The Legend of the Samurai

This is a derivative work of Fate/ I do not own anything, but I wrote this fanfiction.

"And that's the end of Sasaki Kojiro. His chest was cut swiftly by Miyamoto Musashi, a samurai of greater power than him."

No, that's not true.

To say that one named Sasaki Kojiro was incapable of fighting one samurai such as Miyamoto Musashi is a grand lie. How Miyamoto Musashi was destined to arrive late at Funajima Island was not being written into account, nor the legend of Sasaki Kojiro itself felt human. There was more truth in what Ms. Taiga said than what it is written on paper or brought upon from mouth. There are no legends concerning Kojiro, but there are signs that there was a swordsman as strong, and as skilled as Kojiro. Whoever it was that stays unnamed.

Sasaki Kojiro was an irredeemable fake. A technique that swiftly cuts at the same direction with the same speed is fictional, purely a legend. It was something only the age of old could possess, and since it was lost in time, there's no way to scientifically prove its truth by reproducing it.

I dislike old legends, but that doesn't mean I hate it.

I love classic tales that spawns into many interpretations, like The Knights of the Round Tables, or the Formation of Japan in Sengoku, Ulster legends, The Tales of Strangeness from Africa, The Romance of the Three Kingdom. More or less, anything that has a proof of existence, but legends and myths doesn't really have a concrete proof supporting them. They're merely a concept that was thought by man, for man.

Based on real events or pure fiction, nobody knows.

Perhaps it was once like that, but who knows?

Adoring them may seem like what an insane person would do, but that's me, apparently.

"That's the end of today's class. Remember to write your report on the legends of Miyamoto Musashi that is due in two weeks. I expect an essay of ten pages or more."

I can hear everyone in my class groaning.

Sometimes, Ms. Taiga gives the most ridiculous homework.

I pulled the bag on the side of my desk and examined it.

Heavy.

That means I have a job to do after this. Whenever my bag is heavy, it reminds me that I need to go to the mountain top of Fuyuki. It was once a shrine, but it was moved to the countryside due to a project by the government. The mountain itself was supposed to be cursed, and it shows itself when the workers that demolished the shrines soon fell ill, and the minister that handled the project committed suicide, and her family soon followed. After the project was halted indefinitely, the area was desolated and nothing lives there anymore.

I frequently go there to hone my skill as a magus.

I lifted the bag and went out of the classroom into the quiet hallway.

Strange, I guess everyone's calling in sick.

There was supposed to be band-meet at the hallway this afternoon, but few people came and the ones who came soon goes.

"I was here only to deliver this message by..."

"I'm sorry, but I can't join this club..."

"Sorry."

I sighed.

I didn't know my underclassmen was this wimpy before. I know this because it couldn't possibly be the leader's fault. I know her, she's a nice girl. Though a bit energetic sometimes, but that's not something to be disliked.

Those who thought badly of her just because of that needs to learn their manners again.

And there she is, standing in the center of the hallway.

I raised my hand and called her.

"Hitei-san."

She noticed, then replied awkwardly. "...Oh my, if it isn't my old friend." She replied after inspecting me. "I suppose you're on your way to find happiness in the mountain again? It will never come to you, just so you know."

"Clam it." I reproved. "This is a way to continue my family's tradition... don't you do it sometimes too?"

"Yes, but I didn't do it in a cursed mountain in the middle of nowhere."

"Oh I forgot, the Matou family has a basement full of Magical Worms and what-not. Must be nice coming from a rich and known line of Magus." Smirking, I continued my rambling. "I heard you're soon to be the head of the Matou, time sure flies, doesn't it? The first time we met, you can't even cast basic pyromancy."

"We've talked about this before, stupid. My magic circuit aren't of the flame element. Of course I can only do a small spark, even with all of my power. I'm more of a water person, I can even decrease this room temperature by freezing the molecules in the air if I am so inclined to do."

"Yeah, yeah."

"Don't say it like that." Hitei pouts. "I worked hard to master this particular ability."

"I know."

She hesitated before smiling. "Yeah, that's true. You're still set to go to that cursed mountain right?"

"Pretty much."

"I'll meet you there if I'm able." She crossed her arms together, and looked to the side. "I'll bring dinner too, what do you want for tonight's?"

"The usual leftover." I said.

"I can make something too you know." Still looking to the side, but her eyes met mine, curiosity is brimming in it. "A-And eating my luxurious leftovers may not fit the taste of the commoners, so..."

"Then bring me a Chicken Katsu."

"Deep Fried?"

"Deep Fried."

For some reason that I definitely had noticed before, she have begun asking me about this. Every Thursday and Friday, she would ask me about what food I would like to eat for dinner. She had band practice on every other day, and I don't usually go to the mountain on the weekends, but the thing is, her food actually tastes great.

Our usual conversation usually lasts until the food of the day was settled, and then she would say her farewell to me.

"See you at six then."

"Yeah, don't try wandering inside if it gets past seven."

"Is it about that legend again? The one about a spirit that beheads visitors at night?"

I nodded.

Catching my signal, she smiled.

"I'll take note on that. Thanks."

"You're welcome."

She hurriedly left and search for the stairs. Going up, I knew that she went to get her bag. It's probably still on the classroom, sitting there by its lonesome and awaits its owner to pick it up and... why am I rambling like this as I walked out of the school? I didn't even realize how much ground I've covered.

Anyway, the cursed mountain.

Thirty Seven years ago, it is still called the Ryuudou Mountain, where a temple was built on top of it.

Thirty Five years ago, its name changed into the Cursed Mountain. Without a name, the mountain disappeared from maps and search engines. Even with the native knowing its location, only a select few knew its true name. Many probably forgot about its existence, but I still know of a way to sneak past inside, and its true name.

You could say it is a sort of achievement for me.

There are two securities wandering around, but I know both of them, and they know of my lineage. It is all good as long as I didn't evoke too much wrath from the mountains, that is, taking away too many pranas that the mountain itself generated.

"Oh, it's you again."

"Hurry, before someone sees you."

Is probably the sum of my everyday conversation with said guards. They always wishes for my self-return, but I know they won't be held responsible if something goes wrong, since technically, any accidents there won't be for the guards to blame, they will be scolded for their inconsistent quality of gatekeeping, but that's it.

Walking up the long stairs uphill, I can see the sun is set on three past ten as the sun is slowly reeling itself down the far horizon of Fuyuki.

"I better make this trip before sundown."

And that I did. Placing my bag carefully into the ground, I pulled out a kitchen knife. Holding it in my hand, I chanted.

"Reinforce."

Feeling the change in material, I picked a giant rock from my bag and place it on the ground. Gulping my spit, I hesitated, before holding the knife firmly, and...

*CRACK*

Splits the kitchen knife unevenly.

The blade flew far onto the farthest temple ground. I would usually pick it up, attach it to the edge, and reinforce again, but my body is unusually tired today. I can usually do three to four times a day, but for some unknown reason, my body refused to work here, even if it was supplying me with a greater amount of prana. Now, its value is as much as I would place it on my home's workshop.

...

I rest my back to the ground.

Looking up at the vermilion sky, the sun must be setting.

My stomach growled.

Looking at my watch, it was still five past fifty.

Great.

Picking myself up, I wondered to the Shrine Gate. Usually, people takes a detour to the side and stayed, but I was too close to a feeling of home here and occasionally passed through the shrine.

I looked at it in fascination again.

"Beautiful." I remarked.

I touched it with my bare hands, sliding off my leather gloves.

"Dusty."

I sniffed a part of it after wiping some dusts off of it.

"Rotten Wood."

There's a glaringly big difference between seeing it from afar and inspecting it up close. Makes you feel a little sad once you realize that this is a place where once, many people have visited before.

How lively must be this shrine at festivals and such could be a sight to see.

Walking to the separated blade of knife, I noticed someone singing.

"Must be Hitei."

"Kegare kite, kiseki wo Se-"

I picked it up, and indeed it was Hitei.

"Are you still at that mountain?"

"Yeah, why?"

"Two guards have fell." She sighed. "I believe there is someone else watching you. Please be careful."

"Wait where are you?"

"Down the stairs. As I said, two guards are dead. Slain by a large hole fired across their stomach... I have to note that..." She paused, and a sound of rustled clothing can be heard. "It was not done by a blade."

...

"It was not by a blade, but more like a wind bores through it. If it was a blade, it would be more clean, if it was a stick it would be rough. Yet this wound was not made by any conventional weapon. We might have a magic-user lurking around."

That's not good.

"You can hang up the phone now. I'll back you up shortly... as soon as I conquer these stairs agai—"

So I hung up.

I walked to the center of the temple ground. Picking up another possession of mine, which is three pieces of jewels. These should do it when I'm cornered or in a pinch, but the name of those spells escapes me.

I looked around.

No prana residue.

But I felt something in-front of me, and instinctively dodged. Side-stepping to the right, something grazed my right ear.

It was a wind.

A wind as sharp as a razor blade.

Molded into a sphere of some sort, and was then launched with incredible speed.

I can feel the wound where it's at. It stings badly as I tried to feel it with my hand. Quickly I donned both gloves into my hand and readied myself for another shot of that particular attack.

Bracing myself, I closed my eyes.

There is nothing to see.

Focus on the gloves on both hand.

I regulated my breathing.

This is all or nothing, I guess.

"Reinforce."

I can feel the property of the glove slowly changing. A sense of power brims over it as I move it around. My finger fits itself perfectly, more or less it was the will of the gloves itself that lets me be in synch perfectly with it.

"Swift."

Speed flows through my body, the source being said gloves. Imbued with magical property, it passively increases my speed as it was told to do. It was not innate, more like something given. Its property will disappear over time, but I can manage it for a whole fight... or at least until Hitei comes with Reinforcement.

"Critical."

Precision was given to my senses. I am now more sensitive to my surrounding, and I know from the way the winds are now blowing softly through my hair when I can't even feel its presence. Everything around me gave me warmth, coiling me as if they are my armor.

The next release... I can feel it.

Half a second from now, another wind that cuts like razor will be launched from my front—no, from my back. The caster swiftly moved from two places with its distance of over 30 meters in one flash of a moment.

How can I beat this one is not of my concern.

I only need to find an opening to flee.

Yes. To fight in a losing battle is meaningless, but if I flee—

...

No, I messed up.

The release this time is faster, and it pierced through my right shoulder. Screaming in pain, I clutched it tightly before kneeling down and let my right knee and left foot supports my excess weight.

But now I know that this magic-user does not use a wind, but an invisible bullet with a small diameter of, more or less, two centimeters. It is as if a bullet pierced through, but it was something else. It was not a bullet, but more of an invisible projectile. Something that an ordinary man cannot use, and is exclusive to those who knows damn well of what they are doing.

Tch, I have no time for this.

In a second, two bullets will fly over here.

I braced it with one hand guarding my head.

One will come from the left, and the other from the front.

Closing my eyes, I slowly close my eyes and roared.

"Aaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaa!"

I punched the empty air on my left with my right hand. Something broke and shatters to pieces. The shrapnel of it hits me in the face, but it does not pose any threat. I used the force of my punch to spin and backhands the last bullet that was fired at me, barely hitting it with my luck, it also shatters into pieces.

But so did the gloves I worked so hard to keep in one piece.

"Damnit." I smirked as death is closing in on me. "That was one of my best trick."

Hastily, I ran for the exit, anticipating another shot, I stumbled around like a headless chicken, and soon I was greeted by the shrine gate that almost crumbled. The moon is slowly looking after me from above, but it was not of concern, for something akin to a blade is in-front of my face, forming an elegant arc.

As Hitei finally walks up the stairs, she was greeted with a body of a man missing its right arm. It can be found a meter away from its owner, lying limply on the ground.

"No... I was too late."

Hitei examined the body, it was still breathing, but the wounds are severe.

Is there something she can do to save him? Fate doesn't think so.

She quickly reached for her skirt, pulling out a giant piece of red jewel, shaped like a heart. Something familiar was forming back deep inside her. It was a present from somebody she knows so long ago, and now she needs to give it to another person. She doesn't want to part with a memento this way, but fate doesn't care of one's feeling for a brittle possession.

Doesn't mean that someone else shares the same view of something as silly and conceptual as fate.

"You're not." A voice rang. "You can still save this young man, even without giving him that valuable trinket."

The voice was suave. Calm and collected. The voice speaks as if it was a generation, no, it was a hundred generation too late. In a manner that is almost forgotten by men of the generation he spoke.

"Young lady, I have to apologize for disarming this young man, but know that it was not of my own volition." He mumbled angrily. "It was a curse that was put over me by a certain female dog from so long ago."

Hitei turned to the voice, and something transparent was there.

A samurai, garbed in purple and shrouded in vague mist.

Its body barely visible, it's as if Hitei was seeing a ghost.

"You... can you save him?"

"May I ask for a reward? It doesn't have to be in advance." The samurai smirked, cocking his head to the side. "I always work for a price, and the price isn't always as cheap as a meal in a fancy restaurant with a lovely lady."

"Speak." Hitei ordered. "I'm listening."

Clearly irritated by this apparition, she waited.

"I'd be grateful if I am freed from this curse of mine." The transparent figure points at the shrine gate. "Destroy that shrine for me. With my link to the world refused, I will once again become something phantasmal."

"...Then I can bind you to his soul?" She clicked her tongue. "An alteration of the soul at these day and age? Primitive. Befitting of something from the past such as you."

"Something from the past may be greater than the present, young lady." The man explained. "We can debate over this until the sun rises, but I believe your man over here doesn't have as much as ten minutes, we better seal this deal quickly."

"...Agreed." She focused on the man, placing both hands close to the wounds. She paused before speaking to the transparent samurai angrily. "You better not kill me after this is all said and done."

"I dare not lay hands on women and children. Except that one woman I despise."

Ignoring his last statement, I channeled my prana, and what reserves I had in me.

"Regrowth. Bind. As this alteration of the soul is in progress, I give my blessings to those who have fell, to those who have waited, and to those who have won. Let this merging of the soul successfully completes a body whole, a soul twice, and the mind doubled.

With the name of..."

She glared at the man, pausing mid-sentence to inscribe the name of the soul to the contract.

"Sasaki Kojiro."

Hitei breathes in air, continuing.

"...Sasaki Kojiro, I bestow the merging to the greater will of the heavens, as it rains its salvation of the soul into the barren and deserted earth, the dried up and dirtied sea, and the polluted air of humankind."

And with that, a flash of purple.

It enveloped the gaping wound, and attracts the limping arm that was lying on top of dirt. Slowly, it closes in, slowly, it moved back to its owner. The blood spilling from him retracted as if basic physics didn't apply, and the laws of causality didn't exist. The samurai glows bright golden as it slowly disappears into particles and went inside the man's body, close to its heart.

Focusing on the spell, a bullet was shot, but it missed Hitei and landed on a nearby tree.

"Lancer!" She ordered, and an invisible figure leapt above her and deflected the remaining bullets.

"My, my, master." The lancer turned behind her. "It was unlike you to worry for a boy, but it was really unlike you to ask me for help. Now who said that she didn't need my help no matter what and asks me to wait at the stair, scouting below?"

"Shut up and do what you're told, Lancer!" Hitei screamed, wanting nothing of this conversation, or wanting to know whether this conversation will go on further and how long it will take to satisfy this lancer of her.

"Aye ma'am." The lancer laughed as she deflected yet another bullet.

Two times.

Four times.

Sixteen Times.

Two Hundred and Fifty Six Times.

"Master." Lancer said nonchalantly as a barrage of wave was again, deflected. "Can you hurry it up and give me a hand here? I can do this all day, but if it bores me I'll start doing it half-assedly so hard some invisible bullets will be deflected "off-course" and hit you in the head."

"Just hold those as best as you can." Sweat piles up above her eyes. "I'll be done in just a minute!"

"Okay!"

Lancer continued her relentless strikes, seemingly without a drop in spirit. Lancer's defense is strong, too strong even. So is Lancer's eye coordination. It quickly sliced and deflected every bullets everywhere but behind her in amazing precisions.

"You better praise me when we got home for this."

"I make no promises!" The light slowly dimmed as Hitei began to cough. "Guh... not yet. The prana in my reserves are not enough!"

"Then use one of your command spells!" Lancer ordered, unusual for a servant. "If you'll lose one, you won't lose much. In the first place, I am completely loyal to you!"

"Haaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaa!"

A red tattoo on the back of her neck shines brightly, even brighter than the purple right in-front of her hands. The surging prana ran through every magic circuit of her body, pushing it to its limits as it courses back to Hitei's hands.

"This... this is superb." Hitei smirked. "This is more than enough, and it feel so good! So great! I can get used to this!"

Lancer laughed, deflecting an invisible arrow that is aimed to the head.

"That's one gift from the greater grail you're using." She slammed her spear onto another invisible bullet, knocking down the trees. "Rejoice and savor it slowly, Master!"

"Yeah!" Hitei laughed as the purple glow began to reappear again, this time brighter than the original glow. The light engulfed not just the body, but also Hitei and Lancer, but the bullets was relentlessly fired in hope for Lancer to miss a blow and lands a hit, but Lancer was aware of this and retires her sight for her senses to parry everything coming her way.

Thus, two minute successfully passed without any casualties, and a reattached arm.

The glow dissipates, and the barraging bullets seems to have stopped.

"Master, it seems the opposing servant has withdrawn." She sighed in relief. "That one sure has guts, if I didn't force it to the limit, I don't know what will happen."

"The four of us might as well be dead meat."

The suave voice returned, and the man rose from his short nap.

"...I don't know what to say but thank you." He looked behind him after he dusted off the dirt from his pants. "Information both valuable and limitless are coursing inside my brain right now. It seems I am now the host of your soul... Sasaki Kojiro-san."

"Well, isn't this convenient, the boy already know my name."

"That's what the art of magecraft known as "Alteration of the Soul" basically does to a person. It merged two souls into a single host." Hitei explained. "Why he was chosen for your host can also be explained easily. Basically, since he's the one who is of the living, he gets to be your host."

'How troublesome." He sighed. "I always know that someday I am to be one with a man, but not like this."

Piqued, Lancer looked at Kojiro rather strangely.

"E-Excuse me?"

"Ignore him, Lancer." Hitei ordered, not wanting to know what will come after his worthless ramblings. Though she had to ask what was someone with the name of "Sasaki Kojiro" be doing at this deserted temple... no, this cursed mountain.

"Say, Kojiro."

"Assassin is fine."

Hitei was taken aback.

"That's a particularly odd choice of name." She figured. "When did you adopt such a name?"

"Lost count of the time, but if I have to give a say, it was given to me by one female dog I hate to remember." He laughed. "I guess it kinda sticks after a while, since everyone and their lover starts calling me by that name over and over again."

"Does that have anything to do with "Sasaki Kojiro" being bounded on this plain of nothingness. I admit that this is the place where the dead usually gather, but you're not of this age, nor has your soul ascend. What are you, Sasaki Kojiro—no, Servant of the Assassin class?"

She corrected herself.

This seems to hit one of Kojiro's nerves.

"Yes, I was the servant summoned forth for the fifth holy grail war." He chuckled. "Albeit for an entirely wrong reason. I was called forth only to be stuck as a gatekeeper, being a servant of an unfair master that cheats her way into that sad and pathetic excuse of a war."

What Assassin said to her was an apt description to the war, but then again, someone who have never seen it in the first place cannot say anything nor believe a word of it.

"Say, young lady. Am I involved with the holy grail war again?"

"Sadly, yes." She quickly replied. "You're now a servant fighting in the seventh holy grail war of Fuyuki. If you would like the details, I can help you and take you to the church."

"Who's the priest of the church this time?" Assassin asked. "Is it someone by the name of Kirei? Or someone with the name of Kotomine?"

"No, it is someone with the name "Ortensia." Many knew the girl as one of the most talented individual of the Burial Agency. A sub-agency to the world's church. Peculiar isn't it?"

"Not really, no." Assassin muttered. "But I am intrigued of this "Ortensia" girl you speak off of with such a dignified manner. Is she a peony, or a rose, I wonder?"

"Hortensia." Lancer jokingly remarked, before laughing.

Forgetting that the revived man exists, he spoke up.

"It's decided then, we're going to the church at the other side of Fuyuki. Crossing the great bridge, right?"

"That's the plan, master." Assassin spoke calmly. "Though I would be grateful if you fulfilled your promise and destroy that shrine gate."

"Almost forgot about that." Hitei smirked. "What if I don't fulfill that promise and keep the shrine gate standing? I can do that, you know."

"Then your man here will be forever bound to this temple. Remember about the curse that was placed onto me? It is a curse to keep myself stationed at the entrance of the shrine. Ordinarily, I would disappear if that shrine is as much as destroyed, but since I am now one with this boy..."

"Then you won't disappear, since your anchor to the world has been replaced, is that what you're trying to say?"

"More or less." He smirked.

"Fine." Hitei looked at Lancer, and Lancer nods. "You don't need to go home to get your reward. Just don't get too crazy that it'll atract many attentions."

"Yes!" Lancer laughed madly. "Here goes nothing!"

Twelve flash of light strikes six points of the shrine gate. It crumbles in a loud shockwave that dissipates as soon as it travels downhill. With the shrine gate now gone, there's nothing that restrained one such as Sasaki Kojiro.

Free for the world to see.

Free to fight stronger opponents.

The continuation of his legend.

"The holy grail war, no, its seventh incarnation of the war." Assassin laughed. "I can't wait to fight whatever servants that dare to fight me. Be it the king of heroes, or the king of knights, I shall take them on."

The man laughed with him.

"Not bad Kojiro." Taking it in well. "Since you're going to be my servant, I'll do my best to quench that thirst of battle of yours."

"Please, Master." He said, instinctively. "You flatter me."

With that, they both went for the church, taking down the stairs one step at the time.