Castlevania: Minuet of a Cursed Fate

Chapter five: Bloodstained Avenger

Cover Image: Avenger wielding his two swords as he faces of Assassin.

Eleven years before the current Holy Grail War, a younger Soma Cruz, dressed in a school uniform was reading a picture book under the shade of a tree. The youth stared intently at the pictures as if he were expecting the depicted characters to speak to him.

"Hey!" The voice of a younger Rin Tohsaka dressed in a similar uniform called out to the Soma excitedly. "Come over here and play with me!"

"Why?" Soma stared at Rin in disbelief, despite her requests becoming more frequent over the past few days. "You shouldn't be playing with someone like me…" The young boy was well aware of the obsession the nobility had with bloodlines and he feared being looked down on for his modest background.

"And why not?!" Rin's tone from excited to angry and she balled her fists in frustration as the rejection started to make her angry.

Soma just sighed as he held his picture book and walked away, feeling humiliated and looked down upon by what he saw as pity from Rin, but before he could leave, the young girl ran past him and blocked his path.

"Don't just run away!" Rin glared at Soma as she extended her arms to prevent Soma from trying to walk past her. "You're better than me at alchemy and you learned to read in no time. When you're humble like this… it really bugs me!"

Soma stopped and smiled at Rin, seeing through her prideful and haughty attitude, he saw an earnest and genuine attempt to reach out to him, one that he would be a fool not to accept.

Back to the present, within the study of the Tohsaka Mansion, Rin was practicing on the new gems she had just received from the Clock Tower. These gems in particular were very rare, and rumored to have been synthesized by Juste Belmont himself almost two hundred years ago.

Avenger stood at the corner of the room, watching Rin intently, observing her hesitance at working with such priceless gems.

Rin raised her hand over the gems and focused her magic on all of them at once, trying to draw out their strength and attune them to her. The red magic seal appeared below the crystals but because of their age and link to their previous master, they rejected the raven-haired mage, shattering into pieces.

"Dammit…" Rin cursed at herself for ruining the rare gems in her possession, glaring angrily at the multi-colored shards before her.

"You poured the same energy into different gems, when the stronger ones rejected your magic, they shattered the weaker ones as well." Avenger approached the table and stared at the gem shards before turning his attention to Rin. "Next time, work with them individually."

"There won't be a next time!" Rin snapped and pounded on the table in frustration, scattering the shards. "These gems were irreplaceable!"

"How easily you give up…" Avenger sighed as he placed his hand over the gem shards, summoning a magic seal that depicted an emblem of a crown with six demonic wings, and while bathed in the malefic light of the sigil, the shards reassembled to form what looked like stained-glass crystals.

Rin was left speechless by Avenger's alchemical skill, but also unable to figure out what had just occurred or the nature of the reformed gems before her.

"By combining the shards, I have given their power a uniform wavelength as well as merging their powers and properties." Avenger picked up one of the stained-glass gems and held it out to Rin. "For example, a tracking gem merged with a combustion gem could seek out and destroy an opponent, and when combined with a regeneration gem, can reform for infinite usage."

"Amazing…" Rin picked up one of the stained-glass gems and stared at it in awe, having never seen anything like it before. She then marveled at the possibilities provided by Avenger's description. "How did you learn how to do this?"

Avenger dematerialized the upper-right portion of his mask and dispelled the illusion of his golden eye to reveal his crystalline red eye and the stained-glass skin that surrounded it.

Soma sat on one of the chairs of his apartment in front of Gray and Saber, who were both seated on the sofa. His gaze alternated between the two as he tried to reconcile the physical similarities between the two women before him.

"There has to be an explanation…" Soma was completely baffled by Gray's identical appearance to Saber's. They could have been related for all he knew, but he knew for a fact that the younger girl was not from the era of knights, and his Servant never mentioned having any children.

"Master, I do not approve of this…" Saber stood up and shot an accusatory glare at Gray, trying to ignore her own visage on the mysterious girl. "She could have been sent by the enemy."

"If she wanted to kill me, I'd be dead in my sleep by now." Soma gave Saber a reassuring smile before turning to Gray. "Besides, she has a face I can trust." The Cronqvist Heir joked about the mysterious girl's appearance.

"I wouldn't be so certain…" Saber sighed and spoke under her breath as the memory of an armored woman bearing her face appeared in her mind, the similar face wearing a malicious and hateful expression.

"Huh?" Soma raised a brow at Saber's statement, unsure of what to make of it.

"Master, don't make it impossible to protect you." Saber spoke sternly as her expression hardened slightly and her gaze turned to Gray. "Soma trusts you, but I don't… so you better watch yourself."

Gray nodded on silent acknowledgment, taking note of Saber's declaration despite, her expression turning somewhat nervous and embarrassed.

Soma sat still, feeling the tension coming from Saber and wondering why Gray's expression remained, two faces while identical, couldn't be any more different in emotional state.

"Umm… it's getting really late…" Soma smiled nervously as he tried to break the tension. "We'll discuss this over breakfast tomorrow, okay?" The Cronqvist heir stood up and held his hand up to Gray. "Come, I'll take you to your room."

Gray hesitantly took Soma's hand as she stood up, giving the Cronqvist heir a slightly quizzical look.

Saber watched Soma lead Gray to the guest room with a noticeable frown on her face, she knew that her Master was naïve and trusting at times, but this felt like too much, even for someone like him.

Unknown to Soma and the others, a small bat with blood red eyes was perched on a nearby tree, watching the events on behalf of Avenger, who stood quietly atop an abandoned building.

"So she's here, too… Lord El Melloi II's apprentice…" Avenger thought as he summoned the bat back to his side, holding out his hand as the familiar landed on his palm, but before he could react he heard slow and deliberate footsteps from behind him.

"You're a Servant, aren't you?" The mysterious figure, a tall, muscular western-looking man with blond hair and blue eyes clad in the traditional armor of the Japanese Samurai with katana tied to his waist spoke out in a thick Irish accent and approached Avenger before holding the handle of his sword.

"That I am..." Avenger turned to face the blond stranger, sizing him up and glaring intently behind his mask before materializing two red crystalline straight swords. "There's only one reason you'd approach me…"

The mysterious blonde nodded and quickly unsheathed his katana as he entered his combat stance, holding the sword in both hands and keeping his feet planted firmly on the ground.

"You're Assassin, aren't you?" Avenger inquired after having narrowed down the candidates based on the information his familiars gathered as he entered his combat stance, pointing one of his straight swords forward and holding the other to his side for a counterattack. "Based on your appearance… I think I know your true identity as well..."

Assassin stood his ground, glaring intently at Avenger, tightening his grip on his katana, now on guard because of Avenger's statement.

"William Adams, the first western samurai…" Avenger gave a wry smile in reply to Assassin's unguarded reaction.

"And you, Avenger..." Assassin held his katana up high in a defensive stance. "You seem to be no one heroic or even noteworthy."

"I am only what my goals need me to be." Avenger raised one of his swords to his face in a dueling gesture

Assassin raised his sword and ran towards Avenger, determined to finish their duel, but the samurai underestimated his opponent's ranged capabilities.

"Va Ischa!" Avenger raised his hand and called out to the red shard embedded in his flesh to summon several blades of ice to impale Assassin, but he knew that wouldn't be enough to kill the samurai.

Assassin cut the ice blades out of the air as he continued his pursuit, now aware of Avenger's magic capabilities, the samurai decided there was no reason to hold back.

"Come forth, Kato!" Assassin called forth a flaming wolf spirit and engulfed his katana in flames as well as augmenting himself with enhanced strength and speed.

"Teps Salrenda!" Avenger called forth a barrage of lightning strikes using more of the magic stored in his shards.

Lighting and flames collided, causing an explosion the obscured all vision and when the dust cleared, Avenger and Assassin locked blades, twin longswords clashing against katana.

But before the battle could be decided, Avenger sensed Rin calling him to her side, though hesitant, he couldn't defy his master, so he prepared to use a distraction to make his escape, though he'd make sure he at least injured Assassin in the process.

"Va Schia!" Avenger called upon another shard to summon several small glaciers, commanding them to fall to the ground and crush Assassin.

Assassin cut down the glaciers as quickly as they descended, the heat emanating from Kato more than enough to neutralize and stray shards of ice.

But before Assassin could prepare for another strike, Avenger was long gone, having escaped in all the commotion.

"Mark my words, I will defeat you..." Assassin dismissed Kato, the flames dispersing as he sheathed his katana.

Answering Rin's call, Avenger materialized within the Tohsaka family manor, though he was disappointed that he couldn't finish his duel with Assassin, he knew that his Master's orders took priority over everything else.

"You called for me?" Avenger approached Rin, who was sitting behind a stack of old alchemical journals and magic tomes.

"I studied your abilities and I think I'm closer to finding out what you are…" Rin picked up one of the alchemical journals and opened it to a certain page. "You're a Shardbinder, aren't you?"

"Quite the studious one, aren't you?" Avenger remarked dryly as he sat down on the sofa across Rin's desk. "Yes, I'm a Shardbinder, but I wasn't one of those created in the nineteenth century."

"I see…" Avenger's words disproved one of Rin's suspicions that Avenger's true identity was Gebel, the Shardbinder that raised the Hellhold Castle more than a century prior. "Then who are you?"

"I'm afraid I can't tell you because I don't remember." Avenger lied to Rin as he tried to deflect her question. "Anyway, I was in the middle of a battle with Assassin when you called for me."

"You fought another Servant?" Rin was now even more invested in their conversation, she knew Avenger already faced Lancer, but knowing that he fought Assassin proved to be another possible advantage.

"More than that, I deduced his true identity…" Avenger nodded as he answered Rin's question, sitting back on the sofa as he recalled his duel with Assassin. "William Adams… but what's not present on the history books is his affinity for eastern magecraft."

"Then it's going to be hard to find his weaknesses…" Rin sighed as she put down her book, knowing that with Assassin's deviation from known history, the information was next to useless.

The next morning, Soma got up to meet with Saber and the newest addition to their household, the mysterious Gray, who he had just met last night.

Gray and Saber were already seated at the table, the armored woman's suspicion could be felt as tension in the air and the mysterious girl was well aware of it.

Despite being the apprentice of a mage of the Clock Tower, Gray was a modest and simple girl, so the awkwardness between her and Saber was a little too much for her.

"Come on, Saber... quit glaring at her." Soma sat down across Gray as he sighed, clearly seeing how stressed the mysterious girl was feeling.

"Fine… Master." Saber begrudgingly obeyed as she closed her eyes, still somewhat angry at how trusting Soma was being towards a potential threat.

"I'll be fine, I promise…"Soma placed his hand on Saber's shoulder in an awkward attempt at comforting her, smiling slightly.

Saber wasn't at all reassured, but she decided to let it go for her Master's sake, but that didn't mean she trusted Gray just yet.

"So, the Clock Tower sent you?" Soma smiled at Gray as he rested his head on his hand. "Why, though… I'm kind of a nobody…"

"My master thinks differently." Gray shook her head at Soma's self-deprecating comment. "He thinks you have potential since you managed to summon a Servant this early."

"It was more of an accident, really…" Soma remembered the day he botched a simple familiar summoning ritual and ended up with the strongest Servant class instead. "If ever, I look even more incompetent…"

"I think you're being humble…" Gray shook her head in disagreement. "I don't know much about magecraft… but master spoke highly of you."

Soma smiled nervously as he rubbed the back of his neck, he wasn't used to being praised and quite frankly, he wasn't sure whether he was flattered or embarrassed.

"He said to attend to you as well, so depend on me for even the simplest of chores…" Gray bowed her head and covered her face with her hood.

"You don't have to hide your face, you know?" Soma looked at Gray with a slightly confused expression.

"Master says it brings back bad memories…" Gray looked down as she hid her face more.

"Well, I think you're cute." Soma smiled obliviously as he commented on Gray's looks, not knowing the consequences of his words.

Gray suddenly blushed and so did Saber, since she and the mysterious girl had the same face, it was like he was complimenting her as well.

Later that day, Soma went about his weekly routine of going to the grocery, but this time, Gray was tagging along.

"You don't have to come with me, you know?" Soma smiled nervously at Gray as they walked.

"I already told you, my master told me to attend to you." Gray walked close to Soma, she never got used to crowded cities, having been raised on the countryside, so she was very uncomfortable.

As Soma walked with Gray to the grocery, Rin was on the other side of the street, heading to her favorite jewelry shop when she noticed the unlikely pair.

Rin was confused then furious, it was just as the rumors had said, Soma, her fiancé was going out with a foreign girl. The Tohsaka heiress walked over to them and suddenly pulled him by the ear, frowning at the white-haired youth.

"What was that for…?" Soma struggled against Rin's hold on his ear, confused by her sudden outburst.

"So it's true… you are seeing another girl!" Rin let go of Soma's ear before placing her hands on her waist, glaring at her fiancé as she frowned.

"What are you talking about, I just met Gray last night…" Soma rubbed his ear, confused at how angry Rin was all of a sudden.

Gray simply watched the events unfold, unsure of what to do at the moment, she hid behind Soma.

"Oh?" Rin's frown turned into a frightening smile as she approached Soma. "You met another girl at night?"

Soma sighed as he resigned himself to his fate, he knew the look Rin was giving him and that he was in for an earful from his jealous fiancé.

Author's note: So the new chapter is finally done. Avenger's abilities are fleshed out and I was always planning on using Bloodstained in this story and now that I finished the game, I can fully write him as a Shardbinder. I should not that Avenger is not Soma but is deeply connected to him, think Full Frontal from Gundam Unicorn. Assassin is revealed and he's William from Nioh, I figured he'd be a good choice since he's a fantasy version of a historical character. Gray is officially a part of Soma's household and Saber still doesn't trust her. Gray is one of Soma's potential love interests and the story might have three routes, the Saber route, the Rin route and the Gray route.

An A.U to this story is planned and the title is Fate/Eternal Night and it's pretty similar to this story only Soma is less connected to the Nasuverse.

Now to answer my reviewers.

Angel Arcano92

Shirou's ambiguous bloodline makes this addition perfect for this story. Graham is indeed in trouble once the pieced fall into place.

Mr. Kino-san

Nope, he's Graham Jones from Castlevania Aria of Sorrow.

Alhazad2003

Soma and Shirou's dynamic is indeed affected by that, they're best friends destined to become rivals. The Aria of Sorrow Arc will play out differently from the games, mainly who is summoned into the castle.

Graham's intentions for this war are far from pure and he intends to cement his position as Dark Lord.

Gray serves as a foil to Saber and one of Soma's potential love interests.

Illya has a special interest in Soma and does not approve of all the women in his life.

Thanks, I hope you like this chapter.

Han-Ko

Thanks

Zero-Nightmare

Thanks

Yes, and we'll see more of them next chapter. I'm glad you liked it, I hate those red skeletons.

For sure, and Lancer's loyalty is called into question.

Soma still sees Rin as a little sister and Shirou's definitely the same with Sakura.

She's a character from the new anime Lord El-Melloi II Case files.

She's somewhat of a yandere.

We'll just wait and see. Shanoa will have some cute moments.

Phantasys

Yeah, looks like Shirou's destined to become a Hero of Justice.

angelvan105

Thanks, glad you like it.

Soma and Saber get closer, even moreso when Soma finds out who he really is.

Thanks. Elizabeth will eventually fall for Soma, seeing Dracula's gentler traits within him

hornofdesolation

Glad you like it and don't worry, I'll be focusing on my Castlevania stories more from now on.

LuciverXIII Trollkaiger Green

Exactly, Soma becomes the Char who is charismatic and cynical and Shirou is the idealistic Amuro.

Mr. Bong

Glad you like it and don't worry, I'm focusing on less now.

Shahzeb

Thanks for reviewing and it's okay if that aspect's not for you, it won't exist in the A.U, Fate/Eternal Night.

Star's Keyblade 4114

Thanks, I hope you like this chapter.