Surely, your feelings were taken away for a reason.
Now, without them, you can carry out your grand purpose.
Long ago...
Falconia
The streets were booming with life, just like any other day in the utopian kingdom. Falconia was incredibly large, but, even then, the streets were completely packed, they were tight. Work goes as usual for all civilians.
Some soldiers could be seen every now and then, keeping watch.
That's not what matters.
...
"Excuse me, please, excuse me..." Let out the holy messiah as he passed by the people.
Ah, of course. The goody two-shoes, the king of this holy haven dubbed Falconia.
Why would he ever pass through this very large crowd? There are no guards to escort him either. What a foolish king, but I guess he has his own intention, but his intentions aren't important today.
Most looked at him with admiration, few looked at him with hatred over his kingdom. Falconia is the sole safe zone in the world, there's really nothing they can do. They can't escape to the outside world, otherwise, they'd be risking getting mauled by a creature from the astral world.
As he passed by the people, a voice caught his attention as he felt a person be grazed by the wings on his armor.
"Ouch!"
He quickly stopped in his tracks, looking to see who it was.
Normally, he wouldn't care, but too bad public perception is all that matters in this world.
It's just an average joe, holding his own bleeding shoulder. A deep wound was caused by one of the wings on Griffith's armor.
"My apologies, sir... I am sorry."
Griffith took the civilian's hand off his shoulder, before placing his own gloveless hand on it. After all, he doesn't keep those gloves on all the time. His hands have to catch some air as well.
"I am in a rush right now, please consult with others for compensation."
"It's fine, your majesty... I don't feel any pain, not in your presence."
Another admirer, I see.
The Falcon of Light took his hand off the man's shoulder, causing gasps to escape both their mouths.
It's a miracle, oh, it's a miracle!
That's what they would say in older times, at least.
The man's wound was completely gone.
"Your highness...!" He let out with amazement in his voice.
Even the Hand of God himself was shocked.
It's been a short while since he's taken in all those angels and the other members of the God Hand, but even he didn't expect this, to have healing hands. His miracles were already beyond any other, and now, his hands free people from their wounds.
He always thought that he'd be yet another member of the God Hand, to be discarded in a few thousand years when that giant lump of flesh they call The Root gets bored of him, but now...
The dreamer's eyes shine as he realizes that he has an even greater purpose in this world.
Ars Paulina
Blink...
Blink...
The angel slowly woke up in the unknown yet heavenly looking arena.
How did he even get here? Wasn't he just in France?
...
The Demon Pillar Gods have surrounded the only messenger of God in this arena, and far away, the master of these pillars sat upon his heavenly throne in silence.
One Demon Pillar in specific had decided to come down to taunt him, standing over him.
"How ugly..." A wide grin came to Flauros' stupid face. "You're so beautiful on the outside, yet, your mind is the ugliest thing I have-"
Griffith had already gotten up with the help of his twelve wings, grabbing onto Flauros' neck.
"O' heretic..." He whispered. "In the name of God, I shall smite you!"
An angel needs to call to God for power, after all. He was never really religious, he wouldn't call to the holy lord above if he didn't need to.
All of his wings enveloped Flauros, completely surrounding him from all sides with the exception of above, preventing his escape regardless.
"For the Lord himself will descend from Heaven with a cry of command, with mine voice, and with the sound of the trumpet of God. Now, repulse!"
Noble Phantasm XIX
Purifying Light, The Sun
Heavenly Father, Wash Away the Sins of Mankind
Flauros had his entire body engulfed by burning, divine light from the sky, which burned the Demon Pillar God into nothing but ashes.
The heavenly light caused a ripple effect throughout the entirety of Ars Paulina. The holy light locked onto every other Demon Pillar God and burned them to ashes, purifying the creatures born of pure sin. Said light finally stopped its rampage after destroying the leader of the Demon Pillars, Solomon himself, which even surprised Griffith himself, not because of the power he held, but because Solomon too, was "killed" as a result of the holy light. That light was purifying, no harm would come to anyone if they weren't a sinner.
Guess Solomon was a sinner after all, oh so dirty to the point that he too got targeted by the light.
"Enough." Echoed a voice from everywhere, causing Griffith's eyes to widen as he felt his biology change.
His dark eyes were gone, now back to the blue color they were before. His wings had been taken from him, and his cloudy hair had returned to being just... hair. The child-like fragility of his physical body remained in place, however.
"Wha..."
In the blink of an eye, Ars Paulina had already returned to its former state. Griffith was once more surrounded by the Demon Pillar Gods and Solomon sat upon his throne. And there's Flauros, now in a position of power over the powerless Falcon of Darkness.
"Quite mad, I see! So sorry for killing your lover!"
"Enough, I said. That law applies to you too, Flauros." When the King of the Pillars commanded it, Flauros slowly started to disappear, presumably having joined the other Pillar Gods in their more primal forms. "O' angel of the dark sun..." Solomon stood up.
It's weird. His voice was distorted, unlike a human's voice. Furthermore, his eyes were a mixture of red and dark. He didn't look like a beloved king, rather, he looked like as if he himself was a demon.
"Are you truly the Hand of God? Are you truly the writer of the story that we call history? What a fragile body for he who dictates the laws of the world, but I am not here to ridicule you. Firstly, I must thank you. For thousands of years, I have harvested energy from the history that you have been writing."
He slowly started to descend the steps of the raised platform that led to his throne, now on the same level as Griffith and the Demon Pillar Gods.
Griffith had been frozen in place, unable to move a single limb. He tried and tried, but to no avail. The demonic Solomon approached him and grabbed his chin, causing the Falcon to let out a gasp. "Fear not, my beautiful doll, for you are in no danger. This is nothing but a vision. You have caught my attention with the large amount of energy you released in France. Would you like to join mine forces, perhaps?"
Solomon would be the last person to talk like that. My beautiful doll...
His manner of speaking, harvested energy from history, all of that combined with his demonic look spilled it all out.
EVIL OF HUMANITY
BEAST I
KING OF THE 72 DEMON PILLAR GODS
"I need not join you, for I am thou, thou art I."
"Hm?"
It took Solomon a bit to realize what Griffith had said, or maybe he wasn't processing the words, rather, he was confirming them with his foresight.
...
"I see..." A wide grin came to his face. "Destiny has brought you to me, even if only in this vision. Like a magnet responding to a metal, you have caught mine attention... it's no wonder why I felt incomplete for so long, despite all the energy I have gathered. It's because you have been separated from me, yes, that is it... you are the last piece to mine puzzle." The king turned back around, going back to sit on his throne. "At one point, we will meet one and another no matter what. Destiny has foretold it, that we shall be re-united. I must know of your intentions first. Even if you are my other half, if your intentions contrast mine, then I cannot trust you. So, your highness... tell me, what is it that you desire?"
"...The world." Griffith spoke up.
"Hrn?"
"I yearn for the world. A perfect world beyond death."
The moment he said that, all of the Demon Pillar Gods broke out into maniacal laughter, and in an unexpected turn, so did Solomon.
"Hah! You are truly deserving of the beauty God has granted you. If you long for it that much, then come before me."
Griffith was freed from his frozen state, now able to move again. Taking in a deep breath, he went towards Solomon's heavenly throne, ascending the steps, stopping once in front of the seated king.
"Kneel."
The Falcon of Light got onto his knees. Griffith cupped his hands, raising them upwards in a fashion as if he was praying, his hands now being in Solomon's view.
The Earth itself manifested in the king's hands.
"If you truly yearn for the world, then come to me, and allow for us to be re-united. Mine accumulated energy will create the world we both desire, your angelic nature and your ability to manipulate Causality will ensure that the world created will stay in place. You are already the linchpin of history in this world, you shall stay a linchpin in the next. That is your purpose." Solomon let out a deep breath. "We have much burden upon us. Listen, my child, you and I are the only ones who can do this now because of what Lev Lainur has done in every other timeline to prevent our perfect world. This opportunity shall never come again if we do not act. Do you understand? You and I are the only ones who can bring a world free of death. We are the only ones who can do it."
Silence filled the arena, but Goetia knew what it meant.
"I await on your arrival, future emperor."
And so, Goetia placed the Earth in Griffith's hands, taking him out of the vision.
Carry on, my wayward son.
There will be peace when you are done.
Chaldea
Cough, cough.
"Master..." Mash was still processing the event. "What... what was it that we just saw...?"
He wouldn't know either, but she's in a state of shock. The poor girl probably doesn't understand what she herself is saying.
"I don't know..." Ritsuka let out with a defeated tone of voice.
...
The door to the room opened, followed by the sound of footsteps. You already know who that is.
"Hey, hey, hey! You two, are you okay?! What happened back there?!"
Romani rushed over to Ritsuka first, giving him a hand, helping him get back on his feet.
Fujimaru was completely silent. He too, is human, of course. He had to have a few moments to think. Turning around, the Master helped his Servant get back on her feet, just as Romani helped him.
"...Do members of the Saver class have the ability to turn into twelve-winged angels, by any chance?"
"An angel?" Archaman put a hand on the back of his neck. "So... I guess he's finally had enough of putting up that act of his."
"What are you talking about?" Mash questioned.
"Griffith's been putting up a disguise the entire time he was at Chaldea. As for his true identity, let me start off with this for you, Mash. Since you've been working at Chaldea for a good while now, I'm sure you're aware of The Root and its sole archangel. I'll let you piece it together."
"Wha..." Kyrielight was at a loss for words. "Are you sure?! Can Chaldea even summon a Divine Spirit of such caliber, let alone supply mana to it?!"
"Your question's already been answered. Yes, we did summon him."
"Hey, hey, please wait, can I know what we're speaking about?" Ritsuka jumped in the conversation.
Of course, compared to the both of them, he's just a rookie, he wouldn't know about information like that.
"Some of our creations at Chaldea depend on a force called Causality. To keep it short and simple, you can think of yourself as a character in a story and Causality as the writer's pen. It dictates a majority of your actions whether you like it or not, although, that's not to say you are completely powerless. Regardless, our researches showed us that Causality was being dictated by a single creature, living in a far away alternate dimension of sorts I assume. When we tried to look further into the creature, we couldn't get anything out of it except for... history."
"What's that supposed to mean?"
"The creature's presence couldn't be detected no matter what, but instead, what we did detect when we tried to get further intel from the creature's spot, was history. The archangel's body is a gateway to seeing history itself, the past. Almost every single event that we wanted to look into, we could. Some events were blurred out, presumably because the archangel hadn't woven them and they had fallen in place on their own. What matters though, is that the moment Griffith revealed his true form, the signatures he emitted from his true form were... you guessed it, history."
Mash looked to the side nervously. "If those signatures only appeared when he became that... thing, is it possible that he's only a vessel right now? Or maybe, maybe his hand was forced into it by Lev, somehow?"
The girl is in denial. It's not easy to accept the savior of the world being a bloodthirsty angel.
"He's been like this since the start. I know it's hard to accept, Mash, but, I'd say it's more likely that Lev's hand was forced into it rather than the other way around. We've both known him for a long time, I highly doubt he would willingly attack the Director unless if he was forced. The day Griffith was summoned, he asked all of us to leave him and Lev alone for a few moments. When I turned back, I saw Lev was shaking uncontrollably. Huff..." Romani let out a deep breath. "How'd you two get away anyways?"
"This little ball of wool helped us out."
Fou jumped onto Ritsuka's shoulder from behind. "Fouu!"
"Say, doctor, you said that he was like that from the start, right? How would you be aware of that?"
"I hate to admit it to you two, but, I've known about Griffith's true nature for a while now. That's in the past now, so let's move on."
That statement didn't help this situation at all, but thanks.
"So, what do we do now? Griffith is still in the Singularity."
"I think I have an idea on what Griffith's intentions are. Knowing your enemy will make the war thousands of times easier."
"He did tell us that he would move us to a world beyond death..." Remarked Mash.
"Ah, so that's it then..." Archaman sighed. "A few days ago, a skeletal figure with a shining, blue sword came to me. He told me that Griffith's eyes were locked on his perfect world, so that's set in stone. A world without death would require a LOT of power, so, I think it's safe to assume he's going for the Holy Grails scattered in the Singularities."
"About that, is he actually an angel? I thought angels of God were pure."
"He's taken the power of every one, so I guess he can be called one, but it doesn't matter right now. I'll have to ask the both of you to not kill him, if by some miracle, you defeat him."
"That's... a joke, right?"
"I wish it was, but Griffith is currently a linchpin in this enormous clock we call the world. I hate to admit it, but, firstly, the Falcon of Light has been helping us continue history, even if he's been doing it for his own benefit, so we can't really kill him."
"Can't he just decide to stop 'writing' history and let humanity die out?"
"His body is the default source of Causality, it will move along as long as he lives. He was made like that so he'd have a decent defense system even when caught off-guard, but if we seal him, it'll work against him. Oh, and also, second, he has a child in his body."
"What?!"
"Yep, you heard me right. That body he has right now is nothing but a vessel, and apparently, a child was grafted into it. A kind of two minds in one body situation, if you will. Unless if the two of you are willing to kill a child and also threaten humanity's future at the same time, then we can't kill him. There's plenty of ways to seal an angel though, so we can do that, I do have to get in contact with the Mage's Association first to see where we can build a nice jail for him with agreement from them, somewhere secure hopefully, because surely we're not going to give such easy access to a transcendent being. I think... maybe we can construct some sort of underground jail for him, and then we can expand it should we come across any other creatures we can't or shouldn't kill."
"That seems a lot of unnecessary work..." Mash expressed.
"See, Mash, right now, Griffith holds all of Heaven's firepower right now, because I said, he took in all the angels in there. You got very lucky to escape his clutches without a scratch, so yes, we DO need top of the line security."
"Great." Ritsuka shook his head. "So, how do we exactly fight the archangel?"
"Good question!" A nervous smile came to Romani's face. "Well, you don't have to fight him, at least I don't think so. If you have some luck, you can just race with him for the Holy Grails while avoiding him, which, at the very least, isn't as dangerous as facing him head on."
The Chaldean Master put his right hand to his chin, rubbing it. "If I recall correctly, Saint Griffith ended up getting killed by the Black Swordsman. How about this, then..." He snapped his fingers. "How about we summon the Black Swordsman as a Servant?"
"There's no guarantee he'll answer, and besides, you have to remember that he killed Griffith in an assassination. There's no telling if he can face off against him in an actual fight. I doubt he'd make the same mistake twice"
"I'm a bit of a gambler, I'll take my chances."
"Do you even know how to summon a Servant in the first place?!"
"You guys will help me out with that, I hope."
Romani facepalmed, shaking his head.
"Don't worry, Master, I'll help you get used to our Servant Summoning device."
Later...
Write, write...
"First attempt..." Archaman looked around the room. "Okay, Mash, you should use your shield to help Fujimaru summon the Black Swordsman. It might just give a decent boost in luck, because otherwise, you guys might be here for days. I'll have to phone the Mage's Association."
"Understood, doctor. Feel free to do as you please."
"...Ritsuka, I'll leave you to Mash. Please don't mess up anything."
"You can trust me, doctor. I am an experienced professional."
Said every scientist before a horrible disaster.
Whatever.
With a tired look in his eyes, Romani handed over the same clipboard and pen used in most summoning attempts over to Mash, slowly taking his leave afterwards.
...
"Is there a way for us to summon a specific Servant?"
"We would need catalysts for that, but the Black Swordsman's life has been lost to time for the most part, so we don't know what we can use as a catalyst for him. It's fine, though," A smile came to Mash's face. "We can still use any Servants that might come to us regardless. More power to us."
"You're right, I guess." Ritsuka rubbed his eyes. "Could you please set up this device? I have no idea how to."
"Of course. I'll set up FATE for you."
Click, click...
...
Oh, dear lord.
It's quite a lot to take in.
While clearing the Singularities is pretty stressful on its own, at least they gave Chaldea some time, but now, Griffith is going to be placing immeasurable pressure on them. They can't engage with him in a fight either because he would completely decimate them, but then, even in a race, there's no guarantee that they'd be able to get to the Holy Grail first.
What a hopeless situation to be put in.
"It's ready. We can start when-"
"Start."
"...Okay."
Mash walked over to a panel.
"First attempt at summoning the Black Swordsman, here goes nothing."
Bright light fills the room, the both of their hairs being blown back.
It wasn't anything serious, both the wind and the light. At least, it was nothing compared to the Falcon of Light's summoning.
"Is this normal?!"
"Y- Yes, yes it is!"
It took a few seconds for the Summoning to finalize.
...
What the both of them didn't expect was a shockwave at the end of it, but first time for everything, right?
Said shockwave knocked both Mash and Ritsuka away. Nothing harming, but an annoyance nonetheless, enough to knock them out for a short while.
...
...
...
"Ungh..." Ritsuka let out, slowly opening his eyes.
That "slowly" turned into a quick process.
The summoned Servant had his back turned on both Mash and Fujimaru. He was slowly heading towards the exit of the room, but even from the back, the Servant was like the complete antithesis of Griffith, like God himself had created them for the purpose of battling against the Hand of God.
He had spiked, short, black hair compared to Griffith's long, ethereal cloudy hair.
A sword was on his back, however, it looked like anything but sharp. In fact, it looked like a heap of metal above all. It had cuts all over it, definitely hardened by battle, but it looks incredibly blunt. It is brutish, unlike the Falcon's elegant, masterfully designed saber. That thing doesn't even look like it's functional in battle. It must be heavy too.
Beyond that, Griffith's appearance had been made far younger due to the child in his vessel, and last they saw him, his true form had a young enough appearance to the point he had an androgynous look. No matter how evil he might be, his body was soft, beautiful. This Servant's build absolutely contrasted Griffith's effeminate looks, because he had an absolutely large and masculine build, the complete opposite of soft. It was either that, or he has some heavy armor under that cloak.
Speaking of which, his look was all topped off by a dark cloak.
"H..." Fujimaru quickly started to get back up. "H- Hey, you! Wait up!" He then quickly turned back around to face the fallen demi-Servant. "Hey, Mash, get up."
"Sorry, Master, are you okay?"
"I'm fine, and yeah, It's okay, just get back up." He put his hand out, Kyrielight grabbing onto it, getting back on her feet.
The Servant had stopped in his tracks, having turned around. "And you are?"
His voice was deep, and now, for a closer inspection...
The Servant had black hair, yes, but at the front, a part of that hair had turned white. There's no reason for it to be something like dye, so chances are it's something like stress.
One eye of his was closed, his right, to be specific.
He had rather dark armor on, covering his entire body with the exception of his arms, although, his shoulders were covered by said armor, but that was about it for his arms. They were bandaged, and more notably, his left forearm was non-organic, his missing flesh replaced by a prosthetic.
The most interesting thing however, was the design of his armor at the neck. They looked like jaws of a predator, ready to chomp down on prey.
Overall, an interesting man. Unique, even by Servant standards.
"Fujimaru Ritsuka, this here is my Servant, Mash Kyrielight."
"And this place is?"
"Look, it doesn't matter. Let me get straight to the point, you are currently a Servant-"
"Yeah, I figured that one out. You summoned me, I know. Name's Guts, Saber class. Now that I've told you everything you need to know, you can tell me what you summoned me for."
Both Mash and Ritsuka got confused looks on their faces, turning to look at each other.
"Guts? Are you... are you serious? That's it? That's your name?"
"I have never heard of any historical figure named Guts..."
"Good grief." Guts let out a sigh. "It's been a long time, and I've had a lot of titles, last I remember, I was called the Black Swordsman."
Ah, there it is.
"What luck...!" Mash said with surprise in her voice.
"Bingo-!"
"Now, can you already tell me what I'm here for, kid?"
"Okay, sorry, sorry, my bad." Fujimaru cleared his voice. "See, Mr. Guts, you went down in history as the killer of the Falcon of Light, mainly, and that's why we summoned you. He too, is back as a Servant. The Falcon of Light is kind of... evil and powerful. I'm not sure if you knew that or not when you killed him, but regardless, we need your help to kill him. Again."
"I've known that for a while now. Huff..." A tired look came to the swordsman's face. "That explains his disappearance, both he and I went to the same place after our deaths, yet, he disappeared a few days ago. I guess even death is something he can escape from eventually."
"I suppose. So, Black Swordsman, will you help us out?"
...
It took Guts a bit of time to think.
To help these people means to face the Hand of God again, to give into revenge again, but...
These kids are surely doomed if he doesn't come with them, if they are trying to actively oppose Griffith. The Brand of Sacrifice gives them a small chance, however, at what cost?
"How strong are you?"
"I'm average."
"Your Servant?"
"She's pretty good, although, she's more of a defense orientated Servant than anything."
"Yes, that's right. My class is Shielder."
"Defense..." Guts took in a deep breath. "Alright, I'll make a contract with you, but I'll tell you this. I assume you already know about Griffith's ability to manipulate that Causality crap or whatever it is, I can protect you from that, but in return, you'll have to deal with bad luck. Lots of it."
"On a scale of one to ten, how bad?"
"Eleven."
Mash smiled nervously. "Well, it can't get any worse than this, no matter how bad your luck is, right? Facing off against the archangel alone is quite the misfortune."
Oh, it will get worse. You'll see.
"Can't you just not include the bad luck part and give us the good part only?"
"That's... not how it works."
"Oh. That's fine, I'll make a contract with you regardless. Any advantage over Griffith is good."
"A true gambler indeed, senpai."
"I never lie, Mash."
The struggler put his hand out for the Master to shake, and he did so shortly afterwards.
A contract has been formed.
...
Even if his destiny and the destiny of those around him are blurred, one can't help but wonder...
Can the Black Swordsman help turn the tide and defeat the angel, especially now that the Falcon of Light has renewed determination?