Chapter 1: Good End or Bad End?
In some derelict street, in a city somewhere in the land of the rising sun, a boy was seen moving, passing by swiftly under the flickering cone shaped light emitted by the symmetrically aligned street lamps.
It was already in the middle of the night, no one other than the certain person can be heard or seen, unlike other cities where no one sleeps, the place he was in was more like a ghost town, it was dead, too dead.
Unnaturally quiet and deserted, one might think everyone was forcefully evacuated because of some deadly chemical leak.
It wasn't a chemical leak, but it was just as deadly, or even worse.
The young boy no older than eighteen, named Kamijou Touma ran, ran as fast as his normal high school student legs could carry him. He was running for an unknown reason.
A large shadow appeared, the reason, it was big enough that the clear moon above could cast a perfect deep silhouette for it. White smoke dramatically followed it.
It was most certainly not being illuminated by the large number of street lights it quickly passed by, after all, those were meant for regular people and cars, it was most certainly not created for the intended purpose for illuminating supernatural beings.
It was bigger than even the largest known land carnivore on earth. As tall as a two story building, and as wide as a van. With a body that would make any body builder look on in amazement, each curves and creases molded into something only a professional sculpture could make, with skin as dark as chocolate, but isn't sweet like one. Long curly hair that reached far below the neck, all equally braided into a messy bunch.
It's face was contorted into an eternal scowl, like it was always constipated from the day it was born. With blood red eyes that seemingly complimented everything.
Overall, it looked like a really big human, but if there ever was a word that would fit it to be called the most, then it would be 'monster'.
The monster seemed to be running in the same direction as the boy, no, it was going after the boy. Bringing death and destruction in its wake. Mostly destruction. Millions of dollars worth of destruction. He saw it step on a car, turning it into pancake. The boy wondered idly if that was covered in the insurance. Acts of god maybe? Though, more like demi-god really.
The boy gritted his teeth, this was getting really bad, it had manage to caught up to him again, and in an open road no less. He glanced back towards the real life walking greek statue.
Something like that, who had bulging muscles in apparently every part of its body, the boy was genuinely surprised that it was that agile. He would have at least thought those would have gotten in the way of its movement and slow it down a bit, enough for him to actually get away from it. But the longer he did the more that plan seems to fall a part in its seems.
His joint muscles were now getting slowly flooded by lactic acid, in other words he was getting tired. While the one chasing him seemed to only get faster and faster by the minute.
Built like a bull dozer, but runs like a race car, thats seriously cheating you know!? He wanted to shout towards the heavens, at least give that thing some kind of weakness.
Oh yeah, he remembered, it wasn't really that bright, one might guess that the only thing in that guys head is fighting and following orders. Having your entire existence being controlled by someone you barely know, having no such thing as a will to do what you want, that is a very sad life.
Kamijou shook those thoughts out of his head, this wasn't the time for a pity party with your enemy. He was fighting an up hill battle with a monster that knows nothing else but to kill living beings. And Kamijou Touma was a very living being. His life was at stake here.
Like there wasn't a day gone by where he wasn't. The heavens sarcastically retorted.
He gulped the saliva that was slowly forming in his throat. The only thing he could do now was to fight it, running away like he was currently doing would only waste more of his energy, he was sure as hell this wasn't the only problem he was going to face tonight.
It was a risk that he had to take. No matter what obstacles there were, the monster mowed everything down, from upturned trashcans to parked ten wheeler trucks.
He was trying to use his surrounding as best as he can to his advantage but nothing seemed to work. Not even slowing down, to it all were the same, complete fodder.
He gave a dry sigh, he was given no other choice now, the creature was that persistent in chasing him down than so be it. He knew that this whole charade was now just devolving into a simple game of cat and mouse. The question was, who was going to be which?
The giant muscle head chasing him until he was cornered and has no way of escaping?
Or him, who had no such things as weapons or any kind of overly complicated special plans?
The answer was simple. When push comes to shove, you start shoving as hard as you can.
Sure, deep down he wanted to just keep on running, to not look back and pretend none this is actually happening, but Kamijou Touma didn't have that luxury.
Who wouldn't when you're getting chased by someone or something that would fit perfectly right in in some Hollywood B movie.
Above!
He stopped for a moment, using the momentum he got to do a quick barrel roll as he evaded a ten ton truck getting thrown at him. He saw it fly dangerously close above his head, brushing the tips of his spiky hair slightly, missing the intended target, the flying object ended up sailing towards an unattended gasoline station, the front of the truck hitting the center of a full tanker that was just parked near the gas pumps.
The two massive metallic objects colliding into a huge heap resulting into a large spark that ignited the gasoline that was stored inside of it. Causing a fast chain reaction that spread through out the whole area, taking any flammable liquid with it.
Oh come on.
A large explosion suddenly erupted. Shaking the other businesses around it and everything within a large radius, including him. The fireball it substantially created being seen from miles away. Black smoke rising after.
The resulting force completely obliterated the gasoline station that was just a few meters in front of him.
The simple shockwave it created had enough force to break all the glass in the vicinity, and collapse the ceilings form different establishments. The pain in his ears follow suit.
It also lifted him off his feet, flinging him far back...
Towards the behemoth chasing just behind him. For a minute there he thought he saw its mouth move slightly upwards.
Oh come on!
Kamijou Touma was now having second thoughts. Maybe that hulking giant wasn't much of a brain dead zombie as he had first thought it was. A matter in which he regretted painfully, of course it wasn't just going to chase him around till the ends of the earth, there was someone who was still controlling it. He wanted to slap himself for forgetting something that important.
Using his quick thinking, he used his left foot to immediately kicked off the ground just in time as he fell, timing it perfectly, and evading the skull sized fist that swung down in a parabolic hammer like manner, the sudden attack almost turning him into a nail on the ground.
He gave off another sigh of relief, looking down there was now two giant feet shaped holes in the ground where the giant should have been. His eyes suddenly widened a bit, this was most certainly not the time to relax.
Damn it
He cursed inside. A large shadow suddenly enveloped his whole body, he quickly jumped forward as he evaded getting squished by another sneak attack. Kamijou wanted to joke that this time it was a game of leap frog, the only difference was that if you lose you get turned into spaghetti sauce.
Getting tired of tag?
The earth beneath him shook as the giant fell, its feet digging into the concrete pavement. the attack giving off a very small shockwave that made the boys ears ring for a while. Making him flinch for a millisecond.
He furrowed his eyebrow as he glared at the giant man.
"You don't give up do you?"
He gave a condescending smile towards it.
No answer.
But a physical answer did came, in the form a clenched hand. He ducked again as a fist came flying, the boy could feel the raw power from the wind pressure alone of that simple attack, if the giant even manages to get a hit on him, he would be dead on site. No questions asked. But that was if any attack hits.
He gave another small smile as he sidestepped from another attack, the fist wheezing in the air as it missed him just a couple of centimeters, the monster might be faster and stronger than him by leaps and bounds, but its attacks was so painfully readable he might as well be fighting a children's book.
It had only seemed to be rampaging as far as he can tell, sure there were moments of some kind of intelligence, but overall it's movements didn't really care for the aesthetics, or any kind fighting style. What it was doing was something that is commonly seen in street fights. Just keep attacking until something hits.
The boy grinned at that, after all, when it comes to fights like that, Kamijou Touma always has the advantage. Especially if it was one on one. Even if those certain attacks had already gone to the point that it cant even be seen by the human eye. You don't actually have to see or be faster than the bullet to dodge it. You just have to know the trajectory of where it was going.
And that was what he was doing.
Left.
Right.
Up.
Down.
So predictable.
The giant didn't give him any kind time to recover, it just kept on spamming attack after attack. But no matter how many it throws, none hit their intended target. Which apparently infuriated it even more.
But even still, he didn't have infinite stamina, one way or the other, he's gonna run out of it. Getting tired of it in a mental and dangerously physical way.
"Can't we just talk this out?"
For the first time in this fight he tried to reason with it.
...
"Over some tea and Baklava?"
No reply again.
"Not much of a conversationalist are you?"
...
*Kamijou Touma gave up reasoning with the monster.*
They say the proper way to talk to someone starts with looking them in the eyes.
But there was one thing that was wrong with that, he wanted to add.
What if you're to talking to a rampaging giant with eyes that had no life in them, only filled by rage and nothing more, the unending quench for it never dissipating. It was like saying 'Hey world, look at me, I'm really angry?'. At what? Apparently everything.
Couple that with the sheer size of the thing. After all it was big and scary enough that it could make any grown man wet and brown his pants at the same time, and you wouldn't even blame them for that, it was a monster, it did not care what it destroyed, as long as it was in the way of it and it's master it would kill anyone, with no mercy and full of extreme prejudice.
But the real question is who is more scarier? The monster? Or the human that fearlessly faces that monster?
It was a question that many would debate on, but in the end, the answer was obvious, the one that would win of course.
And it was obvious who was going to win.
Time to go for the offensive.
He studied the giant closely with his eyes. It wore no chest armor, other than the pair of arm and feet guards that only covered the creature's appendages. And the bronze age man skirt it wore just for decency's sake.
Meaning, Kamijou could hit it where ever he wanted, and nothing would hamper him from directly touching the body of that monster.
His eyes narrowed a bit.
There!
Seeing an opening, he readied his right arm to do something he was going to regret. Puling back his arm he was about to do a light jab. But in the last moment he stopped from continuing.
He hesitated a bit.
Was he really going to do this?
I mean sure, the monster was trying to kill him, while consequently causing millions of property damage around him, but even still this didn't stop him from helping anyone, it had never actually stopped him.
Damn it! The more time he took in thinking, the more chances it is for the giant to actually get the better out of him. He could not go forever, but it could.
Is it really the only way to defeat it!?
Times up.
Damn it!
And so the monster attacked, its gigantic right arm swung at him like a wrecking ball, it was an attack that the boy wouldn't be able to block. That simple attack alone was something that could turn the most advance tanks in the world into nothing more than scrap metal, and if it were to hit the boy, the human, it would have been surely the end of it.
But it didn't.
No, the boy did not evade the attack.
He did something no normal human would think off.
Kamijou punched back.
The silent night was quickly filled with noise. The sound of glass breaking. Which should have been impossible, after all, all the glass in the vicinity should have already been broken by the large shockwave before.
And yet, there it was. Then what was that sound exactly?
It was simply the World.
The World screeched.
The huge thing was a monster that was created by the World. It was something that should be, something that exists.
One might think that the monster was the supernatural being, something like that just couldn't exist, right? And yet it was the exact opposite, it wasn't the monster that went against the laws of the world, it was the right hand of the boy.
That right hand was something that was different, something that denied it, denied its existence, it was something that went against the laws of the World, and because of that the World screamed, that ear shattering noise that was made when his special right touched that being. And that certain something completely negated its existence, until it was nothing more.
His hand, the hand that breaks even the miracles of god, was the anomaly.
Imagine Breaker.
A power that was literally out of this World.
And with that, the cry of the World stopped, the monster was gone, no more. And the human was still alive. He should be happy that he survived.
That was what should have happened, the monster dead and the hero celebrates his triumph. Parading in the streets for doing something only a few has ever done.
That was something Kamijou Touma should be doing, but the truth was, he wasn't happy one bit, after all, no matter how inhuman it looked, no matter that it had just tried to kill him a few minutes ago, it was still a living being, something that exists, and he had destroyed it.
Snuffed out the fake life it was living, even if it was something that was forced onto it or not, no one deserves that. No one deserves the fate he has given it.
A sick kind of feeling came up in his stomach, he had already experience something like this, the feeling of killing something, he remembered the time with the arch angel, and even though it has already happened before, he still couldn't get used to it.
No matter how many times.
He dropped onto his knees, a small thud echoed the empty streets. He felt very weak, he couldn't do anything about it.
The boy gripped on air as he swung his right hand down onto the hard pavement. The self inflicting act bruised his hand, but he didn't care, it might have been the first and only injury he had sustained in the fight and after it today, his mouth smiled, but his eyes didn't follow. That thing couldn't even touch him, something like that couldn't even put a scratch on him.
He gave a small laugh at that, a depreciating one. What has happened to him?
The only 'damage' that he had sustained from the fight was the few burn marks on his clothes and few tear marks hear and there, he must have gotten those from that previous explosion, and that was basically it.
He should have been overjoyed about this, he had finished a battle without having to check into a hospital. No meeting with a doctor, or any drugs forcefully shoved into him.
But he wasn't, he can't be happy about it. There was even no sign of it, not even a small one. Even if the people he was fighting, were real or not, fake or original, they were still...
"Damn it!"
He shouted towards the heavens. But the heavens did not care.
Why did this have to happen?
Why?
Was he really cursed?
The certain act left a very bitter taste in his mouth, this was why he was hesitating to use his right hand, it gave him the feeling of death in his hands. Just a simple wave, and a life vanishes. A supernatural one.
Yes he knew, it wasn't real, just a legend born from some ancient civilization that was long dead, an amalgamation of myths and rumors, brought to life, to fight a war it had nothing to do with, to be forced to participate in a bloodbath that had no glory whatsoever.
His mouth curved into a smile, a smile that had no mirth, no energy.
This was going to be a really long day. He just wanted to stay there for a while. To rest his body, and his mind, on what he had just done. But he didn't have the time for anything like leisure. Nothing ever goes his way. An inconvenient truth he had to accept. Forced to accept. Just like that monster.
Because after all, Fate was a very cruel mistress, and she just just saw him cheating on her with Misfortune.
And it seems that she brought company with her.
Kamijou Touma froze, hearing the sound of small shoes hitting the ground at a medium interval, it was followed by something you only see in old action movies, or cheesy saturday morning cartoons. The dramatically slow movement of two hands clapping.
He narrowed his eyes. The word 'really?' suddenly came to his mind.
The small silhouette of a girl who looked no older than an elementary student emerged from the dark sides of the street.
"Well, well, well. You manage to do something that surprised even me."
A smile that can't be described as anything but sadistic showed on her face. Something which eerily contrasted with the tone of her very cutesy voice.
"Huh? Nii-chan?" She followed. The smile simultaneously turning into a full sneer.
Kamijou's spine shivered at that. 'Who you calling Nii-chan!?' He wanted to retort. 'I don't have a little sister like you, at best I have a cousin, and she's way more cuter than you ever will!' But he was not that brave to actually say it out loud.
"It seems that I have overly underestimated you."
The sadistic smile on her porcelain like face didn't let up. She still continued to talk like that.
"You who defeated Berserker," She gave an uninterested gaze towards the place the monster disappeared. "You, a simple human, who was just a mere bystander a few minutes ago, manage to do something not even two servants teaming up together could hope to accomplish."
"I guess I should reward you for that." She moved her left hand up to her face.
"So I'll tell you a little secret,"
She put her dainty little fingers up to her lips in a shushing manner while giving a wink that would make people with certain preferences around the world bleed from their noses.
*Kamijou Touma was not affected.*
"Just because you manage to kill my servant once doesn't mean he will stay dead," She raised both of her arms. "Now watch in awe as he revives from the dead, and smashes all your hopes and dreams off the face of this planet."
She snapped her fingers at that.
"I don't know what kind of petty trick you used a while ago, but this time that would not work twice! Now Berserker, destroy this fool!"
She pointed her finger towards the so called fool as she started laughing maniacally like an antagonist of an old spy movie.
...
And then she laugh.
...
She was still laughing.
...
It was after a while of laughing did she finally notice that nothing was happening. So she stopped.
Looking around the area, she found herself standing there, there was something wrong here, she wanted to conclude.
The boy was also there, just standing still, staring at her with eyes that one would normally have if they ever go to a children's mental hospital. Pity, disgust, and confusion.
Pity, that someone so young was this mentally unstable. Disgust, that no one took care of her enough for her to become someone like this. And confusion, on why he would go to a children's mental hospital in the first place, or if those things even exist in the first place.
But most importantly at that, he was not being destroyed.
Though, the awkward atmosphere the girl created made the boy sweat a little.
And Berserker wasn't destroying anything. Well, you can't really destroy anything if you don't even exist anymore. Hello! Didn't you read what I wrote before?
Kamijou Touma was just staring dumbfounded at her.
A question mark appeared on the girls head. And the words 'Why are you looking at me like that!? I'm not crazy, okay!'
After that, confusion started to set in within her body.
'W-wha-what the hell is going on!? Why is Berserker not here yet!? He should have already revived by now!' She questioned particularly no one.
And like any person who didn't get their way on something, she started panicking, in the inside and the outside.
So confusion turned to panic.
'No no no, this can't be! Berserker still has enough lives, plus if he didn't, I could just give him more! Did he suddenly gain some reason! Is he now rebelling against my orders! Yes, that's right! That could be the only probable answer to this!'
Trying to reason with herself, she nodded quickly, having find a logical answer with her inner self.
'If that's the case, I only have to use my command sea-'
!?
The command seal, a form of contract between master and servant, something that binds two people into an oath of fealty. A golden ticket for the Holy Grail War. Something that proves that they are actual contestants for it.
And it was gone, gone like the wind.
This certain fact made her panic even more, she started sweating, her pulse rate increased. Her already pale face became even more paler.
The Command seals, the proof, she could not feel them anymore in her body.
The only reason she still had...
"How was this possible!"
She shouted in her mind. She wasn't sure if she actually blurted that out loud, but she didn't care. Something important was gone. Now it was near impossible for her to get her revenge on that damn person.
'No no no no...!'
And panic, can easily turn into fear, after all, the fear of the unknown is one of the most dangerous, humans only know so much in this world. Much less something out of it.
Her eyes equally widen, she had realized something, she had only noticed this after the fight, when he casually destroyed her servant.
A normal bystander, who barely had anything to do with the war, someone without any kind of trace of prana, mana, or anything out of the ordinary, had done something, many in this contest have failed to do.
A normal human defeating a servant.
There was something very wrong with this sentence. If you repeated this certain sentence to anyone in the magecraft business, they would probably look at you like you were some crazy senile bastard, and throw you out in the street.
And she just saw something like this happening with her two eyes, with her own servant no less, a Berserker class, and not only did he defeat it, he practically mop the floor with it, just one touch, he destroyed all of its lives, how else can you explain the fact that hasn't revive yet.
Thats the only intellectual explanation she could think off, this wasn't the time for any escapism mentally, she needed to accept the facts thats in front of her.
And the thing in front of her is as real as it gets.
The temperature around them seemed to have gone down a few notches. The pupils of her eye's dilating to an abnormal amount.
"W-who, what are you?'
Even with the ever drying throat, she still manage to speak. She didn't know why, but her instincts were telling her to run now, and to never look back. This was a very dangerous person that she should not be picking a fight with.
Like everything in this world, arrogance has a limit, she had only just realized this after she had completely exhausted her last fuel resource of pride.
She was now regretting ever facing this human. No monster.
It was ironic really, for someone who had summoned a monster to be afraid of just a simple human, it was something that was just unthinkable.
But it was happening right now. Happening to her.
Her legs were shaking terribly, this was the first time in a very long time in her life, that she would say she was afraid of something.
She closed her eyes, tears already forming in them, like a kid who wanted to pretend that everything around her wasn't real.
The girl shut her mouth tight, she had stopped acting like a kid a long time ago, she had stopped having the privilege to just run to her mother when a problem comes her way, waiting for her to solve it. No, her mother was already gone.
She wanted someone to save her, anyone. That was how desperate she was now. But no matter how many time she calls out, no one would come, that was the kind of world she was living in, and she knew that. A world were pretending to be a hero can get you killed.
She was alone now, always and forevermore.
She might look like a prepubescent kid, but she was already an adult, she had seen and done things no kid could ever do. But this was an entirely different matter, because she was sure of it, that no adult would feel nothing if they ever face this monster.
That was exactly how she felt about the boy.
A voice replied.
"Who am I?"
It was from the monster.
The soft baritone voice reverberated into the empty streets, making the lone girl shiver a little.
Maybe she could still salvage the situation she was in, she was somewhat sure that this boy doesn't know her. After all, it was her who made the first shot. He was just a mere stranger a while ago. His unknown powers not withstanding.
"Isn't it a bit rude to ask somebody else's name before telling yours, though, I really should have taken a hint when you let your pet sick on me for no reason at all."
That's right, she still had hope, if she just plays this right, she might survive long enough until daybreaks, then she could just pretend like none of this ever happened.
Closing his eyes condescendingly, he scratched the back of his head jokingly.
She held her breath at this.
"I'm Kamijou Touma,"
Run to the airport, get the quickest ticket out of this hellhole, and live the rest of her very short life in some South American country, she might even change her name just for the hell of it. No, she is going to change her name.
He had said those words like he had practiced them a hundred times in front of a mirror. Just like an actor pretending to be someone else he's not.
Screw this city, screw this stupid contest, screw the goddamned grail, screw her overrated family honor, and the last and equally screwiest of all, screw her brother!
Using his right hand he went for a more western type of greeting, after all, she was a foreigner. Or looked like one. He positioned his arm for a simple handshake.
Yeah! After this day, none of this is gonna be her problem anymore. She really needs a damn vacation.
Opening his eyes, the boy gave the best smile a Japanese person could give to a European.
This monster can't possibly know her.
"Nice to meet you, Illyasviel von Einzbern."
...
Her heart almost stopped beating.