…"
Roman's voice trailed off as he realized the boy didn't have a communicator. Crap…
That made things a lot more complicated.
"And while you're at it," he said, "Check the reports from CHALDEAS at my location, and make sure nobody sees them. Ok?"
"Are you sure, Romani?"
"Yeah," Roman said, looking up and around. Nobody so far, "Yeah…"
---
Izuku came to with a shudder and a cough into the mask around his mouth. What…? Was he in the hospital? Why would he be there? Last thing, last thing…
Something viscous and disgusting had surged into his mouth and nose, choking him and… and… There had been a tunnel of swirling green with flecks of red.
And that was where everything ended.
Izuku tried to sit up, only for a beautiful, brown haired woman to place one hand over his chest, smiling at him, "Hello, I'm Leonardo Da Vinci!"
What…?
---
Inko stared down at Izuku with pursed lips, running her hand through his grey flecked hair. He looked… he looked so different at the moment. His hair was combed out so it was long, though the natural curliness he inherited from Hisashi was visibly starting to retake it. So someone had brushed his hair recently.
"You don't believe us," Dantès said.
"Can you blame me?" Inko said.
"It depends on what part you don't believe," he said, standing up and grabbing a silver lighter from the end table and stepping away from Izuku, lifting a cigarette, only to sigh at the glare Asclepius shot him. The white haired doctor was unwrapping a bandage from Izuku's leg, a fresh one resting on a tray next to it.
"I believe you care about him," Inko said. That was clear, from the way Kyrielight hovered around him and Jeanne watched him like a hawk to the fact that he was clearly being taken care of.
"But not much else," Dantès finished.
"No."
"Understandable," he said, "it would seem hard to believe. I should probably go face our friends in charge. Mash, Jeanne, would you show our guest around the Border in the meantime?"
"You don't believe us?" Jeanne said, voice cracking, "Pourquoi vous ne nous crois pas?"
"Lui donner le temps," Dantès said to her, "Ça ira."
Jeanne nodded, but her lip quivered gently and she buried her head in Kyrielight's side. The purple haired girl wrapped a hand around her shoulders.
Dantès stopped suddenly on the way to the door, staring at one of the maps on a corkboard before ripping it off and balling it up, black flames burning it to ash a second later as he muttered something in French under his breath, "Cela n'arrivera pas."
"And before I go," Dantès stopped in the doorway, finally lighting his cigarette before tossing the lighter at Asclepius, who caught it and placed it on the table, "Don't call me that name. Edmond Dantès is dead, I am the Count of Monte Cristo, Cavern King."
Inko pursed her lips, before squeezing Izuku's hand as she got a good look at the healing injury to his leg. Asclepius wasted no time beginning to wrap it back up.
"I'll have it repaired in time," Asclepius said to her, "but it had already healed improperly the first time, and I don't want to have to do it again."
"Thank you," Inko said.
"I am Izuku's physician," Asclepius repeated, "I may disagree with him about his actions, but I will care for him either way."
"Why's his hair greying?"
"Stress," Asclepius said, "You may not believe us on the matter, but the weight of the world is not an easy weight to bear once. Twice, it is even more so."
"In short," a voice said from the doorway, and a red headed man in a green suit stepped in, "Uneasy lies the head that wears a crow-"
"Out," Asclepius said, standing and grabbing a staff with a high tech snake wrapped around it.
"My dear Asclepi-"
"I have not given you permission to enter," Asclepius snapped, "Now get out, Shakespeare, before I throw you out."
"Fine, fine," 'Shakespeare' sighed, "I'll help guide this tour of our wondrous organization. We'll start down the hall, if it's fine with you, Lady Midoriya."
---
Tomoe watched Raikou twitch as a woman with long green hair stepped into the Border's cafeteria. Emiya, Beni-Enma and Nemo Bakery were cooking Japanese style meals for everyone who wanted one, but…
Standing up, the part Oni pulled up her communicator, "Sir Lancelot? Sir Gawain?"
There was a heartbeat, and then Gawain's voice, "We hear you, Lady Gozen."
Despite the worry biting at her gut, she laughed for a moment, "Gozen is a title, Sir Gawain."
"My apologies, Lady Tomoe," Gawain said, "I'll endeavor to remember that. What did you need?"
"Your assistance. We have a very… special guest on the Border at the moment, and I fear she may accidentally provoke Raikou into action."
"By a special guest," Lancelot said, "Do you mean Lady Midoriya?"
"Yes," Tomoe said.
"We'll be right there," the Knight of the Lake said, "Where are you?"
"Cafeteria."
"It'll be nice to meet my future in-law," Lancelot said just lightly enough that Tomoe could catch the joke.
"Only if Anastasia's plots succeed," Tomoe replied.
---
Inko met the light purple eyes of the girl with ash grey skin, purple hair and wearing a skimpy leotard that exposed almost everything except her breasts. They were wide, mouth hanging open, she turned to Mash, "You didn't tell us you were bring Inko!"
"It was… a kinda spur of the moment thing," Mash said, "Mrs- Ah, Midoriya-s-"
"Call me what makes you comfortable," Inko said, offering Mash a small, sincere smile. She might doubt much of what she had been told, she did believe Mash's seeming reverence of her "Senpai". She seemed too earnest to be faking.
That was true for everyone, really. From Asclepius biting medical care (and she had ornamented too many light burns on Izuku to not know he had a point about Izuku's problems with sitting still and healing), to Dantès gruff demeanor, to Jeanne, who was holding Inko's hand like she was afraid Inko was going to run off. None of that felt false, at least.
"I would have put on something more modest if I knew she was coming," the girl said bashfully, blushing lightly before bowing, "It's a pleasure to meet you, Mrs. Midoriya. I am one of the holders of the name Hassan-i-Sabbah, the Hassan of Serenity. Just call me Sereni- Anastasia!"
The last word was yelped as the elevator behind them opened as a girl with show white hair wearing the most regal dress, complete with a blue, mink lined cape and a golden hair bow, rushed out of it.
"I-" she huffed a gasp of air, clutching a stitch in her side, "Wow, we need to add automatic walkways to the Border-"
"Did you run here?" Serenity said, "Your Kremlin is on the other side of the ship!"
"Left when Viy told me she was here," Anastasia gasped, pointing a finger towards Inko who watched the conversation with a bemused expression. She must be out of shape, if running across the ship left her this out of breath, "Just came from Izuku's room. Anyways, ah, where would I be?"
"What's going on here?" A purple haired man said, stepping out of the elevator. He was wearing a dark militaristic dress uniform, though from what army Inko didn't know. Next to him, a blond haired man wearing a white version of the same uniform stood, eyes scanning the room before looking onto something.
"I'm going ahead," he said to the purple haired man, who nodded. The blonde man caught a sword from thin air, a massive blue and silver blade. Inko watched him go, nonplussed. Why would he…?
"I am Sir Lancelot Du Lac," the purple haired man said with a bow, taking Inko's hand and kissing it lightly, "My companion is Sir Gawain. It's a pleasure to meet my daughter's- Mash!"
The last word was yelped as Mash stepped on his foot and ground the sole of her own into it, "You're not my dad!"
"And I-" Anastasia coughed, drawing Inko away from the familial(?) strife to give a curtsey, "Am Anastasia Nikolaevna Romanova, Grand Duchess of Russia and loyal Servant of your so-"
There was a noise of crashing steel, and everyone's eyes jumped to where Gawain had gone. His sword, and a naginata from a white haired woman, were clashing with a katana of a purple haired woman with what were quite frankly the most comically large breasts Inko had ever seen on an otherwise proportionate human. The reactions to that clash was instantaneous. One second, Inko was blinking, and the next everyone, except a blond chef, in the room had bared weapons. Even the other two chefs were ready as their compatriot ducked into the larder, one holding a bow with a metal arrow and the other a large odachi for how small they were.
Swords, spears, bows, a gun. Mash had slid between her and the fight with determination in her eyes, while Lancelot caught a gold and silver sword and began to move towards it. Serenity held six knives as she whipped around and a large shadow rose up around Anastasia.
"Oh dear!" Shakespeare said from where he had been using a quill to write down stuff and muttering to himself, "it appears we have provoked dear Raikou-"
"Shut up before I freeze you, goddamn it," Anastasia hissed, the air visible from her mouth like a chimney.
"Why don't you go show Lady Midoriya somewhere else, and leave thich to us, chirp," a voice said from nowhere.
"Good idea, Beni-Enma," Mash said, grabbing Inko's hand, "Anastasia, Serenity, do you want to come along?"
"Of course!" Both chorused, joining Jeanne, Inko and Mash in the elevator as Shakespeare continued to write the fight, which was escalating, with a giggle.
---
Gawain grunted as he slid back from the shove, the nameless katana only managing to shove aside Excalibur Galentine because of its wielder's higher Strength, enhanced by Mad Enhancement… and that it was after three.
Shifting his grip on Galentine so the full hand and a half was on it, he breathed in as the katana of the demon slayer approached him. Beni-Enma appeared behind Raikou, only to dodge as the blade nearly cut the sparrow from neck to groin. Sharing a dark look with Lancelot, Gawain tightened his grip.
There was a time to be reasonable, and there was a time not to be. They could explain this to Izuku after he woke, and they kept a copy of the Saint Grafts for a reason.
"For posterity," Gawain said aloud, knowing Da Vinci Lily would record it, "Releasing restraints for four seconds."
"Authorization granted," she said, "she's trying to hurt Nonna."
"She is not!" The Berserker Oni roared, stabs from her sword nearly running Tomoe and EMIYA through as they got too close, "Your! GRANDMOTHER! THAT'S ME, I AM-!"
"My blessing," Gawain said, breathing in and out with a lion's roar in his mind, "My curse. Come forth, plunge the night into day!"
Energy flooded Gawain as the lights above them flickered and plunged into red emergency ones. Then above them, the light turned golden as a false sun formed. The katana gouged against his face, sparking like in had struck metal as Numeral of the Saint ignited full force. The next second, Galentine cleaved her arm raggedly in two at the elbow.
Raikou caught it with her other hand and lashed out, aiming for his heart. Thunderer roared from Billy, distracting her enough for Gawain to make the return trip a second later.
Arondight cut her in two in the last second before the Lion King's blessing faded from Gawain's body. Above them, the harsh artificial sun faded, plunging everyone into dark red.
"Sorry about that," Da Vinci Lily said, "a bit of excitement in the cafeteria got out of hand. Six seconds until power returns to all non essential areas of the ship. Three. Two. One. Resume."
All the lights snapped back on as one as they watched Raikou fade.
How the hell was the Count ok with doing that whenever Izuku needed it done?
---
"Do you want to explain what just happened, Da Vinci-Chan?" Sherlock asked, turning towards the tank where she floated. Next to him, her older form was working on a leg brace.
"Raikou tried to attack Nonna Inko," Lily said, bobbing up and down in the mystically charged water, "and started fighting everyone there when they stopped her. You know how her Mad Enhancement is…"
Sherlock nodded, grimacing. Raikou was barely reasonable at the fact that Izuku made time for people other than her at the best of times. To be confronted by the fact that Izuku wasn't "her son"... there would have only been one way to end it. None of them enjoyed the concept of killing her, and Izuku likely wouldn't be happy when he woke up… but if he was honest, and Sherlock preferred to be so to himself even if his sense for dramatic timing occasionally kept him from being so to others, this was a fight that would have happened sooner or later.
Berserker class Servants were, at their core, inherently damaged beings. And the higher their Mad Enhancement climbed, the more that damage ruled who they were. They might hide it well, under a mask of reason, but one had to be at least a little mentally unhinged to qualify for the class.
Well, unless you were Beowulf, according to Izuku. But given the episode with Grendel's arm, Sherlock doubted that was entirely true.
Thoughts for another time.
"So," Sherlock tented his fingers, leaning back in his chair, "Do you want to explain why you did this, Edmo- ah, Count?"
He had to get out of that habit. His disguise in Shinjuku had been ruined by him using the Cavern King's real name, after all.
A vein in the Count of Monte Cristo's neck pulsed at the first half of the name. He closed his eyes and sucked in a breath, black flames curling. Caenis shifted her shield off her back, stepping between the Avenger class Servant and her de facto Master. She got along with Goredolf better than Izuku, truth be told.
They should probably work on getting him some Command Spells and making it De Jure at some point.
"You wanted to know about us bringing Inko," the Count growled, teeth still barred.
"Yes."
"But you're not surprised we did it," he said, "You expected it, Holmes."
"Yes, I did."
---
The Count's lips tilted downwards as Goredolf sighed, "I'd give a complaint about chain of command, but I'm well aware by this point that as far as you're concerned the chain of command begins and ends with Izuku."
"I'm not going to apologize," the Count said. Why would he? He had nothing to apologize for?
"I'm not asking you to," Goredolf said, "I'll pull rank occasionally, but I'm far happier and likely to not suffer a heart attack by letting Izuku take charge on all things about Servants… except Caeneus."
"I'm happier without the harem king trying to add me to his conquests," Caenis shot.
"Don't let Izuku hear you say that," Lily said, "He'll meltdown."
"Doesn't like his habits paraded aroun-"
"He's a virgin," the Count cut in.
Caenis's mouth flapped for a second, "First, why do you know that, two how!?"
"One is a vir-"
"Shut," Caenis growled, "You know what I mean!"
"He just hasn't slept with anyone," the Count deadpanned. Which directly tied into how he knew, Izuku confiding in him that he would likely die one to keep the peace.
"So, if you knew, why did you send us?" He asked Holmes.
"It may be easy to forget," Holmes said, "but I am a Servant of Izuku as well. He would likely put off seeing Inko because of worry about compromising Chaldea, which would just make him more depressed. So, we had to go above his head. Three Servants with no loyalty to Chaldea as an entity but loyalty to Izuku would do the trick, and it did."
"I see," the Count said, activing Monte Cristo Mythologie, "stop fucking manipulating me, Sherlock."
"My apologies," Sherlock said without flinching, "it won't happen again."
"It better not," the Count growled, before standing, "I'm going to find Mash and the others."
---
Decided to split this chapter into two as I get into the swing of things again. In the meantime, I've started a Necromunda inspired LoL cross.
Also, I have to wonder about something. MCM appears to give immunity to "mental interference effects", does that include Oblivion Correction?
"What's wrong?" Roman asked, lowering the treat, "Can't find-?"
"Fou!" Fou dug his teeth into Roman's gloved hand, tugging rapidly. Last time…
Roman's face grew dark and he dropped his parfait, standing up as Fou jumped off the bed and ran towards the entrance of the room. He swore to God, and he didn't do that lightly when he had received direct vision from Him, if that shit was trying to hurt Mash again he didn't care about the Sirius Light, he was going to throw him out of Chaldea by his ear and leave him to die in the Antarctic. Damn what Olga and Lev wanted.
Rushing down the halls after Fou, Roman began to curl his hands into fists at his side. Keep calm, Romani, keep-
Roman stopped as Fou jumped onto the boy collapsed on the floor of the hallway wearing a black school uniform. The small white… actually, what the hell was Fou and where had he come from? He just showed up one day, and since Mash had just unofficially adopted the little guy (which significantly helped her move beyond the Tabula Rasa that Maris had kept her as at a decade old), Roman hadn't really thou-
"Fou! FOU!" Fou whipped around, jumping on the boy's chest. Right, now wasn't the time for that, he'd ask around later, for now…
Roman rushed to the boy's side, noticing the purple gel in his mouth. Turning him over and prying open the jaw as gently as possible, the doctor set his own jaw in place and began to work the substance out of the mouth with one hand, with the other, he raised his communicator to his mouth, "Da Vinci-Chan?"
"What's up, Romani?" Da Vinci asked.
"Can you bring a cot and an oxygen canister to my location?" Roman asked.
"Is Mash alright?" Da Vinci's voice got serious.
"It's not Mash," Roman said, "Why-?"
"You sound serious, Romani," Da Vinci said.
"Someone's sick," Roman said, " A Master Candidate named…"
Roman's voice trailed off as he realized the boy didn't have a communicator. Crap…
That made things a lot more complicated.
"And while you're at it," he said, "Check the reports from CHALDEAS at my location, and make sure nobody sees them. Ok?"
"Are you sure, Romani?"
"Yeah," Roman said, looking up and around. Nobody so far, "Yeah…"
---
Izuku came to with a shudder and a cough into the mask around his mouth. What…? Was he in the hospital? Why would he be there? Last thing, last thing…
Something viscous and disgusting had surged into his mouth and nose, choking him and… and… There had been a tunnel of swirling green with flecks of red.
And that was where everything ended.
Izuku tried to sit up, only for a beautiful, brown haired woman to place one hand over his chest, smiling at him, "Hello, I'm Leonardo Da Vinci!"
What…?
---
Inko stared down at Izuku with pursed lips, running her hand through his grey flecked hair. He looked… he looked so different at the moment. His hair was combed out so it was long, though the natural curliness he inherited from Hisashi was visibly starting to retake it. So someone had brushed his hair recently.
"You don't believe us," Dantès said.
"Can you blame me?" Inko said.
"It depends on what part you don't believe," he said, standing up and grabbing a silver lighter from the end table and stepping away from Izuku, lifting a cigarette, only to sigh at the glare Asclepius shot him. The white haired doctor was unwrapping a bandage from Izuku's leg, a fresh one resting on a tray next to it.
"I believe you care about him," Inko said. That was clear, from the way Kyrielight hovered around him and Jeanne watched him like a hawk to the fact that he was clearly being taken care of.
"But not much else," Dantès finished.
"No."
"Understandable," he said, "it would seem hard to believe. I should probably go face our friends in charge. Mash, Jeanne, would you show our guest around the Border in the meantime?"
"You don't believe us?" Jeanne said, voice cracking, "Pourquoi vous ne nous crois pas?"
"Lui donner le temps," Dantès said to her, "Ça ira."
Jeanne nodded, but her lip quivered gently and she buried her head in Kyrielight's side. The purple haired girl wrapped a hand around her shoulders.
Dantès stopped suddenly on the way to the door, staring at one of the maps on a corkboard before ripping it off and balling it up, black flames burning it to ash a second later as he muttered something in French under his breath, "Cela n'arrivera pas."
"And before I go," Dantès stopped in the doorway, finally lighting his cigarette before tossing the lighter at Asclepius, who caught it and placed it on the table, "Don't call me that name. Edmond Dantès is dead, I am the Count of Monte Cristo, Cavern King."
Inko pursed her lips, before squeezing Izuku's hand as she got a good look at the healing injury to his leg. Asclepius wasted no time beginning to wrap it back up.
"I'll have it repaired in time," Asclepius said to her, "but it had already healed improperly the first time, and I don't want to have to do it again."
"Thank you," Inko said.
"I am Izuku's physician," Asclepius repeated, "I may disagree with him about his actions, but I will care for him either way."
"Why's his hair greying?"
"Stress," Asclepius said, "You may not believe us on the matter, but the weight of the world is not an easy weight to bear once. Twice, it is even more so."
"In short," a voice said from the doorway, and a red headed man in a green suit stepped in, "Uneasy lies the head that wears a crow-"
"Out," Asclepius said, standing and grabbing a staff with a high tech snake wrapped around it.
"My dear Asclepi-"
"I have not given you permission to enter," Asclepius snapped, "Now get out, Shakespeare, before I throw you out."
"Fine, fine," 'Shakespeare' sighed, "I'll help guide this tour of our wondrous organization. We'll start down the hall, if it's fine with you, Lady Midoriya."
---
Tomoe watched Raikou twitch as a woman with long green hair stepped into the Border's cafeteria. Emiya, Beni-Enma and Nemo Bakery were cooking Japanese style meals for everyone who wanted one, but…
Standing up, the part Oni pulled up her communicator, "Sir Lancelot? Sir Gawain?"
There was a heartbeat, and then Gawain's voice, "We hear you, Lady Gozen."
Despite the worry biting at her gut, she laughed for a moment, "Gozen is a title, Sir Gawain."
"My apologies, Lady Tomoe," Gawain said, "I'll endeavor to remember that. What did you need?"
"Your assistance. We have a very… special guest on the Border at the moment, and I fear she may accidentally provoke Raikou into action."
"By a special guest," Lancelot said, "Do you mean Lady Midoriya?"
"Yes," Tomoe said.
"We'll be right there," the Knight of the Lake said, "Where are you?"
"Cafeteria."
"It'll be nice to meet my future in-law," Lancelot said just lightly enough that Tomoe could catch the joke.
"Only if Anastasia's plots succeed," Tomoe replied.
---
Inko met the light purple eyes of the girl with ash grey skin, purple hair and wearing a skimpy leotard that exposed almost everything except her breasts. They were wide, mouth hanging open, she turned to Mash, "You didn't tell us you were bring Inko!"
"It was… a kinda spur of the moment thing," Mash said, "Mrs- Ah, Midoriya-s-"
"Call me what makes you comfortable," Inko said, offering Mash a small, sincere smile. She might doubt much of what she had been told, she did believe Mash's seeming reverence of her "Senpai". She seemed too earnest to be faking.
That was true for everyone, really. From Asclepius biting medical care (and she had ornamented too many light burns on Izuku to not know he had a point about Izuku's problems with sitting still and healing), to Dantès gruff demeanor, to Jeanne, who was holding Inko's hand like she was afraid Inko was going to run off. None of that felt false, at least.
"I would have put on something more modest if I knew she was coming," the girl said bashfully, blushing lightly before bowing, "It's a pleasure to meet you, Mrs. Midoriya. I am one of the holders of the name Hassan-i-Sabbah, the Hassan of Serenity. Just call me Sereni- Anastasia!"
The last word was yelped as the elevator behind them opened as a girl with show white hair wearing the most regal dress, complete with a blue, mink lined cape and a golden hair bow, rushed out of it.
"I-" she huffed a gasp of air, clutching a stitch in her side, "Wow, we need to add automatic walkways to the Border-"
"Did you run here?" Serenity said, "Your Kremlin is on the other side of the ship!"
"Left when Viy told me she was here," Anastasia gasped, pointing a finger towards Inko who watched the conversation with a bemused expression. She must be out of shape, if running across the ship left her this out of breath, "Just came from Izuku's room. Anyways, ah, where would I be?"
"What's going on here?" A purple haired man said, stepping out of the elevator. He was wearing a dark militaristic dress uniform, though from what army Inko didn't know. Next to him, a blond haired man wearing a white version of the same uniform stood, eyes scanning the room before looking onto something.
"I'm going ahead," he said to the purple haired man, who nodded. The blonde man caught a sword from thin air, a massive blue and silver blade. Inko watched him go, nonplussed. Why would he…?
"I am Sir Lancelot Du Lac," the purple haired man said with a bow, taking Inko's hand and kissing it lightly, "My companion is Sir Gawain. It's a pleasure to meet my daughter's- Mash!"
The last word was yelped as Mash stepped on his foot and ground the sole of her own into it, "You're not my dad!"
"And I-" Anastasia coughed, drawing Inko away from the familial(?) strife to give a curtsey, "Am Anastasia Nikolaevna Romanova, Grand Duchess of Russia and loyal Servant of your so-"
There was a noise of crashing steel, and everyone's eyes jumped to where Gawain had gone. His sword, and a naginata from a white haired woman, were clashing with a katana of a purple haired woman with what were quite frankly the most comically large breasts Inko had ever seen on an otherwise proportionate human. The reactions to that clash was instantaneous. One second, Inko was blinking, and the next everyone, except a blond chef, in the room had bared weapons. Even the other two chefs were ready as their compatriot ducked into the larder, one holding a bow with a metal arrow and the other a large odachi for how small they were.
Swords, spears, bows, a gun. Mash had slid between her and the fight with determination in her eyes, while Lancelot caught a gold and silver sword and began to move towards it. Serenity held six knives as she whipped around and a large shadow rose up around Anastasia.
"Oh dear!" Shakespeare said from where he had been using a quill to write down stuff and muttering to himself, "it appears we have provoked dear Raikou-"
"Shut up before I freeze you, goddamn it," Anastasia hissed, the air visible from her mouth like a chimney.
"Why don't you go show Lady Midoriya somewhere else, and leave thich to us, chirp," a voice said from nowhere.
"Good idea, Beni-Enma," Mash said, grabbing Inko's hand, "Anastasia, Serenity, do you want to come along?"
"Of course!" Both chorused, joining Jeanne, Inko and Mash in the elevator as Shakespeare continued to write the fight, which was escalating, with a giggle.
---
Gawain grunted as he slid back from the shove, the nameless katana only managing to shove aside Excalibur Galentine because of its wielder's higher Strength, enhanced by Mad Enhancement… and that it was after three.
Shifting his grip on Galentine so the full hand and a half was on it, he breathed in as the katana of the demon slayer approached him. Beni-Enma appeared behind Raikou, only to dodge as the blade nearly cut the sparrow from neck to groin. Sharing a dark look with Lancelot, Gawain tightened his grip.
There was a time to be reasonable, and there was a time not to be. They could explain this to Izuku after he woke, and they kept a copy of the Saint Grafts for a reason.
"For posterity," Gawain said aloud, knowing Da Vinci Lily would record it, "Releasing restraints for four seconds."
"Authorization granted," she said, "she's trying to hurt Nonna."
"She is not!" The Berserker Oni roared, stabs from her sword nearly running Tomoe and EMIYA through as they got too close, "Your! GRANDMOTHER! THAT'S ME, I AM-!"
"My blessing," Gawain said, breathing in and out with a lion's roar in his mind, "My curse. Come forth, plunge the night into day!"
Energy flooded Gawain as the lights above them flickered and plunged into red emergency ones. Then above them, the light turned golden as a false sun formed. The katana gouged against his face, sparking like in had struck metal as Numeral of the Saint ignited full force. The next second, Galentine cleaved her arm raggedly in two at the elbow.
Raikou caught it with her other hand and lashed out, aiming for his heart. Thunderer roared from Billy, distracting her enough for Gawain to make the return trip a second later.
Arondight cut her in two in the last second before the Lion King's blessing faded from Gawain's body. Above them, the harsh artificial sun faded, plunging everyone into dark red.
"Sorry about that," Da Vinci Lily said, "a bit of excitement in the cafeteria got out of hand. Six seconds until power returns to all non essential areas of the ship. Three. Two. One. Resume."
All the lights snapped back on as one as they watched Raikou fade.
How the hell was the Count ok with doing that whenever Izuku needed it done?
---
"Do you want to explain what just happened, Da Vinci-Chan?" Sherlock asked, turning towards the tank where she floated. Next to him, her older form was working on a leg brace.
"Raikou tried to attack Nonna Inko," Lily said, bobbing up and down in the mystically charged water, "and started fighting everyone there when they stopped her. You know how her Mad Enhancement is…"
Sherlock nodded, grimacing. Raikou was barely reasonable at the fact that Izuku made time for people other than her at the best of times. To be confronted by the fact that Izuku wasn't "her son"... there would have only been one way to end it. None of them enjoyed the concept of killing her, and Izuku likely wouldn't be happy when he woke up… but if he was honest, and Sherlock preferred to be so to himself even if his sense for dramatic timing occasionally kept him from being so to others, this was a fight that would have happened sooner or later.
Berserker class Servants were, at their core, inherently damaged beings. And the higher their Mad Enhancement climbed, the more that damage ruled who they were. They might hide it well, under a mask of reason, but one had to be at least a little mentally unhinged to qualify for the class.
Well, unless you were Beowulf, according to Izuku. But given the episode with Grendel's arm, Sherlock doubted that was entirely true.
Thoughts for another time.
"So," Sherlock tented his fingers, leaning back in his chair, "Do you want to explain why you did this, Edmo- ah, Count?"
He had to get out of that habit. His disguise in Shinjuku had been ruined by him using the Cavern King's real name, after all.
A vein in the Count of Monte Cristo's neck pulsed at the first half of the name. He closed his eyes and sucked in a breath, black flames curling. Caenis shifted her shield off her back, stepping between the Avenger class Servant and her de facto Master. She got along with Goredolf better than Izuku, truth be told.
They should probably work on getting him some Command Spells and making it De Jure at some point.
"You wanted to know about us bringing Inko," the Count growled, teeth still barred.
"Yes."
"But you're not surprised we did it," he said, "You expected it, Holmes."
"Yes, I did."
---
The Count's lips tilted downwards as Goredolf sighed, "I'd give a complaint about chain of command, but I'm well aware by this point that as far as you're concerned the chain of command begins and ends with Izuku."
"I'm not going to apologize," the Count said. Why would he? He had nothing to apologize for?
"I'm not asking you to," Goredolf said, "I'll pull rank occasionally, but I'm far happier and likely to not suffer a heart attack by letting Izuku take charge on all things about Servants… except Caeneus."
"I'm happier without the harem king trying to add me to his conquests," Caenis shot.
"Don't let Izuku hear you say that," Lily said, "He'll meltdown."
"Doesn't like his habits paraded aroun-"
"He's a virgin," the Count cut in.
Caenis's mouth flapped for a second, "First, why do you know that, two how!?"
"One is a vir-"
"Shut," Caenis growled, "You know what I mean!"
"He just hasn't slept with anyone," the Count deadpanned. Which directly tied into how he knew, Izuku confiding in him that he would likely die one to keep the peace.
"So, if you knew, why did you send us?" He asked Holmes.
"It may be easy to forget," Holmes said, "but I am a Servant of Izuku as well. He would likely put off seeing Inko because of worry about compromising Chaldea, which would just make him more depressed. So, we had to go above his head. Three Servants with no loyalty to Chaldea as an entity but loyalty to Izuku would do the trick, and it did."
"I see," the Count said, activing Monte Cristo Mythologie, "stop fucking manipulating me, Sherlock."
"My apologies," Sherlock said without flinching, "it won't happen again."
"It better not," the Count growled, before standing, "I'm going to find Mash and the others."
---
Decided to split this chapter into two as I get into the swing of things again. In the meantime, I've started a Necromunda inspired LoL cross.
Also, I have to wonder about something. MCM appears to give immunity to "mental interference effects", does that include Oblivion Correction?
Marie
ThatOnePsycho
Tilting his Vanes and Ennobling His Spires
Marie Antoinette knocked gently on the door of the room in the Wandering Sea, adjusting the black dress she was wearing, "Izuku, do you mind if I come in?"
There was a muffled noise she decided to take as a no, even if it was like a yes. Swiping her keycard, she punched in the code Da Vinci had given her and watched the door slide open. Stepping into the dark room, she flicked on the light, and quickly punched the button to shut the door. Quite literally.
It wouldn't do Chaldean morale any favors to see their leader in such a disheveled and disheartened state. Izuku looked all the world like he had arrived at the Sea, collapsed into bed and hadn't gotten up in the last three days. And he might not have.
One arm, still with the broken remains of his cane attached to it, sat over his sheets. The pouches and shoulder holster of his Chaldea Arctic Uniform were slung over the nightstand, revealing an empty USP and the four intact daggers of the Spiritfuge, alongside the two broken blades in the pouches.
Izuku himself was still wearing everything of the combat uniform except for his boots, which had been tossed at the wall, leaving a slight dent. His lighter was in his free hand, flicking on and off while the black and green unkempt beard he tended to grow when he didn't have time to shave was larger than she had ever seen it. As rude as it was, it would be fun to tell the girls that it was naturally that color and that curly when this was all over.
"I said not to come in," Izuku croaked.
"Nemo Bakery and Erice asked me to talk to you," Marie said, moving the desk chair so she was sitting across from Izuku. He didn't move from the bed, continued to ignite and put out the beautifully engraved silver lighter, "They think you're not taking what you did well… and having seen you, they aren't wrong, Izuku."
Izuku didn't say anything, just ignited the lighter again.
"Izuku," Marie started, before changing tracts, "Master. What's wrong? You've killed people before."
"That was different," Izuku croaked, "I didn't want to kill those people, Marie…"
"You wanted to kill Gut," Marie finished for him.
"What kind of Hero wants to kill someone?" Izuku said, voice quivering, "I shot him, and he kept coming. I stabbed him and it barely stopped him… I… I… his head… his head Marie…"
The borderline supernatural amount of tears Izuku was capable of releasing came then, dampening his pillow.
"I didn't just beat him to death," Izuku sobbed.
Considering the Count had torn Izuku off Gut, she wasn't surprised by the implication there.
"Izuku," Marie said, "if I could go back to before the revolution and change one thing, do you know what it was?"
"What?" Izuku sniffled.
"I'd execute Robespierre, Danton and Marat," Marie said, "I don't care how despotic it would seem, I would find an excuse to see Charles-Henri execute them all."
"I- I thought y-you didn't hold your execution against anyone?"
"I don't hold my execution against France," Marie corrected, "I don't even hold it against those three. If I had to die for the next chapter of French history to start, then I would allow it to happen without any regrets… but what they did to Louis Charles … what Erice says he's like now because of the Revolutionaries. That he is an Avenger Servant as likely the only class he can be summoned as. That is something I can never forgive those… those… salauds for. My Louis Charles was an angel, and they tortured him to death long before he died from tuberculosis, if it was even that that took his life."
"Why… why are you telling me this?"
"Because the one type of hate most pure, both from how we feel it and how forgivable it is, is hate because of something that happens to those we care about. Do you have Beryl because of something he did to you?"
"No," Izuku said.
"Then tell me why you hate Beryl," Marie said, sitting next to Izuku and taking his hand like he was Louis, moving his head into her lap. So this was why Erice had picked her. Because if there was anyone who understood it, it was her.
"I hate him… because he tried to hurt Mash," Izuku said, tears still streaming down his face, "I hate him because he killed Wodime. And he wanted to hurt Mash again… and he just… just… why wouldn't you want to be a better person!?"
Izuku punctured the question by slamming his broken cane into the was, causing several shards of metal to come flying off the jagged end.
"Wodime made mistakes, but why would you kill him for trying to save humanity in his own way!? And Mash… Mash…!"
"You love her," Marie said simply.
"She was my first friend in a long time," Izuku said, "Her and Roman…"
"Then of course you're angry," Marie said, "That doesn't make you a bad person, Izuku, anymore than I am for hating what they did to Louis Charles."
---
There was a muffled noise she decided to take as a no, even if it was like a yes. Swiping her keycard, she punched in the code Da Vinci had given her and watched the door slide open. Stepping into the dark room, she flicked on the light, and quickly punched the button to shut the door. Quite literally.
It wouldn't do Chaldean morale any favors to see their leader in such a disheveled and disheartened state. Izuku looked all the world like he had arrived at the Sea, collapsed into bed and hadn't gotten up in the last three days. And he might not have.
One arm, still with the broken remains of his cane attached to it, sat over his sheets. The pouches and shoulder holster of his Chaldea Arctic Uniform were slung over the nightstand, revealing an empty USP and the four intact daggers of the Spiritfuge, alongside the two broken blades in the pouches.
Izuku himself was still wearing everything of the combat uniform except for his boots, which had been tossed at the wall, leaving a slight dent. His lighter was in his free hand, flicking on and off while the black and green unkempt beard he tended to grow when he didn't have time to shave was larger than she had ever seen it. As rude as it was, it would be fun to tell the girls that it was naturally that color and that curly when this was all over.
"I said not to come in," Izuku croaked.
"Nemo Bakery and Erice asked me to talk to you," Marie said, moving the desk chair so she was sitting across from Izuku. He didn't move from the bed, continued to ignite and put out the beautifully engraved silver lighter, "They think you're not taking what you did well… and having seen you, they aren't wrong, Izuku."
Izuku didn't say anything, just ignited the lighter again.
"Izuku," Marie started, before changing tracts, "Master. What's wrong? You've killed people before."
"That was different," Izuku croaked, "I didn't want to kill those people, Marie…"
"You wanted to kill Gut," Marie finished for him.
"What kind of Hero wants to kill someone?" Izuku said, voice quivering, "I shot him, and he kept coming. I stabbed him and it barely stopped him… I… I… his head… his head Marie…"
The borderline supernatural amount of tears Izuku was capable of releasing came then, dampening his pillow.
"I didn't just beat him to death," Izuku sobbed.
Considering the Count had torn Izuku off Gut, she wasn't surprised by the implication there.
"Izuku," Marie said, "if I could go back to before the revolution and change one thing, do you know what it was?"
"What?" Izuku sniffled.
"I'd execute Robespierre, Danton and Marat," Marie said, "I don't care how despotic it would seem, I would find an excuse to see Charles-Henri execute them all."
"I- I thought y-you didn't hold your execution against anyone?"
"I don't hold my execution against France," Marie corrected, "I don't even hold it against those three. If I had to die for the next chapter of French history to start, then I would allow it to happen without any regrets… but what they did to Louis Charles … what Erice says he's like now because of the Revolutionaries. That he is an Avenger Servant as likely the only class he can be summoned as. That is something I can never forgive those… those… salauds for. My Louis Charles was an angel, and they tortured him to death long before he died from tuberculosis, if it was even that that took his life."
"Why… why are you telling me this?"
"Because the one type of hate most pure, both from how we feel it and how forgivable it is, is hate because of something that happens to those we care about. Do you have Beryl because of something he did to you?"
"No," Izuku said.
"Then tell me why you hate Beryl," Marie said, sitting next to Izuku and taking his hand like he was Louis, moving his head into her lap. So this was why Erice had picked her. Because if there was anyone who understood it, it was her.
"I hate him… because he tried to hurt Mash," Izuku said, tears still streaming down his face, "I hate him because he killed Wodime. And he wanted to hurt Mash again… and he just… just… why wouldn't you want to be a better person!?"
Izuku punctured the question by slamming his broken cane into the was, causing several shards of metal to come flying off the jagged end.
"Wodime made mistakes, but why would you kill him for trying to save humanity in his own way!? And Mash… Mash…!"
"You love her," Marie said simply.
"She was my first friend in a long time," Izuku said, "Her and Roman…"
"Then of course you're angry," Marie said, "That doesn't make you a bad person, Izuku, anymore than I am for hating what they did to Louis Charles."
---
Marie
ThatOnePsycho
Tilting his Vanes and Ennobling His Spires
--- X Marie X---
Marie Antoinette knocked gently on the door of the room in the Wandering Sea, adjusting the black dress she was wearing, "Izuku, do you mind if I come in?"
There was a muffled noise she decided to take as a no, even if it was like a yes. Swiping her keycard, she punched in the code Da Vinci had given her and watched the door slide open. Stepping into the dark room, she flicked on the light, and quickly punched the button to shut the door. Quite literally.
It wouldn't do Chaldean morale any favors to see their leader in such a disheveled and disheartened state. Izuku looked all the world like he had arrived at the Sea, collapsed into bed and hadn't gotten up in the last three days. And he might not have.
One arm, still with the broken remains of his cane attached to it, sat over his sheets. The pouches and shoulder holster of his Chaldea Arctic Uniform were slung over the nightstand, revealing an empty USP and the four intact daggers of the Spiritfuge, alongside the two broken blades in the pouches.
Izuku himself was still wearing everything of the combat uniform except for his boots, which had been tossed at the wall, leaving a slight dent. His lighter was in his free hand, flicking on and off while the black and green unkempt beard he tended to grow when he didn't have time to shave was larger than she had ever seen it. As rude as it was, it would be fun to tell the girls that it was naturally that color and that curly when this was all over.
"I said not to come in," Izuku croaked.
"Nemo Bakery and Erice asked me to talk to you," Marie said, moving the desk chair so she was sitting across from Izuku. He didn't move from the bed, continued to ignite and put out the beautifully engraved silver lighter, "They think you're not taking what you did well… and having seen you, they aren't wrong, Izuku."
Izuku didn't say anything, just ignited the lighter again.
"Izuku," Marie started, before changing tracts, "Master. What's wrong? You've killed people before."
"That was different," Izuku croaked, "I didn't want to kill those people, Marie…"
"You wanted to kill Gut," Marie finished for him.
"What kind of Hero wants to kill someone?" Izuku said, voice quivering, "I shot him, and he kept coming. I stabbed him and it barely stopped him… I… I… his head… his head Marie…"
The borderline supernatural amount of tears Izuku was capable of releasing came then, dampening his pillow.
"I didn't just beat him to death," Izuku sobbed.
Considering the Count had torn Izuku off Gut, she wasn't surprised by the implication there.
"Izuku," Marie said, "if I could go back to before the revolution and change one thing, do you know what it was?"
"What?" Izuku sniffled.
"I'd execute Robespierre, Danton and Marat," Marie said, "I don't care how despotic it would seem, I would find an excuse to see Charles-Henri execute them all."
"I- I thought y-you didn't hold your execution against anyone?"
"I don't hold my execution against France," Marie corrected, "I don't even hold it against those three. If I had to die for the next chapter of French history to start, then I would allow it to happen without any regrets… but what they did to Louis Charles … what Erice says he's like now because of the Revolutionaries. That he is an Avenger Servant as likely the only class he can be summoned as. That is something I can never forgive those… those… salauds for. My Louis Charles was an angel, and they tortured him to death long before he died from tuberculosis, if it was even that that took his life."
"Why… why are you telling me this?"
"Because the one type of hate most pure, both from how we feel it and how forgivable it is, is hate because of something that happens to those we care about. Do you have Beryl because of something he did to you?"
"No," Izuku said.
"Then tell me why you hate Beryl," Marie said, sitting next to Izuku and taking his hand like he was Louis, moving his head into her lap. So this was why Erice had picked her. Because if there was anyone who understood it, it was her.
"I hate him… because he tried to hurt Mash," Izuku said, tears still streaming down his face, "I hate him because he killed Wodime. And he wanted to hurt Mash again… and he just… just… why wouldn't you want to be a better person!?"
Izuku punctured the question by slamming his broken cane into the was, causing several shards of metal to come flying off the jagged end.
"Wodime made mistakes, but why would you kill him for trying to save humanity in his own way!? And Mash… Mash…!"
"You love her," Marie said simply.
"She was my first friend in a long time," Izuku said, "Her and Roman…"
"Then of course you're angry," Marie said, "That doesn't make you a bad person, Izuku, anymore than I am for hating what they did to Louis Charles."
---
Marie Antoinette knocked gently on the door of the room in the Wandering Sea, adjusting the black dress she was wearing, "Izuku, do you mind if I come in?"
There was a muffled noise she decided to take as a no, even if it was like a yes. Swiping her keycard, she punched in the code Da Vinci had given her and watched the door slide open. Stepping into the dark room, she flicked on the light, and quickly punched the button to shut the door. Quite literally.
It wouldn't do Chaldean morale any favors to see their leader in such a disheveled and disheartened state. Izuku looked all the world like he had arrived at the Sea, collapsed into bed and hadn't gotten up in the last three days. And he might not have.
One arm, still with the broken remains of his cane attached to it, sat over his sheets. The pouches and shoulder holster of his Chaldea Arctic Uniform were slung over the nightstand, revealing an empty USP and the four intact daggers of the Spiritfuge, alongside the two broken blades in the pouches.
Izuku himself was still wearing everything of the combat uniform except for his boots, which had been tossed at the wall, leaving a slight dent. His lighter was in his free hand, flicking on and off while the black and green unkempt beard he tended to grow when he didn't have time to shave was larger than she had ever seen it. As rude as it was, it would be fun to tell the girls that it was naturally that color and that curly when this was all over.
"I said not to come in," Izuku croaked.
"Nemo Bakery and Erice asked me to talk to you," Marie said, moving the desk chair so she was sitting across from Izuku. He didn't move from the bed, continued to ignite and put out the beautifully engraved silver lighter, "They think you're not taking what you did well… and having seen you, they aren't wrong, Izuku."
Izuku didn't say anything, just ignited the lighter again.
"Izuku," Marie started, before changing tracts, "Master. What's wrong? You've killed people before."
"That was different," Izuku croaked, "I didn't want to kill those people, Marie…"
"You wanted to kill Gut," Marie finished for him.
"What kind of Hero wants to kill someone?" Izuku said, voice quivering, "I shot him, and he kept coming. I stabbed him and it barely stopped him… I… I… his head… his head Marie…"
The borderline supernatural amount of tears Izuku was capable of releasing came then, dampening his pillow.
"I didn't just beat him to death," Izuku sobbed.
Considering the Count had torn Izuku off Gut, she wasn't surprised by the implication there.
"Izuku," Marie said, "if I could go back to before the revolution and change one thing, do you know what it was?"
"What?" Izuku sniffled.
"I'd execute Robespierre, Danton and Marat," Marie said, "I don't care how despotic it would seem, I would find an excuse to see Charles-Henri execute them all."
"I- I thought y-you didn't hold your execution against anyone?"
"I don't hold my execution against France," Marie corrected, "I don't even hold it against those three. If I had to die for the next chapter of French history to start, then I would allow it to happen without any regrets… but what they did to Louis Charles … what Erice says he's like now because of the Revolutionaries. That he is an Avenger Servant as likely the only class he can be summoned as. That is something I can never forgive those… those… salauds for. My Louis Charles was an angel, and they tortured him to death long before he died from tuberculosis, if it was even that that took his life."
"Why… why are you telling me this?"
"Because the one type of hate most pure, both from how we feel it and how forgivable it is, is hate because of something that happens to those we care about. Do you have Beryl because of something he did to you?"
"No," Izuku said.
"Then tell me why you hate Beryl," Marie said, sitting next to Izuku and taking his hand like he was Louis, moving his head into her lap. So this was why Erice had picked her. Because if there was anyone who understood it, it was her.
"I hate him… because he tried to hurt Mash," Izuku said, tears still streaming down his face, "I hate him because he killed Wodime. And he wanted to hurt Mash again… and he just… just… why wouldn't you want to be a better person!?"
Izuku punctured the question by slamming his broken cane into the was, causing several shards of metal to come flying off the jagged end.
"Wodime made mistakes, but why would you kill him for trying to save humanity in his own way!? And Mash… Mash…!"
"You love her," Marie said simply.
"She was my first friend in a long time," Izuku said, "Her and Roman…"
"Then of course you're angry," Marie said, "That doesn't make you a bad person, Izuku, anymore than I am for hating what they did to Louis Charles."
---