Saber POV
After my meeting with the emperor I was introduced with the Custodians overseeing the operations on Albyon and Albia. Constantin himself was leading that front, the front against the warlord called "Unspeakable King" and the Warlord called "Uilleam the red ''.
It seems they rule areas relative to Scotland and the British islands and conquered surrounding territory. The Unspeakable King is said to rule "soulless soldiers", that are evil abominations, and Uileam the Red is said to be a Sorcerer that drinks blood.
With our victory over Akkad sparing us decades of war, suddenly a large amount of manpower and logistics were relieved and became available for that front, besides that, most of the Akkadian army was in process of being absorbed by the imperial forces.
Shirou still unconscious, the surgeries he had to undergo finished and his broken bones immobilized, they allowed me to place my scabbard briefly on him, and transfer some mana, his wounds healed, and even easier due to the surgeries and procedures that were put all into place beforehand.
He remained unconscious, as I removed the scabbard, at the Emperor's request, it seems it would prevent his puberty, like it kept me with a teenager appearance. Now he is under observation. The Emperor, Malcador, Bazett and Rin visit him constantly, trade notes and seem to be having trouble with his soul damage.
It seems he won't be able to use his own magecraft at all, for years,to have a chance of recovery. It will be painful for him, since it will make his dream of being a hero more difficult. I feel my heart is heavy, if i was stronger, maybe he would still be healthy.
The war goes on, without Shirou around I feel kinda empty. Once he woke up, he contacted me through the command spell, the only things he can use without issue. I'm thankful for that. I would never admit but I feel lonely without him around. Being able to speak with him helps a lot. Currently even his father crests main magic, it's dangerous for him, only being able to use a few . Which keeps him very limited on what he can do.
He is currently testing what he can do without his circuits, on a room with broken equipment, fixing things, complaining that the average structural analisis spell, reinforcement and projection spells from his father's crest aren´t the same as his, they seem to be inferior, and don't perform the same level of analysis or reproduce things like the history of objects.
He told me about how the Terrawatt clan priests ogle him, and how they seem devastated with the knowledge that his abilities are gone, at least for several years. He is trying to prevent them from start another war with the now Imperial member Akkadians out of revenge, for "damage something sacred", Shirou seems quite disturbed by how the priests see him like some sort of living relic, at least this means they will take good care of him, i feel sorry for him but it's for the better i guess.
I got separated from the others, lately I only interact with Constantin Valdor, the Captain General of Custodes, Arik Taranis,the general of the Imperial army and the so called members of the first legion. A bunch of giants in massive armor that appeared out of nowhere, i can't see the difference between them and the Thunder Warriors, save maybe for the fact they are slightly smaller and have better equipment, the Emperor seems to believe that the larger the soldier, the better, by the amount of giants i´m meeting lately, it's bothersome look up all the time to talk.
Unlike the lucky assault on Akkad, there's no single épic battle on Albia and Albyon, it's about winning battle after battle and gaining terrain slowly. It's brutal, as months pass, years pass, my free time between the battles is reduced, but I'm allowed to spend days or weeks at a time with Shirou, enjoy his company, eat his food, share histories.
On one of my first visits, I was informed Shirou would perform some sort of surgery, I got worried, but it seemed it was nothing serious, he was augmenting himself with some sort of advanced science, to compensate for the temporary loss of his magic. I used Avalon again to help him survive the procedure.
My reputation grew, and as an info war strategy, Malcador released the truth of my identity to the locals. The fact that the lion king, king Arthur Pendragon returned, seems to get support from the locals, who have British culture still in them. The more the rumors spread, the more supporters we get, and the battle. The number of enemy deserters increased at an astounding rate.
Eventually Bazett joined us, and we decided to send her after the blood drinker sorcerer, after all, she is experienced in killing both, sorcerers and "vampires", even if he is not the same as she is used to exactly. And I become tasked with hunting the Unspeakable King.
Rin POV
The idiot really did a mess on his circuits, with the help of the Emperor i managed to prevent the worse, he will keep his circuits, and will be able to develop them still, slowly, but thanks to his stubbornness he won't be using his magecraft again before adulthood, if he is lucky.
His luck is that he still has his father magic crest, and the command spells, for a emergency, but he was strictly forbidden from use his own circuits, and i removed even the crest parts i lent him, returning to myself, thank you, to take out from him the temptation of use my mana reserves to summon his reality marble again, the idiot keeps doing stupid things, it´s getting on my nerves.
Shirou cooked ancient earth food for the Emperor today, using ingredients I got before being summoned here. It was fun to see the giant thousand year old cry like a baby with happiness as he was able to taste real coffee again and eat old fashioned earth food. And the fact Shirou cooks like a professional chef does help a lot.
You get your eyes off him Emperor, he is MY PERSONAL chef, he won't be your palace cook. At most I will be generous to allow you to purchase my high quality luxurious food for a reasonable price. Finally some peace, the battlefield is away, Saber is still fighting, which gets me a little worried, but overall everyone is safe in the palace, with the eventual visit to Burk's farm.
Eventually Bazett was summoned to help on the frontlines, something about a dual final push in two fronts, that got me worried, but they are as strong as they can get, so i believe everything will be fine, Shirou wanted to go, every time he hears about Saber going into a new battlefield he gets nervous.
Lucky me the Emperor shows his authority like some sort of stern father, the idiot only calms the hell down when the Emperor puts some sense into him, and Dio… I mean, Diocletian hilariously became a full time babysitter for kid Shirou, which I find amusing.
Eventually Shirou did some sort of procedure by the Emperor's hands. I don't like it, I don't think it is right for him to be turned into one of these giant eunuch soldiers. Not that´s my personal interest or anything, it's just that it is not healthy at all. The years passed and at 17 years old, Shirou is already taller than Archer, now at 21 he looks like a tall basketball player, with a bunch of muscles on top of it, what the heck they gave to him?
I'm already 31 years old, and one of the most successful businesswomen on the Empire, luxury food, and a production method highly secured, since the training fields for Taiga´s soldiers and Udug Huls kinda "surround" my farms, and they work there as security too.
All foodstuffs sold have their seeds removed for use, and some are processed, to prevent industrial theft. Do you want to eat food from old terra? You have to pay nicely for it or no deal! I myself did some genetic augmentations with Taiga and Bazett later, more to increase our lifespan than athletic ability. I noticed that our OD increased as our lifeforce increased too, as a plus.
Nothing was done to us as extreme like Shirou did, and not messing with our hormones, no thank you, still like our feminine silhouettes, yet, our athletic looks improved a lot, nice, my martial arts training helped refine that, and the ability to outmuscle a trained soldier with my slim build without magecraft was welcome.
Bazett become a beast anyway, between the bionic arm and her enhancements, that she asked almost on Shirou level, she become a beast, and her body almost looks like a female bodybuilder now, almost, she looks like a hardcore gymnast or something on that level, still i´m ok with a fitter body and higher lifespan, no need to join the muscle freaks team.
Taiga POV
Father, you would be proud of me, the Fujimura group is reborn on this grim dark future, as most of the Udug Huls were kept on the fleet, I managed to befriend them and convince them to work under me, the sword king big sis. Well, after talking with Malcador that I got some to make the farm security and the fleet security, still, there are so many that I decided to take some with me and start to help hunt stragglers and keep peace and order on occupied territories, since the Imperial Army is overloaded.
All of it is properly paid by the imperial coffers and supplied by imperial logistics of course, no one works for free and free work doesn't put food on the table, we are currently one of the first Imperial sanctioned private paramilitary groups.
I even secured the chirurgeons and biology experts that worked on Akkad producing the Udug Huls, and now they become the responsible for the health and maintenance of them, together with Dumont and the other priests of the fleet, now they can receive proper medical support and even be produced on the future again.
That's quite a jump, from Yakuza daughter to private military company owner, offering proper security and law enforcement services. I can see the money raining already dad, you would be proud of me! Oh, I still teach English, now for imperial scholars, and Japanese too! It seems there's a thirst for ancient languages, since many ancient tech and relics are written on it. Who said teaching English was a "mundane" job? Now it seems to be a rare and coveted scholar's knowledge!
I forgot to mention, I married Merek. It was cute to see Shirou get jealous when he discovered it, but he gave his blessing.I got three kids, who will be heirs of the Fujimura and Winterscale legacy. As i approached middle age myself, i got too some genetic augmentations, and already looking at the rejuvenat procedures once my enhanced lifespan starts to not be enough, get older sucks, it's unfair that i was with Bazett one of the adults of the group, Rin, and specially Shirou are so lucky. Oh and there's Saber that never gets old, ever.
Shirou POV
Well, this sucks, yes, it could be worse and I could be stranded on the bed. Saber's scabbard really saved me from months and physiotherapy, but still sucks being unable to practice my magecraft. Or be on the battlefield with Saber, the Emperor strictly forbade me from do it, and since i´m on this stupid child body, i can´t argue.
A little kid has no place on the battlefield, it doesn´t matter if i´m a adult inside, I can't even use proper magic anymore. The magic crest spells are limited and it runs on the crest own circuits, they are inferior to mine, less specialized.
I can make some bounded fields, break some bounded fields, cast reinforcement spells, projection spells, and all, but their level is far below my own magecraft, they can´t access the history of the object, or bypass equivalent exchange like my reality marble does.
If i use innate time control without Avalon, i will die, period, my body would not survive the burst of energy. So now I'm a glorified precocious kid, with a few limited spells and command spells for Saber, while I got many leftover ones from the grail, still a finite resource, one of them already spent, the fading mark still on the back of my hand.
How have I spent the last years? Cooking for Rin and the Emperor, and during her visits, to Saber and Bazett. If it wasn't for the contract and the ability to talk with her anytime, i´d feel lonely without her. I'm training with Diocletian and the other Custodes, they are amazing, it feels the same as sparring with heroic spirits, in a way.
There I met more people, Amar Astarte, Ezekiel Sedayne and Erda, he told me they were his acquaintances, and worked with him on his greatest projects. Still I felt his relationship with Erda was something else, maybe I was reading too much into it?
The Emperor called me to spar one day. This surprised me. During it, he spoke with me about enhancing me with his biotechnical division, as reward for my help with Akkad. It was something serious and I had to think a lot about it. It would help me become a hero, have superhuman abilities, and be able to hold my own against the horrors of the galaxy, but, all types of genetic enhancements had their issues.
The Thunder Warriors were out of question, they are indeed the strongest breed of super soldiers, but they had several issues, they were a rushed job and had to deal with tons of medical issues. I felt for them, and asked the Emperor if there was a way to save them, he said it would take more time than was available, probably they would not survive much time after the unification.
I asked if i could keep them in stasis on the fleet, after the end of the war, so they could survive enough for it. My stasis pods were not endless, and would require maintenance and energy to keep running, but I had many on the fleet. If the emperor provided whatever ones he had at his disposal, and sponsored the maintenance, maybe we could really save most of them after all.
The Emperor seemed intrigued by the suggestion, it seems that the fleet again, was creating ripples, without the fleet, there would be no way to preserve so many thunder warriors, but maybe, most could somehow be saved at the end, if we worked together. He confessed to me that he planned to dispose of them at the end of the war, and give them a warrior's honored death on the battlefield.
I confess it shocked me at first, but I kinda could understand his tought process, they were as they are, forged like tools of war, a death on the battlefield was better than sick in a bed, withering. With the new options on the table, he decided to offer them that option near the end of the war.
In the sparring I noticed how great his skills were, skills polished for so much time, that talent was irrelevant, they were almost the perfection of swordsmanship, on the brief pauses on the training, the conversation kept on. He told me he created his sons, his heirs, they were designed before their birth.
He used his genes and Erda's, I guess my reading was not that far off. I questioned him about why 20 sons, and why there´s no female super soldiers on his employ. The answer was not a simple one. It seems in part, is because he is an old man, that has old fashioned upbringing, he knows females can be competent warriors, Erda was a exemple herself, and he fought besides many, but unconsciously he tries to keep himself from actively bringing them to the battlefield.
But to my surprise, he revealed to me that many of the Custodes are actually females, the armor doesn't give, and the sealed helmet that most of them use too. The fact they are mostly silent and don´t speak unless required, influences that too.
Their creation process is unlike the Thunder Warriors and the so called "Astartes" from the first legion, whose name is a homage to Amar Astarte, their creator. Does not rely on gender or messes too hard with hormones in an unpredictable way.
I cannot become a custodes, because the process and the bond with him would get in the way of my own magecraft. Cannot become a thunder warrior because it's an unstable process and might kill me. The Astartes have some issues too, and a risk of death upon conversion, on top of it, the 3 are sterile. The process makes them unable to reproduce, if i ever decided to become a father, i would regret it later.
The process that make the Udug Huls, still a mystery, they are learning more with the scientists recovered from Akkad on the fleet, but it seems they have two issues, infertility and venomous blood, that might poison their body fluids, it means a lifetime without bear children and with limited intimacy capabilities.
He told me about the best gene enhancements available from the age of technology that could be used, and would keep me functionally human, beyond human limits, even though still "lesser" than a Space Marine.
The fact I was young was beneficial, all types of genetic augmentation have that in common, the earlier they are done, the better, since the body has time to adapt, and younger bodies are more malleable and adaptable to changes.
With Saber presence and the Emperor's personal presence on the procedure, i even received several cutting edge cybernetics as a bonus, a Savant implant, one called MIU, that allowed interface with machines, a cutting edge "cogitator", one called "psi booster", that would help me in case my "bloated" patchwork "soul" increased more and i developed psyker powers on the future.
I had now a small "access port" on the back my neck, and some other small ports on other parts of the back that i could open with my mind and connect to systems, the back ones could be used to implant "mechadendrites", i learned later about it, the idea of have tentacles leaving my back was not appealing through and i politely declined that bonus.
The work as Imperial honorary chef was bound to end eventually, but for years, that was it for me, training with Custodes, keeping an eye on Saber and Bazett progress on the war, and cooking for Rin and the Emperor. I was used as a "neutral, unbiased point of view" on the Emperor´s projects, usually my opinion was duly noted but ignored through, when it was against things like the indoctrination of the marines, and the need of dehumanize soldiers to the point of turn them sterile. The Emperor seemed to be used to ruthless and excessive methods to solve things.
The war raged for about 14 years before the announcement of the final push, the Thunder Warriors and the First Legion dominated all battlefields they were on, the british nations survived due to Uileam the Red Sorcery, and the Unthinkable King soulless soldiers, ironside soldiers, and steam powered machines called proto-dreadnoughts.
The Etnarchy on the other side of the world, had their so-called "Ur-Khasis' ', very similar to the Thunder warriors. A place called Ush used an army of psykers and a place called Mauland Sen Confederacy was an abomination that performed forbidden genetic experiments, creating abominations and sacrificed people to dark gods. The great battles with the fiercest foes were on the horizon, and now I was old enough to join, even without my magecraft, I refused to let Saber continue fighting alone.