I opened my eyes to an unfamiliar ceiling.
My vision repeatedly blurred in and out of focus. My mouth felt drier than ever before. My limbs moved with great difficulty. It was as if I hadn't moved my body in an eternity.
I started to Code Cast Heal(16) and Cure(16) on myself to fight the stiffness I felt, then sat on the changes I had already begun to notice. Memories I know that were previously unassociated had melded together. Memories of my struggles on the Moon were just as prominent as memories of a normal life as a young girl playing in a beautiful Earth not destroyed by war.
It wasn't as if I lived one of these lives, and the other were simply intruding memories. No, rather it is if I lived both simultaneously with no discrepancies at all. It was a strangely nice feeling. Having memories of a life before the Grail War.
Speaking of the Grail War, my memories from the Moon had additions I know weren't there before. It's like all the gaps in my head were filled, coupled with a little something extra being added…
Archer… The Far side of the Moon...
I shook my head. I could worry about those changes later, right now I had to confirm my situation.
After all, with one body, two blended sets of memories, and two worlds, my plan must have worked!
With my body slightly recovered, I sat up and looked down upon myself. I was wearing simple, blue hospital gown that…
Why is there blood on me?
I realized I had a wet feeling on my face and touched the source with my hand. I looked at the offending liquid and swallowed nervously.
More blood.
I glanced around my surroundings and almost immediately found what I assumed to be the source. On the ground close-by was a gruesome sight. A couple of headless corpses laid motionless, surrounded by blood and brain matter.
My eyes darted around with more alertness than before. An unknown place with possible unknown enemies. I caught sight of a clipboard on the end of my bed and grabbed it. The doctor's notes shed some light on my situation, yet added additional questions.
My attire and the stiffness of my body was attributed to same brain disease that plagued the person I was based on in the other world line.
Amnesia Syndrome.
Strange how two versions of me across different world lines were afflicted by the same disease. Is the person Hakuno Kishinami forever linked to the disease Amnesia Syndrome? What a cruel attribute to associated with.
Regardless, the doctor's note and my attire indicated treatment at a hospital, but this clearly isn't one. What is especially concerning is what I'm feeling below me.
Psuedo-Spiritron fueled Code Cast sequences… and what I think is mana?
Feeling such a mana rich environment was strange to me, who was only aware of the supernatural when on the Moon. Over there, the Moon Cell barely had any traces of mana, if any at all. The me who lived in this world before being hospitalized wasn't even aware of the existence of magic. Perhaps it's time to access the Regalia…
…
Oh.
By the use of the Regalia, my mind was flooded with information regarding current situation. Below, allies similar to me in terms of possessing two sets of memories fought a desperate battle against traitors aiming to usurp my rulership over the Moon Cell. A third party under the designation of "Khaos Brigade" is also present, but their numbers have dwindled into near insignificance. Two agents have been employed by the Moon Cell in order to recover and protect me. I didn't look much further into them other than to confirm they weren't Servants. If the situation was this serious, I had to act immediately. If not for myself, then for the people below putting their lives on the line for me.
All of this happened because of my own actions. In forcibly transferring the Moon Cell and the currently missing Velber into another world line, there was not enough energy to maintain even a single Servant here on Earth.
I began to access the systems of the Moon Cell as an administrator, shutting down non-essential processes and keeping the rest on low power mode. Most notably was the cutting down of the supercomputer's observational prowess. Since our arrival into this world it had already cut its sphere of observation into only the local town of Kuoh. I took it down a notch further, having it feed only the most basic information on just the building.
With these freed-up resources, it became possible for the Moon Cell to materialize a Servant here.
{Initiating Servant Summoning Process}
I winced as the back of my right hand stung in pain. Upon it, a set of red Command Seals burned into existence.
Now then, in this current situation an all-around reliable Servant would be best. With its generally strong parameters, a Saber class Servant fits the bill.
{Selecting Saber Class Servant…}
And of course, the Saber I'll choose is the who stood by me since the very beginning. Nero Clau—
{Suitable Catalyst Detected}
Wait what?
{Summoning Associated Servant}
WAIT WHAT? CANCEL. CANCEL. CANCEL. CANCEL. CANCEL. CAN—
The room was suddenly bathed in a vibrant blue light. Several feet in front of me, raw energy crackled as it took shape. It rose up, the form of woman becoming clearly visible. Light skin began to cover the surface of the body and a blue haori materialized over her. A long black scarf roped its way around her neck and similarly colored stocking snaked their way up her slender legs. A long and thin sheath buckled by her hip, concealing what could only be a katana. Light blond hair parted revealing facial features incredibly similar to Saber, of whom I had originally intended to summon.
But this could work too.
Her golden eyes softened at the sight of me and she smiled. "The Shinsengumi's first captain, Okita Souji has arrived. Are you my Master?"
I smiled back nodding. "I am. It's good to see you again Okita."
Following the end of the conflict against Archimedes, among the newly arrived humans were Servants. Summoned for no real purpose, they simply served to populate SERAPH and lived their lives to the fullest. Okita Souji was one such Servant. With no enemies to fight, I usually saw her in the company of other the other Japanese Servants. She typically spent most of her days goofing off with her best friend Nobunaga, another one of the newly summoned.
She nodded back before her face took a serious expression. "Your orders master?"
"I need you to help the people downsta—"
A loud ding reverberated around the room shutting me up, and the sound of elevator doors opening made way for an unfamiliar, but what felt like an enormously powerful, presence to be known.
The Saber's eyes narrowed and she drew her katana.
"Stay here Master."
I nodded as she made her way out of the door to what I could only assume was another room. Soon after, the sound of clashing steel rang in my ears.
The knight of Sirzechs Lucifer narrowed his eyes as the elevator he currently rode continued to ascend the building. He glanced at the map Leo gave him, noting that it didn't account for the powerful new magical signature he could feel above him, and his mind began to race.
Khaos Brigade maybe? The ones downstairs didn't put up much of a fight but that doesn't rule out the possibility. Given its position, it's guarding Leo-san's friend. He pointed out his associates and I've passed them all, so this presence shouldn't be an ally.
A loud chime signaled his arrival onto the highest floor. Okita casually strode out of the elevator in nonchalant fashion, but mentally his mind was battle-ready. There was no such thing as too careful with this Khaos Brigade.
This vigilance paid off as a woman blurred into existence in front of him, swinging her blade forward. Okita countered with an opposing swing of his katana and shifted his weight on his left foot in order to kick the mystery person back with his right. She flew back but reoriented herself with a flip, landing by the door on the other side of the room.
The two examined each other and Okita raised his eyebrows in surprise, followed quickly by the narrowing of the woman's eyes. She wore an identical Haori, wielded an identical katana, and her technique was eerily similar. Sirzechs' sole knight thought back to something his student once told him about.
Is this one of those rumored fangirls that he deals with?
That line of thought was interrupted as the supposed 'fangirl' lunged towards him and their clash renewed. Their battle was a flurry of blade strokes worthy of song and legend. Immaculate bladework fought against immaculate blade work, and to an observer it would seem dead even.
I'm stronger than her.
Okita Souji repelled a string of slashes from the woman as she came at him through his right flank. Using herculean demonic strength, he broke the combo with a two-handed horizontal slash into her katana, sending her flying back.
I'm faster than her.
With his god-like speed, he near instantaneously appeared where she was soaring and slashed downwards in a ruthless move to decapitate her head. With widened eyes, she slammed her feet onto the ground, just barely swinging her body and sword in time to block the lethal stroke.
And yet these techniques… What are they?
As Okita was about to press the advantage he earned, the woman practically teleported behind him. Over a century's worth of honed battle instinct prevented his bisection as he spun around with unmatched speed. Katana met katana as the battle turned into a contest of strength. The knight piece won out as he forced his opponent to jump back into a controlled landing.
That was no mere speed. It was instantaneous, like teleportation but without a magical circle.
For the first time since the two had met, the mystery woman finally opened her mouth.
"Receive the brilliance of my concealed sword!"
Okita was instantly on guard. The woman's words sounded almost like an incantation, as if she was preparing something. With a single stride, he appeared on his opponent's left side to deliver a vertical stroke. Once again, the woman almost teleported to her right in order to make distance, continuing her chant.
"One silent step… Two steps infinite... Three steps, a sword absolute!"
Sensing something was coming, he raised his katana in a guarded stance. Vindicating his decision, the woman once again basically teleported in front of him, this time her sword poised for a horizontal slash while mid-air.
"Mumyou Sandanzuki!"
Okita's eyes widened as he broke out into a sweat, shifting his blade to block the incoming strike. Yet despite raising his guard his instincts were screaming in a frenzied panic. Screaming that if nothing changed, he was about to die.
The blocking blade collided with the enemy slash, and that's when the man's senses went wild.
He could clearly feel that his katana blocked the attack, but he could also clearly see that the attack was continuing to sail towards his neck unabated.
Not even a second after the woman initiated the attack, and the room was completely silent.
A flat voice broke that silence, "What was that attack just now?"
Okita stared into the woman's eyes for a retort, but received a brief moment of silence. Finally, she responded with a quiet and similarly flat tone.
"What are you?"
Holding the woman's struggling sword alongside the knight's katana was the tail of a snake and claw of a tiger. The two stemmed from a monkey's face, of which had begun to step out from the back of Okita's haori with its free tiger paws.
Okita ignored the woman's question as more Youkai of various species left the confines of his haori, surrounding her.
"Three simultaneous horizontal slashes from the same exact position. I needed this Nue to block the other two."
The silence reigned for another brief moment as soon as the statements ended.
Okita sighed as he moved his katana to his opponent's neck, "I'm ending this now."
Before he could decapitate his target, a ball of that strange energy he kept encountering sped towards his face. The knight lazily slapped it away with his free hand before turning his gaze towards the perpetrator. She was an exhausted young girl with brown hair in a bloody hospital gown leaning against the door frame. Before he could question her, the elevator door burst open, revealing Leo and a blond twin-tailed girl that he had passed earlier.
"Everybody stop!"
Everybody froze up except for the woman, of whom had coughed up blood onto Okita face.
After frantic reassurances that everybody was on the same side by Rin and Leo, coupled with an incredulous expression on Hakuno's part once she realized who they both were, the Servant Okita Souji was apologizing profusely to the Devil Okita Souji while bowing and holding out a handkerchief.
"—and I'm sorry for attacking you so suddenly! I assumed that my Master was in danger! And sorry for coughing blood on you! My weak constitution was acting up again!"
"It's fine, it's fine. No harm done. I'm sorry for being so rough with you," the knight piece reassured her while wiping his face with the offered handkerchief.
A few feet away, Hakuno was trying to wrap her head around the fact that Leo and Rin, who had both died in the Holy Grail War, were alive in front of her.
"When I forced the Moon Cell and Velber to slide into this world line, only those alive should have had their memories melded with their native counterparts. So how are you both…?"
Leo waved his right hand besides his face, forcing pseudo-spiritrons to materialize into a new map of the building. It revealed mostly blue markers scattered throughout, with only a few red stragglers remaining. "You can thank the Moon Cell. It needed agents to rescue you, and supposedly there wasn't enough power to employ anything else."
"It chose the best for the job and fetched memory data relevant to both of us, "Rin nodded. Her face turned somber as she made eye contact with the girl in front of her. "But Hakuno… we aren't what you think you are."
Hakuno's rapidly growing smile died and she remained silent.
The Tohsaka heir made no visible reaction to the clear change in her demeanor and continued. "Both you and the people you brought with you into this world line… they are different from Harwey and I. We both have had experiences added onto us, while all of you are a complete melding of yourselves from both this world and your original one. "
Leo chose to interject, garnering a slightly irritated look from Rin. "What Miss Tohsaka is trying to say is that you, and those like you, are complete people. There is nothing in your mentality that would separate both sets of memories as two different entities. You all have experiences from both lives as if you had lived them simultaneously."
"As agents employed by the Moon Cell," Rin explained taking back the reins of the conversation, earning a glance from Leo, "it decided to add its observations of our lives onto our current selves. The Moon Cell archives contain what is like a third-party view into our lifetimes. Rather than feeling as if we lived that life in that other world line, we were mere observers to what another us experienced."
"Then when the Moon Cell decided to employ you both, you're trying to say that it layered a life on top of your current one. As in you lived life in this world line as normal, but you also have a set of memories that you didn't live, but rather observed from afar," Hakuno finished before pausing. "Meaning you're not the Rin and Leo I know."
Rin's eyebrows scrunched up. "Even so, we're still—!"
The brown-haired girl smiled, surprising the two. "I know Rin. Even though you aren't them, you know what happened to them. What happened to us. You're both still Rin Tohsaka and Leo Harwey. Still my friends."
Leo face took on an almost proud expression and nodded. "That's right, so consider us your comrades and guides in this world Miss Student Council President."
"You remember that too!?" Hakuno exclaimed, her eyes widening.
"Indeed, but that's a topic for another time. For now, let's discuss our next move. Please come here Okita Souji."
"Of course." "Yes!"
Both samurai looked at each other in confusion as they joined the group.
Leo glanced towards the terminal feeding him information courtesy of the Moon Cell. His eyebrows raised in amusement as he changed the feed from the building map into a descriptive status update, eyeing the identity of the summoned Servant. "Now that's interesting. I suppose Introductions are in order."
"Ah, that's right," Hakuno turned towards the only Devil in the room, of whom just returned the handkerchief to his Servant counterpart. "My name is Hakuno Kishinami, the uh... current Sovereign of the Moon Cell. Thank you for assisting my friends."
"Nice to meet you Kishinami-dono," The man lowered himself into a light bow, having decided to treat Hakuno as a foreign dignitary. "I'm afraid I'm unfamiliar with this Moon Cell, but I hope the relationship between our factions is a peaceful one. I am Okita Souji, ex-captain of the first unit of the Shinsengumi, and current knight for Sirzechs Lucifer," The Servant in the room's jaw dropped. "May I ask the name of the fine swordswoman who I just battled with?"
The Saber class servant looked towards her master for permission, who in turn looked at Leo and Rin for advice. Without knowing the political landscape of this world line, Hakuno decided it best to listen to those who are familiar with the current world. Rin merely shrugged, but Leo nodded in encouragement. Hakuno gave her Servant a confirmation.
She turned towards the Devil with a confused look on her face. "I am a Saber class Servant under my Master, Hakuno Kishinami of SERAPH. My name is also Okita Souji," This time the Devil gave her an incredulous look. "Captain of the first-unit of the Shinsengumi. Calling me Sakura Saber is fine if we want to avoid confusion."
Leo quickly spoke up to try and resolve the confusion. "Before you ask questions, it would be best to allow me to first explain. Hakuno, Mr. Okita is a high-ranking individual within the Devil faction, one of the three great Biblical factions. I'll give you detailed report on the state of this world line later."
"World line?" The Devil questioned under his breath, trying to grasp the ramifications for that term.
The Harwey heir turned towards him. "It's as you are theorizing Mr. Okita. Ms. Kishinami and Sakura Saber are from another world. From beyond the Dimensional Gap."
"If that's true, then how did you both get past the Great Red?"
Hakuno spoke up. "I'm not entirely sure what happened, but we were attacked by something ridiculously powerful on the trip here. It's why I took so long to recover and needed rescue. For some reason it stopped attacking and just watched us go by."
Rin coughed into her hand. "And what was the point of maneuvering the conversation this way Harwey?"
"I was getting to that Ms. Tohsaka. My plan is simple. The Moon Cell's first encounter with a faction in this world was the belligerent Khaos Brigade. It's second encounter was through rescue from a friendly Devil faction. Do you see where I'm going with this?"
"You want Hakuno to ally with the Devil faction…" Rin tilted her head in thought before coming to a conclusion. "And given the Biblical peace conference in a few weeks, then the Moon Cell would also ally with the Angels and Fallen Angels too. I see… yes that would be the easiest path and best-case scenario."
"What do you…" Hakuno gave it some thought, then nodded. "I see. Yes, I can agree with that plan." With no familiarity with this world, the Moon Cell running on fumes, and no telling when Velber will arrive, it would be best to gain as many strong allies as possible.
Okita narrowed his eyes. "I don't know what you're plotting, but an alliance with us will be tricky. We're all for a peaceful coexistence, but an alliance has more obligations then that. We Devils would be expected to assist in your military options and vice versa. What does the Moon Cell have to offer the coming Biblical alliance?"
"People like her of course," Leo gestured towards Sakura Saber, who had remained quiet at her Master's behest.
"And who and what are people like her? She shares my name and my identity and yet I have never seen her before."
Rin picked up the explanation. "In that other world these two are from, there is a plane of existence called the Throne of Heroes. When people die, souls of sufficient weight, generally great heroes, are removed from the cycle of reincarnation and added to the throne. These souls are classified as Heroic Spirits."
"Hold on, cycle of reincarnation?"
"A different world has a different set of rules and history. No two world lines are the same."
"Implying that there are even more of these… world lines?"
Rin only smiled in response, before continuing her explanation. "The Moon Cell can pull Heroic Spirits from the Throne, summoning them into class containers. The result is her," She points towards Sakura Saber with her index finger. "A Servant."
"My class is Saber as you can see," The woman unsheathed her katana, showing it off. "There are also the classes of Lancer, Archer, Rider, Assassin, Caster, and Berserker. There are a few more, but they are rare."
"That's the basic gist of what a Servant is. It's more complicated, but I'll have Hakuno will send you documentation about it later. More importantly…" Rin walked up to both the Devil and the Servant. She grabbed both of their haori and held them close to each to each other for comparison. They were the same. "If a different world has a different history, people can be different too. And yet, enough similarities still exist to call their legends the same."
"Then you really are me from another world. Just as a woman instead of a man," Okita looked at Sakura Saber with a blank expression. She nodded in response, staring at the haori draped over the Devil. "Were you also afflicted with tuberculosis?"
Sakura Saber's expression turned somber. "Yes."
"What happened after?"
"Everybody left me behind. I begged to follow them to battle, but they wouldn't allow it. I was too sick to move."
"Then you died," Okita stated.
The Servant frowned and simply nodded.
"When…" Okita struggled before continuing, as if contemplating whether or not he should continue talking. "When I was on my deathbed, I did everything I could to try and cure my tuberculosis. Every ritual I could find, every mystic I could contact. It got to the point where my body became a nest of Youkai. I did everything I could think of, but I was still dying."
Feeling a clear kinship, Sakura Saber placed a hand on her counterparts' shoulder to comfort him. He gave a slight smile back.
"In the end I came across a black cat. He offered me revival as a Devil in exchange for joining his peerage. I sold my soul to continue fighting for eternity under my new lord Sirzechs-sama," Okita shifted his head towards the ceiling and closed his eyes. "But this whole time, I've been questioning myself. Even after several centuries. And now I have the opportunity to ask another me. Should I have accepted reincarnation? Did I make the right choice?"
Sakura Saber removed her hand from the Devil's shoulder and closed her eyes for a moment in thought. She opened them and looked straight into her waiting counterparts gaze. "In my world, the Moon Cell hosted something called the Holy Grail War. In it, only those with a wish they yearned for were summoned to fight a bloody battle to the death."
"And you were summoned," Okita stated as a fact.
The Servant nodded. "I was. But even though I kept fighting battle after battle, my wish already came true," Okita tilted his head in confusion. "You see, my only wish was to keep fighting until the bitter end. And that I did."
Sakura Saber's mouth curled into a smile. "I'm willing to bet that was your wish too. And that's why yes, I believe you made the right choice."
Okita closed his eyes and took a deep breath. He reopened his eyes and his face became home to a bright smile. "Thank you, Sakura Saber. I feel as if a great weight has been lifted off my shoulders."
"I'm surprised you opened up so much Souji," An unknown voice sounded out, its sound quality suggesting that it originated from a speaker. "I'm proud of you!"
Everyone in the room was instantly on guard, save for the sole Devil in the room who sighed in exasperation. "Please don't be alarmed, it's just my Lord Sirzechs Lucifer-sama," The man pulled out his smartphone from underneath his haori, presenting a screen that showed a speaker symbol.
"How long have you been listening?" Rin asked as everybody calmed down.
"As soon as you began to introduce yourself Ms. Kishinami. A pleasure to meet with the head of what I'm sure will become an interesting new faction."
"A pleasure to meet you too," Hakuno nodded her head towards the phone. "Okita-san introduced you as Lucifer, does that mean…?"
"You're correct. I am Sirzechs Lucifer, one of the Four Great Satans of the Devil faction. And as one of those leaders, I hereby invite you to attend the Biblical Peace Conference in the coming weeks."
Hakuno blinked in surprise. "Oh… Ah! Thank you, Lucifer-san. But… May I ask why? I'm sure this all sounds very suspicious."
Sirzechs laughed through the phone. "The fact that you're asking me that speaks volumes of your character. And that's why I'm confident this invitation will be bring about something fruitful. I've lived a very long-life Ms. Kishinami. Maybe not as long as some of my compatriots, but long enough. Talked to many diplomats in that time. And while you seem to be very adept at hiding information, I can tell you're a very honest individual at heart."
Both Leo and Rin smiled and nodded at the assessment.
Hakuno tilted her head to the side, considering the description before she smiled herself. "Thank you for your kind words. I accept your invitation to the peace conference. I'll be sure to give Okita-san information about the Moon Cell and our goals for you."
"I'll pass the information along to the other faction heads. Now it was very nice to meet you, but if you'll excuse me I must…"
The current Lucifer trailed off as the sounds of footsteps and the opening of a door became clearly audible through the phone.
"Uh Oh…"
A woman's voice could be heard over the call. "What do you think you're doing on the phone Master Lucifer? You have paperwork to finish."
A loud thud could be heard alongside the rustling of paper.
"Why is there more!? I was almost done with this load!"
"Master Leviathan is currently out filming her show so she sent her remaining paperwork here."
"That little— Still Dear, this isn't a pleasure call! I was talking to a very important—"
The woman's voice turned especially severe. "I told you to address me as Grayfia while working. It seems we will have to have a detailed discussion on what is appropriate in the workplace."
"Wait no—!"
The phone cut out as Okita had his thumb over the end call button. "I'm sorry you had to hear that. I hope you won't think any less of our faction."
"Uh…" The other four were pretty much speechless.
Leo recovered first from the brief moment of disbelief. "That moment of… how should I describe it?"
"Whipped," Rin deadpanned from his side.
"Yes... that. That aside, what will you do now Ms. Kishinami?"
"I'll take everyone here back up to the Moon. I set something up before Velber, and I'm sure it's still functional," Hakuno bit her lip, hesitating on what she asked next. "Will… you both come too?"
The Harwey heir shook his head, smiling sadly. "I'm sorry, but we can't. We aren't detached to our lives in this world like the rest of you. Both Miss Tohsaka and I have responsibilities to our respective families."
Hakuno nodded in acceptance and Rin placed a hand on her shoulder. "We can't come with you to the Moon, but we're still your friends Hakuno. Rely on us. We'll help you as much as we can from down here."
The Moon Cell Sovereign placed her hand atop that of her friend's and smiled warmly.
"Yes! Everything worked out!" Sakura Saber threw up her right hand in a fist pump, excitedly calling out with a wide smile. "Okita-san daishouri~!"
Okita made a short glance towards his counterpart, then mimicked her with just as much enthusiasm. "Okita-san daishouri~!"
"Huh," Hakuno tilted her head. "So they both do that."
I sighed as I took a seat on the throne in the Zero Dark. With a wave of my hand, numerous blue terminals blinked into existence, flooding with information per my commands inputted from the virtual keyboard below it.
A couple weeks had passed since the battle against the Khaos Brigade and my arrival back onto the Moon. Using the Regalia, I accessed a machine that I had a few of the more scientifically minded Servants work to create. Before the invasion of the Umbral Star, I wanted to fulfill one of my wishes of seeing the real world again. The digital tranquility of SERAPH is a utopia, but I still longed to feel the world my scarce memories had experienced. I never got the chance to use it, but I suppose the forced slide into this world line achieved the same result.
Normally when spiritron hackers access the Moon Cell, they leave their physical bodies behind and send their souls into the world of pseudo-spiritrons. What I had ordered created added an extra step. To keep travel to and from SERAPH simple, it was decided we could digitize the body and all its contents in order to simulate the uploading of the soul. This process could also be reversed, changing the simulated soul back into a physical body when leaving the Moon. My state in our original world was a special case. I didn't have a physical body since I was a digital human. For that, the Servants were able to change the process to create a container made of pseudo-spiritrons, similar to how the Moon Cell summons Servants.
What we had created was an easy way to leave and enter the Moon Cell. And that's how I, as well as my numerous supporters that had betrayed the Khaos Brigade, were back on the Moon. Of course, not everybody decided to come back. A few decided to prioritize their lives in this world, although they remained on call in the case of an emergency. I also had some volunteers infiltrate the Khaos Brigade to feed me information.
With the current energy levels of the Moon Cell, the spies became necessary. Despite having time to restore a generous amount of power stores, there still wasn't enough to return to full observation mode. It was still possible to receive information about the Earth, but the processing power needed to pierce the bounded fields hiding the different mythological factions couldn't be spared.
Speaking of the Mythological factions, the reports I received from Leo and Rin barely a day into our return to the Moon sent psychological shockwaves. The Age of Gods never ended. This world line still had Gods. That talk of Devils and Satans wasn't just for show. Analysis from the Moon Cell confirmed this. It couldn't find any mythological figures out in the open, but the massive amount of ambient mana and the traces of divinity in the air was evidence enough.
Most Servants had very different reactions. Still high on the fact that I returned to the Moon safely, Saber wasn't too concerned. Caster struggled with the fact that an Amaterasu likely existed on this Earth. Altera's reaction was that of quiet contemplation. She hadn't talked much since the news came in. I'd assume her mind was thinking back on her time as Sephyr. Other reactions varied between anger, joy and indifference, but Gilgamesh's actions were wholly unique.
He practically disappeared.
Of course, he never actually left the Moon, but he made no move to interact with anybody. While this wasn't anything new, as he usually never talked to anybody other than to flaunt himself as superior, his demeanor took a strange turn. He seemed to be in a reflective state of mind. During the few times I've found him since the news hit, his mouth would curl into a small frown while murmuring something about the Gods.
From the memories I've gleaned from our time together in the Sakura Labyrinth, it was easy to see why he would be irritated with the continuation of the Age of Gods. This King had lived his life to the end, foreseeing a humanity that would reach beyond his garden to the end of the sky. He was undoubtedly curious as to whether that future extended to the Humanity that lived in this world line filled with Gods.
I don't know what answer he found while gazing down on Earth, but his sometimes-twitching eyebrow and mentionings about an Ishtar when he thinks nobody is looking didn't bode well.
Still, I've respected his isolationist boundaries and tried to keep my distance. The addition of these extra memories has had me contemplating my interactions with the few Servants that they pertain to. In Gilgamesh's case, it was enlightening. Back during the war in the memories I had inherited from the Body, the King of Heroes was a mystery to me. Now I understand the true reason such a difficult Servant chose to work with Altera. It wasn't for some debt his ancestor had with the White Titan, but rather to watch me. However, that was just a guess on my part. It's always impossible to tell what that man is thinking.
Archer was another… difficult case to swallow. My insight from using the Regalia tells me that he was somebody who slid into my original world line. I don't even know if this nameless Servant was the same one from my new memories. I had seen him often ever since my return from the Earth. He typically sneaks into my room to clean it before Caster gets the chance, much to her annoyance. I've never been able to tell if he knows anything about the memories, but sometimes he would get this far off look in his eyes…
Regardless, I've decided not to approach Gilgamesh and Archer about the extra memories. If they bring it up to me themselves then that's another story, but since they haven't done so already, I'll respect their choice.
Either way, I've had too much on my plate preparing for the Biblical Peace Conference soon. I haven't had the time to look into what happened to Elizabeth Bathory because of it. A lot of her head scratching actions from the war had me confused, but some of the new memories made things make a little more sense. That didn't change the fact that she ended up opposing us as Dark Eliza, or how concerning it was that she was missing just like Archimedes.
According to Saber, the instant that the shock over my disappearance after the slide ended, every Moon Cell Servant was sent across SERAPH in search for the missing System Administrator, having believed he was the culprit. He was never found; the details of escape remained a mystery.
The absence of Archimedes came with the side-effect of having no System Administrator to maintain the Moon Cell. To fix that, well...
One of my terminals pinged an alert and familiar music played loudly accompanied by neon pink letters flooding the screen. After the lengthy intro, the scene changed to show a live feed from the Moon Cell Core. Unlike its usual oceanic resting place, the Core was surrounded by a variety of machines in what looked to be laboratory setting. In the frame was a girl with long purple hair wearing what I could only describe as a sexy scientist cosplay.
As soon as the connection established, she gave an energetic wave.
"Hi senpai~! Your dependable kouhai BB-chan got the two annoying pests to leave her alone long enough to finally finish the changes~!"
With weeks of having done nothing but prepare for the Biblical Peace Conference and thinking on the extra memories, it was inevitable for me to look into BB. Curious about the devilish Moon Cancer and the two Alter Egos, I tapped into the Moon Cell's information stores for anything pertaining to them, while pulling information from alternate Moon Cells from adjacent world lines to fill any blanks. The real breakthrough came when I found a massive folder of data accompanied by a README text file drifting in the Zero Dark. The whole thing was long-winded, written with typical BB flair, but it ended somewhat seriously with something that made this possible.
…If senpai survives and remembers us, use the Servant summoning system. The instant the Beast absorbed me, your reliable kouhai broke off the spiritual cores of myself, Passionlip, and Meltryllis. I stored them in the Zero Dark, where the Moon Cell can never find and delete us. I leave this note of love in hopes that you see it. There is something else out there. BIgger than the Holy Grail War. Bigger than the Beast. Our original bodies are gone, but we still remain. Our memories are intact. Our love is overflowing. Find us, and we will protect you from the Umbral Star.
Besides, how else will senpai handle her monstrous libido?
Love,
Your devilish kouhai.
As soon as I had found that note, I threw caution to the wind and immediately worked on reviving the three. Through the use of the Servant summoning system and their spiritual cores, a Moon Cancer and two Alter Ego High Servants were awakened. I wanted nothing more than to talk with them. Despite having stood in opposition with each other, I had learned everything they had done was out of love, as misguided as they were. By the end of my time meeting each of them in the Far Side of the Moon, they had developed into wonderful people, each of whom deserved more.
The three reacted in surprise as the summoning ritual completed, none of them ever actually expecting to come back. It was a heartfelt talk where I acknowledged their love as something precious. Of course Saber and Caster, both of which I asked to accompany me, turned slightly hostile at the revelation of more love rivals. At the end of the day, I gained three powerful and loving Servants, closure from my time in the Sakura Labyrinth, and a massive headache from the arguing. Passionlip and Meltryllis were fairly neutral to Saber and Caster, but BB had (un)affectionately begun to call the two "pests". Strangely enough, Meltryllis instead got irritated whenever she saw Archer. We had both yet to figure out why.
"Um… Can you point the camera this way too? I want to see Hakuno-chan too…" a demure voice called out from offscreen.
BB responded by pressing her face against the camera, wagging her behind wildly. "Nope~! BB-chan is gonna hog senpai all for herself~!"
An unamused voice different from the other two interjected. "BB, stop bullying Lip or I'll knee you in the stomach."
My view on my terminal frantically spun into a disorienting mess while BB yelled in the background. "Help me senpai, Melt is bullying me~!" At that cue, the screen went black and silence once again reigned in the throne room.
I shook my head in exasperation and yet couldn't help but giggle. Caster pulled me aside before the summoning, voicing her concerns on whether BB could be trusted to not betray us, but from what I saw in those extra memories, such a thing was impossible. The only worry I have is that in order to protect me, she might destroy everybody else. I had to make sure to keep a close eye on the Moon Cancer.
Another terminal gave out an alert, bringing out a reminder signaling that only 24 hours remained until the Biblical Peace Conference.
I smiled wryly. The culmination of our preparations approached, and tomorrow our position among the political landscape of this world will be determined. From what I gathered in my meeting with the Devil Okita Souji, and the reports I received from Leo and Rin, the most important factors will be our intentions and our power.
I thought hard on my goals, and came to a simple conclusion. The different mythological factions all fight for their respective people. The Angels, Devils, and Fallen all have people they want to protect, and the list of factions go on and on.
But what about the nameless many? The humans who have so little protection and knowledge about the supernatural? For them I had decided that the Moon Cell Sovereignty will fight for the happiness and the survival of Humanity. For who else would do the job? The reported Hero Faction? They are as harmful to humanity as the others in the Khaos Brigade if our spies were to be believed. We shall be their protectors, the greatest among them represented by Heroic Spirits. Servants who would put themselves on the line for the continuation of Humanity, which brought me to our second goal.
The absolute defense of the Earth for the invasion of Velber. To do so, it became necessary for the Moon Cell to shore up its power, becoming the most potent fighting force possible. Since the Moon Cell still does not possess enough energy to run on Observation mode, I had BB reroute all processing power for a more militaristic focus. Since the changes, the Moon Cell has operated in Total War mode.
Energy that would have been spent recording all of Earth's history now focused on maintaining Servants and the production of attack programs. All scientifically gifted servants are now focused on Research and Development to increase military proficiency. Their most recent achievement was improving the Servant container. What was once previously made solely of pseudo-spiritrons now combined with the rich mana heavily abundant throughout the Earth. Stronger, more specialized plants and attack programs were created, although most still couldn't hold their own against a Servant.
This military expansion was based on a revelation I received from reports my agents sent from down on Earth. As expected of a world in an Age of Gods, there existed beings with terrible power, many of which would overpower most Servants on the Moon Cell. Leo sent me a report containing a list of the suspected combat ability of some of the strongest beings in the world, as well as our chances against each of them. His predictions had us mostly outmatched, and frankly I agreed with him. Survival would rely on the overdependence of our Top Servants.
Going by the Devil power ranking system, I would estimate most of the Servants are physically equivalent to Ultimate-Class Devils. There were noticeable exceptions of Servants who were either significantly weaker than, or far outstripped that power ranking. In general, most of the Top Servants like Iskandar and Artoria fluctuate somewhere around Satan-Class in terms of power. Whether that fluctuation is above or below depends on the Servant. Gilgamesh came to mind as likely far surpassing most Gods and Satans, but who knows if I'll be able to convince him to fight. I suspect Servants such as Karna, Meltryllis, Passionlip, and BB are similar. I'm sure that if Altera fought at her full potential, she would be in the upper echelons of power too. No matter what happens, I'll never let her attain that form again, but as Sephyr she could easily wipe out Gods.
I didn't hold myself to these estimations however. Such things are unquantifiable, and there is always a clear difference between hypothetical assumptions and actual battle. After all, battles of the Holy Grail War were often not decided by parameters, but by Noble Phantasms.
The battle between both the Devil and the Servant Okita Souji only gave credence to that. Unfortunately for us, Sakura Saber was outclassed in every regard against her Devil counterpart. Against such superior speed and strength, the Servant could barely just keep up. The only thing that kept that battle from being a slaughter was Sakura Saber's Skills and Noble Phantasm. Taking the Devil by surprise, she was almost able to push the battle into her favor, but his surprise nest of Youkai nullified any advantage that could have been gained.
I wasn't even completely sure if the Devil was fighting at full capacity.
I've had some concerns about how we shouldn't even be a part of this alliance. After all, the three factions have exploited Humanity since ancient times. Leo's history lesson of a report said as much, but he also mentioned that the leadership had long since changed. No longer was the dogma of the Four Great Satans to exploit, but rather to foster genuine growth. The point of their recent legislation is to welcome humans turned Devils through Evil Pieces into the fold. Pushing that they are as much a Devil as a pure-blood. Of course, there are still some bad apples clinging to the old ways, but isn't that the case with every civilization? Humanity is flooded with examples of this.
Another problem is that we don't even have the advantage of secrecy. There was still traitorous Moon Cell Wizards hidden throughout the factions. Not everyone who received a second set of memories were at Kuoh Town. There were still many out there who were part of the slide. There was no doubt that at least information about Servants was circulating the Mythological factions. I'm sure that whatever the Khaos Brigade had planned has been changed to account for the Moon Cell.
Against the monsters and terrorists of this world, we needed an edge to fight on equal ground. After the summoning of BB and Alter Egos, I dove headfirst into searching for potential new Servants to summon based on the connection the Moon Cell still had with the Throne of Heroes. I've already summoned quite a few, some including those I've met throughout the Holy Grail War. A few Servants that shouldn't even be possible to summon had even appeared, like Scathach and Merlin. When I ask how exactly they got here, they wouldn't give me a clear answer.
With more power spared towards maintaining Servants, our current threshold at our current energy levels was a couple dozen deployed on Earth at once. As the Moon Cell recovers more power over time, I'll be looking at the improvement of our Servant class containers. Information stores indicate the existence of a Grand class container, a ridiculous class of Servants meant to counter Beasts and stop the extinction of humanity. The Moon Cell does not currently have the energy nor the ability to create them, but perhaps in time we could move some our more powerful Servants into Grand containers.
I've even had some of the kingly Servants teach me how to be a proper leader so that I wouldn't embarrass myself at the Biblical Peace Conference. Although much of that advice was for the most part conflicting and slightly disturbing, especially coming from the more tyrannical Servants. But still, I felt a little less nervous with the coming talks.
Despite the great strides we had made, all this military expansion put a sour taste in my mouth. I'd like nothing more than to live peacefully with my Servants, and allow everybody to simply live their lives on SERAPH. as they wish, but the threat of Velber made that impossible. When Velber slid into this world line with us, it took the place of wherever the Umbral Star of this world was, and given how it found us in our original world line, it should know the coordinates of Earth. With the Umbral Star looming closer and no way of knowing when and where, there was no choice.
I was a Digital Human, a ghost. I had no right to change the world. But here, where I'm a real person, I'll do everything I can to protect the Servants I love.
Important Authors Note: Everything past this line are Authors Notes.
Thanks for the kind words everybody! I hope you enjoyed the fight scene. That was the very first time I've written a non-one-sided one. Sorry about the lengthy exposition, but you know, world building. Look forward to the next 2 chapters because it's time for the Biblical Peace Conference!
Chapters 4 will take a little longer than the first 3 since it's not currently in an acceptable state. There is A LOT of editing to do. Chapter 5 will take even longer. I'm only a third of the way done with writing it.
Another cool little thing, me and a few friends are headed to the Heavens Feel Premier and Fate Grand Order USA Tour in LA. If anybody else is there too, let me know! I'll say hi!
With that I'll leave you to your regularly schedule author's notes. I'll be hiding under a rock until next time. It's raining outside and as a dude from SoCal, it's different and scary.
1)Hakuno's Situation
A combination of the damage dealt by the Great Red as well as an Amnesia Syndrome ridden Hakuno of the DxDverse was what forced the reinitializing of the girl. Having finally woke up, she used healing Code Casts with the assistance of the Regalia on herself. Squeezing the Moon Cell for every last bit of energy that could be spared, Hakuno used the Servant Summoning system of the Moon Cell. As you could probably tell, she meant to summon Nero by her side, but the Devil Okita Souji coming up the Elevator ended up reacting as a catalyst, summing the Servant Okita Souji.
2)Okita vs Okita and Servants vs DxDverse in general
I wonder how many of you saw this fight coming? It was a little obvious, but understandable if you didn't think it would happen.
[THE FOLLOWING IS AN OLD OPINION. MY REVISED ONE IS IN THE NEXT CHAPTER] Anyways this is where I think I'm about to take a massive amount of controversy. I think the general power level of the DxDverse is MUCH higher than the Nasuverse. Certain things like the ORT could probably fight the top 10 strongest of DxD, but generally speaking Servants are nowhere near that level. For example, Sirzechs, a Super Devil, has the ability to destroy the entirety of Japan if would so choose. That level of power just doesn't exist in MOST Noble Phantasms. And he isn't even the strongest of the top 10. I believe most Ultimate Class and the stronger High-Class Devils could take them on. I've seen especially in the fanfic A Second Chance by Kronos89 (Which is pretty good by the way except for that awful prologue) some criticisms over the overall strength of EMIYA. I believe his evaluations are correct in terms of how outmatched he is against the extremely heavy hitters.
As close as it seemed, the Devil Okita completely outmatched Sakura Saber. He has ridiculous god-speed and his power outstrips Sakura Saber's weaker C rank strength. What kept things interesting, are like I mentioned in the chapter, Skills and Noble Phantasm. I interpreted Sakura Saber's reduced Earth skill as similar in prowess to instantaneous teleportation. Mumyou Sandantsuki is stated to be three thrusts at the same time and the same position. I decided to use Okita's katana to block one, and his hidden youkai to block the other two. I firmly believe that if the Devil Okita went all out, he would quickly eliminate Sakura Saber. I didn't let her Weak Constitution take effect until the end for a better fight scene and for comedy's sake.
Also, Sakura Saber doesn't need to say the chant to use her Noble Phantasm, but you know, the rule of cool.
Certain Top Servants could probably pose some sort of threat to Satan class fighters, and maybe even Gods. Gilgamesh comes to mind as having the ability to threaten a lot of the higher tier fighters of DxD though, and I think the High Servants might be able to do so also.
I'm sure this isn't the last time the topic will pop up, so expect more power level sections in the next two chapter's authors notes.
3)Memory differences and a general explanation on Leo and Rin
So, I promised to go into more detail about this last chapter so here's the difference. Hakuno and other Wizards were alive in Extraverse. Leo and Rin were not. But if I made Hakuno exist in the DxDverse, then chances are Tohsaka and Harwey exist too. When trying to rescue Hakuno from the threat of the Khaos Brigade, the Moon Cell had insufficient energy to summon a Servant. It took the next best alternative, and imported memories of the Extraverse into the DxD versions of Leo and Rin. That's why they don't view their Extraverse counterparts as the same person, but rather another version of themselves. There was no melding, but instead it was like somebody else. They liked what they saw, decided to rescue Hakuno per instructions fed by the Moon Cell, and learned to Code Cast while they were at it. But they have a much higher priority on their lives in the DxDverse than most of the other Wizards who received memories when they went through the slide.
3) Alliance and the Biblical Peace Faction
So, there was a review from YuukiAsuna-Chan that hoped that Hakuno would have her own faction and not be all buddy buddy with the Biblical Factions. Is one out of the two fine? I had this all planned and written out already as to how exactly I would reach the final scenario that I want to showcase in chapter 5. To the point where they are stealing humanity's best, Hakuno cares less about that, and more about choice and treatment. The paragraph during the Moon Cell part where she questioned if she should be apart of the alliance basically sums up her thoughts nicely. The topic comes up again in Chapter 5 during a certain uh… encounter.
4)Great Red only hitting the Hakuno part of the data
THAT BOY PRECISE YEET
5) Moon Cell and Transportation
I had to form a way for Hakuno and her Servants to be easily deployed to Earth and return to the Moon for any of this story to actually happen. I'm hoping what I thought up doesn't breach to far into being unusable and stupid.
The Moon Cell was built for observational purposes by whatever unknown entity constructed it, but what if I switched gears? Sure it wasn't built for it, but what if we focused what energy we could for total war? It wouldn't be as good as say the Umbral Star, which was built to destroy and consume, but a Total War mode Moon Cell would be a force to be reckoned with. More on military capabilities in Chapter 5.
6)BB, Meltryllis, and Passionlip
The spiritual cores being saved is sort of an ass-pull, but I think my idea of BB hiding them in the Zero Dark has at least some merit. The Moon Cell constructed the Zero Dark to hold the Ark of Velber. If BB hides it around there, it likely wouldn't be found or erased by the Moon Cell. The Alter Egos I'm using are the reformed versions from FGO after some Hakuno brand therapy.
I left my interpretations of the CCC events vague because I have only read the Gilgamesh arc. I haven't been able to find a translation for the True Sakura end, so what Kiara actually did, I'm not sure of.
From here on until the end in chapter 5, writing for BB has been an absolute pleasure. It's really fun to play the character. Also, as an aside Meltlilith is my favorite Servant. In FGO I've been saving since Illya in September for her. As of now I'm at 700 Saint Quartz.
7)Grand Servants
I won't actually include Grand Servants in my prompt, but I just wanted to mention it for prospective writers. A sort of end game type of thing?
8)The last line of the chapter
Just a small little thing, but I feel given the events I've outlined, Hakuno is a true human now rather than a Digital Human since she woke up in a real human body. It doesn't really matter all too much, but I feel that given the whole "ghost have no right the change the world" line I used, this Hakuno feels a lot better about making her mark in the DxDverse. It's a mentality thing.
See ya next chapter!
