When you've been alive for as long as Ratatosk has, you tend to notice certain things- one of them being how exactly did you die? Well for the Summon Spirit he didn't have to exactly question it. As a Spirit, it should have been impossible for him to die as he had no true physical form unless he materialized into the world through his own magic, but in this case he had gotten so very used to using the human-like vessel of Aster Laker's image and even then kept it as his human side "Emil" went to live on his own in Symphonia. But it wasn't the cause for his death because Ratatosk was never killed or even died.

Instead he was summoned in the Holy Grail War.

His first reaction to this should be why and how as one, he never entered the Throne of Heroes, and two being that he was the farthest thing from a Heroic Spirit since he at one point wanted to kill all the humans and half-elves before restoring the world's Mana. However this apparently was looked over because the Grail was tainted (it has been since the Third Holy Grail War, damn Einzburgs) and either Kratos or even his son Lloyd would be a better pick than him. There was also the issue with the Class he was summoned into- The Caster Class.

...Why the Caster Class? Ratatosk's magic wasn't exactly the best for that particular class, though it may have to do with his Creation power and his control over Mana was monstrous...not a pun that was intended. Though over the course of his journey he became efficient in using a longsword, but the thought of a Caster using a sword was just as obscure as an Archer that uses two. His Nobel Phantasm on the other hand wasn't a bad choice, in fact he was ecstatic to the point of being able to use it instead of the just as powerful Ain Soph Aur.

Well, that is until he found out how his Master really was.

He was quite an annoying one really, being from the Mage's Association and doing nothing but sitting around waiting for the other Masters to kill each other. That was one thing Ratatosk was really annoyed was that he wasn't allowed to fight. Wasn't...allowed to fight? That was the one thing he should have never said, it was a Battle Royal for a reason, not for sitting around with your thumbs up your ass that's for sure! Letting this full be known, he quickly disposed of the fool and went for the next course of action- finding a new Master. This would have been the hardest thing to do if it wasn't for his ability to convert the Mana in the world and use it as his own thanks to his familiars, but without a contract he would only last two or more weeks before Gaia decided to kick his ass twelve ways back to the Ginnungagap. Though maybe if he did that he could make Emil come here as Saber for the next war (when the Grail isn't tainted of course).

Walking around Fuyuki City's residential district, the blond was finding himself exceedingly annoying though Astral Form took off a bit of the stress. His familiars which were ironically squirrels looked around for possible new Masters as he grew more and more frustrated. Were there really not that many Magus running around looking for Servants? It's already been half a week since he killed his first Master and stole his command seals and while no fights have happened and Assassin hasn't been summoned yet- disappearing this early in the War is the last thing he wanted to do.

Richter would most likely laugh at the thought of the all-powerful Summon Spirit of the Ginnungagap Ratatosk died because he killed his Master and couldn't find a better one in time.

With a frown, he sat cross-legged at the front of a rather large house glaring at the street and anyone who passed by him. To regular people he just looked like he was 'cosplaying a period drama' or something, which was fine with him. It would be simpler to give up, but he wasn't one to do something as stupid as that. Aster's words ringed through his head as his blood red eyes scanned the area before closing them one more time. It would be okay to rest even if it was for a little while.

As the day slowly went to the evening, Ratatosk got moving again until he finally ended up back at the Kotomine Church. He only passed by there a few times and heard that the advisor was a former Master of the Fourth Holy Grail War 10 years ago, though highly infuriating from the way he tend to act along with being a man of the cloth. Looking around, he walked into the church and saw the veteran priest there with a sordid smile on his face. The thought of making a contract with a Priest let alone one that's a Magus, but like he said before- it wouldn't do to disappear like a dog so early in the game.

But the Mana, oh hell the Mana flowing through him was both corrupted and powerful. Shit.

Kirei ended up introducing the other Servants he somehow got, Lancer- who he stole from a Magic Council Advisor, good riddance if he said so himself, and the other made him almost freeze. Gilgamesh, the Archer of the previous Holy Grail War was there as well. Though seeing Lancer's reaction irritated Ratatosk to a tier, saying that they looked alike. Like hell they did!

With golden blond hair and blood red eyes that seemed to pierce the very soul of the ones they were staring at, except for in height Ratatosk and Gilgamesh looked and acted practically the same. However unlike the King of Heroes, the Lord of Monsters was a bit more humble in his actions. Though it didn't mean he was any less arrogant that's for sure. The two Servants did not get along in any way though, with Gilgamesh treating everyone around as if they were nothing but mere mongrels that crawled in his presence, boasting of his half-god status and looking down at him. It took a lot of self-control to prevent himself from using his Monster Creation ability to summon one of his Fenrir, though the last time that happened Lancer happen to take a shine to the giant wolf-creature and ended up taking it for his own.

Well that's one reason to explain why he's called the Hound of Cuchulain.

Class Name: Caster

True Name: Ratatosk

Master: Unknown (Deceased), Kirei Kotomine

Alignment: Chaotic Evil/Chaotic Good

Strength – A (Due to experience from Tales of Symphonia Dawn of the New World, it's proven that Ratatosk is exceedingly stronger than a majority of the Vanguard and the Church of Martel- as for how easily he was able to swing around weapons heavier and bigger than his own.)

Endurance – B+ (As a Summon Spirit, as long as there is Mana in the world he can fight for as long as he needs to- even outlasting his enemy. Though because of being asleep for 1000 years and making a human body in order to hide until he recovered, it took him a while to get his full endurance back.)

Agility – A+ (This is one of his highest stats, being able to attack flying enemies with more proficiency than other Servants and with the help of the wind element backed up by the Centurion Ventus.)

Mana – EX (Ratatosk's ability can literally rewrite the rules of the world so that it can hold Mana, It's safe to say he has a lot to spare. If he was with Shirou, due to the botched Summon he would get a rank-down to A/A+, but he's with Kotomine so he keeps ALL the benefits! So long as there is Mana in the world, he can regulate and even increase how much there is- making him one of the most dangerous Caster-class there is. As a Caster can summon other Heroic Spirits [Or at least Medea could], he could keep all there rank abilities without having to drain any from the townspeople of Fuyuki- keeping the plans of Kotomine under wraps quite easily.)

Luck – E (One of Castertosk's lowest stats due to Mithos, Emil, and Richter. As he almost died by Richter's hand and generally having little to no charisma for any of the Chosen's Group [Along with being put to sleep for 1000 years and seeing the Great Kharlan Tree die] it's safe to say that Ratatosk's luck is shit.)

Class Skills

Territory Creation – B+ (Ratatosk's Territory Creation involves the area looking like his domain- the Ginnungagap, and uses it to his advantage. So long as the person does not have a Derris Emblem they can avoid being turned into semi-sentient stone, but will still get lost within the maze of the Otherworldly Gate. If he doesn't come out personally to kill them, then his Monsters within the area will.

Item Creation - B/C+ (The Centurion Eggs are an item in itself, meaning his creation skills are at a good level. It's not known if he can make potions or anything else pertaining to them however.)

Personal Skills

Organic Creation – (Ratatosk has the ability to create living creatures, though prefers mostly to make Monsters rather than humans or anything else. He created his servants known as the Centurions, who help to regulate the Mana in the world with their own powers and with the Monsters of their elements. So long as he remembers the image of what he wants to create he can make it, such as when he used Aster Laker's image and made a human-like body for himself to hide from the Vanguard until his memories and powers returned.)

Teleportation – (To an extent, Ratatosk can teleport through time and space- but doesn't use it either for the intense amount of Mana it takes or not needing it at the time.)

Swordsmanship – (Thanks to Emil's influence, he grew proficient in the sword arts- wielding a Longsword like his secondary persona did. With a savage and speed-based style, Ratatosk relies on power and agility when fighting and less on magic.)

Magecraft – (?)

Noble Phantasms

Ain Soph Aur- "The Light without Limit" (C Ranked Noble Phantasm): The Mystic Arte that accompanies Devil's Hellfire, Ratatosk is the only one who can use this attack to its full potential so long as there are Level 5 Monsters under his command. By using the two lined aria "Return to oblivion and be devoured by darkness", he can activate it without the use of the original Mystic Arte. The reason for it being a C-Ranked Noble Phantasm however is due to it being relatively weak because of the low Mana cost unless he drains it from one of his familiars.

Yggdrasil- "The Reality of Two Souls" (A-Ranked Noble Phantasm): A Reality Marble created by Ratatosk's heart that was projected through Verius's meddling. In this world Ratatosk can fight alongside with his other self 'Emil' and rewrite the rules of the world from there. Because of Gaia's influence however, he can only use the Reality Marble for 12 minutes even at full power. Whether this is from the fact that he is called from the Otherworldly Gate and its restriction or something else is what not even he knows.

Ashi: Woo hoo; I actually finished this….holy crap. Trying to write this was actually pretty dang hard.

Aschlyn: And you still have to write chapter 2 of "Rituals for the Soul", right?

Ashi: Yes, along with finally finishing some other prompts as well and that drabble for Mondaiji. That, and prepare for tests…..

Aschlyn: Uh, Ashi?

Ashi:…

Aschlyn: Okay then, looks like I'm to finish this one up. A few of you might ask why Ratatosk is such a powerful Caster rather than being a Saber and that's because he's a Summon Spirit. He really only got around to using a sword when Emil started training with one and is still far from being a master in swordsmanship, unlike Kratos and Lloyd who had years to back up their mastery in swords, especially with Lloyd's dual mastery like Archer's.

As for his high stats, this is the Ratatosk from Post-game- meaning that he's got all of his powers unlocked and is powerful enough to rewrite the rules of the world. As for the Reality Marble being his true heart instead of the Ginnungagap itself, that was originally Ashi's plan to make it his domain until she remembered that he could make it from his Territory Creation Class Skill and calling upon Emil to help him fight sounds a lot more efficient rather than his Centurions, Monsters, or Richter.

The two lined aria "Return to oblivion and be devoured by darkness" is actually a reference to the translation of what he says in Ain Soph Aur. Orignally he was supposed to say "Well then, return to nonentity, Ain Soph Aur" but that was scrapped and instead got "Be devoured by darkness, Ain Soph Aur" instead. "Return of oblivion" is the unused localized translation and "Be devoured by darkness" is the actually translated quote. The one that we all know and love is the localized quote "Darkness devours, Ain Soph Aur" of course!

Ashi: ….Originally this was going to be longer and get into the very vicious relationship of Ratatosk and Gilgamesh, but I think I may just keep that as a separate drabble instead of trying to go over 10,000 words in a one-shot. Oh god, trying to write those two is going to be a trip in itself. As for why Ratatosk ended up contracting with Kirei instead of Shirou, if he had went with Shirou then a lot of his stats would end up looking like this:

Strength – B-

Endurance – C+

Agility – B+

Mana – A-

Luck – E

I think the main reason as to why Saber had her full stats was because of Avalon more so than Shirou's magic circuits, so it actually explains why he got such a power-down.

Aschlyn: Huh, that's actually not that bad. Sure he won't be taking down Saber or Berserker anytime soon, but that's not bad. He can take out Rider and Assassin with those. Also think of how he might end up fighting Archer- two Servants fighting with weapons outside of their original class!

Ashi: Oh man, who knows how that would turn out. Anyway, this was really fun to write and I want to thank DeRaisCitta for giving the idea during Meme Sunday so many weeks ago! I would have never been able to write this without it! Now, I have one more to write that may piss off a few Ricther/Emil fans….or make them cry. Anyway, thanks for reading- ja ku ne!

EDIT: Ashi: -Covers face- I'm so sorry...I can't believe I put the wrong chapter up...This is the real one.