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 28

Luvia was busy taking tea inside of her mansion, having just reviewed a new series of dispatches from London. Things were heating up, apparently, with only the twin incarnations of King Arthur Pendragon keeping the situation from exploding. And even then, they couldn't be everywhere at once, so much so that it was no longer a question of if the Coalition and the Alliance would come to blows, but when.

Even more so, as the continental lords were already starting to realize that they had no obligation, whether feudal or historical, to obey either or both of King Arthur's incarnations. That both incarnations had refused to formally reclaim the British Throne despite strong support for such among the magi, the common citizens, the government, and even the nobility and the surviving members of the House of Windsor, further tarnished the incarnations' image to the continental lords and magi.

"Fools…" Luvia thought. "…and they're supposed to be magi? Seekers of Truth and Knowledge? Ha! Not when they're unable to see beyond the form on the surface and into the essence beneath, they aren't!"

Luvia took a sip of her tea…

…and then blinking at the growing sense of danger marked by the hair on the back of her neck beginning to rise on end, Luvia rose to her feet. "Is something the matter, my lady?" her maid on duty asked in concern.

"Get everyone inside the shelter, now." Luvia ordered in a soft-spoken tone that nonetheless brooked no disobedience. The maid bowed low and hurried off, warning her fellow servants who dropped whatever it was they were doing and rushed into the reinforced, underground shelter beneath the mansion, built and rated by both technological and arcane means to survive anything and everything short of a nuclear detonation right on top of the house.

As for Luvia, she rushed outside, and turning her eyes to the skies, gasped in shock and disbelief. Meteors were streaking down from the skies all across Fuyuki City, descending from the heavens on trails of fire.

No, not meteors: angels.

Luvia turned to rush back inside her mansion…

…and then was sent flying as a fireball levelled the place, incinerating the interior and blowing out exterior in a rain of broken masonry, splintered wood, torn metal, and shattered glass. Windows for several meters all around were broken by the force of the explosion, which likewise shook the ground comparable to a low-intensity earthquake.

As the shockwaves dissipated and debris fell all over the yard, fires burning here and there, the Saint of Jewels flew in and hovered high overhead, sparkling light shimmering from her virtual particle drive's exhaust. Hardlight constructs hovered around her, making minute movements as they followed her line of sight, tracking possible targets and ready to lock on with a thought.

The virtual particle drive hummed as the Saint of Jewels descended from the skies, and landed heavily on the ground. Her wings folded into resting position even as her virtual particle drive went into standby. The hardlight constructs from before repositioned themselves around the Saint of Jewels, taking advantage of her wings folding away, and allowing more constructs to flicker into existence nearby. Swords, spears, lances, axes, and even hammers: the constructs all took the form of melee weapons of various kinds.

The Saint of Jewels swept her head back and forth as she walked slowly through the ruined grounds of the Edelfelt property. And then coming to a halt, she turned sharply to one side, not even flinching as a blinding beam of golden light shot in her direction.

Raising a forearm, the Saint of Jewels simultaneously braced herself while erecting a hardlight shield in front of her. The beam struck it with enough force to visibly displace the surrounding air, and then unable to break through her shield, instead forced the Saint of Jewels back, her booted feet driving a trench through the earth. Then through the concrete of the road beyond, then the earth of the property across the street, and the concrete again of said property.

Even as she was blown back through several blocks' worth of houses and roads, the Saint of Jewels never faltered, until at last the beam slackened and died. Predicting her enemy would attempt to close the distance, the Saint of Jewels looked up at the sky, two of her constructs solidifying as celestial crystal filled in their hardlight outlines. Then tracking a blur flying through the sky towards her, the Saint of Jewels launched a pair of jeweled swords to intercept.

Flying at supersonic speeds, they struck with the force of a three-kiloton nuke each, the blast shattering windows and breaking houses all around. Then it was the Saint of Jewels' turn to take to the skies, more celestial crystal filling in the other constructs around her.

Then she rained them down, hammering Luvia's position with the equivalent of tactical nuclear devices. A blur of motion flashed behind the Saint of Jewels, and she allowed herself to fall back, avoiding Luvia's kick while also letting her land a solid blow with her heel to the side of Luvia's head.

Thunder boomed as Luvia was thrown from the sky faster than the speed of sound, her fall cratering the ground in the distance. Grabbing one of her constructs, the Saint of Jewels flourished the weapon as it grew longer and bigger, turning into a longsword that shone with all the colors of the rainbow.

Then brandishing it with one hand, dove down to where Luvia struggled on her back on the ground, the sound of the wind flying over her wings as though the sound of the avenging angels' trumpets on the Day of Jericho.

But Luvia raised her hands, and fired off a blast of golden light that came too fast and too close for the Saint of Jewels to defend against. As she fell from the sky, Luvia struggled to her feet…

…and then coughing, fell to the ground, spitting out blood as more blood flowed from her nose.

"You can't beat her Luvia." Astraea warned. "Not like this."

"Then what do you suggest?" Luvia asked.

"You already know the answer to that." Astraea said with a smile.

"…become the Star Maiden Incarnate in full…" Luvia thought with an underlying hint of anxiety and apprehension. "…from the moment we made our pact, I knew it was inevitable…but still…"

"…afraid of losing who you are, Luvia?" Astraea asked.

"…maybe…"

Astraea laughed, the sound as though of spring water flowing over smooth and moss-grown rock. "No…nothing like that…" Astraea gently said. "…the choice that once made cannot be unmade…shall not take anything from you…you will remain as you are…and as you have always been…"

"…so you've said before…"

"…and as you once believed me." Astraea said. "What has changed?"

"Words are one thing." Luvia admitted. "The reality is something else."

Astraea hummed in concession, even as the Saint of Jewels flew up into the sky high above, and then dove down towards Luvia and Astraea both. Then the latter smiled, and held out her hand.

"Only one way to find out." She said.

Luvia frowned, and in the face of death, conceded the point. "Fair enough." She said, and took Astraea's hand.

In an instant, a blinding pillar of light lanced down from the heavens, and engulfed Luvia in her entirety. The Saint of Jewels was buffeted away by the pillar's displaced air, and as she struggled to stay aloft, showed emotion on her face for the first time since her ascension: frustration.

Again and again, she attempted to approach the pillar, and again and again was rebuffed by both displaced air and the power in the pillar. Then the pillar flickered out…

…and the Saint of Jewels was bowled aside, falling from the sky in an uncontrolled spin, as blue and gold flashed past close to the speed of light.

Angels in wanton slaughter of what they considered to be heathen unbelievers looked up, as golden light arced up into the sky and then down.

Divine flesh turned to ash on crumbling bone as the Star Maiden Incarnate landed in a crouch, resplendent in golden, baroque armor over flowing robes of blue with gold embroidery. Dozens of angels were cast back into the Expanse in a mere instant, and then Luvia was rising to her feet, her eyes blazing pits of golden light.

Angels rushed against her, company upon company seeking to cast down this impudent godling which dared elevate a mere mortal to the ranks of the divine. No, more than that: to stand against the divine purpose, and raise a hand to strike against the Most High's servants.

Death was the least she deserved.

Luvia stepped forward, picking up speed with every step, and then leaping forward, corkscrewed at over eight hundred kilometers per hour, easily comparable to a hypercane, and ripped right through the angels' front line. Then levelling out, she punched a hole clean through a Principality's torso, followed by a Dominion, before holding out her hands and letting loose with a flurry of beams that shot Virtues closing in from all sides to literal bits.

Then slamming a foot down, bleached the colors out of Fuyuki and its environs for a split-second, bringing down a miniature gamma-ray burst to immolate an entire battalion of angels. An enraged Dominion charged at her, accompanied by an honor guard of Virtues, Luvia turning on them after blowing away a pair of Powers.

Closing the distance faster than they expected, Luvia kicked the Dominion all the way out of the planet's atmosphere, immolated the Virtues, before calling down another blast of starlight while wrestling with a Power. Archangels fell to the left and right, and then Luvia broke the Power's back before throwing its corpse away, and immolated another group of Principalities moving to tackle her.

Now catching the attention of the Thrones and Cherubim present, one of the latter pounced on Luvia, who blew it away with a concentrated blast of starlight. A trio of Thrones closed in, but Luvia was still faster. A Throne fell, its neck broken and a hole burned clean through, before Luvia tore the second's head off with an uppercut.

Then she punched the third Throne through its chest, and clutching it by its heart and heedless of the holy fire that passed for the angel's blood, jumped high before bringing the Throne down in the middle of another angelic battalion. Virtues rushed her, but Luvia immolated one before appropriating its sword.

Light flashed and two more Virtues fell headless. Light flashed again, and a Cherub fell, holy fire spurting in gouts from its chest. More and more Dominions threw themselves against her, only to fall, cremated in the fires that passed for their lifeblood while in physical form.

Then turning, Luvia charged the sword she was holding with starlight, and hurled it the Saint of Jewels as she arrived. The Saint of Jewels turned it aside, the sword flying far across the Pacific before impacting and detonating with the force of a fifteen-megaton blast. But in turning it aside, the Saint of Jewels left herself open, allowing Luvia to close the distance.

A punch was dodged, and a body lock with which Luvia could have suplexed her into the ground wriggled out of, the Saint of Jewels spinning through the air to land on her feet. Crystal shone with rainbow-colored light as the Saint of Jewels threw it at Luvia. She similarly turned it aside, the crystal flying across the countryside to detonate in the Kyushu countryside with the force of a one-megaton blast.

The Saint of Jewels continued the bombardment, Luvia turning them aside before a feint allowed a crystal lance to impact against her chest armor. Concentrated at the point of impact, the explosion blew Luvia across half of Fuyuki and cracked her armor open.

Snarling as she leapt to her feet, she materialized a gladius before extending wings of her own, as though of a great eagle. Beating her pinions and rising into the air, Luvia met the Saint of Jewels blade to blade in the sky, but the latter's longsword proved a superior weapon to Luvia's gladius, the Saint of Jewels disarming her in but a couple of strokes before kicking her down to the ground.

Wings beat desperately and righted Luvia before she could strike the ground, and then flying low, skimmed the surface while zigzagging back and forth to throw the Saint of Jewels' aim off. Then rising into the sky, she materialized her own longsword, polished star-metal chased with gold and platinum set with diamonds and sapphires, before again closing with the Saint of Jewels.

The Saint of Jewels fired off another crystal, and then reflexively brought up her sword as Luvia went to near-light-speed. Star-metal ground against celestial crystal, and then with blasts of displaced air, Luvia hammered the Saint of Jewels back with powerful, two-handed strikes, ending with a downward blow that sent the Saint of Jewels flying down with enough force to crater the ground.

Flourishing her sword, Luvia flashed to light-speed, stabbing down into the ground that would have finished off the Saint of Jewels had it connected. But she rolled out of the way in time, spinning away with the displaced air before throwing crystal swords Luvia's way.

Luvia turned one but the other smashed into her armor, sending her flying yet again with another crack splitting across her armor. Landing on her feet and skidding over a dozen meters, Luvia leapt back up into the sky, shattering crystal blades thrown her way before again closing the distance.

Thunderous blasts erupted with every parry as Luvia and the Saint of Jewels crossed blades again and again, high in the skies above Fuyuki.

Louis couldn't help but let one of his eyes twitch in annoyance. Three Seraphs…Raphael had only sent three Seraphs to deal with him. Three Seraphs…any one of Louis' children could handle that with little difficulty (well, probably not Mirai and Setsuna, though if someone sent Seraphs after them, there'd be hell to pay)…and Raphael honestly thought they'd be enough to deal with the likes of him.

Not even Michael would be so insulting. Or Metatron, for that matter. Louis made a mental note to find the time to teach his little brother a lesson in respect.

"TRAITOR," the lead Seraph spat as they surrounded Louis on three sides. "THE TIME FOR YOUR…!"

Root of Chaos

Louis didn't bother to let the Seraphs finish. For an instant, time simply ceased to be, before the lifeblood of the Great Will's masterpiece reasserted itself. But in that timeless instant, all three Seraphs were felled, their physical forms reduced to ruined masses of dead flesh and broken bone, the holy fire that passed for angelic blood reduced to ash that stained their tattered wings.

"Fools," Louis darkly said as he lightly stepped over the corpses, and casting his words into the Expanse. "Have you forgotten to whom you speak? What the Great Will granted me at the instant of my creation? And which I possess even to this very moment? Remember, and know better. Consider this a mercy on my part."

Pausing, Louis turned to regard the battle raging across the city. Japanese soldiers and militia were struggling to fight back, to no effect against Raphael's troops. The Ring of Gaia was doing their best, but while they had a fighting chance against angels ranked as Powers and below, Virtues and higher were simply beyond them.

Fortunately, King Oberon had already taken the field, the diminutive King of the Fairies personally leading his Star Knights into battle. Titania had assembled the spell-casters of the Court of the Fairies, and were raining down elemental spells to support the Star Knights and other fairies heading into battle.

A thundering boom drew Louis' attention, and he narrowed his eyes as he focused on the Star Maiden Incarnate fighting…

…Louis shook his head.

"Tacky…just very tacky, Raphael." He said in disgust as he realized what the Saint of Jewels was, and who it had once been. "Even YHVH could do it better."

Louis then pursed his lips, and considered joining the battle himself. It would end it all at once…

…but as he sensed where Raphael was going, and deduced what his little brother was planning, decided not to.

Each and every last one of us must rise and fall on our own strengths. If I am willing to put my daughter's very existence on the line to ensure she truly earns her power, then how can I do otherwise for you?

Rise…fight…survive…and rise even higher…Shirou Emiya.

Will you simply be Shirou Emiya? Or will you be more? This will be your moment. Prove that you are worthy of my daughter, little Human. Be all and more than you can be!

Sweeping a hand, Louis opened a portal…

…and stepping through, emerged amidst a vast, circular garden. Before him, at the crux of four paths paved with stone flags that headed out in the four cardinal directions, there was a pavilion of white marble, held aloft by pillars spiraled with vines from which sprouted white roses.

More white roses bloomed from verdant bushes lining the paths, and Louis took a brief moment to admire them as he approached the pavilion. "Impossible!" One of the Three Wise Men shouted in disbelief. "How can you…?"

Root of Chaos

Again, time ceased to be for an instant…

…and in the next instant, the pavilion was reduced to rubble, and the Three Wise Men reduced to groaning and moaning on the ground amidst the ruins. And where once their table stood, there was now a throne of gilded wood, upholstered in red and backed by quartz crystals fashioned as though rays shining from the throne.

"Your interference is ill-appreciated." Louis said before sitting on his throne, and stretching out his legs, crossed one over the other. "Still…I can see how it might serve me. And so I will watch, just as you watch, and see how this plays out. And believe me, I have every confidence in my desired outcome being the final result."

Louis paused, and then smirked. "Your outcome though?" he asked mockingly. "Not so much."

Raphael swung his spear, and shattered the golden sword in Shirou's hands. The young man's eyes widened in shock and disbelief…

…and then they bulged out, as Raphael struck as fast as thought, and speared his heart out. "Heathen abomination," the Archangel sneered as he ripped his spear out. "Die, and good riddance."

Taiga screamed at the sight of a pale Shirou falling to his knees and then to the ground, blood pooling around him. And as Raphael turned his judging and merciless gaze on her, a name bubbled out of her subconscious, and one which Taiga bellowed out at the top of her voice.

"SUSANOO!" she screamed.

Pain ignited across her body, as though she were bathing in bubbling-hot water, as ethereal flesh sheathed her all around. No longer was her Persona a mere skeleton floating around and over her, now it was as though a cocoon of flesh shrouding her. Moving faster than the Human eye could follow, she leapt at Raphael, her fist drawn back.

Raphael swung once…

…and Taiga was sent flying, her incomplete Persona sloughing off of her, blood spurting from her slit neck.

"Eh?" she gasped weakly…

…and then she slammed hard against a broken wall, and fell flat and prone on the ground. Blood pooled around her, her ears ringing and then subsiding into near-silence. The world fell away, cold spreading through her limbs and body alike, only the desperate beating of her heart to be heard.

And then…

…silence.

Taiga looked up at the sound of stone crunching under heavy footsteps, eyes widening at the world frozen in time around her…them. For she was not alone, and standing several meters in front of her was a fully-armored samurai, their face hidden behind a fearsome mask.

"Who are you?" Taiga whispered.

"I am you." The samurai answered, in an echoing voice that seemed every so strangely familiar to Taiga. "And you are me."

Taiga's eyes widened again as she made the connection. "…Susanoo." She whispered, as she got up on one knee.

In response, Susanoo tossed her a sword, which Taiga caught with ease. "Prove yourself to me, Taiga Fujimura." Susanoo said while drawing their own sword. "Show me that you are worthy of the power that lies within."

Taiga didn't hesitate. Getting to her feet, she drew her sword, and gripping it two-handed, raised it to her head. The moment stretched, and then shouting out a wordless cry, Taiga charged forward. As she closed, she swung once at Susanoo's head, the Persona blocking and then avoiding the follow-up, counterattacked, locking blades with Taiga.

Then grinding their sword free, Susanoo pressed the attack, Taiga parrying it once more. She did the same for the strike that followed, and then the next.

"Good…good…" Susanoo taunted as their blades met again and again. "…that's it…don't hold back…don't ever hold back…and you might just be worthy after all!"

It's like the Vortex World all over again.

I want to be a hero. To save people. To smile the same way dad smiled all on that day long ago.

But even so…

…I couldn't become a hero. I couldn't save people. I couldn't smile like dad did.

All I could do was look on, and hold the ashes in my hand. The ashes of the world. The ashes of the dead. The ashes of my dreams. Dad's dreams…dad's ideals…

…and in the end, I lost my way too. So desperate to not lose everything, I let the Vortex World get to me, and make an abomination out of everything dad believed in and passed on to me.

Someone else had to set me back on the proper path.

Someone else had to save the world.

Someone else…

…Sakura…

…

…

…

…

….

…no…this can't be it. This just can't be it. I can't stop here! I can't stop now! I can't waste this second chance Sakura gave to me!

I can't leave her or Luvia to face the world…creation…all on their own!

Not now! Not here! Not without having done anything yet! Not without having changed anything at all!

Move! Damn it, move! I SAID MOVE!

Unnoticed by Raphael striding off into the distance, or the hallucinating Taiga struggling to unlock her Ultimate Persona, Shirou's near-lifeless body twitched. Ripples spread through the pooled under and around him, more and more as he twitched again and again, the intervals between every movement growing shorter and shorter with each repetition.

And then Shirou's fingers began to curl, golden light flickering around and arcing between them.

Sakura drifted lazily through hazy clouds of primordial plasma, her inhuman nature protecting her from the unreal realm around her as much as it did from the primordial radiation that came with Baryogenesis, X and Higgs Bosons popping into existence all around her. And in the following instants, they decayed into matter and antimatter, annihilating each other in great bursts of energy that produced yet more X and Higgs Bosons, and starting the cycle all over again.

"Has your head cleared yet?" she asked.

"Mostly…yeah, I think it has." Her brother answered as he too drifted through primordial plasma not far from her.

Sakura and Naoki looked at each other. "What did we just do?" the former asked.

Naoki shrugged. "You passed your trial." He said. "Well, the first part of your trial: The Trial of Power. Up next is the Trial of the Self."

"Okay…and what happens there?"

Naoki tutted, waving a finger in her direction. "Now, that would be cheating." He said. "I can give you a piece of advice, though: just be honest about yourself."

"…thanks."

"No problem."

Sakura laughed, and took a deep breath. The primordial plasma was…weird, but it wasn't so bad. For a half-demon (and Anti-Christ) like her, that is.

"I'm glad," She began. "That my luck with siblings is finally turning around. You know…my half-sister…she liked to think I never existed. And my other adopted brother…he was a rapist and a thug."

"I'm not really a perfect person, you know." Naoki remarked.

"No one's perfect." Sakura agreed. "But somehow…I get the feeling…you're different, and in a better way…to everyone I've ever called brother or sister before."

Naoki snorted and then shrugged. "Thanks." He said. "I'll do my best.'

Sakura laughed. "That's already more than any of my former siblings have ever done." She said.

"Even though I was trying to kill you earlier?"

"Were you? Or were you just trying to…drag, my full power out?"

"…semantics, and you know it."

Sakura shrugged. "Just what did we really do, anyway?" she asked.

"We blew up an entire universe." Naoki said bluntly. "Don't worry, no one was inside it, at least no one sentient. And then we birthed a new one at the end. Our Almighty power splashing around was enough to start a Big Bang, apparently. All this…will one day form stars, planets, galaxies…and life, of course."

"Hmm…glad to see some good will come out of all that effort, and not just in a selfish way."

Naoki chuckled and smiled. "When you put it that way…" he said, before glancing in her direction. She glanced at him too, and after a moment, the two of them shared a laugh.

"Good luck, little sister."

"Thanks, nii-san. And I hope I'll get to see and know you more after this is all done."

"I'm sure we can find the time."

"Then let's."

A/N

And as the trial continues, Raphael makes his move.