Two things I'd like to clear up.

1) Minato was never a sociopath in any of the source materials. He was nihilistic in the movies but eventually he grew to care for his friends and the world, in winter of rebirth, the whole scene with Elizabeth. His last few moments in the canon game showed that he had grown to love the world. This Minato is shaped by a back story which is pretty simple, he found his answer to life and he is a good guy, quiet but good. Also, the movies were terrible, panned by everyone except for the animation. Even then... I think Makoto in the movie had too much of a fat face. Read the manga, that is way better and easily pirated.

2) There is common misconception around the seal. Elizabeth is not finding a way to break the Seal. In the Arena games, she even theorized she could break it herself. Her mission is to change the heart of humanity and kill Erebus, so that she can free the soul of MC from the Seal. I hate the answer but even that hinted at the notion. I'd say something else to add upon this but... that would be spoilers.

Now that's out of the way, read on.

Minato looked over his shoulder every once in a while to make sure the mink wearing madman was not on his tail. The brief encounter only added more questions to his numb mind, exhausted from the grief and confusion over what had happened in the past few minutes-

No, that was not right.

He had no idea how much time had passed in actuality. He had slipped in and out of slumber a number of times while living through the nightmare and he could not even begin to guess how long he had spent in the void.

Minato looked through his pockets and found nothing but interestingly, he was still in his school uniform, as ruffled and disheveled as it was on the last day-

"..."

Minato retched and slipped his next step, the world around him spiraling out of his vision when the god-forsaken memory of Erebus smashed through every corner of his psyche, then his soul, contaminating his holy spirit with a crude mixture of despair and horror.

"My world..."

Minato fell on his back as the sun slowly rose above his head but there was no warmth, only the miserable chill of loneliness, one that he was previously accustomed to in his childhood and now it had come back with a vengeance, as everything around him had being burned to the ground and he was left alone.

Again.

He made no move to get up from the ground and laid there, only the whispers and mourning of his personas giving an iota of comfort.

How could this happen?

Why did this happen?

After all the miles of crap he had to crawl his way through to stop Nyx...

"..."

"Ugh..."

Eventually, Minato stood back on his feet and rubbed his arms for some warmth, assessing his surroundings but his attempt to focus only dulled his brain and blurred his vision and he stumbled forward, grabbing onto the nearby wall to hold his vertical base with his head briefly resting against the structure to let out a few deep breaths.

"I have to do something..."

"Figure something out..."

Minato attempted to explore the unknown city and gather some information but every attempt to concentrate worsened his mental state, only increasing the confusion and misery. His stamina and composure was shot after only a few minutes of walking and Minato dragged his almost lifeless body to a back alley, locating a dirty, rotten blanket from the trash and wrapping the cloth around his body as he was desperate for some warmth. He sat with his back against the wall and lowered his head, eyelids drooping as he slipped into the clutches of Hypnos.

His only concern was the golden haired male he saw earlier. He did not seem the type to let go of anything easily.

Who was he?

How he summon...

"Ugh..."

"I should stop thinking..."

"I-I'll figure something out..."

"Somehow..."

"Someway..."

Slumber finally came for the exhausted blunet and Minato experienced the same pull that he did earlier, the inhumane, brutal force that wrapped around his body, just shy of a few ounces to turn his body to paste. Whoever was behind the force had no ounce of pity, remorse or empathy.

Minato cursed the force and he was thrown between dream and reality, falling inside a never ending void of black with a phantom hand wrapped around his throat, trying to squeeze the hope and dreams out of him-

Splash-

"Gack..."

Water rushed into his lungs briefly but his body rose up from the sea, floating upon the water-

"Not this again..."

Minato clenched his fists, wary of the unknown force that had tried to burn to ashes the last time he was in the godforsaken place. The presence from last time was there, lurking but at the same time omnipresent in the realm as he could sense the damn thing stitched into the very fabric of reality around him.

"Who are you?"

Minato said through gritted teeth, voice layered with emotion-

"What do you want?"

Layered with rage-

Light shone in the far corner of the realm and Minato shook his head, bringing his strongest persona to the front of his psyche for the worst case-

He could not recall the last time he had felt rage. His last few battles in the old world were not fought out of hatred.

His battle was Strega, he felt pity throughout the brief, one sided scuffle.

His battle with the appraiser, he fought with grief and false hope as he clashed blades with his best friend.

His battle was Nyx, he fought with nothing but desperation and the desire to save his world.

But somehow... This time...

He was fueled by rage, sick to his stomach because the lone entity beside him operated through destruction and was the anti-thesis of the soul that resided within him.

"Messiah."

Minato held onto the coffins of the massive persona as the savior rose up from the sea in a vortex of light and besides the splashing of waves below him, the blue haired teenager could hear the whispers like he did before, more prominent them before, almost as pitiful as whimpers from the oppressed-

Minato was blinded by the light that surged from the opposite direction and struck the massive body of his ultimate persona, scattering in the realm that was now a land of white. Minato held onto the chains of Messiah and concentrated through the burn on his mind and body, expelling a counter blast of holy light in response-

"Ugh!"

The force separated him from his persona and Minato was blasted back into the body of water, sinking deeper and deeper but the experience was very different than before-

His vision saw through the mucky waters and he breathed in the life around him.

The stars that were previously dim were now shimmering with light.

The sight quickly glitched out and Minato fell through the darkness, escaping the encounter for the second time-

...

Minato woke up from his sleep and gasped, almost falling forward because of the hard jerk that woke him up from the nightmare. His vision which was slow and blurry before, quickly returned and stabilized to perfect clarity. The headache quickly subsided and so did the numbness that had previously plagued his head and body and the blunet was able to think clearly, without the flicker of death that was previously in his every breath.

After taking a few more breaths, Minato found out that someone had replaced the dirty old cloth with a warmer blanket. To his side, he saw a water of bottle that someone else had left for him. He thanked whoever had the pity to help him and took a few sips of water as he mulled over his thoughts.

He had slept during early morning and it was late night now, as the streets were void of people with the cold weather driving people into their homes. The troubled sleep did work wonders for his health and sanity but Minato swore one promise.

To never sleep again as long as he was in this world.

That realm was dangerous and he was legitimately surprised that he had survived yet again.

As he felt much better, he got up and decided to work through what was going on. There was still the misery of truth that his old world was in ruins and the people there were victims of the apathy syndrome but he decided not to dwell and work, just work and figure something out.

"The streets are so dead..."

Minato said out loud as he wandered through the district. The weather was certainly a reason as to why people had retreated into their homes but there was something else going on, in the same city where he stood.

There was a clash going on somewhere.

A clash of something akin to his personas...

So similar but vastly different at the same time.

Minato decided to investigate the mystical presences that he sensed and ran through the city towards the source of the energy. As he got closer, he was proven correct that there was indeed a large scale battle going on, one that was vicious enough to shake the earth as the tremors raced from under his feet. Smoke, fire and the sick sound of metal against metal became more and more prominent but eventually, he arrived at the source of the conflict.

A shock-wave of physical force nearly blew him backwards but Minato planted his foot on the ground and saw through the mist and dust-

There were two people indeed battling near a graveyard.

One was a golden haired female clad in a blue dress and armor, holding onto what seemed to be... air?

Minato blinked and shook his head when her foe emerged from the skies above him...

A monster.

That was the best way he could put it. A massive, hulking monster with a slab of stone that he wielded like a toy, one that he brought down with ungodly force to pulverize the pavement into the debris, only barely missing the female who jumped out of the way, reversed the grip on her invisible weapon and rebounded from the gravestone behind her to storm back into the clash.

"What is going on here...?"

Minato saw two other people nearby, a female with black hair and a red sweater watching with concern, alongside a red haired male who was witnessing the same battle with shock and horror. The horror on the face of the boy made him walk a few feet forward, alerting the girl who was nearby, a short female with crimson eyes and silver hair.

"Tch, a witness?" Illya clicked her tongue, not wanting to disrupt the battle as her servant was slowly but surely winning the battle. Her binding stare had no effect on the witness, in fact he did not even look in her direction, attention firmly fixed on the battle that was going on. In fact, he almost took a stance like he was going to do something-

Minato indeed did not see the short girl glaring a hole through his skull. His only concern were the two people close to the chaotic battle, especially the boy as he was a lot more shaken than the female who seemed a little seasoned in the environment.

"Hey!"

Another clash of blades blew more dust and debris in his direction but Minato did not blink, staring ahead as the battle progressed into a stalemate of swords, the impact of the clash rattling the petite female who was quickly lifted off her feet and brutally smashed into nearby gravestone with sickening force and raw power-

The hulking monstrosity smashed the golden haired female face first into the ground and cleaved through the arrows that came his way, his insanity ridden eyes locking onto the two bystanders and even with the size of the him, the giant took off in a flash, and at the same time, Illya saw the blue haired idiot disappear from her sight.

"Switch..."

"What the...?"

The black haired female saw the rush and quickly moved, trying to avoid the forward charge of the opponent servant. She looked back and yelled at the boy-

"Shirou, move now!"

Shirou was frozen with a mixture of fear and horror, fear of the monster rushing at him and horror at the sight of Saber who was struggling to get up, the left side of her face covered in blood. He was slow, too slow to even register the yell from the female and by the time he turned his head, the slab of stone came for his stomach-

"Move!"

The slab of stone shattered whatever came in his way but there was no explosion of blood and guts like his master was expecting-

"Where did he go?" Rin wondered. Maybe Berserker had slashed Shirou out of existence-

"Where is he?" Illya stomped the ground with her feet, irate because she knew that Shirou was saved somehow. She decided to head down to the battle and observe herself what was going on.

"Shirou?" Saber had gotten to her feet and tried to track where her master had disappeared to and eventually, she did, locating the red haired boy who was away from danger-

Maybe...

Shirou could only stare at his savior who had appeared out of nowhere, like a phantom materializing out of thin air. His grip was still on the collar of his shirt but he soon released the hold and Shirou moved his head to take a good look at his face.

"W-Who are you?"

There was something about his savior that even made him forget about the giant horror that had tried to slice him in three. The aura he gave off was unlike anything he had ever felt before, like everything was going to be okay, eventually.

Minato ignored his question and made his way forward, switching as he casually walked up towards Berserker with a blank face. Rin had gotten a look at him as well by that point and she was just as confused.

"Is he a witness?" If he was, his death was essential but at the same time, the blue haired boy was different and after the speed that he had demonstrated, killing him was not going to be easy. "Hey, Archer?"

"..."

Illya had found her source of annoyance and she glared at the advancing boy with fury because he had ruined the battle by popping out of nowhere. His death was certain, whether he was a witness, servant or a master.

"Kill him, Berserker!"

"H-Hey!" Rin yelled at him as the giant obliged the command by his master and roared towards the skies, grabbing the slab of stone with both hands as the boy came close and closer-

Minato stopped in the middle and stared straight ahead, ignoring the yells from the two people behind him. Instead, he looked straight ahead at the monster who was no doubt going to rush at him and try to cleave him in half.

"Switch..."

With the first step that Berserker took, Minato switched his stance and a cloak of holy light flared around his body and while the monster did seem to notice or care, his master and older female gave small gasps in quick succession.

"That magic..." Rin muttered. She could sense something even beyond magecraft, magic that was lost to time, was coiled around his body and he had willed it to existence with a mere switch of his stance.

Illya had stopped Berserker to take a good look at the blue haired boy. Even in the face of her servant, he was fearless and the cloak around his body made her wonder. How on earth could an ordinary looking boy conjure up something that in the providence of the Gods. All it took was a switch of stance and a exhale of breath and he had befuddled everyone in the area.

That magic was forbidden.

Long forgotten.

With the only practitioners being...

"Berserker..." Illya called off her servant and took a few steps forward to just stare at him with her mouth slightly open in wonder. Eventually, she closed her mouth and gave a small, kiddish smile, one that made Minato twitch a tad bit. He sensed that the battle was over and pulled back, the cloak of light disappearing around his body and he turned his back as the giant had already starting moving away upon the command of Illya.

"Hehehe..." Illya was still looking at him, hands clasped around her back with the smile even wider than before. "Interesting."

Minato looked back at her one time and she walked off, almost skipping her way out of his vision.

With the battle finally brought to a close, without casualty, Minato made his way over to the female who was previously smashed into the ground. She had gotten up to her feet and was confused much like the rest of them.

A tall, silver haired male appeared beside Rin, blades in his hand to follow the rules of the tournament but his Master gave the command to stand still and only observe the stranger.

"Who do you think he is, Archer?" Rin asked, struggling to classify him as a human, servant, master or something even beyond.

"..." Archer said nothing as he knew nothing of the boy. But at the same time, there was this stench...

"H-Hey!"

Minato was taken aback at the sharp break in silence and he blinked, slowly turning around to see that the boy he saved earlier was the one who yelled at him. He stopped on his way towards the golden haired female and looked in the direction of the boy. Soon enough, the rest came around Minato, each struggling to put forward the first question but eventually, Rin did.

"Who... Who exactly are you?" Rin finally asked, speaking on the behalf of others.

"I'll answer that," Minato said, facing her direction. He looked around at the carnage, at the pools of blood and finally at the injured female who was holding onto her shoulder, trying to pop the bone back into place. "Before that..."

"Tell me what is going on here..."

He had walked into something big.

Something bad...

Another build up chapter. I thank everyone for the reviews, did not expect the amount of feedback such at this but again, thanks. I don't know what will happen in the future, I might lose my mojo like I am prone to and this goes on hiatus like most of my stories do. But, in case... I have a few points. I hate wasting time of people when you can read something else that fits to your liking so here is the disclaimer of sorts.

1) It seems a few of you know me, well, then you know the genre and theme I write for. This will be brutal, sad and sure I'll sprinkle a few jokes in (like that dumb mink) but overall, this will not be a story for slice of life.

2) If I do see the end of this, this will be short and quick. In that token, not everyone will get CD and screen time, only a select few which build up the crux of the story because if I do finish this, it will be no more than 20, no chance. Of course, you can stretch this idea into a loooong story but I don't have time. Again, if someone else wants to take this idea, be my guest.

3) Again, need to be civil. I like reviews and I welcome opinion of every kind, critique and analysis and what not. There is no need to be passive aggressive, haughty or high and mighty over fictional entertainment. I write for fun, shits and giggles and I hope your read this just for that reason too.

4) I will make unpopular decisions. Hell, I can see a lot of question marks and possible rage thrown by way because I WILL take one in the future that will seem stupid and retarded. Think of such decisions in the long run and theorize, that is what makes stories fun.

If you are still here after going through those 4 points, glad to have you onboard and I hope you are entertained. I once again would like to thank guest, I can't say much because spoilers but I appreciate the indepth reviews. I did read a good bit of the wikia and I think I have a working story. I hope you enjoy and I hope to see you again.

Just one tiny tip to all...

There is another way of looking at this, beside the conventional one.

With that, I hope to hear from you and see ya!