Fate: Damnit
Harry Potter/ Fate Stay Night
VIII
Harry found himself at Hogwarts. The lush green lawns as he remembered them, the same with the lake, the Womping Willow; as imperious as ever, the Green Houses ever resplendent and the same with Castle; none of it a burned out wartorn wreck. "It's quite a sight is it not?"
Harry turned and behind him, next to a tree near the lake, both hands on a colossal broadsword was a figure. "I'm sorry, who are you? Where am I? Am I dead?"
"I hearken to thee tolling of the bell, I am thee who has been wronged by your ancestors. I am thy Assassin above all Assassins; you doth stand before thee Grand Assassin. I am Hassan-i-Sabbah, THE Hassan-i-Sabbah, scion of Ignotius." Hassan boomed. As the Assassin spoke, Harry felt immense pressure pushing down on him; almost forcing him to kneel.
"Have you come for my Head, Grand Assassin? If so, I welcome you as a friend."
"No, thou wilt keep thine head and life, Scion of Peverelle. Rejoice, for thou art one of few to converse with me, one of even fewer to converse and return with thine head attached." Harry watched and turned slightly green as Hassan removed his mask. Staring back at him, Hassan chuckled "...Looking into a mirror is it not?" Hassan looked like a very mirror image of himself.
"You are not dead, Wielder of thine Courts Magicians Mystic Codes, thine mystic codes have bonded with thou. Here, I believe you know."
"A...reality marble? My reality marble?"
"Very, very, sharp. Scion of Igonotius, when this War is done, thou shalt have another job; to preserve Humanity. You, you even amongst the Moonlit World are a strange one, you are the first naturally born Demi-Servant. You, thou whomst is born of Assassin, shall be Assassin and this, Azrael; Thy Angel That Announces Death."
Harry gulped "I'm in my reality marble, looking and conversing with my Assassin-self. Forgive me for my impertinence but I am immensely lost."
"It is good you know your flaws. I am here to deliver thine instructions to manifest your Reality Marble, Arcanum Aegis. Age of Arcanum or Age of Gods. Your Counter-Guardian Caster Form, accesses it differently; honestly between thy pair your reality marbles are the same."
"I am the Heart of my Magic. Magic is my Boon as it is my Bane. I have strived to be recognised for my skills not my story. I have withstood pain, control and death from Magic, yet I stand at this crossroad. This crossroad of the Moonlit World, come forth ARCANUM AEGIS!" Announced Hassan; the words reverberated through the reality marble and into him, Harry dropped to one knee.
Hassan smiled "Your colleagues await. You live true; be well my descendent. Next time this happens, no plee shall stay thy hand for your life."
"As it should be. Death is the last thing that meets us; a man who runs from death is a fool. To fear death is understandable, accepting it is also understandable, to be scared of it...understandable. To cheat, swindle and decieve is unforgivable; thy mystic codes are to be used to track the cheaters, swindlers and deceivers of the inevitable end. You are Assassin and Caster, Hadrian son of James, childe of Ignotious Peverelle; I am watching. Now go!" Hassan ordered and Harry found himself floating away.
(Outside Harry's Body)
The Magus Faction watched with baited breath; Caster wasn't fadig yet due to Hermione, wincing, her hand felt as if it was on fire. The machines that were showing Harry's vitals indicated he was resting; when they began to bleep madly. "Lord…" Rin began when Harry sat bolt upright.
"Easy, little brother, easy, coming back from that curse was no mean feat." Caster declared, pushing away the other Mages to get to Harry's bedside.
"Cas...Caster, what happened? I remember white hot pain, combat, Phantasms dropping...then nothing. Also, my hand feels strange." With that Harry looked down to see an unblemished hand. He looked at his 'team' for the lack of a better word, to see El-Melloi II and Sisigou looking slightly apologetic.
"We…may…" Began the Necromancer, not exactly sure what to say. Maintaining a Berserker took a lot of mana and prana.
"Harry-senpai, Lord El-Melloi II and his Necromancer friend along with your colleague, removed your hand, severed your connection to Caster with my assistance and we bonded Casters Command Seals to your friend." Shiro stated bluntly, Hermione smiled thinly showing the 'Deathly Hallow' command seals glowing blood-red against her tanned skin.
"It was either lose Caster AND my best friend, or lose Caster or yourself. Harry, you've taken the Killing Curse twice and survived; I'd placed money on you surviving Malfoy's family magic curse."
Harry stared at her "Draco Malfoy, the snivelling little lickspittle sycophant who worshipped his father and threatened us with his father, nearly killed me? Fucking hell…How?"
Svin grinned "Malfoy or rather Mal Foi meaning Bad Faith in french, it has links to a Water Elemental Affinity, and their Origin is that of Entropy or fate and faith, Water and Entropy practitioners are weird. They unravel objects in the spells path to have them reach their target."
"That makes no sense."
"Harry, you know of the Gae Bolg, that spear re-writes cause and effects. Normally you 'thrust and pierce', Gae Bolg and those who possess Water and Entropy elements and origin make it 'Pierce and Thrust'."
"I died because Malfoy rewrote cause and effect to kill me…" There were nods all around and he slumped back on the bed.
"I lose consciousness for a time and everything goes to hell. What else have I missed?"
"We met quite a few people from the White Faction: Draco Malfoy, Crabbe and Goyle Seniors. We also learnt of some of their Summons. Achilles as Rider, Karna as Lancer; we didn't see their Saber, Archer, Caster, Berserker or Assassin. With the Blue Faction in the commotion Assassin and Caster were killed along with their Masters. Of the Black Faction we saw nothing. Although of note, Saber of Blue is Caspar Roist; I only know this as Shirou told me he'd traced the man's sword."
"Harry, Roist was the leader of the Swiss Guard in 1527."
Harry paled "His Phantasms include summoning 188 additional soldiers… Okay two factions are down two or three members, two servants are confirmed gone and three hopefully. Of the Black Faction, we haven't a clue. All in all, Black Faction has the upper hand and we've suffered the loss of myself and potentially Caster in the eyes of our enemies."
(Black Faction)
"My Count, it appears you were right. We only needed four homunculi disguised as Travelling Magi to keep tabs on the battlefield." Darnic Prestone reported after performing a bow to his Servant.
His reply was that of a grunt "So now you understand the extent of my power? Especially here in Romania? This land is my land; its trees, people, the very ground itself are mine and thus your eyes and ears. You needn't expend Yggdmillennia Homunculi so frivolously." Lancer of Black retorted. Lancer better known as Vlad Tepes III or his many titles such as; Lord Impaler, The Impaler Prince, The Little Dragon, Dracula, the latter boosting his powers as a Servant through the roof only to be matched by those of Arthurian Legend and Greek Histories and Myths.
"Tell me, my Master, Lord Darnic Prestone Yggdilmennia, have the rest of my Servant Army been summoned?"
"My Count, Caster; Solomon ibn Gabirol has been summoned by Roche of House Frain, he was summoned two months before you were summoned. Due to Roche and Caster's shared...eccentricities, they have not and did not greet you as proper servants should have."
Vlad nodded "I have no need for aimless genuflection from competent vassals especially when doing important work… Work is important?"
Darnic smiled thinly "House Frain are known for their Golem works; according to them Avicebron, Solomon is someone of a God to them. Roche, himself is a master of Doll and Golem creation at thirteen."
Vlad nodded a genuine smile on his face "That is certainly impressive. I shall have to inspect them at some point." They were distracted by a knock on the door.
"Enter." Called the Count and a homunculus rushed in.
"My Lord Yggdilmennia, My Lord Count...the preparations for the rituals are prepared. Lord Gordes was most...particular, Lord Yggdilmennia that you and your Summon, the good…"
"Thank you for the notification. Lord Darnic, perhaps we should walk and talk as we meet the rest of my warriors?" Darnic nodded.
They were not the only ones watching, when they'd reached the viewing platform, Vlad Tepes spied another Servant and Master duo. "They must be Caster and Roche?"
"Correct."
"Let silver and steel be the essence. Let stone and the archduke of contracts be the foundation. Let black be the color I pay tribute to. 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. Let it be declared now; your flesh shall serve under me, and my fate shall be with your sword. Submit to the beckoning of the Holy Grail. Answer, if you would submit to this will and this truth. An oath shall be sworn here. I shall attain all virtues of all of Heaven; I shall have dominion over all evils of all of Hell.From the Seventh Heaven, attended to by three great words of power, come forth from the ring of restraint, protector of the holy balance!" Came four voices, the fifth added " Yet you shall serve with your eyes clouded by chaos. For you would be one caged in madness. I shall wield your chains."
"The Berserker chant." Darnic stated.
Vlad nodded and looked as the five other servants joined him "Gordes Musik Yggdmillennia; Alchemist specialist, for all of his bravado and instant dislikings was able to create homunclus to power the ritual circles allowing for Servants and Masters to work independently of each other save for our Command Spells. He was responsible for summoning Saber." Darnic announced, he then moved along.
"They're the Forvedge Siblings; Fiore and Caules, Fiore will be the next head of the family, Caules…" Darnic paused "He's only participating because the seals appeared, if he had any wish he'd be not participating. He has an affinity for electrical magecraft that are second-to-none. Fiore is summoning Archer and Caules summoning Berserker."
"The last is Celenike Icecolle, she's responsible for Rider."
"My kin! My fellow members of Yggdillmennia, yes we waited out the first blood of this Great Holy Grail War, but now we have sufficient information and time to muster our forces. Tonight on the second night of this war; we annihilate the Blue Faction, the Church Faction. But that does not mean you'll not take out any of the other factions. However, nothing is to stop you from working with our enemies to achieve our goals. Make no mistake, we hold the Greater Grail, we are very much targets. My Count, please these are your colleagues and comrades for the war. Saber of Black-Siegfried; Archer of Black-Chiron; Rider of Black-Astolfo; Lancer of Black-Vlad Tepes; Assassin of Black, Jack; Caster of Black, Avicebron and Berserker of Black…Caules?"
Caules gulped at being under scrutiny "Frankenstein's Monster, the First one…her name is Eve."
Darnic grinned "A fine name for a fine Summon...now we must find the Ruler."
The Masters of the Black faction nodded "My faithful comrades to victory!" Vlad declared getting cheers from the Servants.
(White Faction)
Kotomine Shirou sighed "Well this has been a set of unfortunate events. I had not expected to lose two of our Masters or had I anticipated having to gain control of three servants. Seramisis; what of the surviving Masters? Have they objected to the surrendering of their Command Seals?"
Assassin of White grinned toothily "Master, they are alive and relatively healthy; considering they're under a constant sleeping draught. I take it we are to take out the Blue Faction?"
Shirou nodded "I hate to take out my brothers and sisters in servitude to the Lord, but the Lord has given me visions of what will occur if the Blue Faction has not been removed from the field."
(Blue Faction)
"Father Anderson, I thank you as Ruler for your hospitality. You do…"
"Aye Ruler, we know. You cannot interfere, but by Lords light we're not going without a fight." Anderson declared, the remaining Fighters nodded as did the Servants.
"Father Anderson, this is the part that worries me. The waiting."
Anderson nodded "It scares me to. But we are Section Thirteen, the Apostates and yet not, ready your thirty pieces of silver."