Fate/Alternate Moonlight
Chapter 1 - Summoning:
The Holy Grail War.
A ritual conceived in the 18th Century in order to reach the Akasha, better known as the Swirl of the Root, created and organised by three families of Magi: Einzbern, Tohsaka and Makiri.
However, there was an oversight in the entirety of the plan. The ritual consisted in the summoning of Seven Servants, each belonging to a different Class. The Servants would be summoned by anchoring down Spirits from the Throne of Heroes into spiritual vessels from the Greater Grail. After the seven fought to the Death, the massive amount of mana would be absorbed into a Lesser Grail, whose function was to overcome the Deterrent Force, puncturing through it, and reaching the Akasha. However, the Lesser Grail was magical by nature, meaning that only a spiritual body, in other words, a Servant, could actually use it. So, having all Seven Servants be absorbed by the Grail and use it was essentially impossible by human means. However, the Magi figured out that Six Servants was still a massive amount of Mana. Probably not enough to punch through the Deterrent Force, but enough to grant wishes.
Then, the Ritual became better known as 'Holy Grail War', as seven Servants and their Seven Masters would compete until only one Servant remained, using the Lesser Grail to grant wishes.
There were only a few things truly necessary: a Greater Grail, a Vessel for the Lesser Grail, and Seven Masters, in addition to an impartial overseer from the church.
This ritual would usually take place in Fuyuki, Japan. But this time around, it would take place in a different country.
The Greater Grail was a massive amalgamation of Magic Circuits present within the land, which was structured by the Tohsaka. But if there was an already natural 'Greater Grail', it could be used without any worries. And such a thing had been recently discovered in the country of Australia.
The vessel for the Grail could simply be a golden goblet, like it was in the first three Wars.
And the Seven Masters...
"I have arrived!" A teenage girl with emerald eyes and long, fluffy, brown hair tied up in a pony tail that reached the middle of her back, closed the door behind her before shouting the sentence to herself.
This was her new residence. It was a simple house at the very edge of the city, far from other buildings, and in the border of the desert.
For most, this would've been a very inconvenient place to live in, being far from the civilisation, even if still possessing water and electricity. But for a participant of the War, it was perfect. Isolated, but still with the necessary resources to live in.
The girl had rent it in anticipation for the war. Her family had some funds to spare, allowing her to do so. She had brought from her home country, Japan, three bags: one on each hand and a backpack. One held clothes, all ready to face the intense weather of the country, like the outfit she was wearing at the moment: white sleeveless top, blue shorts that didn't even reach her knees, sandals, and a cap over her head.
Her name was Kageyama Midori, and she dropped her bags onto the floor before removing her cap and slumping over the couch. Intercontinental flights were strangely tiring despite all she did was sitting in the plane.
The backpack had more personal objects: hairbrush, toothbrush, toothpaste, sunglasses, headphones, so on and so forth.
But her most important bag was the other one she carried in her hands. Midori turned her head back to see said bag and sighed. She wanted to rest, but had planned to do the ritual during the night. Preparations were necessary.
Midori stood up from the couch with weak legs, tired from the journey that was going from the airport to her house, even if she had the help from a taxi for most of the way.
The bag was opened, revealing its contents. Within many, MANY strange electronic devices, was a box with the same length as the bag. She took it out and opened it.
Reflected in Midori's green eyes was the image of a chipped, rusted sword, with half of the blade missing, supposedly lost in time.
It was a sword that was said to have once belonged to one of the greatest warriors in human history. It was a relic her family obtained a few generations ago. It was initially obtained as a fun item to possess by its historical value.
Midori had never thought she would use it as a Catalyst.
With cupped hands, a young woman prayed in the front row of the church. By her uniform, she was a priestess or nun. However, instead of praying for love and good sake, she was praying for strength and victory.
She opened her deep sapphire eyes the moment the door of the church was opened and shut shortly after.
"Ah, already here, Celeste?"
The praying girl stood up and turned to the resident priestess of the city's church. "Sorry for barging in, Maria. But the nervousness got to me." She excused, with genuine guilt on her face.
"Taking into account your situation, I completely understand." Maria, the tanned priestess with short, black hair and brownish gold eyes, assured there was no problem. "Did you settle into your room already?"
"Yes. I went ahead and placed all my belongings in their respective place." Celeste, the Italian red head, informed, before glancing to the box that had been resting next to her.
"Oh? Is that...?"
"Yes. My Catalyst."
"Where did you find it?"
"India, its place of origin. To be honest, I'm surprised it didn't travel around the world, like some catalysts. Though it took a while to track it down."
Maria was curious to see the summoning of a Heroic Spirit. "It's odd that a member of the church ended up participating in the War."
"But there's nothing that says I can't."
"Have the Command Seals been distributed?"
"Not as of now. At least, not for me-!?" Celeste flinched as she felt a pain on the back of her left hand.
A young man entered the hotel room he had just checked into. His eyes were like rubies shining in the darkness, a colour similar enough to the red of the tattoo-like imprint on his right hand.
An Irish man with pure black hair, his name was Flynn McBolg, who specialised in the usage of Runes. He had booked a hotel room, using concealing runes in order to make sure he wouldn't be tracked down by the other Masters during the War. Most Wars didn't last more than two weeks, but he booked it for three, not only as a buffer but also as a motivator to make sure he'd survive the war, even if not victorious.
He opened one of his suitcases, pulling out a small box with a black piece of clothing inside it, some sort of veil.
"I hope this works. The legend never said she died... But she's definitely a strong Heroic Spirit!"
The heat was something he was used to. After all, his home country was much hotter.
"Signature please." A delivery service employee was handing the future Master a rather large package. The boy with purple hair, tanned skin, and eyes that matched his hair colour, took the pen and signed for the package, scribbling the name 'Odion Khodir'. "That package is sealed tight. Got to admit, everybody at the post office is curious to know what's inside it. Especially since it came all the way from Japan."
"Sorry for the trouble." The boy chuckled, giving a smile to the delivery man. "Though I can't really tell you what's inside it. Sorry once again."
"It's fine. I shouldn't be looking into someone else's packages anyway. Have a nice day."
After the delivery man left, Odion closed the door and rushed to open the box. He had to make sure that it had arrived safe and sound. And luckily, it did. He sighed in relief as his amethyst eyes saw the horse saddle inside the box.
It wouldn't be much longer before the intercontinental flight from England to Australia. One of the passengers was the blonde girl with light blue eyes, a Magus Apprentice from the Mage's Association. Name, Melody Black. Her hair reached down her shoulders, with multiple curls. As per usual, she wore a women's dark blue suit, with a white undershirt.
She kept staring out the window, sitting on the first class seat she had bought, studying the notes she took in preparation for the Holy Grail, and next to them was the Catalyst: an old pocket watch with the glass of its face cracked.
She didn't know if it was a light reminder or an important thing to say to herself for complete resolution.
"...I'm not going to lose."
"You guarantee that this Catalyst will summon a strong Heroic Spirit?"
A Japanese woman with pure white hair and orange eyes, asked over the phone in her workshop, staring at the rusted pair of scissors.
"Hmh. Yes, I don't mind that it belongs to the Caster Class. In fact, I think it works best with my abilities. Not to mention, easier to control. But you really don't know what the identity is?"
The soft spoken Japanese Magus, Shiro Yuuki, sighed at the response. The one who had sold her the Catalyst had no idea to what Hero is belonged to, only that it originated from Germany.
But she didn't mind.
"Thank you, either way. Have a nice day." She wished before turning off her cellphone, and placed it on the table.
She stood up, stretching her body. She wore a short skirted white dress and a pair of dark blue jean shorts, fitting with the hot temperatures.
"Alright. Gotta prepare the summoning circle." She spoke to herself, taking one last glance to the shears before heading over to the necessary materials to set up a summoning circle.
"Come on, come on..."
There was little time. The pale girl with silver hair and hypnotic yellow eyes, clad in a black, skin tight, full-body motorcycle suit was in the middle of smuggling blood packets from a hospital. She placed as many of them as she could inside a backpack, and after doing so, she made sure the hallway outside the room was clear, and rushed out of it. Of course, she slowed down upon crossing the main lobby.
Luck must have been on her side, since none of the workers noticed her, probably due to being a busy day on the work place.
With that, the woman fled the hospital right after she placed the motorcycle helmet on. The sunlight was strong, and to most, that wouldn't be a problem. But to her, it would be, as she was a Dead Apostle. Calling them vampires wouldn't be wrong either. Sunlight wouldn't outright kill her, but would speed up the degeneration process. If she had the right protection, she could move around. Even if that meant being completely covered from head to toe, and even then, wasn't the most efficient of methods.
Regardless, this woman wasn't a conventional Dead Apostle. Instead of being a human that was turned into one, either via Magecraft or because of another Dead Apostle or True Ancestor, this one was born as such. An experience that was supposed to result in a Homunculus with Dead Apostle properties. With the rapid growth, even though she was much younger than she looked, her development as a Dead Apostle was accelerated as well. And, of course, she needed to drink blood as well.
But the blood was not only for her. The Homunculus only known as 'Twenty-Eight', needed it for that night. And she made her way to the graveyard she had been using as a home.
About one o'clock in the morning. The Seven future Masters were ready to summon their Servants. Some had been previously selected by the Grail, others were yet to obtain their Command Seals. The preparations were ready.
In Midori's residence, the rusted sword was placed within a magic circle of metal wiring, carefully curled and coated with silver.
In the church, Celeste's magic circle was painted down on a large sheet with a mixture of warm blood and wine, with the string on a small pedestal in front of the circle.
In the hotel room, a magic circle drawn with a mixture of salt that had been previously drenched in wolf's blood, which could be easily cleaned afterwards. Behind it was the black veil.
In Odion's living room, an alchemist composition of rare metals constituted the circle, the horse saddle beside it.
Melody's summoning room was the empty, vacant house the Association had allowed her to use, the circle having been drawn with human blood provided to her. She didn't question how it was obtained.
Yuuki's workshop had a summoning circle drawn with animals bones, linked together with silver wires, and candles with blue flames in specific positions, the rusted, chipped pair of scissors right in the middle.
And the Dead Apostle had the clearing in the graveyard ready, using the blood she had stolen to draw the circle with chicken hearts spread out, placed on top of a gravestone behind the circle a piece of purple cloth, that appeared to belong to some sort of royal steed. The Servant she was going to summon would usually fit in the Rider Class, but she didn't want to lose. So she decided to opt for a different method.
Each one of the seven began the incantation, a stretched out hand towards the circle, using the prana of their bodies to complete the ritual.
"Soul of silver, body of blue, I shall become ye Master, ye shall be my Servant! Obey the Grail's call and fight under my domain!"
The mana within the air focused on the circles, making the catalysts shine as sparks surrounded the area.
Each one added their own little verse to the incantation.
Become my sword!
Swallow the world in your eyes!
Reach success with your spear!
Carry me to victory!
Slay all of my opponents!
Show me the true potential of your magic!
Fall within the chains of madness that I shall control!
The process was almost complete, the light growing and growing.
"Come to me! And together, we'll become the victors of the Holy Grail War!"
Seven flashes of light in different points of the city.
The smoke and mist rose due to the summoning.
They all had different reactions. Midori had fallen back as a result, quickly sitting back up and wondering if it had worked, while Celeste was confident and on her feet, sure that it had been successful ritual.
The Seven Servants moved almost in unison.
A looming shadow of a dangerous beast.
The cackling laugh of a clown.
A cough to clear the throat in order to speak clearly.
A little hop of anticipation and a smirk.
The spin of a spear over the arm, with a look that showed surprise mixed with the thought that it couldn't be any other situation.
A stern set of eyes that appeared to fire thunder.
A strong hand that reached for the rusted sword and turned it into something else, a much stronger sword of red, blue and green, which was pointed towards Midori's face.
The Seven Servants all made the same question.
"Are you my Master?"