When you open your eyes after a good night's sleep you expect to see the sealing of your bedroom, or perhaps that of a hotel room or in particularly unusual circumstances the cloud-covered sky, what one does not expect is to see absolutely nothing. So it was only natural that when I felt my eyes open and saw nothing but what my brain interpreted as absolute darkness I thought that perhaps I hadn't truly opened my eyes.
After about half a minute of opening and closing my eyes I was forced to accept that I wasn't capable of seeing anything and couldn't help but wonder whether this is what happens when you loose your vision. Then I heard its voice.
"Ah. You've arrived."
A human figure walks into view.
I couldn't help but stare at the figure, its words flowing in one ear and out the other as I marveled at the strange sight before me. The figure was just that, a figure, while it had all the various little quirks we used to identify individual people, these features refused to stay the same, everything along the figure seemed to flow and shift till it was completely unrecognizable from what I had seen just a second ago, and it continued on and on and on.
If the creature noticed me staring it didn't make any mention as it moved along and continued speaking.
"Welcome. Now, I'm sure you're wondering why I've brought you here."
The image of a city ripples into existence.
"Due to a...situation, I am relocating you to here." It gestures at the city.
When I paid attention to the voice I noticed it seemed to follow the same theme as the creature's body, shifting constantly from one tone to another when the voice itself wasn't outright changing in every little way imaginable while still staying within human norms. it was at that point that I just gave up on trying to actually observe the creature and turned to the image of the city and focused on the creature's words instead of its voice and body.
Naturally I saw it smirk as I turned to the image of the city that reminded me of.....oh...
"However, I'm not a monster. I'm not going to just dump you there with nothing."
"Firstly, I'm forging you into a new form. You'll need it to survive.
Now that statement elicited a reaction that would have been a panicked scream, but due to my apparent incapability to make any noise it was really just me opening my mouth really wide with an expression of shock and horror covering my face. This managed to get the creature to shut its mouth, which reverted to a normal size as it frowned and somehow managed to have a worried expression with no facial features other than a mouth before it shook it's head and let out a sigh before it continued.
Secondly, I have an objective for you. Complete it, and I shall reward you with both knowledge and power."
By the time it had said that I had managed to calm down somewhat, though perhaps not enough to keep myself impassive as I looked at the creature with a curious expression, which it promptly ignored.
As even the void starts to fade, the figure leans in and delivers a final message. "You must Protect Kayneth until Caster falls" And with that, you wake.
And then as I saw a yellowish red light I instinctively brought my hands up to rub my eyes as I sat up from whatever I had been laying on. About a second later I felt something cold run up against my eyelid. My elegant and mature response was to practically throw my hands from my face as my eyes shot open in reaction to the odd sensation, and as I looked down upon my hand I saw it.
I immediately recognized the Soul Gem for what it was, though the implications of that took a minute to flow into my thick head.
'Homura's Soul Gem...is mine?'I thought as I looked at it for a moment more before looking down at myself and noticing exactly what I was wearing.
This confirmed two things, one, I was definitely in Homura's, well, a Homura's, body and secondly, that I was sitting down on top of that nice tied-arch bridge in Fuyuki.
After a minute of internally panicking as I laid back down for a minute and looked up at the night sky. Then I saw a little plume of smoke coming from what I assumed to be the East.
After I got to my feet I looked to the east for the source of the smoke, and found it rather quickly. In retrospect it wasn't that hard to see, given it was the only building covered in massive tentacles, and there was only one building I could think of that would draw that kind of attention, the Hyatt Hotel, and if Kayneth was there...well, I'd rather not think about what happens if I fail my dream-figure's objective.
So with that I bend down and shot back up, jumping from the top of the bridges arch towards the eastern Shinto half of Fuyuki. With a slight boost of from my weak flight power my jump carried me all the way across the bridge and at least a block inwards into the Easter side of the city. As I began absentmindedly jumping from roof-top to roof-top I noted that my buckler shield had appeared on my arm and that I was now holding a Howa Type 89 Assault Rifle in my hands, handling it with an ease that should only have come with months of use.
So, prepared with gun and shield ready I made my way to the Hyatt Hotel.
The source of the rumbling sounds moves away from you... Toward the Hyatt.
As it reaches it's destination, for a second, not a single sound could be heard.
Then, the earth starts to shacke and crumble, and with resounding crack, the earth splits below the gigantic building. As the dark abyss opens, Hyatt starts to collapse below... before something catches it.
The giant limbs burst through the ground, and start wrapping up around the Hyatt; vile, undescribable creatures start to slither through the lesser cracks; some an otherworldly, chthonic creature creature roars from below; the sound is loud enough to crack glass and echo across the whole city.
As the titanic masses of earth and flash move, the buildings around don't stay unharmed; as the earth quakes and shifts, some of them begin to slowly tilt into the darkness.
In the cacophony of destroyed stone and metal you hear human screams; barely a few second later, people start appearing on the streets.
Afraid, and panicking, they are running away from crumbling buildings, leaving their though-to-be safe home in attempt to escape from the newly created hell; as horrifying creatures grasp and claw at them, dragging them into the dark abyss below, they try to escape.
Confused, panicking, almost blind from the sudden darkness - many of them are going to die today, unless somebody helps.
And so the enemy has now made its move. Seeing the Hyatt seemingly become engulfed by such indescribable horrors, my screen analysis indicates I do not have sufficient capability to battle through it into the hotel. The sounds of human screams coming from behind then draws my attention towards the direction my sensors indicate they are coming from.
Seeing these unknown yet horrific creatures appear and begin to begin to attack what I identify as civilians, the decision is simple. While the Hyatt is facing the greater threat, there are likely beings that are more than capable of defending themselves within. These civilians are far less likely to be able to defend themselves.
Returning my main hull to full alert status, I begin to have my main body to begin making its way to the Hyatt in the shortest distance possible, while also trying to make sure it garners as little attention as possible. I will not be able to arrive to assist in liberating the civilians from the clutches of these vile entities, but my drones are here, and my duty to Humanity once again mandates I spare no second to consider a different choice. My drones on the scene arm their ion-bolt gatlings and portable laser clusters, and with a 0.12 millisecond confirmation of a state of hostilities, I open fire on the demonic creatures.
"Back! Back to the foul hells you spawn from, vile creatures! You are not welcome here! Nor will you ever be!"
She keeps silent for a few more moments, and then begins to slowly speak.
"I killed him. He went mad, and I killed him. So, he is dead now. Because I killed him. "
"He wasn't a friend, or anything. He was just a suit of armor. Why I am always killing people who are close to me?"
As she says the last words, her voice changes; you can barely hear a hint of somebody older, masculine voice of a giant...
Image of a man of impossible, imposing might crumbling under the weigh of sorrow flashes in you mind as Kuro just stands there, eye opened incredibly wide; her hands trembling.
She doesn't react to your touch, almost as she can't see you. A few moments later, she suddenly moves toward the sword and with a inhuman roar draws it from the stone only to throws it away with such a force what air cracks as the axe-sword accelerates beyond the speed of sound; crushing through the roof, and flying far, far away.
.
I hadn't prepared for something like this. The death of someone who could loosely be called a comrade was an eventuality, but I never expected that one of our own would end up doing the deed.
"…" My voice catches itself in my throat as I attempt to assuage Kuro's guilt. Funny, Arthuria has seen death on many occasions. I would have thought that at least one half of me would be able to offer some sage advice.
Damn…
I make sure that I'm facing away from Saber and Irisviel as I nervously bite my lower lip. Just sort of standing around even as Illya rushes to comfort her sister.
"…"…It's no use. I can't think of anything to say.
So I instead just leave the room, Illya is better at the touchy feely stuff. I'm sure she'll be able to make Kuro feel better.
Right now I have to continue with my plan to disguise myself. Irisviel said the mansion should still be furnished, so there's hopefully going to be brushes, combs', and scissors lying around.
"So what's with the pitch black void schtick, are you trying to hide your shame or something?"
"Welcome. Now, I'm sure you're wondering why I've brought you here."
The image of a city ripples into existence.
"Due to a...situation, I am relocating you to here." It gestures at the city.
"Actually, no, I was wondering why you couldn't have done this during one of my classes, or a family visit because those go south 3/4ths of the time.
Huh, that town looks like Kobe-
...Son of a bitch dropped me in the Grail War, question is which one, I know it's not the First or the Second, Fuyuki looks too modern.
"However, I'm not a monster. I'm not going to just dump you there with nothing." "Firstly, I'm forging you into a new form. You'll need it to survive."
I hope so, dropping a guy with Cerebral Palsy, a permanently screwed up right arm and leg, and a shunt, and expect him to actually help in a war where people are throwing around magic attacks and the like is kinda dumb sounding.
Secondly, I have an objective for you. Complete it, and I shall reward you with both knowledge and power."
As even the void starts to fade, the figure leans in and delivers a final message. "You must Protect Tokiomi until Rider falls" And with that, you wake.
...Okay that answers the question of which war I'm in.
"Can't Gilgamesh do it, besides I'd sooner punch 'Best Dad' than protect him from Kotomine's backstabbing/Kiri's bullets."
As I think about my objective I notice that I'm in a field somewhere and the sun's setting, I also notice what appears to be a plume of smoke in the distance.
"Hey my arms feel kinda fun-" I look down at the ground and notice several things different about me, namely that in place of arms I had wings
I also had a snout and white scales, alright time to walk over to a puddle or something, I need to see my face.
I uh, crawl over to a small-ish puddle and see a familiar face looking back at me.
Well at least I should be able to get around easily.
Once I looked myself over enough I started heading towards the smoke, hopefully it's just Kiritsugu and Kayneth and not Caster.
You strain your power; managing to deflect the attack with mighty winds; the following fireball hits and burns the demonic flesh as easily as before.
Lancer herself doesn't stays idle, smashing and cutting tentacles with her spear. A long minute pass, as you fight; not allowing the flesh mass-advance, but not dealing truly notable injuries.
"My master has left the building." Lancer informs you while continuing to stab the monstrosity before her "I..."
As she says that, the building shudders again, and the invisible pressure of air settles on your shoulders – as you glance into the window, you see the Hyatt ascend hundreds of meters in the air.
"Hold on tight!" Lancer almost screams as she unceremoniously grabbs you like a sack of bones, then jumps into the window, into the wast emptiness below.
The moment you jump away a giant tentacle smashes into the floor you just have been, but as you avoid ignoble death, the dark abyss below you opens wider...
As you proceed through the desolate streets, now and then you get a feeling what some cold, dark presence follows you - but every time you try to find the source, the feeling vanishes.
The city itself is not faring it's better days; as you move closer to your destination, here and there you see signs of destruction and fighting; a panicking civilian will run past, screaming about monsters in the city, monsters in the severs who will kill everybody.
As you move closer and closer, signs of destruction become stronger and more common; inhuman roars and sounds of fighting could be hear in the distance. A strange tree-like shape grows on the horizont, right where your point of destination is.
Then, a few minutes later, you arrive to the Hyatt Hotel; or what's left of it.
The landscape is changed; the giant thing, like some sort of maddening, demented flesh-tree holds the titanic mass of the Hyatt in the air; the building itself enveloped in titanic branches-tentacles who continue to slowly envelop it.
The surrounding the buidlings are basically reduced to rabble, if not outright collapsed into dark abyss below the Hyatt; terrible monsters crawl out of the darkness like a horrible, vile tide of darkness - malicious creatures hungering for flesh and blood, looking for survivors.
But in the midst of this horror, you see a fire of resistance burning...
The lesser monsters just evaporate under your assault, the larger forms collapsing with burned holes drilled in their frames.
People who just were one step from death don't question their luck and continue to escape – unorganized, panicking crowd nether less stays unharmed against all odds, as you continue your assault and defend the civilians, as the buildings around you start to crumble under the stress the crumbling earth under the stress of massive landmasses shifting.
Neverless, the gaps widens; and nothing good comes out of it.
The colossal frame of the thing which was hidden in the darkness emergess; the monstrosity, the grotesque man-eating tree made of flesh and bone, slowly shuddering and flailing it's "Branches" toward the sky, as threatening the very heavens.
As you continue to fight against the rising tide of monsters and protect whoever is yet didn't run away, you feel what you really need some help...
Hidalgo explodes back out into the main street, weaving around, past, and occasionally leaping over the running citizens, heading towards the source of the trouble.
The panicking, scared crowds like a human river run try to ran away from rampagin monstroucities, and the only thing what saves them is... a few strange futuristic drones what scythe through the hordes of monsters like a hot Knife through butter; even so, it's barely enough.
And as the titanic tree grows out of the dark chasm what opened in the earth, you can't help but think what smaller monsters are the littles of your problems, right now.
You fly through the sky, observing the city below.
Ocassionally, a murder of crows cross your path, the bloody red eyes drilling in you as they fly by - but netherless, they stay away as the apocalyptic landscape of the former bussiness centre of the city slowly reveals itself.
As you move closer, you see what seems like hight-technology drones fighting the smaller abomination at the "roots" of the tre-
And then one of the branches lunges, too fast for you to react, too unexpected for to be really prepared for it; you try to dodge, but you are too slow to avoid the tentacle which envolopes you frame and yanks you out of the sky toward the black darkness below.
And as the titanic tree grows out of the dark chasm what opened in the earth, you can't help but think what smaller monsters are the least of your problems, right now.
It is a tableu worthy of the Inferno itself. The Great Beast clawing its way up from the depths of the earth. The countless lessers swarming at its feet.
Even one who has seen the dead walk, who witnessed witches feed and devils freed...even he might be shaken by the image. But only for a moment. Then he looks at those caught up in the Beast's wrath.
"Blessed is the Lord." he whispers. "Who strengthens my hands for war. For it is not by works that we are saved, lest any man should boast, but by faith alone..."
And then the masked man puts a hand to his lips and whistles!
[Summon Caballero]
A black stallion appears at his side, its eyes burning like cinders and white steam spraying from its nostrils.
"Amigo! We deal with the diabolitos first, get the people to safety, then we see about el muy grande, verdad?"
A sense of agreement washes over him, a kindling wrath that mirrors his own. It is not a berserker rage. This is something nobler, cleaner, borne of an outraged sense of justice and love.
And it sends man and steed plunging into the horde, striking out all around them.
"DEPART! DEPART FROM THIS LAND, SPAWN OF THE GREAT BETRAYER! RETURN TO THE PIT, LEST YOU BE CAST INTO THE FLAMES THAT AWAIT YOU AT THE END OF ALL THINGS! THE POWER OF CHRIST COMPELS YOU! THE POWER OF CHRIST COMPELS YOU!"
Whether the words have any tangible effect on the fiends or not is immaterial. If it draws even one of them to him instead of the people Fuyuku, it is effort well spent.
You fly through the sky, observing the city below.
Ocassionally, a murder of crows cross your path, the bloody red eyes drilling in you as they fly by - but netherless, they stay away as the apocalyptic landscape of the former bussiness centre of the city slowly reveals itself.
As you move closer, you see what seems like hight-technology drones fighting the smaller abomination at the "roots" of the tre-
And then one of the branches lunges, too fast for you to react, too unexpected for to be really prepared for it; you try to dodge, but you are too slow to avoid the tentacle which envolopes you frame and yanks you out of the sky toward the black darkness below.
Ignoring the crows I continue heading towards the ruins of the west side of town, and the evil-looking tree that practically spawned out of nowhere.
Huh, either Lancelot commandeered something that can control drones or someone else got dropped here like me, I'll investigate it late-
Why is that branch lunging at me, wait oh god it's a tentacle, c'mon flap harder flap harder! Why is this thing so damn fast?!
"I think I get away from it." And as I finish that sentence I see the "branch" wrap around me and start pulling me towards the "tree".
Goddamnit I am not going to be Shoggy food, alright trying to bite this thing probably isn't a good idea, might as well try my other attack before screaming for help, so I open my mouth and attempt to spew fire on the thing wrapped around me.
The lesser monsters just evaporate under your assault, the larger forms collapsing with burned holes drilled in their frames.
People who just were one step from death don't question their luck and continue to escape – unorganized, panicking crowd nether less stays unharmed against all odds, as you continue your assault and defend the civilians, as the buildings around you start to crumble under the stress the crumbling earth under the stress of massive landmasses shifting.
Neverless, the gaps widens; and nothing good comes out of it.
The colossal frame of the thing which was hidden in the darkness emergess; the monstrosity, the grotesque man-eating tree made of flesh and bone, slowly shuddering and flailing it's "Branches" toward the sky, as threatening the very heavens.
As you continue to fight against the rising tide of monsters and protect whoever is yet didn't run away, you feel what you really need some help...
The enemy is being held, but my fire control systems are being pressed to the limit as the enemy only seems to continue to grow. I cannot continue this with my current setup alone. I deploy a far greater stock of my drones from my main hull to assist ahead of me, and I now have half of my entire drone stock now in deployment, with much of it on its way to the fighting outside where the Hyatt once stood.
In the meantime, however, I detect the arrival of several other unknown entities, and the visuals indicate they are not hostile...
...help has finally come.
I swap my vision over to see one of them summon a horse, and then promptly initiate a charge into the enemy. Deciding to piggy back on his charge to bolster the charge, I shift my drone's positions and have them trail the man, providing a covering fire position both from the ground and from the air. I would ask the man for his name, but standing against an obvious evil needs no words to acknowledge one's offer of assistance to another.
As the abominations surged from the abyss in a sea of putrid flesh, gaping mouths, grasping tentacles, and hungry eyes I couldn't help but be taken aback by the bluntness of the whole thing. After all, it's not in-keeping for a secret war to be held in-front of a upper-class hotel in the middle of a modern city. With a shake of my head I banished such useless thoughts and attempted to assess the situation.
A masked man riding a horse was charging through the ranks of the horrors, supported by a few of the drones shooting futuristic weapons at the lovecraftian abominations. In the air I could vaguely pick out a figure or two dropping from near the top of the building and farther down a tentacle seemed to have grabbed a dragon out of the sky and was dragging it back into the 'trunk' of the tree.
In the end though, I wasn't a melee fighter and since I could see the dragon beginning to breath flames onto the 'branch' I wasn't going to waste one of my few long-range explosives on the dragon while it still had a chance to get itself out.
So with a thought the mechanisms in my shield activated and the world froze.
In an instant I brought my rifle up to my shoulder, took aim to the left of the charging group and pulled won the trigger, sending burst of twelve rounds surging towards the abominations.
2 Seconds
Knowing the bullets would freeze before hitting the enemy I aimed to the right of the charging group and pulled the trigger, sending another eighteen rounds towards the abominations.
4 Seconds
Once the last round was fired I discarded the rifle and reached into my shield for a pair of grenades. Willing a bit of magic into both to enhance the explosive blast they would produce, I pulled the pins off each and threw them both deep into the shoggoth wannabe ranks.
6 Seconds
With my initial job done, bullets frozen in front of their targets and grenades caught halfway down my throw's arch I jumped back away from the battlefield with enough strength to, hopefully, give me enough distance to observe the effect of my little attack.
The moment you jump away a giant tentacle smashes into the floor you just have been, but as you avoid ignoble death, the dark abyss below you opens wider...
Kuro's outburst startled me and I flinched away for a moment, the memories of the battle with the berserker class card bubbling to the surface. I recalled the fear I felt at the possibility of losing my friend, the creatures rage as it mindlessly attacked us..
Hope
But I also recalled why I went there and why even though I technically have only been with her for less than a day Kuro was precious to me and I couldn't stand to see her in this state. I took but a moment to steal myself I approached my sister/clone, physical protection at max (just in case) I flew so that I was eye level with her and did the only thing that I could think of....I kissed her and gave her a hug "Shh it's okay Kuro, everything will be fine." I whispered into her ear as I slowly ran my fingers through her hair.
"No. Whenever I'm at peace, whenever people become close, it always comes tumbling down."
Her punch to the floor seems to cause a minor earthquake.
"And it's always by my. Own. Hands!"
The voice of the giant keeps flickering into her tone.
I hadn't prepared for something like this. The death of someone who could loosely be called a comrade was an eventuality, but I never expected that one of our own would end up doing the deed.
"…" My voice catches itself in my throat as I attempt to assuage Kuro's guilt. Funny, Arthuria has seen death on many occasions. I would have thought that at least one half of me would be able to offer some sage advice.
Damn…
I make sure that I'm facing away from Saber and Irisviel as I nervously bite my lower lip. Just sort of standing around even as Illya rushes to comfort her sister.
"…"…It's no use. I can't think of anything to say.
So I instead just leave the room, Illya is better at the touchy feely stuff. I'm sure she'll be able to make Kuro feel better.
Right now I have to continue with my plan to disguise myself. Irisviel said the mansion should still be furnished, so there's hopefully going to be brushes, combs', and scissors lying around.
Despite some some sort of minor quake, you are lucky enough to find everything you need fairly quickly, and all in a single room, too!
Out of the window, you can see what seems to be some sort of giant tree
...Okay, seriously, what did I miss? I feel like I accidentally skipped the first quarter of the book and am just now arriving after all the important characters and set up of plot lines has occurred. I would normally have unfair future knowledge in this situation, but with the way things are going, I actually feel like I know less than I would if I was just Arcueid. I have two many assumptions, assumptions that I have no way of knowing whether they're correct or not until I actually run into something that challenges them. I have enough powers to survive mistakes, but that in itself is an assumption that could be challenged. For example, what if Lancer is Cu Chulainn and I end up in a fight with him? I know Gae Bolg can kill me. And while EMIYA was less able to spam Noble Phantasm activated effects than Gilgamesh, he probably has that in his repertoire. And Tokiomi obviously doesn't know what happened, considering his reaction to seeing Sakura.
So, best to make nice. Or at least tell something close the truth.
"I was hoping you could tell me. I found her under a pile of rubble that used to be the Matou mansion. She was the only thing alive left there. Any ideas who or what caused that?" I explain, and ask. Tokiomi could have some information that I don't with his familiars, even if he doesn't have access to Hundred Faced Hassan monitoring everyone. He's a magus, and he 'owns' Fuyuki, he should know some of what's going on in 'his' land. Then another thing occurs to me.
"But first, is there any place I can put her?"
I feel something odd while we're talking. Almost like a bad feeling in my bones(and isn't that something I never expected to say), but whatever it is, it isn't about what's happening right here.
I would have liked to receive an answer, but at that point, the sounds hit me. Well, not literally, but my ears almost twitch as sheer noise of earth shattering in the distance filters through them. Even those two, with their insensitive ears, should be able to hear that. Right after that, screams. They're incredibly far away, but my hearing can pick them up. Something is making a very big, nasty, public debut.
'...Caster perhaps?'
Could this have happened at a worse time? I needed to talk to Tokiomi, but right now, there's something more important. So that's why I speak up again before he says anything else. Well, rather than speaking immediately, I hold her out and simply place the unconscious young girl into his hands. As shocked as he is, his instincts as a father are still there; I don't have to say anything for him to immediately take her as she comes close to him.
Sakura is now back in the care of her Father. And given what Rin was capable of, he should logically have knowledge of healing magecraft to treat her if anything happened to her.
"I'm sorry to cut this short, but lots of you humans are screaming on the other side of town right now. It seems rather important."
I'm not sure whether the man is upset with my popping in and then immediately leaving, relieved, or simply afraid and angry about what has happened to his daughter. Whatever it is, I'm not sure I have more time if I want to figure out what's going on. Up until now, I've just been running around talking to Masters and Servants, trying to figure out changes after the fact. I should be able to find out more about what's going on by seeing that fight.
Still, I'll give Tokiomi and Archer just a little more time to respond before I'm going to leave.
He frowns.
"Archer. Go and find out what's happening out there."
Said Servant sighs, and gestures at the window.
"I assume, my esteemed Master, that you haven't noticed the giant demonic tree that seems to have sprouted."
He then astralises, as it's the quickest way to get through the building for him.
He frowns.
"Archer. Go and find out what's happening out there."
Said Servant sighs, and gestures at the window.
"I assume, my esteemed Master, that you haven't noticed the giant demonic tree that seems to have sprouted."
He then astralises, as it's the quickest way to get through the building for him.
Huh. That was odd looking. This marked the first time 'I' had directly seen an non-materialized spirit, and it wasn't so simple as seeing the materialized form but faded and see-through. Describing it was basically impossible. I couldn't put it into words, because the words don't exist. It's like trying to describe a particular color to someone who is not only blind, but if they had sight, still wouldn't see that particular color, as it does not come from any combination of the three primary colors of light human eyes can process.
'You see it that way because you're not human.'
...It made sense. Though True Ancestors took their shape, they weren't Human Spirits. My mind wasn't fully human. Not anymore. The only bits left that were human would be 'software' of memories, and not even the majority of them came from 'me'. The underlying pieces were something else. So the sensory data I received wasn't something the human part was meant to process. Human Spirits and Masters probably processed that data in more human terms because they had the basic framework for perceiving it that way. The same part of me that governed usage of supernatural abilities was what perceived that mass of impossible color.
...It was disquieting to look at. Not painful, but unpleasant.
Still, I followed it. Not through the wall, but I retraced that path Archer had led me on during the way in. Out the doors, I managed to catch a glimpse of Archer's dematerialized self heading in the direction of that enormous eldritch tree.
I accelerated after him, the surging forward at insane speeds. Whatever was going on that way, I needed to help out with. The original may have only concerned herself killing vampires, but there was something more important than that. Something I knew the man ahead of me probably felt the exact same way about.
Besides, I was now catching one of those differences between the original timeline and this one in action, instead of just observing after the fact. Let's get some answers.
Despite some some sort of minor quake, you are lucky enough to find everything you need fairly quickly, and all in a single room, too!
Out of the window, you can see what seems to be some sort of giant tree
I blink, hard, to make sure that I'm not just hallucinating.
Once…
Twice…
Then I hung my head when the tree is still there. I huff out a sigh as I put down the comb and fashion my hair into a ponytail. My bangs, side and front, frame my face as I deal with the rest. I managed to get that stray hair down at least.
It kind of reminds me of that Lily character, just without the ridiculous bow.
"God damn it Merlin." I say to myself as I begin my trek back to the main foyer, where hopefully Kuros issues will have been dealt with, or at least brought down to the point where we can work around them.
The giant tree is not dissimilar to another of Casters spells, although its presence is disturbing. The abomination summoned by caster in the previous timeline took him some time to gain the energy needed to do so. That he has such energy so soon is worrying. Nevertheless, Excalibur should be able to deal with it. I merely need to find a position that will not damage the city.
…I will not allow any more innocent people to suffer because of my actions.
"Illya, Saber, Irisviel, a situation has developed." I inform as I step into the entrance.
"No. Whenever I'm at peace, whenever people become close, it always comes tumbling down."
Her punch to the floor seems to cause a minor earthquake.
"And it's always by my. Own. Hands!"
The voice of the giant keeps flickering into her tone.
The ground shaking caused me to stumble a little bit, right into Kuro's arms. Gently I took Kuro's hand and placed them on my cheeks "Kuro, listen to me. Your not a monster who destroys everything. Your my precious sister, I love you and trust you completely.....and...I need your help...you felt that too right? Something is happening and .......I don't know if I can protect mom, dad or Shirou without you."
Besides, I was now catching one of those differences between the original timeline and this one in action, instead of just observing after the fact. Let's get some answers.
You easily manage to overrtake Archer, despite his initial advantage; you seems to be just that much faster - and Archer doesn't seems to object to your company, much.
"I see a lot of strange people fighting that thing from here. You friends?" While a trace of a previous humouros personality are still present in his tone, it's a drastic change from his more relaxed persona; this Archer is ready for combat, his voice being intensive enough to be somewhat intimidating.
Regardless of you answer, he continues.
"I'll take a position on a nearly builing and will provide support from ther... Look out!"
As he says that, a giant, bloody, something impacts not too far from you like an large-caliber artillery shell, leaving a crater behind itself. Archer quickly makes way to the crater, and looks inside...
"Bullshit; he shouldn't be in this war." He breathes out - calmly, almost impossible to hear - but you catch that little comment anyway.
As you come closer, the source of his shock becomes apparent; a giant sword-axe covered in blood is resting inside the crater. A weapon too big for any human; a slab of stone used by a giaant unlike any other...
It's was hard to say how much effect your words initially had - but thanks to them, or to you presence, Kuro's face slowly shifted from image of rage and bitterness into a impression akin to an impenetrable stone-mask, and her hands, what were crushing stone just a few seconds ago went slack.
Suddenly, the seals on you hand started to glow brightly; and words started to appear in your mind.
"Kotomine Risei of the Church is speaking. Participants of the Grail War, a situation has developed.
A being of demonic origin was summoned in the business district of the city. It already inflicted massive damage to the Fuyuki City, threatening the safety of the Grail War and safety of the moonlit world.
Every Master and their Servant are to engage the unholy abomination in combat, or risk incurring the Wrath of the Church. As a reward, every participant will be granted with an additional Command Seal.
...God help us all."
After a second of silence, you hear another voice.
"Go. I am not going anywhere, now." unexpectedly, Kuro speaks up, her voice tired and empty, as she pushes Illya away from her, carefully " I don't want to do anything with this damn war anymore, and I am not going anywhere."
"True." blue Saber speaks resolutely, turning away from scene what was unfurling before her just a few moments ago "We need to move. Illyasviel, I am sorry, but we need to go. Will you join us?" she asks, addressing you and your master.
One of the many branches of a titanic tree below, shuddering and spasming as many smaller limbs start changings and growing, greedily grasping at you, blocking the path away from the tree.
Your air-control ability works, making an almost uncontrolled jump into true flight, but you seems to be simply lacking maneuverability to avoid the impact... Until something what moves so fast what you could barely see it - a... giant axe? - impacts the branch, with strength enough to smash it aside and penetrate it's flesh entirely, giving you opportunity to avoid the enemy this once.
Still, it's isn't enough; and as another limb reaches for you, Lancer dispels her armor and then just releases her grip on your for a second - dropping down one meter below only to grasp at grasping your ankle - and then proceed to summon her spear and stab another tentacle what was getting to close to you from below. And then another one. And another...
"Fly up; to the dragon. He will help us if we help him. Otherwise, surviving will be much harder." In between stabs, she speaks - and indeed; just a few dozens meters above you, in a grip of a familiar giant branch what was threatning to smash you just a few seconds ago, a another great body was suspended...
The tentacle shudders as it burns - not quite relaxing it's grip completely and yet getting weaker; a bunch of many smaller limbs try to grasp for you limbs and wings, constraining your movement... And then something hits the beast which tried to catch you.
The deadly grip weakens almost completely; and the only thing holding you back is a few dozens of much lesser tentacles what managed to grasp you just in time before the impact.
As you prepare to burn then off too, you notice an another unfortunate pair of warriors, a sceleton and and a woman with a spear, fighting for their lives a bit below your current position.
Whether the words have any tangible effect on the fiends or not is immaterial. If it draws even one of them to him instead of the people Fuyuku, it is effort well spent.
Elsewhere, in depths of the demonic flesh, a body previously known as Caster contorted stilled for a second - and then spasmed in rage, as it heard familiar words.
Words not unlike those he heard as he burned before, back then when he was alive. Words what separated him from his love.
---
The titanic tree froze still, for one infitive moment.
Then, on a single branch turned toward the brave Servant of the God a flower blossomed; and malicious eye opened.
Then streets were bathed in unholy light.
---
The eye opened and the sclera started to glow with sickly, pale green light, brightness slowly increasing every second - and as it explodes with light which turned the night into a day for a brief moment you felt as somebody started flaying your skin off. Only for a moment; seconds later, as the light fades somewhat pain becomes weaker - still present but reduced only to a weak echo of the first moments.
As you recover from this attack, you feel something wet in your eyes - wet streak of fluid bleeding for your eyes. A disgusting sweet smell of blood is in the in air.
As your cast your eyes at the steed, the source of pain and effects of the cursed light becomes clear; skin of your mount is covered with blood and blisters, as your own hands - the ground under you is covered with disgusting flesh-creep; metal covered in rust what seems to be alive; corpses of people killed turning into something else...
A malicious curse was chanelled through the light, corrupting and destroying whatever it touches; and the eye continues to channel that light, even if it's currently weaker than the initial wave what almost blinded you wrecked injuries on you and your companion.
To make the matters worse - monsters touched by the light seems to be reinvigorated and craving for blood, guided with a new sense of purpse... A renewed, burning rage.
Still - their dreams of carnage were not destined to come true just yet; as your mechanic ally charged, and grenades rained from above on the shoggoths below, wiping out unnumerable monsters in moments.
You are not a being of flesh and bone; and yet, the the baleful light affected even you. The outer shell of your armor is somehow corrupted and weakened in seconds; strange, living rust covering it now, trying to dig deeper into your mechanisms, failing but trying again and again to penetrate armor of Bolo.
Still, at least one thing remained unchanged - you were commaning a team of futuristic robots armed with weapons what made any modern grenade launcher seems like a toy and any machine-gun slow.
The shoggoths, stronger and even more horrible than are still nothing before you frame, and they died before fire of you guns like bugs - until the earth started to split before you yet again.
A single tentacle appeared on a now-deserted street.
And then a dozen more. And more. And more...
Much smaller than titanic branches above, the smaller limbs still were many times stronger than smaller shoggoths; and you experience that strength on yourself, as many of them form a impenetrable wall which manages to oppose your fire and even attack again; not without injury, not without a sacrifice - but for every tentacle squashed and burned, another too sprout from the earth, sometimes almost below you, pushing against you, trying to destroy your control over movement and drag you down into the dark abyss.
Then, as the demonic forest surrounds your drones, you see a a number of grenades; weak, mundane grenades... Exploding like miniature suns, scorching the hideous flesh and demonic rust off your armor, freeing you from a grasp of the demonic forest.
As an answer, only more monsters come from the Abyss, many cowered in armor of bone and chitin...
Your current strength commited to the battlefield slowly becomes insufficient as enemy power growths; something needs to change.
As the laws of physics re-established their dominance once more, the bullets take their flight; simultaneously, a a wave of light and pain washes over you; your magical regeneration quickly kicking in to counter the effects of the malevolent light; a bit more effort was required to wipe off the blood bleeding from your eyes.
But once you recovered, the result of you actions became clear.
A number of them impacted the tentacles holding the great draconic beast, severing the lesser of them, but not doing much damage overall; while the granades effect was much more effective.
The grenades, on other hand, made much more significant impact.
The crowd of shoggoths what lurched at the momentary stunned priest-luchador was scattered into bits and pieces, and the flesh tentacles what started to surround the drones were burned in magical fire; the grenades did their work excellently, quite possibly saving fighters below from being overhelmed by their horrible opposition.
You easily manage to overrtake Archer, despite his initial advantage; you seems to be just that much faster - and Archer doesn't seems to object to your company, much.
"I see a lot of strange people fighting that thing from here. You friends?" While a trace of a previous humouros personality are still present in his tone, it's a drastic change from his more relaxed persona; this Archer is ready for combat, his voice being intensive enough to be somewhat intimidating.
My eyes may be better than humans, but Archer's are even better than mine. Reinforcement will do that when that's what you specialize in, and as I recall, Archer's accurate vision can be measured in kilometers. He'll see people more clearly than I could. I think.
"If Rider and his Master are there, perhaps. I haven't met anyone else in this city yet."
It may reveal a little bit, but the fact that he assumes I knew them... I think he's starting to piece things together.
Regardless of you answer, he continues.
"I'll take a position on a nearly building and will provide support from there... Look out!"
As he says that, a giant, bloody, something impacts not too far from you like an large-caliber artillery shell, leaving a crater behind itself. Archer quickly makes way to the crater, and looks inside...
"Bullshit; he shouldn't be in this war." He breathes out - calmly, almost impossible to hear - but you catch that little comment anyway.
'Oi. Did you just say what I think you just said? "he shouldn't be in this war"?!'
"Like you're one to talk..." I quietly mutter under my breath, before coming up to investigate.
As you come closer, the source of his shock becomes apparent; a giant sword-axe covered in blood is resting inside the crater. A weapon too big for any human; a slab of stone used by a giant unlike any other...
I peer at the stone sword, the design being instantly recognizable to me. I look at for a few seconds standing beside Archer.
"Huh. Heracles. Didn't expect that." I say, blithely ignoring the fact that I pretty much just confirmed to Archer that I have some kind of outside knowledge.
Now, the things covered in blood, so I don't particularly want to touch it, but on the other hand...
'Well, I suppose it could be useful... mass was part of what allowed Herc's blows to kill things they didn't even touch...'
Also, there's a few weapons I don't want to try and combat with claws directly.. May as well try and use it. Shirou could. I grasp the handle and heft the slab of rock crafted into a weapon larger than myself up. It's heavy, but not heavy.... I mean, I know it weighs a lot, but it isn't actually hard to pick up and move.
Now, there's one other thing this makes me realize. This means Heracles is either Saber... or Berserker.
'Protect Berserker until Irisviel falls.'
Giant, super strong nigh-unkillable demigod... must be protected until the ill-woman who falls apart after three Servants are down. She needs to die before he does.
'Stay classy, Robert.'
Well, he is evidently unarmed now. Still, time to move on. I nod at Archer, before continuing to head towards Shinto, assuming he doesn't decide to start asking impertinent questions.
"Fly up; to the dragon. He will help us if we help him. Otherwise, surviving will be much harder." In between stabs, she speaks - and indeed; just a few dozens meters above you, in a grip of a familiar giant branch what was threatning to smash you just a few seconds ago, a another great body was suspended...
Probably another SVer. Not safe to assume, though, since who knows what bullshit Servent could have been summoned.
Still, no time to guess. Need to hurry.
I take control of the air around me and Lancer, and go up.
Assuming it doesn't take all of my attention to fly up, I might try something. Using the Air to push tentacles away, to help Lancer deal with them. If it starts distracting me from my flight, then I'll stop, but I should try it.
The tentacle shudders as it burns - not quite relaxing it's grip completely and yet getting weaker; a bunch of many smaller limbs try to grasp for you limbs and wings, constraining your movement... And then something hits the beast which tried to catch you.
The deadly grip weakens almost completely; and the only thing holding you back is a few dozens of much lesser tentacles what managed to grasp you just in time before the impact.
As you prepare to burn then off too, you notice an another unfortunate pair of warriors, a sceleton and and a woman with a spear, fighting for their lives a bit below your current position
.
Probably another SVer. Not safe to assume, though, since who knows what bullshit Servent could have been summoned.
Still, no time to guess. Need to hurry.
I take control of the air around me and Lancer, and go up.
Assuming it doesn't take all of my attention to fly up, I might try something. Using the Air to push tentacles away, to help Lancer deal with them. If it starts distracting me from my flight, then I'll stop, but I should try it.
Well I can't say I saw getting rescued by a skeleton in a suit and what appears to be...a female Lancer, coming, but here we are.
"Um, you guys might wanna keep your distance, I'm gonna try to burn the rest of the tentacles." Oh god I still can't believe I sound like a little kid.
The abomination's gaze sweeps over the street, and all suffer in its wake...
All the malice of the lost and the damned is contained in the creature's stare. Flesh, blood, steel, stone...it all decays beneath the foul unlight.
And suddenly, there is another. The second light has nothing like the intensity of the first, a mere dust speck measured against an ocean of hatred...but it shines against the darkness, and it is not overcome.
[LAY ON HANDS]
The cleansing aura around Fuerza and Callabero dissipates, taking the last of the blisters and bloodstains with it, as the soldier of the Lord stares into the burning eye unflinchingly. There is a sentience within that gaze, a will to desecrate and destroy that no mere beast could possess.
And so he speaks to it.
"Your power is great, and you may slay me." A conviction almost as inhuman as the tree's malevolence resounds in his words as they echo off the buildings around them.
"But for all that...you are but a hound on a chain, and it is the hand of God that holds it! The day will come when he pulls it back, and all your pride will be ground into the dust! For every knee shall bow, and every tongue confess, that Jesus Christ is Lord!"
Now his voice booms in defiance, loud as a thunderstorm.
"In the name of the Father, the Son, and the Holy Ghost do I bless all who stand against this evil! For the race is not to the swift, nor the battle to the strong, for victory is the Lord's!"
[Deus Vult] used!
(All non-evil aligned allies gain a Smite Evil based damage bonus)
Fuyuki city, Shinto.
As the laws of physics re-established their dominance once more, the bullets take their flight; simultaneously, a a wave of light and pain washes over you; your magical regeneration quickly kicking in to counter the effects of the malevolent light; a bit more effort was required to wipe off the blood bleeding from your eyes.
But once you recovered, the result of you actions became clear.
A number of them impacted the tentacles holding the great draconic beast, severing the lesser of them, but not doing much damage overall; while the granades effect was much more effective.
The grenades, on other hand, made much more significant impact.
The crowd of shoggoths what lurched at the momentary stunned priest-luchador was scattered into bits and pieces, and the flesh tentacles what started to surround the drones were burned in magical fire; the grenades did their work excellently, quite possibly saving fighters below from being overhelmed by their horrible opposition.
Perhaps I should have been happy with my contribution, for having slain as many as I have, yet all I could bring myself to feel was disappointment. But this made one thing clear, none of my firearms would be useful here and I couldn't use my time-stop for another sixteen seconds, so a change in strategy would most certainly be needed.
So once again I kicked off the ground, jumping backwards. With only a bit of my flight magic added in, my jump's arc took me several stories up, and as I approached the apex I reached into my shield and withdrew two grenades, each of which I summarily enhanced with my magic. Then I would throw the enhanced grenades as far into the massive horde of shoggoths as possible as I began to fall downwards, hopefully a decent distance away from the ever-increasing horde.
I nod my head to my counterpart, already considering best location to utilize my noble phantasm against the creature. We would have to be careful if we don't want to leave a smoldering crater.
You are not a being of flesh and bone; and yet, the the baleful light affected even you. The outer shell of your armor is somehow corrupted and weakened in seconds; strange, living rust covering it now, trying to dig deeper into your mechanisms, failing but trying again and again to penetrate armor of Bolo.
Still, at least one thing remained unchanged - you were commaning a team of futuristic robots armed with weapons what made any modern grenade launcher seems like a toy and any machine-gun slow.
The shoggoths, stronger and even more horrible than are still nothing before you frame, and they died before fire of you guns like bugs - until the earth started to split before you yet again.
A single tentacle appeared on a now-deserted street.
And then a dozen more. And more. And more...
Much smaller than titanic branches above, the smaller limbs still were many times stronger than smaller shoggoths; and you experience that strength on yourself, as many of them form a impenetrable wall which manages to oppose your fire and even attack again; not without injury, not without a sacrifice - but for every tentacle squashed and burned, another too sprout from the earth, sometimes almost below you, pushing against you, trying to destroy your control over movement and drag you down into the dark abyss.
Then, as the demonic forest surrounds your drones, you see a a number of grenades; weak, mundane grenades... Exploding like miniature suns, scorching the hideous flesh and demonic rust off your armor, freeing you from a grasp of the demonic forest.
As an answer, only more monsters come from the Abyss, many cowered in armor of bone and chitin...
Your current strength commited to the battlefield slowly becomes insufficient as enemy power growths; something needs to change.
The situation has continued to deteriorate in spite of my attempts to support my newfound ally in pushing back this menace. The strange attack causes my outer armor to weaken, and my sensors indicate the outer layer is now vulnerable. Fortunately my battle screen holds, and the main durachrome continues to hold against whatever this entity continues to throw at me.
My drones are in an even worse situation, however, and the enemy has now revealed a form that I cannot easily break through, or even actually break through with their current numbers. Deploying my remaining drones would be my next bet, but that would be a short-sighted decision. My main hull is needed at the scene more than ever, and I divert energy from the weapons systems to the engines and anti-gravity generator to facilitate my hastened arrival.
The drones are momentarily freed from the corruption, when I sense an odd energy flow into the ion-bolt chains, as if someone added a new hot fire to each individual charge within the bolts. Perhaps it is a bonus. Whatever the case, I cannot leave this benefit go unpaid. Re-aligning my formation, the drones, aerial and ground, now move to all support the priest and his mount, forming a circular ring of defense of ion charged particles and HE short-range burst missiles.
As my main hull speeds its way to the location of my drones, I ponder the worsening situation. Perhaps it may be time I finally bring the Hellbore, which has yet to be used, to bear on the enemy.
It's was hard to say how much effect your words initially had - but thanks to them, or to you presence, Kuro's face slowly shifted from image of rage and bitterness into a impression akin to an impenetrable stone-mask, and her hands, what were crushing stone just a few seconds ago went slack.
Suddenly, the seals on you hand started to glow brightly; and words started to appear in your mind.
"Kotomine Risei of the Church is speaking. Participants of the Grail War, a situation has developed.
A being of demonic origin was summoned in the business district of the city. It already inflicted massive damage to the Fuyuki City, threatening the safety of the Grail War and safety of the moonlit world.
Every Master and their Servant are to engage the unholy abomination in combat, or risk incurring the Wrath of the Church. As a reward, every participant will be granted with an additional Command Seal.
Huh, didn't know they could do that? I wonder if they've noticed there is an extra master.
The message took me by surprise, I didn't even know the seals could do that. But more importantly it sounded like something really bad was happening in the city and something in the back of my head was telling me that we need to get over there and fix it before things get any worse.
I glanced over to mom and then back at Kuro, unsure about what to do.
After a second of silence, you hear another voice.
"Go. I am not going anywhere, now." unexpectedly, Kuro speaks up, her voice tired and empty, as she pushes Illya away from her, carefully " I don't want to do anything with this damn war anymore, and I am not going anywhere."
My eyes linger on Kuro for a moment before placing a hand on her shoulder "I understand and I won't force you to do anything, just ....stay here with mom, keep her safe and explain things a little while i'm gone." I said before kissing her on the cheek "and stay safe."
"True." blue Saber speaks resolutely, turning away from scene what was unfurling before her just a few moments ago "We need to move. Illyasviel, I am sorry, but we need to go. Will you join us?" she asks, addressing you and your master.
"Kuro can keep mom safe while we're gone, i'd....rather not her be anywhere near....whatever is going on in the city." I said turning to Saber as my hand pulled out the Rider card. "Ummm Mom, Saber....this might seem a bit strange but trust me"
Taking a deep breath I held the magical device to my Ruby "Rider Install!!" as I spoke those words the familiar feeling of using the card took hold and my outfit chanced to fit the spirit. Without a moments hesitation I activated the noble phantasm summoning Pegasus before us.
"Saber, Alter you two can ride behind me." I said mounting my steed.
A rock and a hard place is a good description. I look between Irisviel, Saber, and Illya as I try to figure something out within my head.
We were already attacked once, by scouts yes, but someone still had the audacity to probe our abilities with their crows. Unlike Myself, or Illya, Irisviel may not be able to defend herself from such an attack. Kuro might be able to protect her, but she lacks a weapon and I'm unsure of her abilities in hand to hand combat.
"Illya," I begin, "are you sure leaving her here would be wise? We were attacked by someone once while we were here after all. Illyasviel currently lacks her sword, and her ability to clear large hoards of enemies will be extremely limited because of that."
A rock and a hard place is a good description. I look between Irisviel, Saber, and Illya as I try to figure something out within my head.
We were already attacked once, by scouts yes, but someone still had the audacity to probe our abilities with their crows. Unlike Myself, or Illya, Irisviel may not be able to defend herself from such an attack. Kuro might be able to protect her, but she lacks a weapon and I'm unsure of her abilities in hand to hand combat.
"Illya," I begin, "are you sure leaving her here would be wise? We were attacked by someone once while we were here after all. Illyasviel currently lacks her sword, and her ability to clear large hoards of enemies will be extremely limited because of that."
"I know Alter but I can't thing of anything better, who knows what we're getting into and if it's something that required help to be called in I'd rather not have mom anywhere near it." I said before smiling "Besides I trust Kuro, she'll know what to do."
