I
"Emissary"
Humanity was always teetering on the verge of doom, and never in the entire course of history has it slipped… until now. The pillars of modern society have crumbled down to waste. Ceaseless conflicts were waged by man, and the consequence became the metastasizing cancer of injustice. At this point, it became very difficult to tell apart the realm of humans and the realm of demons in the perspective of the magus. The two have become indistinguishable because the bounds between them have vanished. God's providence, which served as the protective shroud of the world, has dissipated, and now humanity clings on fortuity for its survival.
With the world on the brink of a nuclear war, the United Nations had no choice but to resort to the miracles of magic. They secretly asked for the help of the Mage's Association, which gave its full cooperation without second thought. Normally, the elite magus doesn't engage in international affairs because it would undermine the concealment of magecraft. One's only desire is to reach the truth. The perfection of the thaumaturgical arts remains his primary objective. However, the magus must also trespass academic limitations and temporarily abandon the longing for the Root if circumstances require, such being a global crisis. After all, attaining knowledge from the Root will be impossible if the means to do so are destroyed. Thus, the Mage's Association's current predicament: a broken Holy Grail.
There have been various prototypes and imitations of the Holy Grail, but none of them compare to the original vessel—the True Holy Grail, a relic of unfathomable power that can fulfill any wish with accuracy. They had first hoped on finding the Greater Grail from the Great Holy Grail War, but they reached a dead end. Its whereabouts are still unknown, and the Mage's Association is running out of time. They planned on manufacturing another wish-granting device; however, they couldn't risk the possibility of a second Fuyuki incident. A disastrous conflagration is the last thing the Association wanted to happen; they'll have their heads cut off by the U.N. if it did.
They first got word from their agents of the Holy Grail appearing in the Holy Land, Jerusalem, which during the time was a battlefield. Numerous mages have confirmed that what they have discovered was, in fact, the legitimate grail that received the blood of Christ. They had it retrieved and sent instantly to the Clock Tower, the headquarters of the Association, and when it arrived, they began the preliminaries and summoned their servants. However, this created a much bigger problem than they've anticipated. Besides the major drawback of the grail being unable to fulfill a wish on its weakened condition, irregular spirits have also manifested in the physical world, anchoring themselves on random masters selected by the broken True Holy Grail.
It was clear for all mages, especially the seven delegates, that saving the world necessitated a miracle as efficacious as a wish granted by the True Holy Grail. They ought to fix the grail quickly before the problem goes beyond their control. Once done, the True Holy Grail should revert to being stable, and they can proceed without failure. The subsequent battle royale—the Holy Grail War—will therefore determine the fate of humanity, with the instrumentalities being the chosen seven from the Association and the heroic spirits they summoned.
Tonight, another meeting amongst the seven was organized prior to the acquisition of the materials needed to repair the damaged grail. The previous ones they've had only led to more unanswered questions rather than useful solutions. The True Holy Grail needs to be fixed immediately to restore the process of channeling the spirits of the seven heroes into the grail; this is essential to the grail's wish-granting ability, but the expense might be more incredible than witnessing the miracle of the Holy Grail itself.
The materials required for fixing its damages must have superior magical output; in fact, the genuine grail can only be fixed using materials that possess a magical output as close to that possessed by deities. Unfortunately, no bauble, relic, or matter of any form present on the Earth matches criteria… at least, that's what the seven initially thought in their past discussions.
It would make them very glad to be wrong.
The seven's base of operations is a secret archive beneath the British Museum. It's an undisclosed location known only to the delegates and a few high-ranking mages in the Association. Three mages: Elaine Carthigian, Justinia Avonlea, and Caesar Ozonovich were seated on velvet couches in the lobby. Two others were on the mezzanine: a teenage girl named Annette Nordström, who was reading an old book she got from a shelf, and a dashing gentleman named Remy Maltzahn, who was watching the three bicker over the tardiness of their late companions.
"I told you already, they're escorting a guest," Remy voiced with an amused tone, "our guest."
"By guest you mean an emissary sent by the Church?" Caesar shares his profound hatred to the Holy Church with Justinia, though at this point of the argument, she didn't care anymore.
Both believe that the Mage's Association shouldn't collaborate with the Church. In fact, they were the only delegates who expressed their exasperation to it. Majority won, of course.
"Does it matter that much, Sir?" Elaine asked with deference, but because of his age, not rank. She could care less about the mage's Grand status. "This emissary can give us answers."
"Answers my ass! It's one of their underhanded tactics."
Answers. Remy recalled the Church mentioning about some sort of treasure that can be used to repair the Holy Grail. He also wondered how the greatest magic institution in the world doesn't have knowledge about it.
"Strange how the Church knows about it, and we don't," Remy leaned against the balustrade and pocketed his hands.
Annette flipped a page from the book she was reading, "I guess working together isn't so bad after all."
He chuckled. She wasn't wrong. It has been far too long since they got a move on with the Holy Grail. Remy was sure that he and the seven will be thankful for any form of progress they make today, even if it meant bringing their oldest enemy to the doorsteps of their house. The survival of humanity is of greatest importance right now.
"Master…" a shadow of a figure suddenly appeared before Annette and Remy. The darkness was dispersed by incandescence, revealing a burly Middle-Eastern man with considerably handsome features. He was cloaked in pitch black balanced with crimson outlines accentuating the hems. It was evident that his clandestine style belonged to the Assassin servant class. Remy knew him by his true name: Cain.
Cain, the very first man to commit premeditated murder, the man who killed his own brother out of envy, and the man branded by God with a curse and mark, was summoned as a Heroic Spirit in probably the most crucial Holy Grail War in history. Remy thought this was his punishment from God—to walk on this Earth once more and battle to the death. He thought perhaps participating in the Holy Grail War was his servant's chance to repent. May God forgive you, Remy remembered telling him when they first got acquainted.
"Our guest has arrived in front of the Museum," Assassin apprised.
"Very good," Remy replied, "continue monitoring him until the meeting has been adjourned."
"Yes, Master," and he disappeared like mist.
A few minutes passed before they heard a knock at the door. It opened, and entered the emissary and two of the other delegates. Remy gestured Annette to go down to the lobby. She left the book behind and followed him descend the staircase. Ahead, they saw the displeased faces of Caesar and Justinia. Remy could feel them itching to probe the guy they sent from the Holy Church, but he knew they would waste precious time on someone who might not be affiliated to the organization in the first place. He's not from the Church, Remy thought, and he was sure the others have figured out already.
Priests from the Holy Church typically wore black cassocks. The emissary, however, wore a short alb over a sapphire leather tunic, adorned with golden studs that lined the flaps. An oddly-shaped pectoral cross was donned around his neck. His appearance already gave suspicions. But, if he's not from the Holy Church, then who sent him?
The two escorts, Taichi Hirabayashi and Carter McDiarmid, left the emissary's sides and approached Remy and Annette. Taichi gave an unconcealed feeling of mistrust with his eyes glancing at the guest. Apparently, Remy wasn't the only one who had doubts. Remy nodded to him, and then prodded Carter to spill his thoughts, but he just shrugged. Caesar, Justinia, and Elaine simply stood and awaited conversation.
He heaved a sigh of disappointment. He was hoping for a night without fighting someone. Stand by, Assassin.
Yes, Master, Cain responded telepathically.
"Before anything else, I'll let you know that I'm not from the Holy Church," the young lad averred. "Rather, I'm from a different Christian sect… an unrecognized one." He briefly paused afterwards, as if hoping to gain reactions he had anticipated to come quite earlier.
"Go on," Caesar prompted.
"I was sent by Ekklesia Christi," he continued, "we hail from the Southeast."
The room abruptly fell silent. What the seven heard was unmistakable. Southeast meant Southeast Asia, a region the seven wouldn't have figured out if the emissary made them guess. The information about the Holy Grail War was exclusively for the U.N. and the Mage's Association alone. Even the Holy Church was pushed out because using Christ's grail would surely lead to the Association's admonition, further worsening the animosity between the two factions. They'll get nothing if they waste their time on petty squabbles with the Church. Nevertheless, when they arrived at the opportune juncture in which they would team up with their rivals to fix a near unrepairable grail, they squabbled again, not with the Church but amongst themselves. Their final decision became obvious from the very beginning, though they never expected to regret it.
"Just who are you?" Remy's stark eyes darted at him. "You from Atlas? Wandering Sea?"
The unforeseen intrusion of Assassin from the shadows startled the emissary. Cain, who now has the lad around his deathly embrace, grasped the firmness of his blade and brought it closer to the neck of his captive.
"Let me—," he let out a low moan of unease, "let me go and I'll explain."
"Make it quick," the mage's steel voice jolted his spine.
He managed to catch his breath after being unhanded, though the sensation of Assassin's predatorial hold didn't seem to have left him yet. Remy felt that it was correct to question the man at his vulnerable state. With less power, there's less retaliation; the other mages would undoubtedly assent to that idea.
Remy sauntered next to him and crouched. "Start with your name."
"… I'm Aaron," he coughed, "Aaron von Dietrich."
"So, Aaron, would you care to tell us something about this Ekklesia Christi?"
And everyone in the room waited for the lad's story…