Campione of the Holy Grail Chapter 3, a Fate/stay night + Campione!/カンピオーネ! Crossover fanfic

DISCLAIMER: I do not own Fate/stay night or Campione. Fate/stay night is the property of TYPE-MOON and Campione is the property of Takedzuki Jou.

Italics text = character thinking to themselves.

Underline+Italics = character communicating with telepathy

Bold text = shouting

Bold+Italcs = Casting Spell/Ability

Chapter Three

Help Wanted

The past four months had been busy for Illya. As soon as she had finished uncovering her new Authorities the night after she had slain Vulcan, she had returned to her hotel room, packed all her belongings and taken a plane to Germany – while invisible, of course, otherwise it would have been suspicious… though she did deprive a couple of people of their tickets and knocked them out to ensure she would have a place to sit comfortably in on the plane. First class, of course.

Obviously, she was not going to Germany because her memories with the Einzbern made her fell all warm and cuddly inside. No, she was going there for two reasons.

Firstly, she was familiar to an extent with the place, having lived there all her life – a parallel version of it, perhaps, but the point stood. She knew the language. She was familiar to an extent with the behavior of the people so she could fit in better. And she had confirmed via the internet and some satellite footage that the region where the Einzbern Castle existed in her world was barren. In other words, it was the perfect place for her to put up some heavy duty bounded fields over a large plot of land and go all out in trying out her Authorities without worry that someone may happen to come across her.

The second reason was that no Campione had claimed Germany as their territory. While, yes, they may go there if word reached them about the presence of a Heretic God or Divine Beast, the fact remained that Voban lived in the Balkans, mostly Hungary, Luo Hao in China, Doni in Italy, Smith in America and Gascoigne in Britain. So as long as she didn't make too much noise, she was home free as far as they were concerned.

And the very first thing she had done after using up her entire obscene prana capacity – which was rapidly recharged – putting up an array of bounded fields that would earn her a nod of respect from a Caster Class Servant was to use up her entire restored prana capacity in one go with God Forge to make herself a new, superior, pair of earrings meant to hide her magical and divine presence because, quite frankly, while she was proud of her first attempt it was no divine construct. Her new diamond encrusted orichalcum earrings shaped as tears ensured that not even touching an object will leave a trace of her magic unless she wanted to, with their only weakness being that she would stand out like the sun for those capable of perceiving magical energy through sight should they have a direct line of sight to her.

Coincidentally, that was when she learnt that God Forge had limits in how powerful an item – or items – it could make in a period of time and she had exhausted it. It took a week for it to recover fully, at which point Illya went and exhausted it again to craft herself a ruby encrusted mithril necklace that bestowed the equivalent of a B+ ranked Presence Concealment that made detection by anything but direct line of sight impossible, though it somehow ensured she did not appear on cameras which she discovered while toying with her digital camera.

Since then, she had been repeating the process, creating divine constructs that she thought might come in handy in the future and storing them in the Gate until needed.

Of course, that region was not suited to trying out all her Authorities. For example, Return to Origins was an Authority from Vulcan that rendered all technology past that of ancient Rome useless within a certain range from the caster as long as it was active, so she had had to use it in a city though she made sure to not do so over a large area as to limit the attention the disruption would cause.

Other Authorities such as Fiery Earth would simply draw attention that not even her bounded fields could not divert – after all, someone was bound to notice a volcano popping in Germany, if only by tracking down the source of the earthquakes. In unrelated news, a volcano had erupted and created a new island the size of Cyprus at the eastern edge of Australia's international waters.

However, the thing she had truly focused on was gaining allies – or rather, creating them.

Her first attempt had been Hecate's Necromancer Authority that was the crystallization of Trivia's title of Queen of Ghosts. It allowed he to do exactly what she had seen Hecate do: summon spirits of the dead and make them do her bidding. But that was it. While Illya could grant her a certain level of solidity by expending more prana, they never got solid enough to pass for living beings and her attempt to use the Heaven's Feel to materialize their souls outright disrupted the Authority. Not that it would have done much good even if that had succeeded, as apparently, the spirits were automatically dismissed at the first sunrise after their summoning so her work would have been wasted.

Her second attempt had been Vulcan's Automaton Authority which essentially permitted the creation of robots, humanoid or not. With it, she could create an entire army of loyal servants given enough time… but they were woefully limited. They could not do anything their creator could not, for instance, so making one and hoping it would be a five-star chef would be foolish. In addition, they could not fulfill complex instructions. And the worst part was that once their purpose had been programed during their creation, it could not be changed, nor could they be recycled to make new ones. In the end, Illya was resigned to wait until she learnt how to do things well on her own before creating any more Automatons, and proceeded to use the ones she already had as target practice.

Her third – and quickly abandoned – attempt had been Hecate's Maker of Nymphs originating from the legend of Trivia kidnaping young maidens and turning them into nymphs to serve her. Illya didn't even try using this Authority. Not because she was against kidnaping and brainwashing, but because the Authority required a virgin female to work and the chances of any woman knowledgeable and skilled enough to be of any use to her to still be a virgin by the time she had acquired all those skills were pretty damn slim – had she not appeared as a thirteen-year-old child, she would have tried getting laid if only to understand what all the fuss was about.

She did, however, think of a way to gain highly capably nymphs: make them out of homunculi! Of course, that first required coining said homunculi which while something she was now, thanks to Justeaze's memories, a master of, would still require time to do and more importantly a workshop to do it in. And before having a workshop, she needed a house of her own, so it would have to wait until she chose a place of residence.

Her final option had also been one she never actually tried to use after enough meditation had allowed her to know what it could do and what legend it was drawn from. Hephaestus' Divine Life-Maker was the manifestation of his creation of Pandora, a beautiful human woman meant to send extravagant gifts from the Earth to the gods as part of the punishment of humanity for Prometheus' theft of the secret of fire... and then she opened the evil jar, setting lose all the world's evils on the world. If that was not enough to discourage Illya, the fact that the only Pandora she had met was apparently arming humans to fight against the gods, her supposed creators, certainly did the trick and she promised herself not to attempt it without reliable backup.

Which led to her ending her training trip around mid-October rather unsatisfied and lonely… up until one evening as she was going over the various things in the Gate of Babylon – there was even a rejuvenating hot spring in there, apparently from the legend of Gilgamesh taking a bath right before his Herb of Immortality got stolen – to catalogue the seemingly endless treasures for when she might need to know about them when she happened across the version of Archer's armor and holy shroud that Pandora had left her with from EMIYA.

"Mou, what I wouldn't give for oni-chan or even better Archer to be here." Illya muttered wistfully as she once again examined the material the black armor was made, something she had not encountered before. "He would know how to solve all my problems. He would even know how things work in this era, unlike those stupid ghosts I can call up." She pouted. "Shame I can't summon him instead." She sighed as she stored the armor back in the Gate and moved on to the next item… "Wait a sec." Illya blinked, dropping the ornate ceramic cup on the bed she was laying on. "Why can't I summon him? I've summoned a Servant before, haven't I? One much stronger, Greece's strongest hero even!" she realized. "It doesn't matter that there isn't a Grail System in place in this world. Grandpa Jubstacheit told me about the various attempts at a Holy Grail War around the world and while they never truly succeeded and never managed to summon more than four or five Servants since they lacked a Greater Grail System, they did summon Servants. All they needed was a Lesser Grail of sorts for the souls of the fallen Servants to end up in to make a Holy Grail. Sure, they failed to ever obtain a real Holy Grail, never mind opening a hole to Akasha, because they had lousy Lesser Grails, but I don't need to worry about that! Not only could I make a Lesser Grail as good as any the Einzbern ever did, I also don't need the Holy Grail!" she declared as she stood up, clenching her fist in determination.

One week later, she had a Lesser Grail superior to any ever used in Fuyuki that she had achieved by crafting it using God Forge out of materials that not even the Einzbern had access to such as gemstones filled with True Ether that had not been seen since the Age of the Gods. Another such high-capacity gemstone she had filled with her own prana to serve as the material the Servant Container will be made from, just like the Fuyuki Grail System gathered prana to prepare for both the summoning and the sustaining of the Servants during the Grail War.

And after checking one last time the magic circle drawn in platinum before her, she deemed herself ready.

Taking a glance around she nodded. She was not longer in Germany. Rather, she was in Japan, specifically where Fuyuki city would have been had it existed in this world. She was even on the approximated position of her oni-chan's house in order to achieve the maximum results of the summoning to empower her chosen Servant with Cultural Sphere aspect of the legend – which she was admittedly unsure if it would matter, what with him neither having a true established legend nor having existed in this world.

Of course, she had another reason not to remain in Germany, but she could worry about that later.

Still, every bit counts, she decided as she placed down a copy of the black armors she had Traced from the one she had received – she knew some summonings consumed the catalyst and she was unwilling to risk it if a copy worked just as well, especially for him – without the holy shroud which would complicate the summoning due to having been worn by others before. With that, she began to chant while simultaneously flooding the Command Spells that were still part of her body even now, thanks to the Einzbern all but fusing them with her Magic Circuits.

"Silver and iron to the origin. Gem and the archduke of contracts to the cornerstone. The ancestor is my great master Schweinorg.
The alighted wind becomes a wall. The gates in the four directions close, coming from the crown, the three-forked road that leads to the kingdom circulate.
Fill. Fill. Fill. Fill. Fill.
Repeat every five times.
Simply, shatter once filled.
I announce.
Your self is under me; my fate is in your sword.
In accordance with the approach of the Holy Grail, if you abide by this feeling, this reason, then answer.
Here is my oath. I am the one who becomes all the good of the world of the dead, I am the one who lays out all the evil of the world of the dead.
You, seven heavens clad in three words of power, arrive from the ring of deterrence, O keeper of the balance!"

By the time she ended the incantation, the summoning circle was radiating crimson power as if attempting to match the sun in its radiance. She knew it was working though. She felt it, a resonance not unlike the one from when she summoned Berserker, only this time it was more intense, she could feel it with her whole soul, and after that realization she truly understood: she was forming a tentative connection to Akasha to pull a Heroic Spirit into a Servant container.

And with that realization came even further understanding, knowledge pouring into her mind, knowledge not her own but at the same time belonging to Illyasviel von Einzbern. It lasted but a few moments, the time it took for the Heroic Spirit to 'travel' from the Throne of Heroes, but it was enough to give her a mild headache.

Then, with one final flash of light, the prana within the summoning circle compressed into the solid form of…

"Oh my god!" Illya screamed in panic, eyes wide in horror. "I've turned oni-chan into a little girl!"

Her 'oni-chan' was amused by the exclamation.

"Hello Illya." She greeted with a grin.

"I'm sorry, I'm sorry, I'm sorry!" Illya apologized. "I'll fix, you right away, Shirou…"

"I'm not Shirou." her Servant snorted.

"I… come again?" Illya paused in her panicking of having screwed up a summoning that badly – such things should only happen to those named Tohsaka!

"I am not Emiya Shirou." The Servant repeated. "My name is Chloe von Einzbern. Nice to meet you, one-chan!" the dark skinned, golden-orange eyed, version of Illya wearing a feminized and quite skimpy version of EMIYA's outfit greeted with a grin.

"You're… what?" Illya blinked before holding her head in pain as certain newly-gained memories forced themselves to the forefront of her mind. "Oh. You're the sealed personality that splintered and took over the EMIYA Archer Class Card…"

"How do you know that?" Chloe blinked in surprise – this was not her Illya so she figured she could troll her a bit before she had to explain herself.

"I'm a True Magician and I connected a bit to Akasha during your summoning, apparently." Illya muttered. If any of the information she just received was true, then she could trust the girl. "And I gained the memories of some of my alternates, including your Illya." She added before frowning, looking her new Servant up and down.

"What?" Chloe asked defensively.

"You're too short." Illya said flatly.

"That's your fault." Chloe sniffed.

"How is it my fault?" Illya blinked.

"You're too short." Chloe shot back.

"…What?"

"When Mama and Illya stabilized my body, they partially materialized my soul. Because of the static nature of the Heroic Spirit EMIYA's soul, I would have remained stuck as an eleven-year-old. So, they somehow linked my aging with my Illya…" Chloe trailed off.

"And since you Illya isn't here and since you aging being dependent on hers is part of your legend, you automatically latched onto me to fulfil that criteria." Illya nodded slowly, the memories from that Illyasviel von Einzbern helping quite a bit despite her being an amateur at best regarding the Third Magic.

"Exactly." Chloe nodded.

"You're still too short." Illya repeated "For what I needed." She added.

"What did you summon me for anyway? I mean, I see a damn good Lesser Grail right there, but I'm not sensing a Grail System." Chloe inquired.

"Well…" Illya hesitated for a moment. On the one hand, Chloe von Einzbern seemed to be a good great potential ally. On the other hand, she could Trace Rule Breaker and sever the contract between them, making Illya's inexhaustible full-body Command Seals useless. Sighing, she decided to keep an eye on her reactions to her story and act accordingly. "Well, it's like this…" she sat down.

With that, she spent the next couple hours explaining her life, making sure to point out the differences between her and the other Illya. By the end of it, Chloe had been hugging her tightly having sat down next to her near the beginning of the story.

"I see. Yeah, I understand why you decided to summon a Servant to help you out." Chloe remarked. "Okay, you can count on me!"

"What part of 'you're too short' don't you understand?" Illya grumbled, a bit exhausted from her monologue.

"The part where me being too short means I can't keep you company and help you out." Chloe said in annoyance.

"Chloe…"

"Kuro, call me Kuro."

"Kuro, I was summoning Archer-oni-chan because he's an adult. In case you haven't noticed, we both look around thirteen or so. In other words, underage. I need someone who can do stuff for me, legal stuff, like buying a house and helping me use my wealth and all that stuff." Illya sighed. "Hypnosis can only go so far. Sooner rather than later, some will notice and will cause problems."

"Oh. When you put it that way, we do look like jailbait." Kuro admitted sheepishly. "Then, go ahead and summon him." She suggested.

"I tried and got you instead! If I do it again, I'll probably summon another you!" Illya grumbled.

"That's… possible." Kuro scratched her head in thought. "Maybe a different catalyst? What did you use anyway?"

"A Traced copy of his armor." Illya replied, pointing at said copy that had not been consumed by the summoning.

"Well, that looks fitting for a girl rather than a man." Kuro pointed out.

"Pandora modified it to fit me. I noticed it adapts to my aging as well." Illya explained.

"Then use a different catalyst." Kuro suggested.

"Such as?" Illya frowned.

In response, Kuro Traced Kanshou and Bakuya.

"…That could work." Illya admitted as she took the married blades and analyzed them, twirling them a bit as she sympathized with their accumulated experience, before placing them down where the Traced armor stood before she had it break down into prana.

After pulling out from the Gate of Babylon another gemstone she had filled with a massive amount of prana in order to use it in making the Servant Container, she began chanting once more.

Once more she felt a connection to Akasha form and this time she managed to hold onto it for a while longer, allowing more information to flow into her mind and she made sure to burn it into her memory as it was, in some ways, priceless.

"Are you my master?" EMIYA asked, masking his surprise at the sight of two Illya, one of the apparently cosplaying as him.

"Hm?" Illya blinked, snapping out of her trance. "Oh, yeah. I'm your master, oni-chan." She nodded absently.

"…I'm not sensing a Grail System, despite there being a Lesser Grail right there." EMIYA frowned.

"I summoned you outside a Grail War." Illya confirmed his suspicions. "I need some help, and I think you're qualified for the job."

"That so?" EMIYA raised an eyebrow. "Any exactly why should I do that since I can't expect a prize like the Grail at the end?"

"Well, if you don't want the help then I won't force you, little brother." Illya smiled sweetly, earning a twitch from him as she turned around and began to walk away. "Come on, Kuro, let's go. I guess he's not interested in a way to escape from being Alaya's dog either." She commented.

"Hold it, let's not be hasty here!" EMIYA chuckled nervously as he all but teleported in front of Illya. "Now what was that you say about Alaya…?"

"And why exactly should I tell you since I can't expect you to do what I summoned you for?" Illya asked airily.

"What do you need me for?" EMIYA asked flatly.

"I need you to be my devoted slave, to fulfil my every whim and desire." Illya smirked evilly.

"…I'm trading one hell for another, aren't I?" EMIYA deflated.

"One of your own making, at that." Kuro added helpfully.

"Fine, I'll be your minion. Now tell me, how do I escape Alaya?" EMIYA demanded.

"Hm, I don't know… you could just Trace Rule Breaker and run away…?" Illya mused.

"I won't! I swear! Now please…."

"Tsk, fine." Illya smirked. "It's quite simple really. You've been focusing on the wrong thing to change. It's impossible to erase your own past since killing you past self would simple create a timeline where he died."

"That… makes sense." EMIYA deflated in realization.

"What you should be doing is to make sure Emiya Shirou succeeds in becoming a Heroic Spirit without contracting Alaya. Doing so would replace Counter Guardian EMIYA due to a Counter Guardian not being a Heroic Spirit in full, merely a place-holder that Alaya imposed." Illya explained.

"That… actually makes sense." EMIYA whispered before his face fell. "But how do I do that? When I die here, the chances of my memories making an impact on the original me in the Throne of Heroes are rather slim. My memories of my various summonings during the Grail War sort of meld together after a point."

"That's because you're basically reliving the same two weeks with minor changes over and over again." Illya shrugged. "Now if you were to, I don't know, spend a few years or even decades in an entirely different environment…"

"And there's the stick." EMIYA deadpanned. "How may I serve you, your majesty?" he asked sarcastically.

"Heh, how did you know I'm a King?" Illya grinned.

"…What?"

Ten minutes later, he had been give the short version story about Heretic Gods, Pandora and Campione.

"So, what kind of Authorities do you have?" EMIYA inquired.

"Well, I got Excalibur and Invisible Air from Artoria, Cybele and Bellerophon from Medusa, Rule Breaker from Medea, God Hand from Herakles, Zabaniya: Delusional Heartbeat from the Demon God Shayṭān sealed in Assassin's arm, Gae Bolg from Cú Chulainn, Verg Avesta from Angra Mainyu and a modified Gate of Babylon from Gilgamesh." Illya began.

"What's Verg Avesta?" EMIYA demanded.

"And how was the Gate modified?" Kuro added.

"Verg Avesta is a wound-sharing curse. As for the Gate, well, all the Noble Phantasms and other treasures that had legends not related to Gilgamesh were removed." Illya shrugged.

"In other words, almost all of them." EMIYA mused. "You still have Ea and the Chains of Heaven, right?" he inquired, receiving a nod. "Then I can probably replace at least half of them. Without Gaia rejecting magecraft here, my projections should be equal to the originals."

"That's one of the reasons why I chose to summon you." Illya admitted. "Without its weapons, the Gate is almost like an empty gun."

"True. Do you have other Authorities you need to tell us about or should we get going?" EMIYA inquired.

"Yeah, I killed three more gods since I arrived in this world." Illya nodded. "First was Hecate. I got Far-Reach, Witch, Necromancer, Maker of Nymphs, Crossroad, Elixir, Herbs, Three Realms, Keys of Hades and Black Magic from her."

"That's… a lot." Kuro blinked.

"Oh, right. I forgot to mention what I got in compensation for losing all those treasures from the Gate. Now, when I kill a Heretic God, I get all the Authorities they currently have just like Gilgamesh gathered his treasures from those he defeated." Illya grinned.

"That… broken." EMIYA blinked.

"So broken." Kuro echoed in a deadpan.

"Really, as broken as Unlimited Blade Works?" Illya asked flatly.

A couple of embarrassed chuckles later, Illya continued.

"Far-Reach lets me teleport myself as well as objects to and from me. Witch amplifies the potency of all my spells at least tenfold. Necromancer lets me summon ghosts and have them obey me until the next sunrise. Maker of Nymphs lets me turn virgin women into beautiful nymphs. Crossroad messes with a target's sense of direction, making him go left instead of right as he intended to, up instead of down and the like. Elixir allows me to brew magical substances at least ten times as potent as normally. Herbs lets be pull magical plants from fertile soil even if they should not exist there. Three Realms gives me a level of influence over the sky, sea and underworld, Keys of Hades allows me to negate and seal death-related Authorities. And Black Magic amplifies the power of my curses hundredfold so I plan on using it in conjunction with Verg Avesta." Illya paused for breath.

"Maker of Nymphs…" EMIYA trailed off.

"I have not used it on anyone. I plan on coining some homunculi to make nymphs out of, but I'll need a workshop for that." Illya cut him off.

"Ah." He nodded.

"Now, from Hephaestus or Vulcan as he liked to call himself I got God Forge, First Flame, Return to Origins, Fiery Earth, Golden Throne, Olympus Palace, Golden Net, Automaton, Divine Life-Maker and Ambrosia." Illya enumerated. "God Forge is awesome, let's me make magical and even divine constructs with the right materials and enough prana. That's how I made this Lesser Grail. Though it has limits and once used up, it takes a week to recharge. First Flame is fire hot enough to burn through God Hand like it's butter. Enough said. But has limits like God Forge. Return to Origins lets me render technology more advanced than that of Ancient Rome useless in a chosen area. Fiery Earth lets me do anything from conjure globs of lava to toss around to having a volcano form and erupt. Same limits as God Forge. Golden Throne is a throne that once a person had sat in, willingly or nor, then they can't get up without my permission and can't move the throne either. Olympus Palace is just that, a massive and extravagant Greek palace I can call into being. I can only make one per month. Golden Net is nasty; it can be rendered invisible and suspended in space to fall on command. Once it has fallen on someone, it will instantly grow to wrap around them fully and not allow any power to reach outside the Net… though I managed to use Gae Bolg so reversing causality and other such powers will work. Automaton lets me make robots, but they can't be programed to do complicated tasks nor reprogramed later, and can't do anything I can't. I've been using them as target practice. Divine Life-Maker could be dangerous, it would let me create a living being of divine nature out of something, like Hephaestus supposedly created Pandora out of earth, but I have not dared try it since, well, Pandora is apparently against the gods, her supposed creators, and I did not want to risk it without someone watching my back. And finally, there's Ambrosia which restores the one who consumes it to full health and power, as well as stops their aging if they are past their prime. I can make a dose every two weeks and I've been storing them in the Gate." She finished, before opening the Gate and pulling a bottle of coke, having a dry throat from all the talking.

"And the last god?" Kuro inquired, accepting an offered bottle as did EMIYA.

"Hel of the Norse Pantheon." Illya scowled. "Apparently being the Magician of the Heaven's Feel and having a materialized soul makes me some sort of aberration to gods of death, so she tried to kill me. I had to kill her twice, too. First time with First Flame to pretty much cleave her in half horizontally at the torso. Then she revived and I lost my temper after having to deal with her mutt, so I hit her with Ea when she took her dragon form as Níðhöggr."

"Ouch. I'm surprise there was enough left of her to pull an Authority out of." Kuro winced.

"Either way, I got Changing of Seasons, Half-Dead, Garmr, Realm of Ice, Realm of Fire, Reaper, Halls of the Dead and Serpent of Malice." Illya listed. "Changing of Seasons does just that over a chosen area and lasts depending how much prana I invest in it. Half-Dead is a resurrection ability that revives me after I die of something other than an instant or near-instant death. I didn't get to try it for obvious reasons." her dry tone earned a grin from Kuro. "Garmr is a massive ferocious wolf that I can summon. About as four stories tall. Realm of Ice and Realm of Fire let me reshape the environment either into a frozen tundra or a volcanic plain. Reaper lets me reap the souls of the dead and allows me to call upon them later with Halls of the Dead which otherwise only lets me summon spirits that have died from sickness, old age and in accidents that do not involve battle. There are limits how solid I can make them though, just like with Necromancer. Finally, Serpent of Malice lets me either summon of become myself the dragon Níðhöggr for a limited period of time. It burns a lot of prana, but damage taken in that form does not remain when I turn back. Garmr, Reaper and Serpent of Malice can only be used once every 24 hours though." Illya finished.

"Well, that's certainly…" EMIYA began.

"Oh, one last thing and this one might be important!" Illya cut him off excitedly "Since according to legend Hel was able to claim the souls of her fellow Norse Gods as well, such as Baldr, it's possible I might be able to summon ghosts of the gods I kill as well!"

"Have you tried it yet?" Kuro blinked.

"Well, no. There's no point. I would have to kill them with Reaper active, and I just got that from killing Hel." Illya remarked.

"Point." Kuro nodded.

"All that is certainly a lot of power to be gained in such a short period of time." EMIYA pointed out. "Too much for you to handle, I dare say. It will take you a long time to master them."

"You're telling me!" Illya exclaimed. "Most Campione don't have as many Authorities after centuries as I had to start with! As for mastering them… well, I've been thinking…"

"Oh boy…" Kuro grinned.

"Hush you!" Illya pouted. "I was thinking on mastering a set of Authorities I have some compatibility with and just learn how to properly use the others in a few situations we can think of."

"That sounds reasonable." EMIYA nodded. "Now onto other matters… when are you summoning him?"

"Eh, what do you mean?" Illya blinked.

"Come now, I know you Illya." EMIYA smirked. "While you may have wanted to summon me because I have the skills to help you fit in this world, the fact remains that there is only one Servant you would fully trust with your back."

"Berserker." Illya admitted guiltily.

"You prefer having a mad Servant watching your back? You have issues, girl." Kuro said in disbelief. "So, who is it? Lancelot, your knight in dark armor?" she teased.

"Herakles." Illya corrected.

"Herakles?" Kuro blinked before she paled, beginning to sweat heavily. "As in, 'two-and-a-half-meter tall mountain of black muscle and rage that can make weaker mortals wither away and die just by growling in their presence' Herakles?" she whimpered.

"…Yes. I take it you've met?" Illya blinked.

"Not directly, I was still inside my Illya at the time but since the seal had been broken I was sharing her experiences. It took the combined power of nine Excaliblasts to kill him!" Kuro exclaimed.

"Oh, right, they used Kaleid Install." Illya nodded as the memory came to her.

"Kaleid Install?" EMIYA asked nonplused. "Why does that sound like something Zelretch had a hand in?"

"Because they were using his Kaleidosticks Ruby and Sapphire?" Kuro pointed out.

"…You had to deal with both of those things?" EMIYA shuddered.

"Illya and Miyu did." Kuro corrected.

"They have my sympathies." He sighed. "So? When are you summoning him?"

"Well, how does now sound?" Illya suggested. "I've already set up the summoning circle in a prime location in Greece for maximum effect. All I need now is that stone axe-sword I know you can Trace to use as a catalyst."

"And how are we getting there?" Kuro pointed out.

"Well, I want to see if I can use Far-Reach to bring you to me." Illya offered. "But if that doesn't work, I can just use a Command Seal."

"You should be saving those for…" Kuro trailed off at the sight of Illya flaring her Command Seals, revealing them to be spread all over her body. "The hell?"

"The Einzbern modified me to be the perfect Master as well as the perfect Lesser Grail. These Command Seals will never be exhausted. Once one it used up, it drains on my prana until it's restored though I can limit the flow in case I need to prioritize in battle." Illya explained as she walked over to the platinum circle and with a flare of prana and Wishcraft it was turned back into the ingot it had been crafted from, which she stored in the Gate along with the Lesser Grail.

Without a word, she teleported herself across the world before a ruined temple in Greece that she knew it had been dedicated to Herakles – though apparently, the mages of this world lacked that knowledge as there was quite a bit of magic still present in the structure, magic they would have at least tried masking if not sealing away.

Focusing on her two Servants, she willed them to be brought to her and a moment later they popped into existence before her.

"That was… actually pleasant." EMIYA blinked.

"Nothing like the Kaleidoscope." Kuro agreed.

"If you say so." Illya said impatiently as she pulled out the Lesser Grail and set it on the ground, connecting it to the already present platinum summoning circle, before tying into the mixt a large gemstone full of prana for the creation of the Servant container.

"Here you go." EMIYA traced the stone axe-sword and placed it on the edge of the circle.

One last glance over the set-up to ensure everything was in place later, and Illya began chanting for the third time that day the same incantation.

She felt it. Or rather, she did not feel it, the summoning connecting to Akasha. It tried, it reached out, but something stopped it, or rather got in the way. Yet the summoning was proceeding. She also did not feel herself connect to Akasha. She reached something, but it was definitely not the same as she was not gaining any memories from her alternate selves. Rather, various legends began to pour into her mind.

And then she realized that the summoning was occurring, at which point she took a step away from the circle even as the power spiked and the Servant began to materialize.

"Something is wrong." Illya warned her companions. "I'm not feeling a connection to my Command Seals… nor to the Lesser Grail!"

Moments later, the summoning was complete and within the prana-mist that distorted the surroundings stood a massive figure, easily three meters tall, with a mane of wild black hair and muscled body that would make even the proudest body builders green with envy, wearing sandals, cloth pants tied with a rope and nothing else.

"Hoh, the human world." the figure rumbled curiously as he glanced around. "It has been some time…" he muttered before his eyes lowered to Illya who was closest to him. "It has been some time indeed…" he smirked, his expression radiating greed and lust.

"Enkidu." Illya snapped and before the figure could move chains erupted from the golden portals that manifested behind him and bound his form, dragging him to his knees due to his surprise. "Gae…" Illya began speaking again and the explosion of bloodlust made the summoned being focus on the crimson spear in her hands "Bolg!" she thrust the spear which suddenly found itself lodged deeply into his heart, the spikes ripping at it for further damage.

A few seconds of struggle later, he slumped in chains' hold.

"I messed up and summoned a Heretic God." Illya groaned in annoyance as she watched embers appear from the wound and dismissed the spear. "Oh well, the second try should work." She decided as she went over to the Lesser Grail to check it from problems while at the same time reaching into the Gate to draw another prana filled gem.

"Illya!" EMIYA exclaimed.

"Don't worry. Heretic Gods can't manifest again for years after they were killed, usually centuries." Illya waved him off.

"No, look!" Kuro pointed behind her.

Turning swiftly, Illya had just enough time to see the burning form of the Heretic God Herakles glow with power before her vision was occupied with a massive fist… and then her world went black for a few seconds.

Then it went bright golden for a moment before she found herself staring at the sky. She was snapped out of it, however, by the sounds of battle and standing upright she saw EMIYA and Kuro fighting Heretic Herakles… or rather retreating while trying to slow him down.

Illya was not overly surprised about this; while the two Fakers were certainly versatile, having a sword or a hundred for just about any situation, that meant little when fighting against someone who utterly outstripped them in pure specs – and that was what Heretic Herakles was doing, making it seem easy at that.

And now his skin was glowing with golden power, letting Illya know that the resistance to damage that her Berserker had had was also active.

"Which means his resurrection ability may work eleven more times too!" Illya mentally groaned before getting her head in the game and after taking the situation on she reached a decision, flaring prana into her Command Seals "By the power of the Command Seal, EMIYA I order you to deploy your Reality Marble and hold it until I tell you otherwise!" she spoke clearly as he increased the flow of prana between them.

A second later, a wave of heatless flames erupted from EMIYA engulfing everything in the area and once it faded, the four of them were in a wasteland full of blades, stuck in an eternal twilight under the massive gears in the sky.

A.N.: Back with another chapter, I'll be focusing on my other stories from now on for a while.

Here's the Authorities Illya has that I've shown so far:

King Arthur – Excalibur & Invisible Air

Cú Chulainn – Gae Bolg

Gilgamesh – Gate of Babylon

Medusa – Cybele and Bellerophon

Medea – Rule Breaker

Herakles – God Hand

Hassan-i-Sabbah / Demon God Shayṭān – Zabaniya: Delusional Heartbeat

Angra Mainyu – Verg Avesta

Hecate / Trivia – Far-Reach, Witch, Necromancer, Maker of Nymphs, Crossroad, Elixir, Herbs, Three Realms, Keys of Hades, Black Magic

Hephaestus / Vulcan – God Forge, First Flame, Return to Origins, Fiery Earth, Golden Throne, Olympus Palace, Golden Net, Automaton, Divine Life-Maker, Ambrosia

Hel – Changing of Seasons, Half-Dead, Garmr, Realm of Ice, Realm of Fire, Reaper, Halls of the Dead, Serpent of Malice