A/N: Hey Peeps! Now I know what you're thinking: Two updates in only a few days apart? The only reason why I had managed to update it so soon was because I already had the chapter mostly fleshed out in my mind for a while now when I posted the last chapter, I just needed to write it down and edit it before I actually could post it. Also, I just feel the need to clarify something. If you can read what I am writing, if you can read English enough to comment on it, then you should logically be able to write it well enough to post your reviews in Engish. To those of you who are doing it in Spanish just to mess with me, all you are doing is getting me annoyed as I cannot understand any potential helpful ideas you may give me to make my fic better. I take my readers opinions into consideration when I write and give shoutouts to those who give me usable ideas to use in my stories, so stop being a nuisance and post your reviews in English like you should be able to passably do.
Not enough time passed to get many reviews this time to really warrant a reviewer review, so instead, onto the disclaimer:
DISLAIMER: I do NOT own either 'Campione!' or 'FATE', as both are the respective properties of their respective owners, and any references made to other fics are the same with credit being given to any used. This fic is an AU of Marcus Galen Sands 'God Slaying Blade Works', with elements of other fics used referenced as well as credit to their respective owners and creators and any references made to different franchises associated with said references. This fic is based heavily on the premise of 'WHAT IF', with an emphasis on the 'Harem Ending' of the Nua Realta route, A meshing of canon lore from both Campione and Nasuverse lore to the best of my abilities, references from other fanfics, and my own original ideas thrown in. This is a FREE, UNPAID fanfic, meaning I wrote this for no monetary gain whatsoever, and if you paid to read this, then you got ripped off. This is a FANFIC of a FANFIC, as in a FAN-MADE FICTION of a FAN-MADE FICTION. If you do not like it, then you do not have to read it. Nobody is making you.
And Now:
STORY START
God Slaying Blade Works: The King of Wrought Iron
Sixteenth Blade: Three Devil Kings Meeting, Two Knights Flashing, and a Raging Monkey Sage's Ire
Nikkou National Park
Shirou P.O.V.
After we got everyone on board, I willed the [Vimana] to go as fast as it could. The good thing about the flying contraption that I really liked but only learned in combat against [Melqart] was that the damned thing was impossible to fall off of. I only realized it after we got to Japan, but the aerial maneuvers I pulled on that damned thing really should have made me fall at least a dozen different times. Turned out the thing had the same gravitational effect the Pegasi I could summon did, which was part of the reason I chose to take the group via [Vimana] rather than by flying horseback, as it would allow me or anyone I let drive it to carry a group of a dozen without anybody falling off of it, and we were getting there rather fast.
The scenery of the landscape beneath us whizzed past in a bit of a blur, but we soon came up to the site of what should be the mountains of Nikkou National Park. After I cleared the mountain range, I got a clearer view of the situation...it was worse than I thought...The Saitenguu shrine which acted as the entrance to the Keeper of the Horses seal was in shambles, leveled to the ground by what seemed to be a great deal of force. The area was luckily devoid of any innocents, as this area was technically off-limits to the public due to a staged emergency, which made it easier to find Godou-san, but the sight of him...it was bad…
He was just a bit further out of my range of sight to see clearly, but he was worse for wear, and obviously worn out, with Blandelli-san and Kranjar-san on each side holding him up. His clothes looked just as beat up as he did, with Blandelli-san and Kranjar-san both showing signs of fatigue. Next to them was a woman who looked about twenty, but the fact she was here at all sent warning bells off in my mind, especially when I got a second look at what she was wearing.
She looked to be Chinese, and was wearing a Chinese dress that allowed freedom of movement, but was also practical as well as elegant...or at least, it would have been if it weren't for the fact there was cuts, tears, dirt, and a few blood stains all over it...and letting a bit more skin show in places than was publicly decent...looks like we found the other Campione. Next to her, there looked to be a young man about my age if not a year or two older, wearing a traditional Chinese martial arts gi. While he wasn't quite as beaten up, he still showed signs of having been put slightly through the wringer, most likely from getting caught up in the crosswinds of an attack.
It was the one they were having a stare-off with that drew my attention. I didn't need to know who it was to know it was the God that was sealed in the Saitenguu...as I feared, it had gotten free, and most likely was not happy about it. Roaring through the air on the [Vimana], I gave Reki a quick look and he understood my intentions instantly. I jumped into the fray while he took control of the [Vimana] from me. I landed with a bit of an impact halfway between the freed god and my fellow God-slayers as I cratered the ground around me, kicking up a cloud of dust and dirt, then proceeded to throw a couple of nameless swords I had hastily traced at the god in question to force it to back off a little bit as I took a quick glance around to get a better idea of the situation.
Blandelli-san, Kranjar-san, and the young man with the foreign Campione were mostly uninjured, though they were definitely tired out and exhausted, but physically their injuries were minimal, at best. Their mystical reserves on the other hand were running out, only good for maybe one or two more strong spells before they pass out from prana exhaustion, but otherwise fine...it was the other two I was more concerned with...
Godou-san was most definitely injured, though his supernatural vitality as a Campione should help accelerate his healing rate...but it was his mystical condition I was worried about. He had been weakened, as though somebody had been draining off his prana and shaving it away from him. Then I noticed this was something familiar, before it dawned on me: Acupuncture...he had his pressure points struck in such a manner, it had literally sealed off his circuits partially, hindering his combat capabilities. That's why he was in such a worse shape mystically than he was physically: somebody was directly targeting his ability to use magic, which really would have worked against anybody else, but Godou-san doesn't really have much knowledge of the mystic arts outside of his Authorities as a Campione; all he really focuses on is the more physical aspects of his capabilities, which more than likely is what saved his life so far. Had he been a proper mage with orthodox training, he more than likely would have been dead by now before I could get here…
The woman next to him, I noticed was certainly in slightly better physical shape, but her spiritual condition was even worse than Godou-san's...she looked as though she had her very magical capabilities severed while her physical flesh and blood was merely scratched in comparison, before I noticed the very subtle manner in which she was barely managing to stand...ah, so that's what happened...I guess I really ought to ask this foreign adopted sibling of mine what the hell in the name of the Root she had done to make Godou-san actually fight her to such a degree whenever I can find the chance to ask her later. Right now though…
I observed, analyzed, and determined the situation all in the span of a few seconds, then turned to look at the God before me, and I instantly notice something...this god was small, as in a young child no older than Shizuka-chan, small, and was a girl. She was wearing a Chinese outfit that looked to be a cross between a Buddhist Priest's robes and a Chinese martial gi, with a mask hanging off the side of her face. She had brown hair tied up into a ponytail almost styled like a brown pineapple, and eyes of the same shade of brown, and she was standing atop a golden cloud floating just a few feet off the ground. But it was the look in her eyes and the expression on her face that would cause a contradiction; it was not something you would expect from someone so seemingly young...those were the eyes of a battle-hardened veteran of many a battle...of someone who has seen death, and has brought it forth...but it was the weapon in the child-god's hands that drew my attention almost instantly. While [Unlimited Blade Works] normally was used for bladed weapons, it could be adapted to any weapon so long as it was a weapon and it had a handle with a good grip, so it could easily adapt to bludgeoning weapons like a staff...but what I read from the staff's history actually made me widen my eyes in surprise and nearly caused me to stumble in shock while I was reorienting myself from my landing even in my battle mode as I felt it's history record itself along with a copy of it's blueprints within my mind...
It was a metal stave with the appearance of red-colored wood, but it was seemingly embellished and decorated in gold, silver, and steel. But it wasn't that detail which drew my surprise, but the fact this staff was old, it was named, and it was famous. Up until now, in this world, every weapon I have seen a God wield had been merely something they created using their authorities for combat at the very instant they needed one, and were willed into existence solely for the purpose of having a weapon to fight back with, merely a tool as a means to an end, but this...this was an actual weapon, not a manifestation of a god's authority, but an actual, preexisting weapon...a named weapon...a weapon so old, so ancient, so famous, it actually qualified to be an actual Noble Phantasm, yet it wasn't a Noble Phantasm at the same time. But it still came as close enough to one as I had ever seen so far in all my memories and my fragments as well…
It's name was [Ruyi Jingu Bang], a name which literally means something along the lines of 'Ideal Golden-bound Cudgel', and it had many useful abilities, traits, and powers. It weighed an immense amount for it's size, it had the power to change it's size, it could multiply itself, and it could even fight according to the whim of it's master, among other things. It was hundreds, possibly even thousands of years old, but for all its fame, this staff's master was possibly even more famous…
"...[Sun Wukong]..."
...it all makes since now...a God of Steel and a Trickster, a Sage and a Warrior, a Monkey and a King...it's no wonder the Committee didn't want this seal to break so bad; this guy is about as troublesome as you could get with Gods...[Sun Wukong], also known as [Son Goku] in Japan, and the 'Great Sage Equal to Heaven'. He was born from a mystical stone fertilized by the Earth, King of Monkeys, and a Grandmaster of the Taoist arts. Consumer of the Peaches of Immortality and the Pills of Longevity, a being so immortal that even being locked in a crucible and stewed in heavenly fires for forty-nine days straight could not kill him. Thrice times victor over the armies of Heaven and finally the hero of the tale 'Journey to the West'…
...and he was a little girl…
...well, I guess if history can get King Arthur's gender wrong, then who was to say they couldn't get other famed figure's from myths and legends throughout history wrong as well...it certainly was a bit easier to swallow that little tidbit of information when you had firsthand experience with the fact that such a famous legendary hero like the 'King of Knights' was actually a 'Hidden Queen'…
"Hoh, a third God-slayer? This would most certainly be a fine way for me to celebrate my return to the world. Shall you be my opponent first, then?" the god asked, but her face and voice do not match her words and her tone...something is definitely off here...but just what is it…
"No, this Luo Hao will fight you and be your opponent." The now identified Luo Hao proclaims boldly, but I can tell, she's just putting on a facade of strength when she can barely stay standing right now...also...something about her innocently arrogant tone bugs me...it reminds me of that golden bastard somehow, but for some reason it is actually not as annoying for me like it was with him...though I definitely need to speak with this lady later about proper etiquette…
"Oh no, you are not. You are actually in even worse shape than Godou-san is right now, and he is pretty messed magically from whatever the hell it was you did to him. I will find out what happened between you two later, but right now, I have something far more important to deal with than a fellow God-slayer illegally trespassing on in another God-slayer's domain and attacking him in his own country without notifying said God-slayer in advance to your presence or even asking for permission to even enter the domain in question to fight a god. Especially when the domain in question is shared by TWO Devil Kings, and neither of us was told or even informed of you even entering our shared domain. You have no right to demand from the owner of the land you are trespassing upon, never mind when that land is co-owned and one of the owners was assaulted by you, so do not speak of proper etiquette between warriors with me if you yourself do not seem to practice them."
My immediate dismissal and subsequent refusal to acknowledge her right to this fight seemed to ruffle her feathers a bit, but she held her tongue when she realized just what I had said to her. I didn't even need to look at her to know, my mystic awareness told me she realized I knew her condition, and was trying to hide it better. To little too late now, though. I simply ignored her attempts to grumble under her breathe at me over proper etiquette when dealing with a battle between warriors, as if she was one to talk...
Never turning away from [Sun Wukong] and always keeping my attention on the Heretic God before me, I addressed Godou-san and the others with him. "You know Godou-san, when I last had detected a heretic god causing trouble, I decided to let you deal with it as it was your foe first and you wanted to handle it since it was your problem, so I respected your wishes then. But right now, neither you nor the trespasser to our country barely standing next to you on her own feet are in any shape to fight somebody like this. I'll take care of this one this time."
I pulled my new weapons out, having them take their bladed forms and held them to my side as I got into my signature ready-stance, but before I could even start, I was interrupted by none other than my fellow Japanese God-slayer...
"Wait! Emiya-san don't! That's Yuri's sister, [Sun Wukong] possessed her body somehow!"
...and I froze...oh shit...no wonder Godou-san was having such a hard time...the mystical injuries not withstanding, the physical ones were from the beating he must have taken trying to figure out a way to separate [Sun Wukong] from Miss Mariya….that certainly would explain a lot of-
"GOOOUUFF"
...and in that split second I froze, I was introduced in the worst way possible to the Monkey King's Staff via a sucker-punch with the butt of [Ruyi Jingu Bang] to the solar plexus...stupid, stupid, rookie mistake. The moment I heard that was Yuri-san's sister, I hesitated, and that brief fraction of a second caused me to let my guard down. [Sun Wukong] is most definitely somebody I cannot fight with distractions, but this...there was no way Godou-san or anybody else could free Miss Mariya from the possession of the Monkey King without causing her physical or even spiritual harm, possibly even killing her if they weren't careful…
Trace bullet...
...at least for anyone else it wold have been impossible. But for me, it just might be possible to separate the two of them with minimum harm to both Miss Mariya's physical and astral bodies. When I landed, I began to trace the blueprint for the weapon I needed just for this...an anti-magic weapon...one whose owner was known as the witch of betrayal, simply because she was tricked by the gods into falling in love with a man she had never met and betraying her family, losing both her status as a princess to her homeland and her trust in others...then betraying and being betrayed in turn by countless others in an endless cycle of betrayal and karmic retribution...oh, this ought to knock this god down a peg or two...karma can be a real bitch sometimes...
"As much fun as it would be to fight you, I am afraid I am not so foolish as to fight three God-slayers all at once. So I'm afraid I'll have to decline." [Sun Wukong] said as he was using Miss Mariya's voice and face to make patterns of speech and faces that do not belong on a little prepubescent girl...it was simply WRONG the way it looked...the tone of her voice he used and the question was both mocking and sweet, yet the face he made was anything but sweet...it was WRONG….a little girl should not make such a face….
"The earth's condition is receptive devotion / Thus the superior man who has breadth of character / Carries the outer world. Kun is the nature of earth!"
...oh shit...this is bad….I may not be an expert when it comes to Taoist magic, but that sure as hell sounded like a mantra to me, and given how [Sun Wukong] was a Grandmaster of the mystical Taoist arts...I really didn't ever want to see what a god with magic can do, but I am afraid this is the one time I will not get a choice in the matter...I still need an opening to fire off my little parting gift to the Great Sage Equal to Heaven...I have to wait for it…
"Now, I shall imprison you three by calling upon the secret art of the stone mountain's rocky cave! Bwahahahaha!"
...the Monkey King laughed in a very monkey-like screech, yet with Miss Mariya's voice being the one used it was just plain WRONG how it sounded...and as he/she said this, the surrounding area suddenly changed. The blasted out and cratered ground suddenly turned to solid gray rock, the color of bleached white bone, almost like fresh snow had fallen. The very ground had been petrified, yet around Godou-san, Luo Hao, and myself, the ground beneath us had suddenly sunk down. It was bizarre...the ground seemed to have the consistency of a bog, yet somehow we were sinking far too quickly...it was almost like we were sinking in watery jello that hadn't been properly made and was still partially liquid yet solid enough to trap solids within it…
"So you plan to imprison us?! Why not fight us as fellow martial artists and warriors?!" I could hear Luo Hao yell in enraged anger at being denied a fight with the Monkey King. Just what is her fixation with this particular deity...I know gods and god-slayers are natural enemies, but this is different...she has a history with this particular god, the only question is: What is that history, and does it have anything to do with the seal breaking?
"Are you an idiot? I am not going to fight three God-slayers at once, even if two of you are injured. If anything, that makes you even more dangerous, like a cornered animal that's been wounded. You God-slayers simply lack common sense like that with how scary you are when pressed back against a wall, or backed into a corner. I was not called a Great Sage by being a foolish and reckless half-wit." [Sun Wukong]'s rather flippant retort seemed to only agitate the Chinese woman further...and my brow began to twitch in irritation at his words...
"I was careless...to try and fight as a martial artist, when I forgot something as important as my opponent being also a great sage and grandmaster of the Taoist arts...this Luo Hao is greatly shamed by her own thoughtlessness..." I could not help but feel my brow twitch even further heavily by this woman's blatant flippancy than it already was by her antics...how can somebody be so single-minded enough to not even realize what she was doing and call others out on it when she was doing them even more than the people she was criticizing...is she some kind of an air-headed hypocritical ditz or something...and people called me a hypocrite for the stunts I pulled back during the Grail War...shelving the thoughts for now, I turn my attention back to the Great Sage and decide it's now or never...
"Hey [Sun Wukong]! I have something to tell you!" I shouted at the Monkey King and got everyone else's attention in the process. It would seem that the spell is only targeting the Campione here. The Great Sage Equal to Heaven is ignoring our companions, not even registering them as a credible threat to himself...that actually works perfectly in my favor...time to shut his damned trap…
"And just what do you want to say before I imprison you? Trying to beg me for your life?" He is seriously getting on my nerves with just how wrong his actions and words are on such a young girls face...time to shut him up for good with the parting gift I have for him…
"I will only say this once, and you will only get one chance. You may be a monkey, you may be a king, you may be a trickster, you may be a Great Sage, you may have even defied the heavens themselves and won thrice over, but most of all, you are also a warrior and a martial arts master. If you truly had any pride in your hard-earned skill as a master of martial arts and any honor as a warrior, then get out of Miss Mariya's body and actually fight us yourself without forcing us into a situation with an unfair advantage to you by fighting us with a built-in hostage. If you don't..."...a dark aura began to form behind me into the Asura that embodies my malice and rage, but merely a silhouette of it rather than a full blown manifestation… "...then I will personally drag your furry ass out of her myself, and make damn sure you pay for the insult you made to the very concept of a warrior's honor."
Everyone just looked at me in surprise at the absolute surety of my words. Even the Great Sage Who Equaled the Heavens and thrice victor over Heaven's armies seemed taken aback by them, as though he did not think I would have the audacity to say such a thing in my current position. Before he suddenly grinned using Miss Mariya's body and spoke in a mockery of her voice again...okay, that settle's it. If he was still alive by the time I get out of this prison of his, then I was going to kill the bastard in the worst way possible for this blatant disrespect to a warrior's honor and a martial artist's pride…
"And just how are you going to do that, when you are already trapped in my spell? You won't be doing much of anything in the next few minutes." He smugly remarked as he arrogantly leered at me...can't say I didn't warn him...he asked for it…
"Like this."
...and pointed my new pistols at him, firing a barrage of bullets at him directly. He deflected a few of them with his staff, but the rest he caught with his free hand...and revealed they weren't bullets but daggers, all with the same zigzag blade…
"And just how was this supposed to-!?" the Monkey King continued to taunt me in his/her arrogant confidence of what he/she perceived as his/her total victory over a desperate move...but my calm response and smug smirk caught him/her by surprise…
"Break: Rulebreaker!"
...and interrupted him only for the daggers he held in his/her hands to suddenly explode on my command, showering him with their fragments as he/she screamed out in pain…
"EMIYA-SAN, WHY DID YOU-?!" Godou-san screamed at me in rage and grief at Miss Mariya's apparent death...
*FWOOOOOOOSSHH*
...right before being cut off by a large surge of divine magical energy beginning to burst forth from Miss Mariya's body, and the sounds of two voices suddenly became clearer to discern from each other within the torrential gust of divine energy as they both screamed in pain…
"NOW REKI!" I shouted, but he had already been moving as soon as I had made my move. The revived mercenary grabbed Miss Mariya's unconscious body and pulled her out of the area with a very impressive display in a performance of physical fitness that would have given the Olympics a hell of a time trying to match. He swooped in, grabbed her, and left a little something from me and him for the Monkey King once he finally got his bearings…
"I gave you a chance, [Sun Wukong]. You have no right to complain now, because by the time all this is over, you will be dead, and your very name and honor as a warrior disgraced by your own hand and deeds. Consider this my parting gift, to one I once held in high regard as a fellow warrior-mage, but now whose name's respect I feel is no longer deserved..."
As I finished my last words to the Great Sage Who Equaled the Heavens, I was finally swallowed up by the very rock he was imprisoning us in as I sunk deeper into it. As it was happening, I could hear the shocked cries of our respective companions. I can only hope they don't try to do anything too reckless. To my surprise, the rock around me is actually clear...in fact, I can not only see exactly how I am sinking, I can also see, hear, and interact with my fellow God-slayers who were also being imprisoned.
"What the HELL Emiya-san?! What did you blow up Hikari for?!" Godou-san was obviously very angry with me. In fact, if he could, he would most likely hit me right now...time for me to try and calm him down…
"Godou-san...I apologize if I ended up hurting her somewhat, but it was better than letting the Monkey King stay in control of her body like he was. Two souls are never meant to exist within the same body at the same time, not without contaminating each other or even fusing together in the worst way possible. In the absolute worst case scenario, if I didn't do what I did when I did, then Miss Mariya may have paid the price. Besides, that wasn't an explosion, it was an anti-magic burst. The most she would have suffered was a few cuts and bruises, maybe a few scrapes, but nothing more than that." I explained to him, only to get both Luo Hao and Godou-san's attention…
"This Luo Hao does not understand King Emiya...what do you mean by an 'anti-magic burst'?"
"And how did that blast not hurt Hikari?!"
Luo Hao's response was genuine confusion while Godou-san's was understandably enraged...if he assumed I was trying to kill the God along with Miss Mariya, then that would make sense. The only reason he is willing to listen to me despite being angry with me is because he knows I would not do something like that unless I had a damn good reason for it first, and even then only as an absolute last resort…
"It was those daggers I shot at [Sun Wukong]. They were copies of a dagger produced using my original magic, [tracing]. The original of which was once used by a Grecian princess, one who had a talent for magic, specifically with Dragon's teeth, and used it to sever magic contracts and nullify any magic she used it on. The name of that very dagger was [Rulebreaker], or 'All Magic Must Be Nullified'. It is by far the single most powerful anti-magic weapon in the world and currently within my arsenal, capable of negating attacks using magic by cutting them in half and returning the energy back to it's natural state, or by severing even strong enough magic contracts which can bind the gods themselves. It has the power to severe ANY magic its used against on contact or magic contract binding somebody by simply pricking them with it enough to break the skin and draw a little blood. You said it yourself: [Sun Wukong] possessed Miss Mariya. And what else is a case of possession, other than a rather one-sided magical contract? Hmm?"
That got Godou-san to calm down. He knew I knew a bit more about these things than he did, after all, he did see me force the Circle under my control when I did my rather...hostile...takeover, and saw firsthand I knew far more about magic contracts than he did. While he calmed down, Luo Hao actually gawked at me a bit in surprised shock…
"...you mean you have a way to break free from magic contracts which can bind even the gods themselves...it would seem the Second King of Wakkoku is most certainly a terror to behold...to be capable of breaking his word and not be punished for it even when penalized by an oath..."
...okay, I really need to give this lady a serious piece of my mind...her arrogance might not be as irritating as that golden bastards was, but it's still getting on my nerves a bit how blatantly disrespectful she is being without even seeming to be trying to do it…
"..but right now, we have another and more pressing problem to consider...We are being sealed, though I have the energy to get out before the seal is complete, I can only send one person out. The other two will have to manage on their own until they can get out themselves...have you two not noticed it yet?" Her words suddenly got us both to feel slightly out of breath...wait...
...well, shit...looks like the Monkey King plans to seal us in an underground cave without food, water, or air...this would be troublesome for anybody like Godou-san, but for me, however…
"I'll be fine. What you guys don't realize is I have already set it up for me to get out on my own when I attacked [Sun Wukong] earlier. I could leave this place he's stuck us in anytime I wanted to. Plus, I have a few tricks I can try to keep myself alive for a while. Send Godou-san out. I'll stay here and keep you company. After all..." I tell them as I bring the Asura out partially again...I am really getting good practice at this trick… "...I still have yet to hear your excuse for such blatant disrespect towards not one, but TWO of your equals and fellow Devil Kings, and I will hear it before I leave this cave, Empress of the Martial Realm."
I said the title this woman bears with such malice and venom, it wouldn't be a surprise if I spit poison along with the words with how much rage I was giving off at her right now, she even seemed a bit surprised I would act in such a manner with her, but then again, this was me and Godou-san's country, not hers, so she shouldn't have even been at the Saitenguu like she was in the first place. Which means she had to have something to do with the seal breaking when it started acting up. So whatever her excuse was, it had better be a good one, or else she was going to be having a bit of a problem with me.
"Wait, hang on a second. You two are seriously way too calm about this whole thing. Why aren't you more worried about being stuck in whatever [Sun Wukong] is putting us in?!" Godou-san asks in a voice laced with a very legitimately excusable anxiety…
"Because he said he simply planned to seal us here, meaning he's not planning to kill us, only imprison us. As long as we don't die, we can find a way out later after we manage to rest and get back some of our strength, though that is mostly true for the trespasser over there, given the fact I am still mostly in peak condition, aside from that sucker punch I took to the solar plexus, thanks a lot by way, for giving the bastard that opening. I'm going to be making you pay for it with your next training session with me for that one Godou-san."
The King of Ruin openly shuddered in dread at my blatant promise to make him regret that. I can already see he was starting to consider running away the moment we get out of here if for no other reason than to avoid my wrath when I begin giving him sword training.
"...as much as I would enjoy the topic of talking about respective training methods, we can continue this conversation later, right now, let me focus..." the Chinese God-slayer pulled what looked like a talisman and began an incantation under her breath. When she finished, she threw the talisman, which suddenly exploded into a tiger of magical energy, grabbed Godou-san by the collar of his shirt, and proceeded to drag him off, but just before he was out of earshot…
"Kusanagi Godou, I am entrusting my companions safety to you, and they are all the closest thing I have to family in this world, so if any of them are seriously hurt or on the verge of dying by the time I get out, I will kick your ass all the way from Tokyo to Okinawa and back in the most epic cross-country beat-down in the entire history of beat-downs! So you'd better keep them safe until I get out of here!"
...and barely made out his acknowledgment of my warning before he was gone. I then turned back to the Chinese Devil King, and my expression turns to a deadly serious one, as she just looks irritated by my blatant annoyance with her presence here...but she merely stares at me without saying a word for about fifteen minutes, before we reached the end of the shifting rock and wound up in a cave...huh, to think the Monkey Sage planned to imprison us in the very same manner he was when Buddha attempted to teach him to reign in his bad behavior...talk about irony, for an Asura to be subjected to the punishment created and used by a Buddha and sealed by the very target of said punishment. It's almost like some kind of bad joke, but still so funny that it almost makes me want to laugh...I am still going to make that furry bastard suffer a slow and painful torture before he dies if Godou-san doesn't kill him before I do…
...guess I better start making myself comfortable. Looks like the trespasser locked in here with me isn't planning to start explaining herself to me anytime soon. May as well start using a few of the tricks I mentioned, but before I do, I just had to say one last thing to the disrespectful woman trapped here with me...
"Well, I am still waiting for that explanation of why you are here in Japan, unannounced, illegally, and what you were doing in our country, as well as what justification you had for such disrespect towards both Godou-san and myself. I can leave anytime I want to. You'll be the one stuck in here for Root knows how long while you recover, whereas I can easily make myself far more comfortable than you ever could."
. . . .
. . . . .
. . . . . . . .silence...
...still no response, I know she is still there, as her mystic presence is still right by me in the same place it's been in for the last few minutes since we got here, and I know she can still hear and talk to me while she recuperates...fine, since she wants to ignore me, I am just going to make myself more comfortable while I wait...now the only question is: which should I start with first? Lights, air, or water…
Meanwhile-back on the surface
Third-person P.O.V.
The king of Ruin was surprised to suddenly find himself dragged out of the ground right before it solidified right beneath his feet and the tiger that Luo Hao summoned disappeared. He looked around and ran straight to the others, and checked on Hikari, and sure enough, she was alive, and had suffered no more than a few bruises and scrapes; nothing she couldn't heal from on her own if given a chance…
"...guess I owe Emiya-san an apology when he gets out..." he said with a self-depreciating smile…
"Kusanagi Godou...Where is Shirou, and why isn't he with you?" the question came from Illya, who was most definitely not too happy that he was there instead of Shirou. She could not help but wonder if maybe, just maybe, he was doing what she thought he was…
"Luo Hao could only get one person out before the seal finished imprisoning us. Emiya-san said he already had a way out if he needed to leave and volunteered to stay behind, and Luo Hao didn't even argue about trying to get out on her own and leave us behind...though I don't-."
"THAT BASTAAAAAAAARRRD! AS IF I'LL ALLOW YOU ALL TO GET AWAY AFTER SUCH AN INSULT AS THIS! I WILL NOT LET THIS HUMILIATION STAND!"
Their conversation was interrupted by the enraged howling of none other than [Sun Wukong], who took the Emiya's final retaliation before he was sealed in a very poor manner...after all, he had been forcefully separated from Hikari after he possessed her, and now he was in an unstable state of being. His body had not quite had a chance to stabilize from the seal being broken, so he must have been using the girls body as an anchor to keep his physical body stable. Being stuck in the form of a sword for a few centuries tended to have that kind of effect when you suddenly regain a humanoid form without prior notice or preparation…
Unfortunately for him, Reki was already on the move, he had been waiting for the Monkey King to regain his bearings just for this...he could not help the sadistic smile he had on his face when he remembered the idea for the little surprise his King and he had come up with while trying to make Aya's gunblade for her…
"Burst: Jubilee"
*Fssssshh**BANG*
"BUWAHHHHHHH! MY EYES!"
"Let's go! That won't stop him for long!" the revived mercenary didn't even stop moving while he said this, grabbing every one of them then taking off on the [Vimana] while it was still within the operational time limit he was told about by his King. While the flying contraption could be used by anyone so long as they had it's owner's permission in theory, in practice it was only temporary control. Once the time limit was up, it would instantly return back to its place within it's owner's vault. Renji found that out the hard way the one time he asked to borrow it, only for the time limit to be reached while he was hovering right above a railing while he was on it...it left him with a bit of a soprano and a high-pitch squeal whenever he spoke for the next week…
Simply put, they only had enough time to get away as fast as possible, and that Dragoon Special Concussion Bomb(or D.S.C.B. for short) would only last for a minute at most, so he didn't wait for their responses before he got them out of there. He had just barely got them all far enough away before the [Vimana]'s time limit was reached and began to disperse back to where it was summoned from within King Emiya's vault. The good news: they were able to get away from the blinded and stunned god far enough that he would probably take a while to find them again, even with god speed on his cloud. The bad news: the flying contraption timed out before they could land completely, and they had a bit of a rough landing with several of them ending up in a human heap pile…
"...oooowwwwch...could you girls please get off of me now? I am kind of injured here you know..."
Reki, Aya, Oda, and Illya all turned to look at the voice and was just simply gawking in incredulous disbelief at the sight, while Linghua was just stifling a bit of mirth behind a hand trying and failing to hide a smirk and sniggering at the sight. Yuri and Ena landed on him in a very enticing manner, while Hikari was still being held unconscious in his protective grasp. But both Erica and Liliana's tops had been torn in just the right way to be bunched up on top of their shoulders and bared their bosoms for all the world to see right on top of the King of Ruin in a very compromising and suggestive position, causing them both to squeak in alarm and embarrassment. Erica even seemed a bit flustered at being seen nude by anyone but her Godou, as she would not show her nude form willingly to any man but her beloved Devil King. Liliana for her part turned beet red in her face at the rather indecent exposure.
"...King Kusanagi...just how in the hell did you end up in that kind of position...you were in the back of the group, so just how did you end up in front of everybody when you landed..." the revived mercenary just could not help but ask the very question the rest of the Emiya entourage were wondering...before Linghua began to fail in hiding his amusement and started to laugh his Chinese ass off, as if he knew exactly what had happened, but couldn't say with his laughter getting in the way…
"...don't...ask...please...just don't..." the King of Ruin could not help but to beg a bit in hopelessly broken despair and embarrassment, which only caused Linghua to laugh even harder, after all, it's not every day he could say he saw a Rakshasa Rasha getting embarrassed in such a humiliating manner, though even he had to admit he was jealous of the Kusanagi heir's ludicrous luck with women.
A few minutes later
"Okay, what happened? Why did that thing just disappear on you, was it because King Emiya was..."
"No, the [Vimana] has a time limit for anyone other than my King. He can lend it out to others on a temporary loan, but it will be on a strict time limit. Once said limit runs out, it will return back into the vault from whence he summoned it from. We simply reached the time limit before we could land properly." Reki answered the unasked question of the elder Mariya sister. To which everybody else began to relax a bit, but was still a bit tense.
While trying to get their bearings, though, they suddenly were interrupted from their thoughts, as a large bunch of monkeys had begun to appear, but there was something off about them...they had white fur, but their faces were full of anger and rage at them, as though they had intruded upon their territory uninvited...
"...is it just me, or are those monkeys...off...somehow..." Godou could not help but to comment, as even he could tell there was something not right about this area. Then as if to confirm his statement, the voice of the one they had just fled suddenly sounded out, but it was quickly clear it was not from anywhere nearby...
"Attention my subjects! There are intruders in my domain! Kill them, and do not let them get away!"
...which caused them to suddenly understand...why there were no people around...why nobody seemed to be even in the immediate area around the Saitenguu...these monkeys…
"...my heavens...these are the people caught up in [Sun Wukong]'s divine aura...as the Monkey King, his subjects are all monkeys, so he turned all the people in the area he manifested into the very monkeys he reigns over as their king..." Oda's rather shocked statement caused all eyes to widen in slight horror. Not only had he possessed Hikari, but he had even turned these innocent people into monkeys just by his presence alone turning the area into his territory...no wonder the Committee went to such lengths to keep him sealed...Just by existing in the world he causes trouble, and his antics and mischief as a trickster only makes it worse to deal with…
"Oh, so you managed to figure it out? Well, it doesn't matter...let's see how well you can hold out when you all seem to hesitate to hurt humans, when your enemies are formerly your own fellow humans." The Monkey King declared with far too much glee than should be said about killing, and the transformed monkeys seemed to begin to follow their King's commands...
"...hey, can any of you stop this many opponents without killing them?" Godou asked those gathered…
"...If I had another set of concussion grenades, I could...but I used up all of the ones I had on me for that surprise flash bomb I left the Monkey King...if I had more, I would have been using them already..." Reki shamelessly admitted to what he would have done, but did not have the means to do it anymore. That surprise bomb he put together for [Sun Wukong] was something he and his King came up with as a way to control the flow of a battle by literally stunning and incapacitating even a divinity for at least a minute, but to do that he had to use every one of the grenades he brought with him to make it work long enough to actually have any useful effect. He could make more, but he needed to find the right materials in order to do that, and they don't have that luxury right now.
"...My master could probably hold them off on her own, but this many for me...not possible..." Linghua states with absolute confidence in his sworn liege while simultaneously admitting his own weakness.
"...if it were just around a dozen, I could probably do so...but against thirty of them at minimum...it would be unavoidable to do it without killing a few of them in the process..." Illya admits. While she might not have any problems with killing, being her father's daughter, she still wants to try to avoid killing needlessly as her brother stated her papa and he both try to do everything they can to minimize the number of deaths as much as possible...idly she realizes that he is really starting to rub off on her...and that Shirou might be more like her papa than even she was…
"I can get us away using my [flying] magic, but I need you all to buy me as much time as you can. It will take a few minutes at minimum...try to stall for time." Liliana stated, while she closed her eyes and the fairy knight began to concentrate on her spell.
While she was doing that, Erica wasn't even waiting for them to finish speaking, she was already chanting her own spell words...and conjured a wall of flames to surround them and keep the transformed monkeys back. When she finished her spell, the Diavollo Rosso turned to the rest of the group and smiled proudly, but with exhaustion hidden behind her eyes. The monkeys had tried to attack through the flames, but were forced to flee when the few who tried were burned for their efforts. She needed to rest, and soon. She would be of no help to anyone if she were to collapse from sheer exhaustion and running out of magical energy...
"That should buy us a few minutes for Lili to finish her spell… now we should-"
*HORARARARARARAROOAAARRRR*
A very primal roar reminiscent of an ape suddenly tore through the forest behind the monkeys...and out came three larger monkeys than the others. But unlike the others, these were at least three meters tall, had red fur, and gave off a divine aura: a divine beast...this was bad...the Divine beasts simply walked up to the wall of flames, and proceeded to walk unimpeded through them, the heat of the flames not even phasing them in the slightest. They needed a way to deal with these things, but they couldn't focus on the moneys and the divine beasts both, not with as many of them here as there were...
"If you all need me to, I could probably lure one of these big guys and a number of these monkeys away to ease the burden. I would simply have to meet back up with you guys later, as I can guarantee I will be doing the second I can shake them off my trail." Linghua states, catching a few of them off-guard by his statement. If he was capable of dealing with decoy duty, but not fighting them head on, then he could have just said so.
"Do it, but be careful. The last thing I think we need is an angry God-slayer like the Empress of the Martial Realm thinking we abandoned her best student and loyal pupil to die simply to save our own hides. If you manage to slip away, then meet back up with us, you got it?" Reki all but ordered the Chinese boy, and Linghua simply smiled with something of a carefree crooked grin and a mock salute before he took off. True to his word, he got one of the Divine Beasts and a large group of the now-monkeys to follow after him, but there were still two of them and a few of the transformed-humans as well for them to deal with.
"Reki-san and Aya-san can deal with one of the Divine Beasts. I'll take the other one. The rest of you all try to keep Kusanagi-san and Liliana-san safe. She's our way out of here, but Kusanagi-san is the only one here currently able to take on [Sun Wukong], but he is injured and in need of rest. Don't let him fight until he's fully healed." Illya's stern voice and dead serious tone catches the King of Ruin's entourage off-guard, but the Kurogane siblings and Oda are both aware of what she was planning to do, and nodded in agreement with the plan of action.
"Right/Got it." The Kurogane siblings say at the same time, while the Kuhoutsuka heiress simply nods her head silently in the affirmative. Illya starts to walk up to one of the Divine Beasts while the Kurogane siblings do the same with the other. Aya pulls her newly made [Delphine] out while her brother draws his twin pistols, [Desperado] and [Pactio]. As for Illya, it's time for her to field test her little pet project she had Shirou help her with, with a deep breath, she simply says a single word, just one little word, but that one word causes an occurrence which resulted in sending shock-waves through the world…
"Berserker!"
A/N: Dun dun duuuuuun! It's the dreaded Cliffhanger! I don't think you all need me to tell you all this, but if you all read Macus Galen Sand's GSBW, then you all would most likely know what Illya summoned, and what it really was. As for any flamers for the action being delayed, I will be showing you some of what the actual combat abilities of Shirou and Godou's respective entourages next update.
And to all of you all who have been bugging me about it, I will now give you guys a servant stat sheet for Reki. Hopefully this will give you guys an idea of how strong he would have become as a servant and to calm your raging about the harem lists for the fic.
Name: Dragoon Commander Kurogane Reki, The Phantom Bullet of Black Steel
Possible Classes: Archer, Assassin, Rider, Caster
Strength: B+
Agility: A
Mana: A+ (due to his status as a resurrected soul via the Third Magic, his magical output is essentially limitless, but due to the fact that he has a limited number of capabilities for his vast reserves output, it will never reach EX rank)
Magic Resistance: C- (Since Campioneverse mages do not seem to be capable of actually properly training this particular skill, it's rather low, despite being a highly skilled and trained mage himself)
Endurance: C++ (due partially for the same reason as his mana, he has gotten a boost in endurance, but since he is mostly a ranged fighter, his overall toughness and such are still rather lackluster as far as Servant levels go)
Luck: C
Noble Phantasm: E~A (this is due to the varying level of the applications of his abilities and their versatilities. He can be anywhere from as strong as an anti-unit or even an anti-army type depending on the situation, weapons currently in his possession, or even the skillset he is currently operating under as a Servant class)
Noble Phantasm List:
Desperado: The Last Stand
Rank: C-A Type: Anti-unit/Anti-Army Range: 1-500 Target: 1-500
This particular weapon is the one that survived his last stand against the god which caused his first death and achieved a miracle of saving everybody with only his own demise that day. He can still use it's special attack without dying, but if he is hurt badly enough, then using it in such a state would be suicidal, as it's a self-sacrificing attack. It can inflict a massive burst with the power of a magical railgun with all the power he can muster behind it, but the backlash would be just as bad as the force exerted, as well as leave him vulnerable for several minutes and open to any counter attacks should it fail. Truly an attack of pure desperation used solely as an absolute last resort.
Pactio: The Undying Oath
Rank: B Type: Support/Anti-platoon Range: 1-500 Target: 1-250
This pistol is the replacement for the white one he lost when he died. He made it of the same design as it's predecessor when Shirou brought him back from the dead through the Third Magic after he swore himself to his King's service of his own accord, and named it as such in response to the loyalty he feels towards Shirou. Unlike it's original's twin, this white pistol is more for using support type magic bullets imbued with healing, enhancing, or even detrimental effects to those he shoots with it. It can soften up the enemies he shoots with it or heal allies with a magic bullet filled with curative properties.
Black Bullet Requiem: The Resolute Man's Last Stand
This is Reki's Reality Marble. While he can never fully manifest his into the world like Shirou has, can, and will do, he can partially use it to summon a wall of firearms of various sizes and calibers to bombard an area targeted by him with a barrage of bullets and carnage, firing-squad style. Each and every barrel is fully under his control, and he can will whether or not they fire simultaneously or not and shoot them with his special magic bullets while firing independently from the rest. It is named the last stand because he only ever uses it whenever he is drawing the line and flat out refuses to budge from that spot and let anything behind him be taken away or harmed, even if it means dying to protect it. He only ever used it a few times prior to being resurrected by Shirou, but every time he did, he was left in a very bad state afterwards. It was thanks to this downside he developed his own unique version of Battle Continuation, which allowed him to at least keep himself from dying of his self-inflicted wounds long enough to get help.
Skills List:
Mind's Eye(True) B Rank: Reki's special circumstances of battling in a world still in the Age of Gods has resulted in him awakening his mind's eye in the rather most auspicious of ways, due to him being in constant combat for so long against both mages of the Supernatural side and criminals of the mundane side. He began to start seeing the best possible paths to victory, as long as he had even a 1% chance of victory, he could turn it into a 100% chance guarantee. At this rank, his minds eye can also give him the best possible path to success in not only combat, but thanks to his rather odd circumstances in his everyday life growing up as a result of living in an Age of the Gods that adapted to the modern era, it has also allowed him to see potential consequences of any actions he takes, be they good or bad, as a form of bastardized clairvoyance, similar to how Shirou's started doing after he became a Campione.
Hawkeye B Rank: Due to Reki's preference for ranged combat, he has developed rather exceptional eyesight bested only by the divine, or their mortal enemies, the God-slayers. Whenever he uses his preferred method of combat utilizing ranged firearms, he has a ridiculous level of skill and accuracy, matched and bested only by his sworn King's skill in archery and accuracy with a bow. And that was before he developed the signature bullet that earned him his title of the 'Phantom Bullet of Black Steel'.
Item Creation A Rank: Due to his family background at crafting magical tools, and his own innovations at the field of magical crafting, Reki's knowledge of crafting mystical tools and arcane artefacts is by far the very best and pinnacle of what a mortal human mage could ever hope to achieve. As one who even pioneered a few completely original spells and strategies for some rather creative uses for already preexisting ones, he is by far the greatest genius of arcane crafting to have been born in at least three centuries.
Presence Concealment A- Rank: Due to the nature of some of the jobs he took as a mercenary when he was still alive and the Dragoons were still in their infancy, he had to take certain jobs that required him to use stealth to shadow his clients for bodyguard duty, or track down targets for capture in hostile territory without raising alarms. Due to this, he has gained a knack for sneaking around virtually unnoticed and whenever he doesn't want you to know he was there, you wouldn't unless he wanted you to know. At this rank, he can even sneak around a battlefield virtually unnoticed, so long as his enemies aren't too alert to his presence.
Riding B- Rank: Due to his penchant for traveling abroad a lot for work and love for combining modern technology with mystical arts more than most mages, he has a deep and intricate understanding of machinery and motorized transportation, especially a particular fondness for modifying his own personal motorcycle he had with some aftermarket upgrades he installed which were not exactly legal in most countries, but he had gotten a special permit for their installation and use as a result of the services the Dragoons tended to do for the UN back when he was still alive. Only one time did he ever get into legal trouble for them, and that was because a bunch of Mafioso from a small time crime family with ties to the mystic community in Italy tried to pose as law enforcement and got their asses handed to them for the blatant attempt at trying to chop up his ride with him catching them in the act and stopping them as they tried and failed.
Unique Skills:
Dead Man's Stand A-Rank: Reki's own unique form of Battle Continuation he created in response to the drawbacks from using his [Black Bullet Requiem], he can essentially keep fighting unless his body is either destroyed completely or runs out of magical energy to maintain it's effects. Since he now possesses near limitless mana due to revival by the Third Magic, the only way to stop him when he uses it is to destroy his body completely, as the form of the spell he uses also gives him a self-regenerating and revitalizing effect for his body, allowing him to keep himself from damaging his body too much, healing his wounds in the process and even reducing the amount of damage he has taken up until it's deactivation. The second he deactivates it, however, the accumulated pain and damages his body suffered will hit him like ton of bricks, and leave him unable to move much on his own for about a week while his body recuperates afterwards.
Derfreshietze: This is the unique and original magic bullet from which Reki earned his infamous title, 'Phantom Bullet of Black Steel', and named in homage to the tale of the marksman of the same name, it is a magic bullet which homes in on any target Reki fires it at by magically locking onto their specific signature, be it their body heat, or even their mystic presence, or any other defining signature to distinguish them, and will never stop chasing them until it hits them. Reki can even combine the enchantments for this particular signature bullet of his with his other specialty ammunition, creating bullets that will always hit their marks, and never miss, just like this special bullet's namesake. To this day, he has a 100% bullseye record with this particular magic bullet, as there has never been anyone who could manage to outwit a bullet capable of tracking their specific signatures. There have been numerous attempts to this day to recreate the enchantments, and so far, nobody has ever managed to recreate the secret he used to make it, as he had no desire to pass it on to anybody he felt unworthy, and only found one he felt was...
And that's Reki's Servant Stat Sheet. I hope this can satisfy you guys for a bit and answer any questions you have about why Reki could possibly be a Heroic Spirit if he didn't seem to qualify as anything other than a wraith at best.
Next Chapter, I might even give you all an idea of what Reki's Reality Marble looks like, as yes, he has one, he just does not have a full-blown unlocked one like Shirou's. Until Next Chapter, PEACE OUT!