"Okay, it's official. It's time for Matou fucking Zouken to die." I thought angrily as I caught sight the status effect Matou Sakura was currently suffering from.
Raped.
Perhaps against my better judgement, I had approached Sakura and helped her out when I found her being bullied by a few older kids who were making fun of her hair color and pushing the dead-eyed girl around for their cruel entertainment – and by help her out, I mean kicking the assess of those brats.
After that, she had gradually warmed up to me until she spent most of her free time around me, both at school in the breaks between classed and outside school at my house. I could see the growing crush she had towards me and while it was a bit awkward due to her age, I did not discourage it as I also took quite the liking to her. That, and I knew what a sensational beauty she would grow up into.
That had been over a year ago, when I was barely 13 and she was 12. Taiga had found it cute and took Sakura under her wing as well, silently cheering her on and running interference when Matou Shinji, Sakura's older adoptive brother made trouble like the brat he was.
I had known just how unpleasant Sakura's home life was. Having used Akashic Sight on her, her history was laid bare for me. Unfortunately, I also knew I was not ready to save her from it, not when she had not only Zouken's Crest Worms throughout her body and the Black Lesser Grail in her heart but also the crest worm containing most of Zouken's soul right next to her heart.
As such, I was forced to keep my mouth shut, my temper down and not make any moves towards Zouken and his wretched worms until I was absolutely sure I was ready.
But now, though? I may not be certain my abilities were up to snuff to making everything right, but I would be damned if I could not at least end that wretched old worm, Zouken.
Name: Emiya Shirou
Class: The Gamer
Title: Faker; Undead Slayer
Age: 14
Level: 67 Next Level: 10,57%
HP: 41.156,25/41.156,25
MP: 4.945.834,6875/4.945.834,6875
HPR: 172,225% per min
MPR: 154,93% per min
STR: 765,85
VIT: 1622,25
DEX: 771,15
INT: 1395,65
WIS: 1349,3
LUCK: 728,75
Elemental Affinity: Sword
Origin: Sword
Point: 330
Money: 558.482.000
His Gamer ability has reminded him once more just how broken it was not long after he had developed his Avalon-based skills. First, it had been via the skill Hero Material when all his base stats – that is, without the boosts they got from his various other skills – had hit 100 points.
Hero Material. Passive. LV Max. You have reached the minimum level in all stats (E Rank) to be recognized as a potential Hero. Gain Passive +100% in STR, VIT, DEX, INT, WIS and LUCK.
It had not been too long after that, that some of his base stats hit the 250 points threshold and he got bonuses for it just like when they had hit 50 points.
Heroic Strength. Passive. LV Max. Gain Passive +50% STR.
Heroic Vitality. Passive. LV Max. Gain Passive +50% VIT.
Heroic Dexterity. Passive. LV Max. Gain Passive +50% DEX.
Heroic Intelligence. Passive. LV Max. Gain Passive +50% INT.
Heroic Wisdom. Passive. LV Max. Gain Passive +50% WIS.
Heroic Luck. Passive. LV Max. Gain Passive +50% LUCK.
Needless to say, after the first stat to hit the threshold, he put in an effort to grind the others to the same level.
However, without a shred of doubt, the skill that he had benefited the most from and which he had put much effort into leveling up to the max was Meditation.
Meditation. Passive & Active. LV Max. A basic skill for recovering and refining one's Mana. Passively increased VIT, INT and WIS by 250%. Additional 300% VIT, INT and WIS increase while Active.
The Quality of my 27 Magic Circuits had also gone up a rank, thanks to all the practice I did with them both while performing Magecraft and during the use of Meditation when I focused on working them over to draw more of the Mana in the air into them and mix it with my Od to create Prana. Once the C ranked Magic Circuits (27) skill had hit LV Max at 100, it had been upgraded into the B ranked Magic Circuits (27) thanks to which my MP was calculated as INT*25*27*5 rather than the INT*25*27*3 that it was before.
I had also gotten 4 more Class Cards. First, of course, had been Saber Artoria Pendragon. The reason was simple: if I got into trouble beyond what I could get myself out of, installing this Class Card would instantly heal me thanks to still having Avalon implanted inside me and, for the same reason it would prevent me from incurring any further wounds.
An Excaliblast also tended to get rid of most obstacles.
Unfortunately, learning the skills of the King of Knights was not as easy as it had been with EMIYA. I was not nearly as compatible with her. That being said, I could learn her skills at a lower rank. I got Riding at 40, same with Charisma and Instinct. Mana Burst, on the other hand, I got at 60 thanks to my mastery of Reinforcement.
Charisma made it easier for me in social situations, especially when I started helping out here and there across Fuyuki, which allowed me to gradually level it up.
Instinct, however, was harder at first… until I began fighting blindfolded while having my Utopia Blessing and Utopia of Victory, after which it leveled up rather quickly and was now level 70.
Mana Burst however I had not worked with much, so it was still in lower C rank. Not that I did not like the skill, quite the contrary… but using it made it too easy in battle, not allowing me to grind my other skills, so I had to shelve it for the time being.
The next Class Card I got was the Caster Paracelsus von Hohenheim using a Traced Sword of Paracelsus as a Catalyst. The reason I chose him was simple: he could make Philosopher Stones and Homunculi. The later ability I needed for Illya given that he body was failing from far too many modifications, but the former… well, who wouldn't want a Philosopher Stone?
Unfortunately, the Philosopher Stone Skill required INT and WIS of 1500 so even now it was out of my reach. I did, however, get Item Construction at level Max thanks to my Gamer ability recognizing my Tracing as a similar skill. Territory Creation, however, was merely at 25, due to my poor skills with Bounded Fields and lack of an actual workshop.
Similarly, the Elemental skill was merely at level 10 due to my lack of experience with the so-called Five Great Elements.
High-Speed Incantation, however, I managed to get at level 90 due to my high DEX, INT and WIS. Which meant I could fire my spells almost instantly rather than with the few seconds delay he was used to. Unfortunately, due to him lacking any spells that had actual incantations beyond the Baptism Rite, it had remained at level 90 since he had already mastered the Baptism Rite and did not feel like putting in the effort again.
The next Class Card had been a gamble. I am willing to admit as much. Having found stored away in the attic some of Irisviel von Einzbern's clothes and remembering how a Servant version of her was available to be summoned in the 'Fate Grand Order' game, I took a risk and used some of her clothing – the white-furred winter outfit she wore during the 4th Grail War – as a Catalyst.
Perhaps it was due to my high LUCK stat, but I indeed summoned a Caster Class Card of Irisviel von Einzbern as an incarnation of the Holy Grail.
Her Territory Creation and Item Construction skills I already had – in the case of the later at even higher level than her – but I did get some new recipes and blueprints so it was not a total loss. Her Healing Magecraft skill was decidedly inferior to my Avalon-based Utopia Cure, but I learnt it at Max level nonetheless – who knew when it could prove useful?
But then came the Child of Nature and Divine Core skills that were available for me to learn, blindsiding me completely. After all, the former was characteristic for beings born from the planet itself, these days only on the Reverse Side of the World while the later was for Gods and Demigods. In the end, I concluded it was due to my Game Ability being an ability of divine nature granted to me by Gaia, while my Gamer's Body certainly meant I was at least partially inhuman. So, learn them I did, though I still had no idea how to level them up.
However, the fact that I got them both at D rank level 1 cleared something up for me: the relations of non-human skills to ranks. I had suspected it for some time already, but non-human powers were deemed so far beyond human limit that they were also divided by ranks, not just levels.
I was a tad surprised this version of Irisviel also had the Heaven's Feel and Connection to the Root skills given that I expected the dark version of her to have them, but I set such thoughts aside at I tried to learn them… only to change my mind when I discovered that rather than the rank C it was possible to learn them, my stats at that time only allowed for a Rank E. As such, I was still waiting for my VIT, INT and WIS to hit 1500 points so I could get those two extremely valuable skills as advanced as I could since I was unsure how to level them up to upgrade them.
The last Class Card I had obtained with Heroic Spirit Summoning (Fake) – which was currently at level 3 – it had taken a lot of time for me to locate a Catalyst within Unlimited Blade Works. The sword itself did not have any special powers. It had publicly used on a grand total of 1 occasions worth mentioning. It did not even have a name of its own. What made it special, however, was who it belonged to: Solomon, the King of Magic.
Brought into my hands under the Caster Class, the Solomon Class Card was, quite simply, frightening given how it could nullify or take control with Solomon's Ring of any Magecraft that did not have a divine nature as all other Magecraft was known to be based on Solomon's own teachings. Never mind the Clairvoyance so powerful it would allow to gaze into both past and future and the Summoning that could summon the 72 Demon Gods.
Alas, I could not even begin learning Solomon's Ring due to lacking the requirement: a Magic Crest, one of the 72 Solomon had bestowed upon his 72 most talented children which also existed in the present. For the same reason, while I could learn Summoning it would be at a low level. So, I decided to be content with using the Class Card when I needed those two skills – for now, at least.
I did, however, get the Revelation Skill at level Max – apparently the constant messages I got thanks to my Gamer ability were close enough to being revelations from God. My Clairvoyance also got a boost up to level 85 from the 65 it had been at, allowing me now to gaze into the past to an extent.
All in all, while I was rather confident that my own powers were sufficient to save Sakura from Zouken, the five Class Cards I had so far – Solomon in particular – were some damn good safety blankets.
"Sakura, I need your help with something after school. Can you come by my place?" I said calmly – concealing the volcanic wrath I felt towards her adoptive family as to not scare her – after approaching her.
"…Yes, I would love to sempai." Sakura smiled, more than happy to have a reason to not return home sooner.
"Great." I smiled before perking up as the bell rang. "See you later." I told her before heading to class.
Quest
Goal: Save Matou Sakura from her abusive family.
Secondary Goal: Kill her abusers.
Tertiary Goal: Arrange for Matou Sakura to be placed in safe custody.
Reward: 150.000XP, improved relationship with Matou Sakura.
Secondary Reward: 50.000XP per Matou killed.
Tertiary Goal: 100.000XP, improved relationship with Matou Sakura.
Accept? Y / N
Quest
Goal: Free Matou Sakura from Angra Mainyu's taint.
Secondary Goal: Grant Matou Sakura control over the darkness within her.
Reward: 1.000.000XP, improved relationship with Matou Sakura.
Secondary Reward: 500.000XP.
Accept? Y / N
Quest
Goal: Insure Matou Sakura receives the Matou Magecraft Legacy.
Reward: 100.000XP.
Accept? Y / N
Quest
Goal: Restore Matou Sakura's body to full health.
Secondary Goal: improve her body as per her desires.
Reward: 100.000XP, improved relationship with Matou Sakura.
Secondary Reward: 50.000XP, improved relationship with Matou Sakura.
Accept? Y / N
I wasted no time accepting them all. It was a no-brainer, after all.
As such, as soon as classes ended for the day, I casually led Sakura home after putting a compulsion on Taiga to find something else to do for the evening other than drop by my house… and promptly knocked Sakura out the moment I had closed the door behind me.
"ID Create: Stasis!" I immediately called out.
Had I bothered to look at the sky outside, I would have seen a few birds frozen in mid-air. This particular Illusion Dungeon was something I had only recently unlocked and was quite happy about as it essentially placed all within outside time. As long as this ID existed, no time would pass in the real world. The only downside was that due to both how new it was to me and how fragrantly it disregarded the laws of the World, it cost a whooping 75.000 MP per second to maintain, meaning I could only keep it up for a minute or so at my current reserves.
That being said, I was still recovering more MP per minute than I was using up so I could still afford to keep this ID up for that time and use other MP consuming skills at the same time.
Still, there was no time to waste. I quickly laid Sakura on the floor on her back even as I cut her upper clothes with a quickly made Mana Sword to reveal her bare chest. I took all of a second to decide on an appropriate course of action before Tracing a red spear that dripped in bloodlust.
"Gae Bolg." I uttered softly as I thrusted it towards Sakura, the fake world around me momentarily freezing as even more bloodlust exploded from the cursed demonic spear as it found itself impaling Sakura's heart and, more importantly, the Black Lesser Grail and the Crest Worm the held Zouken's soul.
A moment later I dismissed Gae Bolg and retrieved from my Inventory Avalon which I immediately shoved inside Sakura followed by Installing the Saber Artoria Pendragon Class Card. Then, he bestowed Utopia Blessing of D rank upon Sakura followed by repeatedly hitting her with Utopia Cure until her wound closed and she was back to full health.
Rather than stop there, though, he used Akashic Sight to locate the crest worms within her body and hit their Points of Death with needles he Traced, removing them from existence. Naturally, this did quite a bit of damage to Sakura given that some of those Crest Worms had been in her body so long they had integrated into her nervous system.
However, the combined miraculous healing powers of Avalon, Utopia Blessing and Utopia Cure insured the damage did not last for more then a second or two before it was not only undone but restored Sakura's body to an entirely human state.
Her body was restored to full health and her body freed from Zouken's influence within 45 seconds – though her eye and hair color remained the same as the process they had been altered was alchemic in nature with Zouken essentially blood-adopting her so that she could inherit the Matou Magecraft – but the B ranked Instinct of the Saber Class Card warned me something was amiss so I quickly examined the recent changes in her profile that I could see with Akashic Sight and discovered the problem – an alarming one at that.
With the Black Lesser Grail destroyed, the influence of Angra Mainyu was no longer contained and was spilling out into the rest of her body. Under my very eyes, Sakura's already pale skin became even paler as crimson lines began to spread from her chest.
"Hell no." I scowled. "Install." I was soon clad in a male version of the Dress of Heaven as I was now using Irisviel's Card "Trace On!" I continued as Rule Breaker appeared in my right hand and I immediately stabbed it into Sakura's chest, where the cursed power was spreading from. "Rule Breaker!" I called out and felt the tethers of the curses onto Sakura be severed.
Normally, I could do no more than that. Medea had her vast knowledge of Magecraft available hence why she could take control of the spells she severed rather than just let them fade away, but I did not. However, I did have something that could compensate, something I could cheat with
"Heaven's Feel! Connection to the Root!" I called out in quick succession, using the former to essentially grasp the dark power before it could fade away and the later to reshape it and place it under Sakura's command now that its ties with Angra Mainyu had been cut.
Another check-over with Akashic Sight assured me that everything was alright.
"ID Escape." I stated, ending the Stasis Illusion Barrier before continuing with "ID Create: Time Warping." After all, just because the worse had passed, that did not mean everything had been dealt with. I quickly picked Sakura up and carried her to my room where I set her on my bed – I had gotten around to buying one, it simply felt more comfortable than using a futon – and quickly cleaned her up and repaired her clothing before retrieving Avalon from within her and reapplying Utopia Blessing just to be sure she would be alright.
Once I was certain she would be alright at least until I returned, I quickly made ended the Install and made my way out of the house and over to the Matou Manor and then inside it, down into the dungeon basement that was Zouken's Workshop. As I was still within the Illusion Barrier, no obstacle whatsoever slowed my advance.
Once there, I took a moment to cast Utopia Blessing on myself followed by Utopia of Victory and then charged them up with as many of the World's lights I currently could. My next step was to Trace four Black Keys for each hand, following which I positioned myself in a corner to ensure nothing would blindside me. Lastly, I Included the Solomon Caster Class Card to gain his 10 Rings of Solomon.
"ID Escape." I whispered and suddenly found myself in a nightmarish scene, looking at Zouken in the center of a room full up to waist level with Crest Worms.
The old man had definitely seen better days, large chunks of his body were missing revealing he was actually a conglomerate of Crest Worms himself. From what I could gather in the few moments I used Akashic Sight on him, he was experiencing the backlash of having the majority of his soul destroyed and was trying to compensate by having the remaining Crest Worms that held portions of his soul converging into the body he was using to move around, to regain some stability.
I was not going to allow that to happen. Now that I had seen him with Akashic Sight, my map would be able to track all his wretched fragments wherever he had hidden them across Fuyuki so there was no need to risk waiting for the old worm to recall his soul fragments.
Before he could fully turn around as he felt my intrusion – from his Crest Worms being destroyed by the combined effects of my high Magic Resistance skill that canceling out the magic of the familiars and my Utopia of Victory whose lights was burning the worms away – I had already hit him with the four Black Keys in my left hand.
"…Y-You!" Zouken shrieked.
"Ask for forgiveness here. I, the incarnation, will swear.— Kyrie eleison." I incanted, having been able to greatly shorten the incantation of the Baptism Rite thanks to my High-Speed Incantation skill. As I spoke, Zouken was engulfed by holy azure flames which quickly spread across the entire dungeon as I chanted. Then, as I finished by impaling Zouken with my remaining 4 Black Keys, the azure flames were extinguished leaving behind only ash.
I took a moment to check Zouken's profile and, as I had expected, there were a couple Crest Worms containing portions of his soul had still existed within Fuyuki. However, they appeared stunned by the shock of losing the larger portion of the Magus' soul so I had a good few days before I had to worry about them so much as moving from where they were.
Suffice to say, I had every intention of getting rid of them both by nightfall.
Until, however, I did have other goals within this manor. First, I made my way over to where Zouken had been and picked up the loot I had gained from killing him. A large Soul Stone, a good fifty million yen, a handful of high-grade Mana Regeneration Potions and, the cream of the top, 98% of the Matou Magic Crest, leading me to believe that his remaining soul fragments each had 1%.
Storing it all in my inventory, I quickly made my way first through the Workshop using the Ring of Solomon to avoid being affected by the various Bounded Fields – though my Magic Resistance was likely enough to cancel them out anyway – and stealing every regent or book I found stashed away in the underground complex – and given that I kept using Tracing, nothing was missed.
Afterwards, I made my way upstairs and into Zouken's study. There, after checking Zouken's profile and using Tracing on his writing utensils, it was simplicity itself to forge an official document such as a will that designated Sakura as the heir of the Matou fortune as well as assigning Fujimura Raiga as her and Shinji's legal guardian, outright stating that Matou Byakuya was not an appropriate guardian due to his alcoholism and violent tendencies.
Entering another Time-Warping ID, I quickly made my way to the city hall and filed in the will, making it look like it had been there for some good couple years. Afterwards, I dropped by Zouken's lawyer and modified his memories so that he would remember filing in that will at Zouken's instructions.
On my way home, I detoured by the locations of Zouken's remaining soul-carrying Crest Worms and killed them, retrieving the remaining 2% of the Matou Magic Crest, and then by the Fujimura estate to modify Raiga's memories to make him 'remember' grudgingly agreeing to take Sakura and Shinji under his care should Zouken die before they finish highschool, as well as guiding his intentions towards having them live with Shirou with Taiga checking up on them since Sakura was already friends with him and Shinji would likely prefer to stay near his sister.
Then, upon returning home and checking up on Sakura, I quickly made another Time-Warping ID and went back to the Matou Manor. By this time, Shinji had come back from school and his father Byakuya was also there – he had been there earlier, but I had not seen any urgency to see him – so I quickly placed a powerful compulsion on the drunk and made my way back down into Zouken's Workshop. After all, it would be suspicious if Zouken died but there was no body left behind, at least for the normal authorities.
Thankfully, Zouken kept a few unfortunate bastards stored away alive in his Workshop and it was simplicity itself to use alchemy and a few hair and blood samples from Byakuya to make him look like Zouken. Then, I dressed him up in some of Zouken's clothes and made him go upstairs while I checked again in case there was anything left in the Workshop. What was but I found useless, I destroyed along with the majority of the Bounded Fields, just in case the police came down here to check, though I did let a Bounded Field up to discourage them.
Entering the Time-Warping ID again, I made my way back to my house. This time, I took the chance to look at the notices that I had been getting.
Quest Complete!
Sakura Matou has been freed from her abusive family. +150.000XP. Relationship with Matou Sakura has improved.
You Killed Matou Zouken. You Killed Matou Shinji. You Killed Matou Byakuya. +150.000XP.
You have arranged for a new home for Matou Sakura. +100.000XP. Relationship with Matou Sakura has improved.
Quest Complete!
Matou Sakura has been freed of Angra Mainyu's taint. +1.000.000XP. Relationship with Matou Sakura has improved.
Matou Sakura now has control over the curses within her. +500.000XP.
You have increased in level by 1.
You have increased in level by 1.
You have increased in level by 1.
You have increased in level by 1.
You have increased in level by 1.
You have increased in level by 1.
You have increased in level by 1.
You have increased in level by 1.
You have increased in level by 1.
You have increased in level by 1.
You have increased in level by 1.
You have increased in level by 1.
You have increased in level by 1.
You have increased in level by 1.
You have increased in level by 1.
You have increased in level by 1.
You have increased in level by 1.
You have increased in level by 1.
You have increased in level by 1.
You have increased in level by 1.
You have increased in level by 1.
You have increased in level by 1.
You have increased in level by 1.
You have increased in level by 1.
You have increased in level by 1.
You have increased in level by 1.
You have increased in level by 1.
You have increased in level by 1.
You have increased in level by 1.
You have increased in level by 1.
"Hm, it seems Byakuya killed his brat and himself, just as instructed. Good." I smirked. "And what a nice chunk of XP I got, too! I leveled up 30 times!" I mentally cheered. "And to think it's not even over yet!"
I soon arrived back at my house and returned to the real world. As I had hoped, Sakura was still unconscious thanks to the pressure point I had hit to knock her out, something I was immensely grateful for as I undressed her completely and proceeded to use the Spiritual Healing I had copied over from Kotomine to implant the Matou Magic Crest onto Sakura's body, making use of a bit of Heaven's Feel and Connection to the Root with the Irisviel Class Card to insure there would be no rejection and that Sakura would be able to access it as soon as she liked, and a Utopia Blessing and several Utopia Cure to get her to recover from the operation within seconds while normally it would take days or even weeks, given how the Matou Magic Crest was composed of 100 Magic Circuits despite none having been added since Zouken did as he had not intention of passing it on to his descendants.
Quest Complete!
Matou Sakura has inherited the Matou Magecraft Legacy. +100.000XP
You have increased in level by 1.
Nodding to myself, I opened up Sakura's profile and began looking for what she saw as desirable for her body to look like. There was no way I was giving up that much XP. It took me a while since it was not quite well defined, but essentially it boiled down to her wanting to look in a way I liked due to her crush on me which would have gotten even stronger due to today's events.
Thinking to myself, I considered just what I found attractive in a woman and how that could apply to an older Sakura before nodding to myself and using the Irisviel Class Card again to input a certain development path for Sakura's body. It was nothings spectacular, she would have grown up as a beauty even under Zouken's care. All I did was promote an extra bit of growth once she hits a certain age as well as encouraging some extra health and a tinge of supernatural beauty.
Quest Complete!
Matou Sakura's body has been restored to full health. +100.000XP. Relationship with Matou Sakura has improved.
Matou Sakura's body has been improved as per her desires. +50.000XP. Relationship with Matou Sakura has improved.
You have increased in level by 1.
You have increased in level by 1.
"Nice." I mused. "So, I hit level 100 thanks to all this."
Name: Emiya Shirou
Class: The Gamer
Title: Faker; Undead Slayer
Age: 14
Level: 100 Next Level: 22,36%
HP: 41.156,25/41.156,25
MP: 4.945.834,6875/4.945.834,6875
HPR: 172,225% per min
MPR: 154,93% per min
STR: 765,85
VIT: 1622,25
DEX: 771,15
INT: 1395,65
WIS: 1349,3
LUCK: 728,75
Elemental Affinity: Sword
Origin: Sword
Point: 495
Money: 608.482.000
"Hm, if I were to spend some points, I could get Philosopher Stone, Heaven's Feel and Connection to the Root right this moment." I mused before shrugging. I had resolved myself to hold onto those points until I had an actual emergency before me or something like that, and I would not give in to mere temptation. Besides, it would not be that hard to get the required points in INT and WIS, not with the passive boosts I got from some of my skills.
Setting those thoughts aside, I remembered Sakura was still naked after the implantation of the Matou Magic Crest, so I picked up her panties to begin dressing her up…
And that was when Sakura saw fit to wake up.
I froze as our eyes met and got deathly pale when her eyes began to wander around before locking onto my left hand which was holding her panties… at which point she also realized she was bare-ass naked in front of me, on my bed no less.
"…There is a perfectly logical explanation for this." I began nervously at the sight of Sakura's eyes going wide.
