The Wondrous Weaving of Wizardry

[Witherbrine26]

I was faster than Taylor; however, a few minutes later, I slowed down to allow her to catch up.

Panting, she continued to walk, hands clasped above her head. Komainu was still skipping ahead. However, she had slowed down as well to not leave Taylor behind.

Through gulps of air Taylor spoke. "How are you so fast?" I flashed her a quick grin before lifting the amulet off my chest.

Wiggling my now skeletal fingers, I grabbed my right hand and detached it with a small pop. Holding it out, a shit-eating grin grew on my face as she paled.

"Need a hand?" I said while tilting my head as if I was winking, which caused the green flame in my right eye to go out for a moment.

I reattached my hand as she sputtered at the reminder that I wasn't human. Setting the amulet on my chest, we continued walking.

A few minutes later, Taylor mustered up the confidence to speak again. "I don't mean to be rude, but what are you?"

Shrugging my shoulders, I spoke. "To be rightfully honest, I have no clue." Looking at her perplexed expression, I elaborated.

"I have no clue; I am a skeleton with all that entails. Food and drink fall through me; however, I can also eat and drink."

Pulling the amulet up again, I allowed myself to blink; any outsider would have seen bone rapidly grow over the eye socket before retracting in a morbid parody of a blink.

Her face morphed into an expression of bafflement before peering closer. Shooting her a grin, I stuck my hands in the pockets of my hoodie and kept walking.

"How does that even work?" Taylor asked, baffled as she sped up to not fall behind. Doing jazz hands, I spoke as a shit-eating grin crawled across my face.

"Magic!" Glaring at me, she just huffed before replying, slightly annoyed. "That doesn't explain anything."

Giving her a side eye, I let the grin drop from my face before giving her a serious reply.

"The truth is my body is formed from dust and energy. That allows it to shift in minor ways according to how I think it should work. For example, people blink, so why can't I? Therefore, because I know I can blink, my body reacts accordingly."

Tapping her chin Taylor mused after I had finished my explanation. "So it's a I think therefore I am sort of deal."

"Pretty much," I said in reply as we entered the commerce section of the boardwalk. Spotting the small tea shop we had been at steered us inside and grabbed a seat.

As we started to order drinks, Taylor sprung another question. "What other stuff can you do?"

Holding up my figure to ask for a moment, I watched the waiter approach with our drinks before taking a sip from the mint tea I had ordered.

Taylor took a sip from her tea and seemed to relax slightly as her eyes looked into the distance, clearly remembering something.

Komainu, on the other hand, took a sip and scrunched her face before leaning over and whispering to me while making grabby motions.

"Sake?"

Sighing, I remember how that was something else Touhou seemed to like, Sake. It was a big deal as the primary alcohol in Gensokyo was sake.

Downing the cup of tea, I let out a sea before swirling my hand over it like a magician doing a trick; this caught Taylor's attention.

Letting a bit of Dust trickle out of my sleeve, I let it pour into Komainu's cup. As the Dust brushed by my fingers, I turned it into sake by focusing on what made sake, mainly fermenting rice.

Spilling through my fingers was a pale green liquid that tumbled into the cup; after I filled it almost to the top, I pulled the Dust back and pushed the cup of sake in front of Komainu.

Taking a long pull, she slumped back in her seat, a long sigh escaping her mouth. Taylor looked back and forth between me and the now full cup.

"How?" She asked in that tone of voice somebody uses when trying to keep calm but is on the verge of exploding.

Looking her in the eyes, I very slowly raised my hands and did jazz hands once again with the reply of magic.

She slowly placed her head in her hands and let out a loud sigh before glaring at me. She couldn't, however, hide the minor twitching of her lip.

Letting a fond slip on my face, I took another sip of tea content in the relaxed atmosphere. We spent the next few hours simply talking over tea and, in one case, sake.

While Taylor shied away from anything relating to school or other friends, a touch of hypnosis ensured that she was relaxed and growing more comfortable with my presence.

Soon I wanted to get back and start work on the Lisa project, so I stood up and stretched out my hand for a goodbye shake.

"I had a good time; want to do this again sometime?" I asked as she took my hand.

The smile that had settled onto her face grew slightly as a glimmer of hope appeared in her eyes. "That would be great."

Giving her a nod, I picked up the mostly incoherent Komainu and tossed her over my shoulder before setting down a small stack of bills and walking out.

Strolling back to my lab, I had a grin on my lips. It was nice to kick back and just chat with somebody.

The added benefit of getting possibly the most powerful parahuman in the world under my sway was just a benefit.

Laying Komainu on the bed I had made and tucking her in, I walked over to the small circle that held Lisa.

I had a couple of ways to approach this. I could use the tried and true method of threatening her: do what I want, or I'll kill you.

That was, however, highly inefficient and, as seen in canon, would most likely end with me dead.

The other option was attempting to hypnotize her. My rank C magecraft gained from EMYIA's class card should allow it.

However, it was not foolproof, and having my possible information nexus snapping out of it would be a disaster.

My best bet would be to hypnotize her and then put her under the guard of my minions. I knew that Cu-lite could use runes. However, I had not explored its whole skill set.

As I was musing, I could feel the Grimoire build up again. As the power grew, I saw a small ornate fountain pen with a brilliant sea green gem enclosed at the end appear in my hands.

I also felt something else. The small white heart that had resided inside my chest since my first few days here was pulled out.

It was a horrible feeling, and I collapsed. My SOUL entered the gem causing it to light up; the color was brilliant and filled me with hope.

As I flipped my Grimore open, that hope turned to despair. The first line of my new power, Soul Gem, caused my metaphorical heart to sink in my chest.

I knew what this was from, and peering at the gem, I saw the very start of the corruption beginning to overtake the gem.

The beautiful green had a small smudge of black near where the pen and gem were joined.

Breathing in and out, I pulled on Magus Education to calm myself down. This was bad; however, I was much less likely to die in a single hit so long as I could react in time.

Holding on to the pen, I pulled on the latent energy stored in the gem, and with minor darkening, I felt change take hold.

Peering down at myself, I was clad in long red robes with green trim. A long staff topped with a purple and dark blue crystal was held in my right hand.

Looking into the mirror, I had made the other day; I beheld my changed form. While my physical form of a skeleton was unchanged, the illusion amulet seemed to conflict with the new barrier I had.

I looked like a skeleton with green flaming eyes clad in a long red robe that ended just above the ankles. I had no shoes on, and staff as tall as I held in my right hand.

This outfit was identical to the one worn by my first and favorite DnD character, Liam Smith. This was concerning but not more so than any other changes the Grimoire brought on.

The benefits were nothing to sneeze at either. This form cost very little upkeep, and so long as I had a method of clearing my grief, I could maintain it indefinitely.

I was also surrounded by a barrier that blocked attacks and could take quite a few hits before shattering. The gem would also spend energy to heal me automatically and could even revive me so long as I had enough.

The downside was that I was not a lich. If my soul gem were destroyed, I would die. However, so long as it was safe and supplied with energy, I would be tough to kill.

Twirling the pen between my fingers, I dismissed the transformation and tucked the pen away in my hoodie pocket. Lisa could wait; I needed to find a method of restoring energy without needing Witches.

The same method used to charge my gem would not work as it relied on both gems being the 'same' and required a ritual circle.

Reaching into my chest, I pulled out the small Shard. Just holding it filled me with HoPe. Placing it next to my soul pen, I saw some of the darkness begin to be leached out.

It was a fairly slow process, and transforming again showed that while it broke, even heavy use would deplete my soul pen.

Speaking of my soul pen, I had not tested what my magical girl powers would be. Hefting my staff, I pulled on the energy clasped in the pen.

Four blasts of crackling blue purple energy slammed into the wall and blew through it. Eyes wide I ran over and peered out.

Nobody had been hurt, and a quick flick of my wrist along with some Dust fixed it. Looking back at my soul gem showed that it had taken almost no enegy for that blast.

I knew what that was; it was Eldritch Blast, one of the staples in Liam's playbook. My eyes quite literally lit up at this thought.

It had been two years since I had formulated Liam's character, and seeing even something as simple as a spell from his book made me giddy.

I decided to ramp up my next spell, the staff was quite clearly his Staff of the Magi, and so by tapping it on the ground, I tried to cast Wall of Force.

Reaching out my hand, it hit an invisible barrier. My soul gem showed that Wall of Force took quite a bit more energy. I guessed I had around ten or so casts by eyeballing the remaining amount.

If this were Liam's staff, it would have a few more tricks. I tested the first my attemping a Distengrate, something not in the standard staff.

To my glee, the Wall of Force vanished, and my soul gem reported that it took a smidge more energy than the Wall of Force.

The last test would be the most dangerous. Liam's last modification before the end of the campaign had been to jailbreak the summon elemental spell.

The jailbreak allowed one to spend one charge per CR they wanted to summon. It allowed Liam to summon a leviathan in order to besiege a city.

A several hundred feet long water monster would draw undue attention, so something smaller was in order.

I didn't have access to the Monster Manual, so I had to try to remember elementals to call upon.

Tapping the staff on the ground, I focused on the idea of a Frost Salamander. Lizards over ten feet tall would be easier to summon.

To my joy, a Frost Salamander crawled out of an icy crack that appeared in the ground. Rubbing its snout, I dismissed it back to its home plan before allowing the transformation to dissipate.

My soul pen was just under half full, so I set it next to the Shard of a Selfless Wish to allow it to regain spent energy.

It was currently around noontime, which meant I had a full day ahead of me. I had just finished dealing with the new power I got, which meant returning to dealing with Lisa.

Approaching the circle, I scuffed it with my shoe and waited for her to wake up. As she bleary opened her eyes and saw me, she scuttled back before slamming into the back wall.

Giving her a grin, I extended my hand before speaking to her.

"Hey Sarah, want a job?"

Powers Gained
Soul Gem
As part of your contract with Kyubey, your soul has been partially separated from your body. It is contained within a tiny gem with a color and aesthetic matching your personality and your wish...well, what WOULD have been your wish if you chose a background, or just a look that 'fits' for Drop-In. The benefits to this state are as follows:

Unaging - You do not physically age from the point of your contract onwards.

Magical Body - You can transform into a Magical Girl form by activating the Soul Gem, where it will rest on a part of your body either embedded onto your skin or as a piece of jewelry (it can remain in this form in your 'civilian' persona, as well). This creates a 'projection' around your physical form that is much more physically athletic and can take a lot of physical punishment with only some of the damage and the pain. Being knocked around or juggled by a powerful Wraith is still an unpleasant and painful experience, but you'd have a good chance of surviving the first few attacks instead of immediately dying like an ordinary person would. It's in this form that you can use your Magic, detailed below. Even better? As long as your Soul Gem is still intact, you can use magical energy to regenerate your body even if you were just a smoldering pile of ash, though this takes time and is a huge drain on your resources - you're more likely to disappear without a full 'tank' of energy ready than completely regenerate from a single cell. You will also be conscious through the entire experience, so...try not to get to that point.

Magical Girls, Represent! - As a bonus, your 'transformed state' has a neat costume and aesthetic of your choosing. It doesn't change its function, but if you want to wear a pretty dress into battle or look like an armored knight of some kind, you can. Just note that what you choose remains the same unless you find another way to modify it.

That said, this isn't all sunshine and pink dresses. There are some downsides.

No Wish For You - I'm holding onto that wish of yours until we're finished with your chain. Believe me, it is not worth cashing in here.

Energy Requirements - Everything I explained above, and the Magic it powers, is a product of the Soul Gem. The Soul Gem only has so much energy to spend and for the duration of this jump, you can only regain energy by using the remnants of Wraiths after defeating them. While you generally won't have to worry about this if you pick your fights wisely, using a huge amount of power or coming back from atomization will put you in the red fairly quickly. Your mood will also dampen and become increasingly manic and depressed the more severe your energy deficit is. This also ties into…

It's Called a Soul Gem For A Reason You Moron - The Soul Gem literally houses your soul. If you're separated from it (more than a small room's distance would do it), your body will drop dead and start decomposing, utterly helpless until the Gem is returned to it. You have no motor control or awareness in the Soul Gem itself, to boot. What's more, it's amazingly fragile and if destroyed, will instantly kill you. Hm? You can survive this somehow? Then your Soul Gem will reform with you, but it will lose the same amount of energy needed to restore your body from the ground-up. You'll need to 'refill' quickly.

Game Over - If your Soul Gem is destroyed (without some way to cheat death) or you exhaust all of your energy, you suffer the same fate as other Magical Girls and vanish from existence.

 

[Witherbrine26]

She looked up at me with a befuddled look on her face. It was understandable as I had kidnapped her, but I had decided to put my best foot forward.

Gesturing, I conjured a pair of chairs and gestured for her to take a seat. As she shakily climbed into the chair opposite me, the Grimories' power grew.

I felt the energy grow around my bones, slick like vines, and soon the magical calcium I was made of bend.

Lounging in the chair I felt my body stretch in ways previously impossible, and as Sarah climbed into the chair, I noticed my new vision could pick out the pores on her face.

It seemed the new ability also increased by eyesight, which, combined with Clairvoyance, was incredibly potent.

Giving a fake cough, Sarah cracked a nervous grin before speaking.
"What do you mean by a job?"

"It's fairly simple." I replied, "I just need access to your power. You'll work for me, and in exchange, I can grant most of your desiers."

Tapping her fingers on the arm of the chair, she peered at me through lidded eyes before voicing her question. "What do you mean most?"

Spreading my arms back, I spoke with a grin in my voice. "I'm not an all-powerful genie, I am fairly strong, but some wishes are out of reach."

Scrutinizing me with her green eyes, she started to nod slowly. "Ok, say that I am willing to work for you. What do I get?"

Leaning forward, I clasped my fingers in front of me as I peered into her eyes. "As much money as you need, no maintenance tinker tech for personal use as well as my protection and the possible fixing of your power.

Blinking, she leaned back in her chair as her eyes widened. "You're serious; you can, or at least believe you can, fix my power."

Nodding, I decided to let her think it over. "You'll have to stay here until you make your choice. Take all the time you need."

As she started to muse over my offer, she piped up. "What happens if I refuse?"

Standing up, I spoke over my shoulder as I walked back towards my Grimoire. "I'll simply wipe your memories of this interaction and drop you back at your base."

I, of course, had no intention of doing that. While Lisa's personality made her a bitch her power was much too valuable to discard.

I would be forced to use powerful hypnosis, most likely while in Castle Brunstud, to get her to work for me, which was still far from optimal.

Picking up the Grimoire, I ensured my minions were watching her. I doubted she would try to attack me but better safe than sorry.

Reading the new headline that had appeared, the power was reasonably straightforward but nonetheless potent. Enhanced Dexterity did as it said.

It increased my dexterity, allowing me to be more nimble and quick and sharpening my eyesight. Not very flashy, but still helpful in getting out of a tricky spot.

As I was flipping through the page, Sarah stopped taping on her chair arm and stood up, clearing her throat to catch my attention.

Spinning my heel, I twirled up before looking at her. Slightly nervous, she spoke. "I'm going to accept your offer."

Grinning, I strode forward for a handshake while speaking. "Wonderful! In that case, I doubt you want to stay here, so follow me, and I'll show you to your new home."

Nervously she followed behind me, only stopping to shoot a slight glance at Komainu. It wasn't long before we were on the streets of Brockton, and she had gotten over her fear, or at least enough to ask me questions.

"What are your plans?"

Tossing a grin over my shoulder, I spread my arms out as if encompassing the whole of Brockton Bay. "I want the Bay."

Seeing the shocked look on her face, I chuckled before expanding on my statement. "Fixing it; you should have seen the look on your face."

Grumbling, we continued walking for a few more minutes before arriving at my apartment. The landlord would most likely be confused why we hadn't shown up in a few days, but it wasn't our problem.

Opening the door with the regular shoulder check, I gestured to the slightly run-down place. "Here is where you'll be staying for now."

Reaching into my pocket, I pulled out the cash I had on me, amounting to around three grand. Pushing the bills into her hand, I continued speaking.

"Consider this your advance payment; use it to buy what you need, phone, clothes, food, so on and so forth. Let me know if you need more money."

Taking the money, she nodded, then opened her mouth as if to ask a question before closing it. Striding back towards the entrance, I peered into her eyes and applied a touch of Hypnotism as I left.

I wasn't an idiot; I doubted she would actually be working for me, so a nudge that would prevent her from thinking about ditching me would help.

Besides, even if she tried to fight back, it would be a one-sided curb stomp due to the difference in strength. Walking back to my lab, I looked around the city.

While not much had changed from my other incursions, people did seem to be better. They walked about with less cowering, and gang signs were starting to be removed.

With the capture of Lung and the Empire, most people started feeling hope. While there were countless other small gangs, they could now be fought with the PRT, not on the back foot.

I doubted it would last long; you would have new people coming to Brockton. The two options were Accord due to his dealings with Coil and the Butcher because they had been kicked out years ago.

As I opened the door to my lab, I felt the Grimores power swelling again. Staggering in, I felt pressure on my skull like somebody was trying to open it with a hammer.

Information filled my head; I now knew the proper way to forge a mace or brew a healing potion on par with the ones I received from Healing Potions.

This new power also synergized with Sorcery - Enchantment. While not as powerful as gaining new dots, I could see the flaws in my previous work that now stuck out like a sore thumb.

Grimore's were something else I knew how to make, not the Grimore but something similar. Just by parsing the information, it seemed like this was the basis for my Grimore.

Even without the other benefits, I now only needed a tenth of the materials that would make the same quantity.

The power did have a shortcoming; I could, for example, make Gáe Bolg, but I needed the proper materials, and good luck getting sea creature bones on Earth Bet.

That was the issue; I could make items approaching divine quality with only a fraction of the time and materials spent. I still needed the materials, and Earth Bet was magicless.

Tapping my foot on the floor, a bit of Dust spilled out of my pants, and I froze. I knew from Endless Legend that Dust could make magical items instantly.

Letting Dust fall out of my sleeve and on the floor, I let it pile up before crouching down and touching it with a finger.

I decided to start with something relatively simple, a healing potion; the first step was to make a glass vial, which was pretty easy. The next step was more challenging as well as much more expensive.

Picking up a handful of Dust, I poured it into the vial, and as it passed through my fingers, I focused on how to brew a health potion.

From grinding the petals and tossing them in a bubbling cauldron to adding a dash of crystals, I focused.

After what felt like forever, I saw the Dust spill through my fingers changes. The Dust was now a ruby red liquid and had soon filled the vial.

Brushing the remaining Dust off my fingers, I took a sip of the liquid and grinned. It was a health potion.

This was huge because I naturally gathered Dust. I could, with enough time, craft extremely powerful items.

There were two cavitates; the first was that the more powerful or magical significant the base goods were, the more expansive it would be to create from Dust.

The second issue was that when crafting from Dust it was prohibelty costly. Just creating that potion had cost me around a day worth of Dust.

I could solve that issue by transmuting Dust to the base goods then going from there. That did hit with the Tinker issue.

To craft something like Gáe Bolg, I would need tools that could forge bone of that caliber. To make tools of that caliber, I would need tools able to create potent tools so on and forth.

I was currently at the beginning of the Tinker loop, and it caught me in the worst time as well. If I had gotten this sooner, I could have sat down for a few weeks to a month in order to get set up.

As it was now, however, I didn't have the time to sit around and build; I had hired Lisa, new parahumans could be arriving in the bay any day now, and if I were seen buying even the basic supplies, I would have the PRT kicking down my door.

I could start with the simple tools, conjure a forge, and the essential tools. I would just need to keep an ear out for new problems I needed to solve.

Holding my hands in the air, I started to gesture as if directing a band. I know how to craft anything I wanted to set my mind to, and so the new items were easy to see in my mind.

Soon enough, a plethora of craft tools was set in the corner. Everything from a forge to a mortar and pestle was created from Dust.

It had taken most of the Dust I had gotten from the past few days, so I wouldn't be doing any excellent crafting soon, but the basics were essential.

My next step would be imporving my tools. It would have been too costly to create enchanted tools, so I would need to enchant the tools myself.

The first thing would be the forging equipment, such as the anvil, tongs, and hammer. Those would be the easiest to acquire materials for.

The Boat Graveyard and the Trainyard would be sources of high quality material and my newfound skills would allow me to make increadible thin armor that, when combined with some Dust and enchanting, would be incredible armor.

I got to work by letting a few pinches of Dust settle on the anvil. This was a mix of Master Craftsman and Sorcery - Enchantment.

Focusing, I focused on what an anvil was. It was the surface weapons. They were forged on, where metal was shaped and birthed into anything.

It held against anything from the sing-song hammering of legends being made. To the simple taps of a horseshoe being fixed.

My focus slipped for a brief moment as Grimore's power grew. I got no new power, but the sensation was distracting nonetheless.

As I leaned back, the Dust seeped into the anvil as it shifted slightly. Checking my mental clock, I was surprised that it had taken me a few hours to enchant the anvil.

Peering at the said anvil, I saw its new enchantments. It could resist much harder blows and reduce errors made when forging on it.

Not awe-inspiring, but still a reasonably good enchantment for my first time. The next step was the forge itself. I had just enough Dust for that.

Powers Gained
Enhanced Dexterity
You are graceful and quick, able to move with great dexterity and aim with deadly precision. Your eyesight is also clearer and lets you take in more details than you could outside of your Magical Girl form. This can be bought multiple times, letting you keep up with a long-term firefight even as you're being juggled in the air.

Master Craftsman
You are a master of crafts and trades, from weapon-smithing to alchemy and more. This gives you the requisite knowledge, experience and skills to create and craft any item that you want, with the right materials. The items that you make tend to last for a long time without maintenance and are unlikely to break before their owners, along with it only costing a tenth of the original materials to make without sacrificing any quality and beauty. With enough time, research and materials, you can recreate any magical item that you can get your hands on with the same quality. The items that you have already made can also be mass produced by you at a faster rate and even less materials than before. This skill doesn't give you the ability to make items at the height of a god with a similar purview but your breadth of applicability should be broader. Through, with enough time and experience you could reach the level of a god's purview but it would take decades with only this perk.

 

[Witherbrine26]

The forge, while taking longer, was still relatively simple to enchant. By the time I had finished, it was approaching midnight.

Standing up and cracking my back, I plodded towards the bed where Kominu was sleeping. Tossing off my shirt, I slid next to her and closed my eyes.

My dreams were a swirling menagerie of strange phantasms, but soon it was over. Waking up, I saw the spot next to me was empty.

Blinking, I shuffled the covers off before swinging my legs out. Peering, I saw Komainu through the Grimoire humming under her breath.

Padding over, I ruffled her hair and plopped down beside her, speaking as she turned another page. "I plan on going out today. Do you mind watching Lisa?"

Turning to face me, she frowned but nodded as she stood up and started getting out of her pajamas and dressed. As I tossed on a shirt, I continued to speak.

"I'll be grabbing some money, so if you need to buy anything, don't hesitate."

Striding out, I quickly, through a combination of teleporting and walking, arrived at an ATM. This one was pretty close to my lab, and so it was chained to the pole.

That, however, did not stop me from simply Psychic Abilities - Cyberkinesis to gain access to several recent accounts and promptly siphon several thousand dollars.

They would probably notice, but the owners couldn't do anything, and I doubted the PRT could even get involved.

Using the same method as how I got here, I arrived back at my lab as Komainu was tidying the bed,

Handing her the cash, I spoke as I gave her a brief pat on the head. "Take a few of me in case you need to buy something. Also, don't forget to have a good day."

Giving me a hug, she gestured for two of the pre-Worm me to follow as she left.

My next goal would be to find a way off Earth Bet. I know it's possible I got here through the NeverNever I just needed to find a proper way to access it.

I doubted the Dresden Files method would work as I had no access to that kind of magic. The best chance would most likely be a powerful Formalcraft ritual.

As I sat down and let ideas tumble through my head, I finally landed on an idea. I could craft something that would connect to my soul to act as a navigator.

Using that and Oni Lee's power, I could feasibly get myself into the NeverNever. As I was connecting the ideas, it seemed like it might work. That should hopefully let me get home.

Standing up, I stretched before starting to walk towards the entrance. I needed to find Oni Lee, another teleporter would work, but he was local and did not piss off the heroes.

As I approached the door, I hesitated in front of the doorknob, I could hear sirens, and they were close. I doubted it was the cops as they typically did not answer calls in the Docks.

Cracking the door open, I saw a few vans and motorbikes pull up outside my Bounded Field. They were flashing the Green lights of the PRT.

Armsmaster swung a leg off his bike and approached the Field with a halberd and a small device. He pointed the device at the field before talking to a couple of the agents.

Looking around, I spotted Miss Militia as well as Dauntless. Miss Militia was holding a green and black gun while looking around, eyes hard.

Dauntless was floating in the sky as a ball of light, presumably to cut off my escape route. This was bad; darting over to the batteries, I started to send them into Castle Brunestud.

"Come out with your hands up! This is the PRT!" I heard a voice boom as I was finishing up. Tucking the Grimoire under my arm, I started to think of how I would flee when I heard a crashing sound.

Whirling around, I saw a halberd slam into the door before it was removed and the door kicked down. I doubted teleporting away would work as Armsmaster seemed to have some way to track my magecraft.

Armsmaster charged in halberd rasied infront of him, barking out a command. "Put your hands on the ground!"

Taking a few steps back, I conjured half a dozen swords and flung them at him. He knocked aside most of them in a fantastic display of marital skill before continuing forward.

Pulling on my Soul Pen, I transformed into a kaleidoscope of colors. Hefting Liam's staff, I prepared an Eldritch Blast but was forced to dodge out of the way as a salvo of bullets sailed towards me.

I couldn't just use my most potent abilities as I didn't have the batteries backing me up. I still had D-ranked agility, which let me dodge his first blow.

Eye of the Mind (True) let me dance around his attacks while summoning blades to assist me. I was still on the back foot because all the Skills couldn't help me because I had no skill in melee fights.

As I conjured a wall of swords to buy me a moment, I glanced at my minions. They had blown down the wall and were fighting with the PRT agents.

Unfortunately, they were mere replicas, so while Cu-lite and the angels were doing well, Dauntless, combined with the agents, were able to hem them in, preventing them from helping me.

As I jumped back, I felt towards my circuits and felt them start to reach just under half. Pulling on my Soul Pen, I sent an Eldritch Blast rocketing towards Miss Militia.

As she dove out of the way, I felt my Grimore's power blossom before stumbling as the truth hit me. My Origin bloomed in my mind, and it was Fantasy.

I could deny it as a swallow could deny it was a bird; it was an inescapable part of me and would shape me now that it was awake.

I was drawn back to reality as I felt my left arm disappear. Pushing off, I darted to the left as Armsmaster swung again.

Downing a Healing Potion, I conjured a different sword, Caladbolg II. Sending it soaring towards Armsmaster, I teleported back, gasping as my magic circuits started to sputter.

Attempting to slam Caladbolg II aside, Armsater paid the price as it spun past his halberd and into his sternum. I had not enhanced it to A ranked, so it didn't explode.

Slamming through the wall, I pulled on my Soul Pen and cast Dimeson Door, casuing a purple and blue shroud to encircle me as I appeared on a rooftop 500 feet away.

Dismissing my Magical Girl form, I ducked into an alleyway before strolling out as an average person. I didn't know if Armsmaster had survived, but I didn't want to be in town if he didn't.

I needed to find a new location to settle before I attempted the NeverNever move. Step one was to grab Komainu. Sighning, I started to walk.

As I was walking, I pondered over my new power. It was simple Origin, a single word that summed up the totality of a person's being.

Mine was Fantasy, impossible or improbable things that were dreamed up. I knew that knowing your origin would change you.

There was a person with the Origin of Consumption, and it fucked him over. From what little I knew, it changed his body, and he gained new instincts.

I didn't want to know how Fantasy would change me. This whole new world was amazing and terrifying and like something out of my wildest dream, but fantasy had to be tempered with reality.

Around an hour later, I was in front of the apartment and fully charged up. Pushing the door open, I saw Lisa and Komainu on the couch watching the news.

The headline said New Parahuman responsible for kidnapping engaged. Lisa waited for a moment before speaking clearly against her better judgment.

"What the hell happened!?"

Raising my hands in an attempt to placate her, I closed the door behind me. "They attacked me, and I defended myself."

Placing her head in her hands, she let out a muffled scream before looking back up at me; cutting her off, I spoke.

"I just need your help with one thing, and we'll be out of your hair."

This only enhanced the urgency; if the PRT knew about me, then so did Cauldron, and I did not want to be near any of them if I wasn't absolutely sure I could kill them all in a fight.

Gritting her teeth, Lisa spoke. "What do you need my help for?"

"I need to find Oni Lee."

Blinking slowly, she spoke slowly, her voice raising in bafflement. "You want me to track down the serial suicide bomber!?"

Giving a single nod in affirmative, she slumped back on her couch boneless. Staring up at me, she started to speak again.

"Alright, I'll need some clue though I can't pull facts out of thin air."

Flopping on the couch next to her, I started tapping my chin. I needed to find some way to get a lock on Oni Lee.

I knew that he was a person who served in a gang before Lung came and killed all who wouldn't submit.

His power also killed him every time he teleported and made him an imperfect clone, slowly causing personality death.

The issue was that I had nothing that I could link to him, not even a name. It was practically impossible without using mundane means, and even that was hard because he was Oni Lee and nothing else.

As I was sitting, that word struck me, impossible, was it genuinely impossible, or was I just a bit too narrow-minded? After all, if he were Oni Lee, wouldn't that work?

I would first need to sort out all the people in Castle Brunestud before I could find Oni Lee. Nodding to Lisa, I dropped into the Castle.

Inside was strangely peaceful; the people were all on the ground, unmoving. Freezing, I looked at the spirit before shouting at it.

"What the hell! I needed them; you know that I have shit reserves."

Waving its hand, it jumped down from the small light post that showed the end of the walkway and the start of the driveway.

"You know they wouldn't have served well in the NeverNever. The Shards only extend to Earth. Besides their humans, so fuck 'em!"

Grinding my teeth, I walked over to the bodies and peered around using my Arcanum; it couldn't see souls directly, but all souls extruded mana, which would let me see if the soul had moved on or not.

Seeing an utter lack of mana, I whirled around to the spirit. Striding towards it, I spoke while poking it in the chest.

"I want you to dispose of these bodies, and going forwards, do not touch anything I put in here unless I tell you. Is that understood?"

Giving a lazy grin, it nodded, and I left Castle Brunestud still fuming. I needed a new method to gain energy, and all the acceptable, easy targets had just been killed.

Looking at Lisa, I sat down next to her and put an arm around her shoulder. She scooted a smidge away as I spoke to her.

"Lisa, can I borrow your help for a moment? I just need you to stand still for a bit."

Nodding hesitantly but with a tinge of curiosity, I, with Komainu's help, moved the furniture out of the way and drew a circle using my magic and Dust.

As Lisa stood there and I started to chant the familiar chant to link her Shard with my gem, my Grimoire's power grew. As it settled down, I felt new information grow in the back of my mind.

It was how to build contraptions that could harvest Dust from water. Anything from a small hand-powered crank to megastructures that could siphon entire oceans dry.

That would be very useful in allowing me to create materials for Master Craftsman. However, I pushed that to the side and gestured for Lisa to sit down.

Holding out the compass, I started to chant a new chant. This chant was similar but different and would hopefully locate Oni Lee.

"Ich werde den Oni suchen und finden. Der von Macht und Drachen deformierte Mann. Glatt und leer wird er gefunden werden."

This chant was much calmer than many of my others. It ended with silence as opposed to a ringing cry, and with a slight creak, the compass needle shifted towards the boardwalk.

"Bingo," I whispered as it held perfectly still, pointing towards my ticket off Bet.

Powers Gained
Origin
It's not really possible to determine the value of a human life or one individual's character with a single word...at least, most of the time. Still, every life in this world has a single defining word for them - a compulsion and an instinct that their actions move in harmony with.You also possess such an Origin, such as 'Taboo' or 'Nostalgia', which guides your actions towards it. Any actions you follow that line up with your Origin, particularly Magecraft, will enjoy a noticeable boost in competence as you work in tune with your own nature in this world.

Aquapulvistics
Where there is water, there is Dust. You know how to sift a sizable amount of Dust from any flowing water source. The larger the source, the more you can extract. Useless in Winter, but that's years away, right? Even after you leave Auriga, you still manage to find Dust in water across the multiverse. Nifty, huh?

 

[Witherbrine26]

Walking into his lab, Armsmaster was irritated. He had just arrived from a meeting, and while, for the most part, he was there as head of the Protectorate and nothing more this time, he was needed.

It was a pain to have a vast majority of the parahuman's identity be exposed. The only ones safe were his, Dauntless's' and Assault's past details.

They would be transferring in several parahumans to counter the sudden power vacuum. Grinding his teeth, that was something else that annoyed Armsmaster.

He had been here for years; out of the blue, Lung, the Empire, Coil, and other criminals had been taken out. The worst part is that they were not handed over to the proper authorities and kidnapped or killed.

Taking a deep breath, he pulled out his latest project. He had noticed that the new parahuman behind the Merchants disappearance emanated from a strange field.

If he could track it, that would help him right towards the criminal, and he would be able to find out what happened. The issue was it was just not working.

He would assemble it to a point and then run it into a brick wall. No matter how he disassembled and reassembled it, he would find that final step missing.

It was like his power had no idea how to track this field correctly. That was impossible, of course, or at the least highly improbable.

As he looked into his helmet and turned over ideas on how to fix the problem, he caught a reflection in his helmet's visor. It was massive and covered in furry scales with dozens of eyes.

Turning around, he saw nothing; placing his hand on the table behind him, he relaxed and shook his head slightly. He must have been stressed out for his mind to contort reflections like that.

As he turned back to his project, he heard, and small noise, and the screen lit up. It showed that little of the energy that made up the field was in this room, and running it over his armor showed that it was higher on it.

His lips curled up as he stood up. He would need to go out and test the device in the field. If it worked, then he could organize an attack.

Placing his helmet on his head, he walked out towards his motorcycle. Tapping out a quick message that he was testing out a new tool.

Swinging a leg over his bike, the doors opened, and he roared out. The city whizzed by. Despite the dubious nature of how it had been cleaned, the city was truly nicer, for now at least.

Arriving at the Merchant base, he stepped off his bike before pulling out the small device. The UI quickly started to scan the surrounding areas, and soon enough, he had positive readings.

Setting it on passive, he hooded it up to his bike and climbed back on. As he started the motorcycle, his HUD showed concentrates of the energy field.

It led away from the empty warehouse in jumps. Where ever the energy stopped, there would be a more significant concentration before it appeared nearby.

As he followed the trail, he was almost blinded when an enormous amount oozed from an old warehouse. It was clear this was where the suspect was hiding.

Armsmaster couldn't go in guns blazing; the building had been abandoned and was the location of a suspected criminal, which removed one issue.

However, he would need to report his findings and then get permission to commit a raid. While that could generally take days or even weeks, he was reasonably sure that Director Piggot would approve it relatively quickly, given the potential threat and the opportunity to capture the remaining villains.

Turning around, he headed back to base. Using text-to-speech along with the controls in the handlebars, he started writing a report to send to the director.

Reaching base, he strode up towards the director's office. While he would generally file a meeting, they needed to capitalize on this chance.

After letting the secretary know he was seeking a meeting, he settled back to wait. Only a few minutes later, he was called inside.

Nodding, he spoke in his formal business voice, "Director Piggot."

Finishing up on the keyboard, she replied, "Armsmaster, what do you need?"

Blinking his right eye twice, he sent the report to her email while speaking. "I have the suspect's location in the kidnapping of the Merchants."

Clicking the report open, she started to read through it. Her frown grew as she reached the end. Her eye twitched as she read what had happened under her nose.

"You truly believe this one suspect to be responsible for all the kidnappings."

Nodding, Armsmaster started to lay out his reasoning.

"Yes, first he kidnapped the Merchants next, I saw him abducting the Cornell Bomber. Following that, he kidnapped Consultant Thomas Calvert."

He then took a moment to allow her to digest what he said before counting.

"Then he fought off the Empire killing both Fenja and Hookwolf. Following that, I believe he has been held up in his lab, most likely doing something to his victims."

Her eye twitched slightly, and Piggot fumed. Fortunately, something of this scale allowed her to immediately put boots on the ground instead of waiting for bureaucracy.

As she pressed the pager, another man walked in. Babbling and out of breath, the man spoke.

"One of our agents found Oni Lee."

Eyes snapping to the man Armsmaster and Piggot saw the man was being serious. Grinding her teeth, Piggot started barking out orders.

"I want you to get Assult, Battery, and Velocity on Oni Lee, Armsmaster take Miss Militia and Dauntless and two squad cars to deal with the kidnapper."

Nodding, Armsmaster strode out, his feet clanking on the floor. Walking quickly back towards his bike, he met up with Dauntless and Miss Militia.

Catching them up on the current situation, they zoomed out of the garage ahead of the two PRT vans. It did not take them long to arrive at the warehouse.

Getting off, he spoke over their comms to Miss Militia and Dauntless. "Dauntless, I want you in the sky; make sure he can't escape. Miss Militia, follow me. Trooper, stay out here and prevent any minions from escaping."

As he approached, he held out the device to make sure that this was they place. After beeping loudly, he nodded and took a deep breath before shouting. "Come out with your hands up! This is the PRT!"

He slammed his halberd into the door before pulling the weapon out and kicking the door down. As he entered the building, he saw the parahuman.

He looked young, around 17-18, and whirled around with a shocked look on his face; as Armsmaster charged towards him, he took a few steps back and transformed in a flash of blinding light.

His new form was a skeleton clad in red robes with flaming green eyes. As Armsmaster swung his halberd at the parahuman, swords appeared to bloke the swing before shattering and disappearing.

This back and forth counited as the villain dodged around his blows, summoning swords as need be. Occasionally, bullets would flow past Armsmaster and force the parahuman to avoid them.

Slowly but surely, Armsmaster was forcing him into a corner. However, the villain stumbled out of the blue, and Armsmaster's halberd caught his shoulder on a downward swing.

Contrary to his expectations, the arm was freed with ease and, upon hitting the floor, turned into a fine powder. When transforming back, most transformations healed the user, so he should be fine.

As the skeleton stepped back, his eye sockets narrowed as impossible as that was, and he flung out his left arm that was not holding the staff.

At his side, a spiral sword was conjured. Spinning towards Armsmaster was forced to quickly swing his halberd across his body to knock the blade aside.

As his expertly manufactured halberd made contact with the spiral sword, it shattered as the metal screeched and twisted around the drill-like sword. Now back peddling, he attempted to push himself away from the blade.

However, it seemed to pull him in and, with ease, bypass the armor he spent years building and improving. He gasped as he felt it enter his sternum and scrap against his heart.

It knocked him flat on his back, and he saw the figure slam through the wall and flee through blurry eyes. Pushing his hands on the ground, he attempted to push himself up.

As Miss Militia approched frantic and mouth moving, he waved her off. He was fine, just a bit cold and in a bit of shock. His armor would have sealed the wound.

Looking down, he saw the sword still jutting out of him and a conspucius lack of sealing. As he patted around the blade, he saw what had happened.

The sword had twisted away the vast majority of his armor, and it couldn't seal him up. His leg jerked as he attempted to push himself up.

He wouldn't die here! He was Armsmsater, and he faced death daily; he pushed Lung back and clashed with Kaiser. He would not fail to some new parahuman; he would not.

He would just rest his eyes until Panacea got here. Dragon was constantly nagging him to get more sleep.

Closing his eyes, a faint smile graced his lips as he imagined what Dragon would say when she saw he got more than usual sleep.

 

[Witherbrine26]

Tucking the compass away, I spoke to Lisa. "You can step out now; I recommend some food and a glass of water."

Nodding, Lisa staggered towards the couch and flopped down, groaning while rubbing her head. Turning towards Komainu, I started talking to her as I prepared to leave.

"Keep an eye on Lisa, please and make sure she gets some food in her."

Nodding, she darted and wrapped me in a tight hug before speaking in a voice that quivered slightly. "Please be careful; you lost your arm last time, don't get hurt again."

Looking down at her, my eyes went wide. I didn't know she could do that, but it made sense, given that she was a guardian spirit.

Encircling in her a hug, I replied. "Of course, I promise I will always come back."

Searching my face for any signs of a lie, she eventually nodded before heading into the small kitchenette to prepare Lisa some food.

Flipping out the compass, I vanished and appeared in the alleyway outside. I just needed to grab Oni Lee then I could leave Earth Bet. It would suck to abandon Taylor, but at the end of the day, she was a fun project, and that's it.

Periodically looking down at the compass, I followed the red needle as it guided me toward the boardwalk. I presumed it directed me to the house Oni Lee was in when Jack Slash found him.

As I walked, I spotted PRT vans whizzing by me, lights off. Raising an eyebrow, I wondered if Armsmaster survived. I hoped he did just because he and Dragon were cute.

If he didn't, and he most likely didn't, because Caldbolg ll to the chest was not something that most people could survive. Then it would be a bit sad, but I might be able to resurrect him.

Almost immediately after that idea came to my mind, dozens of blueprints presented themself; Anything from a simple scroll that could call back the recently dead to a serum that could provide simple immortality.

As I peered back down at the compass, I swore. The needle was pointing behind me towards the PRT vans disappearing around the corner.

It seemed they had already bagged Oni Lee, and given that their headquarters were reasonably close by, I doubted I could grab him and escape before reinforcements arrived.

That left me with two options. I could grab him as they left the city for whatever place they imprisoned him, or I could jump their headquarters.

The headquarters would be difficult, but a Birdcage transport would most likely be harder given that I was now down quite a few batteries.

In fact, if I attacked the headquarters, I could pick up an entire pack, given the lack of transports ferrying villains out of the city recently.

That meant step one was getting more Dust; I needed the PRT to be off guard, and giving them a day or so to get Lee settled in would provide that.

Making a small Dust Filtration system would be an excellent start. I would need something to acquire it as well as filters and magnets. I could buy all of those at a nearby store.

It would be nowhere as good or efficient as it is in Endless Legend due to the fact that it will be hobbled together on a small scale.

The system in the game was massive and most likely at least two to three stories tall. Mine would be around two to three feet. Counting my walk toward the boardwalk, I started searching for places I could buy supplies.

Spotting a small shop that appeared to sell everything from butterfly nets to hacksaws, I stepped inside after checking my funds; I had plenty.

As I peered around, I saw a tall, lanky male figure pop up from behind the counter. "Hello! How are you doing today!"

The man practically shouted before leaning forward and grinning. He had a wide bucktoothed smile and appeared around his mid-thirties with slightly greying hair.

Walking up, I started to speak. "I am looking for metal poles, very thing mesh, and magnets. Do you have all of that?"

The man gave another broad grin before scampering off. I waited at the counter for a few minutes tapping my fingers on the counter before he returned.

Stacked high in his arms was precisely what I had asked for. Plopping it down on the counter, he quickly scanned all of it up before looking at me and stating the price.

"The total will be 1,326, would you like a bag with that?"

Chuckling at the obvious question, I nodded, withdrew the exact amount needed, and slid it over. Putting the money in the till, the shopkeep quickly and efficiently bagged the items before handing them off.

"Have a great day!"

"You as well," I replied as I walked out. It was fortunate I had a strength buffing power, or I would have toppled over already.

The first step to setting up the filtering mechanism would be to set up a small base by the bay. Chain teleporting, I soon arrived at one of the many unused ships.

I removed my supplies from the bags and spread them out on the ship deck. It took a few firm hits from the palm of my hand to break apart the magnets.

The next step was dropping the steel poles in the bay. They sunk to the bottom, and I now realized I would need to jump down to build it properly.

Shucking off my clothing, I hopped in the muck-filled bay and soon had the poles affixed to the ground. Teleporting out, I grabbed the mesh and packed the fragments of the magnets between mesh layers.

This time being very slow, I dropped back down into the bay and tied the mesh between the pillars. Shaking it a few times, it seemed firm and would require somebody actively messing with it for it to break.

As I hopped out, the Grimoire's power swelled, and new knowledge pushed at my mind. The Prime Arcanum expanded to encompass further information.

Holding my hand in front of me, I conjured up an illusion using naught but mana, and with a simple flick of my wrist, the illusion started to shift until it was a man dancing across the ship deck.

As I peered around, I noticed what I had missed before. There was mana in everything from the scraps of steel to the bay itself. Looking at the mana around me, the water nearly blinded me.

The water, except Shards, held the largest amount of mana I had ever seen. I then dipped my hand in it and started to pull. A torrent of mana began to flow into my body, and I was forced to stop unless I wanted to blow myself to bits.

As I looked back up, I saw the illusion was still dancing and had gone from merely prancing about with a sword to elegant ballet. It seemed that it held a degree of sentience.

My next step was the hardest thing one could do without stepping into the realm of godhood—a simulacrum, a being that was the duplicated creature for all intents and purposes.

There was a downside; the being was imperfect and was not as powerful as the original. Flipping through my new knowledge did not tell me how weaker they would be, just that they would be less powerful.

Focusing, I poured mana into the air in front of me. It wasn't easy, even when making a copy of myself. However, after a few minutes and a small light show, standing across from me was me.

It was buck naked, not that there was much to show given the skeleton form, but it was still the principal of the matter. I raised my hand to conjure a robe when he clicked a small pen, and he was grabbed in my red robes with Liam's Staff of the Magi in a flash of light.

"No need; I can keep this running for pretty much forever so long as we don't get into a fight. I don't have any of the Grimoire items."

Frowning, I was a smidge annoyed at that, but having multiple of me was excellent for the pure utility alone. Speaking, I took a few steps closer to look it up and down.

"So, what can you do?"

Spinning the staff lightly in place, it responded. "Pretty much all the magic you can do. I am running on about half a tank, though."

That appeared to be the drawback. They could reach the same peaks as I could, but their reserves were much smaller. Carting around a multiple of me would be inconvenient as well.

"In that case, 3.0, I need you to set up defenses and renovate this ship. I want it in tip-top shape."

Sighing, 3.0 looked at me with a clear sign of exasperation on his face before twirling around to do as I asked but not before shooting back over his shoulder.

"Really 3.0? There isn't even a 1.0 here. Won't that get confusing?"

Waving him off, I replied. "Nah, besides, it's pretty simple; I'm 2.0, your 3.0, and so on. Also, no simulacrum. I don't want to deal with that mess!"

"Bo! Spoilsport!" Shaking my head at his antics, I left. I would be back to collect Dust, but I did not doubt that he would set up more Dust strainers. We always tended to focus on economy before anything else.

That meant my next step was to jump into the PRT headquarters. I would need backup, and who better than me, me and me? Excusing that bit of fun, I would still need a solid plan.

Chain-teleporting back to the apartment, I let myself in. Lisa was fast asleep on the couch, and Komainu was entering herself with the TV but was clearly bored.

I could put aside my plans to nab Oni Lee for now. I would need to wait anyway; trying to jump the PRT headquarters myself was stupid. Setting next to Komainu, I threw an arm around her shoulder before speaking.

"I was thinking, what if you and me and some one-on-one time? I give you some proper teaching about Magecraft."

Grinning, she hopped off the couch and dashed to the table, pulling out a pair of chairs. Lisa stirred slightly, and I decided to let you; if she wanted to join in, she was free.

Setting down, I grabbed a few pieces of paper I had bought much earlier and a couple of pencils. I wasn't the best teacher, but I would do my best. I decided to start with a simple explanation of Magecraft

"Magecraft is the reenactment of Mystery. You are doing what is possible with natural means through unnatural methods. For example, if you were to take time to reforge a sword until it was much better, that is natural. If you were to use Reinforcement, you get the same effect but via an unnatural method."

"Seeing as you don't have Magic Circuits, a fair bit of this will be improvised. You aren't human, so you would cast much like a Phantasmal Beast, of which Magecraft is a downgrade."


Looking confused, she waited until I was done and set down her pencil from where she had taken notes. "If what I do is better, why teach Magecraft."

"That is simple, utility. Your innate abilities may be much more powerful, but things such as Hypnosis or Formalcraft are useful no matter what."

As I spoke, the Grimoire grew again; the power settled in my bones like it often did after such significant power. At this point, Lisa had shuffled over the blanket draped around her and was sitting her head on the table.

Grinning, I gave both of them a pat on the head and ignored Lisa's tired grumbling as I continued to teach Komainu Magecraft.

Powers Gained
Arcanum (Additional) x3
Add a level to one Arcnum per level purchased
[3] You may enchant material objects in numerous fantastic manners depending on your other arcana. You may craft illusions out of raw magic that will fool sleepers and inattentive mages. You may give form and substance to mana, making the immaterial, material, at least for a time. You may use spells to draw mana from the environment into yourself, empowering you further. If the need is dire, you may unleash your raw mana in the unique form of celestial fire.
[4] Your spells may now be used to rend the magic of your enemies into nothingness, or allow you to feed on the mana hidden even in base materials. You are suffused with raw magic, and may sculpt it into any shape you desire, or command it as one would a trained animal. You may revitalize extinguished natural nexi of mystical energies or drain similar places of their power. [5] You may create a simulacrum of a beings, animated by your power and subject to all of your commands. You may steal the mystical energies from others through your spellcraft, and use it to your own ends. You may create Hallows; nexi of mystical energy, though this requires great effort. Alternatively you may instead create mystical dead zones where no mage may regain their expended energy.

 

[Witherbrine26]

This teaching continued long into the night. I could tell that Lisa was having difficulty grasping the concepts as her power also attempted to learn, causing ruinous headaches as it tried.

"Lisa, get some sleep, or you're going to get an aneurysm."

Flapping an arm at my head, she scribbled on one of the pieces of paper I had grabbed, "No! I think I understand it. Formalcraft is just a simple ritualistic connection."

Coughing as a tiny bit of blood dribbled past her nose, I peered into her bloodshot eyes and sighed. Lifting her chin, I pushed a bit of mana into her brain and knocked her out.

As she collapsed, I grabbed her before hefting her over my shoulder. Carrying Lisa, I dropped her into the couch before tossing a blanket over her.

Walking back over, I saw Komainu struggling to keep her eyes open while she studied. Chuckling as I rubbed her hair, I lifted her into a princess carry.

Carrying her, I gently set her down on the bed and tucked her in. While sleeping would be nice, I had work to do.

I wanted to attack the PRT headquarters soon, but I needed backup. I didn't know if I could make a simulacrum of other people, so I decided to test now.

Holding my hands in front of me, I focused on Lisa. I pulled up what I knew of her, her bottle green eyes, a smattering of freckles, and a vulpine grin.

As my mana collapsed in front of me, I saw Lisa. I then started talking to her to gauge her mental capacities.

"Hello, Lisa 2.0; how are you today?"

Blinking at me, I noticed that her eyes were practically glowing, there were freckles across her face, and her mouth was curved into a smug grin even as she sputtered and attempted to speak.

Rolling my eyes, I raised my hand and conjured a blade, launching it through her eye. As she collapsed, I vanished her to Castle Brunestud. The spirit should apprentice the gift at the least.

It seemed that mere thought was not enough to conjure a pure simulacrum. My next test would involve biological samples of which I had a good source next to me.

Padding to the sleeping Lisa's form, I whispered Hypnosis into her ear. It was awful how inefficient and weak it was when used without eye contact, but for the effect of suppressing pain for a minute, it was sufficient.

Reaching into her thick blonde hair, I tugged firmly and pulled out a few strands, follicles and all. Twitching slightly, Lisa rolled over as I walked back to my chair.

Holding out one of the strands, I focused again, calling up my thoughts and memories of Lisa. A few minutes later, a form was buck naked in the middle of the room.

"Hello, Lisa 3.0; how are you today?"

Blinking, Lisa reached out, curling her fingers before patting herself down. Her eyes darted back up to me before her lips curled up in a grin as she replied.

"Wonderful, does this mean I'm immortal now?"

Tapping my fingers on the table, I pondered the question. This was a ship of Theseus situation, and I always leaned towards it being the same thing.

"So long as I have a piece of you, you are immortal. Speaking of, I can't have Lisa Prime know about you."

Pouting slightly, she shook her head as another sword speared her through the eye. Dropping her body into Castle Brunestud, I frowned at the blood on the floor.

Scavenging around, I found a mop as well as a bucket. Thankfully, Mother Knows Best taught me how to clean up many things efficiently, including bloodstains.

Soon enough, I had the blood cleaned up and flushed down the toilet. Putting away the supplies, I sat back down to review the results.

I could make a simulacrum of pretty much anything, but how I made it affected things like looks. Biological materials seemed to act as an anchor of sorts, allowing the simulacrum to be 'real.'

It appeared I would be taking a page from Liam's book and collecting the hair of everybody I came across. Tucking the strands of Lisa's hair away, I decided that I could use some sleep.

Shucking my upper layer off, I crawled into bed next to Komainu and closed my eyes. It took quite a few minutes, but I was soon asleep.

My sleep was calm and free of dreams. I was soon awoken by Komainu squirming next to me as she woke up.

Stretching, I put my hands over my head as Komainu tossed the covers off. Swinging my legs out of bed, I grabbed my clothes before looking up and coming face to face with Lisa.

"Why are you not clothed?" She asked with barely concealed annoyance.

"I prefer not to sleep with a shirt on. I assure you I will be clothed soon; besides is not like you can see anything."

Rubbing her forehead, she went to poke my sternum before stumbling and slamming face first into my chest bones. Chuckling, I helped her up and removed the amulet. "

I'm not quite human, as you can see."

"What, how I don't understand." She sputtered as she blinked while rapidly looking around my body.

I'm about nighty eight percent magic and the other percent lower case dust."

She looked even more confused at that statement and resorted to rubbing her nose and tossing my shirt at me. As I put on my clothes, my Grimore's power swelled again.

As the power grew, I felt it blossom into a small strand in my mind. It felt like there was a path I knew how to travel down that I could change at a whim.

Twisting that strand, I walked into the bathroom. As I stepped into the bathroom, I saw that the back wall was gone and extended into a grass path.

As I walked on the path, bare feet brushing through soft grass and a wonderful spring day blooming around me, I saw a house in the distance.

It was winter approaching spring back in the Bay. Most days were wet and miserable as sludge threatened to overtake the city. Despite that, on this path was a nice day.

As I approached the house, I saw it was a lovely little house in Japanese style. Surrounding it were a few bamboo shoots as well as a pond.

Gently opening the door, I saw that the house was fully furnished and decorated. Sitting on one of the counters was a small folded piece of paper.

Opening the paper, I saw that it was a note and started to read it.
Hello, I hope you enjoy the house. I can't wait to see you sometime soon.

The note was unsigned and was a little unsettling. I had hoped that Komainu was an isolated incident, but it seemed that everything from the Griomre had a previous home and was twisted to serve me.

I didn't know why I had gotten the Grimore, and I doubted I would get the answer anytime soon. Walking around the house, I started poking around.

The house was fully furnished, and the closets were packed with clothing. A vast majority ranged from simple Japanese shirts and pants fancy kimonos and hakama that would not look out of place at weddings.

Thankfully there were a few simple T-shirts and shorts; there were even a pair of brown slippers like the ones I had gotten for Christmaschristmas one year.

Sliding into them, I padded out of the house and into the apartment bathroom. As I walked in, the door opened, and Lisa looked at me, confused.

"Hello Lisa, just visiting my house. It's lovely this time of the year."

Blinking, she rubbed her eyes with one of her hands before pushing past me, too tired to deal with me. I smiled as I turned around to face the wall that no longer stretched into a long path.

Walking out, I closed the door behind me. The next step was to grab Oni Lee. To do that, I needed to talk to my simulacrum.

Closing my eyes, I chained teleported to the ship. It was much easier now that I knew the best method of getting there.

As I strolled inside the ship cabin, I saw 3.0 snoozing; feet kicked up on a rotten chair. Walking over, I flicked him on the nose before settling to wait for him to wake up.

"What? You couldn't have let me sleep for longer!" As he stretched, he feigned disapproval.

Frowning at him, I replied. "Your me; you were probably awake and were just faking."

Rocking to his feet, he dramatically shook a finger at me, proclaiming. "Just because your right doesn't mean your correct."

Rolling my eyes, I decided to get down to business. "What have you gotten done over the night."

Walking toward the boat's edge, he started to show me around. "I mainly got around half a dozen filters up and running. They should equal around 3 to 4 times your daily gain."

Grinning, I rubbed my hands together. It would take a bit of time to get it full scale, but once I reinvested, I would be swimming in Dust.

"Well then, let's see our profits, shall we." Flicking my wrist, I gestured for 3.0 to head down and collect the Dust, and groaning; he did so.

A few minutes later, he had returned with a mostly full handheld sack. He clambered back onto the ship and dropped the bag at my feet.

"You really need to get me some of that tele-underwear. It's a pain to do all this by hand."

Opening the sack, I retorted. "You have the same skills I do; just make yourself a pair."

Walking past me, he grumbled while grabbing a pinch of Dust to transform into suitable undergarments.

Running my fingers through the Dust, I could feel the possibilities even in this small sack that would fit in my hand.

With this amount of Dust, I could make things such as tables and other large objects. Grinning, I sifted through the Dust a bit more before standing up.

I would need backup, and what better backup than myself? It took over twenty minutes, but I soon had two more of me.

It would take them around a day to make the tele-underwear. We could still make plans until then.

Pointing towards the first simulacrum, then the second, I spoke. "You shall be 4.0, and you shall be 5.0."

Both of them nodded, and so I counted. "Step one is both of you grab some of this Dust-"

As I was speaking 4.0 and 5.0, they both stood up and, brushing past me, cut me off. As I blinked at them, 4.0 spoke up. "We know the plan; we were you until you made us."

Rubbing the bridge of my nose, I sighed. That was another reason not to make a ton simulacrum; they had the personality of the person you duplicated.

That would be an exciting project in the future, trying to see if I could get a simulacrum under proper mind control and not a kind that would break at the slightest sign of damage.

Clapping my hands, I leaned over the table and got to work thinking. I would attack the PRT headquarters and where the villains were held before being shipped off.

Those with lesser crimes, such as Alabaster, Vicktor, and Othala, were likely already in prison or in another city. The big-time offenders, however, would still be stuck on trial.

As I pondered this, the Grimoire's power crept up my spine. It simply faded back into my bones without forming into a power.

Shaking myself slightly, I got back to work. My basic plan at the moment was to attack head-on with my simulacrum and, while they were distracted, slip inside and nab Oni Lee, as well as any other villains I could grab.

My main issue was with the death of my batteries; I couldn't spam time stop as I could earlier. Tapping my fingers on the table, I tried to think of a solution to this problem.

I could pull mana from inanimate objects; did that mean I could pull it from Dust? Just based on the bay, the more complex what I was pulling from, the more mana I would get.

Dust was tiny nanomachines that could change themself on the molecular level and grow more intelligent the more Dust there was in a network.

Picking up a handful, I peered at them, looking past the surface and for how much a man I could pull from them.

As I looked, I saw that while lesser than the water was almost in scale to it. This solution would help a ton with gaining mana back in a pinch.

I would still have the issue of needing a second or two to pull mana, but it was still better than nothing; Unlimted Bladeworks was a mana hog.

I had figured out the plan; I would arrive with my simulacrum in tow. They would blow down the door with Caldbolg lll. I would sneak in and grab all the villains I could.

We would then flee with the simulacrum holding the line as need be. I just needed to wait for them to build the tele-underwear then we would be good to go.

Powers Gained
Secret Home
You have a pocket dimension of sorts with a small home inside, with a small traditional Japanese house and enough room for all kinds of pets. It can only be entered by following a specific secret path that you may change on a whim. A side benefit is that inside this pocket dimension the weather is generally mild all year long – even a hurricane outside will cause nothing more than a particularly strong downpour inside.

 

[Witherbrine26]

Standing up, I strolled over to where my simulacrum was working. They had conjured the underwear and were now working on enchanting it.

Leaning on the wall, I asked, "How long do you think it'll take you to finish."

3.0 replied without taking his focus off the underwear. "It's going to take around five to sixish hours. That new perk helped a ton."

Nodding, I walked back out. I needed to amuse myself for the next six hours. As I was pacing on the ship, my mind drifted back to what I needed to get to the NeverNever.

I needed a teleportation method, and that was Oni Lee. I needed a way to locate a safe landing point and a way to leave.

The exit point was going to be hard to make, depending on where I ended up. If it was deep in the NeverNever, it could be hard to punch a hole; I also didn't have any powers that directly helped me with travel like this.

I needed something that could anchor me to another world. I did have my original clothes, so those could possibly work.

Shaking my head, I decided to start working on the locater. A compass would work, but I decided to make one instead of buying one.

Scooping up a tiny bit of the Dust and held it in the palm of my hand. Focusing on a compass, I pushed the ideas towards the Dust.

A compass stayed on point; it directed and pointed north no matter what. I was based on the very Earth itself and would never go wrong.

As I focused, the Dust started to swirl in my hand slowly as if being printed and transformed into a perfect compass.

Grinning, I flipped the compass over and checked it for imperfections. It was perfect, not a mark or scratch, as if it had just been made.

My next step was to enchant the compass, this would be much harder than simple enchantments, and I would need to lean on Master Craftsman for it to work.

That meant I needed tools, luckily, I had enchanted a forge and tools before getting raided, so my next step was to move them.

Pulling myself into Castle Brunestud, I saw that the bodies were gone leaving only bone behind. I scowled; we were not barbarians, leaving our scrap lying about.

Scowling, I cupped my hands around my mouth and shouted. "Spirit!"

A few moments later, the figure floated over while gnawing on a bone. I pointed at the bones lying about and asked it. "What are these?"

Shrugging, he replied. "Bones, duh."

Gritting my teeth, I shot back. "I know that! I want you to clean up the bones; I don't care if you stack them in your room. They are not to be where people can see them, understood?"

Face-changing into a scowl, it nodded while grumbling. It scooped up the bones and started walking back to the house.

Rolling my eyes, I walked over to the forge and tools I had enchanted and pulled them out of Castle Brunestud. I appeared back in the real world with a clang.

Placing the tools inside the cooled forge, I picked it up. Walking toward the outside of the boat, I twisted the entrance for my house and soon was walking along the summer path.

It took a few trips and around thirty minutes, but I soon had a small forge I could work at without disrupting the house.

Reaching out, I touched the top of the forge and pushed a smidge of mana into it, causing it to roar to life. Collecting the compass and the bag of Dust, I needed to figure out how to actually make the Wayfinder.

As I paced back and forth, I let thoughts bubble up. Emerald could help. I knew that it had meaning, from intuition to clairvoyance. Silver could also be used to build the frame, as it was an excellent magical metal.

Pulling out more Dust, I conjured a bar of silver and an emerald. This, unfortunately, left me down to just a pinch of Dust. Bringing the forge hotter, I tossed the metal in.

Heating the silver, I soon pulled it out and started to shape it into a frame that could hold a compass and gem. The compass began to heat up as I was working, so I started to pull mana from it to cool it down.

I then pulled the emerald out and fitted it just on top of the compass and in the silver cage that could fit in my hand.

Conjuring a few words to hold the Wayfinder, I dunked it into the quenching water to let it cool. Pulling it out, I had a wonderfully crafted item.

It was a little larger than a compass. In the middle was a compass needle pointing north. Surrounding the compass was a thin lattice of silver that held a perfectly crafted emerald that shone with an inner light.

The process had taken around an hour, and had I been human; I would have been drenched with sweat. The last step was to attune it to my soul, allowing it to track the NeverNever. Holding the Wayfinder to my chest, I closed my eyes and focused on the emerald.

Pulling a metaphorical strand from the Wayfinder, I searched for my soul. Frowning as I didn't find it, I remembered it was in the soul pen.

Pulling the strand towards the pen, I pushed it towards the gem at the end of the pen. The strand slammed into it and bounced off, disrupting my concentration.

Opening my eyes, I walked inside. This would clearly take more time than I had anticipated. As I sat down, my Grimore's power grew once again.

The power bubbled up inside of me before fading away. As I turned back to the Wayfinder, I found that it was farther away than it was a few seconds ago.

As I looked down, I saw that I was floating. Blinking, I told my body to set back down, and it did. The flight was useful but not really needed when I had tele-underwear.

Keeping myself firmly parked in the chair, I pulled a strand from the Wayfinder again. I couldn't connect it to my soul, so maybe magic circuits might work.

From what I vaguely remember, magic circuits were spiritual nerves connected to the soul to grab mana. For some reason, the Clocktower didn't cover what exactly magic circuits were.

As I threaded the strand into my body, I soon found a pulsing mass that was coiled around my ribs. Connecting the strand to my magic circuits, I felt an immediate tug as I opened my eyes again.

I now had a safe way to access the NeverNever. I just needed the method to get into it. Speaking of access, I started to walk back towards the ship.

As I walked back, I twisted the path so that I would arrive inside the ship. As I reached the boat, I saw my simulacrum hard at work. Checking my inner time, I saw that it had only been a few hours.

I had around fourish hours to burn. This was strange. I usually always had something to do since arriving on Earth Bet this sudden free time was weird.

The first thing would be improving my resistance; I could already deal truck loads of damage, whether Broken Phantasms or White Magic, but a solid hit would still put me down.

Pulling out my adventure card, I sucked a breath in through my teeth, causing 4.0 to look up at me and raise a metaphorical eyebrow.

"Uh, other me, your know your flying, right? What was that noise for anyway?"

Looking down, I saw that my walk had turned into a glide where I was floating a few inches off the ground. Growling, I landed before replying to 4.0.

"I leveled up a little over a dozen times which means that Colin is most likely six feet under"

The other me looked up and winced. 3.0 spoke first. "That's not good," 4.0 piped up. "With Colin dead, Dragon won't get her boyfriend," 3.0 scowled at him before continuing. "That also means Dragon will remain in the hands of Saint."

Raising my hand to calm everybody down, I responded. "Firstly, get back to work. Second I think we just nab Colin's body and make a simulacrum of him. The free Dragon and have them work together."

Looking around, I saw primarily unhappy looks as 5.0 spoke. "The main issue is that at the current moment, Dragon has feelings for Colin, but Colin is still an idiot who will enslave Dragon."

Frowning, I nodded; I had read a word of god once where Colin had enslaved Dragon, which was a thing we did not want. Looking back towards my simulacrum, I spoke again.

"Could we just grab Ascalon and leave with it? If nobody has it, Dragon will be fine, and we can work on it."

The simulacrum nodded as they returned to work; leaning back, I fell back as I realized my feet were no longer on the ground. Growling, I cast a glare towards the simulacrum as they chuckled.

Floating off, I decided to tune up my prior enchantments. I had seen how awful the enchantments on my items were before I had Master Craftsman, and now I could tune them up.

Settling down in the corner of the room, I got to work. I would be improving my tele-underwear. If I wanted it to be almost instant teleportation, I couldn't make many changes, so I would focus on reducing the mana cost.

Humming as I worked, I caught myself floating in the air multiple times to my annoyance. I didn't know why I kept floating; for now, it wasn't that big a deal.

Hours later, we had finished and were ready to roll out. Looking towards my simulacrum, I asked a question. "Do you guys have my latest powers or not?"

Shaking their head, 3.0 replied. "We don't, and we don't get new ones either." As we stretched, I thumbed my adventuring card and marked HP up twelve times

Nodding, I kept that in the back of my mind. They would always be weaker and couldn't grow magically as I could.

Focusing on my soul pen, I transformed and was soon in my 'war' form. The form allowed me to kick even more ass and have even more magic.

Scooping up the pouch that 5.0 had refilled when we were working, we tapped our staff on the ground and chain teleported to the closest building to the Rig.

I sighed; I had forgotten that the Rig was over water and didn't want to risk my simulacrum trying to teleport out without a method to get back.

It seemed that I would need to get a new simulacrum but killing the current ones would be a waste.

Walking over to 3.0, I placed a hand on his forehead while saying. "Hold still; this should hopefully work."

As he twitched, I focused on the idea of updating a simulacrum as opposed to making a whole new one. It took a bit of focus, but I soon had sent mana swirling inside of him, making changes to fit with the new me.

Soon enough, I had made changes to all of them and was ready to start. As if in anticipation of the upcoming fight, the Grimoire's power grew like a thumping heartbeat.

The beat faded into my nonexistent blood rushing in my ears as we flew out. Floating slightly apart, we each raised our staffs with shit-eating grins, summoned three Caladbolg lll's, and shouted.

"Caladbolg Three-Thousand!" as we let the A-ranked Noble Phantasm's loose towards the shielded Rig.

Powers Gained
Flight
You can fly, a power that is nigh-universal in Gensokyo. Flying as fast as you can walk is simple, and you can push yourself to fly faster, up to how fast you can run, which will tire you proportionately.

 

[Witherbrine26]

We looked at each other and cringed for a moment as what we said caught up with us. As we were looking at each other, we heard a loud explosion and turned back to the Rig.

The first Caladbolg lll had slammed into the force field, causing it to flicker. A second later, another two broke the forcefield with an even louder explosion.

The remaining nine swords slammed into the Rig one after another until the last one sailed through the destroyed top half.

"That was uh ridiculous," I said, looking at my simulacrum. Looking sheepish, 4.0 spoke. "I think it's because they're all A-ranked attacks; we just saw them used against people like Heraclius and Gilgamesh."

Looking around, we agreed, that we had underestimated that EX ranking on Unlimted blade works. Snapping my fingers, I started to bark out orders.

"3.0, you're on overwatch; alert us if anybody is resisting. 4.0 I want you to search the building for any capes and disable them. 5.0, your coming with me."

Nodding, we darted off to fill our respective roles. As I flew down towards the entrance, I saw a glowing figure flying out of the flying bits, sending a blast towards 3.0.

Sending an Eldritch Blast towards the doors, I blew them open. I wanted to save my mana as that first volley had cost me almost a quarter of my mana.

Striding inside the building, I floated over to the cowering receptionist; picking him up by his shirt, I growled into his face. "Where are the holding cells?"

Whimpering, the smell of piss filled the air as he raised a shaking hand and pointed towards an elevator off in the corner.

Dropping the man, I gave him a grin as we walked toward the elevator. Unsurprisingly when we hit the button, nothing happened.

There was a high chance we had knocked out most systems when we blew a hole in the Rig, which meant we were out of luck.

Sighing, I raised my staff and blew a hole in the elevator door with Eldritch Blast. I repeated that on the floor, allowing me and 5.0 access down.

Floating down, both of us were on high alert in case somebody was down here guarding the prisoners.

As we arrived at the bottom and glided forward, I started to peek into the cells. It seemed that, true to my assumption, most of the villains had already been shipped out.

Doing a quick count, I only saw Kaiser, Krieg, Lung, and Oni Lee unconscious in their cells hooked up to some kind of IV.

As I looked around for a method to open the cells that didn't involve blasting them open, I heard a faint creaking of boots on metal.

Whirling around, I teleported out of the way of numerous bullets aimed directly at my chest. Looking at the source, I saw Miss Militia glaring at me, eyes hard.

I had already blown the top off the Rig, which would most likely require a Triumvirate response. That meant I didn't need to go full non-lethal; worst case, I killed Miss Militia and was required to make a simulacrum.

As I thought that, I froze, which was nearly my death; I was forced to teleport around, avoiding bullets as I formulated a plan.

I needed a source of energy; while humans were not the best, a human soul would still produce a fair bit of energy. If I could harness that, I would be set.

To test that, I needed subjects, and Miss Militia was offering. I could replace her as a simulacrum anyway.

Sending out an Eldritch Blast, I forced her to dart out of cover and start running. UnfortunatelyUnfortunately for her, the cells were designed to withstand tons of damage, so she had no good cover options.

As I sent out blast after blast, 5.0 teleported right in front of her. She took a step back and had her gun raised as 5.0 stared her in the eyes.

As 5.0 whispered a word, Miss Militia collapsed, and the gun dissipated into a green blur.

Grinning, I turned back to face the cells. I would just do this the old-fashioned way. Raising my staff, I conjured caladbolg ll and sent it spiraling into the glass, tearing it to shreds.

5.0 repeated after me, and soon we had the unconscious forms of the gang leaders. I needed to get them in containment circles and soon.

Picking up Kaiser and Oni Lee, I pulled on the path to my house. Following after me and carrying Kreig, Lung, and Miss Milta was 5.0.

As we turned the corner, we arrived on the path to my house. Flying quickly towards it, I started to speak to 5.0.

"I want you to get these guys into containment circles, then come out and assist us."

Nodding, we both dropped our passengers on the ground. 5.0 started conjuring words and getting dust while I flew back out.

As I arrived, I heard something new. Along the sounds of my simulacrum fighting with Dauntless was what sounded like a jumbo jet.

Flying out, I saw that 3.0 was engaged in a dogfight with Dauntless. In the air, 3.0 couldn't get a good shot off and was able to avoid getting hit through flying.

Meanwhile, 4.0 has just avoided a salvo of missiles from a Dragon craft. Turning around, he raised a hand, and another caladbolg lll appeared before shooting off towards Dragon.

Unfortunately for Dragon, she did not have the same dodging capabilities as Dauntless, and not much could withstand an A-ranked attack.

Dragon, however, was apparently one of those people. As the blade exploded, Dragon emerged from the smoke, her missiles firing.

She didn't escape unscathed as she was listing to one side and dropping as whatever she used to fly was somewhat busted.

As I started to join the fight, the Grimoire grew once again. As the energy grew, my chest seemed to empty as I paradoxically felt a hollowness that hungered.

Shaking my head, I turned to face Dauntless; 4.0 could handle Dragon. Flying towards Dauntless, I raised my staff.

Letting out a grin, I cast Wall of Force surrounding Dauntless in a sphere. He was trapped, and while we couldn't get him, he was stuck.

Checking my soul pen, I frowned. I had around quarter darkness, tucking it back next to the shard. I turned to face Dragon.

As I faced her, the fight was pretty much over. She was shooting another batch of missiles that 4.0 dodged and followed up with a caladbolg lll that blew a hole in Dragon's head.

We just had to deal with Dauntless then we were home free. As I grinned, I felt brightness from behind me. Turning around, I saw 3.0 get hit with a massive laser, and his entire bottom half exploded into dust.

Swearing, I peered into the face of Legend, one of the most powerful people on the planet and easily one of the best forces for good.

I could, with careful maneuvering, deal with Alexandria; I just needed to suffocate her. That could be done via Wall of Force, then burning the air around her.

Legend and Edolion I could not face. Eildon because of his sheer scope and Legend because unless I killed him outright, he could heal, and he was one person I was not willing to kill.

The other issue was that Legend could follow me due to his light-speed travel. In addition, Wall of Force would do jack all because his standard lasers were light, and it let light through.

Raising my staff, I sent out another salvo of Eldritch blasts followed by several dozen basic swords. Dodging around them, Legend returned fire.

The first laser I teleported out of the way. This caused the remaining to follow me, forcing me to raise a floating wall of swords which stopped the lasers.

Turning back to face him, I saw that he had gone after 4.0 and quickly dusted him. With his bottom half gone and off guard, he was easy pickings.

Looking at 4.0, I shouted, "Hold him off!" Nodding, he charged Legend; staff held high as magic and swords flew from him.

As I retreated, pulling on the path to my house, I looked behind me and saw why Legend was considered one of the most powerful heroes.

He was flashing in and out of light form, dodging most of the hits and healing what he couldn't avoid. He then returned fire with half a dozen lasers.

Half of the lasers darted around the barrier 4.0 had conjured, forcing him to teleport while the others encircled him, not forcing him to teleport but hampering his vision.

As I entered the path, I slammed it shut behind me. It was time to leave. I needed to grab Komainu and cheese it.

I wouldn't be able to talk to Taylor, but it sucks to suck. Opening the path to my apartment, I flew in.

As I entered, I heard the sounds of fighting. Slamming open the bathroom door, I saw chaos.

PRT agents were squaring off against Komainu; Lisa was against the wall, hands raised as the agents hefted the sprayers of containment foam.

As I entered, several of them turned to face me. While I could teleport out of it, that would slow me down.

Raising my staff as foam started to fly towards me, I sent a ball of fire roaring towards the agents. I teleported next to Komainu and picked her up.

Opening a path to my house, I flew in, gesturing to Lisa for her to follow. As soon as Lisa entered, I slammed the path shut, ignoring the cries of the agents as they burned.

Flying down the path with Komainu over my shoulder as Lisa ran behind me, I reflected on what had happened.

Shaking my head, I dismissed the thoughts. I could reflect once I was in the NeverNever.

Setting Komainu down next to the house, I saw that 5.0 had gotten the villains set up. He also had Oni Lee in a circle similar to the one I used to harness Skidmark's power.

Turning towards Lisa, I spoke in a rush. "I'm opening a path towards the Bay's outskirts, and you're heading out, got it."

Seeming to sense my frantic tone, she nodded and then left as she saw the end of the path turn into a grungy alleyway instead of going on forever.

Striding back towards Oni Lee, I gave a nod to 5.0. I was pretty sure the house would follow me, but better safe than sorry.

"Komainu, I want you to stay inside Castle Brunestud as we travel." She scowled and opened her mouth to refute my point.

I didn't want to waste any more time. Any moment now, Doormaker could drop Thinker: run into my house.

Tapping Komainu on the forehead, I sent her to Castle Brunestud. Speaking to 5.0, I double-checked the circle.

"I want you to keep an eye out and prevent anybody from interrupting me."

Nodding, he floated off. After finishing checking the circle, I grinned. 5.0 had done an excellent job; I only needed to chant.

Clearing my throat, I started to speak in german, my voice resonating as the words poured from my lips.

"Oni, mind of rubber body of steel. I call upon you, translocate, move, clone and ash. I call upon you to see me safely. You shall open the way, and I will follow. Oni, you will open; I will follow!"

Reality around me twisted and contorted as I chanted, and my body felt like it was slowly turned to ash.

I closed my eyes as sounds of wildlife exploded around me, loud and fae. Opening my eyes, I looked around; I was in the NeverNever.

As I stood there grinning, I felt two sensations. The first was the Grimoire growing, and while that faded after a moment, the other feeling grew.

It felt like somebody has placed a whirlpool under my feet. As my eyes darted around, I tried moving, but that did not affect the whirlpool feeling.

As I moved, the feeling grew and grew until I was suddenly elsewhere. Looking around, I saw blood everywhere.

A child was tied to a chair, shaking as he tried to get free. In front of me, drawing a circle out of blood, was a man holding a toy; it was a bear head on top of a small blanket and looked suspiciously similar to the one I had owned for over 16 years.

He looked young, around his mid-twenties, and had a head full of orangy-red hair. Looking up at me, he grinned. "Hey, are you a demon or something?"

Well, fuck me sideways.

Powers Gained
Blood of Kings
Interesting. Whether through a trick of fate or a stubborn bloodline, you're related to one of the bloodlines of Belka that existed during the Warring Ages that led to its eventual collapse.
Darkness - This isn't exactly a 'bloodline' per se, but somehow, you're connected to the original program of the Book of Darkness. Your hair becomes white and your eyes turn red, and you bear more than a passing resemblance to Reinforce Eins. You've also retained the Book's function of collecting magical knowledge through a Rare Skill called Collect and Use, letting you drain a subject of their magical energy and copy their spells with near-perfect accuracy. You can even copy other Rare Skills. You may not necessarily be able to use it depending on your own energy reserves, but you'll have a magical target's complete repertoire so long as you can absorb it.

 

[Witherbrine26]

This was bad with a capital B. If my guess was correct, this was Ryuunosuke Uryuu, serial killer and future master of Caster.

Looking him in the eyes, I pushed mana into them and put him to sleep. I could deal with him later.

Walking over to the child, I conjured a knife and cut him free. Speaking to him, I grabbed Ryuunosuke and tossed him over my shoulder.

"Head to the police station, do not tell them about me, understood."

Nodding frantically, the child scampered off as I pulled the path to my house open. As I started towards it, I grabbed the stuffed animal that Ryuunosuke had.

Walking down the path, I needed to get my thoughts in order. I was currently in the Nasuverse, which was not a nice place to be.

Even worse, I was in the 4th Holy Grail War, a clash of titans compared to the 5th, and while as characters, the people were interesting, I did not want to meet them face to face.

I didn't think I could stand against Gilgamesh and the like without help. The issue was that I didn't have command seals, and Ryuunosuke would summon Gilles de Rais if given a chance.

I couldn't kill him as if he died before the war. There was a good chance the seals would hop over to another poor shmuck and be a wild card.

My best choice was to keep Ryuunosuke in a circle, the war wouldn't have a Caster, but Gilgamesh counted as three souls anyway.

The bigger question would be whether I wanted to fight in the war. The wish would be nice, but it is also a massive monkey paw and would kill me if given a chance.

The issue was if Ryuunosuke was kept alive, I didn't know what would happen; canon would not be happening as I would not allow Caster to be summoned.

While I may not be the best person, I would not allow children to be slaughtered en masse for depraved enjoyment.

The other issue was that the Grail could birth a Beast if given a chance. Sighing, I reached my house; mind made up.

I was willing to do awful things but allowing the world to be destroyed when I knew how to stop it was too far.

With my mind made up, I gestured for 5.0 to come over as I released Komainu from Castle Brunestud.

"5.0, I need you to get his guy in a circle. Long story short, we are in the Nasuverse during the 4th Grail War."

5.0's eye sockets widened as he picked up Ryuunosuke and started drawing a circle. His magic circuits would help with mana as I needed to retool my circle to pull on the soul for the parahumans.

Shouting over to 5.0, I turned to face Komainu. "I also need you to retool the parahuman's circles to draw on the soul."

Nodding, I finally waited for Komainu to speak. "I'm upset with you." She growled out while looking downcast. "You always sideline me; I'm supposed to protect you."

Freezing, I encircled her in a hug. I hadn't thought about that. She was a literal guardian spirit, and I had kept sidelining her because she looked like a child(my sister).

"I'm going to be blunt with you, Komainu," I said, pulling back to look her in the eyes. "You won't be able to help much in this war."

Looking distraught, her mouth opened before I raised a hand to continue speaking. "We will face Heroic Spirits, and you are still in the human realm. The weakest one of them is ten times better than a human."

"In addition, they could have something that can bypass your phylactery. I need you to guard my house, I suspect they will figure out a method to gain access, and I need your help to defend it."

As I spoke, she slowly deflated before nodding slowly. I didn't want to sideline her, but while she could kill an Assassin or two against any of the other heavy hitters she would die.

Gilgamesh could also just pull something out that prevented her from returning to life, which I did not want to risk.

I didn't know the exact time frame as my memories of Fate/Zero were not the best, but I recalled I had around a day or two before the beach fight.

I needed to prepare. Unlimited Bladeswork along Castle Brunestud would be my heaviest hitters.

Arcanum would also help as Celestial Fire was pure conceptual harm in fire form. I didn't know if I could do something with mana, but that could also be a great help.

Tapping my forehead, a pang of hunger sounded off in my chest. Scowling, I needed to see what that new power was anyway. It wasn't mind-shattering or intuitive, which meant checking the Grimoire.

Summoning it to my side, I cracked it open and flipped to the latest page. Blood of Kings was its name, and as I read it, I started to cackle.

This new power allowed me to copy other people's magic and Rare Skills. I didn't know what Rare Skills were, but copying spells was something any Magi would give their firstborn for.

As I finished reading, I tucked the Grimore away. I needed a plan for dealing with the War. I couldn't hide away as people would wonder where Caster was and poke around.

It had been forever since I watched Fate/Zero, so I only remembered the big things. The beach fight, the castle talks, and Artoria vs. Gilgamesh under the Grail.

As I was twirling ideas around, the Grimoire's power bubbled up. It settled back down without much fanfare.

I supposed the best thing would be to get a few simulacrum going and set up some Dust filters. They would be my primary extra mana source as the parahuman's batteries were still retooling, and Ryuunosuke's circuits were poor.

Rubbing my fingers over the edge of the bear, I looked it over. It was Bear, the stuffed animal I was given a few months after birth and lost a year before I found the Grimoire.

It was identical to the tiny tears where Barkley, our first dog, gnawed on it and the distinct lack of rattles from where it stopped making noise one day.

This had nasty implications behind it. The fact that the wildcard of the 4th war had it on the same night of his summoning was not something I wanted to consider now.

Shaking off those thoughts, I raised my hands and started the process of creating a new simulacrum. I soon had another two and noticed a new problem.

I could feel a soft pull on my pool of mana. While I didn't have a single unified pool of mystical energy, most of it was interchangeable, so I didn't differentiate between them.

This time, however, I felt the pull from my pool of Gnosis, the energy I got from Gnosis, the source of all magic in the World of Darkness.

My simulacrum appeared to have an upkeep cost; it was minimal but was still there and prevented me from conjuring an army of simulacrum.

Speaking to my new simulacrum henceforth named 6.0 and 7.0, I said. "I need you to take some Dust and start setting up some filters around the city, be cautious, but if possible, get some in the ocean."

Nodding, they floated off as I turned back to my planning. The Masters were the weak points, and I should take them out first.

I wanted to save Gilgamesh until I had an alliance or a method of beating him that didn't involve copious amounts of prayer and luck.

That meant Tokiomi and Keri were out of the assassination game. Kirisatgu was out as well; Artoria was capable of going toe to toe with Gil for a time.

That left Waver and the Master of Lancer. It was the same deal with Waver; Iskander was much too powerful and capable of slowing Gil down, leaving the Master of Lancer.

I knew he had some deal with his wife where they split the mana cost. His name I was hazy on; I believed it was Kayneth, with his wife being Sola-Ui.

The best idea was to kill him and knock Lancer out of the war. The main issue was my memory was foggy, and I didn't know where the hotel he was staying in was.

I would have to wait until the beach fight and figure it out from there. I could probably use Arcanum-Prime to trace the mana back to him.

That still left around one to two days until the fight, and I couldn't just sit around doing nothing.

Standing up, I decided to head into Castle Brunestud and have a chat with the spirit. I couldn't have it eating people if I needed to drop them inside.

Dropping into Castle Brunestud, I froze. This was not the lonely moonlit home I had received. Instead, it was a castle, as if from a Disney movie towering and dappled in the moon's rays.

Walking towards the entrance, a figure grew out of the ground. I could tell it was the spirit, but here in this Castle Brunstud, it was more.

Still a mere shade, it now looked old, a man in his seventies with piercing red eyes and a demeanor that appeared like a kindly grandfather while hiding a monstrous identity beneath.

Grinning, I saw two fangs peeking out his mouth as he spoke. "Hello, their child; it has been so long since I reached even this modicum of thought."

Facing him, I was frozen. My marrow called out to him as Father, but that only served to unnerve me further. This was Crimson Moon Brunestud, the Ultimate One of the Moon and capable of wiping out all life on Earth.

"How is this possible?" I asked from a dry throat as horror rose in me. Grinning, he took my shoulder and steered me inside and up the massive stairs of the castle, speaking all the while.

"It's fairly simple; you got a shade of me from Castle Brunestud, somebody that could guide your newfound powers. I based myself off you; however, upon arriving here, I found new children and an already existing castle."

Pushing open a pair of doors, I laid eyes on another figure that terrified me. Arcueid Brunestud was chained to the throne, eyes closed as if dead; I knew better. She was just asleep and would someday wake up.

Speaking as if nothing happened, Brunestud continued. "You see, while I based myself on you when I found this castle, it held records of myself, and from there, it was child's play to grow even further."

Snapping my head to the side, I spoke my two questions. "Why is this not my home and this castle? In addition, what now?"

Giving a soft smile, Brunestud lounged back, an immaculate throne appearing behind him. "I can't do anything; I'm still a mere shade bound to you. This is a castle because this is the only Castle Brunestud."

Give a short jerking nod; I vanished from Castle Brunestud. That was a huge issue. My method of increasing my power almost sixfold was gone; I didn't want to risk waking Arcueid up as she would absolutely kill me.

As I placed my head in my hands, the Grimoire grew again. Something dropped out of thin air on my head.

Blinking, I caught a faint giggle as I looked at the new item. It was around the size of my hand and in the shape of an octagon.

It appeared to be made of wood and some kind of metal I didn't recognize. Brushing a finger over one of the corners caused it to blow a gust of cold air.

Flipping open my Grimoire, I looked at the newest page, which detailed the new item. Mini-Hakkero was its name, and it held three functions.

The first was to create enough heat to melt metal; the second was to generate cold air to cool somebody down. The last use caused my eyes to grow wide.

It could also amplify mana pushed into it. The primary use of it was to produce a Master Spark, a spell of pure mana that could reduce a mountain to ashes.

It wouldn't do much to Artoria due to her high Magic Resistance, but it would hurt a ton to everybody else.

Picking up the device, I grinned. I think I just found my main weapon for this war.

Powers Gained
Mini-Hakkero
You have a mystical, magical furnace shaped like an octagon and made of hihi'irokane. Each corner is emblazoned with a different trigram with different powers, such as generating a lot of heat, producing a cool breeze for hot days, and the ability to amplify magic through it to blast a Master Spark – enough to reduce a mountain to ashes. As such a potent magical item, it's very handy for magical research too.

 

[Witherbrine26]

As I held the Mini-Hakkero, another thought crossed my mind. Could I push Celestial Fire into it?

Celestial Fire was pure conceptual destruction, all wrapped up in fire form. I didn't know if that would wreck the Mini-Hakkero and didn't want to break it.

I could make simple repairs, but if I needed to replace the metal, that would be an issue. Taking a deep breath, I pushed a sliver of Celestial Fire into the amplification side of the Mini-Hakkero.

I jerked back as a gout of brilliant flame scorched the grass before dying off. As I looked over the Mini-Hakkero, it was only a little burnt, and that could be buffed out.

Max power with Celestial Fire would most likely wreck it, but small bits would be just fine. Taking my palm, I buffed out the few marks.

Knowing Fate, I would have to use this max power by the war's end. In preparation, I needed to know how to fix it if need be.

Walking over to the forge, I nodded to 5.0 as he retooled the circles. Sitting down, I started fiddling with the device.

As I looked it over and started figuring it out, I learned it was less of a device and more of a complex enchanted item.

The enchantments would be very hard to replicate but not impossible. The bigger issue was the metal.

Running it through some simple tests showed that while very similar to mithril, it was heavier but amplified magic slightly when pushed into it.

I couldn't replicate it, but if I needed to make repairs, I could substitute mithril; however, it would cause a drop in efficacy, and the Master Spark would be less potent.

Looking up, I checked my mental timer and saw that several hours had passed, and it was now early into the next day.

Standing up, I noted an upside of the new form: I didn't get cramps from sitting down too long.

I now had around a day and a half to spare; tapping my foot, I let ideas sift through my mind. I was almost out of Dust; 6.0 and 7.0 were making filters to replenish the supply.

I didn't have the time or materials to make new items; I could make a simple ring at most, but that wouldn't help.

As I was thinking, a thought struck me; I needed to reinforce my soul gem. If that broke, it was game over; no matter how tough I was, if they could shatter a simple gem, I was done.

For additional irony, the Toshaka's specialized in Gemcraft made it more likely that they could figure out that my soul gem was unique.

If I did anything grandiose, they would just target it. I also couldn't leave it because if I traveled away from it, I couldn't puppet my body.

Thinking with portals might be the solution, depending on how the range works. I could make a small portal with my current skill set; if I just linked it up with my home, I could theoretically extend the range.

The only issue was that the portals were temporary, which would require building something; if that item broke, it would be an issue.

People would also be able to attack through the portal, and I wouldn't be able to check how much I could use before becoming a Witch.

Even with all these flaws, it was still a better option than having my weak spot on my body for all to see.

Picking up the almost empty Dust bag, I walked to the forge and got to work. Translating the Dust into a pair of mithril, I started etching sigils on it.

Master Craftsman was feeding me ideas on how I would get them to work. I would be replicating my portal ability inside these rings, which would link up.

Humming as I got to work, I started feeding each ring mana. This process was precarious and prone to blowing up in my face, so I took it slowly.

As I finished that part, the most time-consuming portion came up. I now needed to enhance the dam thing.

Luckily I was much faster now than when I first got Sorcery - Enchantment. It would have taken around nine days to enchant this now; it would alone take around a day, give or take a few hours.

The process wasn't arduous. It was just very time-consuming, and I needed to focus. As I focused, I noticed out of the corner of my eye that 6.0 and 7.0 had come back.

As quickly as they arrived, they left, leaving a small bag of Dust in their wake. Through that, I continued with my work.

A long time later, I had finished with the portal rings. I was tempted to call them sling rings, but I didn't want to piss off the mouse's lawyers.

Pushing down a chuckle, I dropped the first ring down and tucked the second away. Opening a path, I walked towards where I had first been summoned.

As I walked inside, I felt like hitting myself. There was police tape everywhere, and I heard voices outside; of course, they would investigate the crime scene.

Teleporting out, I jumped a few houses away until I was far away from the police. Opening the path back up, I walked back to the first ring and dropped my soul gem next to it.

Walking back out, I was perfectly fine; even teleporting around, I was fine. Grinning, I walked back to my house; I now needed to tuck both deeper into my home.

Rummaging through my home, I tossed both in the bottom of the underwear drawer. Tucking both under the underwear, I doubted anybody would search there.

I checked both the time and my boost from the moon phase. It was 3:26 pm, a waxing crescent, respectively.

The time meant I should head to the beach to prepare myself. The waxing crescent also meant that I would get more powerful as the war went on.

As I was walking out, 6.0 and 7.0 arrived; both of them sported bags of Dust. As I collected both bags, 6.0 spoke.

"We didn't find any Masters or Servants; we got a fair few simple filters set up." As 6.0 stopped talking, 7.0 spoke up.

"We'll be heading out every morning to collect the Dust." Nodding, I gestured for them to follow me as I spoke to 5.0.

"You got the circle retooled yet?" Nodding, 5.0 turned to face me while speaking. "Yup, they should be working in a few minutes."

"I need you to stay here and get defense set up; I have a ring in my underwear drawer that needs to be able to open a portal."

Nodding, he walked off as Komainu walked up and simply hugged me before running off.

As I walked out, the Grimoire's power grew before simmering back down. Teleporting to the nearby houses at the beach, I started setting up a temporary base.

It wasn't fancy, but it would keep prying eyes from peeking in and act as a safe place to open a path.

As we settled down to wait, I could sense Lancer broadcasting a challenge. I decided to stay because while I could jump Kayneth right now, there was a fair chance he would call Lancer back.

If Lancer were in a fight, however, he would likely hesitate, and that hesitation could cost him.

Pulling out my Grimoire, I started to reread it. This was shaping up to be a tedious wait; 6.0 and 7.0 were playing sticks as we waited.

Time passed until I felt two pulses of mana walking across the beach. The first was Artoria; I could feel the massive pool of energy roiling and churning.

The second was much smaller and felt empty as if it had yet to be filled, which meant it was Irisviel. I now only had to wait until Iskander showed up.

From what I remembered, Kayneth and Iskander shouted at each other for a bit until Lancelot showed up and started kicking ass.

Following that, Gilgamesh arrives and fights with Lancelot before being called back with a command seal.

The plan so far was to wait until Iskander shows up, then find Lancer's Master and kill him. If I couldn't find Kayneth, I would stick around to make sure the fight went as it did in canon, then leave.

Peaking out of my hiding spot, I saw that Lancer and Artoria had already started to fight. I couldn't hear if they were saying anything, but the fight was on.

Fighting back and forth, it was beautiful. I wasn't some weapon master, but even to my untrained eyes, both of them were the epitome of a fighter.

As I saw Artoria dismiss her armor, I started to creep closer. I and my simulacrum hid next to one of the shipping crates as I waited for Iskander to arrive.

It wasn't too long until the rumbling of thunder peaked, and a chariot arrived—Poilted by the man who had conquered most of the known world.

He was larger than life, and I could see where that Charisma skill came from. I missed the first portion, but as silence fell and he waited for a response, I stepped forward.

As I emerged from the shadow, I froze; a little over thirty feet away, a man clad in golden armor had also appeared.

Gilgamesh, King of Heros, the most powerful person in this war; I was swearing a storm in my head as we looked at each other.

I had forgotten that he would be here at this time, but I should have known he would not have let Iskander's challenge go unmatched.

As he peered at me, his red eyes narrowed for a moment before he turned back and faced the rest of the Servent. Leaning on my staff, I would have been dripping with sweat if I could.

Looking at the Servents, I could see a mana trail leading towards their Master. The issue was that it was harder to see the further away it was from the Servent following it now could easily lead to me being tailed and attacked.

As Gilgamesh finished his boast, I stepped forward and gave a little bow before speaking. "Pleasure to meet all of you, sincerely. I don't have any boasts, so let's get on with this Murder-Death-Kill, shall we."

As I finished speaking, I raised my staff and sent a salvo of Eldritch Blasts at Lancer, forcing him to dodge out of the way.

Right after my attack, a roaring figure exploded out of the shadows screaming. Stepping back, I teleported towards the shoreline while 6.0 and 7.0 followed.

We all raised our staffs and sent a flurry of fireballs soaring towards Artoria and Lancer. Swearing, Lancer dodged back but was still hit while Artoria was almost entirely unscathed.

"Hello, ladies and gents; I hope you don't mind me interrupting your little fight."

As Lancer charged toward me, Artoria held back as the Grimoire grew. As I darted back, I noticed Gilgamesh's eyes snap over me before he vanished from a command seal.

As I was forced back on the defensive, I was reminded of the gap between us. I could barely weave around his attacks with my teleportation; I could tell he was simply probing my defenses.

In addition, once Artoria joined the fight, I would be dead. Fortunately, she was being hounded by Lancelot at the moment and was exchanging blows with him.

As I teleported half a dozen feet behind him, I swept my staff in front of me, conjuring a wave of Celestial Fire. Charging into the blaze, he sliced forward with the red spear and avoided a large portion of the flame.

Charging forward, he was on top of me and was swiftly on the attack. As opposed to before, I barely had any room to breathe and could tell he was done testing the waters.

As I teleported back on top of the frothing waves flying just above them, I saw that Iskander had charged Lancelot and was currently pushing him back.

I couldn't use the full extent of my magic power's due to Lancer's Noble Phantasm; it could cut through magic as if it wasn't there, and I didn't want him to kill a Leviathan with a single slash.

Trudging out into the water, he pointed his red spear toward me before shouting. "Come and face me on land, like a man!"

Casting a look towards my simulacrum, I saw that they had made themself scarce and were currently assisting in driving off Lancelot; as I watched, he vanished like how Gilgamesh was called back earlier.

Grinning back at Lancer, I raised my Mini-Hakkero and started channeling mana into it. Noticing what was happening, Lancer charged toward me as Artoria and Iskander moved to avoid the oncoming blast.

As the energy filled the Mini-Hakkero, I started to chant, "Ray of Destruction: Master Spark!"

At the release of my 'Noble Phantasm.' Lancer's eyes widened before narrowing in the face of the oncoming storm of mana.

Iskander pulled hard on the reigns of the Gorudias Wheel, escaping with barely a scratch as Artoria threw herself to the side in an attempt to avoid the blast.

The blast engulfed the beach with light and sound; as the light faded, I saw what Master Spark had wrought.

In the wake of the blast, Lancer collapsed forward, most of his skin and muscles burnt off before vanishing as Lancelot and Gilgamesh had earlier. Artoria escaped with it, only hitting her below the knees.

As she pushed herself to her feet, I saw that the armor was scorched and her flesh was most likely covered in burns that would hamper her movement.

The more significant issue was Iskander, who had escaped with nary a scratch. The Gordius Wheel allowing him to avoid all damage; in addition, I was running low on mana after that Master Spark.

I couldn't, however, show that and gave him a grin and wave. With Lancer out of the way, I decided to push my luck; tapping my staff on the water, I pulled deep on my soul gem and summoned a Leviathan.

Standing at over 300 feet long and made of pure water was the Leviathan. It was an elder elemental, and I grinned as euphoria swept over me.

As the elemental put its head under my feet and raised itself to Iskander's level, I caught the brief moment of panic on his face before he schooled it and laughed.

Grinning, I spoke to him; my voice tinged with mania. "So, would you say that's a good entrance or not."

Grinning back, he spoke in a loud booming voice as he pulled Waver up to stand tall next to him. "I must admit the entrance was wonderful!"

As we looked at each other, I could see his hands tensing on the reins as he prepared to charge me.

"So what do ya say? Drinks at my place tomorrow?"

I replied as my grin grew; I wanted to fight him, but I needed him for the fight against Gilgamesh, and after summoning Leviathan, I could assume I was running high on grief.

Blinking for a moment, he looked startled before laughing uproariously and almost doubling over before speaking through chuckles.

"Of course, that sounds wonderful!"

As we both grinned at each other, I spoke while gesturing to the beach. "Shall we meet here at, let's say, noon"

Nodding, Iskander gave me a nod before snapping the reins of the Gordius Wheel and zooming off.

Directing the Leviathan to bend its head down, I stepped off and walked over to the injured Artoria as my simulacrum joined behind me.

I could see Irisviel hesitantly approaching as I looked Artoria up and down. I was never a fan of her as a character, but I could see why Gilgamesh was captivated by her for a moment.

The burns to her legs would likely be healed soon, and she would probably be gunning for me, given that I interrupted her duel.

As we stared off, my grin grew wider and wider as she shifted and held Excalibur, ready to attack at any moment.

As the moment dragged on, I nodded. My eyes were firmly locked on Excalibur; it was The Sword of Promised Victory built by the fae in the heart of the world and the hopes and dreams of mankind.

It was a Divine Construct and thus beyond my abilities to make, but I promised myself that I would eventually construct a blade that could surpass it.

Giving her a nod, I vanished and teleported back to the hideout. As my simulacrum followed behind me, I started barking out orders.

"6.0 I want you following Artoria and her group, scout out Castle Einzbern, and report back. 7.0 scout out the Church; do not get caught by Gilgamesh."

Nodding, 6.0 vanished as 7.0 hesitated before complying. Looking towards the trail left by Lancer's escape via command seal, I saw it leading towards an upper-class hotel.

I needed to conserve mana, so a brisk walk would have to do. Dismissing my magical girl form, I started walking towards the hotel.

As I was walking, my Grimore's energy peaked again before crashing down into the ever-pervasive pool of power, growing it larger.

Powers Gained
None