A/N: Some readers will probably recognize this story from SpaceBattles. A few people got a bit...
The Sage's Disciple [Fate/Zero SI]
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Chapter 1
- Location
- North Carolina
A/N: Some readers will probably recognize this story from SpaceBattles. A few people got a bit irritated that it wasn't posted here too, so I figured I might as well. I'm not going to drop it in all at once, but a chapter every few days (3-4) until they're caught up. In the meantime, enjoy!
Chapter 1
You know your day has fucked up when you suddenly find yourself facing down a serial killer after popping out of what looks like a magic circle made of blood. The fact that he's supposed to be a fictional serial killer doesn't really help, given that he's literally standing right in front of me. Well, balancing on one foot while drawing said magic blood circle with his other one.
We both stared at each other for a beat.
My reaction was to introduce my fist to his very punchable face before he got more than a syllable out. Now, I'm not a huge musclebound guy, but I can throw a mean left hook when the need arises. Thank whatever god is listening that I had martial arts training so I didn't break my fingers while doing so.
Uryuu Ryuunosuke went down like a sack of potatoes. The crunch against my knuckles indicated that I had likely broken his nose, among other damage.
I waited for a moment to make sure he wasn't going to get back up. Longest moment of my life, let me tell you. Thankfully, he was out like a light. Unsurprisingly for a guy built like a twig, he really couldn't take a punch. Judging by the red streaming down his face and the rapidly purpling skin around his nose, getting laid out by two hundred pounds of Appalachian Germano-Irishman probably won't be good for his complexion.
I nudged his ribs with my foot to double check before kneeling down and putting a hand over his mouth. Not sure if it's good news or not, but I didn't end up shoving his nose back into his brain as he's still breathing.
Only now did I turn my attention to myself. While I was dressed in my normal clothes, there was an addition that I didn't notice until then. My fingers probed the outline of something on my face. I can't see it because of the angle and the lighting, but it felt like it was an old Renaissance plague doctor's mask. Or rather just the upper half of one. With the hood of my jacket pulled up, only my hands and the lower half of my face were exposed.
"The hell?" I muttered.
A whimper from the other side of the room snapped me back, reminding me that I wasn't the only one in here. A kid, couldn't have been more than five or six, was crudely tied up and gagged with tape and cloth.
I remembered this part. As such, I tried not to look in the direction of the flashing TV.
Rising to my feet, I quickly made my way over to him, though I stopped as he recoiled. Right, I probably looked like some demon to him, appearing out of nowhere like I did. The mask didn't help.
Slowly, I crouched down and pushed my hood back before sliding the mask off. I tried to give a reassuring smile, but I don't think it worked, "Can you understand me?"
The kid went stock still, panicked eyes roaming over my face, before nodding once.
"Good. Good," I replied, keeping my smile in place, "Okay. I'm gonna get you out of there. Roll over and hold still a minute so I can get your hands loose."
It took a few seconds for me to pick away at the edge of the duct tape before I got a good hold of it. With a few tugs, I pulled it loose before going to work on the strips binding his legs together while his freed hands pulled the gag out of his mouth.
I never really thought about how small kids his age could be. When the boy stood up, I was still taller than him even when crouched down. He was trembling too. I think adrenaline was the only thing keeping him conscious.
His eyes started to move over towards the TV. I shifted so that I was on the side of him facing away from it, "Look at me," I urged. He glanced at me before slowly moving back.
I could see the vague outline of a human head against the light. I tried again, "Look at me."
This time he obeyed.
Making sure to keep his attention on me, I continued, "What's your name? Do you have family or friends nearby?"
"Kazuo," He nodded shakily, though it takes him a moment to find his voice. I broke a little from how listless it sounded, "Aki-chan lives a few houses down."
"Alright, good," I sighed with relief before looking the boy dead in the eye, "Kazuo, I need you to be strong for a little bit longer," I looked around for the most likely exit. Keeping myself between him and the…bodies, I led him to the door, "Can you make it to Aki-chan's house by yourself?"
Seeing freedom must have sparked something, because Kazuo perked up a little bit. His nod was a little more determined, "But what about you?"
I gestured back to the other room, "I'm gonna keep an eye on him. Make sure he doesn't get away," I waved a hand, "Now go on."
As his little hand grasped the door handle, Kazuo paused before looking back, "Arigato, Karasu-san."
With that said, he disappeared into the night.
I watched the darkened doorway for a moment before I snorted, "Karasu-san, eh? Guess I did kind of look like a crow-man."
That little spark of amusement only last for a split-second before I quickly found myself face-first in a trashcan, emptying my thankfully empty stomach as I came to terms with my first thoughts on my situation.
Oh God, I was in the Nasuverse.
After cleaning myself up, a glance at the unconscious serial killer on the floor reminded me that he hadn't been tied up yet. The roll of tape he'd used to restrain Kazuo was still sitting on a nearby table. I used the rest of the thing to hog-tie his hands and feet together behind his back, which gave me an opportunity to empty his pockets and examine his hands. No command seals. He hadn't finished the ritual.
Then how the hell did I end up here?
Picking up the stack of clipped papers that had been Ryuunosuke's "grimoire," I flipped through until I saw a diagram that closely matched the one currently on the floor.
Gotta say, it was awfully considerate of his family to write this in English. I'd have been completely lost otherwise.
Say what you will about his morals, the psychopath had an eye for details. I couldn't find any differences between what was on the page and the blood circle. I stashed the notes in my jacket pocket.
I could use it…no. I didn't want to be in the Grail War. No matter how helpful a Caster might be in getting me home. Besides, the environment can affect the Servant summoned. I didn't want to get involved with any Servant that would correspond to this.
Problem now is the circle itself.
I could leave it as is. Ryuunosuke's been leaving them at his previous killings. The issue is that those didn't work. But this one does and in canon it summoned a Servant. Any magus worth their salt would recognize it. And if the wrong magus in the wrong place decided to flip on the news at the wrong time…
The Association would bring down the hammer. Given the size of Fuyuki and how far it would spread before it could be halted, I could be safe in assuming the result would be nuclear in scale at worst. At the very least, it would involve Kazuo and any family he has left, his friend and her family, any other friends he has and their families, and so on.
Depending on how fast Kazuo ran, the police could be here in about ten minutes or less. I didn't have time to clean this up. Luckily, there is another solution.
With three trips and one more visit to the trashcan, I pulled Kazuo's parents' bodies into the entryway without getting blood on myself before covering them with coats. I only have so many clothes and I don't want to get questioned by the police.
I dashed into the kitchen, well aware that time was running out. I managed to find a bottle of what I assumed to be vodka and a cloth, though I had to scramble around the drawers to find a matchbook.
With my improvised Molotov cocktail in hand, I stepped back out into the living room. Popping the cap off of the sake, I stuck the cloth in.
As I was about to strike a match, I looked at Ryuunosuke on the floor. I was about to murder this ma- no, thing. No matter how empathetic I was, I felt no urge to save him.
Though he wasn't awake to hear it, I felt I had to say something aloud anyway, "People call you a demon. I know you're not one, but it's a fitting name nonetheless," I scraped the match against the box, causing it to flare to life as I slipped the matchbook into a pocket. Holding the bottle in one hand and the match in the other, I finished, "I hope you like fire, because you're going to see a lot of it in hell, Demon."
I lit the cloth and threw the bottle at the circle. When I ran, I only paused to scoop up the mask.
Chapter 1
You know your day has fucked up when you suddenly find yourself facing down a serial killer after popping out of what looks like a magic circle made of blood. The fact that he's supposed to be a fictional serial killer doesn't really help, given that he's literally standing right in front of me. Well, balancing on one foot while drawing said magic blood circle with his other one.
We both stared at each other for a beat.
My reaction was to introduce my fist to his very punchable face before he got more than a syllable out. Now, I'm not a huge musclebound guy, but I can throw a mean left hook when the need arises. Thank whatever god is listening that I had martial arts training so I didn't break my fingers while doing so.
Uryuu Ryuunosuke went down like a sack of potatoes. The crunch against my knuckles indicated that I had likely broken his nose, among other damage.
I waited for a moment to make sure he wasn't going to get back up. Longest moment of my life, let me tell you. Thankfully, he was out like a light. Unsurprisingly for a guy built like a twig, he really couldn't take a punch. Judging by the red streaming down his face and the rapidly purpling skin around his nose, getting laid out by two hundred pounds of Appalachian Germano-Irishman probably won't be good for his complexion.
I nudged his ribs with my foot to double check before kneeling down and putting a hand over his mouth. Not sure if it's good news or not, but I didn't end up shoving his nose back into his brain as he's still breathing.
Only now did I turn my attention to myself. While I was dressed in my normal clothes, there was an addition that I didn't notice until then. My fingers probed the outline of something on my face. I can't see it because of the angle and the lighting, but it felt like it was an old Renaissance plague doctor's mask. Or rather just the upper half of one. With the hood of my jacket pulled up, only my hands and the lower half of my face were exposed.
"The hell?" I muttered.
A whimper from the other side of the room snapped me back, reminding me that I wasn't the only one in here. A kid, couldn't have been more than five or six, was crudely tied up and gagged with tape and cloth.
I remembered this part. As such, I tried not to look in the direction of the flashing TV.
Rising to my feet, I quickly made my way over to him, though I stopped as he recoiled. Right, I probably looked like some demon to him, appearing out of nowhere like I did. The mask didn't help.
Slowly, I crouched down and pushed my hood back before sliding the mask off. I tried to give a reassuring smile, but I don't think it worked, "Can you understand me?"
The kid went stock still, panicked eyes roaming over my face, before nodding once.
"Good. Good," I replied, keeping my smile in place, "Okay. I'm gonna get you out of there. Roll over and hold still a minute so I can get your hands loose."
It took a few seconds for me to pick away at the edge of the duct tape before I got a good hold of it. With a few tugs, I pulled it loose before going to work on the strips binding his legs together while his freed hands pulled the gag out of his mouth.
I never really thought about how small kids his age could be. When the boy stood up, I was still taller than him even when crouched down. He was trembling too. I think adrenaline was the only thing keeping him conscious.
His eyes started to move over towards the TV. I shifted so that I was on the side of him facing away from it, "Look at me," I urged. He glanced at me before slowly moving back.
I could see the vague outline of a human head against the light. I tried again, "Look at me."
This time he obeyed.
Making sure to keep his attention on me, I continued, "What's your name? Do you have family or friends nearby?"
"Kazuo," He nodded shakily, though it takes him a moment to find his voice. I broke a little from how listless it sounded, "Aki-chan lives a few houses down."
"Alright, good," I sighed with relief before looking the boy dead in the eye, "Kazuo, I need you to be strong for a little bit longer," I looked around for the most likely exit. Keeping myself between him and the…bodies, I led him to the door, "Can you make it to Aki-chan's house by yourself?"
Seeing freedom must have sparked something, because Kazuo perked up a little bit. His nod was a little more determined, "But what about you?"
I gestured back to the other room, "I'm gonna keep an eye on him. Make sure he doesn't get away," I waved a hand, "Now go on."
As his little hand grasped the door handle, Kazuo paused before looking back, "Arigato, Karasu-san."
With that said, he disappeared into the night.
I watched the darkened doorway for a moment before I snorted, "Karasu-san, eh? Guess I did kind of look like a crow-man."
That little spark of amusement only last for a split-second before I quickly found myself face-first in a trashcan, emptying my thankfully empty stomach as I came to terms with my first thoughts on my situation.
Oh God, I was in the Nasuverse.
After cleaning myself up, a glance at the unconscious serial killer on the floor reminded me that he hadn't been tied up yet. The roll of tape he'd used to restrain Kazuo was still sitting on a nearby table. I used the rest of the thing to hog-tie his hands and feet together behind his back, which gave me an opportunity to empty his pockets and examine his hands. No command seals. He hadn't finished the ritual.
Then how the hell did I end up here?
Picking up the stack of clipped papers that had been Ryuunosuke's "grimoire," I flipped through until I saw a diagram that closely matched the one currently on the floor.
Gotta say, it was awfully considerate of his family to write this in English. I'd have been completely lost otherwise.
Say what you will about his morals, the psychopath had an eye for details. I couldn't find any differences between what was on the page and the blood circle. I stashed the notes in my jacket pocket.
I could use it…no. I didn't want to be in the Grail War. No matter how helpful a Caster might be in getting me home. Besides, the environment can affect the Servant summoned. I didn't want to get involved with any Servant that would correspond to this.
Problem now is the circle itself.
I could leave it as is. Ryuunosuke's been leaving them at his previous killings. The issue is that those didn't work. But this one does and in canon it summoned a Servant. Any magus worth their salt would recognize it. And if the wrong magus in the wrong place decided to flip on the news at the wrong time…
The Association would bring down the hammer. Given the size of Fuyuki and how far it would spread before it could be halted, I could be safe in assuming the result would be nuclear in scale at worst. At the very least, it would involve Kazuo and any family he has left, his friend and her family, any other friends he has and their families, and so on.
Depending on how fast Kazuo ran, the police could be here in about ten minutes or less. I didn't have time to clean this up. Luckily, there is another solution.
With three trips and one more visit to the trashcan, I pulled Kazuo's parents' bodies into the entryway without getting blood on myself before covering them with coats. I only have so many clothes and I don't want to get questioned by the police.
I dashed into the kitchen, well aware that time was running out. I managed to find a bottle of what I assumed to be vodka and a cloth, though I had to scramble around the drawers to find a matchbook.
With my improvised Molotov cocktail in hand, I stepped back out into the living room. Popping the cap off of the sake, I stuck the cloth in.
As I was about to strike a match, I looked at Ryuunosuke on the floor. I was about to murder this ma- no, thing. No matter how empathetic I was, I felt no urge to save him.
Though he wasn't awake to hear it, I felt I had to say something aloud anyway, "People call you a demon. I know you're not one, but it's a fitting name nonetheless," I scraped the match against the box, causing it to flare to life as I slipped the matchbook into a pocket. Holding the bottle in one hand and the match in the other, I finished, "I hope you like fire, because you're going to see a lot of it in hell, Demon."
I lit the cloth and threw the bottle at the circle. When I ran, I only paused to scoop up the mask.
- Location
- Fox Empire
Glad to see this here!
Chapter 2
- Location
- North Carolina
Chapter 2
Soooo…yeah. I just committed arson and manslaughter. Both of those by themselves are bad enough and punishable by at least ten years in prison. I should really be concerned about how this didn't bother me as much as I thought it would, though I guess I can take comfort in the fact that I prevented the nuclear option from being necessary.
As soon as I started the fire, I bolted. As disappointed as Kazuo's gonna be when he finds out "Karasu-san" disappeared, I really didn't want to be around to explain to the nice police officers why the house was on fire.
Since I didn't know if street cameras were a thing yet in 90s Japan, I pulled my hood back up before running. Not exactly a fool-proof disguise, but it would make identifying me at a distance more difficult. Also, it was December, which meant it was as cold as Satan's ballsack.
I stopped at a public map board to both catch my breath and to figure out where the hell I was in this insane city. Thankfully, the map makers were kind enough to put a "you are here" dot. Rather considerate of them. According to the map, I was in Downtown Miyama, close to what's considered South Miyama.
Plopping my ass down on the bench next to the board, I took stock of what I was dropped into.
In less than a day, all hell was going to break loose when the Holy Grail War started. Or it was until I punched out and immolated Caster's Master, thus preventing his summoning altogether.
…Wow. That was not a sentence I ever expected to use.
All in all, I think I did a good thing. Saber and Japan's schoolgirls will remain safe from giant tentacle monsters. At least until Nrvnqsr Chaos comes along.
Alright, scratch that. Grail War was probably going to be delayed for a few days until Angra Mainyu picked another wildcard Master. Which when I think about it, might have made things worse. Gilles de Rais and Ryuunosuke were predictable. Horrifying, but still predictable. Whoever gets chosen as the seventh Master has a chance of summoning a competent Caster.
Medea was terrifying enough in the fifth war. Apply that kind of power to the clusterfuck of the fourth…
And here I was, right in the middle of said clusterfuck. I really needed to get out of this country and/or plane of existence before that bomb went off.
There was literally only one person who had a chance of getting me back home. Of course, that's me working under the generous assumption that he wasn't the reason I was here to begin with.
Wizard Marshal Kishua Zelretch Schweinorg. The only known practitioner of the Second True Magic.
I was aware that fanon tends to portray him as a Merlin-level prankster that rarely takes anything seriously. From what little I know of him from more official sources, that is inaccurate. While he does have a mischievous streak a mile wide, proven by the mere existence of the Kaleidostick in whatever dimension that is, he's dead serious about things that could be genocide-scale. Dropping some random nobody into the middle of a Grail War for shits and giggles doesn't seem his style. If he brought me here, there was likely a damn good reason for it.
Of course, given what else lives here, there could be a number of other things capable of dragging me here. I don't particularly want to meet any of them.
Hopefully, I could convince Zelretch to send me back. Problem is, I don't know how to find him. He only rarely pops up at the Clocktower, and getting in there would be down right impossible for me right now.
Surviving this clusterfuck and getting home would seem to involve getting out of Fuyuki as a first step. Unfortunately, I needed money for that unless I wanted to walk. I had about twenty-five USD on me, plus four one thousand yen notes that I nabbed from Ryuunosuke's wallet. Couldn't use credits cards since my own account doesn't exist in this world and he didn't have any.
If currency exchange was still approximately the same as my own time, I had about sixty-five hundred yen total. Divide that by one hundred…and I had the total equivalent of around sixty-five USD. Don't know how many establishments will take American currency, so I had to assume that only forty of that is usable. If I stick to fast food, that might get me two or three meals. Four, if I kept them small.
Unless I hit the motherload on a lottery ticket, I wasn't getting out of Japan anytime soon. Approaching one of the Masters didn't even cross my mind. I would just get ganked by a Servant or shot by Kiritsugu.
Ironically, I think Fuyuki might be the safest place for me until the last day of the War. None of the big bad things that terrorize the rest of the world seem to come anywhere near this city while the Grail War is running. Gilgamesh would probably just stomp any Dead Apostle that dares trying to despoil his "garden." Staying here means that I get to avoid most of the weird shit that decided to set up shop in Japan.
The only good thing I could say about the fourth war specifically was that none of the Servants needed to drain civilians for power, meaning they would likely leave me alone unless my luck was truly horrendous.
As my mind tried to come up with silver linings, my hands fiddled with the mask I'd appeared with. Now that I could see it in the light provided by the street lamps, my initial thoughts on it were a bit off. It wasn't a Plague Doctor's mask or rather it wasn't one anymore. It kind of looked like someone had turned the former into a masquerade mask.
It was a large ensemble, made of stiff boiled black leather over a wire frame. When it was on my face, it covered from my upper lip to about an inch past my hairline. Its six inch "beak" was leather molded around a piece of metal to keep its shape before being attached to the "face" somehow, angled so that it didn't obstruct vision at all. Darkened glass covered the eyeholes, but flipping it over revealed it was only dark from the outside. A single, wide strip of softer leather dangled from the sides, to be used to hold it in place.
Despite its size, the mask was almost weightless and had been molded to fit my face so perfectly that I hadn't realized that I had been wearing it at first.
I frowned as I noticed something. Turning it over in my hands again and again, I saw that there were no signs of stitching, no indication of how its creator got the wiring and metal in there. If I was being honest, it looked like the leather had been grown over it somehow.
Which was probably all the more reason why I should want nothing to do with this potentially Lovecraftian object.
Placing the eldritch mask on the bench next to me, I pulled the "grimoire" out of my pocket after double-checking that no one was nearby. Maybe there's something in here that can help. I doubted there was a "return to sender" spell, but this stack of paper couldn't all be dedicated to a single ritual.
According to the first few pages, this was a primer for Formalcraft, the simplest form of magecraft. The ritual used to summon Servants technically counts as Formalcraft. By the tone of the writing, plus the occasional note, Ryuunosuke's magus ancestor intended this to be part of a stop-gap measure to preserve their family's knowledge until they could develop a crest. Seeing how their descendant turned out, it seemed that the bloodline died long ago, with most of their knowledge gone with it.
As I read, I traced my finger from the right side of the page to the lef- Wait, what?
I blinked a few times as I realized what I was doing. You don't read English right to left.
Squeezing my eyes shut, I shook my head vigorously before examining the pages again. Now that I was aware of it, I could clearly see Japanese kanji. But I was reading it like I was a native and didn't realize the difference…
Aside from a few words and phrases, I'd never been able to speak or read Japanese. Which means something implanted an auto-translate feature in my head. Given the universe I was sitting in, that usually means something bad. Fret not, dear champion.
Having read this kind of story before, I gave a wary glance at the mask before standing up and moving away from it. Keeping my eyes on it the whole time, I continued to back away until I reached a street corner. There is no point in running.
Slowly, I ducked around the corner before quickly peering back around. The mask wasn't on the bench anymore. As I stood up straight again, I jumped when I caught a look at my reflection in a window out the corner of my eye.
The mask was back on my face. I hadn't felt or seen a thing. You cannot escape my gaze.
I quickly pulled it off. Clingy creepy artifact? Check.
Well, that canceled any plan to try chucking it into the ocean. It'd just come back drenched. Then I'd be uncomfortable and cursed.
With a growl, I tied the leather strip to one of my belt loops, letting the mask itself rest against my left thigh. I didn't have a bag to stuff it in, so it would have to do by now. I might get strange looks later, but I should be fine unless they know what it is. I could deal with being just "eccentric."
Without much else to do, I just flipped my hood up and started walking north into the middle of Downtown. If anywhere was going to have a cheap room for the night, it'll be some seedy place there.
I'd been walking for about an hour, before I heard it. The street wasn't busy and there were few people around, so I heard it clearly. The step-shuffle of a half-paralyzed man. I almost browned my trousers on the spot.
'Calm down. You don't have a Servant, you don't have command spells,' I mentally reminded myself, 'You are not a part of this war. He's just a guy on the street. Nothing interesting to see here.'
The hunched and hooded form of Matou Kariya rounded the corner ahead of me. We didn't say a word to each other. Didn't make eye contact. Held my breath as I walked by. I still almost lost my bladder control at the realization that I was likely within arms' reach of Berserker.
Considering that Fate may very well be a sapient creature in this universe, I soon felt justified in calling her a bitch. Just as I was about to pass out of possible line of sight of Kariya, the back of my right hand started stinging and burning.
I broke into a dead sprint.
Soooo…yeah. I just committed arson and manslaughter. Both of those by themselves are bad enough and punishable by at least ten years in prison. I should really be concerned about how this didn't bother me as much as I thought it would, though I guess I can take comfort in the fact that I prevented the nuclear option from being necessary.
As soon as I started the fire, I bolted. As disappointed as Kazuo's gonna be when he finds out "Karasu-san" disappeared, I really didn't want to be around to explain to the nice police officers why the house was on fire.
Since I didn't know if street cameras were a thing yet in 90s Japan, I pulled my hood back up before running. Not exactly a fool-proof disguise, but it would make identifying me at a distance more difficult. Also, it was December, which meant it was as cold as Satan's ballsack.
I stopped at a public map board to both catch my breath and to figure out where the hell I was in this insane city. Thankfully, the map makers were kind enough to put a "you are here" dot. Rather considerate of them. According to the map, I was in Downtown Miyama, close to what's considered South Miyama.
Plopping my ass down on the bench next to the board, I took stock of what I was dropped into.
In less than a day, all hell was going to break loose when the Holy Grail War started. Or it was until I punched out and immolated Caster's Master, thus preventing his summoning altogether.
…Wow. That was not a sentence I ever expected to use.
All in all, I think I did a good thing. Saber and Japan's schoolgirls will remain safe from giant tentacle monsters. At least until Nrvnqsr Chaos comes along.
Alright, scratch that. Grail War was probably going to be delayed for a few days until Angra Mainyu picked another wildcard Master. Which when I think about it, might have made things worse. Gilles de Rais and Ryuunosuke were predictable. Horrifying, but still predictable. Whoever gets chosen as the seventh Master has a chance of summoning a competent Caster.
Medea was terrifying enough in the fifth war. Apply that kind of power to the clusterfuck of the fourth…
And here I was, right in the middle of said clusterfuck. I really needed to get out of this country and/or plane of existence before that bomb went off.
There was literally only one person who had a chance of getting me back home. Of course, that's me working under the generous assumption that he wasn't the reason I was here to begin with.
Wizard Marshal Kishua Zelretch Schweinorg. The only known practitioner of the Second True Magic.
I was aware that fanon tends to portray him as a Merlin-level prankster that rarely takes anything seriously. From what little I know of him from more official sources, that is inaccurate. While he does have a mischievous streak a mile wide, proven by the mere existence of the Kaleidostick in whatever dimension that is, he's dead serious about things that could be genocide-scale. Dropping some random nobody into the middle of a Grail War for shits and giggles doesn't seem his style. If he brought me here, there was likely a damn good reason for it.
Of course, given what else lives here, there could be a number of other things capable of dragging me here. I don't particularly want to meet any of them.
Hopefully, I could convince Zelretch to send me back. Problem is, I don't know how to find him. He only rarely pops up at the Clocktower, and getting in there would be down right impossible for me right now.
Surviving this clusterfuck and getting home would seem to involve getting out of Fuyuki as a first step. Unfortunately, I needed money for that unless I wanted to walk. I had about twenty-five USD on me, plus four one thousand yen notes that I nabbed from Ryuunosuke's wallet. Couldn't use credits cards since my own account doesn't exist in this world and he didn't have any.
If currency exchange was still approximately the same as my own time, I had about sixty-five hundred yen total. Divide that by one hundred…and I had the total equivalent of around sixty-five USD. Don't know how many establishments will take American currency, so I had to assume that only forty of that is usable. If I stick to fast food, that might get me two or three meals. Four, if I kept them small.
Unless I hit the motherload on a lottery ticket, I wasn't getting out of Japan anytime soon. Approaching one of the Masters didn't even cross my mind. I would just get ganked by a Servant or shot by Kiritsugu.
Ironically, I think Fuyuki might be the safest place for me until the last day of the War. None of the big bad things that terrorize the rest of the world seem to come anywhere near this city while the Grail War is running. Gilgamesh would probably just stomp any Dead Apostle that dares trying to despoil his "garden." Staying here means that I get to avoid most of the weird shit that decided to set up shop in Japan.
The only good thing I could say about the fourth war specifically was that none of the Servants needed to drain civilians for power, meaning they would likely leave me alone unless my luck was truly horrendous.
As my mind tried to come up with silver linings, my hands fiddled with the mask I'd appeared with. Now that I could see it in the light provided by the street lamps, my initial thoughts on it were a bit off. It wasn't a Plague Doctor's mask or rather it wasn't one anymore. It kind of looked like someone had turned the former into a masquerade mask.
It was a large ensemble, made of stiff boiled black leather over a wire frame. When it was on my face, it covered from my upper lip to about an inch past my hairline. Its six inch "beak" was leather molded around a piece of metal to keep its shape before being attached to the "face" somehow, angled so that it didn't obstruct vision at all. Darkened glass covered the eyeholes, but flipping it over revealed it was only dark from the outside. A single, wide strip of softer leather dangled from the sides, to be used to hold it in place.
Despite its size, the mask was almost weightless and had been molded to fit my face so perfectly that I hadn't realized that I had been wearing it at first.
I frowned as I noticed something. Turning it over in my hands again and again, I saw that there were no signs of stitching, no indication of how its creator got the wiring and metal in there. If I was being honest, it looked like the leather had been grown over it somehow.
Which was probably all the more reason why I should want nothing to do with this potentially Lovecraftian object.
Placing the eldritch mask on the bench next to me, I pulled the "grimoire" out of my pocket after double-checking that no one was nearby. Maybe there's something in here that can help. I doubted there was a "return to sender" spell, but this stack of paper couldn't all be dedicated to a single ritual.
According to the first few pages, this was a primer for Formalcraft, the simplest form of magecraft. The ritual used to summon Servants technically counts as Formalcraft. By the tone of the writing, plus the occasional note, Ryuunosuke's magus ancestor intended this to be part of a stop-gap measure to preserve their family's knowledge until they could develop a crest. Seeing how their descendant turned out, it seemed that the bloodline died long ago, with most of their knowledge gone with it.
As I read, I traced my finger from the right side of the page to the lef- Wait, what?
I blinked a few times as I realized what I was doing. You don't read English right to left.
Squeezing my eyes shut, I shook my head vigorously before examining the pages again. Now that I was aware of it, I could clearly see Japanese kanji. But I was reading it like I was a native and didn't realize the difference…
Aside from a few words and phrases, I'd never been able to speak or read Japanese. Which means something implanted an auto-translate feature in my head. Given the universe I was sitting in, that usually means something bad. Fret not, dear champion.
Having read this kind of story before, I gave a wary glance at the mask before standing up and moving away from it. Keeping my eyes on it the whole time, I continued to back away until I reached a street corner. There is no point in running.
Slowly, I ducked around the corner before quickly peering back around. The mask wasn't on the bench anymore. As I stood up straight again, I jumped when I caught a look at my reflection in a window out the corner of my eye.
The mask was back on my face. I hadn't felt or seen a thing. You cannot escape my gaze.
I quickly pulled it off. Clingy creepy artifact? Check.
Well, that canceled any plan to try chucking it into the ocean. It'd just come back drenched. Then I'd be uncomfortable and cursed.
With a growl, I tied the leather strip to one of my belt loops, letting the mask itself rest against my left thigh. I didn't have a bag to stuff it in, so it would have to do by now. I might get strange looks later, but I should be fine unless they know what it is. I could deal with being just "eccentric."
Without much else to do, I just flipped my hood up and started walking north into the middle of Downtown. If anywhere was going to have a cheap room for the night, it'll be some seedy place there.
I'd been walking for about an hour, before I heard it. The street wasn't busy and there were few people around, so I heard it clearly. The step-shuffle of a half-paralyzed man. I almost browned my trousers on the spot.
'Calm down. You don't have a Servant, you don't have command spells,' I mentally reminded myself, 'You are not a part of this war. He's just a guy on the street. Nothing interesting to see here.'
The hunched and hooded form of Matou Kariya rounded the corner ahead of me. We didn't say a word to each other. Didn't make eye contact. Held my breath as I walked by. I still almost lost my bladder control at the realization that I was likely within arms' reach of Berserker.
Considering that Fate may very well be a sapient creature in this universe, I soon felt justified in calling her a bitch. Just as I was about to pass out of possible line of sight of Kariya, the back of my right hand started stinging and burning.
I broke into a dead sprint.
Prismatic Glaive
Friend to the Owl of Civilization
It's here! Yay!
Chapter 3
- Location
- North Carolina
Chapter 3
Thankfully for my only set of clothing, my body decided that escaping from death by murder knight took precedence over soiling my pants. If nothing else is gained from the Grail War, I can say I got some decent cardio.
After running five more blocks, I was hunched over and breathing hard. All the while, I was sending a baleful glare at the back of my right hand, which now sported three red markings. I made the mistake of having a desire that the Grail could potentially grant within proximity to it.
Remember my assessment of the potential wisdom of staying in Fuyuki? All down the drain. My list of safe havens had been reduced drastically.
Go anywhere near the Church? Suicide by Kirei or Assassin.
Go apparently anywhere in Miyama? Suicide by Berserker.
Try to leave the city without going to the Church? Suicide by Supervisor and/or everybody else.
I had to summon a Servant immediately or die by the hands of the other six. Never have I been more grateful for my packrat tendencies as I happened to have an instruction manual to do just that.
Luckily, I hadn't been pursued. I think I had caught Kariya just after he had summoned Berserker, which meant he would have been in horrendous pain and likely didn't even notice my presence.
I needed to pick a place to carry out the ritual, so I tracked down another map board.
Well, I could do it at Ryuudouji Temple. But if what I remember about magecraft in Nasuverse is right, that'd be announcing to every Master that I was there with a big neon sign. Using leylines draws a lot of attention.
Keeping in mind that I am the least combat-capable Master in the war, barring perhaps Waver, I really didn't want that, no matter how much of a power boost it would give. Especially when Gilgamesh is part of the competition.
I should also avoid trying to summon anywhere else on the mountain itself, given the anti-spirit wards on it.
It looked like there was a patch of woods just off of the mountain, near the high school. Far enough away that it wouldn't be inside of the wards, yet still isolated.
Deciding to save time, I shelled out some money to catch a bus to the edge of the Downtown. From there, it took another two hours of walking before I hit the forest.
According to my watch, it was 2 AM when I arrived.
It was quiet in the woods. No birds chirping, no squirrels darting about. For the first time in the past few hours, I felt calm as everything was finally peaceful. Sadly, I only could only spare a moment to enjoy it. I didn't have the time.
Snapping off the branches from a few trees and picking up some twigs and dry grass, I built up a small campfire and lit it with one of my matches to give myself something to see by.
Seeing as I didn't have any chicken blood, mercury, or what have you, I had to make due with drawing the circle in the dirt with a stick. It was a crude thing and it took me an hour and a half as I glanced back and forth, but I think I got it right.
Not exactly a glorious beginning to my first spell. I just hoped it worked and didn't explode. That would be just my luck.
Thumbing the page to the incantation, I cleared my throat before starting.
There was something that time. A feeling of warmth spread across my body, starting at my back. It was pleasant, like warm water.
The pleasant feeling was starting to get uncomfortable as a sharp pain stabbed into my head. I winced, but kept going as the circle started to emit a faint glow.
With each word, the heat on and under my skin was growing unbearable, to the point where I half-expected to start melting. I had to shut my eyes to block out the blinding headache forming behind them and to shut out the equally blinding light from the circle. Thankfully, I didn't need to see to finish it.
The last words of the ritual felt like lead on my tongue as the rest of me felt like it was on fire. Sweat was dripping off me from every pore as exhaustion threaten to send me toppling to the ground. I cracked my eyes open to see the result.
Smoke poured out of the circle, obscuring everything. But in the dead silence of the night, I heard the soft sound of sandal-clad feet displacing dirt.
One foot after the other, joined by a third thump. Likely a staff.
I couldn't stop a stupid grin from spreading across my face as the figure came into view. He was dressed in a loose two-piece blue robe, the lower half of which was held up by a rope belt and the upper half only covered his shoulders and the upper part of his torso. Underneath was a skin-tight black shirt and on each arm were metal bracers. Clutched in his hand was a rune-carved staff instead of his more famous weapon.
"Yo," the blue-haired man waved, "So you're my Master, eh? Servant Caster, at your service."
I opened my mouth to reply, but the exhaustion from both the ritual and my races from danger caught up to me. I toppled to the ground in a heap.
My last conscious thought for the night was being slightly irritated that Cú Chulainn was taller than me.
Thankfully for my only set of clothing, my body decided that escaping from death by murder knight took precedence over soiling my pants. If nothing else is gained from the Grail War, I can say I got some decent cardio.
After running five more blocks, I was hunched over and breathing hard. All the while, I was sending a baleful glare at the back of my right hand, which now sported three red markings. I made the mistake of having a desire that the Grail could potentially grant within proximity to it.
Remember my assessment of the potential wisdom of staying in Fuyuki? All down the drain. My list of safe havens had been reduced drastically.
Go anywhere near the Church? Suicide by Kirei or Assassin.
Go apparently anywhere in Miyama? Suicide by Berserker.
Try to leave the city without going to the Church? Suicide by Supervisor and/or everybody else.
I had to summon a Servant immediately or die by the hands of the other six. Never have I been more grateful for my packrat tendencies as I happened to have an instruction manual to do just that.
Luckily, I hadn't been pursued. I think I had caught Kariya just after he had summoned Berserker, which meant he would have been in horrendous pain and likely didn't even notice my presence.
I needed to pick a place to carry out the ritual, so I tracked down another map board.
Well, I could do it at Ryuudouji Temple. But if what I remember about magecraft in Nasuverse is right, that'd be announcing to every Master that I was there with a big neon sign. Using leylines draws a lot of attention.
Keeping in mind that I am the least combat-capable Master in the war, barring perhaps Waver, I really didn't want that, no matter how much of a power boost it would give. Especially when Gilgamesh is part of the competition.
I should also avoid trying to summon anywhere else on the mountain itself, given the anti-spirit wards on it.
It looked like there was a patch of woods just off of the mountain, near the high school. Far enough away that it wouldn't be inside of the wards, yet still isolated.
Deciding to save time, I shelled out some money to catch a bus to the edge of the Downtown. From there, it took another two hours of walking before I hit the forest.
According to my watch, it was 2 AM when I arrived.
It was quiet in the woods. No birds chirping, no squirrels darting about. For the first time in the past few hours, I felt calm as everything was finally peaceful. Sadly, I only could only spare a moment to enjoy it. I didn't have the time.
Snapping off the branches from a few trees and picking up some twigs and dry grass, I built up a small campfire and lit it with one of my matches to give myself something to see by.
Seeing as I didn't have any chicken blood, mercury, or what have you, I had to make due with drawing the circle in the dirt with a stick. It was a crude thing and it took me an hour and a half as I glanced back and forth, but I think I got it right.
Not exactly a glorious beginning to my first spell. I just hoped it worked and didn't explode. That would be just my luck.
Thumbing the page to the incantation, I cleared my throat before starting.
"Fill, fill, fill, fill, fill. Repeat five times. But destroy each when filled."
As I said the words, I expected to feel something. But all that was there was my own embarrassment as I remembered that nothing was supposed to happen yet. Regardless, I continued.
"A base of silver and steel.
A foundation of stone and the Archduke of Contracts."
There was something that time. A feeling of warmth spread across my body, starting at my back. It was pleasant, like warm water.
"A wall to block the falling wind. The gates of all four directions close.
From the crown, come forth and follow the forked road to the Kingdom."
The pleasant feeling was starting to get uncomfortable as a sharp pain stabbed into my head. I winced, but kept going as the circle started to emit a faint glow.
"I hearby propose. My will creates your body, and your sword creates my destiny.
Abiding by the summons of the Holy Grail, if you accede to this will and reason, answer me."
With each word, the heat on and under my skin was growing unbearable, to the point where I half-expected to start melting. I had to shut my eyes to block out the blinding headache forming behind them and to shut out the equally blinding light from the circle. Thankfully, I didn't need to see to finish it.
"I hearby swear that I shall be all that is good in the world. That I shall defeat all evil in the world.
Seventh heaven clad in the three great words of power, come forth from the circle of balance, guardian of scales!"
The last words of the ritual felt like lead on my tongue as the rest of me felt like it was on fire. Sweat was dripping off me from every pore as exhaustion threaten to send me toppling to the ground. I cracked my eyes open to see the result.
Smoke poured out of the circle, obscuring everything. But in the dead silence of the night, I heard the soft sound of sandal-clad feet displacing dirt.
One foot after the other, joined by a third thump. Likely a staff.
I couldn't stop a stupid grin from spreading across my face as the figure came into view. He was dressed in a loose two-piece blue robe, the lower half of which was held up by a rope belt and the upper half only covered his shoulders and the upper part of his torso. Underneath was a skin-tight black shirt and on each arm were metal bracers. Clutched in his hand was a rune-carved staff instead of his more famous weapon.
"Yo," the blue-haired man waved, "So you're my Master, eh? Servant Caster, at your service."
I opened my mouth to reply, but the exhaustion from both the ritual and my races from danger caught up to me. I toppled to the ground in a heap.
My last conscious thought for the night was being slightly irritated that Cú Chulainn was taller than me.
- Location
- Elsewhere
DevilsAdvocate
Always follow the golden rule.
Ha! I will ruin it for you!
.
Something happens, then something else happens, and then we get something else happening.
.
I have now SPOILED IT FOR YOU! HA!
MaHaL
Conductor of the Choir of Death
- Location
- Canada
Oh I'm up to date over on SB so it's all good but I CAN'T BELIEVE YOU MENTIONED THE THING THAT HAPPENS!
HOW COULD YOU DO THAT TO ALL THESE POOR FORMERLY UNSPOILED READERS?!
- Location
- North Carolina
This time I will.
Chapter 4
- Location
- North Carolina
Chapter 4
When consciousness returned, it was to bright sunlight and a pounding headache. While my body still felt warm, it wasn't the skin-melting heat from the summoning.
Cracking open my eyes revealed the blurry outline of leafless trees and a crackling fire. I must have made a noise as I woke up because something blue moved into my field of vision.
"About time you woke up, Master," A jovial voice remarked, "Fainting as soon as I was summoned doesn't make the best impression on your Servant. It doesn't say good things about your fortitude."
I craned my neck to see the voice's source as my vision cleared, revealing the smirking face of the Hound of Ulster looking down at me. I shrugged and tried to roll my shoulders before realizing I was propped up against a tree, "It…was a busy night. How long was I out?"
As I spoke, I noticed the cloud of frosted breath coming out of my mouth was at odds with how warm I was.
"Not long. It's noon now," Caster replied, "It got pretty cold though, so I had to use a bit of magic to keep you from dying of hypothermia."
Magic? I blinked and examined myself. It didn't take me long to find it. On the inside of my jacket, a dimly-glowing rune stood out from the gray material. Ansuz. If I remember my Elder Futhark runes correctly, it literally meant "one of the Aesir." In relation to what I knew of Norse rune magic from my world, it was used to invoke the power of a god. When Lancer…er, Caster used it in Unlimited Blade Works, Ansuz conjured fire. Given who his father is, it makes sense. I guess it came with a low-power setting that just made heat.
The thing that made my brain short out for a second was an accompanying observation. This was one of the Primordial Runes that Scáthach taught him, which the Fraga and a whole lot of other magi would kill to learn just one of.
And it was essentially being used as a miniaturized space heater.
The simple ridiculousness of it made me laugh helplessly. Never let it be said that Cú Chulainn wasn't a fan of mundane utility.
Caster cocked an eyebrow, "What's so funny?"
"Just the sheer incredulity of an ancient form of Rune Magic so stupidly powerful that magi would literally sell several generations of their descendants to learn how to use just one…being used as a magical blanket."
"Well, when you put it like that…" He replied, scratching the side of his head sheepishly before busting out laughing himself. When he calmed down, the Servant looked intrigued, "You seemed to recognize it. You a rune specialist?"
"No," I replied, "I can read Elder Futhark runes, not cast spells with them. And, uh…" I paused, "I'm not actually a magus."
I took a Viking History class in college. Sue me.
"Eh?" Caster tilted his head to one side, "You sure? 'Cause you're providing enough prana to support me. Actually, a bit more than I need."
What.
"Yeah," He continued, "I could probably go all out for a while. Maybe use my Noble Phantasms a few times."
This was wrong. I should be in the same situation as Kuzuki. I should not be able to support him because I didn't have Magic Circuits. Think. Was there anything strange that happened? Besides ending up here?
Right. During the summoning, the burning started at my back. Magic Circuits are in the soul, but also exist as a pseudo-nervous system all throughout the body. It shouldn't have started anywhere specific, but all over.
Quickly shucking my jacket and shirt, I twisted to look over my shoulder as much as physically possible while ignoring the now-biting cold. While I could only see a bit of my right shoulder blade, my eyes locked onto a pair of jagged lines seared into my pale skin. Numbly, I switched shoulders, finding four more on the other side. Those ran over my shoulder and down my left arm, stopping just short of my elbow.
"Caster," I spoke quietly, "How many scar lines are on my back?"
Shifting around behind me, I saw him crouch and quietly count to himself, "…Eight…twelve…seventeen…twenty-five. Twenty-five," He snorted, "Looks like someone did a piss poor job of implanting a crest. Not that I could do better as Spiritual Surgery was never my thing," I felt a finger poke at my skin and warmth spread across my back as he did something, though it quickly receded, "But it looks like only eighteen are viable. Decent quality, though."
Caster glanced up at my face, "You had no idea about this, did you?"
I shook my head. When had this happened? I was living life as normal, then I was in front of Ryuunosuke. There was no in-between. No stereotypical blank spot of memory.
"There's something odd…" Cú Chulainn hummed, chewing on his cheek before continuing, "This isn't a crest. Or rather if it is, someone tore it apart until only the separate individual Magic Circuits were left, then layered them into you one at a time and hoping they'd take. They're all connected and functioning somehow, but I'm not sure how they'll hold up under strain. Still, it seems for all intents and purposes, they're yours now. Do they hurt? These scars look pretty fresh."
"A bit of a lingering burn, probably from the summoning. But nothing else," Which was weird. I didn't even notice anything before that. A disturbing mystery tabled for another time. I needed to focus on the silver lining, "I suppose I'm better off than I originally thought."
"We'll have to keep an eye on them," the Servant commented, "This stinks of something weird, even by my standards."
Dry grass crunched under his feet as he walked back around and settled himself by the fire, "Well, there's nothing for it for now. Don't think I caught your name. I'd prefer to have something to refer to you by other than "Master.""
I opened my mouth to reply, only to freeze as my mind ground to a halt.
I couldn't remember. I remembered having a name. I didn't go through twenty-three years of being called "hey you." I had a fucking name.
But it's gone. One more thing to add to the pile of things apparently done to me.
As I pondered this, my eyes wandered down to the mask still secured to my beltloop.
"Call me Crow," I finally replied, "Or Karasu."
"Crow, eh?" Caster muttered with an odd look on his face as he too stared at the mask. He shook his head and shrugged, "That'll work, I guess. One last thing before we get to planning, though…"
"Were you aware that you've been speaking perfect Gaelic this entire time?"
When consciousness returned, it was to bright sunlight and a pounding headache. While my body still felt warm, it wasn't the skin-melting heat from the summoning.
Cracking open my eyes revealed the blurry outline of leafless trees and a crackling fire. I must have made a noise as I woke up because something blue moved into my field of vision.
"About time you woke up, Master," A jovial voice remarked, "Fainting as soon as I was summoned doesn't make the best impression on your Servant. It doesn't say good things about your fortitude."
I craned my neck to see the voice's source as my vision cleared, revealing the smirking face of the Hound of Ulster looking down at me. I shrugged and tried to roll my shoulders before realizing I was propped up against a tree, "It…was a busy night. How long was I out?"
As I spoke, I noticed the cloud of frosted breath coming out of my mouth was at odds with how warm I was.
"Not long. It's noon now," Caster replied, "It got pretty cold though, so I had to use a bit of magic to keep you from dying of hypothermia."
Magic? I blinked and examined myself. It didn't take me long to find it. On the inside of my jacket, a dimly-glowing rune stood out from the gray material. Ansuz. If I remember my Elder Futhark runes correctly, it literally meant "one of the Aesir." In relation to what I knew of Norse rune magic from my world, it was used to invoke the power of a god. When Lancer…er, Caster used it in Unlimited Blade Works, Ansuz conjured fire. Given who his father is, it makes sense. I guess it came with a low-power setting that just made heat.
The thing that made my brain short out for a second was an accompanying observation. This was one of the Primordial Runes that Scáthach taught him, which the Fraga and a whole lot of other magi would kill to learn just one of.
And it was essentially being used as a miniaturized space heater.
The simple ridiculousness of it made me laugh helplessly. Never let it be said that Cú Chulainn wasn't a fan of mundane utility.
Caster cocked an eyebrow, "What's so funny?"
"Just the sheer incredulity of an ancient form of Rune Magic so stupidly powerful that magi would literally sell several generations of their descendants to learn how to use just one…being used as a magical blanket."
"Well, when you put it like that…" He replied, scratching the side of his head sheepishly before busting out laughing himself. When he calmed down, the Servant looked intrigued, "You seemed to recognize it. You a rune specialist?"
"No," I replied, "I can read Elder Futhark runes, not cast spells with them. And, uh…" I paused, "I'm not actually a magus."
I took a Viking History class in college. Sue me.
"Eh?" Caster tilted his head to one side, "You sure? 'Cause you're providing enough prana to support me. Actually, a bit more than I need."
What.
"Yeah," He continued, "I could probably go all out for a while. Maybe use my Noble Phantasms a few times."
This was wrong. I should be in the same situation as Kuzuki. I should not be able to support him because I didn't have Magic Circuits. Think. Was there anything strange that happened? Besides ending up here?
Right. During the summoning, the burning started at my back. Magic Circuits are in the soul, but also exist as a pseudo-nervous system all throughout the body. It shouldn't have started anywhere specific, but all over.
Quickly shucking my jacket and shirt, I twisted to look over my shoulder as much as physically possible while ignoring the now-biting cold. While I could only see a bit of my right shoulder blade, my eyes locked onto a pair of jagged lines seared into my pale skin. Numbly, I switched shoulders, finding four more on the other side. Those ran over my shoulder and down my left arm, stopping just short of my elbow.
"Caster," I spoke quietly, "How many scar lines are on my back?"
Shifting around behind me, I saw him crouch and quietly count to himself, "…Eight…twelve…seventeen…twenty-five. Twenty-five," He snorted, "Looks like someone did a piss poor job of implanting a crest. Not that I could do better as Spiritual Surgery was never my thing," I felt a finger poke at my skin and warmth spread across my back as he did something, though it quickly receded, "But it looks like only eighteen are viable. Decent quality, though."
Caster glanced up at my face, "You had no idea about this, did you?"
I shook my head. When had this happened? I was living life as normal, then I was in front of Ryuunosuke. There was no in-between. No stereotypical blank spot of memory.
"There's something odd…" Cú Chulainn hummed, chewing on his cheek before continuing, "This isn't a crest. Or rather if it is, someone tore it apart until only the separate individual Magic Circuits were left, then layered them into you one at a time and hoping they'd take. They're all connected and functioning somehow, but I'm not sure how they'll hold up under strain. Still, it seems for all intents and purposes, they're yours now. Do they hurt? These scars look pretty fresh."
"A bit of a lingering burn, probably from the summoning. But nothing else," Which was weird. I didn't even notice anything before that. A disturbing mystery tabled for another time. I needed to focus on the silver lining, "I suppose I'm better off than I originally thought."
"We'll have to keep an eye on them," the Servant commented, "This stinks of something weird, even by my standards."
Dry grass crunched under his feet as he walked back around and settled himself by the fire, "Well, there's nothing for it for now. Don't think I caught your name. I'd prefer to have something to refer to you by other than "Master.""
I opened my mouth to reply, only to freeze as my mind ground to a halt.
I couldn't remember. I remembered having a name. I didn't go through twenty-three years of being called "hey you." I had a fucking name.
But it's gone. One more thing to add to the pile of things apparently done to me.
As I pondered this, my eyes wandered down to the mask still secured to my beltloop.
"Call me Crow," I finally replied, "Or Karasu."
"Crow, eh?" Caster muttered with an odd look on his face as he too stared at the mask. He shook his head and shrugged, "That'll work, I guess. One last thing before we get to planning, though…"
"Were you aware that you've been speaking perfect Gaelic this entire time?"
Killerflood
Corporal Cannonfodder
- Location
- Saṃsāra
You decided to cross post, huh? Let the Murder begin.
Chapter 5
- Location
- North Carolina
Chapter 5
Rather than go into town for food, he'd tracked down and killed a stag a little while ago, which was now roasting over the flames. Both of us were seated on chairs shaped from living wood, staring into the fire.
"…So what you're telling me you are a dimensional traveler with no idea how you got here and only an inkling of how to get back, but you know the identities of every Master and Servant pair?" Caster summarized.
The clearing was a lot different than when I'd woken up. Instead of bare grass, a small cabin had literally been grown and shaped from the surrounding trees. Caster had also liberally warded the area with rune-based bounded fields, mostly to keep a curious normal from wandering in. As he worked, I'd explained the situation to him.
Everything.
"Yep," I replied, studiously ignoring the rumbling coming from my stomach as I tried not to will the deer to cook faster.
While I'd been kind of nauseated watching him skin and gut the animal, I hadn't eaten anything since lunch yesterday so I wasn't going to complain. The cleaned hide was currently drying in the sun, held down by a quartet of rocks. The antlers were placed off to the side, surrounded by a circle of runes. I'm not sure what he was planning on doing with them, but I guessed I would find out soon enough.
"And this whole competition is one giant pointless death trap because the Grail got broken sixty years ago?"
"Uh huh," I paused, then corrected him, "I mean, it still works. Technically. It can grant a wish, just in the worst interpretation possible. It's become the world's most dickish monkey's paw."
Cú Chulainn frowned and poked at the fire with his staff.
Telling him all of this was a risk, nevermind him actually believing me. Servants can be summoned from different parts of their life, meaning their outlooks can change even if their memories are intact. Archer Gilgamesh was summoned from either just before or just after the death of Enkidu, while he was still the tyrant king. Berserker Lancelot was summoned from the aftermath of the Battle of Camlann, after he'd gone mad from grief at Arth- uh, Artoria's death.
Cú Chulainn's Lancer incarnation was from the peak of his legend, after his last stand in defense of Ulster. His Battle Continuation skill in that form reflected the actions he took to keep himself standing after being mortally wounded.
It's difficult to determine age from an anime character in comparison to a…well, a real person, but his Caster incarnation looked younger than his Unlimited Blade Works counterpart. I know it's possible, since that was the case with the version of him that appeared in Fate/Prototype, even if that was an alternate timeline. I also knew it was possible for him to be summoned into multiple classes.
The Lancer version of him just wanted a good fight and didn't have any regrets that he wanted to fix. But this one…this one looked about the age when he was still learning from Scáthach, before he earned Gáe Bulg. He may have different goals.
Finally, he sighed and closed his eyes as he leaned back. One of his red cat-like eyes cracked open to regard me after a few more moments of silence.
"Alright. Where do we start?" Caster asked.
What.
"You're taking this…surprisingly well," I remarked.
He shrugged, "I was taught by a witch that killed things until she became immortal somehow. This still doesn't rate in the top five. Top ten, maybe."
Oh right. Celtic mythology got downright weird sometimes without even touching anything to do with the Fae. Can you say "giant boar stronger than a Nasuverse dragon?"
"Way I see it, you're either insane or telling the truth," Cú Chulainn flashed a toothy grin, "Either way, it'll be a hell of a fight. I'm in."
Thank God Cú Chulainn was still a simple man with simple tastes.
"Uh…Alright then," I blinked, "Guess first thing's first. Can you make familiars and if so how fast?"
He shrugged, "Find me an animal and give me a few minutes. Why?"
"Cool, should be easy to find a pigeon around here…"
==============================================
"Alright, the priest has taken the bird inside…and that Kirei guy you described is there too. In one of the front benches."
Huh. The false flag "Assassin is dead" operation must've happened last night. That meant the harbor fight was tonight.
"I see him," I replied, "And they're called pews."
It was kind of weird to be seeing through Caster's eyes, who in turn was seeing through the converted pigeon's eyes. Like looking through a pair of binoculars into another pair of binoculars. I could still see just fine, but it was a bit disorienting. Took fifteen minutes to figure out how to do it.
I thought about just finding a payphone and calling the Church. But then I figured a bit of my own misdirection was in order. Hence the pigeon familiar.
See, anyone that's keeping an eye on the church is just going to see one more Master checking in via familiar. If I'd used the phone, then that might have tipped someone off. And by someone, I mean Risei would have told Kirei, who would have told Tokiomi, who are all being watched by Kiritsugu and Maiya. While I'm still an unknown, my competitors are more likely to assume that I'm a more…traditional magus.
In hindsight, I'm really glad that I decided to do it this way. Otherwise, there would have been a decent chance of Kirei picking up the other end.
Speaking of, I've got no idea how to deal with him at the moment. For now, he's firmly in Tokiomi's camp. At this point, Gilgamesh shouldn't have influenced him yet. Key word being shouldn't.
After tonight, I can't rely on my future knowledge. I've already butterflied Gilles de Rais out of the war just by virtue of appearing where I did.
When Risei took the note from the pigeon, I gave a mental nod to Caster. He severed the connection to the bird, causing it to revert back to a normal animal as the runes faded.
Turns out, familiars made with runes are a lot less disturbing than other methods. Take a random bird, apply Berkanan, Raido, and Gebo in tiny lettering several times around the crown of its head, and you've got a homing carrier pigeon that requires neither training nor horrifying vivisection. Just moderately mind-rapey magic.
Using this method doesn't give as much control and it's not permanent, though we could still see through it.
"Alright, that's taken care of," I stated as I blinked away the last bit of blurriness, "On to planning. Now see, there's going to be a big battle tonight down by the docks. Everybody will be there."
If Cú Chulainn were actually a dog, I'd like to imagine that his ears would be sticking straight up right now, "…I'm listening."
"What say we make an entrance?" I grinned, "And to do that, we need some preparations…"
==================================================
The moon was up, the air was crisp. All in all…
It was a damn good night for a walk.
Saber and Lancer were already going at it. Not that I could actually see any of this since they were moving at Servant-level speeds. But the random explosions of dirt and loud clanging were a good indicator.
'Now?' Caster asked in my head, 'C'mon, I'm missing out on the action.'
'Not yet,' I replied, 'Not all of the players are here yet. You'll know when to go. Trust me.'
I put the cheap binoculars up to my face. I had Caster nab them from a shop on the way. Crappy, but I could at least see the battlefield from here.
Where was here? Why, laying on top of a shipping container nearly one hundred feet away. Cú Chulainn was astralized next to me, thoroughly bored. I couldn't blame him. So was I.
My eyes weren't locked onto the ongoing fight, but rather the dark figure perched up on the crane.
Assassin. Or at least one of them. Don't know if there was only one there, but it wouldn't matter in a few minutes.
I didn't bother trying to listen to the mid-fight banter. Couldn't hear it from here anyways.
There's a lull in the fighting. A quick look showed that Saber dismissed her armor.
'Alright, get us closer. The rest of the party is about to show up and we don't want to be late.'
I could almost feel Caster's grin through the link as he partially materialized to pick me up. I managed to pull my hood up just before the world blurred as we crossed ninety feet in a second.
That…was disorienting. But I didn't get turned into a bloody smear, so success!
We don't have to wait long before the crack of thunder and yelling announces the presence of the most boisterous Servant of the war. I could have done without the flashes of lightning ruining my nightvision, though.
Ow.
As Rider spoke, I muttered, "To tell you the truth, I am REALLY tempted to join him."
'Only tempted?'
"His Master's still at the stage where he might use a command seal to do something stupid," I shrugged, "I'm shelving it as a possibility for later."
Right at the pause when he waited for Saber and Lancer's responses, I walked out. Coincidentally behind where Irisviel was standing. Also coincidentally, Caster materialized fully on her other side and snapped his fingers.
A loud explosion was followed by bloodied chunks of Assassin raining down everywhere before fading away. The triple-layered Ansuz runes that he'd been coincidentally standing on had been invisible until activation.
Making sure my face was pointed at where Kayneth was supposed to be, I gave a big, wide toothy smile. I've been told I have a creepy grin when I stretch it far enough. The mask probably didn't help.
"Sorry, there was a bug. Very distracting. What were you all talking about again? I think I missed most of it."
Dead. Fucking. Silence.
Rather than go into town for food, he'd tracked down and killed a stag a little while ago, which was now roasting over the flames. Both of us were seated on chairs shaped from living wood, staring into the fire.
"…So what you're telling me you are a dimensional traveler with no idea how you got here and only an inkling of how to get back, but you know the identities of every Master and Servant pair?" Caster summarized.
The clearing was a lot different than when I'd woken up. Instead of bare grass, a small cabin had literally been grown and shaped from the surrounding trees. Caster had also liberally warded the area with rune-based bounded fields, mostly to keep a curious normal from wandering in. As he worked, I'd explained the situation to him.
Everything.
"Yep," I replied, studiously ignoring the rumbling coming from my stomach as I tried not to will the deer to cook faster.
While I'd been kind of nauseated watching him skin and gut the animal, I hadn't eaten anything since lunch yesterday so I wasn't going to complain. The cleaned hide was currently drying in the sun, held down by a quartet of rocks. The antlers were placed off to the side, surrounded by a circle of runes. I'm not sure what he was planning on doing with them, but I guessed I would find out soon enough.
"And this whole competition is one giant pointless death trap because the Grail got broken sixty years ago?"
"Uh huh," I paused, then corrected him, "I mean, it still works. Technically. It can grant a wish, just in the worst interpretation possible. It's become the world's most dickish monkey's paw."
Cú Chulainn frowned and poked at the fire with his staff.
Telling him all of this was a risk, nevermind him actually believing me. Servants can be summoned from different parts of their life, meaning their outlooks can change even if their memories are intact. Archer Gilgamesh was summoned from either just before or just after the death of Enkidu, while he was still the tyrant king. Berserker Lancelot was summoned from the aftermath of the Battle of Camlann, after he'd gone mad from grief at Arth- uh, Artoria's death.
Cú Chulainn's Lancer incarnation was from the peak of his legend, after his last stand in defense of Ulster. His Battle Continuation skill in that form reflected the actions he took to keep himself standing after being mortally wounded.
It's difficult to determine age from an anime character in comparison to a…well, a real person, but his Caster incarnation looked younger than his Unlimited Blade Works counterpart. I know it's possible, since that was the case with the version of him that appeared in Fate/Prototype, even if that was an alternate timeline. I also knew it was possible for him to be summoned into multiple classes.
The Lancer version of him just wanted a good fight and didn't have any regrets that he wanted to fix. But this one…this one looked about the age when he was still learning from Scáthach, before he earned Gáe Bulg. He may have different goals.
Finally, he sighed and closed his eyes as he leaned back. One of his red cat-like eyes cracked open to regard me after a few more moments of silence.
"Alright. Where do we start?" Caster asked.
What.
"You're taking this…surprisingly well," I remarked.
He shrugged, "I was taught by a witch that killed things until she became immortal somehow. This still doesn't rate in the top five. Top ten, maybe."
Oh right. Celtic mythology got downright weird sometimes without even touching anything to do with the Fae. Can you say "giant boar stronger than a Nasuverse dragon?"
"Way I see it, you're either insane or telling the truth," Cú Chulainn flashed a toothy grin, "Either way, it'll be a hell of a fight. I'm in."
Thank God Cú Chulainn was still a simple man with simple tastes.
"Uh…Alright then," I blinked, "Guess first thing's first. Can you make familiars and if so how fast?"
He shrugged, "Find me an animal and give me a few minutes. Why?"
"Cool, should be easy to find a pigeon around here…"
==============================================
"Alright, the priest has taken the bird inside…and that Kirei guy you described is there too. In one of the front benches."
Huh. The false flag "Assassin is dead" operation must've happened last night. That meant the harbor fight was tonight.
"I see him," I replied, "And they're called pews."
It was kind of weird to be seeing through Caster's eyes, who in turn was seeing through the converted pigeon's eyes. Like looking through a pair of binoculars into another pair of binoculars. I could still see just fine, but it was a bit disorienting. Took fifteen minutes to figure out how to do it.
I thought about just finding a payphone and calling the Church. But then I figured a bit of my own misdirection was in order. Hence the pigeon familiar.
See, anyone that's keeping an eye on the church is just going to see one more Master checking in via familiar. If I'd used the phone, then that might have tipped someone off. And by someone, I mean Risei would have told Kirei, who would have told Tokiomi, who are all being watched by Kiritsugu and Maiya. While I'm still an unknown, my competitors are more likely to assume that I'm a more…traditional magus.
In hindsight, I'm really glad that I decided to do it this way. Otherwise, there would have been a decent chance of Kirei picking up the other end.
Speaking of, I've got no idea how to deal with him at the moment. For now, he's firmly in Tokiomi's camp. At this point, Gilgamesh shouldn't have influenced him yet. Key word being shouldn't.
After tonight, I can't rely on my future knowledge. I've already butterflied Gilles de Rais out of the war just by virtue of appearing where I did.
When Risei took the note from the pigeon, I gave a mental nod to Caster. He severed the connection to the bird, causing it to revert back to a normal animal as the runes faded.
Turns out, familiars made with runes are a lot less disturbing than other methods. Take a random bird, apply Berkanan, Raido, and Gebo in tiny lettering several times around the crown of its head, and you've got a homing carrier pigeon that requires neither training nor horrifying vivisection. Just moderately mind-rapey magic.
Using this method doesn't give as much control and it's not permanent, though we could still see through it.
"Alright, that's taken care of," I stated as I blinked away the last bit of blurriness, "On to planning. Now see, there's going to be a big battle tonight down by the docks. Everybody will be there."
If Cú Chulainn were actually a dog, I'd like to imagine that his ears would be sticking straight up right now, "…I'm listening."
"What say we make an entrance?" I grinned, "And to do that, we need some preparations…"
==================================================
The moon was up, the air was crisp. All in all…
It was a damn good night for a walk.
Saber and Lancer were already going at it. Not that I could actually see any of this since they were moving at Servant-level speeds. But the random explosions of dirt and loud clanging were a good indicator.
'Now?' Caster asked in my head, 'C'mon, I'm missing out on the action.'
'Not yet,' I replied, 'Not all of the players are here yet. You'll know when to go. Trust me.'
I put the cheap binoculars up to my face. I had Caster nab them from a shop on the way. Crappy, but I could at least see the battlefield from here.
Where was here? Why, laying on top of a shipping container nearly one hundred feet away. Cú Chulainn was astralized next to me, thoroughly bored. I couldn't blame him. So was I.
My eyes weren't locked onto the ongoing fight, but rather the dark figure perched up on the crane.
Assassin. Or at least one of them. Don't know if there was only one there, but it wouldn't matter in a few minutes.
I didn't bother trying to listen to the mid-fight banter. Couldn't hear it from here anyways.
There's a lull in the fighting. A quick look showed that Saber dismissed her armor.
'Alright, get us closer. The rest of the party is about to show up and we don't want to be late.'
I could almost feel Caster's grin through the link as he partially materialized to pick me up. I managed to pull my hood up just before the world blurred as we crossed ninety feet in a second.
That…was disorienting. But I didn't get turned into a bloody smear, so success!
We don't have to wait long before the crack of thunder and yelling announces the presence of the most boisterous Servant of the war. I could have done without the flashes of lightning ruining my nightvision, though.
Ow.
As Rider spoke, I muttered, "To tell you the truth, I am REALLY tempted to join him."
'Only tempted?'
"His Master's still at the stage where he might use a command seal to do something stupid," I shrugged, "I'm shelving it as a possibility for later."
Right at the pause when he waited for Saber and Lancer's responses, I walked out. Coincidentally behind where Irisviel was standing. Also coincidentally, Caster materialized fully on her other side and snapped his fingers.
A loud explosion was followed by bloodied chunks of Assassin raining down everywhere before fading away. The triple-layered Ansuz runes that he'd been coincidentally standing on had been invisible until activation.
Making sure my face was pointed at where Kayneth was supposed to be, I gave a big, wide toothy smile. I've been told I have a creepy grin when I stretch it far enough. The mask probably didn't help.
"Sorry, there was a bug. Very distracting. What were you all talking about again? I think I missed most of it."
Dead. Fucking. Silence.
- Location
- Finland
BEST LANCER/CASTER-BRO!!
And that would be bad.
Huh, that's interesting.
*Scribbles down for later use*
Ever thought of using a lot of them for a kamikaze-style bombing?
Aaaand I do believe that his fight-boner is at half-mast.
ALUCAAAAAAAAAAAAARD!!
Broskandar has arrived!
The only question is, did he bring the drinks?
Aaand Kiritsugu's probably not liking how close you're to his wife.
And I doubt the explosion made him like you more.
Followed by a sniper rifle going off.
- Location
- UK
Oh man, I do want more...
Spacebattles has the rest of it
- Location
- UK