Writer's note: Hello everyone, and welcome to Grimoire Crusade, a fanfiction I'm writing that takes place between Ending E of Drakengard and the beginning of Nier. If you've read "Grimoire Nier," a translated document from Japan, you'll see a timeline of what happens between Drakengard and Nier, but a lot of it is left up to interpretation. As a way to practice my writing, I figured I'd translate those events into a novel-esque format.

As this will mostly be done for practice, expect errors and the like. Right now I have one beta reader who'll be helping me out before I post, so the quality may dip here and there. I hope you'll be patient and bear with me as I work those sorts of things out. I'll try to go back and edit every Friday. Expect updates every Monday, though that amount may increase or decrease depending on what I've got going on in my life at the moment. There also might be some "creative discretions" made here or there for the sake of making the writing easier on me. You might notice one off the bat if you're a rabid Drakengard fan (or just go watch Ending E again, heh).

Thank you, and I hope you enjoy reading

Grimoire Crusade.

June 12, 2003

It was 2:58 when the dragon appeared in Shinjuku, Tokyo.

Yamato Iida knew this because he was looking at his watch when it happened. He was checking to see if he'd make it to the E line for his transfer to Ikebukuro on time when he saw it.

Well, them, if we're going to be exact. The only reason he saw the dragon first was because of its lustrous red scales. They shone against the sun, making Iida think that it was just another plane landing in Narita, at first. It was only when it flapped its wings that Iida realized what he was looking at.

As his brain attempted to process the existence of a being that, based on everything we understood about the known world, definitively should not exist, Iida was greeted with yet another curious sight. The moody grey clouds that had stubbornly clung to Japan's sky for the day parted in a circle, and from within, a giant grey woman, seemingly made out of clay, fell through it.

"This is strange," Iida could only think, before the woman made impact with the earth. It crushed the buildings it landed on as if they were twigs. A second afterwards, Iida felt the aftershock beneath his feet, and he was knocked onto his behind, along with everyone else on the sidewalk. He could hear shouts and screams as the rest of the world caught up with him, recognizing what was going on.

Dust and debris flitted through the air around Iida a moment later. He could only imagine what the damage was like at the epicenter of the crash. From where he sat, he could see that the giant woman was formed from the middle up, with no legs present.

The people around Iida rushed this way and that as they attempted to escape. He couldn't help but chuckle to himself. Where would they go? What would they do, in the face of such...strangeness?

Although, perhaps I'm being a bit strange myself, Iida thought. Shouldn't he be panicking more? Sure, he was single, and work took up most of his life. But he should still have felt that urge to survive that all organisms felt, deep within their cores, right?

Before he could consider his own humanity further, Iida was lifted up by his arms. He looked up to see an Emergency Worker helping him to his feet, shouting at him to follow everyone else to evacuation. Rather than comply, Iida took another look at the giant woman and the shining red dragon. The dragon was roaring at the statue - a roar so powerful, Iida could feel it in his chest, as its volume and intensity washed over the sounds of sirens and screams. As it did so, orbs of black and white energy burst from its maw, blasting into the statue and knocking pieces out of it.

They're...fighting? Iida wondered to himself. He couldn't examine the battle any longer, however. The Emergency Worker was now pushing him towards the evacuation line, yelling at him all the while. Iida nodded his consent, and left to join the evacuation, only stopping to bend over and cough into his hands.

Crap. Must have gotten some of the dust into my lungs.

It was 4:00 when the giant woman fell.

Kane Makino knew this because he had just been briefed during an emergency committee meeting of the Japan Self-Defense Force. In a word, everyone was panicked.

They had no idea what was going on. How could they? Dragons, giant statue women, what looked like magic being shot out in the sky? No amount of training could have prepared the SDF for this. Makino knew that he wasn't ready for something like this, that was for sure. He was in the middle of his afternoon workout when the siren went off. It was only when he took a glance at the TV that he realized what was going on.

At 4:00, he and several other members of the SDF saw the giant woman disintegrate on TV. Whatever that dragon had done, it was enough to destroy the thing. Makino wanted to cheer, but he wasn't sure if they were winners in this case.

Before he could ponder the predicament further, he felt a hand clasp his shoulder. It was another member of the SDF.

"With that giant...thing gone, we're going out to help with evacuation and to see if anyone survived that impact. Get ready to move out."

Makino nodded. How ready could I actually be ready? he asked himself yet again.

But he knew better than to say it out loud.

It was 4:02 when the dragon fell.

Haru Watabe knew this because he was the one that shot it down.

He was known amongst the other members of the Self-Defence Force as Scarface, of the 6th Air Wing, 303rd Squadron. He hadn't seen combat, but he was the best pilot in his crew. This was why he was chosen to take the shot.

Not that it ended up being very difficult. The thing was just...floating there, after destroying the giant woman. For a fraction of a second, Watabe wondered of the dragon's sentience. If it could think, or feel, perhaps even talk.

For another fraction of a second, Watabe thought he saw a man sitting atop the dragon.

By the end of that second, he had readied his weapon, aimed, and fired.

The missile was a direct hit. Watabe zoomed past his target, seeing only flames and ashes. Then, the body of a flying lizard, careening towards the earth. He let out a sigh, before turning on his radio.

"This is Bravo-1. Unidentified target has been neutralized. Over and out."

With that, Watabe settled into the cockpit and sighed. I'm hugging my kid extra hard today, he thought to himself. He turned his jet back towards the Self-Defence Force base.

This was the "6-12 Incident." 56 deaths were confirmed. 320 injuries were sustained. 60 Billion in Yen, blown into ashes like that of the giant woman and red dragon that appeared in Shinjuku that day. Despite efforts by the Japanese Government, news of the event leaked throughout the world. Some believed it was the cause of terrorists. Others, a foreign plot to take down Japan.

They were wrong.

The alternative was much, much worse.