AN: Yet another new story in this anthology. My apologies for vanishing for so long, but life decided to rear its head, and until now, I hadn't had the time to write. So I've decided to add another chapter, not to any of the other stories for the moment, but to the Anthology as a whole. Many of you can see my preference for setting the stage Pre-Beacon. Now, we'll explore something a little different. This story takes place… After the Fall.
Beacon has fallen. The greatest light against the darkness that dwelled on Remnant. It was to be the beginning of the end. For some, this was a signal that the times were about to change once more. Remnant, as they knew it, was never going to be the same.
None of these individuals were aware of just how right they were. Some assumed victory would come easily. Some believed they were destined to suffer more. Others were preparing to continue the fight. But deep within Remnant… a force long, long forgotten began to stir.
The powers unleashed at Beacon Academy that day were the final step, and deep beneath the crust of Remnant, an orb began to stir. It's dull white, caked with dust and hidden within the stone. Merely a hundred feet below was magma, that had been unable to melt the stone around this great object. The dust and stone began to chip away, being forced off the surface of this object as it began to glow. White, and bright, yet unseen by all.
The Greater Grail had awakened once more. But this time its purpose was for a very different war. Within this relic forces stirred. This was to be a fight with not the Grail as the prize… the stakes were beyond that.
Gaia was gone, the Counter Force no longer functioned. But the core of this Grail had slumbered for far too long. Even as the white glow began to fade, the core of the Grail had only one thought, its first, and its last in untold years.
"Is this what you wanted… Bazett? Caren?"
Across the world, small lights flickered. None were to be marked with the symbol of a Master, for there was no contest in this war. Only Heroes… but for the twisted mind of the Grail, 'Hero' was a lose word. It was no Counter Force, choosing those who would be perfect. It was no Master, no catalyst to guide its goals. It simply wanted to fulfil a wish… and thus summon what it could.
In the snowy fields of Solitas, a man began trudging through the snow, clad in red and black, with hair as white as the blizzard around him. He marched forward, in search of the meaning behind his existence.
In the lands of the Grimm, a man with black hair, holding a pair of spears stood atop a large crystal, overlooking a field of dark pools. All eyes were on him, the red of blood, and bodies black. He looked upon the castle of crystal, before turning his back, vowing to return.
In the lands of the Faunus, a tall woman with purple hair began to wander the streets. Her short black dear of little note, but her hidden eyes drew attention, the cover over them, and the nails held by chains at her side. Even without sight, she turned, looking towards the sun, curious as to the meaning behind this.
On the Isle of Patch, a woman stumbled forward through the woods, her head hidden by her hood as she continued forward. Weakened, but alive once more. She was slowly approaching a house, hidden in the woods, and before she could reach it, she collapsed, just as a man with hair of gold was coming home, and came towards her.
In the desert of Vacuo, two figures stood together, facing off against each other. A woman wearing a mask like that of a skull, and a man with purple hair, wielding a odachi and clad in eastern robes. For a moment they stared at each other, before their battle could erupt, a monster interrupted.
In the land of Mistral, a knight growled as he walked forward. No direction, and little purpose. This knight wandered the woods until a monster came upon it. In an instant, the knight jerked, slaughtering the creature that would have made him prey. He howled towards the sky, a tree branch covered in red veins in his clawed grip. He was alive.
In the city of Mantle, a man walked among the cold and destitute. He adjusted his tie, not caring for the cold in his grey suit, his white hair flowing from under his hat. A devious smirk crossed his face. He understood his role, his purpose. He began to approach a woman. His to be partner in crime. He would have laughed, would that not have drawn attention he did not need.
In the city of Beacon, a woman stood before a tower. She stared upwards towards the dragon atop it, even as the beasts that now called the academy home began to turn their heads towards her. She turned her head, green eyes piercing all as she raised a hidden sword. Her armor would protect her from the beasts before her. She had no idea what was lying before her… but something was true.
With the arrival of these nine, nothing would be the same anymore.
Hassan
She ducked away from the creature that burst from the sands. A centipede, larger than any beast she'd fought before. The other Servant, an unknown to her, shifted away, deflecting a mandible with his blade. There wasn't exactly time for words at the moment.
She rushed forward, pulling three daggers from her hip and throwing them at the red eyes of the armored beast. As far as she knew, this was a Demonic Beast, not something an Assassin should be fighting, but there was little choice at the moment.
The monster practically screeched when the daggers nailed the three eyes on its left side, pulling away from the other Servant, who smirked before rushing forward, sliding beneath the monster before slashing upwards, leaving a long gash on the underside of the beast before leaping backwards, vanishing into the sand as the beast turned its remaining eyes towards her, and charging.
She flipped backwards, throwing more daggers before a shape appeared below her, at her behest. Gozul, the strong, one of the very few of her hundred forms with direct combat power. She landed behind him as he rushed forward, leaping over the centipede's charge and smashing a massive fist into the creature's skull, forcing it into the sand as the other Servant reappeared on the creature's blind side, cutting off legs with a single, long, and graceful swing of his blade, the creature beginning to thrash around, throwing Gozul off as the other Servant lept back, she pulled out two more daggers, arming herself with one in each hand.
"Not exactly something we have the power to kill is it?" the other Servant finally spoke, resting his blade on his shoulder as he landed beside her. He was rather nonchalant about the monster before them… so she humored him.
"I would have thought a monster would be well within a Saber's area of expertise." she retorted, and the man laughed.
"I'm afraid that you have the wrong class my dear," he said, raising his blade as the creature turned its remaining eyes towards them, and surged forth under what power it had.
"Wait what are?" she started to ask in confusion, before jumping backwards, but the man did not. He simply raised his blade as she flew through the air, watching as the creature was opening its massive jaws to eat him alive.
"Hikken," he said quietly, and in an instant… it happened. So rapidly she could not believe her eyes. "Tsubame Gaeshi."
She landed in the sand as the creature was dissolving into black mist… its head split into several pieces as the man threw out his sword before slowly sheathing it on his back, turning towards her as he put his hands together within his sleeves. "Servant Assassin, like you, I assume."
"...Bullshit." she muttered. She hadn't sensed any mana used, but that technique… it was incredible. "You have to be a Saber," she complained as the man smirked.
"Believe what you will then," he said, looking around at the sand surrounding them. "But perhaps we should speak somewhere without Demonic Beasts, yes? I see no Master, and no reason to fight each other." he offered.
She hesitated, before sighing. He was right, she had been summoned here only moments before. Gozul had already been dismissed, and well… there was no Master to order her around. "What is to stop you from stabbing me in the back?" she questioned.
He shrugged. "Nothing, but what would I have to gain from it. Nor would it be fulfilling. Honestly, I am just glad to not be trapped next to a gate." he offered, and she tilted her head, her hood hiding her rising brow.
"A gate?" She asked, and he chuckled, before turning on his heel and beginning to walk through the sand. She followed, interested as the man regaled her with a tale of the Grail War directly after her own, and the circumstances behind his summoning.
Honestly, just hearing this mess made her question just who or what had been running this war so poorly. A Caster summoning an Assassin, and binding him to a gate, forcing him to fight almost every other Servant at least once? In open combat? Insane.
"Did you know the identities of your various opponents?" she questioned, searching for any information should could from this other Servant. He smirked, before tapping his head.
"The Berserker was an old companion of my Master. Heracles. The Lancer was some Irishman. My own Master was Medea, I did not learn the identities of Saber or Archer, despite fighting them both twice each. And I never met Rider, not once, from what I could gather from my Master and various others, apparently it was Medusa." he offered, and she just stopped and stared, causing him to stop as well.
"You fought… Heracles. In open combat." she did not believe him.
"Yes, what of it?" he asked, raising an eyebrow as casually as one would when discussing the weather.
"I do not believe you," she muttered.
"Doubt if you wish," he said with a smirk, before turning and continuing to walk, leaving her stewing in her own thoughts, separate from her 99 other voices… and wondering just what the hell this 'Assassin' was made of, and who he was, that he could face a legend as great as Heracles, and survive.
Saber
The King of Knights was swift as she lined up her first swing. The monster, a great wolf with dark black fur and bone white armor plating rushing to slash at her face. She didn't bother with a skillful swing, simply slashing upwards with her hidden sword, removing the arm with that single swing and then beheading the creature with a second slash. Three more tried diving at her, but thrusting her sword before her, she blew them away with a tunnel of wind.
Her follow up was just as swift, riding the air and slashing all three as she passed the center of the tunnel. Behind her they exploded into fragments of dark energy, turning golden as the monsters began to circle around her. She stood tall, looking around at her enemies and counting… as far as she could see, there were perhaps a few hundred within her sight alone. Her eyes drifted towards the tower, looking at the dragon sitting atop it, turned to what seemed to be solid stone. The monsters of many shapes and sizes all looked at her… but none were making the move to attack just yet.
Intelligent, or at least they had an understanding for what they faced. She did not fear them, and fear was something you should never show a predator. Mere demonic beasts would not be enough to stop her. A phantasmal, at least,would be required.
But as she thought of that, there was a trumpeting sound. The ground shook and stones began to rumble. The monsters around her rushed forward at the sound, and she huffed. Too slow.
She stabbed her sword into the ground, and released a whirl of wind from it, blocking the beasts that were merely charging, but sending those that dared to leap high into the air, flinging them into the rubble around them. She pulled out her sword… and ran forward, taking the head off of some sort of large lizard, and then spinning around and slashing three wolves across their chests.
"Strike Air!" she roared, her hair being blown back by the wind as she sent a tunnel straight through the crowd of beasts, and she leapt through it, the wind pushing her along as she spun around, her sword in a reverse grip. When she landed, she spun her hidden blade around to grip with both hands, as behind her, any beast that had been close to her wind tunnel had exploded into black sparks. She raised her head, staring down her foe.
A phantasmal beast at least. The size of castle walls. Some sort of mammoth, a titanic foe that didn't give her a moment, swinging its trunk at her. She dodged out of the way, the black limb creating a crater where she once stood. She leapt onto it, charing up the creature's trunk, but it raised it with surprising speed, flinging her into the air as an eagle cried.
She spun around in the air and swung her sword, creating a blade of wind that cut through the massive black bird that was soaring towards her, splitting it in half as gravity took hold again. The monster below had grabbed something in its trunk, and flung it towards her. Whatever it was, it was spinning inside a hard shell, another demonic beast. She angled herself, and gripped her blade with both hands… swinging just as the monster would have rammed into her.
Behind her, it split in two, exploding once more into black like all the rest. But the massive phantasmal was relentless, flinging more of these creatures into the air as many more climbed onto the monster's legs and back to get a chance at her. She slashed wolves and lizards out of the air, then bounced off of another one of the spinning monsters, sparing its life only so that she could leap off it. She slammed downward, knocking away several monsters off the massive beast's back, and then spinning around, slicing those that remained into black mist.
She then slammed her sword downward, attempting to carve into the massive monster's back, but her blade only barely scratched the beast. She nearly paused, before frowning, and then thrusting downward with her blade, stabbing all the way to the hilt into the monster before chanting. "Strike Air!"
The beast roared as the gale force wind ripped through its internals, the thick skin on the outside not protecting its vulnerable internals as they were minced. She gripped the hilt with both hands and charged low to the beast's back, dragging her sword through its back all the way up to the skull before pulling it out and leaping off, coming face to face with the monster for just a moment before dropping downward, slicing clean through the monster's trunk as it was trying to bring it up to send her flying.
The limb burst into black as she hit the ground, and the beast raised a foot to try and smash her to paste. She ran away from it's leg, slashing through a few more beasts as she went before turning around and aiming her sword at its head. The creature just charged, unable to trumpet without its trunk, and she declared once more. "Strike Air!"
She leapt through the wind tunnel, aimed straight for the creature's head a few moments before it would have reached that point. She stabbed, with the enhanced force behind her speed, clean through the beast's armored head, and finally with that, it began to slow as she dragged her sword downward, ripping through the white mask and then flipping off the beast's face as it slowly began to fade into black mist.
She sighed, before looking around at the monsters, before several more trumpets resounded. She grit her teeth, sure it hadn't been exceptionally hard, but just one of these beasts gave her some trouble, a herd of them would not be an ideal foe to face. She turned, and started walking away, slashing whatever creature dared to try and strike her as she neared the edge of a cliff, looking down at the ground beneath her, cracked stone, and then at the ruins around her. Some sort of castle?
Once she neared the edge of the cliff, she looked down, and blinked. A large city stood before her, with clear signs of life… in some of it. There were pieces of it ruined beyond belief, more monsters roaming certain sections from what she could see. Small battles taking place in far off streets. She gripped her sword, before steeling her gaze. She had no purpose here from what the grail had told her. No master to dictate her role. It was her choice what she would do.
Artoria Pendragon saw people in need, a kingdom that had already fallen… and decided that she would lend her aid.
Avenger
Avenger was calm and collected as he tapped his fingers against the table, looking at the other men around him at this table. In his hand he held five cards… it seemed that even in this world, some things stayed the same. The game of poker was one of them. He looked around, maintaining a bored look on his face to hide his intentions… not that he needed to, none of the other players were doing well at hiding their own. The man in the green suit had barely concealed distress, a bad hand. Red had a small smirk, evidently he had a good hand by his account, a quick glance at his own hand… he believed he could beat him. The man in the simple black suit was sweating, but his face was a stone.
"Call," he said, throwing two chips onto the pile. Bait them in, make them believe… give them hope.
"Raise," the man in black responded, throwing four chips onto the pile. Green barely held down a gulp. Avenger grabbed his drink with a gloved hand, taking a soft sip through his straw as the nervous man matched the raise with four chips of his own.
"Raise gentlemen." The man in red said with a grin, putting sixteen chips on the pile. Green winced, and the man in black frowned. Avenger took a deep breath.
"Call." he threw sixteen of his own chips onto the pile, leaving him with twenty left. Another glimpse at his hand… he had this.
"Raise," the man in black said calmly, throwing in a full twenty chips. Green seethed before throwing down his cards, folding the hand. Avenger put his drink down as the man in red smirked.
"Raise," twenty five chips went into the pot, leaving him with having to go all in if he wanted to stay in the game this round. He closed his eyes… and slowly pushed all his chips forward without a word, causing the man in black to nod, before showing his hand. Avenger looked, as did the other two competitors… two pair, fours and twos, and an ace.
Red smirked before revealing his hand by laying all his cards out on the table, the man in green winced as the one in black huffed, Avenger said nothing, nor reacted outwardly to the man's straight. The five, six, seven, eight and nine, with only two matching suit, the six and nine being of hearts. The three men all looked to him, and he chuckled, before revealing his hand.
Red's fist hit the table as he stood up in shock, the man in black sighing as green just applauded him. Avenger nodded as he scooped up the entire pile towards him, his hand on the table. Three kings and two sevens, a full house, easily besting the man in red's straight.
"Another round gentlemen?" Avenger asked calmly, looking at everyone's remaining chips. He'd barely been able to buy into this game after a few careful bets beforehand, fifty thousand lien for a seat at this table, and he'd already made all of it back and then some. The others at the table however, still had chips to burn. He hadn't won every hand, but his approach to poker over the past few hours had put him in a comfortable position… now if only he could clean out these three.
He'd built small profiles of them in his head. Red was bold and cocky, and had the largest supply of chips, and a good bit of luck. He still had far more than he did even after winning this hand. Green was far more likely to concede defeat, even if he had a decent hand. If the man had anything lower than a two pair he would probably out himself. Black was the most dangerous, because he was the hardest to read, but he was always willing to get a rise out of Red, but didn't like to concede to him. He himself was the unknown, the calm one at the table. Emotions were beginning to run high…
The dealer came back over, taking up their cards and shuffling the deck as everyone took their seats again. Avenger looked out of the corner of his eye towards his sole ally in this Atlas casino, the woman who'd managed to get him here with just a bit of charisma, and a promise of his support. Robyn Hill was at a different table, playing a very low risk and low reward game compared to his own High-stakes poker.
The hands were dealt, and Avenger carefully picked up his cards. He didn't show any emotion as he scrutinized his hand. Four of a kind, all sixes. He was going to be playing very sneaky this round. The ante of this round was twenty chips just to start, going by red's anger and pushing a small stack to the center of the table. He put in twenty chips of his own, red glaring daggers at him. He didn't care about that, only how to take advantage of such anger and recklessness.
Black led the round, tapping his fingers to the table, betting nothing, leading green to raise, throwing in twenty chips from his stacks. He was running low, with only sixty chips left. "Raise!" Red ordered, pushing a full fifty chips into the pot, causing green to gulp and black to huff.
"Call." He pushed fifty chips in with a very calm demeanor, showing nothing as the man in black put his cards down, conceding the round before it could truly begin. Smart man.
"Call." Green surprised him pushing in fifty chips of his own, leaving him with ten as Red was looking at Avenger's entire stack of chips, before smirking.
"Raise," he pushed ninety chips into the pot, leaving Avenger with a frown, another round he would have to all in on. His only emotion apparently brought red joy, but then shock as he calmly pushed all of his remaining chips into the pot without even a word.
"All in as well," Green pushed his remaining chips into the pot, taking a deep breath as he did so. He had a good hand this round, dangerous. Likely one of the higher rank hands, a flush or a Full house if he was this confident. Red, grit his teeth, but called, wanting to remain in the game, with ninety more chips in the pot, leaving him with only fifty three chips left in total, a mere fraction of his original chips. This pot was worth quite a good bit of lien… Golden Rule wouldn't fail him at this moment.
Green was the first to reveal, and as expected, it was a flush of clubs, one, four, nine, jack and king. Red gripped his hand, before slowly putting down his cards, revealing a mere one pair, aces. Not a bad hand on average… but he had this in the bag. And so he revealed, four of a kind, sixes. Leaving green to hang his head and red to pound the table in frustration as Avenger claimed the entire pot once more. Hundreds of chips were sitting at his side, and none of his competitors had anything truly left to bet with. The man in black might have, but he wasn't likely to. Time to quit.
"Good day gentlemen. He said, holding up a hand to call over the dealer, informing the man to get the banker, wanting to cash in his chips. Green left, with a bit of dignity, but Red just sat and the table and grit his teeth as Black waited for the banker as well. After a few exchanges, Avenger was now a few hundred thousand lien richer. Leaving the table, and his former players behind, he walked towards Hill calmly, joining her at the table.
"...So what did you get out of those jokers?" she questioned quietly as Avenger pulled out some lien, buying into this game already and placing a bet down without even bothering to look at the single symbol he'd chosen as the many players on the table did the same, placing their own bets.
"Few hundred thousand, still a bit shy of what we agreed upon," he admitted, before there were gasps of shock, and he and Robyn turned towards the table… and his singular small bet. He'd won already, and he quickly claimed all the chips with a single sweeping motion. "But now that I have enough to start," he turned towards the rest of the Casino, a glint of smoke in his eye as Robyn looked towards the rest of the floor alongside him. "Time to clean house."
AN: Not very long, but quite simple. Welcome to 'Released to Remnant' everyone. The premise is simple. The Fuyuki Greater Grail returns, in a manner of speaking, and decides to… tip the scales following the fall of Beacon, fueled by the magic released by Cinder and Ozpin during their duel. Points to anyone who can figure out the identities of all the Servants summoned, but it shouldn't be very hard to guess just based on their descriptions, and general knowledge of both Fate/Zero and Fate/Stay Night.
Sorry its been so long folks. Hopefully the wait for the next one will be far shorter.