Chapter 16: Moving pieces.
Amidst the endless expanse of a snow-covered terrain, the ever-present gale unleashed a resounding roar. Snowflakes decended from the heavens, transforming the entire landscape into a pristime canvas.
In the middle of it all was a single castle, standing tall and remaining unaffected by the hail. Within its sturdy walls, a group of white-haired homunculi created a half-circle around a young girl by the name of Illyasviel Von Einzbern. To her side, Jubstacheit Von Einzbern stood with an item at hand. The creases on his face indicative of his age and his expression was static as the other artificial humans in the room.
Beneath their feet, intricately carved on the marble floor, was a summoning circle that glowed with power, ready to be activated and call forth a Servant from the Throne of Heroes - a space outside of the material world, where legendary figures are recorded upon death till the end of time - in order to participate in the coming Holy Grail War.
Jubstacheit gazed at the bundle of cloth on his hand which contained the catalyst they were going to use to summon a specific hero in mind. Carefully unwrapping the fabric, a slab of stone could be seen nestled within. It was no ordinary rock, of course, but a fragment of a temple built for the demi-god Heracles, son of Zeus.
"This was supposed to be delivered two months ago. Why did it take you so long to gather it?" Jubstacheit asked, his hoarse voice echoing around the hall.
"My apologies Family Head, there were some complications. The Holy Church were crawling around the temple we were supposed to retrieve the stone from, heavily restricting our movements," the homunculi who gave the object reasoned, bowing their head.
"Hm," the old man hummed, not bothering to chastised the speaker. His face contorted in annoyance; the Holy Church had been quite active recently for some reason and it had impacted a lot of his plans going forward. So, he couldn't exactly blame anyone apart from those pesky fanatics.
Even the Mage Association were alarmed by their abrupt proactivity and prepared for the worst. It was later found out that the Church were only moving because they were eliminating some Dead Apostles they've discovered, erasing their worries of a conflict occurring between the two groups. There were even some rumours that a Saint of all things had appeared, but Jubstacheit set aside such nonsensical talks for deities had long since vanished from the world.
"No matter. It had arrived in the end," he said, waving his other hand to dismiss the homunculi. Handing the catalyst to the young girl next to him, he declared, "Illyasviel, proceed."
"Yes, grandfather," she replied, her voice cold as the winds howling outside the enourmous compound.
She took the item and walked to the edge of the ritual circle, then crouched down to place the stone fragment in the center. Standing, she raised a hand over the object and felt her magic circuits churn to life.
Opening her mouth, she recited the incantation she had memorized prior, "Let silver and steel be the essence. Let stone and the archduke of contracts be the foundation. Let my great master Schweinorg be the ancestor. Let rise a wall against the wind that shall fall. Close the four cardinal gates. Come out from the crown and rotate the three-branched road reaching the Kingdom. Let it be filled, again, again, again, again. Repeat fivefold for every turn, breaking asunder with every filling."
As if responding to her call, the symbols at her feet increased in brightness as it drained her magical energy. Unbeknownst to everyone, however, the summoning circle wholly ignored the rock that lay on top of it and reached out to the young girl, using herself as the catalyst to summon a hero most suited to her.
"I shall declare here: Your body shall serve under me, and my fate shall be with your sword. Heed to the beckoning of the Holy Grail. If you will submit to this will and this reason… then answer!" the girl exclaimed, feeling another wave of mana being taken from her. Taking a breath, she resumed, "You shall serve with your eyes clouded by chaos, for you would be one caged in madness and I shall wield your chains. From the Seventh Heaven, attended to by three great words of power, come forth from the ring of restraint, protector of the holy balance!"
As the chant reached its conclusion, a pillar of light erupted from the circle, connecting up into the ceiling and enveloping the entire room in an ethereal glow. Forced to cover their eyes, they waited until it ended. Shortly after, they creaked their eyes open as the light died down and immediately spotted an addition to their numbers. What emerged from the column was a towering figure, approximately 274 centimeters (9 feet) in height, who's appearance was both majestic as it was haunting.
The entity wore a set of armour reminiscent of the medieval age—a patchwork of plates and chainmail fused together. It appeared worn and battered with pieces scorched and blackened, partially covered in ash and soot as if it had just escaped a battlefield. A fiery aura emanates from the being, flickering and dancing all across its form. Clasped in its charred gauntlet was an odd weapon, it you could even call it that—it was a spiraling sword the length of its entire leg with no discernible edge, releasing a torrent of magical energy, its essence primal and ancient. Despite its fearsome and intimidating presence, however, the entity radiated a sense of somberness.
"That is not Heracles," Jubstacheit muttered upon seeing the Servant, eyes shaking in incredulity. 'Did the summoning fail? What happened?' the Einzbern family head thought, attempting to make sense of the situation. This shouldn't have happened, there was nothing in this place that could've disrupted the ritual. Had the Holy Church done something to the temple, perhaps?
His eyes roamed along the Servant's figure, he was certain this being wasn't Heracles. The armour pretty much gave it away. So who could it be? From appearance alone, he appeared to be a knight of sort, but since when did giants gain knighthood? He shook his head, there was a better way to figure this out.
"Illyasviel, check your Servant's name and parameters," he commanded the girl beside him who was rubbing the back of her hand, staring at the Command Seals that etched itself onto her skin, solidifying her position as a Master.
"Ah—yes!" she stopped fiddling with her hand and honed in on the towering knight. Transferring a bit of magical energy to her eyes, a translucent sheet that detailed everything about one's Servant plastered itself on Illyasviel's retina. Masters had the convenient ability to determine not only their Servant's strength and abilities but also their identity using a simple lettering format.
—
Class: Berserker.
True name: (None)
Strength: A
Endurance: EX
Agility: A+
Mana: EX
Luck: E
Class skill(s):
???
Personal skill(s):
???, ???, ???, Divinity (EX)
Noble Phantasm(s):
???, ???
—
"Their class is Berserker," she begun. Hearing this, the Einzbern head nodded. That was his plan; to summon the physically strongest of the seven Servants - Saber, Lancer, Archer, Rider, Caster, Assassin, and Berserker - to overwhelm the competition. Her next words, however, came out more like a question, "And it says that he has no name?"
"Nothing?" Jubstacheit's brows furrowed. How can that be? The Throne of Heroes is a place only the most regaled figures in history could enter. How can a seemingly random individual who possess no name or title do so?
Though he wanted to ask, he kept his mouth shut and allowed Illyasviel to talk. Much of his plans is already ruined, so its better to gain a deeper understanding of what he's dealing with and create new ones using the information. She then relayed the outstanding parameters of her Servant, which made Jubstacheit's eyes widen.
"That's… better than expected, go on," he ushered. It wasn't what he was expecting, but it was welcome surprise nonetheless. Even if the knight was nameless, their strength more than made up for it.
"Eh?" a bewildered voice left her lips as she looked further. "I—um… I can't," she eked out, unable to properly put her dilemma into words.
"What do you mean you can't?" he inquired, lips curling into a frown. Had something gone wrong again?
"Everything else is blocked for some reason, except one thing," she stated, gazing at the one skill available to her. Jubstacheit stayed silent, letting the young girl finish. "One of the Servant's personal skills is Divinity… and it's ranked EX," the albino revealed in a soft voice.
"What?" His mouth dropped in disbelief. EX wasn't a rank that dictated strength or power but a designation for things that not even the Heaven's Feel ritual could measure. Even the strongest of demi-gods would have, at best, A+ rank Divinity, so what did this mean? Slowly but surely, the pieces fell into place in his mind.
"A… Divine Spirit," he whispered, his voice trembling. Divine Spirits were, to put it simply, gods who had deteriorated as the Age of Gods came to a close. Though diminished, Divine Spirits were still beings of unparalleled power no modern magus could ever hope to contest against.
He took a step back, cowering away from the towering knight. He was about to order Illyasviel to use a Command Seal to reign in the Servant, but quickly erased that train of thought. What could measly Command Seals do in this situation? They were products of modern magecraft, while before them stood a literal deity boasting an unimaginable amount of magical power to the point that their status couldn't be properly read. How did such being even get summoned? Jubstacheit didn't even think this was possible.
Gods weren't beings to be forced around; it was better to cater to their whims and gain their cooperation for the duration of the War. And from the looks of it, this Servant, despite being a Berserker, possess enough sense of self to make their own decisions.
As the truth of the entity's nature was revealed, Illyasviel slowly retreated too. To their surprise, the knight cloaked in cinder suddenly whirled its head to look at her, startling the young girl. It then steadily moved towards her, causing the metal plates on its armor to clack loudly with each minute movement.
Illyasviel closed her eyes, arms folded to her chest, as the Divine Spirit neared, bracing for what was to come. Instead of her worst fear coming to life, however, what happened next stunned her and everyone else around—the knight placed a hand on top of her head, gently caressing it like a mother would their child. The Servant's touch felt oddly comforting, as if her entire soul was being soothed.
The others couldn't help but stare, unable to break the stillness spawned by the knight's baffling actions. The Divine Spirit then turned its head again, gazing outside the windows. Within the being's helmet, a pair of eyes tempered by steel and blazing with resolve watched as the biting gale swept through the landscape.
Looking up into the cloudy skies, I saw the sun reach its highest, shining brightly upon—I immediately snapped my eyes shut and craned my neck down. Okay, maybe looking directly into the sun was a bad idea… how stupid of me. I was feeling melancholic, so I needed to brood for a bit.
As for why, my fight with Scáthach still occupied a part of my mind. It had only been a day since then, after all. It was less of a fight than it was a volitional act of suicide for the God Slayer. Had she actually tried fighting me at her best, I wouldn't even be able to get near the woman, let alone lay a finger on her. Nonetheless, a win is a win.
Head tilted down, a sigh left my lips. There's no need to be caught up on the past when there's more important stuff that's about to happen. Mentally commanding the System to appear, I decided to make some last minute preparations by dropping all of my remaining stat points into the Magic attribute.
—
-Shirou Emiya-
Title(s):
Wanderer of worlds, Sword Incarnation, Bearer of Avalon, Saber-face, Fuyuki's Helping Hand, Sword Saint, Homurahara's older brother.
-Collapse-
Level: 55
STR: 65
VIT: 170
AGI: 70
MAG: 100 (+15)
Stat points: 0 (-15)
Skill(s):
-Expand-
Reality Marble:
Unlimited Blade Works.
Noble Phantasm(s):
Gate of Babylon (E), Armour of Fafnir (B)
Quest:
[1,824 days remaining until the next Quest]
—
Upon confirmation, I felt a rush of warmth wash over my body before cooling down, acclimated with the change. For some reason, I could not help but feel a tad disappointed; nothing strange or special seem to happen after crossing the three-digit mark. I thought there'd be at least some sort of reward or congratulations for reaching such level. Then again, I didn't really get anything when Vitality went past a hundred. Oh well.
I lift my head, eyes trained on a peculiar skyscraper in the distance. Narrowing my gaze, I spotted a bunch of figures dressed in a researcher's ensemble moving behind the thick pane of glass, mouthing words to one another. Due to the Bounded Field covering the whole floor, not a wisp of noise left the area they were in, preventing me from hearing what they're saying.
My attention was solely captured by two indivuals—a man wearing a flamboyant suit and a woman covered in a voluminous dark-purple cloak, who I immediately identified as the Caster-class Servant summoned for this War. The male was a magus who went by the name of Atrum Galliasta, the summoner and Master of Caster… though that won't be for long.
Out of the blue, the entire storey erupted in flames that relentless swallowed everything it touched, killing every human inside. Scanning the entire building and its immediate surroundings, I found no traces of the Servant, whom vanished along with the explosion. Good, everything's going how it should be. From what I could remember, this happened because of a fallout Atrum had with his Servant, prompting Caster to betray him and escape.
Nodding, I drop from my post, landing softly on the ground, and started moving forward, later meeting up with a group of priests from the Holy Church huddled inside an inconspicuous building. They have come here on my request to ensure the civilians' safety and keep the supernatural hidden for the during the War. They weren't the only ones, of course, more of them are spread around the city disguised as ordinary people to not garner any attention.
One of the clergymen stepped up, saying, "Holy one, Souichirou Kuzuki is en route with the path you've layed out. We have made sure he would not deviate from it."
"Good," I responded. With this, Caster and Souichirou's meeting is bound to happen, leading the latter becoming the former's new Master. I then asked, "Anyone suspicious trying to enter Fuyuki?"
While the ritual wasn't well known to the wider world, in courtesy to magi's tendency to keep their craft a close guarded secret, there were still some people aware and interested in it. And considering the fifth Holy Grail War was about to commence, they might try entering the city to take advantage of the situation. Because of this, I had asked the Holy Church to block entry from all foreign figures apart from a single Irish woman who worked with the Mage Association.
"There had been a few. An American, French, and English magi group attempted to enter the country but was quickly denied access by our agents. They threw a tantrum at first but eventually backed off," he reported, flipping through a clipboard.
As expected, they were easily repelled by the Church due to the West, or any other large supernatural body really, not having as much power over the East. They weren't exactly racist towards Asians, they simply did not look favourably upon those they view to have come from a back water country like Japan, leading to this situation. Serves them right, I suppose.
"What about Marisbury Animusphere?" I inquired. The man known as Marisbury Animusphere was my biggest concern before this conflict even starts; he was a potential Master who summoned one of the most powerful Caster Servant, spawning a completely different timeline of events that eventually lead to him winning and taking the Holy Grail for himself.
"Though he's shown some interest to the Heaven's Feel, so far there has been no activity from him. Marisbury remains in the Clock Tower in London, performing his duties as the head of the Department of Astronomy," he avowed. Hearing this, my mind eased by a tad bit. At least I don't have to worry about him for now.
"I see. Do keep tabs on him and report to me if he ever does something out of character," I said, ending the conversation. He bowed, heeding my words, and gave orders to the other members behind him.
Turning to look outside the window, a plane gently landing on the spacious runway entered my field of vision. Time to move.
"Haah," a woman with short hair, its shade a dark violet, dressed in a form-fitting business suit that accentuated her feminine figure, released a drawn out sigh as she ventured out of the busy airport. Taking a breather, she voiced out in complaint, "Those old coots at the Association would not shut the hell up, man."
Her name is Bazett Fraga McRemitz, an Enforcer of the Mage Association—they are basically the Association's version of the Church's Executors. Being one of the best personnel they had, she was sent here to participate in the upcoming Holy Grail War. Elated by the news, she agreed as this event gave her a chance to fulfill one of her childhood dreams.
Farther away, she spotted an organized group of people who've just disembarked as well. They gathered around an older gentleman, who possessed graying hair and dull eyes. The man waved his hand, saying some words to them, before splitting off to different directions after giving the man a reverent bow.
With a head shake, Bazett ignored them and begun trekking towards the bustling streets of Fuyuki. Before she could go deeper into the forest of glass and concrete, however, a near silent whistle reached her ears. Turning to the origin of the noise, her keen eyesight found a steel-tipped arrow surging in her direction at high speeds. Almost instinctively, she bent her legs and jumped into a secluded alleyway, taking cover.
'Lancer!' Having already summoned her Servant—Lancer using her own catalyst before landing in Fuyuki, she mentally called out using their connection.
After waiting for a few moments, a masculine voice belonging to her Servant echoed in her head, 'Calm down, it ain't a threat.'
'What do you mean 'Ain't a threat'? I almost got shot,' she pointed out, keeping herself hidden from view. She just got here and she's already being targeted by someone, that's certainly a threat in her books.
'It wasn't aimed at you but the ground near you,' Lancer remarked. The woman then asked if he saw who did it, hoping to determine their identity. 'Nope,' her Servant responded, popping the end. 'They're too far. Whoever shot it must've been pretty skilled. Maybe the Archer Servant?' he put out a guess.
'Hm,' she considered it. 'Are you sure it wasn't directed at me specifically?' Bazett then inquired, a little doubtful.
"Yep. Very sure," a voice sounded from behind the Enforcer, causing her to jump in fright.
With a flicker of mana, a figure manifested before her. He was a man of impressive stature with blood-red eyes, garbed in blue full body tights adorned with white accents that traced his muscles, paired with metallic pauldrons on each shoulder. His hair, the same hue as his attire, was neatly slicked back into a rattail.
"Don't do that!" Bazett shouted in defiance, giving her Servant the meanest look she could muster.
"Do what?" he adopted a playful expression, clad in an air of confidence.
"Appear without telling me!" the woman clarified, jabbing a finger at him in annoyance.
"Maybe if you calm down a little you wouldn't have been caught by surprise," the bluenette laughed. "Anyways, look what I have here. It was tied to the arrow," he said, waving a piece of folded paper in his grasp.
"What is it?" she reached out, taking it off his hand.
"I dunno, you check it," Lancer shrugged, letting his Master inspect it herself.
She flipped it a bunch of times, scanning the item for any magical properties. Finding nothing, she carefully opened it and found a short string of words written on it, which stated, [Do not trust the overseer, Kirei Kotomine.]
The corners of her lips curled downward. Why would she look out for the supervisor of the War? He's supposed to be impartial, a judge. More importantly, Bazett already knew of and trusted Kirei, having met each other a lot of times before this. Maybe it was a ploy by another Master to mess with her mind? That sounds about right, she was in a war between magi after all.
"You got anything to say about this?" she turned to her Servant, hoping to know his thoughts on the matter.
"I got nothing. But it's better to remain vigilant than not, you never know what might happen," he advised. After their brief discussion, Bazett told him to keep his eyes out for any threat and emerged from the aisle, seamlessly blending into crowd. Even for magi standards, attacking a crowd in broad daylight wasn't something they liked doing.
"Aye," Lancer affirmed, dematerializing in a shower of light. Now formless and out of sight, he followed right behind his Master, eyes bouncing to and fro for any signs of danger. As his gaze roamed along the sidewalk, he saw a stall selling a variety of foodstuff, prompting the spearman to go on a trip down memory lane.
'Damn, I haven't eaten any good food since then, huh,' he reminisced, licking his lips as he recalled the heavenly delight he regularly ate when he was a kid. A smile formed on his lips, recalling the face of an old friend. Every since he left, he's never been able to look at food the same way again after being spoiled by him. He hoped modern chefs could even match a fraction of what his friend could serve up.
END.
A/N: I'm extremely lightheaded.
Edit: I've come to realize how massive 365 centimeters truly is, so I changed it to 274cm.