This is actually the first completed chapter. Ngl I've had a hell of time trying to drudge up the motivation to write ever since COVID hit, after a bit of beta reading and other stuff I'm back to somewhat full capacity.
Avalon…
The Everdistant Utopia, a realm manufactured by the fae to be beyond the reach of the mere mortals its sole resident had once ruled over.
Well until a little sword came along that is.
To think a humble blade such as he would be the blade that cut down the enemies of his beloved.
Arturia Pendragon, the former Queen of England…
The story behind that you may ask?
A tale of burning love and freezing hatred, painful partings and joyful reunions..
But alas...
That one is a tale for another time, one told by a worldcrafter far more skilled than I.
This is the tale of the summoning of a single Servant.
A single Servant would change everything.
And that Servant had only a single question to ask.
"Do you have enough weapons in stock?"
Heaven knows he does.
-A Wizard of Swords-
A small child wiggled and struggled against the rope that bound her, the coarse fibers digging into the skin of her wrist, leaving harsh red abrasions from the friction. She grunted softly as she attempted to escape her captor but to no avail, her tear-stained visage was a testament to the anxiety and fear that she felt.
"Shut up!" An orange haired man kicked her head, causing her to release a pitiful whimper. "Now where were we?"
Said man was her captor.
The renowned child serial killer Ryuunosuke Uryuu.
The man leisurely paced across the room, taking his time to enjoy the moment while inspecting the pentagram he sloppily drew with the blood of the girl's mother, who was slowly dying of blood loss besides her.
It was boring to simply decapitate someone, one had to spice up their methods every once in a while, no?
Having multiple sacrifices would greatly increase his chances to appease that demon, even though he wouldn't mind dying in such a cool way, it's better safe than sorry.
It would suck if he missed so many awesome deaths.
He opened the leatherbound book to a page with a far more intricate design than the one placed drawn by his hand, his eyes scanning the pages contents.
"What the hell is a catalyst anyway? Do I need to steal something from a museum or some voodoo place?"
He contemplated in thought, a hand moving to rest beneath his chin as he frowned. The answer hit him figuratively moments later.
"Wait, voodoo? That works! Might as well go shopping then!" He searched the unconscious form of his latest victim for a wallet. "This is gonna be so cool!"
After all, money doesn't grow on trees. Y'know?
-WoS-
It had been roughly an hour since the Serial Killer had left the dank basement that held the "Demonic Summoning Ritual" to find a catalyst for the summoning, he scoured the city of Fuyuki for a suitable catalyst, anything that felt "funky" as he put it.
Unfortunately for Ryuunosuke, it seemed that all the usual shops in the city were now closed due to some rumors of "suspicious" disappearances going around.
"Tch… I never expected for those mooks to catch on. Those guys must be well connected." The orange haired man thought as he scoured the streets for anything resembling a merchant of curious oddities. "Now that I think about it, they were mentioned in the book as well… the Fujimura's I think?"
He cleared his thoughts, no need for distractions, not when so many interesting ways to kill were just around the corner.
A malicious smirk graced his face for a moment, before disappearing as quickly as it came.
"Oh… what's this?" The orange haired man stopped and observed the shop in front of him with a bright neon sign that read, "Gifts from the Kaleidoscope."
He didn't ever remember seeing a shop like this on any of his daily commutes to work at various warehouses, something was off about the shop, but that was exactly what he needed.
He entered, a curious look on his features as he browsed the various items on display. They varied from purple dust and distilled jars to pots of an ominously bubbling tar-like substance. Everything seemed to fit the description that he was looking for. Now all that was left was to choose.
Ryuunosuke grinned as he strolled through the aisles looking for anything that could catch his eye.
"May I help you?"
"Gah!" Ryuunosuke spun around to come face to face with a red eyed elderly man, who's smirk seemed wholly playful, if just a little too intense..
After regaining his composure, he nodded excitedly.
"Hmm… considering what day it is. Perhaps you are looking for a summoning catalyst?" The elderly man's grin widened when he saw the confused nod of confirmation.
"Well then! I've got just the one for you!" The man sped off to get something, leaving Ryuunosuke to stew in his thoughts.
After several minutes of waiting, Ryu was just about to go and find the old man, but paused as the old man came back into view holding a giant glowing feather.
Something about that feather was dangerous, it made the hair's on his neck rise as his instincts screamed for him to get the fuck away from that feather.
He grinned, it was perfect!
"I'll take it!"
The old man smiled back, showing far too many teeth.
"I knew you would love it! There's no need to pay… your sc- smile is all I need!"
"Hmmph… Humans will always be entertaining… if only they weren't so gullible."
-WoZ-
Ryuunosuke came back into that basement in a good mood, holding the ominously glowing feather with such an expression of glee one might think he found the path to the Akashic records, not that he knew what those were of course..
His mood was only slightly dampened by the currently sleeping form of the little girl he captured earlier, how was she going to experience the euphoria of death if she wasn't going to be awake when it happens?
No matter, maybe the demon would enlighten her of that fact.
He checked the summoning circle once more, his eyes switching between the book and the circle before flipping the pages of the book to find the incantation.
"Found it!"
He placed the feather in the center of the circle, not really knowing where else to put it and began the incantation.
"Let silver and steel be the essence."
The Circle flashed blue, making his eyes widen.
"Its fucking working!"
"Let stone and the archduke of contracts be the foundation."
The circle began to glow, Ryuunosuke's expression was positively euphoric.
"Let uh… brown be the colour I pay tribute to."
The circle dimmed slightly, making him panic.
"Let rise a wall against the wind that shall fall. Let the four cardinal gates close. Let the three-forked road from the crown reaching unto the Kingdom rotate. I hereby declare. Your body shall serve under me. My fate shall be your sword! From the Seventh Heaven, attended to by three greet words of power, Come forth from the ring of restraints, Protector of Hell!"
The circle stopped glowing.
"Shit! I shouldn't have rushed it!"
Before a flash of blinding light erupted from the circle, making Ryuunosuke cover his eyes with his hands and rousing the girl from her slumber.
"Fuck yeah! I did it!"
A shadowed figure stood in the center of the circle, wielding a twisted metal staff in one hand with a bird perched on the other, it wore black leather with a curious emblem shining on its upper back.
"Servant Caster at your service. I ask of you are you my Mas-"
The figure paused upon looking at the bound form of the little girl. Ryuunosuke did not notice this in his excitement. It was a mistake he would soon be reminded of.
A pulse of red flashed from under the girl's bindings, specifically to where her hands were bound. The markings of a crimson seal.
'At least something went right, right Efret?'
The bird nodded slightly before turning its sights on the Command Sealless serial killer, who was suddenly eyeing it nervously.
'Master kill vermin?'
A small chuckle came from the hooded figure, a warm baritone that had a pleasant rumble accompanying it.
'You haven't changed a bit, Efret...'
"Is the sacrifice not to your liking?" A bead of sweat trickled down Ryuunosuke's forehead, his gut sinking as he realized he summoned the opposite of an Agent of Chaos.
A Hero of Justice.
"Sacrifice hm? You must be mistaken, I don't take sacrifices."
A sword materialized above Ryuunosuke, while several daggers were discreetly launched into his shadow.
'Why can't I move! He's just staring at me!'
The young girl stared at her mysterious savior with awe, her eyes filled with the hope that was so cruelly squashed mere hours before.
The figure removed the hood, revealing the young face of a man in his early twenties. His amber eyes shined with resolve while his shaggy red hair went down to his neck.
He untied the girl, tears streaking down as he comforted the small girl who had just seen her mother butchered before her very eyes.
"What's your name little one?"
"R-Ritsuka Fujimaru."
His brow raised at her surname, was she related to Taiga?
"Hey, do you happen to know a young woman by the name of Taiga?"
Her eyes lit up at the familiar name, confirming his suspicions. She remembered Taiga talking about this particular family, one of the many casualties of the Fourth Grail War.
Seeing the recognition in his eyes, the little girl relaxed slightly after seeing that someone her family knew was here.
'How many lives does this damned war take?' The figure's eyes hardened, molten amber morphed into a cold steel for just a moment.
After all, the being known as Shirou Emiya wouldn't have suffered such a terrible fate if the Grail hadn't existed.
And yet, it was because of the war that he had met her. In that regard, he could at least be thankful.
He did not know what would have happened to him if she wasn't in his life. Perhaps in another time, and in another time line he'd simply be another Dog of Alaya, an Alter Aspect of himself.
He shook his head. This wasn't the time to reminisce about things that had already happened.
He was about to bring the small girl upstairs so he could discreetly deal with Ryuunosuke but she stopped him by asking a simple question.
"W-who are you?"
He stopped, before seeming to come to an answer.
"A Wizard."
"L-like Merlin?"
A small grimace came upon his features, as if remembering a terrible memory.
In the age of Camelot:
"Merlin! What did you do!" Shirou screamed as she now looked at her body, where two ample mounds rested instead of his broad chest.
The Magus of Flowers snickered as he struggled to contain his laughter.
"Take that you terrible student! Your womanizing skills are useless if you are a woman as well! Serves you right for seducing women better than a half-incubus!"
"Lord Ashton. King Arthur has summ...oned… you." Sir Bedivere said as he entered the room, his eyes glued to the two new 'additions' on Lady Ashton.
"Sir Bedivere! Why have you collapsed you lousy knight!" The concerned voice of Tristan came from behind the seemingly comatose knight.
A despairing cry of "Teach me your secrets! What unnatural skill is this madness!" filled Castle Mordred with stories for years to come.
In the present:
Shirou shook his head, clearing his thoughts on the matter; he had gotten revenge for that particular stunt many times over, albeit through Arturia. She was far from pleased with the development, and Mordred was even more petty towards Merlin.
To this day, Shirou still never understood the Wizard's inherent jealousy of his "prowess" in dealing with hot-tempered Pendragon women, believing it to be some sort of divine ability bestowed to him by the gods of love.
But now wasn't the time to dwell on the past, the little girl in front of him was indeed his master judging by the three command seals on her right hand.
He looked at her shaking form gently.
"I need you to go upstairs ok? I'm going to take the bad guy away."
His young master nodded her head, her orange locks swaying as she did so.
Shirou smiled softly as he ushered the little girl upstairs, but before she closed the door she turned around and extended her hand out.
"Pinky swear that you're going to come back to me… please?"
"I pinky swear Master." A warm smile appeared as he wrapped his pinky around her comparatively tiny one.
With that reassurance, she closed the door and Shirou went back down to the shivering serial killer.
"Now what do I do with you?"
A pondering look came upon his face, a myriad of emotions flickering across his face as he contemplated a suitable way to dispose of the orange haired murderer.
'Young Lord… Me… Hungry.'
'That could work.'
Shirou clapped his hands together.
"Let's begin shall we?"
The bird on his shoulder glowed menacingly.
For the first time in his life, Ryuunosuke did not want to see the innumerable facets of death.
A fitting way to go out… by the very "demon" he summoned.
Shirou Ashton was suitably disgusted, even with the tragedies of his previous life numbing his feelings towards death.
But to separate a child from her mother? In such a brutal fashion no less?
It infuriated him beyond belief.
He was grateful that the ritual insisted on picking little Ritsuka as his master, he hoped he'd never meet whoever was compatible with that bastard.
Even if he shifted his ideals to live a life with his beloved, it was things like these that made him scream at the futility of it all.
He knew he couldn't always save the day, nothing could.
His Archer self knew that fact intimately.
A pulse of magic appeared miles away… seems like a Servant was summoned.
A sword within his inner world had stirred, it's second beloved wielder had been summoned.
"My lord, I sense the young Mistress."
He smiled, but only slightly.
It was more than likely that she might be an enemy this time around, his father was still a ruthless man.
The Fourth Holy Grail War.
It seemed that this war was going to be fairly interesting.
But first?
Shirou grimaced as the sounds of retching entered his ears.
He had some comforting to do.
-WoS-
The acidic stench of vomit permeated the air as he went towards what he presumed to be the bathroom, the bird on his shoulder calmly grooming its feathers as he did so.
Several small blades materialized in front of Efret, each with small rings instead of handles.
The blades floated towards his ever faithful companion, his eyes expectant.
"Understood Young Master."
The bird grabbed the blades with its talons and flew off into the night.
'And now to comfort my little ward.'
He opened the door and grimaced again.
This…
The poor girl was retching over a toilet, grief and despair was plainly obvious on her features as her body trembled. The choked sobs and retching shook her form violently, the scene tugged at his heart.
He wasn't the most adept in comforting children. He was a blade, one meant to cut and sever rather than connect and comfort. He knew at the very least what not to do, but it would still be a challenge nonetheless.
"Master."
The girl's red and puffy eyes landed on him, tear stains littered her cheeks. "Y-Yes Mr. Sword Wizard?"
A small smile crept up his lips despite the situation, it was a name more fitted to him than anything else. The smile slowly faded away as he took note of her less than stellar condition.
'Let's do something about that, shall we?'
A shimmering golden light gently pulsated from his hand, golden motes of light slowly flowed from his hand to hers. Her expression shifted to wonder as she felt the results of years of tutelage from the Reverse side of the world, her eyes closed as she relished in the feeling. He would've preferred to use Avalon, but it's blueprint was forcefully forgotten as his legend restricted his Tracing ability significantly outside of his territory.
Good thing his territory could be very big, one could say it was infinite.
He was cut off from his musings with a question.
"I-is M-momma a-alright?"
Ah. The girl's mother. He had managed to stabilize her condition somewhat after the girl left and he left Efret to tend to Ryuunosuke, the only healing noble phantasm he could trace with his current mana reserves was a sword he had made with a unicorn's horn. It was a far cry from Avalon, but it was enough for her to survive for the time being.
"She will surviv- omph!"
The young girl crashed into him, muttering thank yous over and over again. If that man didn't summon him a few minutes earlier the girl's mother would have passed the threshold of no return, she wouldn't be conscious without a one or two days of rest but she would ultimately be fine.
"I thought s-she was dead, she wouldn't say anything to me after t-the guy cut her." She hiccuped as she clung to his stomach, quivering ever so slightly.
*Pat* *Pat*
He patted her head, making her look up at him.
"She needs time to rest, do you understand?"
She nodded, her scarlet tresses bouncing as she did so. His heart clenched as her face overlapped with Anna's for a split second, if things didn't go the way they did he would've doubt that either of the two would survive to see another day.
Saved by the desire to cause the most suffering, it truly was ironic.
He was tempted to hypnotize their memories of this entire ordeal away, but something told him they were at least aware of the Moonlit World.
Both the girl and her mother had functioning magic circuits. How else did he bond with the Girl rather than the serial killer?
Yet this answer rose even more questions, the most primary of which was:
How the hell did a mundane serial killer best a magus?
He ran through the memories of the knife that the serial killer had on him, and then suddenly stiffened.
Several blasts of energy zoomed towards the serial killer, who dodged them with impetuous ease. A black miasma covered his form, his face stuck in a twisted grin.
"That's so COOOLL." He said as he sprinted towards the woman, who's eyes widened at the new development.
The knife was moving at supernatural speed, speeds a mundane human could never reach simply using their arm strength. The little girl was encased in a Bounded Field, her eyes staring at the conflict with confusion, fear and trepidation. His watch seemingly surprisingly noticeable amongst the light absorbing miasma.
The woman's strikes became increasingly desperate as everything she threw at the man seemed to bounce off that strange black aura. The bedroom upstairs was thrown into chaos as the two continued their fight, books, furniture and other things flew haphazardly as the girl's mother tried to subdue him.
He then dropped the knife as the woman threw the entire bed, frame and all at him.
Shirou went upstairs to where the battle took place, to say it was a mess would be like saying his Noble Phantasm had a lot of sharp pointy things.
It was an understatement of massive proportions.
Trace on.
His eyes lit up and shined with an unnatural light as he looked around the area, trying to find something that could ascertain that black misma and why he didn't encounter it when Efret was busy tormenting the man.
Something caught his eye, a small locket with its chain cut.
Bingo.
He picked it up and willed his mana into it.
A young girl looked on as her mother taught her brother magecraft, jealousy took root in her heart.
Years passed, her brother became the heir of House Trisburg even though she was his elder by several years. He inherited the Crest while she was left forgotten, yet she could not fault him. His origin was ideally suited to their magecraft, "Entropy". Her own origin was incompatible with their magic, as it was "Sheltering."
As the years went by, she grew weary and tired of the Clocktower and how she had to keep an eye open at all times. Her time as a vanguard for the Enforcers has given her enough cash to leave and settle comfortably somewhere else.
Fuyuki seemed like a nice place, the 2nd owner seemed like a reasonable individual and she had access to the church if she ever needed anything from that side of the world. Though she highly doubted she would ever find the need to. She also found a nice guy, Kenta Fujimura. Ciara Fujimura sounds quite nice doesn't it?
She finally settled down, she had a kid that was as cute as a button and an awesome husband to boot. She wondered what her family would think if they saw her now, roleplaying as some normal woman in some Japanese town.
Her husband was out of the country for some business deal, Taiga told her that he would be back in two weeks. Oh well, it's not like anything could happen in a few weeks right?
What the hell? Why are none of my spells working on hi- what the hell is that black thing? Gotta protect Ritsuka, Gotta protect hergottaprotecther-
Then it all went black.
"Tch"
He clicked his tongue, Ryuunosuke knocked her out before she could see what it was. He waved his hands, returning the room to its former self.
He went down to the basement, looking at the pile of ashes that was once Ryuunosuke before picking up and carrying the now named Ciara to her bed. His Master was right behind him, a smile on her face for the first time since he was summoned. It seemed there was joy to be seen in this horrid night after all.
"Mister Wizard?" The young girl asked Shirou as he placed the girl's mother on the bed, checking her condition one more time before turning to the girl.
"Yes Master?"
"Can you tell me a bedtime story? Momma always told me one before I went to sleep," Ritsuka muttered as she fiddled with her fingers.
"Oh?" There was a teasing smirk on his face now. "Why don't I just cast a spell to make you sleep? It's past your bedtime after all."
The girl pouted and shook her head from side to side.
"Magic is cheating! I order yo- OmpH!" The Caster-class Servant immediately clamped a hand over Ritsuka's mouth, the glow on her Command Seals slowly fading.
The girl stared at him with incredulity, her eyes screaming "why did you do that?"
"Please don't do that Master." His eyes were filled with disappointment but the twitch on his lips seemed to indicate otherwise. "Those markings on your hands are very important, you use one up everytime you order me like that, use those only for emergencies okay?"
She nodded again, mollified by the explanation.
"Is this really going to be a recurring thing? What a troublesome Master I have." Caster lamented mentally, he really didn't like that this happened so often according to his broken memories of different wars.
"STOP, SABER!"
He cringed at that memory.
He felt a tap on his shoulder and looked to see the girl staring at him expectantly, he sighed and indicated that she would have to get in bed before he told her a story.
A fond smile came upon his face as he regaled a tale very close to his heart.
"A young maiden stared at the unconscious boy in the middle of a hay field, she had never seen a boy with red hair before. Was he an enemy? Did red haired boys grow in fields? But before she cou…"
The girl was asleep a few minutes later.
-WoZ-
'Reliving those memories was a treat in itself' Caster mused as he tucked in the lightly snoring girl next to her mother. This night has been one of extremes, it was likely that this trend would continue knowing his luck.
'Young Master, the work is done. Only one has not been found' His trusted companion seemed to have finished the task entrusted to him, it was time to see what his little birdie had set up.
His senses expanded and located the five markers that Efret had implanted, he raised a brow when he noticed one in a civilian residence.
How interesting.
A sly grin formed on his face.
"I wonder if they would appreciate a visit."
I'm writing things yay.