Boyzilla: Yes Hakuno is cute. And, do you really think I'm making Hakuno stay with a childless mother by "accident"?
Akasha Bloodriver: Same response than Boyzilla, I preparing an adoption.
Rituals of Light and Darkness
In the basement of the Yamada house, Kishinami Hakuno frowned, reflected, and looked at the playing cards she held in front of her: "I'll add five!"
The long-haired, brown-haired teenager pushed five green chips towards the pile representing the bet.
Tamamo's ears trembled: "I'm in the bet and I'm going five more!"
A poker game was taking place in the safehouse. Kneeling on both sides of a reversed case, Servant and Master spent time waiting for the owners of the house to return. However, the game was not very contested... the number of chips in front of Hakuno was clearly higher than Caster's.
Hakuno put his cards on the box:
- Royal Flush!
Tamamo yelped and collapsed forward, placing her own playing cards. There were three aces, and two kings, a figure called "Full House". Certainly a good mix of cards... but inferior to the Royal Flush which was the best possible composition of cards, the five best cards, all in the same color...
- But how do you do it, Goshujin-sama?
Kishinami seriously considered the question for a moment and, with a head tilt, replied:
- Luck?
- No, Master, how do you know when I have good cards?
Hakuno pointed to the top of her Servant's head:
- Your ears.
Like any canid, the fox betrays its emotions by movements of the tail and ears... Tamamo had absolutely no "Poker-face", especially for Hakuno who after several weeks of cohabitation knew perfectly how to decode the emotions of her Servant!
Recovering from her temporary depression, Tamamo displayed a big smile:
-Are we playing something else?
Yesterday, Yamada Chihiro made some online purchases for Hakuno. Delivery services - very fast on Tokyo- had delivered this morning. There were clothes and a collection of various games including a console connected to a screen. During the day, Tamamo no Mae and Kishinami Hakuno had tried a little everything. It must be said that they did not have much else to do (1).
For a teenager as active as Hakuno, being locked up was boring.
As they rummaged through the pile of games generously offered by their hostess, Caster stood up and heard the secret door turn on its hinges. She immediately disappeared, returning to her spiritual form.
Two men made their entrance. Yamada Kuroe, a 40-year-old solid industrialist to whom the house belonged, accompanied police inspector Minamoto Sezuku. After quick greetings, Minamoto asked Yamada to leave him alone with his guest.
As soon as the industrialist had left the place, Sezuku swept the room with his eyes, stopping on the poker game. He spoke:
- Caster is here, isn't she?
In a shimmer of blue and silver particles, Tamamo regained form, her arms surrounding Hakuno's neck, her distrustful gaze fixed on the policeman:
- As if I were going to leave a bachelor alone with my husband? Who could resist such a treasure!
While the "husband" in question addressed an excuse gaze to Sezuku, the latter shook his head without answering, already familiar with the strange behavior of the Kitsune... to say the least. He preferred to ask the question that bothered him, the very reason for his presence:
- Is there a way to protect yourself from the Hounds of Tindalos?
The question surprised Tamamo:
- The Hounds of Tindalos?
Sezuku insisted:
- Do you know them?
Tamamo's foxtail quickly beat the measure, a sign that she did not really appreciate being questioned by an individual she suspected of wanting to "steal" Hakuno from her. That said, this definition applied to the totality of humanity... For her, Hakuno was simply the most adorable being in the universe. Proof, even the Old Ones wanted to return to Earth! For what other reason than taking Hakuno?
the teenager glanced at Sezuku and he explains:
- They are looking after Tomoko.
Kishinami touched her Servant's hand and turned her head to stare at Caster, imploring her with her big brown eyes. Tamamo could not resist this adorable expression. Her ears trembled: "Heaven me!"
Caster then seemed to deflate as she turned to Sezuku, abandoning her suspicious air, she answered honestly:
- I only knew they are inhabitants of the angles of the time, while human (and all common life) live in the curves.
The policeman replied with a nod:
- I left Tomoko in an apartment where we erased all the angles with plaster. She says the Hounds of Tindalos can't find her in...
Tamamo no Mae cut off Sezuku:
- No, they cannot materialize in a space where there is no angle. But, they have probably already located your friend. I don't know what they do, but you can imagine that they can intervene in some way, by asking for help from other entities that do not need angles to materialize, for example.
Inspector Minamoto Sezuku's face now reflected visible anguish. He took out his mobile phone, manipulated it a few moments before showing it to Tamamo:
- Tomoko spoke of a kind of talisman that could protect her.
Caster will decipher the text written by Tohsaka Tomoko and agrees:
- Barzai scimitar, yes, that's a good idea.
She reflected for a few moments, looked at her Master who in return sent her an imploring look. Caster sighed unequivocally... yes, she was going to help Tohsaka Rin's little niece, no need to look at her like that. Tamamo could never resist the pleading of her lovely husband.
She touched her foxtail to get a thick centuries-old printed book and handed it to the policeman.
- In this book, you will find the instructions for making the scimitar. She must do it with her hands and not let another touch it, it is imperative, otherwise, the scimitar will have no power. Tell Tomoko to also make Ibn-Ghazi powder. Creatures from other worlds often have the ability to make themselves invisible, she will need the powder of materialization.
- Thank you!
Tamamo shrugged her shoulders:
- I didn't do it for you.
Given the look of adoration, she threw at Hakuno, no need to be a genius to understand who she had done it for. Smiling, the Master passed her hand between the ears of the kitsune who obviously enjoy it.
Tohsaka Tomoko faced a necessary of alchemy. She mingled dust from a grave where a body had stayed for four hundred years with amaranth; ivy leaves which she had just reduced to powder, and some fine salt. She mixed it with the mortar and then made a strange sign.
There was a magical reaction.
The young woman nodded before putting the mystical materialization powder in a lead box she had just made. It was adorned with the sign of Koth...
It was not the hardest thing to do.
Making the scimitar itself had been more difficult for the Magus. Make is form was a simple shaping through the Alchemical Transmutation and no one was asking her to manipulate the noble metals with the precision of the deceased Einzbern. She bought copper and gave it the shape of a curved sword.
Tomoko took the blade in hand and focused on a more precise Transmutation. Her finger landed on one side and slowly drew lines of strange writing as no people had ever used on Earth. Then the young Magus repeated the operation with other signs on the other side of the blade.
Then she lit a brazier and began to sing while passing the scimitar in the flames:
- Hcoriaxoju, Zodcarnes, I recall you with all my strength, O mighty spirits who inhabit the Great Abyss. By the terrible name of Azathoth, come and give power to this blade worked in accordance with the Ancient Tradition. By Xenthono-Rohmatru I call you, O Antquelis, and by the vast and terrible name of Damamiach which Crom-yha spoke and which the mountains repeated, I call you with all my strength, O Barbuelis; visit me, assist me! Make powerful my invocations so that this weapon, which has received the charm of fire, possesses such powers that it fills with fear all the spirits that would disobey my orders, and that it allows me to form all the kinds of Circles, mystical figures and emblems indispensable to the practice of magic art. In the name of the Great and Mighty Yog-Sothoth and by the invincible sign of Voor...
Tomoko twisted her fingers in a strange way before claiming three times (a magic number): "Give me the power!"
The flames turned blue, a sign that the summoned spirits had accepted the request. She took the heated blade and plunged it into a mixture of brine and cock gall.
She had previously prepared the incense of Zkauba which had required a magical ceremony just as complicated. Making it burn, she drove out the spirits invoked by these words:
- In the name of Azathoth and Yog-Sothoth and their faithful servant Nyarlathotep and by their power, I dismiss you.
She made a strange new sign: "Go away in peace and don't come back until I call you back."
Tomoko made the sign of Koth, contorting her fingers in strange ways and the flames of the brazier returned to red.
She was feeling tired. The invisible presences which had for a moment slipped into the room to give its power to the Barzai scimitar had left her with her hair bristling... Tomoko had not been so afraid since the day -still a child- when she had randomly opened a book in her grandmother's library... there came out a demon made of fuliginous shadows and speaking German!
The young Magus went to open the door: "It's done."
In the corridor, Sezuku startled. He fearfully passed through the door and entered the floor room covered with a magic circle. He had a crackling laugh:
- I can't believe that in the last year of the twenty-first century I'm doing this...it sounds so crazy. You know, if I hadn't seen that Hound of Tindalos, I wouldn't believe it.
He paused and took his cell phone, processing his messages:
- Since I'm talking about it, do you remember that I entrusted the blue mud that made up this monster's body to the police scientific laboratory? They just called me.
The inspector held his breath before announcing the incredible discovery:
- It's a kind of living protoplasm... except it's devoid of enzymes. According to the chemist of the scientific police, enzymes catalyze the chemical reactions that occur in living cells. All pluricellular organisms need enzymes for a number of essential reactions to an organized life. Except for the Hounds of Tindalos... according to the chemist, an organism able to live without an enzyme would not age.
They were waiting.
There was nothing else to do but wait.
The Hounds of Tindalos would eventually appear. Tomoko would normally face them alone and the presence of Sezuku was totally useless. However, the policeman refused to leave his ex-wife without help. After all, the bullets hurt these monsters, he could be useful.
Of War-weary, Tohsaka Tomoko had let him stay.
So they waited and the hours went by.
As Minamoto was bored, he asked a question which he wants understood:
- It has been several times that you or Caster mentioned "spheres" or a "curved" world opposed to a "angles" world and I do not understand what you are referring to.
Tomoko smiles:
- Scipio's dream (2).
- What is it?
- Scipion Africanus, the Roman hero who defeated Hannibal, view in dream a celestial temple and nine planetary orbs. The most outer sphere, including all the others, is the "primum mobile", God himself. Scipio then heard a powerful and yet very gentle sound. It is the Music of the Spheres. This vision confirmed an intuition of Pythagoras. Hearing in a forge, the repeated blows of the hammer on the anvil, he remembered that one can express in the form of sounds any quantitative measure, including equations and geometry. He then began to explore this concept using various musical instruments. According to Pythagoras, in our universe, from the soul of man to the divine presence, everything vibrates at a frequency of its own. A frequency that can be expressed by a sound, the set of these sounds - which are in fact both equations and geometric concepts - is what is called the Music of the Spheres. According to astronomer Kepler, the specific vibration of the Earth is musically formulated by the notes Mi Fa Mi, which Kepler translates as Mi(ser) FaM(es). Miser means miserable or unhappy in Latin, and fames famine, which according to him would confirm a verse of the Bible: "in this valley of tears reign hunger and pain".
Minamoto Sezuku gnashed his teeth:
-Very reassuring!
Tomoko replied with a smile:
- The Earth is only a transitory world, a world of trials where the soul of man must be roughed up before reaching the higher Spheres.
The policeman sighed:
-Given what our world is going through, I have a hard time contradicting this... Kepler?
- Johannes Kepler, a 16th-century astronomer.
- And the "angles"?
Tomoko began to think, seeking to express foreign concepts:
- When I told you about the notes issued by the Earthly Sphere, Mi Fa Mi, misery famine, you were quite shocked. Yet if you listen to a triangle player alone, you wouldn't be very impressed either... The Music of the Spheres is like a philharmonic orchestra playing a piece of grandiose music where the Earth is only an isolated instrument, the whole is perfect for it. The world of "angles" is all that exists outside of this perfection, a bit like car horns and insults of drivers that would be heard from the street, disturbing a concert. Of course, this hurly-burly is also the Pythagorean translation of mathematical equations and geometric concepts.
Sezuku nodded, showing that he understood:
- So if I interpret correctly what you have explained, the Music of the Spheres is... the orchestra of the perfection of the universe under the baton of God himself.
Tomoko couldn't help laughing:
- Yes, that's right. Don't forget, however, that Kepler was Catholic and that it affects his vision of the world. For him, God had to express himself in Latin... which is stupid. Latin is the liturgical language of the Church, the one in which believers pray. Latin was chosen by the Roman Church for purely administrative reasons. They wanted as many people as possible to understand the sermons and Latin was the official language of the Roman Empire. The sacred language of the Church is... Hebrew (3). It is therefore in Hebrew that a Christian should seek meaning in the Music of the Spheres. Anyway, they are all wrong, Pythagoras (4) thought that mathematics was the language of God.
- And the ringing coming from the world of "angles", he too obeys a conductor?
The young woman immediately showed a dark face:
-Yes, he stands in the center of the uncreated. He is called Azathoth, the primal chaos, and near him resounds the wild and discordant music of invisible fifes and drums, around him dance for eternity cohorts of misshapen and foolish gods.
It was incredible that things changed so quickly.
A moment earlier, they were calmly waiting...
And then ...
A force had begun to act. The apartment was shaken like an earthquake. Everywhere the plaster added to round the corners was broken. The fragments, projected in every direction were collected by an invisible hand and gathered on the ground to form a triangle.
A disgusting smell of swamp had invaded the room and a green smoke swirled over the triangle.
While Sezuku was watching the phenomenon, gawking... Tomoko was already reacting. She had seized the lead box containing Ibn-Ghazi's powder. Spreading a little on her palm, she blew it towards the smoke.
The powder of apparition made its effect, monstrous shapes, all in absurd angles were now contorting above the triangle. Long tongues came out of what was to be their mouth, sniffing, searching, eager for blood.
The Magus raised the copper scimitar above her head, twisting the fingers of the other hand in a strange way:
- CALDULECH! DALMALEY! CADAT!
Without a sign of resistance, the two monsters disappeared... their presence vanished leaving only the pungent smell of swamps behind.
In the evening, the moon was full.
Its silver clarity filtered between the clouds, illuminating Tokyo's megalopolis.
In a disused hangar in the harbor, about thirty wooden pillars had been planted in the ground. Each of them bore the corpse of a child or teenager who died under torture.
On his knees on the concrete floor, Kimata Ryuchi finished drawing a magic circle very recognizable for all those who practiced the Magecraft, the invocation pentacle of a Servant.
Nicking his right hand, the witch mixed a little of his blood and began his incantation:
"For the elements, silver and iron.
The foundation: stone and the archduke of pacts.
And for my great master Abdul Alhazred."
The circle began to radiate blue light.
"Close the four gates.
Come forth the crown and follow the forked road leaning to the kingdom."
The light rising from the circle turned green and a double of the invocation circle, slowly rising, formed over the original.
"Fill. Fill. Fill. Fill. Fill. Repeat five times, but when each is filed, destroy it."
The circle of light turned orange.
"Set!
Heed my words. My will create your body, and your sword create my destiny. If you heed the Grail's call, and obey my will and reason the answer me. I hereby swear that I shall be all the good in the world. That I shall defeat all evil in the world."
There was certainly a great irony that such a man would proclaim with so little sincerity the words of the invocation ritual. But the circle responded with a wave of power that lifted up the fatty papers accumulated on the ground, making the cracked windows tremble.
"Seven heaven clad in the great words of power. From the binding circle, thou guardian of the scales!"
There was an explosion of light and an elusive, bluish silhouette seemed to come out of the invocation circle, rising in the air it gradually gained in density.
A man wrapped in a black dress with a collar resembling a sea anemone had just appeared. His globular eyes roamed the room and stopped on the dead children: "Magnificent, Master, I see that you also love art. I feel that we will get along well... together let us profane the work of God!"
Kimata Ryuchi cried in stupor. How... how... he had done everything according to the rules... yet this... this... puppet... could not be the great Abdul Alhazred!
-Who are you?
- Servant Caster, Gilles de Rais, but you can call me Bluebearb, Master!
It was really not Kimata's lucky day, no doubt he would think twice before attacking a Spiritron Hacker when he needed a computer to perform an invocation.
At the same moment in a deserted street of the immense city, a photonic crystal cube appeared, floating above the ground. Beneath it appeared a circle hardly different from the one Kimata had just used.
Without it being necessary to use a formula or human sacrifices, the cube made appear a servant. A beautiful young woman in armor, her blond hair tied in a long braid held back by a metal headband, she leaned on a spear... no, a flag whose flag remained wrapped around the shaft.
She fell to her knees, tying her hands in a gesture of prayer, her voice echoing in French:
- Seigneur Dieu, ait pitié de l'humanité souffrante. Pardonne-nous, protège-nous en cette heure d'épreuve... et surtout délivre-nous du mal !
When she opened her beautiful violet eyes, they shone with determination. She stood up and raised her standard. Deployed, it began to beat in the wind.
- Servant Ruler, ready to work!
Having fulfilled its task, the crystal cube disappeared.
1) Yes, Hakuno and Tamamo are also in quarantine, they support us at the time of the Coronavirus!
(2) An anecdote told by Cicero in the Res Publica (1st century BC).
(3) True... and forgotten, even by the Catholic priests themselves.
(4) Einstein and Hawking thought so too.
Author's note: you have probably noticed that Gilles de Rais was materialized in the real world and not inside the Cyberworld. Hakuno and Tamamo assumed that the Servants created for the Kimata Grail War could only exist in the Cyberworld, simply because they knew only the Moon Cell Grail War. Now, child sacrifices took place in the real world! Furthermore, when Hakuno used a command mark to invoke Tamamo, I did not explain what happened, only the result. In fact, the Moon Cell only connected Tamamo to Kimata's Grail. It has therefore received the abilities of the Servants of this version of the Grail War, as they can exist in both universes (virtual and physical). With Tamamo, we have now 7 Servants... but two Casters and no Saber... besides Kimata has a wish that will bring the end of the world. No wonder the Greater Grail (Moon Cell) invokes Ruler.
