Disclaimer: I do not own the Fate franchise it belongs to Kinoko Nasu and Type-Moon. I also do not own the Megami Tensei franchise, it belongs to Atlus.

Aftermath

Chapter 27

Cold liquid splashed and bubbled as a nude, feminine form was dropped into the operating medium. Dark hair trailed mane-like behind the unconscious young woman's head, individual strands floating and waving through the liquid as she drifted with the inertia of being flushed from her regeneration capsule. Then she slowed, the viscosity and density of the operating medium sapping her inertia, until finally, she floated in the liquid, still and silent.

Nor was there any danger of her drowning either. The young woman being unconscious meant that her gag reflex was suppressed, allowing the operating medium to flood into her airways, and directly provide oxygen to her lungs. The medium also kept her clean and sterile, allowing for deeply-invasive operations to be performed with ease and at length.

"Rin Tohsaka's regeneration cycle is complete." A computerized voice spoke. "The ascension procedure will now commence as planned."

Bright green lasers flashed from all sides of the tank, sweeping over Rin's body again and again. With each and every sweep, they gained millimeter-precise data about her, growing deeper and more comprehensive with every scan. Combined with the data obtained from her time in a regeneration capsule, it wouldn't be long before a technical readout of Rin's body became available, accurate to a degree of 99.9999999%.

It took over an hour to finish, and then only a few minutes for laser-cooled supercomputers to process the technical readout. "Data collection and analysis complete." The computerized voice repeated. "Proceeding to neural enhancement and augmentation."

Mechanical arms unfolded from the walls of the tank, and moved towards Rin. Some gently but firmly restrained her, while others unfolded a myriad array of tools, including a pair of syringes filled with blue liquid. They jabbed into her neck, punching into the blood vessels leading to the brain, and emptied their contents into Rin's bloodstream.

Nano-machines and molecular raw materials in suspension form flowed with Rin's blood to her brain, the suspension medium dissolving by the time they reached their destination. The Nano-machines immediately got to work, some reconstructing Rin's neural pathways and building new ones, while others used the raw materials they were provided to build synthetic augmentations fused into her brain at the cellular level. The biggest of those was a sloping, shell-like augmentation over her cortex, while another augmentation pushed into the heart of her cerebellum and interfaced with it. Two more augmentations pushed into her cortex from the sides, and prodded outwards, through her skull and temples.

More syringes plunged into Rin's veins, injecting growth accelerant and viral vectors into her bloodstream. They modified Rin's DNA, augmenting her immune system and regeneration, and preventing them from targeting her augmentations, all in a matter of hours.

Then blades were unsheathed, cutting into Rin's back. An incision at the back of her head exposed the augmentation built into her cerebellum, to which additional parts were integrated, including an external port.

More interfaces were fused down the length of her spine, all with external ports protruding outwards, even as flesh and skin were fused back together. The mechanical surgeons continued their work, delicately cutting into Rin's flesh across her body, carefully cutting out nerves and magic circuits before replacing them with synthetic substitutes, the latter's replacements forming circuit board-like patterns over her skin.

"Authorization received." The computerized voice spoke a day into the procedure. "Commencing integration of proto-evolutionary matrix into the subject."

Seed crystals were now implanted into Rin's body at various places, including one in her heart, as a contingency should more be needed for her to fulfill her proper role in the grand design. Altogether, it took days to finish, and then the mechanical surgeons were withdrawing back into their places in the walls, leaving Rin to float, still and silent, in the liquid.

"Augmentation procedure has been completed." The computerized voice spoke. "Commencing construction of dermal armor and interface."

Blue lasers lanced down into the tank, and traced the contours of Rin's body. They transmuted the operating medium, forging it at the molecular level, and over the next day, constructed a dark-colored, skintight bodysuit over Rin's body, stronger than diamond but smoother and more flexible than rubber or leather. And where it met the circuitry on Rin's skin, additional transmutations took place, matching circuitry appearing on the skinsuit, and interfacing with one another.

"Dermal armor and interface construction complete." The computerized voice spoke. "Commencing installation of optical interface."

The mechanical arms unfolded again, and restrained Rin. Then the tank began to drain, the viscous operating medium gurgling and bubbling as it funneled into drains for disposal and recycling, until Rin hung suspended in the air, breathing weakly through her nose and mouth.

Then a mechanical arm gently but firmly pulled her head back, the young woman's eyes fluttering in the harsh, sterile, white light of the operating tank. All the while another mechanical arm was descending down, carrying with it a smoothly-curving visor, clearly meant to fit around the upper part of Rin's face, obscuring her eyes behind it.

Rin didn't resist as the visor was placed over her eyes, or the stinging jolt as the visor interfaced and fused with the nub-like augmentations in her temples. "Optical interface has been installed." The computerized voice spoke. "Commencing conceptual realignment and mental and psychological reconstruction."

Cables snaked out from the walls, and then plugged themselves one by one into the ports built and installed into Rin's back. The young woman jolted repeatedly as they plugged themselves into her.

Then her circuitry flickered weakly, before steadily lighting up with blue light. A groove cut horizontally across the center of her visor and running along its length flashed, and then stayed lit.

"System connections all green." The computerized voice spoke. "Proceeding with conceptual realignment and mental and psychological reconstruction."

"…so…I just go through there." Sakura remarked.

"Yes." Louis said with a nod, both of them looking at a circular portal of inky black. Both Luvia and Shirou were nearby, the latter looking rather anxious and apprehensive. "Remember, once you go in, you can't go back until you finish the trials."

"Win or die, huh?" Sakura asked. "Sounds just about right."

"Now wait just a minute!" Shirou interrupted. "I don't like this at all! Mister Ciphre…don't you think there's anything wrong with you sending Sakura on something that could end up killing her? I mean…I know she needs to do this, but still: she's your daughter! And…"

"It's my choice, sempai." Sakura interrupted, and walking over to Shirou. "I have to do this. You know it, and you even said it. So please…don't make any more of a fuss. Just…believe in me…wait for me…and I'll come back for sure. Please…"

Shirou stared into Sakura's eyes for a long time, and let out a deep breath. "This isn't right." He said.

"No, it isn't." Sakura agreed. "The right thing would be to wait, let my powers grow normally, and not force them like this. But…I need to do this."

"…good luck." Shirou said, and pulling Sakura into a hug. "We'll be waiting. Me…Luvia…Fuji-nee…even everyone in the Pixie Forest. So…until we meet again…stay safe."

Sakura smiled and hugged Shirou back. "Thanks, sempai." She said, before pulling back and looking at Luvia, who smiled at her.

"We must rise and fall on our own merits." She said. "Therefore, whether you succeed or not entirely depends on you. Remember that!"

"Astraea has a point." Louis said, putting his hands on his daughter's shoulders. "I can't tell you what you will face, but I can tell you this: the only way you'll succeed, is if you believe in yourself. So long as you do…well, you have everything you need."

"I know, dad." Sakura said, and hugging her father who hugged her back. "Thank you…for everything…"

Louise pressed a kiss to the top of Sakura's head, and then letting her go, stood aside. Sakura took a deep breath, and then walking forward, crossed the portal. There was an instant of complete, absolute darkness, as though it weren't just the absence of light but a thing in itself, along with a sensation of infinite distance and speed…

…and then Sakura stepped out onto snowy ground, the portal closing behind her.

"This is…" she murmured, looking around her at an empty, ruined city. The buildings were all falling down, the concrete crumbling and the metal rusting away, and no matter where she looked, each and every window was nothing but broken glass.

There was life though, grass and trees, but no animals. No rats, no birds…

…nothing…certainly not people either.

"Where am I?" Sakura asked, turning around her on her feet. "What happened here?"

"Hey there, little sis."

Sakura whirled at the voice, and settled her eyes on a dark-haired, Japanese boy of her age, sitting on a broken pillar. He was barefoot and bare-chested, his modesty preserved only by a torn pair of jeans. But that wasn't what caught her attention. No, what her attention were his glowing golden irises, and a very familiar set of tattoos covering his body.

That, and he called her his little sister.

…

…

…

…

…

It made sense once she thought about it. This must be another Demi-Fiend, a Human given demonic power by means of magatama, the way she once had been before reality had been reshaped, and her power had belonged to her from the moment of her conception.

"So…I'm guessing dad was the one who gave you your first magatama?" Sakura asked.

"Technically, he made them all." The other Demi-Fiend replied with a smile, before hopping down from the broken pillar. "I'm Naoki Kashima, pleased to meet you."

"And I'm Sakura Matou, pleased to meet you." Sakura said with a smile. "If I might ask though, didn't dad ever offer you the choice of becoming…well, a natural half-demon?"

"No, he didn't." Naoki said with a shrug. "That means I have to divide my time between the Expanse and the mortal plane to keep things in balance. It's a pain but…no offense, but I'm doing just fine with my Human parents…"

"…lucky you…" Sakura sourly remarked, and causing Naoki to smile sympathetically.

"…so I'm fine with being…I don't know, adopted, I guess? By the old man, that is."

Sakura shrugged. "Fair enough," she said. "Your life, your choices. Not my place to tell you what to do…"

"…unless it gets in your way…" Naoki interrupted with a smirk.

"…but that's still not me telling you what to do…" Sakura shot back with a matching smirk.

"…it's just that what we want are at odds…" Naoki continued.

"…and unless we can come to an arrangement…" Sakura continued.

"…then we'll have to see who's abler at getting what they want." The siblings chorused, and then burst out laughing for several moments.

"We should get together sometime." Sakura said. "I'm sure we'll get along just fine."

"Oh I'm sure we will." Naoki agreed, before taking a deep breath. "But right now…I've got to test you."

"I figured it was something like that." Sakura said with a deep breath of her own. "Okay…what do I need to?"

"Show me what you've got." Naoki said, cracking his neck and stretching his limbs. "Shall we take a warm up run?"

"Eh?"

Air was visibly displaced and stone shattered as Naoki broke the sound barrier in an instant, zooming past a surprised Sakura, and leaving clouds of dust in his wake, the ground breaking under his feet. Sakura blinked, then looked behind her, and around at the weeds and grass poking through the ruined pavement crumbling to ash from the heat caused by Naoki's passing.

"It's so on." Sakura said, crouching down before kicking off, and once again the sound barrier was broken. Sweeping across the city, she quickly accelerated to twice the speed of sound, then to five, and finally seven times the speed of sound. "NAOKI!"

"Not bad, sis!" Naoki shot over his shoulder as Sakura caught up to him. "But let's take it up a notch!"

Then he accelerated to nine times the speed of sound, then ten, and finally twenty. Growling in her throat, Sakura matched his speed, but as they dashed over the ocean, leaving plumes of spray and steam in their wake, a thought occurred to her.

Why couldn't she move faster than him?

Smirking, Sakura accelerated to twenty-five times the speed of sound, and overshot her brother. She threw him a smirk over a shoulder…

…Naoki went to light-speed.

"WHAT?" Sakura exploded as Naoki sped past her again and again, only her inhuman eyesight able to glimpse him at such speed. That, and his smirk. "YOU ARE SO ON, NII-SAN!"

Speeding up, Sakura accelerated further, reaching 0.05 C…

…and then she cried out, stumbling and nearly falling as burning pain erupted in her legs, protesting such an extreme push of her limits. "This is too much…" she reflexively thought. "…I can't…NO! I can't think like that! I mustn't think like that! I won't think like that! I won't let it end like this! I can't stop here! I won't stop here! I won't! I'll go further! FASTER! AS FAST AS I WANT!"

The burning pain vanished, replaced by overwhelming energy welling up from inside of her, and roaring in defiance, Sakura sped up. 0.1 C…0.2 C…0.25 C…0.5 C…

…and then light-speed.

"Hey!" Sakura grinned, speeding up behind Naoki as they ran around the world multiple times in just one second. True, their sheer speed was setting everything on fire, but right now, the two didn't seem to notice, much less care.

"Hey!" Naoki shot back over a shoulder. "Looks like you've warmed up…so let's get real, shall we?"

"Huh?"

Naoki jumped up and off the ground, the force enough to shatter the continental plate they were running on at the time. Sakura cried out in surprise as she lost her footing, falling and flailing around as the continent collapsed around her, fire erupting from beneath. Then her eyes widened, as she spotted Naoki twisting around high in the stratosphere above, a hand held as though it were a gun pointing down at her.

"Pierce!" he said.

Sakura's eyes widened, and she only narrowly avoided the attack lancing down past her. It plowed through the planet's mantle, turning countless units of rock and magma into vapor, and displacing more into a plume of ruined planetary matter that blasted out of the atmosphere and into space. And still Naoki's attack kept going, turning the molten metal of the planet's outer core to vapor, before shattering the crystalline iron of the inner core.

Even then, it still kept going, boring through the mantle and crust on the other side, before blasting out into space.

This version of the planet Earth was gutted, earthquakes and volcanic eruptions going out of control as the planet tore itself apart. Then more explosions erupted across the dying planet, Naoki and Sakura fighting amidst the ruins, the force of their blows and their power clashing against each other displacing continents' worth of matter around them.

Naoki pressed the offensive, wildly raining blows down on Sakura, who blocked with her forearms and either punching or kicking back whenever the opportunity arose. That, or she opened the distance, firing nameless blasts of light or sheer Almighty power that Naoki either avoided or tanked, the heat and other energies being released by the planet's death affecting neither of them, immune as they were to such a 'normal' element as fire or heat.

Then Naoki feinted, and threw a solid right hook with a roar, his fist shimmering with Almighty power. Sakura crossed her arms and took it head on…

…and shouting in shock and surprise, was sent flying at four times the speed of light, and completing the destruction of the planet. As she blasted through space from the force of her brother's attack, she displaced the surrounding matter, turning the corpse of this version of the planet Earth into an expanding (and dispersing) ring of debris across the surrounding space.

Seeing stars and with her ears ringing, Sakura couldn't stop herself from flying through space, only her inhuman nature letting her avoid getting killed by the force of her brother's blow, or asphyxiating in the emptiness of space. She didn't know how long she flew through space…

…but then she eventually landed, or more accurately, crashed into solid ground, with enough force to visibly crater and shake Mercury's surface. Coughing and wiping at her mouth, Sakura struggled to her feet, shaking her head to clear the stars and ringing.

Then the ground shook as Naoki landed nearby, and closing the distance, threw another hook at Sakura. Sakura caught it, followed by his other fist. The two of them struggled against each other, the waves of their power splashing against each other and around them sending cracks through the planet and beginning to shake Mercury apart.

Naoki grinned as Sakura snarled at him, her expression near-feral and her mismatched eyes glowing with inhuman power. "That's it, little sis." He urged it on. "It's all in you! Let it out! LET IT ALL OUT! OR I'LL DRAG IT OUT FOR YOU!"

Roaring in his turn, Naoki shoved his sister's guard open, and grabbing her body, suplexed her into Mercury so hard it shattered the planet. Then he kicked her away, at two thousand times the speed of light, towards the Sun.

Then roaring in berserk fury, Naoki closed the distance, and delivered a punch that Sakura again caught on her forearms.

The displaced Almighty power didn't just blow away the Sun. It blew away the entire Sol System, from the crumbling ruins of Mercury, to the frozen comets of the Oort Cloud. It also sent Sakura flying, eight thousand times the speed of light, all the way across interstellar space.

Gasping and heaving (despite the complete lack of air in space), Naoki narrowed his eyes as reason reasserted itself. "Come on, little sis." He thought. "That's not all you've got. Come on! You're even more dad's kid than I am! Show me your power! Use it! Become an Anti-Christ and Messiah all at once! Like me! Like Aleph and Flynn and everyone else! Come on, Sakura!"

Sakura was in pain. Her arms had been broken in several places, and her skin and flesh burned from the corrosive effect of her brother's power.

But pain was something she was long used to. Long before her father had reclaimed her, even…

…enough so that she could think clearly despite any extent of pain. No…pain wasn't an obstacle for her. Not really…

…not now…

…not ever again.

"Come on…" she growled, as she forced the power inside of her to come out, all but literally boiling it in her veins, to heal her injuries and give her what she needed to fight her brother. To force him to acknowledge her. To show her the next step on this journey.

Bones knitted back together. Dead flesh sloughed off, replaced by pink and healthy meat. Skin sealed them all in, and Sakura clenched her fists, releasing her power and shaping it to slow and stop her, before using it to find her brother. "LET'S GO, NII-SAN!" she roared, before kicking off and flashing in his direction.

No…this was beyond speed…

…time and space tore apart at her power, allowing her to close the distance at the speed of thought.

"NOT GOOD ENOUGH, SAKURA!" Naoki roared, his voice alone ripping apart time and space, and buffeting Sakura back. "TAKE THIS: GAEA RAGE!"

A blazing whirlwind of Almighty power erupted around Naoki, expanding at the speed of thought and consuming stars and clusters within the blink of an eye, until the entire Milky Way was no more at the next glance. "…you're not dead, Sakura." Naoki growled as he drifted down to stand, unconcerned and expectant, on Sagittarius A*'s event horizon. A random thought told Naoki that the sight or even knowledge of such a feat would amuse a certain busybody physicist, but he didn't care much for that right now. "Come on, let's finish this. Once and for all."

"I couldn't agree more." The response came impossibly fast, across millions of light-years, Naoki turning to see his sister similarly standing on the event horizon of the supermassive black hole at Andromeda's heart. Reality flickered around her, Almighty welling out as though from an infinite source.

Naoki smiled at the sight. "Let's go." He said.

"Yeah!" Sakura shot back.

Then time and space tore, as the two Anti-Christs/Messiahs traversed millions of light-years in a thought, their fists slamming against each other with enough force to displace the dark matter skeleton of the intergalactic void. Recoiling, they closed in again in another thought, the explosion of Almighty power as they blocked each other's blows shattering this realm of existence, an entire universe tearing apart with every blow, leaking energies both real and unreal into the Expanse.

Naoki punched Sakura in the face. Sakura punched him back. A knee to the gut doubled her over, and then a blow to the back of the head brought her down.

Sakura rolled back to her feet across space and time, and sweeping Naoki's legs out from under him. She stomped down, but Naoki rolled clear, and then up to his feet.

"SAKURA!" Naoki roared, as he charged in, fist drawn back.

"NAOKI!" Sakura roared back, as she also charged in, fist drawn back.

The roar of the Anti-Christs/Messiahs echoed across infinity, followed by the light of nothing less than a Big Bang, as both their fists landed right where they wanted them.

Pressurized air hissed as they lifted the operating table up to standing position. Restraints broke open, allowing Rin to step forward and stand on the ground with her own power. Mechanical arms reached out towards her, and she held her arms out in response.

Darkly-finished metal sealed around her, additional armor to protect her critical areas. Her chest and torso, her back as well, though with allowances for her spinal ports. Her feet and legs, her forearms and elbows. Last was a heavy backpack, plugged directly into her spine, incorporating a virtual particle drive, and featuring a pair of folding wings for flight.

Rin's visor flashed, and more circuitry lit up across her armor. Behind her, her particle drive lit up, not quite coming to life, but primed to do so at any time she needed it to.

"Where are you going?" Raphael asked, walking out of the shadows, and circling his newest champion while sweeping her with judging eyes.

"To the Pure and Perfect World of Unblemished White." Rin replied in a cold, detached, and emotionless voice.

"What do you want?" Raphael asked again.

"To serve in and fulfill my role in the grand design of creation." Rin replied, still with that cold, detached, and emotionless voice.

"Who are you?" Raphael asked a third time.

"I am the Saint of Jewels." Rin – no, not Rin anymore, the Saint of Jewels – answered.

Raphael smiled. "Who do you trust?" he finally asked.

"I put my faith in our Lord and Creator." The Saint of Jewels replied.

Raphael smiled wider, and watching through their cameras, the Three Wise Men similarly smiled and nodded with approval around their table. Nearby, Gabriel watched with an unreadable expression on her face.

Raphael gestured imperiously. "Then go forth, Saint of Jewels!" he commanded. "In the Name of the Lord and Creator, the One True God, go, and join the Heavenly Host! Cleanse the accursed and defiled land of the east, where the Child of the Fallen One was born and dwelt, and remove the blemish they and theirs inflict upon Creation!"

"By His Name it will be done." The Saint of Jewels said. Armored doors slid open, and with a purposeful and unhesitating stride, the Saint of Jewels sallied forth.

And as the Three Wise Men conferred once more among themselves, Gabriel turned away, righteous wrath boiling beneath her calm façade.

"Abomination…" she thought with revulsion.

A/N

And then there were three: Luviagelita Edelfelt, the Avatar of Astraea, the Star Maiden Incarnate. Rin Tohsaka, the Saint of Jewels, Champion of Law. And Sakura Matou, Child of the Fallen One, the Anti-Christ (Messiah).