Puella Magi Fate: The Mitakihara Holy Grail War
Prologue: Never Again? Just Try Again!
Luviagelita Edelfelt smiled as she examined the summoning array before her. While things weren't going according to her plan, they were going well enough that the plan to regain the Third True Magic would continue.
Fifteen years ago, the Fifth Holy Grail War occurred in Fuyuki, and five years ago, the Sixth Holy Grail War occurred as Lord El-Melloi II and her rival Rin Tohsaka tried to stop the Grail from being used as they tried to destroy it.
It was hopelessly corrupt, by an ancient evil that had been summoned in the Third War. If a wish had been made, it would have been twisted in a way to kill as many people as possible. Luviagelita didn't want to think about it being used to reach the Root. But the theory of the Grail was sound.
Speaking with the Matou head before he was killed and the Einzbern head, the latter and Edelfelt gathered what information they could and located a suitable place to perform the ritual. They choose a city in Japan, Mitakihara, because the Clock Tower believed that it was still a backwater country.
Kiritsugu Emiya, the Magus Killer. Shirou Emiya, victor of the Fifth Grail War by default. Even Rin Tohsaka, as much as Luviagelita hated to admit it, one of the apprentices of the Wizard Marshall.
Those names should prove that Japan wasn't as backwater as the Clock Tower believed. Not anymore.
Luvia planned on reaching the Root to obtain the Third True Magic with one of those names by her side, jeweled necklace hanging from one of her hands and a vial of blood sneakily taken from the man that had caught the eyes of the entire Tower in the other.
Though he was a bit of an idiot for falling for Tohsaka instead of herself, in Luviagelita's opinion.
The woman was aiming to summon his Heroic Spirit counterpart in the Archer class, one of the six Classes that had been retained. Luviagelita hadn't managed to get all the information she could from the Matou, but she had managed to get the notes on the classes of Archer, Lancer, Rider, Caster, Berserker, and Assassin. The ritual was designed for seven Servants, and seven Masters, and if the number of Servants was reduced to six, there would be a Master without a Servant. To patch the hole, the Einzbern head had filled it with the Avenger class. He had intended to fix the mistakes of the original designers of the class, but the Grail that Luvia had helped build activated sooner than expected, and the very first Servant summoned was Avenger.
Now she had to keep an eye out in case the 'Evils of all Mankind' was summoned again on top of winning the war itself.
But luckily for her, she was summoning the strongest Servant. Sure, he may not be the most powerful, but he always had a weapon for the situation; she just needed to keep an eye out for Rule Breaker. And to make it even better, no one would know of his legend yet, so only the Servants had a chance to identify him, a task made all the harder by his many weapons from many other Heroic Spirits.
Luvia glanced around the hotel room, double checking to make sure no one would be walking in during the summoning. The woman had reserved the room, and the two rooms next to it as a safety measure, for the week. Due to the time when the Magus Killer took down an entire hotel to attack one of the other competitors of his own Grail War, Luvia wasn't planning on staying in the hotel for more than a couple of days.
But it would do just fine as a starting point.
She placed the jewel and the blood sample into the circle, and started chanting.
"Bare and silver and iron," she intoned. "Stone for foundation and the Grand Duke of contracts. My great master Shveinorg for the ancestor. A wall for the descending winds. The four gates shall close and come out the crown. Let the three-forked road to the kingdom cycle."
The circle before her was glowing. She was summoning a Servant!
"Enclose. Enclose. Enclose. Enclose. Enclose," she continued, hand raised high. "Five times for each rep-."
At this point, there was an explosion. Not a simple 'boom' that would be occurring next door if someone popped an unusually large balloon, but an explosion of a fireball that rocked the earth, a 'KRACK-OOOOOOOOOOOOOM!' of a building near the docks. Such an explosion caused the girl to lose her balance, falling into the circle with a surprised squeal.
A much softer 'boom' occurred in the hotel, and Luvia heard shouts of confused men and a shout of surprise of someone she had thought left behind.
…And there was the link of Prana connecting her to a Servant in the building.
Groaning, Luvia got up and marched out of her hotel room, opening the door to the hallway and knocking over a little girl munching on some cheese. At the same time, the door across from the hall opened, where Luvia saw a face that she could recognize anywhere, even if the body it belonged to was slightly younger and the hair was gray.
"YOU!" Luvia and the other woman shouted simultaneously upon seeing each other, pointing fingers at each other.
"I never thought you would become a Heroic Spirit, my rival," Luvia stated, lowering her finger. "Tell me, what was it that finally put you on the Throne?"
The other woman sighed. "I'm not," she admitted, defeat in her voice. "Let's get this over with."
With that, Rin Tohsaka stared at her longtime rival, glaring at her. "Servant Caster. I ask of you, are you my Master?"
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Archer stood and coughed, trying to regain his senses.
Normally, when he was summoned, he appeared in Rin Tohsaka's home with an explosion, ruining her living room. Normally, the explosion wasn't so big that it
blinded and
deafened a Heroic Spirit.
If there was an explosion like that in Rin's mansion, she wouldn't
have a mansion left, bounded fields or no.
As Archer tried to see again and regain his hearing, information poured into his head. A Holy Grail War, with the goal of killing all six other Heroic Spirits. He was still summoned under the Archer class, his preferred class, so he had his bow instead of just having his Reality Marble throwing swords at his opponents.
Then more information, unexpected information, followed, revealing that the location of the War was a city he had never heard of, Mitakihara. It was also the
Seventh Holy Grail War, the first in the city but the Seventh
total. Why people were insistent on continuing the bloodbath… There was also shock that one of the classes that was summoned was
Avenger, the class that had allowed the summoning of Angra Mainyu which had corrupted the Grail of Fuyuki.
But everything paled in comparison to a single
demand that pounded into his head.
Prevent the Witch of Salvation from being born.
Archer groaned as he held his head. One of
those missions, as a Beast of Alaya. At least he was being given some control as to how to go about it.
As he silently cursed his E-Rank Luck, he felt a small person pushing against him. He looked down and blinked, his vision clearing as he saw a girl no older than fourteen years, with long black hair and a dirty purple dress, a shield on her arm.
His surprise increased when he felt the tell-tale signs of Prana flowing from her to himself, with three marks on the hand that she was pushing him with.
With a sigh, he picked up his master and fled the rubble of what now appeared what used to be a warehouse near the docks. He'd be able to ask her a few questions about who she was later, if she tried to summon a Heroic Spirit, and if she was his Master. For now, it would be a good idea to avoid the local police and fire department; there was no way that the explosion was missed, and he had to get his Master out of there before the police closed in.
____________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________
As the inferno blazed at the docks, a woman in a black dress made of feathers stood on the top of the hospital, watching from a distance.
'
Thank you for informing me that Caster has been summoned, Nagisa,' the woman telepathically told one of her Servants.
'You are free to return to the shadows when you wish.'
There was silence on the other end of the conversation, but the woman felt the girl return to the shadows.
"Is there any chance of you releasing us?" begged the Incubator in a cage behind the woman. The cage was made of iron, but it was magically enchanted so that the Incubator could not use any magic, not even to use the three flower-like Command Seals on its back.
"No," the woman replied, not even turning her head. "You deserve so much more than this. You will not be released if I have anything to say about it, not before I can acomplish my goals."
"Could you please take away these emotions? Please?" Kyubey begged.
"No," the woman replied, voice falling deeply in memories of hatred. "You deserve so much more..."
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"Magic and Hope and Despair. Stone for foundation and the Grand Duke of contracts. My great teachers Velvet and Tohsaka for the ancestors.
A wall for the descending winds. The four barriers shall close and out come the seeds. Let the three stages of Puella Magi cycle."
"Corrupt. Corrupt. Corrupt. Corrupt. Corrupt.
A hundred times for each repetition.
Just collect the enclosed time."
"Grief."
"...I announce.
Your body shall be under my command, my fate shall be determined by your sword.
Follow the call of the Holy Grail. If you would obey this mind and this reason, then answer my call."
"I make an oath here.
I am the one who shall become the bearer of all suffering.
I am the one who shall lay out the evil of the Incubators.
You are Seven Heavens clad in the Three Great Words.
Emerge from the ring of control, guardian of balance…!"
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Next Episode:
"Saber," Mami shouted, "could you help me with these familars?"
A woman in blue armor with a blue shield appeared next to the Magical Girl, holding up a scimitar. "What kind of hero of justice would I be if I let these monsters roam your school?" she asked.
