The Holy Grail War has begun, and already Masters and Servants were on the move. Of course, since this battle was supposed to be a secret, any movement made was subtle and hidden within the shadows. The vast majority of Fuyuki, unaware of the lingering danger that was to come of this secret war.
'How funny.' Ozpin thought as he was walking down the sidewalk. 'I went from one shadow war to another.'
To think, Ozpin ended up in this war because of bad timing. That wasn't even mentioning how he himself could die, or be forced to witness a mad man gain a powerful wish.
It also disturbed Ozpin just how this world, despite lacking Grimm, was as divided as his world. True the lack of Grimm allowed these other countries like this America and England to expand, and gain modern conveniences and alternative energies. But, while he couldn't read the language (despite the fact he can understand it somehow), he saw pictures of historical wars. Wars that ended with quite a bit of blood.
Not to mention he learned how even without faunus, mankind still discriminates against one another. Attacked to gain more land. Even creating devastating weapons to kill their fellow man. If this world had a God or Gods before, then clearly they must do nothing as at least back when Light and Dark ruled, they ensured wars back in Remnant didn't get too bloody and even kept the Grimm attacks to a minimum.
Regardless, Ozpin was in this situation now, and it was the second day of the Holy Grail War with nothing happening so far. Hopefully it remained that way, but undoubtedly sooner or later one of the enemies will make a move. Ozpin just hoping that it wouldn't end in tragedy. For now though, he had to forget about that and focus on something else.
"Excuse me, sir." A woman then asks him, looking at what he carried. "Do you need help holding those?"
Carrying four bags of wood tiles in each hand, that for the regular person, would be very heavy. Musashi and Ozpin, unable to fix the floors and quite frankly were forced to get the materials by Shirou when he angrily found the room a wooden mess. Ozpin was forced out with the required funds to buy the tiles, Musashi herself forced to clean the room of wooden splinters.
She was also unallowed to eat any more udon when Shirou also remembered how she knocked him out. Boy was she upset at that.
"No thank you ma'am. I'm fine." Ozpin tells the lady who leaves, and he continues on to the Emiya household. He was honestly a bit embarrassed how he himself caused the damage. He and Musashi had a long day ahead of them, and hopefully they can fix some of the room up while Shirou was at school. Having told them that he didn't want to get any bad grades because of it.
Granted, both Ozpin and Musashi were a bit worried he just went to school, as if there wasn't a war going on. The only thing that calmed them was the fact that aside from Rin and the fake priest, nobody knew that Shirou was a Master. As such, there shouldn't be anybody going after him for the time being.
'Still…' Maybe once he and Musashi at least did some of the work, they could at least pick Shirou up from school. Of course, the second Ozpin thought of this, he realized a problem already. "Where is his school?"
"Honestly. Those two." Shirou muttered as he finished one of his classes, and went to eat his lunch. Still feeling rather annoyed that a part of his home was ruined. First the window from Lancer, then his shed from Musashi, and then one of the spare rooms where he trained in with Taiga. Didn't help matters that he had to waste his own funds to get the supplies needed to fix it.
Sighing, Shirou then just decided to eat his lunch and enjoy it. In a way, he kinda liked not having to worry about a Master attacking him and instead just focused on boring school life. Like that math test he had to do, or that homework he was assigned from history. Suddenly, those boring things felt better compared to the fear of getting killed by a spearman.
Shirou continued walking, thinking of going up on the roof to eat when suddenly, as he passed the window, he saw Sakura a distance away. 'Oh yeah.' She had been feeling ill just a bit ago. Maybe he should check on her to see how she's doing. It'd be nice to catch up and all.
"Emiya." Or at least he had been, when suddenly he heard a very angry voice from behind. Turning around, he then saw none other than Tohsaka on the top of the stairs. Eyes staring at him, before she frowned soon enough. Tilting her head before saying, "So I see you aren't taking this seriously at all."
"Huh. What are you talking about?" Upon hearing those words, Rin scowled. Emiya's lack of awareness and so on was really starting to get to her. Her hands formed into fists, and she then looked at him coldly.
"Emiya, do you even have a Servant with you?" She then asked.
"No."
"I see." She then took a step down, and despite his lack of the mood earlier, Shirou soon felt something bad was about to happen. Taking a step back and then looked at Rin nervously.
"Tohsaka, what are you doing?" He then asked.
"To kill you." She then said as if that were the most normal thing in the world. "No Servant, no awareness of the dangers of this war, and stupidly coming here like a moron." Her arm began glowing, lines of sort appearing on the left arm specifically. "If it helps, I'll ensure you don't suffer too much from this."
"W-wait!" Even if he was dense most of the time, Shirou can tell Rin was absolutely serious. Worse that he knew he didn't stand a chance, as he knew very little about Rin except the fact that she's probably-no-is a better magus than him. "Look, I don't want to fight you. Plus, what about all the people he-"
"What people?"
Shirou then stopped talking, and looked around. He hadn't even noticed, but now he could see that despite the people around from earlier, none could be seen at this moment. All were gone.
"This is…" Like what that little girl did, along the time those skeletons came out.
"Now then, Emiya." Rin raises and points her left finger at him. The danger Shirou felt was increasing. "You can take this like a man," The end of her finger began glowing dangerously. "Or, you can have a few missing limbs before I kill you."
Then an energy ball of sorts came at Shirou.
Despite the danger and Shirou gasping, suddenly he felt his aura do something. The small bolt Rin releasing, now looking like it was going a bit slower than it should. Realizing he could see the trajectory, Shirou moved quickly and from there it felt like time resumed forward at normal speed where the bolt hit the ground and exploded.
"?" Rin blinked in confusion. For a bit, she thought Emiya moved faster than he should, then decided that it was probably just her imagination. She then yelled, "Gandr!" From there she shot another hazy black orb of the spell at Shirou. Yet again he dodged, and while that isn't too odd since it wasn't as if Gandr wasn't as fast as a bullet, the way he moved so quickly felt strange.
Still, this wouldn't deter Rin as she then temporarily reinforced her legs and instantly gave chase.
'Oh damn!' Shirou then thought. 'She really is trying to kill me.'
That weird magic bullet broke through the floor like nothing. While Shirou has an aura, he wasn't keen to feel what those energy balls did when making contact with flesh. So Shirou naturally ran without shame, as no way he wanted to fight Rin. Why would he?
'Still,' Shirou thought as he avoided another Gandr that hit the wall and blew a chunk of it off. 'I have to remain vigilant. It seems aura is making me faster, but…'
He's facing a person who has way more experience than him. Heck, it also looked like Rin knew how to fight properly considering how she wasted no movement when chasing after him, while he was making more wider movements instead in his panic at escaping.
'I don't want to hurt her.' Shirou thought as he turned the corner, avoiding another shot. 'But I can't just let her continue to attack me.' Rin came from behind and shot another Gandr. Grabbing his lunch box, he threw it and it took the shot and didn't break apart, having reinforced it from earlier.
"Weird." He wondered why reinforcement was working now of all times. No, forget about that. His life is in danger, and he needed to convince Rin that he wasn't an enemy. "Tohsaka!" He then yelled as he ran. "I don't want to fight you!"
"You idiot!" Suddenly, in a burst of speed Rin was right next to him. Throwing a punch that made contact with Shirou, who unfortunately couldn't get his aura up and took the blow to his side. "As Masters, we must fight!"
Shirou slammed into the wall, then quickly moved to the side as Rin threw her fist where his head used to be. The wall now has a fist-shaped hole in it. Now imagine what Shirou's head would have been reduced to had it been hit?
Realizing that he wasn't getting through to Rin, Shirou realized he had to get her to stop fighting him. He didn't want to hurt her, but he didn't exactly want to die either. How can he save people otherwise if he's dead.
'Alright then Shirou, focus.' It was tough doing it in a battle, but Shirou had to try and bring his aura up. Not that it was easy, as the second he tried Rin shot at him and he was forced to avoid them lest he get hurt badly. It was as Ozpin told him, he had yet to reach the point where he could have his aura surrounding him at all times. Instead, he's at the level where he actually needed to think of doing it.
Rin then ran in front of him and threw a punch at his abdomen. Shirou felt the blow, however he used that chance to then try and punch her. She expertly dodged it by tilting her head, then kicked at him making him fall on the ground. Her finger was brought up, and Shirou panicky rolled out of the way as another hole was made on the ground.
Shirou got up and ran once more. Sadly, due to the close distance, Rin easily ran in front of him and gave a twirling kick making him hit the wall.
Then, before Shirou can even move, a finger was aimed at his head.
"Give up." Rin said as Gandr glowed brightly at the tip of her forefinger, ready to fire and make a mess for the janitor to clean. "You can't beat me."
"Tohsaka, I don't want to fight you." Shirou then tried appealing to her. "We don't have to do this. Heck, we shouldn't be killing each other. It's wrong."
"Please. Don't give some speech on morals and ethics." Rin scoffs. "In the Holy Grail War, while one should have dignity and honorable methods, one must also be prepared to walk the line of death. And while it's a shame an amature was chosen, you were just unlucky to be part of this and now must die."
Shirou grit his teeth. He couldn't believe this was happening, especially with the school idol Rin. To die because of this dumb war. To kill just because it might be convenient. He just couldn't accept it.
As for Rin, as she stared at him coldly, she then sighed. "While I will kill you if I must, I suppose I could avoid it."
"?" Shirou looked confused, but made no movement as Rin's forefinger is still aimed at him.
"Masters are obligated to fight one another. Only one can hold the Holy Grail. But, what if a Master left the war." Rin then stared at Shirou's Command Seals. "Give those up, declare you will no longer fight, and I promise to let you go. Even wipe your memories of this. This way, you can return to the dull peaceful life you had."
Wipe his memories. Give up.
For just one second Shirou thought he should consider it. Key word, consider. Because Shirou Emiya would only give one answer to Rin.
"No." There was no real reason behind it either. Shirou just said it because...this was who he was. At the least, he didn't feel like he should give up, and just let this madness happen. Something that made Rin frown in anger.
"I told you, I will kill you if you remain a Master." She repeated once more. "If you promise to give up those Command Seals and drop out, nothing bad will happen to you."
"I know." Shirou tells her, looking her straight in the eye. Showing a resolve in him that made Rin flinch when seeing it. "If I'm honest, a part of me does wish to return to my normal life." Then, a small memory came to Shirou as he spoke. One of the fires. "But, I could never forgive myself if I quitted now, and let those uninvolved get hurt. So no, I won't give up."
Rin looked agape, a bit conflicted. Then, her eyes narrowed and said one thing. "Fine."
Like that, she fired at point blank range.
A noise could be heard, and Shirou's head slammed into the wall while the energy shot emitted some mist covering what was undoubtedly a headless person. Rin turned around and walked off, though she bit her lip and appeared troubled. Eyes that had been hardened now looking remorseful as she whispered, "Sorry."
Then suddenly, a hand grabbed her shoulder and from there, she yelped as she was slammed into the wall. Gasping, she then saw that none other than Shirou Emiya was holding her down, hands grabbing both of her own and pinning her, while some weird orangey color flickered around Shirou. His forehead having a nasty bruise, which then began healing up in front of her.
"What!?" Rin yelled, shocked by this unforeseen development.
"Man that hurt." As for Shirou, he took it in stride. Though he admitted, his head hurt quite a bit and pounded. Still, better a headache than no head at all. "Now then," He looked at Rin who flinched. "Can we talk peacefully without fighting."
Rin lifted her foot toward his groin.
"Ow!" Shirou said, though thankfully he consciously brought his aura up while Rin had been talking before and now, as he didn't feel that much pain and it was more of a reaction to it. Rin just stared at him like he was a weirdo.
"What...What did you just do?" What kind of magecraft did he apply to himself? She didn't recognize it at all.
"Like I said, Ozpin has been teaching me." Shirou told her while ignoring the new ache in his groin. Aura might have protected it from potential future...endeavours...but he still felt hurt from it. "And now, we can talk like civilized people instead of fighting."
Rin clicked her tongue. Now feeling embarrassed that she got outdone by Emiya of all people. If only her father could see her now. Or worse, Kirei. "Fine." She rolled her eyes. "I know when to accept defeat."
"Good." Shirou looked relieved.
"So," Rin then looked at her pinned arms. "Are you going to release me, or continue this play?"
Shirou blushed a bit, as he does recall seeing these types of scenes in manga, however he didn't let go. Instead, asking, "Are you going to stay calm?"
"Yeah. Yeah." Good enough answer. So, Shirou released her arms while still keeping his aura up while Rin deactivated her magic circuits. "Alright then, what now?" She then asked, though looked ready to fight just in case.
"Well," Shirou then chuckled a bit while scratching his chin. "To be honest, I hadn't thought that far ahead." He had been more focused on getting Rin to not kill him. Though the girl looked unimpressed by his answer. "Er, but now we can talk things out and maybe, I dunno, be partners."
Before Rin could give her response, a chill fell between the two of them as a scream was heard. One that came from outside. Quickly Shirou turned around and ran off to the source of the voice. Rin surprised by this and yelling, "Hey!"
Shirou didn't listen and just kept running.
A person was crying out for help, and he wouldn't just stand and do nothing. Moaning, Rin began to chase after him while mentally calling out to Archer to come. Though just before she could follow after that idiot, her eyes zoomed in at a fountain, where a rather strange form of graffiti is on it. Or to a magus's eyes, a magical circle.
'Better check that out later.' Rin thought knowing it must be connected to the bounded field of whoever is setting it up. But for now, she had an idiot to chase. After all, unlike her, he hasn't summoned a Servant yet and aside from her, nobody was going to come save him when the going get's tough.
"Excuse me, sir." A man turned around and blushed a bit. Seeing a beautiful white haired woman in an elegant kimono looking at him.
"O-oh. Y-yes." Said the man.
"I was wondering if you know where the closest school around here is. See, me and my husband,' The man's mood went down as he then noticed a white haired dude near her. One who rolled his eyes at the husband part but said nothing. "Are trying to visit our son, who forgot his lunch." She then brought a bag full of...rice.
"...uh, sure." The man then moved on from that and pointed towards his left. "I'd say the closest school around here is over in that direction, and is the Homurahara Academy." The man proceeded to give them more directions and was done after a few minutes.
"Got it, thank you." The man then went away while Musashi and Ozpin then began walking.
"Husband?" While he might look slightly old because of his hair, Ozpin was actually rather young though not to the point where he matched Musashi's age.
"Eh. I thought it'd suit us." She giggled. "In the meantime, let's find Shirou and-" She then paused, and narrowed her eyes. "There's a Servant nearby."
Ozpin slowly took out his cane. The two were outside to find Shirou and watch over him just in case something bad might happen to him. It seems that caution was warranted after all. "Are they close to us?"
Musashi shakes her head. "No. But I know their general direction." She then points. Points at the direction where Shirou's school is at, or at least they hope it's his school. Still, on the off chance Shirou was there and with this Servant, then both knew what had to be done. "Race ya." Musashi then looked at Ozpin who then gave a curt chuckle.
"Very well then." He then leaned forward. "Try to keep up." Then ran in a green blur with Musashi smiling.
"Pha! We'll see." Then ran after him at just as fast speeds. A child watching them dropping his ball.
Rider vs Saber and Ozpin! That should be a fun write. Although sadly, it won't be happening on sunday, as I decided from here on because of work and my other stories, to update not every three days. But instead, on Mondays and Fridays now. Sorry about that folks, but that's just the way things go. As an apology, I decided to add this to show what our two Gods have been doing.
Until Next Time
The Brothers of EXTRA!
The universe held many secrets, and not just the measly planet known as earth.
Within the greater universe, there were other planets, other wonders, and other beings. All separated, be it through coincidence, or perhaps a part of fate itself. Where these species, like humans, can be considered good, bad, or worse. Some were not even holding morality, and were just beings of absolute destruction. Fulfilling what one might call a purpose, for whatever reason they had.
That wasn't even mentioning unique lifeforms that didn't belong in the known universe, but elsewhere.
"It took a while, but it seems we are here."
"Good. Then let's get this over with."
Two of said beings, now having arrived at the planet known as earth. Entities that didn't match any of humanities descriptions at all, but instead were beings that while may have similarities to certain myths they had, ultimately were completely alien.
One made of golden light with antlers.
The second is made of purple light, with ram horns.
While having no sexual characteristics or organs, both could be considered male, and were beings that far transcended mankind. Wielding power above them, and by the will of Gaia, could be considered absolute threats to not just humanity, but the entire planet itself.
"Alright then, time to move in." The dark one said, ready to head toward the planet.
"Wait." Only to be stopped by the golden one, who held a hand out to stop him.
"Great. What is it this time brother?" The dark one, or as another world called him, the God of Darkness, then looked at his brother, the God of Light as others called him. Said God then looked at the planet, with what one may guess as narrowed eyes, if he had any.
"This planet, while weakened, has defenses." The God of Light states.
"Oh." The God of Darkness then says, realizing what his brother meant. "Yes, I see it now. It can't stop us, but it will definitely try it's best in weakening us as much as it can. Worst case scenario, we'd be forced to inhabit a mortal body."
"Correct. Just like the others."
"I'd rather not inhabit a mortal." The God of Darkness throws his hands in the air. "I heard from that flower that it feels weird."
Though that might be because the other 'Gods' always chose fragile female bodies with little clothing or strange aesthetics. One even choosing a little girl to boot. Both Gods never understood why their brethren always did that. Then again, unlike them, the others never interacted with humans much as the Brothers did.
"Okay then," The God of Darkness then raised a hand glowing with enough power to devastate a continent. "Let's just cause so much chaos, the planet's defense will be too busy fixing the damage done."
"That would be ill advised." The God of Light chided his sibling.
"And why is that?" Darkness asks, irritated that he was being stopped from causing havoc. "Are we not here to get that fool's soul?"
"We are, but I'm stopping you for two reasons."
"Then do say, because from what I can tell," Darkness then looks at the planet. "I can barely sense any lifeforms on it."
"Exactly." Light then says. "Look into the past, and you'll see what I mean."
Reluctantly the God of Darkness did so, then saw what his brother meant. Then groaned a bit. "We're in the wrong world."
"More like another timeline." Light shrugs. "We went so fast, we unintentionally shifted into this parallel timeline. One where this version of the earth Ozma is on, has lost all mana and is practically dying. With the environment collapsing, and humans slowly dying off."
Darkness looks deeper in the past, then looks at the moon. "Oh great. And it seems those insects left one of their 'prized' devices stuck on this world's moon."
"Better than the Velber." At least two of their planets were wiped because of that thing. Not to mention a pain to force it away when it tried absorbing them into spiritons and injuring them. "Regardless, there is no point in staying here. Though I have to admit, it's interesting how humanity found a way to survive here."
"Yes." If the God of Darkness had eyes, he'd be rolling them sarcastically. "Because they decided that since they ruined their own planet, they went and digitized their own souls and now live in the Moon Cell while leaving those who couldn't to die in their miserable planet."
Harsh words, but not a lie either. Humanity messed up big time, and now many were abandoning it for the Moon Cell while those who couldn't were slowly dying out on their planet which will soon reach its end. Though humanity will long be extinct by the time the planet dies on its own...three hundred years or so.
Then out of nowhere, with a gesture, the God of Darkness sent a beam at the earth which hit the middle-east and instantly caused an explosion so big, it can be seen in space. The explosion destroying the continent, and the shockwaves it produced are now about to devastate the rest of the planet where if that didn't kill humanity, the tsunamis will along with a massive change in the ecosystem will.
"..." The God of Light looked at his brother, who showed no signs of remorse.
"What?" Darkness shows no guilt. "Humanity and the earth were already about to die. I just accelerated it."
Light shaked his head, but didn't bother commenting as one can now see a hole on the earth. While tempted to use his powers to repair the damage, and maybe even aid and restore the planet's gone mana, Darkness was right. Earth was already going to die, it was just accelerated. Not to mention the vast majority of humanity was already in the Moon Cell. Though they might be shocked when they learn that their home has been wiped out in an instant.
Still, out of pity, the God of Light extended his hand and called upon all those who died and were about to die, and had their souls sent to the Moon Cell. With that done, Light then looked at Dark.
"We're done here. Let us go."
"Yes, yes. Let us be off."
Then like that, the two were off to continue their journey.