Interlude 1: Agent Smith

"No, sir…you don't understand…" he tried and tried to get through to his superior, but it just wasn't working.

He was met with a sigh through the earpiece he held up to the side of his head. "Look, I do, I really do." The man on the other end sounded almost regretful, as though he'd rather ask literally anyone else to do what he was asking this man to do. "I have kids too. I wouldn't want them to come with me on a business trip of our variety either but there is quite literally no one else available and our hands have been forced by the UN." He sighed once more. "Look, Jake-san…" another sigh. "I won't lie to you and tell you this will be the easiest mission of your career because it probably won't. In fact, it may well be the hardest depending on the circumstances you find yourself in."

"That's why I said I can't go!" Jake said pleadingly over the phone. "I have my little girl to look after, Kuroko!"

This fucking guy was putting him in between a hard place and a rock. He knew it was only a matter of time before he cracked under the pressure and gave in but he didn't want to go down without a fight. Him supervising the Holy Grail War! He was a single father. That was why he'd asked to be relegated to desk work after his wife had passed away.

It was absolutely batshit insane to send him there. He couldn't leave Kuroko with her grandparents either because they were back in the US and his wife had been an orphan so he couldn't exactly leave his daughter with them either since they didn't exist.

"And we need someone there!" The man on the other side began to raise his voice. "We need ID's. Who is dangerous? Who is not? Where are the battles going to take place so we can evacuate civilians after coming up with some convoluted excuse and then everyone in the office just says 'oh it's a gas leak ̴' because they have no fucking imagination!" he paused to take a breath from his ranting. "What if there's a fucking serial killer that you have to take out that's involved? Huh!"

"How the fuck am I supposed to take out a supped-up serial killer Akihiro?" was Jakes reply. He was practically screaming at this point. "Especially if they have a fucking servant?"

"It was an example, and you've received training from the UN Hunter guild. You're practically not human at this point anyway with how much your magic circuits have been modified by them!" Akihiro exclaimed. "God knows why they were so friendly with you…" he mumbled the last part out.

Jake sighed once more. "If they like me so much couldn't we ask one of them to help?" Jake pleaded for a final piece of respite.

"Can't…they're all in the middle east trying to stop some extremist from blowing up his own city. Doesn't help that they have allied Changelings. And the rest are stationed where they've always been." And there was the truth. "Either screwing each other's brains out under threat from the shadier part of the UN to breed some super soldier or stationed along the North Korean border. The rest are too young or untrained."

As untrained as four-year old's can get anyway was the collective thought that went through both of their minds at that moment.

"Look…I just don't want to leave my daughter all by herself if I get killed." Jake sighed slouching against a wall and sliding to the ground.

"I know. If you don't though it's pretty much treason. So, if I were you, I'd start packing my things." Akihiro said one final time before hanging up the phone.

Jake took the phone from beside his head and looked at the contact information displayed on his phone. Akihiro Mitsuyo, or well he supposed it was the other way around since he was living in Japan at the moment. They were really close back in college and now…well, he and Jake still went out for drinks on occasion, but they both almost regretted the jobs they'd signed up for. It had driven them so far apart already, even more so after his wife had passed away as Akihiro and her were friends before he had even met either of them. Didn't help he knew the guy had a thing for his wife at some point but whatever. What was done was done.

Jake's head rose when he heard tiny footsteps echo in the corridor and the sound of a door creaking open.

Great. He'd woken Kuroko up. Not his brightest moment that was for sure.

"Daddy?" Kuroko came around the corner rubbing her eyes cutely at them man while holding kuma-chan the bear. "What was all the shouting?"

Just seeing her like that already put a smile on his face. "Come here…" He motioned for the little girl to come closer and when she did, he pulled her into a hug and held her in his lap, stroking her head gently as he pushed her into his chest. "Haaah." He already felt better.

Kuroko just let go of the stuffed toy she'd been holding and hugger her dad back. He clearly needed her special healing powers and she was going to hug him back until he felt better again…even if she had to miss school. Hehe.

Pulling back, he looked into her light brown eyes. His brown eyes. The rest was her mothers of course, straight black hair, button nose and all.

"We're going to have to go away for a bit…again." Jake mumbled the last part out.

It was unfortunate really. Because of his job his family had never been able to settle down in one place. Sure, working for the UN had its perks, all expenses paid flights, hotels, and business-related purchases as well as a neat pay check that would leave most drooling with how much he was earning in his line of work as a glorified security guard and minder. The downside however was that they were never in one place long enough to make any local friends, for both Kuroko and himself. By that front he wasn't nearly close enough to ask one of the parents of Kuroko's few friends to take care of her for a week or two.

"Agaaaaain!" Kuroko whined hugging Jake a little tighter. "Whhhhy?"

Oof! Her eyes hurt him too much. Too much emotion Kuroko-chan!

"Work called. They gave Daddy a super special job that no one else can do!" He tried to sound excited and it clearly worked if the way Kuroko's eyes were now sparkling was any indication.

"Really!?" She sounded almost too excited. "What is it?"

Ayyyye. "Can't tell you." He said and almost instantly Kuroko deflated. "It's a super-secret mission that you can't tell anyone else about okay?" and then almost in an instant Kuroko did a one-eighty and a smile split her face.

"Is it a super-secret spy mission like the ones in those James Bond movies?" she asked excitedly causing him to frown. He didn't remember letting her see those. "You'll beat up all the bad guys," Kuroko leapt up off his lap and started punching the air. "And get the girl at the end!" her eyes sparkled even more at that causing him to raise an eyebrow.

"What makes you think that?" he was genuinely curious of whether or not she took those movies at face value or not.

"So you can get a girlfriend, duh!" she looked at him like he was terminally stupid or something.

He almost flinched at that. True, Mikoto had been dead for at least four years now, and Kuroko was far too young to remember her well enough that she would know what she even looked like. Maybe it was time he looked to getting a new partner.

"And when I become a super spy, I'll get all the boys!"

"!" He turned to face her with alarmed shock.

No! Kuroko-chan! You were so pure! You're only eight!

"…Ah." He just remembered. He should probably quit his job before Kuroko starts bringing boys over.

Speaking of spies.

"Kuroko," Jake said with a firm voice causing Kuroko to freeze on the spot even as she was still kickboxing with an imaginary opponent and instantly know she was in trouble. "When did you watch those movies?"

They were rated 'M' for a reason!

"Um," Kuroko twisted on the spot uncomfortably. "It was on TV one time when you were out late…" Kuroko began mumbling. "and I stayed up late." Just admitting to it made her uncomfortable as she looked coyly into her dad's eyes.

"Mmm…" Jake was clearly unimpressed which in turn caused Kuroko to whimper a little. "I think someone needs to be punished. You're walking to school today."

…He was too soft. Aaaand he needed to brush up on the mage war.

USERNAME: SMITH, JAKE

LOGIN: *******

CODEX ENTRY: HOLY GRAIL WAR (HGW)

Due to the formation of the UN's new top-secret agency (International Security and Integrity Service (ISIS)) in only recent years little information is to be had about that of the mage world. What little that can be uncovered however suggests that the HGW has existed for at least the past sixty years at a minimum. The reason for such a large delay between events is that according to *REDACTED* the HGW event takes approximately sixty years to charge in between tournaments at the end of which the winner is allowed to make a wish to a seemingly omnipotent magical device and have it granted.

Competitors are designated by the strange tattoo like markings that can be found on one of either of their hands.

The approximate volume of mana contained in the Grail at such a time is approximately one trillion units, the approximate equivalent of a ten-megaton explosive if it were to be released all at once. Depending on structure and compression ratios this may differ between point five and three times said value.

Unfortunately, all attempts other than *REDACTED*, communicating with the magus community has been met with dead ends and any and all attempts to get close have been shut off indefinitely. As a sufficient or knowledgeable person about the system can't be sent in to disable said system or seize the item in question it has been left as is until an opportunity presents itself much to the disdain of the Japanese government representative.

Day zero…

It was a rather small apartment. No smaller than the one he had been living in with his daughter previously however. Overall it could actually be considered a rather moderate size compared to what some people are normally used to…Working for the right people payed well.

"Daaad." Kuroko called out through the house.

He didn't answer. Jake isn't home for little girls who call out across the house.

"Do I have to go to school today?" Kuroko rounded the corner in her new school uniform. Almost entirely green, from the blazer and skirt combined with a white collared hidden underneath Kuroko looked positively unwell. Green was her least favourite colour after all. A small incident when she was ill made sure of that.

"Yep." Jake replied herding the young girl to the front door. "Now put your shoes on and let's go. It's a bit of a walk to the junior school from here and I haven't been able to get a company car this time so we'll have to make do." That and a serial killer had been through Miyama recently. He wasn't exactly going to let her walk to and from school by herself at the moment even if it was with other children. On top of that he'd be able to keep an eye out for any suspicious looking people and either make a report to the police or deal with the nutcase by himself.

He was leaning towards the latter however as the supposed killer had been leaving ritualistic markings in the homes they had invaded. By the lack of prana in the air around the homes he had been able to scout out so far it was obvious that the person in question either lacked the ability to use magic circuits entirely and was going insane because they couldn't use their precious mage-craft or someone whom had already lost their mind had found a book detailing the markings and had decided to try it out for fun. None of the options were good, though one would likely be far easier to deal with than the other.

"Aww." Kuroko just whined that he wouldn't drive her to school…hm.

"If you're going to act like that you can walk to and from school for the rest of your time there." Jake said opening the door and nudging Kuroko out the door.

"Welp. That leaves Kuroko sorted for the day." Jake mumbled to himself as he saw his daughter walk into a steel pole while she was looking around the school. "…ouch." Jake sympathised before turning on his heel and leaving.

First on the agenda was a quick scope of the city to try and pick up on any mana traces with his fancy little mana detecting device, or at least he would if the thing wasn't the size of a fridge. Instead he would have to rely on that training he received from the Hunter guild and pick up on the mana traces in his mind's eye.

It didn't take long for him to find his first target. He guessed they were somewhere high up on the upper floors of the Fuyuki Hyatt Hotel. Now, he wasn't about to go up there and just waltz in and go straight to the top floor and have some tea with whoever was up there but a little hypnotism never went astray.

As such he walked into the front lobby and approached the desk manager.

"Hi there."

The manager looked up from his box like computer screen looking completely and utterly bored before putting on the brightest smile he could for Jake. It was so fake it was painful.

"Hello!" Desk person replied. "How may I help you?"

"Yeah, about that." Jake applied a judicious amount of prana to his voice just to make sure the technique actually worked. "I was hoping you could tell me who exactly was living on the top floor. You know, just for curiosities sake."

The attendants face broke into a scowl as though resisting for a moment. "…ok." He said pulling out a list of rooms that had been payed for before going straight to the back page.

Jake wondered idly for a moment why on earth he wouldn't just use the computer until he caught a glimpse of the screen and saw the loading symbol. Then the dial-up tone started…hoo boy. Maybe that was why he was so upset.

"Excuse me sir." The man said getting Jake's attention once more. "The top floor correct?" he asked once just to make sure only to get a single nod in return. "Hm, well it appears that one Kayneth Archibald has payed for all of the rooms in the top ten levels…in advance by approximately…twelve months." He said in a tone that sounded like he was thinking, 'wtf?'.

Jake could only whistle in appreciation. Whoever this Archibald guy was he was certainly loaded and so obviously a Master it wasn't even funny. Mages and their superiority complexes, ha.

"Well thanks for that." Jake said starting to turn around before he remembered something. "You can forget all of that just now." Before turning towards the exit and leaving.

The attendant could only shake his head in confusion. "Forget what now?"

It would appear that today was rather uneventful, well, other than finding two more potential masters. The second was rather obvious as the mission statement said that there was a high probability that the Tohsaka's and Matou's would be competitors as well…make that three potential masters, some creepy church dude had come out of the Tohsaka residence with the trademark tattoos on the back of his hand. Eh.

Now though, Kuroko looked to be positively buzzing with some jucy school gossip.

"…-his boy almost got hit by a truck and then he moved with green fire!" Kuroko said like it was the most amazing thing she had ever seen and to be fair it probably was. Her arms were waving all over the place trying to act out the scene from memory.

…wait.

"He was so fast all of a sudden and he dodged the truck and then pretty much just ran home like something had freaked him out." Kuroko just continued to babble. Useful babble of course however. "I'm going to ask him to teach me magic tomorrow…that's what it was wasn't it dad?" Kuroko looked up at her father and became rather perplexed by the strange look on his face. He had a rather shocked look on his face. Almost as though he knew what was going on. "Dad?"

"…Ah yeah, sure." Jake mumbled as he ushered Kuroko through the door. "And what did this boy look like?"

Now Jake wasn't meaning to be racist, because he totally was being a racist asshole when he said this, but he hoped the kid was foreign. Japanese kids were so hard to tell apart from each other…except for his Kuroko of course who was a halfy.

"Hmm," Kuroko hummed putting a hand to her chin for a second. "He had blonde hair and blue eyes…"

Yas! Jake fist pumped the instant he heard blonde hair and blue eyes. What Asian had those traits? None!

Now all he had to do was convince his daughter to try and be the boy's best friend or something.

"And he's also six. He was moved up two years apparently when he first moved to Japan." Kuroko mentioned offhandedly.

Thaaat did make the approach somewhat more difficult. A smart one. Yeesh. If left to his own devices the kid would without a doubt make it far in the world. That's the way it went with his kind, Hunters. Traits of their power were often exhibited when they were young, often in unexpected ways and according to some studies they always excelled in their preferred area of expertise. Green fire though? Only a few of the top Hunters had been able to manifest such a thing as their powers were barely understood as it was…he'd have to deal with that later, preferably sooner though since a mage might find him particularly interesting.

"So," Jake came out of his reverie. "What do you want for dinner?" he asked Kuroko as she kicked off her shoes at the front door of the apartment.

"Curry!" Kuroko yelled as she crossed the threshold into her bedroom to get dressed for the afternoon activities they always did. Some good old-fashioned exercise.

"Of course you do…" Jake mumbled to himself while wondering why he let his daughter pick dinner again. It was always the same. Spicy food this, spicy food that. As long as it doesn't literally burn my tongue off it's ok!

USERNAME: SMITH, JAKE

LOGIN: *******

CODEX ENTRY: HUNTER

Hunters are a relatively recent discovery (1989 though suspected to have existed as early as 500 AD and given myths and legends possibly earlier again). Aptly named for their ability to find and kill just about anything they are after. Recent observations however have led to questioning the reason of the name and is pending further deliberation.

Not to be confused with the recently discovered Meta-Humans (1992) whom may be a possible offshoot of Hunters, Hunters are in a league of their own. More aggressive, more violent, and overall superior physical and mental capabilities on average. If it weren't for these traits it would be nigh impossible to tell them apart from regular Humans if not for the fact that their genome is completely different in a few key aspects.

It is highly unstable meaning it is prone to mutation in some, though only two recorded cases have been taken note of in H-001 and H-003 in which healing abilities were amplified after years of conflict.

The possible addition of extra or changed genetic sequences as discovered in H-063 and H-072 from birth. Both exhibited enhanced physical capability when compared to the rest of their age group.

Alleles of a Hunter are more than likely dominant, expressing only genes that could be considered beneficial in the case of a non-Hunter spouse.

Unfortunately, the full extent of the capabilities of Hunters have not been documented for reasons both classified and insufficient understanding. What can be said however is that most appear to have a focus of some kind in which their power can be expressed. Said items are not to be taken unless you wish for an early death.

SUBCATEGORY: CHANGELING

A Changeling is a Hunter that failed to manifest their Hunter capabilities before they entered puberty and hence can go under vast mutations that change their body figure entirely. It is reasonably understood that the transformation targets their genes almost entirely, transforming someone who would have had a human figure into creatures that are straight out of fantasy, E.G. Giants, Fairies and Ogres to name a few, though said creatures tend to lean more heavily towards human like transformations than the unsightly creatures depicted in myths and legends and have absolutely no relation to said myths and legends.

It is reasonably understood and observed that such transformations levy certain abilities that would normally be inaccessible to humans and Hunters though with certain exceptions as certain Hunters have shown the ability to mimic Changeling abilities.

Even having been said that there is variety to this subspecies, species such as the Giant tend to have incredibly short life spans, mainly due to heart failure and weakness of the bones in the larger varieties.

As such it is generally within a potentials best interests that they obtain their Hunter qualification lest they end up with a less than beneficial trait through the metamorphosis.

Even worse, should the subject prove they are not valuable they will either be disposed of or sent to a combat zone in which the event of their death will be nothing worth of note.

"You're sure you want to start swimming again?" He thought that she wanted to do athletics.

"Yeah, a few people at school said they come here…" Kuroko trailed off looking at a car that had just pulled up beside the pool entrance. "Hey look!" Kuroko pointed at the blonde boy that got out of the vehicle. "It's the boy that almost got hit by the truck."

That's convenient. The young boy certainly didn't look any worse for wear and was even casually walking up to the front door of the centre without showing that a single thing had gone wrong today. Certainly confident at the least.

What Jake could make out from him with his limited ability to sense mana was that the kid was pretty weak overall in terms of the standard magus but was definitely emitting more prana than would be considered normal for someone of his supposed background. Whomever had driven here, likely one of his parents, he hadn't gotten a good look, they had basically nothing in terms of prana output, much like the majority of humanity. This meant that he too should have almost nothing. Of course there were always exceptions however and unfortunately he couldn't exactly take his daughters word for what she had seen, no matter how much he trusted her. Things like what she saw just don't 'happen'.

"Huh…" he mumbled to himself. He'd have to look into this later. Get a hold of the school records that were stored on the school server and assess potential recruitment. Of course he'd officially get on the Hunters guild bad side but there was little they could do about that.

"Well," he snapped out of his thoughts pushing his daughter forwards. "Let's go get you signed up then."

Jake stepped out the front door and locked the apartment behind him having cooked and fed dinner to Kuroko and asked her to be in bed by the time he got back which admittedly would likely be very late.

With him he carried the standard pistol firearm, and an Uzi he had requested for an extra little bit of oomph. Both were hidden in the black business suit he wore along with black leather shoes and a knife hidden in the waistband of his trousers. Underneath were the standard defensive measures of a Kevlar vest and nylon chain-link mesh.

Tonight he'd be on the lookout for the serial killer just to make sure he didn't get chosen as a master and to kill him if at all possible.

Two bodies. Where was the child?

Here he was having noticed police investigating a crime scene relating to the serial killing that had happened recently. He let himself in. The tell-tale signs of ritualistic markings dotted the floor along with two deceased adults and some destroyed furniture. The child wasn't here however. There were signs of a struggle. Ropes left next to a chair, though the two adults were too far away from it and left no trail so it was unlikely that the child had killed either in the apparent quest to summon something. No, the child was also a victim but had escaped? Let go more likely. The rope wasn't damaged.

Additionally, there were traces of mana in the air, a higher concentration than there should have been…Brilliant, the serial killer had summoned a servant then…they also possibly condoned the violence against the child and wished to participate in a game of Cat and Mouse.

Strolling over to the window by the hallway he noticed it was just low enough that a child of the stature he had seen earlier would be able to make it out, if only barely and if the shattered glass was any indication as to what happened it must have been a little violent during the escape.

Jumping out the window and falling two stories was no easy task though a well placed landing prevented any injuries. Of course the child wasn't Jake and he quickly took notice of the small smattering of blood on the ground where shards of glass lay. The child had once again survived a supposed lethal ending.

The trail took off into the alleyway in an attempt to escape…followed by something if the irregular tracks in the pavement were anything to go by. Said thing also possessed tremendous strength and speed if the fissures in the ground were anything to go by. They should have easily caught the child and torn him to pieces yet there was another ritual circle at the end of the alleyway just around the corner that would lead to the street.

The child couldn't have possibly had enough time to write it out and here it was. Did someone prepare this beforehand?

Regardless, the child probably summoned a Servant of their own which then proceeded to rescue them and take them to safety. The trail also ended here unfortunately. Or rather the mana saturation in the air prevented any notable trails form being noticed. If he were a well practiced mage he may have been able to do something but even then he doubted it.

Day one…

There had been no further actions taken that night according to his findings. Then again it was relatively hard to take note of things when he didn't know half of the things a real Magus would know about magic. A familiar would be nice.

Oh, off goes Kuroko once again, only this time she didn't run head long into the pole. She was becoming rather well acquainted with a few girls in her year whom had been surprisingly insistent that she be their friend from what he had managed to make out from her ramblings yesterday. All good kids from what he could discern so far. Eh, didn't matter at the moment. Today would undoubtedly be rather slow until night time when all of the real action would be taking place.

He'd have to find a few places where it was possible for a fight to break out. Densely populated areas would have to be crossed off of the list, as would anywhere with significant construction as magi probably would prefer not to have to repair too many things to erase the evidence of them ever being there. That left the two obvious locations. The park in Miyama by the bridge, and the shipping docks in Shinto. Considering the location of some of the servants and the church, it was likely that the battle would take place in Miyama since most of the Masters lived in this section of the city.

Never the less, he would have to put camera's in both locations and lay in wait between the two so he could get to a vantage point that would allow him to ascertain any other identities in the war.

So far he had identified only the church man and Tokiomi, whom he had seen the face of both. He knew that there was also Kayneth, but no face to match, the guy would clearly by foreign with a name like that however so there was little reason to panic as he could easily be identified. Then, there was the possible child Master, Kane. He kind of felt sorry for the kid.

That left three others he had yet to identify in some way. One of them was likely to be the elusive killer that had been plaguing Fuyuki recently and the others had hidden themselves rather well, that or he just hadn't come across them yet.

That night had been enlightening to say the least. A servant had already passed and apparently king Arthur was a girl. Who knew?

Oh, yeah, and there was that guy called Gilgawash or something. He'd have to look that up, but by the reactions he was seeing in everyone it wasn't someone to be trifled with. He only hoped that nothing too catastrophic happened in the war that would cause the city to burn to the ground or something.

"Hey dad!" Kuroko called out to him from the kitchen. "That boy that I told you about yesterday went missing!"

Probably. If the servant the child summoned had even half a brain they wouldn't let him go to school until the war was finished anyway.

"Really?" he tried to sound interested. He really did, but unfortunately there were just too many things on his mind at the moment.

Speaking of servants. Whoever that guy was that summoned using the pentagrams and all that jazz, he was on a killing spree at the moment. His kill count had already tripled compared to previous nights so it was rather clear that his servant supported him whole heartedly. Not a good mix to be sure but there wasn't all that much he could do. At least for the moment he could focus on finding the killer rather than keeping an eye on the war as it seemed that all of the current participants had somewhat sensible heads on their shoulders considering that none of them besides the crazy guy had started killing innocents.

"Yeah…" Kuroko trailed off for a second. "I don't think we should have come to Fuyuki dad."

That got him to raise an eyebrow.

"All of these people are going missing and you have to go out every night when the bad person is outside." Kuroko said somewhat sadly. "What if something happens?"

Ah.

"Look, I'll be fine." Was the simple response, but it didn't seem to calm Kuroko all that much. "Compared to a lot of people out there I'm actually pretty good at taking care of myself so I don't think I'll have to worry about any bad guys anytime soon."

That seemed to calm Kuroko for now at least.

A knocking sound echoed from the front door.

Day two…

No, nonononono!

The streets had been quite tonight. Almost too quite. To the point at which he was confused as to whether or not there was some universal break day that all magi had.

Now though?

He was sure someone just loved screwing with his life. Despite the fact that his apartment was assured to have warding barriers to keep out unwanted guests that he was told would repel just about anyone, it did not apparently include insane Masters that kidnap children.

Kuroko was gone.

There were signs of a struggle sure, a knocked over chair, some scattered schoolbooks and a broken glass that had had some water in it. The kicker though was the slight trace of mana he could detect in the air around him. Problem was that it was both too weak to track nor was he skilled enough to do such a thing anyway. The best he could do was actually tell that something had happened.

As such, he was racing through the streets, armed as much as he had been at the time in which he left his apartment, meaning a loaded gun or two and a knife. Not enough to ward off a competent magus but enough to get away to safety. Hopefully enough to rescue his daughter.

"Ha…ha." Jake panted heavily as he came to a stop to catch his breath. "There's got to be something." His voice was panicked as he looked back and forth up the road, the sun having long since set making his vision in the dark his sole inhibitor. "…" his eyes caught something on the road. "Is that blood?"

Taking a closer look, a small trail of driblets led towards a manhole in the centre of a road that looked like it may have been shifted recently with the way the damp footprint on the plate and the road didn't align.

"Oh fuck no…" his mind was in overdrive thinking of the worst possible thing that could have happened already even though he didn't stop to think about not removing the cover or even not climbing down into the dark hold with a cheap flash light. "Please don't be down here."

The descent was slow and chilling, the cold damp environment did wonders to help facilitate the chill that went up his spine when his feet touched the ground. Even more so was the mist that came from his breath to further state just how cold it was right now.

Taking a few steps forwards he noticed something rather odd. His feet were making noises as though the ground were wet beneath his feet. The only problem being of course that it hadn't rained in Fuyuki for over two weeks and even in such an environment the water would have vaporised and fused with the atmosphere by now.

Looking down, the floor was undoubtedly wet, yet the viscous fluid that clung to the soles of his shoes made string like trails and slowly seeped towards the ground. That certainly wasn't normal and definitely wasn't water. Unfortunately, the fluid was either too dark to make out or his flash light wasn't strong enough to make a difference in the dark so he couldn't tell what it was until he knelt down to take a sniff…still nothing, though, now that he was closer he could make out a hint of red at the edge of the pool and congealing clumps of something that looked to be the same colour.

It didn't take long to match the sight he had seen topside with the puddle he found himself standing in. It was blood and there was a lot of it.

Whoever had done this was clearly fucked in the head or so he told himself.

Pulling out a pistol and pointing the flashlight at the ground once more he followed the trail of slowly drying blood upstream to where he believed the origin to be.

Unfortunately, the trail stretched on for a few hundred meters and the path of blood only continued to grow wider and wider as he went making his heart plummet in his chest as he continued. He didn't want to think of the possibilities, he just wanted to find out.

Soon enough he happened upon what he was looking for. The bodies. There were so many bodies.

Disturbingly enough a great many of them had been bolted to the concrete walls with their arms out wide and their legs pinned together to emulate the image of a holy cross. Some were even still breathing though with the current state of their bodies he could only assume that magic had a hand in prolonging their suffering as entrails hung from their wastes and holes gouged in their chests where their still beating hearts could be seen.

Leading from the bodies was a single line of blood that linked to a large ritualistic circle of some kind that glowed a dull violet that could only be made out once he directed the flashlight he held away from the source. He could only imagine what it was for, none of them were nice. A prana battery was at the top of the list though he imagined that the children would have had to have been in a better condition than they were. Apparently not.

Unfortunately he couldn't end their misery here for a risk of being found out and killed by the one who had set this up. He wasn't ready to go against something like that.

A cursory glance along the wall once more, trying to avoid emptying the contents of his stomach by steeling his mind and refusing to feel anything and he saw the pile of corpses that had been dumped off to the side all naked and deformed…some were sporting other injuries of sexual nature.

It was clear by this point that he would have to kill this person in the slowest way possible.

Thankfully for him however he couldn't see Kuroko here and he imagined that she too would have been bolted to a wall since her capture was only recent.

Turning to leave he froze once more at the sudden sight he had missed upon entry. A flower painted from blood and human heads in the centre showing the bud while a string of torsos gave image to the stem, all meticulously placed together so that the stem wouldn't seem too uneven as it thinned towards the top, most if not all were missing all of their extremities while the necks had been split open and had flowers placed within. Roses to be exact.

He left before he did something he would regret. First order of business was to take out the killer and find his daughter in the process. Next was to contact the police and tell them of this place. There was no way this could be hidden from the masses, even by the government. There were simply too many bodies.

USERNAME: SMITH, JAKE

LOGIN: *******

CODEX ENTRY: MAGUS

Simply said, they are some of the most untrustworthy and abhorrent people in existence with little to no regard to human life whatsoever.

Few notable exceptions can be made such as the relation between the UN and *REDACTED*. In such circumstances caution is still a must as it is unknown if said relationships are merely beneficial for short term goals of said magi or a long term friendly coexistence is the goal.

The magic wielded by the Magus community far surpasses anything any of the equipped agents of the UN ISIS division are capable of as most agents are capable only of detecting mana at short range in high concentrations and light hypnosis through imposing mana onto their voice. Please take note however that strong willed victims may be capable of resisting for short periods of time.

It had taken a while to snap back into somewhat of a semblance of himself, it only to operate properly for the remainder of the night and find his target.

It took hours, many hours before he got a lead. By this point he was almost fooling himself that his daughter was still alive. There was no reasonable way that someone that had done those things could keep those kids alive for long.

His lead though, it was oh so promising.

From what little he could see of them it appeared that the boy that he was to be keeping an eye on was following a little girl through the streets. He kept his distance though, always staying at least an entire block or two away where possible. He wasn't nearly as agile as that purple haired woman that was carrying the boy. He was certain then and there that if they were to fight that woman he would certainly die. There was not question. In fact, he was sure if it weren't for the fact that she probably considered him an insect she would have detected him a while ago.

It was a moment later they hopped down into an alleyway and went into the underground bar that was there. He couldn't follow. He'd be found sure enough, possibly killed too.

A moment or two later though a shout called out from within, the shout sounded as though it came from a grown man, neither of which were the woman or the boy. The serial killer?

A moment later and a rush of children came streaming out from the bar…

"Holy shit." He whispered to himself. "There's at least thirty children there."

He supposed this confirmed it however, the boy was not the one whom was killing all of the families and children. Rather it was whoever they were certainly going to kill in there. The result was obvious.

Unfortunately for him however, even with a keen eye on the children he had seen streaming out of the bar, his daughter's black hair was not unique among the children to emerge. Neither were her chosen pyjamas apparently as he had counted at least three that bore the same clothing.

Well, that didn't matter. He'd simply ask the kid about the children he'd seen streaming out and ask about them. If he failed to get a proper answer, he'd go to the police station and ask there. He could see the glow of flashing red and blue lights after all. It's the only place he could imagine the children going at the moment.

"No, your daughter is fine." The man on the other end said calmly having received confirmation on a girl's pickup soon. Hanging up his phone he turned back towards the three- well no, four if you counted the unconscious girl on the boys back.

He looked at his gun and then towards the others. Perhaps his gun wasn't as necessary as he'd thought after all. He looked at it once more before putting the weapon away in a friendly manner with a disarming smile. That lady with the calico was starting to freak him out.

"Uh, yeah," he felt pretty sheepish at the moment, "You wouldn't happen to believe me if I said I was looking for my kid, would you?"

"Was the gun necessary to ask that question?" The kid deadpanned at his casual use of a gun.

Considering that you could probably kill me before I had the chance to blink, maybe. "Probably not." He conceded. Never the less, a small warning should suffice. "I'll see you at the end of the war Hunter." He couldn't let potential walking catastrophes like the kid get away.

"How can I help you?" Asked the officer at the front desk. A cup of coffee was steaming beside her and bags were under her eyes. It must have been a long few days.

"I'm here because I received a call that my daughter had been found." Jake admitted. "She was kidnapped earlier this evening and I've been searching for her ever since. I was so relieved when I was told that you guys had found her." Jake's voice almost broke. He could be emotional when he wanted to. When he wasn't busy being an asshole.

The woman's eyes lit up immediately, a smile coming to her face.

"Yes, certainly, it is one of the few good things to happen recently." She sat straighter in her chair before offering her hand. "I'll need your name and ID of course however to confirm you are who you say you are."

Wordlessly handing his drivers licence over he received a slight look. "…Ah." It must have clicked in her mind. "I know who to get. Just a moment please." She stood to leave.

"Wait." He called back before she could fully leave the confines of her chair. "Before you go I need to tell you something." His tone grew somewhat sombre at that point.

"Yes?"

"I-…I found the bodies."

WORD COUNT: 7661

I feel this one is a bit of a doozy but what can you do. First interlude. May be more to come.

Not as much info to fit as I would have liked as I wasn't sure exactly how to string it together and keep it somewhat coherent, well, that and I'm still finalising a few things like, what other things could I put in without this becoming a massive fuster cluck that I either have at least a little knowledge in or more. At the moment the number of cross overs sits at a comfortable 5, possibly 6, two of which won't happen until way later and are most certainly happening. Think of it as kind of sequential.

Secondly, I think I need a beta. Oh generous and benevolent readers, I implore one of you to volunteer. PM me if you are confident in your editing skills and knowledge of apparent universes that have been displayed so far. Said beta may also be told of plans so that they may tell me if something sounds stupid, that goes for my writing too.

Take note of the second CODEX entry as it may be subject to change for a minor detail or two depending on whether or not I realise that either too much was said, or too little. May also be because I realise that I am not properly equipped to use said information and will have to remove it. I will notify you in later chapters if this is the case and change this chapter to reflect such.

VGBlackwing:

Yeah, bleach saga will be involved before getting to fifth grail war as it actually occurs in 2001, three years before fifth HGW (2004). And for that matter, the thousand year blood war takes part in 2003, some months after the Xcution fiasco...2003 sure is a wonderful year...I wonder

AnimeA55Kicker:

Ha, no.

Loser Stuck In Memory Lane:

No to Supernatural. Haven't seen it, nor am I knowledgeable about it. It is an original idea that extends Fullbringer existences, or at least I think it is original in terms of concept. Considering the last thing I read with the word hunter in it was the captions of the doll in the dream calling me good hunter that is all I'm confident in saying...no Bloodborne will not be involved...maybe...I'm not sure. Probs not.

Upset? No, hardly. It's understandable to want a character to be able to defend themselves, especially if you're sympathising with said character as you mentioned. However, said character is no Ichigo Kurosaki who can learn to be a fullbringer in the span of a week because of plot devices or match captains within the span of a month. Also, said character is also involved in the grail war as you mentioned and has only known about said power for about two and a half days, three if you count the morning of the day he received said powers.

Granted I can have them learn faster than average due to older mentality so once some reprieve is given expect some progress.

King Gilgamesh:

There is a reason. Admittedly it might not be a very good one, but it is one nonetheless. It is addressed next chapter.