Chapter 4
*Pre-Story Notes.*
Ok the first thing I want to address is my idiotic attack on Windraider's wheel of fate story. First I forgot that he gave a good and inventive reason for Minato being so underpowered (re-reading it it's actually a lot better than I remembered it, you guys should give it a read). That was wrong on my part and I have already sent an e-mail apology to him regarding this issue. NasuFan and several others were the first ones to bring this issue up and I wanted to thank them for that.
When I started to write this story I wanted 3 things to never happen, no unnecessary bashing, making a stale and boring story, and quitting because of bad review. I already broke my first rule and I feel like a major ass for doing so. If anyone wants to leave this story and call me out on this you have every right to do so, this was immature and unacceptable for myself, who has just started writing, to do so.
So now I'm going to start the story.
*End Note*
He dreamt of her that night.
It was a specific memory, an important one. They were on a beach, at night, the moon was shining across the waves that crashed. There were only two individuals on that beach, one male, and one female. The male was dressed in a dark blue t-shirt and shorts. The girl was dressed in a pink top and white summer pants.
He had just chased after her when she had left their group. The revelation of her father had most likely destroyed all of her ideals of her father. Not knowing how to accept or deal with his sudden realization she ran. She ran to run away from the hurt, from the lies, the tears streaming down her face, and the secrets that would always follow her no matter where she went to escape.
He followed because he was the only one that could, no that should. The others, they could feel empathy for her plight yes, but to understand her only he could do that. Their leader was going to suggest that he follow her, he was out of the door by the time she finished.
When he finally caught up to her she was standing by the waves on the beach alone. He slowly walked up to her, he knew that she knew he was there, but she didn't turn around. She was controlling herself, forcing herself not to cry when it would have been so easy to do so. She turned towards him her eyes gaining water looking as if she was about to speak. He did not know what to do, so he did what he does best.
Minato listened.
"I believed him for so long…" she started. "This is too much." Her voice tried to give a feeling of minor discomfort, but Minato knew better.
"Remember what I told you at the hospital…?" she suddenly started. "How my dad died when I was little…?" ah that. "You understand now right…?" he always did understand. "He died in that incident. Nobody knew the truth, so there were all sorts of rumors…" Minato imagined there were due to the reports of explosions and multiple deaths.
"Because he was in charge of the research team, people were really mean to me and my mom. We even had to move a few times." That made sense too Minato thought, the sins of the father or of any family are usually passed over to the accused family if he has died, it makes the burden easier to blame those not involved then to accept that the villain can't come to justice.
"That must have been tough." Minato said. Minato would be the first to admit that he was not used to comforting others, but for her, he would try.
"…Yeah." She said her eyes drifting sadly back to the ocean.
"But all this time," anger began to rise in her voice, "I kept telling myself that it wasn't his fault. I loved him a lot, and I believed that he'd never do anything wrong." Her voice was so sad, he didn't like her when she was like this.
"I received a letter back in the spring." She began again. "It was from him, written ten years ago." A ghost of a smile that announced self-loathing appeared on her face, "It cracked me up cuz, even though it said 'To my family', it was pretty much all about me. That only made me believe in him more." She admitted.
She gripped the evoker in her hand. "When I found out I had a special power, I thought it was fate. I was scared, but I thought that if I cooperated with the Kirijo Group, I might find out what really happened. That's why I agreed to fight using my persona" She told him.
So that was the true reason to why she was really here. This explained all of the questions she asked of Mitsuru, and why she disliked her so much. He knew it wasn't simply jealousy, it was personal.
She closed her eyes, "But it turns out… all of that was for nothing…" her voice was cracking, her trip down memory lane was catching up to her.
So he tried again, "That's not true." He told her. And it wasn't, if she wouldn't have joined the Kirijo group she would have never of joined S.E.E.S. She wouldn't be here right now. She never would have introduced him to Junpei. Most importantly, he never would have met her.
"Haha," she tried to laugh, "You're just trying to make me feel better." Wasn't that the point? She sighed, "Why does reality have to be so harsh." Now she sounded like she was talking to the sky above looking for an answer, only to be answered with silence. "I tried so hard to fight my fear, and this is what I get…" her voice raised again.
Her eyes opened again, ghosts of tears inside of them, "…Maybe I'm just jealous of Mitsuru-senpai." A possibility, Minato thought, but more of an excuse than a reason. "I mean, why my father and not hers…?" Now she was bargaining, the sacrifice of another's family for her own. He couldn't blame her, but that was beneath her. She made that self-loathing smile again, "Haha… I'm a horrible person aren't I?"
No she wasn't. "No you're not." He told her. She was a wonderful person, she had flaws yes but who didn't. Minato didn't see a horrible person, he saw a sad person wishing for a better life, a happier one. There is nothing horrible in that.
She turned to him frowning, "Hmph." She sounded when she looked at him. "Well you're just Mr. Perfect."
Why was she angry at him? She was hurting though, if she wanted to vent on him, well so be it.
"Nothing ever fazes you." She criticized. She was right in that regard, very little fazed him, even the revelation of her father. Minato learned a long time ago it was easier to accept things as they were than question them.
She began to yell. "And now, you've got the nerve to try and tell me how to feel!?" He was going to say something but she glared at him and continued to speak.
"You think you know me!? You don't know anything!" The anger that had consumed her was gone as fast as it had come. When she had finished the look of shame reappeared on her face and turned away from him.
"I'm sorry." She apologized. "My heads a mess. I'm so afraid. I don't know what to do anymore… I'm totally lost." Everything she knew had come crashing down, now, now she just didn't know what to do anymore.
Minato hated seeing this.
"Tell me…" she began her voice cracking even more. "What should I do…?" She was looking at him, all of that hurt and sadness grasping for an answer, any answer.
He told her the truth. "Don't lose hope." It was simple, cliché even, but it was enough.
She turned to him surprised. "You mean, keep believing…?" He nodded, a small smile appeared on his face. "Ya know," she began, "you really are one-of-a-kind."
She looked back to the ground as though ashamed of herself even more. "…I'm sorry for acting like this." She apologized and continued. "You've lost your parents, too. But I'm all right now, I'm used to dealing with stressful situations." Her strong smile was back. "Thanks for listening, he smiled back at her.
She moved towards him. "Let me guess." She said with a teasing smile. "Mitsuru-senpai asked you to bring me back huh?" She wasn't wrong, but not completely right either.
Minato shook his head. "She did, but I came because I wanted to." She blushed a hard pink at that admittance, was it something he said?
"Oooh," she smiled, "you're such a gentleman…" she began to laugh. "…Thanks"
Minato remembered from books and TV shows that after an emotional scene such as this people were supposed to hug. Minato walked a little closer to her and wrapped his arms awkwardly around her shoulders, trying to emulate the hug he witnessed on TV. She was blushing heavily, her arms were reaching behind his back, in an attempt to obtain more comfort. It was… nice to be this close to her. Minato wouldn't have minded if he would be able to stay like this a little longer.
Too bad Junpei interrupted.
Minato separated from her when he heard his voice and footsteps nearing them. Others would get angry at the interruption of the tender moment, but Junpei did not know what was happening so he could not be faulted for it. He was wearing a black tank top and jeans with his signature baseball cap on his head. Naturally he was out of breath.
"What's… *gasp* taking you so long… Everybody's… waiting." Junpei stammered, even for someone as fit as he is a run over here should not have tired him so much, then again he has been running around all day trying to pick up girls… and failing.
"It's… almost," he continued. "The Dark Hour, so you should get back." Was it really that late Minato thought? If it was they should head back, he didn't have his evoker and was not ready to fight and rouge shadows tonight.
"Huh, oh yeah that's right." Yukari said as a matter of fact.
Junpei looked confused. "Uhh, did I miss something here?" he looked back and forth between them as though trying to solve a puzzle. Yukari looked away from Minato.
"I almost forgot." She said. "The Dark Hour happens no matter where you are huh." Yukari said most likely trying to feign ignorance of the situation.
Junpei smirked, "well, duh."
Yukari turned back to the sea. "You know, I've been thinking lately…" she started. "Once you awaken to the power of persona, you remember everything that happens during the Dark Hour. It's like trading away your innocence. In exchange for power, you can no longer look away from the things you don't want to see." Powerful words, words that Minato knew he would take to heart.
She turned and smiled at Minato and Junpei. "So, I guess I'm stuck with you guys, huh?"
Junpei smiled. "Yep, now let's get back." He turned around and started to walk towards the hotel.
Minato nodded and began to walk back with Yukari in front of him. This moment was the start of something Minato would cherish for the rest of his life. After that night they became progressively closer. Yukari invited him into her life, her problems, and her very soul. Minato began to realize that he had grown to not only cherish her as a friend, but to love her as well. Days after Ryoji's announcement for the end of the world he told her his feelings. Imagine Minato's happiness when she said she loved him to, he made a bigger smile than usual.
That last month was the greatest and worst month of his life in Minato's opinion. He was able to spend time with the people he had come to call family, and it was taken away from him. He only regretted that he could not spend more time with them.
Minato woke up. The realization had returned to him as it had every morning in this new world. He could not see them and they could not see him, most likely ever again.
Minato missed his friends. He missed her.
[Scene Break]
Kiritsugu Emiya was not having a good day.
Before yesterday everything was going according to plan. Irisviel and Saber had arrived in Fuyuki city ahead of himself to give her the appearance of Saber's master. He had gathered information on all of the Master's participating in the Grail War, and thanks to last night he had gained information on five of the seven Servants that were summoned. Kiritsugu was also lucky enough to see the battle potential of all of the Servants summoned deeming Berserker and Archer the most dangerous of challenges so far, luckily their Masters were not heroes of legend. These were all good results, except for the one factor that had appeared last night.
The boy named Minato, the apparent Sorcerer.
According to Saber and Irisviel that was the boy's name. Even more unfortunate was that Irisviel claimed that he wasn't a Sorcerer. But that didn't make any sense, the boy could summon Heroic Spirits without the need of the Holy Grail System as evidence by his lack of Command Seals. It was certainly no illusion, as the Heroic Spirit Achilles had deflected attacks from Saber, Archer, Lancer, and Berserker. Nevertheless from what Irisviel had relayed to him was that he was just as confused as to what was happening around him, as they were to why he was there.
This brought up and even more disturbing question. How? How had this boy, who seemed to be no older than 18 years old, obtained such a power and how had he, up until this point, never come into contact with the Mage's Association. It was one thing to be able to use magecraft and not be aware of the Magic Association, but to be able to use Magic, it was impossible.
Kiritsugu's first action while returning to the Eizenburn Manor was to gain research on the boy all else could wait. If one wanted to gather information on Sorcerer's and Magic you only had three options. The first was a user of Magic, the only one known to Kiritsugu was Kischur Zaltrech Schweinorg the user of the 2nd Magic or better known as kaleidoscope, which allows him to gain power from and pass through parallel worlds, unfortunately Kiritsugu had no way of contacting the man and from his knowledge of how the ancient acts he was not sure that would be the best idea. The second option was to go to the Mage Association, unfortunately Kiritsugu knew that another Master, Kayneth Archibald El-Melloi also had connections in the Mage's Association, so it was better to not take the chance. The third choice would be to go to the family who studies the Magic, and since it resembles the Third Magic almost to a 'T' Kiritsugu had contacted the Eizenburn family to see if he could gather any info on the boy.
Unfortunately they were in the dark as much, if not more than, Kiritsugu himself. With the family head Jubstacheit Von Eizenburn, being too stubborn to install a phone line or generator into their home he had no way to contact them unless by hand written messages. Kiritsugu did not know how long it would take for the Holy Grail War to finish, but it would take at least 5-6 days to send and return a letter regarding the matter. So he wrote down what had happened, who he had saw, and what they would recommend.
The Eizenburn Family is the only family who knowledge exceeds the Mage's Association on the Third Magic. Kiritsugu needed this information. It was one thing for another Mage to be involved in the Grail War, those can be dealt with.
Not a fucking Sorcerer.
Kiritsugu for the first time in a long time was afraid. Not worried, not anxious, afraid. Sorcerer's were beings who defied basically everything, Apostles who can slay 100 men easily lie dead in moments, those who have died can be put into a stasis form to prolong their life. Sorcerer's were not only revered for their achievement of obtaining the greatest form of Magic, but also feared because none save for an Ultimate One or the greatest of Spirit's can kill or even hurt them. Even then with the knowledge that he was a Sorcerer wasn't enough, it was the Magic he used.
He wielded the Third Magic, the same magic the Holy Grail uses.
Since he wielded that specific Magic, this entire war became much, much more complicated.
From what Irisviel told him, the boy had no idea on what was happening and merely acted in self-defense. But the fact that he is a Sorcerer makes no sense. Sorcerers were the paragon of mages, they were the ones who achieved the greatest magical power. The very fact that a Sorcerer did not know about the Holy Grail War and uses the same magic as it is unbelievable.
There were so many possibilities. Maybe he inherited the power from another member of his family who had remained hidden from the rest of the world, he could actually be centuries old like Zaltrech who just decided to get involved. There was no way to know unless he went to the boy and asked him.
Even with his origins still a mystery the major problem still remained. If he decided to get himself involved in this war then all chances of victory for securing the grail have become null. You do not fight Sorcerers no matter what. Even with King Arthur and the fabled Excalibur he has close to zero chances at winning. With the other Magic's you would only face one individual, sure The First could make anything out of nothing, The Second could have the opponent hop in and out of the fight in seconds, and the fifth similar to Kiritsugu's own Mystic Code could manipulate time. The Third however gave the problem that you were not just fighting one Sorcerer, you were fighting the Sorcerer and anyone who he could revive.
Kiritsugu witnessed it firsthand, he summoned the Heroic Spirits of Achilles and Joan of Arc, without so much as a look of strain on his face. To be able to summon multiple Heroic Spirits in itself is problematic, if the magical power used to sustain them is divided thus making them weaker instead of all of the magical power is directed to one of them. Instead Achilles lost none of his initial strength from what Kiritsugu saw, in fact from what he saw summoning another Heroic Spirit was considered the safe move. This brings up another terrifying question.
How many can he summon?
Kiritsugu realized he had stopped breathing for over a minute. He began to gasp, the very thought of this Sorcerer involving himself in this war was frightening him. He had killed hundreds of Mages, a Sorcerer was just another Mage just monumentally more powerful. The Kiritsugu remembered something, his ace in the hole against all Mages. The one object of is that he could only use so much, but has never failed.
The Origin Bullet.
Sorcerers like all Mages had to use magic circuits to use their Magecraft, or in his case Magic, so the Origin Bullet would work on him as well. The thought of his weaponized ribs calmed himself and brought back his stoic demeanor from the panicked face he had been carrying. The Origin Bullet… with only a limited number of bullets left he had to use them sparingly. If Kiritsugu could get one good shot at the boy it would be settled in an instant.
There was also the issue of what exactly that gun was. At first Kiritsugu believed it to be a Conceptual Weapon, but the weapon was pulled from his pocket not summoned through a conduit of another sorts. It wasn't a Noble Phantasm obviously. That only left one choice, it was his Mystic Code, but a Mystic Code that utilizes a firearm was rare, in fact Kiritsugu was confident that he was one of the only users of such a magecraft. The way it was employed was also extremely odd, it was directed at the user not the enemy. Why would a Mage let alone a Sorcerer take that chance with such a modern weapon? Then again what if the gun was a limiter and using it unleashes the Third Magic, could it be the source of his abilities?
Then again all of this is on the assumption that he is an enemy.
Remembering what Kiritsugu had seen at the docks, he acted in only a defensive manner, in retrospect the only one that acted openly hostile from those he had summoned was Achilles, and that was only because he wanted to fight the other Heroic Spirits. It wasn't unlike Kiritsugu to establish contingency plans for possible dangers and outcomes. It did disturb him though, he immediately marked him as an enemy and thought of ways to kill and confront him. Kiritsugu did not even know if the boy was going to continue to be a part of the Holy Grail War or just leave everything be, it was unlikely but not impossible.
It was too early to tell what he was going to do, so the next course of action is the most logical.
Do nothing.
Do not confront him unless absolutely necessary.
He just represented an unnecessary danger that could be left alone. He wasn't part of the war and so unless, or until, he got himself involved there was no reason to constantly worry about him. Due to his power, especially in the Holy Grail War, he was easily the most dangerous individual, but this didn't mean that he would be coming for every one of the Masters of the War. In fact the more that he thought about it the more it seemed as though the boy was in the wrong place at the wrong time.
Maybe, it wasn't that he involved himself in the war, but that they involved him in the Grail War.
The irony was not lost on Kiritsugu.
Kiritsugu having made his decision then proceeded to inform Saber and Irisviel. Their faces showed their disagreement.
"Kiritsugu…" Irisviel began. "He knows the Third Magic, or at least a variation or an uncompleted version of it, shouldn't we at least see if we can ask for his aid?"
Kiritsugu almost forgot how insightful his wife could be sometimes. She just suggested we enlist the aid of a Sorcerer, who Saber and Irisviel had offered aid. To them they were the merciful group in this war. Enlisting his aid would not be a bad idea, on the contrary it would be the closest thing to a miracle Kiritsugu had ever thought would happen in the Holy Grail War. Especially with what Archer and Berserker were capable of.
Kiritsugu was used to keeping to his own and only keeping allies that were under his direct supervision. With a Wild card such as this in play now, maybe it was time to take some chances.
Saber also had her own opinion on the matter. "I agree with Irisviel." She began, she seemed almost encouraged by the idea. "He has shown the ability to hold himself in a fight between other Servants, that in itself is commendable, but with his ability in being able to summon other Heroic Spirits. He would be an invaluable ally if he joined us."
Saber held her kingly pride in her praise of the boy's ability. Kiritsugu knew that Saber respected strength and he had shown that in spades when he was confronted by Lancer. Although there was an odd tinge to her voice, if it could be called that. Almost as if Saber really wanted the boy to become their ally. Even Irisviel seemed to notice.
"Umm… Saber? You seem to be, uh, very accepting to the idea of him joining us." Irisviel decided be blunt on the subject.
Saber looked uncomfortable. "I do?" She shook her head. "I… have not been entirely honest with you my Masters." Saber said as she clutched her hand to her chest. "I, no my soul feels a connection to him, I do not fully understand it myself. When we had confronted him on the Docks the feeling was there but I was able to ignore it because of the situation, but now. Now I am trying to understand what exactly I felt when I looked at him. It was, it was." Saber turned her head trying to look for the right words. "It was like I was looking at an old friend, but I promise I have never seen him in my life." Saber was confused, and that was the worst thing Kiritsugu needed right now.
"It was most likely the fact that he could utilize the Third Magic." Kiritsugu responded. "That Magic is of the same nature that summoned you, and the fact that he can utilize it might give you a feeling of familiarity." It was the best reason, and excuse Kiritsugu could give.
Saber nodded. "Of course, that makes sense." Saber quickly replied, though it was obvious she was not completely convinced. "So, is it agreed, will we seek the aid of the Sorcerer."
Irisviel nodded. "Yes I believe that is the best plan, right Kiritsugu." She looked at him for reassurance.
Kiritsugu thought about the proposal. Right now it would be beneficial to gain the boy's aid, but to devote all attention to him would be unhelpful.
"We will make the offer to him if we see him again." Kiritsugu stated. "But, only if we run into him, our first priorities are to the other Master's and Servants."
Irisviel looked disappointed. Being part of the Eizenburn family whose obsession over the Third Magic was legendary. She was especially obvious in her excitement over meeting him. When Kiritsugu returned to the Manor she was practically jumping around Saber like a little girl who had just gotten a new car. To her the very fact that the Third Magic was still able to be used was a happy surprise.
"I understand." She finally said with a determined look on her face.
"As do I." Saber agreed.
"Good." Kiritsugu nodded. "Now we start planning our next move."
[Scene Break]
Lord Kayneth Archibald El Melloi was in the process of regretting his entire life.
When the boy had interrupted the battle between Saber and Lancer he had thought of him as simply an unlucky and foolish youth who could not keep himself out of others business. He was the one at fault for interrupting of course. When he had shown capability of defending himself against Lancer, he had only assumed that he had capable physical abilities or on an off chance that he had mystical modification done to himself, such as reinforcement. When it was revealed that he was in fact a Sorcerer however that changed everything.
Kayneth in his defense blamed shock for his lack of reaction at first. Not only did he order the death of a Sorcerer, he ignored him as well in order to continue the fight between Lancer and Saber. Even worse was the fact that due to a familiar he left behind to keep an eye on those who remained, it turned out that Waver , that fool student of his, and the Sorcerer were already acquainted. That meant that it was 100% likely that Waver had told The Sorcerer his name.
Kayneth was confident in his abilities. And why shouldn't he, he was the head of the Archibald family, inheritor of the Magical Crest, and a Mystic Code that utilizes the metal mercury in the form of an all-purpose liquid metal. Kayneth also had Lancer, the famed knight of the love spot, who wielded two incredible Noble Phantasms, one which could inflict never healing injuries and one which severed all magic. With the additional aid of his fiancé Sola-Ui Nuada-Re Sophiawhose magical ability was short only to his own, he was truly the only possible winner for the Heaven's Feel War.
All of that was useless and meaningless in the face of a Sorcerer.
Kayneth knew very well that when something involves a Sorcerer the only positive outcome would be to become their disciple. To learn from a Sorcerer was a dream come true to most Mages, they were the epitome of achievement in the Mage's Association, true examples of the impossible taken form. Kayneth disliked Zaltrech due to his foolish nature, but respected the man who had been alive for centuries and his knowledge of not only the True Magic's but also of Thaumaturgy was unrivaled.
To have not only insulted someone of that level of power and knowledge, but to have attacked them was inviting a death sentence. He had attacked the Sorcerer, insulted him, and even worse it seems that he was already knowing of his former student which would make his attack on that fool of a student of his even more personal.
Kayneth was not sure what to do. Which would be more preferable, killing himself or waiting for the inevitable.
Kayneth's first reaction was to contact the Mage's association, surely they would have a solution or a rule for other Sorcerer's involving themselves in the Holy Grail War. Unfortunately the response was as dooming as it was quick to be replied to.
The letter had one line. What would we be able to do?
The answer was obvious, Sorcerers acted on an entirely different level than the rest of the Mage's Association. If they wished to research a forbidden Magecraft, or proceed in testing magical theories that would invite the notice of the regular humans they could do nothing to stop them. The Enforcers were fodder to them, Heroic Spirits could match them maybe, but their abilities would almost always ensure their victory if it was the Third or Second Magic.
What made matters even worse, if it was actually possible at this point, was that he was a Sorcerer of the Third Magic. This meant that he had the same abilities that the Holy Grail had when it summoned Servants. Only he could summon as many as he wished, and if possible any Heroic Spirit under his knowledge.
Facing a Sorcerer of the other True Magic's would just involve fighting one individual no matter how powerful said individual was, the Third Magic involved fighting an army of heroes. And that was without knowing what other Mystical Codes he had under his belt so to speak.
Kayneth currently was sitting in a leather chair in the 5 star hotel he had commandeered and was inside the penthouse on the top floor. The entire area was protected with magical wards placed personally by himself and Sola-Ui for good measure. His hands were buried in his head for a picture of perfect despair [1]. Lancer sat directly in front of his Master with a sad look upon his face, most likely chastising himself for causing his Master such distress. Sola-Ui was standing to the side currently ranting over how much a fool he had been during the first confrontation of the Heaven's Feel.
"It was one thing to act the coward and not confront the other Master's like the others did." She chastised. "But now, you attacked a Sorcerer! A SORCERER! Do you realize how terrible this is!?"
She was angry that was obvious. Even more than that she was scared, it was one thing to do battle against other Mages, but she knew she as well as Kayneth were capable of dealing with almost every situation, even more so with Lancer. A Sorcerer was another story, she was for the first time since Kayneth had laid his eyes on her beautiful face afraid. Worse though she blamed him, and was right to do so.
Kayneth, contrary to what other ignorant fools he was surrounded with, was not an utter fool. Their marriage was arranged between their respected heads of their families, before Kayneth himself became head of the family. Kayneth was overjoyed to say the least, he had loved her since he had laid eyes on her. She however was not as content with the affair. She disliked Kayneth with a passion, she disliked having been passed over as the heir of her family, even more so being forced to marry someone like Kayneth. Kayneth understood her plight slightly, but she would come to love him in time, he was sure of it. Until that time he made a promise to refrain from making her life uncomfortable.
And now he had just signed her death sentence along with his.
There had to be something he could do. Some way to save their lives.
"Master" Lancer's voice brought Kayneth's head up. "Regarding the child Sorcerer. I…" he sounded hesitant, Kayneth let him continue it wasn't like he could change things. "I do not believe that he will seek retribution from what happened the night before."
Kayneth couldn't believe his ears. The sheer stupidity of what was being told to him was incredible. Sola-Ui was also shocked, but unlike Kayneth she seemed to take comfort in the idiotic statement rather than disbelief.
But Kayneth had to know what he meant by that. "What do you mean Lancer?" And it better be a damn good reason." Kayneth told his Servant anger lacing every syllable
"I… know it sounds… odd. But when I fought him, and when I left I detected no malice from the child. If anything I felt a confusion but no bloodlust or hostility whatsoever." Lancer attempted to explain, but it still did not answer his question to exactly why he thought that.
"What do you mean Lancer?" Sola-Ui said. "Are you saying that the Sorcerer is not going to attack us?" Kayneth could feel the desperation in her voice looking to Lancer for assurance.
"My Lady, the only way I could explain it would be that, it was his soul. I… do not understand it myself, but I recognized his soul, it felt like an old comrade." Lancer was disturbed by this, it almost seemed like he regretted fighting the boy. Of course now it makes more sense in hindsight.
Then Kayneth remembered what True Magic the Sorcerer used. He used the Third Magic, with his ability to use that, it would make sense that Lancer a Heroic Spirit summoned by the Holy Grail which uses the Third Magic. It could count as a sorts of indirect connection of the soul. That means if Lancer is right Kayneth and Sola-Ui were in no danger.
"Are you sure Lancer, you must be absolutely confident that you are correct." Kayneth was pleading at this point, his pride as a Magus all but gone due to the threat of a Sorcerer. No one could blame him, only admonish him for attacking a Sorcerer.
Lancer nodded. "I do Master, unless we actively antagonize him, I would swear on my honor as your knight that he will not seek us." Lancer attempted to perform a comforting smile to reassure them Kayneth will admit he felt some form of weight lift off of him, and Sola-Ui was obviously relaxed by this revelation.
Kayneth was still worried. Whether he liked it or not, even if the Sorcerer was not going to seek retribution, there was still the fact that he was involved now.
Kayneth was not so confident in his victory anymore. In fact he was only confident in one thing.
Kayneth had just awoken the beast, now all they can do is wait for the oncoming storm.
[Scene Break]
There was only one way to call what Tokiomi Tohsaka was feeling right now.
Ecstatic.
A Magus duty is to reach the Akasha Record, or the Root. His entire reason for seeking the Holy Grail was for this purpose.
But now, now there was an individual in Fuyuki City that had reached the Root and had not only survived but had gained the ability to use a True Magic. It was incredible, the individual's known as Sorcerers were the impossible given form, those who had reached the apex of what a Magus can achieve and granted the power and knowledge deserved to them.
When Tokiomi had witnessed the boy Sorcerer he couldn't believe his eyes, how could such a young child be capable of one of the greatest magical feats in the world. The True Magic's were always interesting to Tokiomi, the ability to create matter with pure thought, parallel worlds, the revival of life, one mystery, and time travel. All were incredible but sadly lost and only available to those who have reached the Akasha Record.
Tokiomi knew of Zaltrech of course. Tokiomi had actually been one of the few who had petitioned to be tutored directly under him, unfortunately none were selected by the great Sorcerer. This did not deter Tokiomi however, this was simply another test towards the true goal of a Magus.
At first Tokiomi had simply wanted Archer to simply watch over the fighting Servants. He would gage their abilities, who they most likely were, and the best strategy in which to defeat them. It was actually quite easy to find the identities of the other Servants. Saber was King Arthur, her difference in gender was a surprising twist on the legend but the result is the same. Lance was Diarmuid the Knight of the Love Spot. Rider was Iskandar or better known as Alexander the Great, Berserker was still an unknown but was of knightly origin. Caster was still an unknown as well and Assassin was under the control of his student Kirie Kotomine.
Then the Sorcerer arrived. He had summoned the Heroic Spirit of Achilles and Joan of Arc. Two recognized heroes of the world one even being the ancestor of Rider. Tokiomi had hoped that he could see the Third Magic in action for a little while longer and was lenient when Archer continued to continue an onslaught on the Servants. Achilles definitely lived up to his name, but what surprised Tokiomi was that the Sorcerer caught one of Archer's Noble Phantasms.
It was believable that a Servant could catch one of the weapons in Archer's treasury. For a Sorcerer to catch one was impressive for a completely different reason, at the core of things a Sorcerer was still human, their power came from their Magical abilities, to physically catch a weapon such as that gave the impression that he also had great strength as well.
And when he had gained a weapon he gave it back to Archer. To one as prideful as Archer to lay hands on his treasures was punishable by death, yet when Archer returned he had taken out the sword and had stared at it since then. Tokiomi had fully expected himself to grovel to the King of Heroes in order to appease his anger, but he just sat at the table and stared at the sword. Tokiomi knew that Archer was angry at him but he just wasn't at the forefront of his mind.
Tokiomi decided to confront Archer on this matter. For something to have confounded the King of Heroes was… rare.
Tokiomi entered the room Gilgamesh had commandeered for his own leisure. His hair normally in an upturned spike like shape had let down to give a sort of hair bangs look. Instead of illustrious golden armor he was dressed in a white t-shirt and jeans. He was doing exactly what he had been doing several hours earlier when he arrived back at the mansion. His hands were folded over his mouth, he was leaning over a table which upon it laid an illustrious sword. The sword though beautiful was not exactly special. It was at least a D or C rank Noble Phantasm like all of the other weapons in Archer's Gate of Babylon instead of Ea and Enkidu. Yet Archer was peering over the weapon as if he was trying to discover some puzzle that had eluded him.
Tokiomi as he entered the room immediately prostrated himself before the King of Heroes. Some Masters and Servants would be appalled at this appearance. They would not know that Archer is not only the King of Heroes, but is also the first hero. He also holds the highest rank of Independent Action which would allow him to stay in this world even if he killed Tokiomi. Archer was the strongest of all possible Servants bar none. It was simply easier to play to his ego rather than antagonize it.
"My King." Tokiomi said. It was customary to announce yourself to the king and allow him to proceed with the conversation. If he did not answer he was to stay in his position until he said otherwise.
"That mongrel, he did something to my precious treasure." Gilgamesh snarled. "But I do not hate him for it." That raised Tokiomi's head.
"What do you mean my King?" The best way to receive an answer was from the one asking the question after all.
"When the mongrel laid his hand upon my precious treasure, he recognized it. Even more disturbing was that I did not care that he had. In fact had he not returned what belonged to me I would have forgotten it." Archer was disturbed, not by the Sorcerer in particular but by his nonchalance over his treasures. They were worth more than every life in this city and to simply let go of even one was absurd. "It is a mystery." Archer finally said.
"Tell me Tokiomi." Archer addressed him. "What do you know about that mongrel, the one who was able to command two other lower dogs?" He must mean the Sorcerer and the Heroic Spirits he summoned.
"He is a Sorcerer my King, other than that I have no prior knowledge to who he is." Tokiomi explained to Archer.
Archer nodded his head a smirk appearing on his face. "Ah. So he is a higher mongrel, one of those who can use the Great Magic's correct." Of course Archer new of the True Magic's, in his time the usage of that magic was special as well. "Considering that he was able to summon two other dogs to aid him, this must mean he utilizes the Third." Archer stated it as a fact, of course the great king could never be wrong.
"That is correct my King, I was hoping, by your leave that is, if we could set up a meeting between the Sorcerer." Tokiomi was starting to sound excited. "Due to his abilities, there would be much he could offer us and-"
"Are you implying that we need his help Tokiomi?" Archer interrupted his eyebrows raised up. "To imply such a method, I would consider that treason Tokiomi." Archer gained a dangerous glint in his eyes, Tokiomi believed that Archer thought he was insinuating that Archer needed help. Not only was that a blow to his pride but also to his title as King of Heroes, if the King of all heroes needed help the injustice would be catastrophic.
"Of course not my King." Tokiomi hastily replied. 'I was merely offering to allow him to come and answer any questions you may have for him, I had assumed that he may have gained your interest." Tokiomi knew how Archer thought, this was the best way to agree to his request.
"Hmm, yes, you are correct Tokiomi. The Sorcerer as well as the ones known as Saber and Rider have garnered my interest. More so in their titles as Kings. You may bring him here Tokiomi I will allow it, but he must answer for what he has done to my treasure and myself." The King of Heroes opened the Gate of Babylon and returned the sword to his treasury. He then proceeded to grab a nearby bottle of wine, Henri Jayer Richebourg Grand Cru, Cote de Nuits from France that cost around 20,000 American dollars, and proceeded to pour it into a crystal glass.
"You are dismissed Tokiomi." Archer said. Tokiomi rises from his prostrations bowed once more to the King of Heroes and left the room.
This could not have worked better for Tokiomi. Not only did he get approval from Archer which ensured no disagreements and conflict. He also had a chance to be face to face with a Sorcerer. The things he could learn from him. With his help he might not even need The Holy Grail, if the boy could just lead him into the right direction he could definitely reach the Akasha Record.
When Tokiomi had reached the main floor to his manor in the middle of the floor was his student Kirie Kotomine and his father Risei Kotomine. Last he remembered both were inside the church grounds, so the fact that they were here must be something important.
Tokiomi had a very good guess to what exactly was important.
"Master Tohsaka." His student began. "My father and I are sorry to disturb you, but Assassin relayed that a Sorcerer had involved themselves in the Holy Grail War. We were wondering what you intend to do with this knowledge." While his father had a somewhat pensive expression, most likely in an attempt to keep himself calm, Kirie retains the completely stoic expression.
"I was intending on inviting him to my home." Tokiomi answered honestly. "He is the only Sorcerer seen since Zaltrech last showed himself, I am not going to pass up this opportunity. Especially if he intends to involve himself in The Heaven's Feel."
Risei was surprised. "Tokiomi, this affects everyone involved in the Grail War! Please tell me you are not planning to gain the aid of the Sorcerer in this war? People have already noticed there was something happening in the docks, and there have been children disappearing at an alarming rate since this war started! Involving another member in this war could invite catastrophe!" His fears were well founded and Tokiomi understood his plight. But a Magus duty is to his work and Tokiomi could not pass this opportunity up.
"Then maybe we could enlist his help Risei." Tokiomi began. "He could regulate the matches between Servants to be quiet the incidents, and his aid in the missing children could prove useful." The best way to get another to agree with you is give them the answer to their problems after all.
"That that makes sense." Risei began. "This however is entirely new to the Grail War. If he will become a neutral moderator and aid us we will need to inform all of the other Master's and Servants. I believe a meeting will do best." Risei nodded to himself. "I will alert the other Masters of how the War will proceed."
Tokiomi had no issue with this in fact it made everything better. Instead of looking for him the Sorcerer would come to himself. The chance to speak and learn from a Sorcerer was too great a chance to pass up. Now he would be obtaining just that.
This was truly a great day.
[Scene Break]
Minato was having a taxing morning. He had woken up to a particularly sad dream and it was only 8:00 am in the morning. Considering he got home at around 2 am in the morning it was not a healthy six hours of sleep. Minato prided himself on his personal health, and to wake up with two more hours needed for rest and being unable to go back to sleep was annoying to say the least. But it would take more than a bad wake up to kill Minato so he did the smart thing and got up, got dressed, and went downstairs to have breakfast.
It turns out that the Mackenzie's had left early in the morning for a fishing trip for the couple. This allowed Waver and Rider to corner him straight in the morning for question.
It appeared that Minato was not the only one that did not obtain ideal sleep. Waver looked worse for wear than last night. His eyes were incredibly dark implying his lack of sleep, his demeanor seized up when Minato came down the stairs, and he was currently trying to drink to what appeared to be his fourth cup of coffee.
Rider appeared to be perfectly fine. Although he was an ancient hero who was used to constant moving and war so last night must have been a cakewalk for him.
On the dining table there was a large list filled with what appeared to be questions. At least half were scribbled out and others were simply ineligible.
Minato raised his eyebrows at the duo.
"Good Morning Sorcerer!" Rider the city of a human being yelled in the morning. It seemed that he didn't understand that it was too early in the morning for yelling, then again hero of wars. "It is good that you are up, the boy here." He patted Waver on his back. "Has been up for several hours conducting questions. We were hoping you would answer them."
Minato could respect that. They could have very well demanded answers from him, but it seemed that Rider was preferring the polite and respectful route rather than the brash and aggressive route to get his answers. Minato had every intention of giving them the answers they sought.
Last night they had answered all of the questions he had prepared for them, they neither dodged nor changed the subject to avoid explanation. Minato, was for all purposes in the dark, they either respected him enough, or were afraid enough apparently, to not lie to him. And Minato was grateful for that.
"Ok." Minato simply said.
Waver sighed a great deal of relief and Rider smiled.
Waver picked up his list. "O-Ok, question number one, what do you intend to do now that you know about the Holy Grail War?" He was shaking probably still afraid of Minato. Apparently Minato had a power revered in this world and it scared the shit out of everyone who wasn't a hero.
"Right now?" Waver nodded. "Nothing, I have no stake in this war, unless there is a reason for me to involve myself." Minato had decided on this course of action, he wasn't the type to actively jump into a situation he had no knowledge of. If he was going to join this war, it was going to be for a reason, not just because he got into a fight. One doesn't join a gang war for just being a participant in a street fight, do they? There was also the issue of the wish granting Grail, Minato knows what he would ask of it, but he had no idea on how to join the war and even if he did it appeared that the war positions were already filled.
"Are you serious!?" Waver practically yelled. Minato believed it was more of a combination of relief and surprise that caused this. "You're not going to join the war." Minato nodded his head. Waver fell backwards, "Oh thank the Root, this war is scary enough with that golden monster and Berserker, the last thing I needed was my next door neighbor was going to kill me."
For the first time since Minato had seen the boy he had looked relieved. With what is happening in this city, with heroes fighting each other with other magic users, this must be a terrifying experience for him. Even if he had Alexander the Great as his ally, he paled in comparison to heroes of legend like King Arthur and Gilgamesh, in a one on one fight between them Rider just fell short.
Then again Rider was a commander of armies not an empowered hero himself. Gilgamesh was always alone in his endeavors save for Enkidu, and King Arthur's expeditions relied more on his skills in battle than his military leadership. Alexander the Great was legendary for his incredible military conquest, were this a war between armies he would hold the upper hand.
But now was his turn to be honest and forthcoming. There was no purpose in hiding his power and his origin, none could use it against him negatively and his power was not one meant for secrets and shadows. Well… except those belonging to the Devil and Moon Arcana.
"Waver, Rider there is something I have to inform you of." Minato got their attention immediately.
"I, am not of this World." Minato got a reaction instantly, but it wasn't disbelief. Rider was surprised of course but was contemplating something, Waver was something altogether. He had risen up and his mouth had gone slack jawed.
"Y-Y-Y-You mean that you can use the Second Magic to! It should only be possible to use one! How the hell are… wait!" He stopped his ranting for a brief second. "Then the reason you didn't have any idea about the Grail War was because." Waver was waiting for his confirmation.
Minato nodded. "I am a visitor to this world, I have no idea what this Second magic is, but I am to guess it is the ability to cross between worlds, am I correct?" Waver nodded. "I thought so, I have no knowledge of such a power, and I am unaware on how I arrived in this world."
"O…k, so that means that someone brought you here, that's even scarier." Minato could understand Waver's apprehension. He had to draw the conclusion that another Sorcerer was involved with this War, at least that is what Minato thought.
"It seems that you are a pawn of fate Sorcerer." Rider spoke up. "Do you not see the coincidence, you are brought to this world when the war for the Holy Grail is taking place, and you have become involved in this great battle of heroes. Surely you must be here for some purpose?" The trailer of a man had a point, it was quite the coincidence that he comes to this world during a magical war.
"So Sorcerer, will you not join my army now!" Rider yelled. "I promise you will not be disappointed, we shall be stalwart allies in the conquering all of heaven and earth, what do you say." He had a foolish smile on his face.
Of course it came to this. Minato had a very good guess that the King of Conqueror's would not stop until Minato said yes.
"No, King of Conqueror's I have no desire to rule the world, especially not my own." Minato hoped that Rider would accept this truth, if only for Minato's headache to disappear.
Rider only laughed. Minato realized that headache isn't going away any time soon.
There was another issue Minato had to bring up to the duo.
"Waver," he turned to Minato, "What exactly is the Third Magic?"
Waver looked confused. "What do you mean? You are the one who wields it."
Minato had to elaborate. "I believe that my power is something similar to the Third Magic, but from where I am it is not called that. Can you please elaborate on it and the Second Magic you mentioned as well?"
Waver still had a confused look on his face. "Uhh, alright, The Third Magic, or better known as the Heaven's Feel, is the True Magic that allows a magus to revive a soul with no negative repercussions."
So it was almost exactly like the power of the Persona, but the difference was that Minato's soul was connected with the souls he summons, from what it sounded like the Third Magic only revived the souls. Persona combined or united his soul with the Sea of Souls and other personas. Also his power was able to function from his mental fortitude and strength, the Third Magic ran off of magical ability, of which Minato had none.
"The Second Magic, also known as Kaleidoscope, is the ability to travel among the parallel worlds." Interesting for this Magic the name matched the power quite well. It also seemed that this could very well be the Magic that could send him home. Unfortunately Minato had no idea how to use or find another who could use this power.
Minato now had to explain to them the difference between the personas and the Third Magic.
Minato told them so. Waver was confused to what exactly made the difference, and Rider was excited about the potential of what such a power would have in his army. Minato had to explain to them of the difference between the two. Which unfortunately led to the revelation that he wasn't a mage.
"So… how are you able to use this… persona power?" Waver asked. "I mean, how is any magic or magecraft possible without magic circuits?"
Minato raised his eyebrows. "Magic circuits?" This was getting even more confusing. Thanks to online video games Minato knew of mana but magic circuits, what could those be?
"You… YOU DON'T EVEN KNOW WHAT MAGIC CIRCUITS ARE!" Waver was yelling at the top of his voice now, most likely because he could not believe Minato.
"I'm from a different world Waver." Minato remained calm, if a fight with the legendary Knight of the Love Spot would not faze his demeanor, Waver certainly wouldn't.
Waver looked stunned. His face grew red from embarrassment and sat himself back down on the chair. "I-I-I'm sorry, it's just a lot to take in. You're from another world, you use a magic that is similar almost identical to the Third Magic, and you don't have knowledge of the most basic concepts of magecraft either, yet you can summon Heroic Spirits and fight on par with them as well."
Minato was going to ask what magecraft was and Heroic Spirits, but Minato thought it would be best to let Waver rest his brain, he's been through enough this morning. Minato had accidentally destroyed every question on his list as evidence to Waver crumpling up the entire list of questions.
"So you are the master of the souls you summon, correct?" Rider began bringing Waver and Minato from their thoughts. "Then that means, Hah! You are a King!"
"….what?" The boulder of a man made a confusing statement, he had kings in his mind yes, but he himself wasn't a king.
"You command the souls of other correct" Minato nodded. "Then it stand sot reason that you are their king, The King of Souls! Ha, it's no wonder you did not accept my offer, kings do not bow to other kings willingly. They must be conquered!"
Minato would try to dissuade the giant of a man, if it wasn't for the fact that those within the Sea of Souls were agreeing with him. Minato wondered if it was to mess with him, considering who some of them were it was most likely true.
"Rideeeeer!" Waver whined and yelled to his Servant. "Don't antagonize him!"
Minato suspected that his housemates dynamic consisted of Rider acting on impulse and Waver tearing his hair out over his idiocy. Reminded him of Junpei and Yukari for a bit.
Minato was preparing to grab some breakfast when a dove flew into the house. …odd since there were no windows opened. The dove went straight to Waver who was interrupted in his scolding of Rider. At the risk of sounding redundant he looked stunned.
"It's from the Church." Waver said. Waver traced his hand over the symbols of the letter the dove held and opened it. "Due to the involvement of a Sorcerer in the Heaven's Feel War, I Risei Kotomine the overseer of the Fourth Grail War call that for tonight a truce meeting be held at the church." Waver was wide-eyed and Rider had a look of pleasant surprise on his face. "All Servants, bar Berserker for obvious reasons, are to attend this meeting. Masters may come if they please or send familiars in their place. This meeting will be held to invite the Sorcerer who has invited themselves to the Holy Grail War, and to discuss matter regarding Caster." Minato had a good idea what that meant. "The meeting will be held at 9:00 pm tonight."
"It seems." Rider began. "That you will be involved in this war King of Souls."
Minato felt like groaning, but first some orange juice.
It was going to be a long night.
[Scene Break]
Inside Fuyuki city sewers at the center was what only a sane person could call a den of tragedy. Upon the pillars that supported the structure held children all through the ages of 5-9 years old girls and boys alike. Their hands and legs were crucified in a mocking form similar to the Son of God. Their eyes were glazed, emotions trapped within their mind, if one were to look at them you would say that they were feeling nothing. That in fact was far, far, far from the truth, they could feel everything that was happening to them. Incapable of moving in any way and forced to endure in this agony without the release of sleep. Even death would not take them, spells and enchantments would allow their bodies to bleed and last much, much longer than any normal human.
Those on the pillars were only the tip of the iceberg. While they were kept there for later uses it was the ones below them that were experiencing the true torture. All over the floor were children attached to a series of instruments. Instruments could not do justice to what was done to them.
A little girl who was no more than seven years old, was strapped to a piano, by strapped this mean that her arms, legs, and ribcage were cut open, strings were sown into her bones until they reached the marrow. Then she was sown up and through magical means was forced to play Beethoven's Moonlight Sonata, all the while the strings inside her body were essentially ripping her organs into shreds, destroying her veins and digging the strings deeper into her bones unitl they were sliced into pieces… and continued to play, all the while experiencing the pain from Every. Single. Nerve. While being able to express nothing.
In her mind she was most likely begging, no screaming, for her parents to save her, to stop the pain.
To Caster and his Master it was a piece of beautiful art that Ryuunosuke had prided himself on after eight failed attempts. Caster respected and found a kindred soul in his master. Unfortunately Caster could not focus on this right now he had just made his revelation.
In his crystal ball there were two parallel pictures, Saber who held the body of his beloved Jeanne. The other held the picture of the woman who held the Soul of his beloved. It made so much sense. It was another punishment by God.
The Body and Soul were separated.
It was God's next offence to his beloved. He would take her Soul from her Body and input it into a fool. Then he would force the Soul and Body to fight the other. If the Body killed the Soul she would forever be gone from not only this world but in all of creation. If the Soul defeated the Body she would be lost either forever chained to the boy or forced to wander creation alone and lost forever.
Caster could not, would not allow that to happen. All he needed was the boy and the Body and he could save his beloved. The boy would resist as would the Body. But as he saw they were noble souls, all he had to do was gather some of the children and use them as bait, and if he needed more Ryuunosuke could find some more, he would be more than happy to.
Soon, soon he would be reunited with his Jeanne.
[Chapter End]
*Omake* Sea of Souls
The Sea of Souls was not an actual sea per say. In fact one could actually compare it to space rather than a body of water. Colors of all shapes and sizes reigned in this land. At first the realm would accommodate those that remained there, but as more and more souls joined the Sea of Souls there could be no substance without another soul erasing it. An angel would create a cloud and a demon would destroy the cloud and replace it with a poisonous mist. Heroes would make coliseums and Monsters would replace them with caves. Spirits were used to the natural change so they never really came into conflict. Gods would make cathedrals and Statues to honor themselves and would constantly bicker with each other to whose is the most extravagant, in the end the Sea of Souls could not accommodate the differing views and opinions so there was no coliseum, cathedral, clouds, caves, or poison filled clouds of orgies.
There was only an endless aurora and those who inhabited it.
At first they would attempt to fight and kill one another. This was not to be as while they existed in this realm outside of existence they could not be killed, nor harmed. In the Sea of Souls ideas such as pain and death did not exist, only life so disputes could not be settled in ways which they would have preferred. So they settled disputes among themselves in their own way.
Dragons challenged to who could either sleep the longest or battle the longest. To them Pride was their flaw and virtue. Those who slept for centuries were the ones who lived for thousands of years prior and could challenge even the gods in terms of power, when they did battle it wasn't so much for killing, as they couldn't, but for showing off their abilities and power. It was mostly in hope of being summoned to instill terror to those that dared to challenge their might and those of their King.
They also competed in who could announce themselves in the most impressive way. Apophis currently held the most impressive announcement.
Heroes would not argue or fight as much as bicker with each other. Or give each other grief over their faults and compare their victories to each other. Gilgamesh would exclaim himself as the greatest of heroes while Hercules and Beowulf would argue for hours. Hero Kings would converse with each other, such as King Arthur and Ceaser. Monks and Wizard heroes would argue philosophies and ideologies, over loyalty, honor, and morality.
When heroes competed with each other it was actually very simple. Since feats of battle or ability would be bias in one way or another.
And they could not fight each other for it would prove fruitless, they've tried, a lot.
So they left things up to chance, their own luck. A spirit would oversee a straw drawing or a rock paper scissors tournaments.
It was an embarrassing, but surprisingly competitive past time. The constant winners were Mulan and Arjuna it seems that insight and cleverness trumps godly strength and speed, who knew.
Angels and Demon rarely fought against each other, well the demons did but only barely. When they wished to confront each other they simply fought until they realized they were not achieving anything by doing so, forgot why they were fighting, and then remember that they were angels and demons and resume fighting. It would take an intervention from the spirits or gods who would rather the fighting stop for them to end their scuffle. Heroes and Monsters would just sit down and enjoy the fight between the celestial and demonic bodies.
The only way to categorize the gods would be… annoying. Love gods would annoy and attempt to screw with heroes who knew better. War gods would constantly try to get the angels and demons into pseudo wars again as it was the closest things they got to entertainment without watching what Minato was doing in the real world. The kings of Pantheons would constantly argue over who was better, with Odin usually winning arguments regarding being an actual ruler instead of a 3-year old with super powers. The others would just interact with the other factions or those of their own arcana.
Other Monsters simply watched Minato and waited, they felt no hunger no remorse for what they did and no anger to those who slayed them. It was in their nature after all. Monsters just waited, they would involve themselves sometimes if the actions of the other souls interested them, but other than that they simply waited to be called upon.
Feelings of Minato varied with many personas.
Many gods in fact respected him a great deal, which is a feat worthy of itself, they saw what kind of person he was and he always treated them with what they deserved no more no less. The Norse and Egyptian gods in particular enjoyed his company and advised him whenever they could. The Romans respected his effective battle mind. The Greeks enjoyed his lifestyle, Athena, Artemis, Hera, and Hermes all held a special bond to him due to their original users. Some gods, Love gods in particular, adored him. Aphrodite, Parvati, and Bastet were the ones to give Minato advice on how to woo Yukari when he realized he had fallen in love with her. Granted it wasn't good advice considering it all involved some form of rape and sex, but it was a kind gesture nonetheless.
Turns out it was Freya who helped him the most.
To the heroes Minato was another member of their family. Their very dysfunctional, bipolar, temperamental, arguing, and somewhat insane family, but part of it all the same. To heroes like Achilles and Beowulf he was like a little brother who they would defend with their very lives. To hero Kings he was a respected comrade more than worthy to accept their aid in battle. To others such as Gilgamesh, Minato was in another category all together, like him he found his answer to life, this alone is what Gilgamesh respected no other hero in history had achieved this, so to Gilgamesh Minato was worthy of being called a friend and comrade as Enkidu was. Most of all the heroes respected Minato, he made the Heroic Sacrifice an action in itself that granted one the greatest mantle of heroes, but he did not die for a city or a cause, no Minato died for the world, gave up everything for everyone. That deserved, no demanded respect.
To Monsters such as Dragon sand the others it was simple. They respected his strength, his power, his ability to make them submit and obey only one of true power could make the likes of them submit. Minato was not just some human, he was a transcended human, one who looked upon the world and allowed it to move instead of moving it himself. Great creatures boast of their power, greater creatures do not need to. And to them Minato is the mightiest of all creatures.
Angels held little love or respect for Minato until his final moments. To them he was just a human in need of their aid and was nothing special. But they got to know him, to see what he did, and were amazed. For one who had little contact with others he held no hesitation to do good to others. They saw how he became friends with outcast, gave closure to the elderly in mourning, even turn the life around for those others would deem unworthy or a lost cause. Then they saw what he did in his final moments and they would not abandon him, he who was a paragon for all that their God stood for. In his final moments he emulated what their Messiah did thousands of years before. He gave humanity another chance to live, how could they not love him. All of the heavenly host that resided in the Sea of Souls vowed to stand with him to the very end.
Demons were surprised and happy that this human summoned them. At first every one of them tried to corrupt his mind, to get him to kill his friends and those around him, to take in all of the world's sins. They were mistaken, greatly. Demons respected one thing and one thing only power, and Minato had it in spades. He could deny all of their attempts at corruption, it became a bet amongst themselves to see who could get him first, and currently all of them are tied with 0. The boy was cruel to his enemies showing no mercy, and his power controlled the gods themselves. To them he was the greatest prize, and no one but them could take him.
Spirits saw the potential and wisdom he held. It was quite simple for them to take to Minato, he was one who operated on logic and later of empathy and morality. A noble soul if one would call it that. They were simply happy to be of use to him.
Then there were those like Jeanne and Alice who saw all he went through, befriended him and came to love him like family. To them all they wanted was for him to be safe and happy. He deserved that much.
Right now the Sea of Souls was in an uproar.
When they had arrived in this new world with him they were not sure what to think. Some thought that Minato would simply lead a regular life, some were happy for their King while others were disappointed to downright depressed with the lack of action. So imagine their surprise and joy of the fact that this world had magic and a war between heroes going on.
The personas were practically on edge waiting to see what Minato was going to do. To the displeasure of many Achilles was the first to respond, and when he returned it was not a warm welcome.
He was immediately tackled and beaten upon by a little girl. She looked no older than ten and wore a dark violet gothic dress which contrasted with her golden blonde hair. It was Alice with her teddy bear in hand.
"You stupid head!" She said while beating on his helmet attempting to give him a headache. "You let Onii-chan get hit by that blonde assholes Nihil Weapon! Alice would never have let that happen to Onii-chan." After realizing that she was doing nothing to the hero she jumped off of him. "Go Die For Me!" She yelled and a series of cards serrated with sharp edges appeared all around Achilles. Any other time Achilles would be frightened for his life, but lucky for him in the Sea of Souls it was impossible for anyone to hurt him so he would be fine.
"Jeez kid, calm down, he's fine isn't he." That got the cards to stop as Alice realized she wasn't doing anything to Achilles, she still held a face of fury however.
"That's not the point stupid, Onii-chan has been through enough." Her eyes began to tear up. "Onii-chan shouldn't fight anymore, he's done enough. He already lost all of his friends Alice doesn't want Onii-chan to hurt anymore!" Alice was definitely crying at this point. "Alice j-j-just wants Onii-chan to b-b-be happy, and he can't even be safe!"
Now Achilles felt like a major ass. Alice was a messed up kid but when it came to Minato she was only trumped by Thanatos in overprotection. When one entered the Sea of Souls they became knowledgeable of all of those who resided in it. Alice was a screwed up kid in many ways, especially since she is part of the Death arcana. But Minato was always kind to her, he had a way with kids, and she grew extremely attached to him. In fact on that last night Alice was one of the few souls who didn't fight Erebus but just stayed by his side making absolutely sure he wouldn't be harmed.
And Achilles just made that kid cry.
"Shit, hey kid… sorry ok." He went up to her and patted her on the back in an attempt to be reassuring. "I, I just got a little caught up in fighting those guys, my bad." She was calming down but she still had a depressed look on his face. "Hey tell you what, next time I see that golden bastard I'll shove my spear right through his ass, whatd'ya say we cool." Alice perked up and laughed at that last part.
She nodded. "Ok."
Alright that was one hurdle passed now onto the others.
The Angles were pissed that he didn't perfectly defend Minato, the Demons were pissed that he didn't do more damage to the other heroes, the heroes were pissed because he beat them to the punch, and the monsters were pissed because they were ready to fight and had to wait even longer. Gods were pissed because, like always, Achilles had thought he could go before them and that was an offense guilty of being turned into an animal. Luckily they couldn't do that.
Now however most of the persona were excited because now there was a storm coming. This time they were the storm.
And then Jeanne came back and lectured Achilles for 4 hours straight.
*Authors Notes*
[1] Upupupu. I'm sorry I just couldn't get it out of my head. I fell in love with that series several years ago. Don't worry it won't appear again.
For the Omake it was meant to be an explanation of what happens in the Sea of Souls as well as what happened when Achilles came back I hope you guys liked it.
Ok first Nasufan gave a good criticism and I wanted to thank him once again for pointing out my immaturity on the subject of flaming another writer's work last time. For the issue of personas being real or not, it would be easier to understand if they were real, if they were not real and simply a manifestation of the mind and that's all, then all of the personas would be invincible. Their only limit would be Minato and that defeats the purpose of having multiple legends and personas in the first place.
For the issue with Minato keeping the Universe Arcana, the story is based on the fact what if he did keep it, similar to Demon among Devil. With Yu they actually show in his move sets that his one hit kill move or his ultimate move has him using Izanagi-No-Okami his World persona. To me it seems like he needed the power boost to use it for a prolonged time and could still us the World arcana but only for short bursts. Also Minato also achieves the World Arcana (if you did everything right, which this Minato did) and obtains Orpheus Telos and keeps him throughout the game. When Yu gained Izanagi-No-Okami he was able to fight and defeat Izanami, When Minato gained the Universe he was able to seal Nyx. The difference between those two is that the Izanami could be defeated, Nyx couldn't and Erebus would always reform so they were on two different power levels. The Universe is also not the World, so it can't be bound by the same rules that Yu was bound to. Also there is the fact that Minato has only been shown to use it once so unless there is an official statement regarding this matter it's left up to our imagination. This is a good question and it makes sense, a lot of writers I believe have used this, but to me this makes the most sense. Also he gained this power by finding his answer to life I'm not sure if Yu did that as well but I believe that it was this in addition to his bonds coming together to make it possible to gain that power. With Minato, I think it's just a different power situation than Yu's, he kept it because he could. You have to also remember he survived 30 days after he sacrifice his soul for the great seal I can't see him doing that without the aid of the Universe Arcana.
On the whole overestimating and underestimating things. I feel as though I'm actually keeping everything level. With the Heroic Spirits they actually have the upper hand against their legends due to their Noble Phantasms, Also everyone in Fate/Zero with the exception of Assassin can really do a number on Minato and the other heroes, it's when gods and monsters get mixed up in the mess that Heroic Spirits are challenged. Even then Gilgamesh is still on top with mostly everything. I believe I'm keeping everything leveled as it should be.
Also Nasufan was right with the whole everyone should be more shocked thing. That's why the main point of this chapter was reaction to Minato. I feel I kept it straight, Kiritsugu wonders if he is a threat or not, Kayneth freaks the hell out, Tokiomi wants to learn from him, and Kirie and Kariya don't necessarily give a damn.
Ok the first change in the story, the Grail dialogue is happening early, we move onto caster and Minato's purpose in the story it's gonna be great.
Also if anyone has any personal question PM me or go to the general discussion thing I have on my main page. I LOVE answering question and stuff, so anything you want to ask, omake request, or complaints and stuff. I will be more than happy to answer them.
Love you guys and thanks for supporting me.